Reviewer: Lori Graham
Title: Foredestined Summer - Book 1 in the Autumn in Cranky Otter Series
Author: C.J. Winters
Publisher: Hard Shell Word Factory
ISBN: 0-7599-4792-9
Release Date: October 2004
Genre/Sub-genre: Historical Romantic Suspense
Year/Setting: Begins in Wisconsin, 1902
Overall rating: 4.25
Sexual content rating: Subtle
C.J.'s Website:
www.cjwinters.com
Swift McKinley started out his life with the worst of times and the best of times. His mother, an Indian, dies in childbirth at the home of Ada and Charles McKinley. Because they are gentle hearted people, they take this Indian boy to their hearts and raise them with their own children. As a young man, Swift loses his father and beloved brother followed by his mother. He is left in a home with his "adoptive" brother and sister. His brother doesn’t want him and his sister wants him too much which leaves him with a bit of a predicament. The initial reading of his mother’s will is no great surprise with the land and other holdings being split between her two biological children and all money in the bank split between the three of them. However, there was a twist – there was a farm in the Dakotas being left to Swift.
Swift knows he will go to this farm and see it for himself and make a life there as his mother wanted. However, that means leaving Aurie (the girl from the farm next door). They have grown up together and only recently has he discovered how he feels about her. However, with her being white and him being an Indian, he knows there is no future for them.
Aurie doesn’t believe this. Having been blessed (or not as some may see it) with the gift of "first" sight, she has seen their joint future and their children and is not about to let that go. She gathers her belongings as well as her courage and leaves to follow him. She catches up with him on the train and convinces Swift of their entwined future and the decision is made to marry at the next stop in Eau Claire, WI.
After getting married, they are taking care of business before heading on their way to their farm when Swift is unwittingly involved in a bank robbery. The police believe he was part of the group who planned the robbery and to avoid being captured Swift stays far away from Eau Claire. Aurie, however, is convinced of his innocence and works to clear his name.
C.J. Winters creates quite a few twists and turns in Foredestined Summer. One thing that has always intrigued me is the gift of "sight" into another human being. The connection between Aurie and Swift is incredibly strong and often she does communicate with him from a great distance. Swift discovers, however, that having another – even someone you love – being able to read your thoughts is a bit disconcerting and takes steps to avoid her ability to do so.
In spite of this ability, however, they are drawn together with tremendous human depth of character and strength. C.J. focuses on the ability to live together and thrive together in spite (or maybe because) of their differences. They persevere while being in a culture that greatly condemns those of different races being together.
Also, having come from a family of strong females, I enjoyed watching the growth in Aurie’s character. Instead of falling apart when things went wrong in Eau Claire, she used it to her advantage and learned new skills to venture into areas she never would have dreamed she could go.
I found Foredestined Summer to be a quick paced story with enough intrigue to make you want to keep reading but not enough to make you white knuckled – rather along the lines of an old Agatha Christie kind of puzzler. C.J. Winters gets your mind to working with this one.
Lori
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