Title: Where Snowy Owl Sleeps

Series: Blessings #9

Author: Mimi Milan

Published Date: June 26, 2018

Publisher: Eaton House

Format: Kindle

Page Count: 119 pages

Source: Own Copy

Date Read: June 12, 2020

Review

This is the second book in the mini-series Milan wrote for the Blessings series. The other two books are Dueling the Desperado (Blessings #4) and Birth of the Butterfly (Blessings #11). I recommend reading these three books in order of appearance. Also, please note that the author makes clear that unlike her previous historical romances, this one is not an own voices story. Ms. Milan does identify as an Indigenous person but her tribe is not the one featured in the story; she did a lot of research and worked hard to represent the Miwok people. FWIW, I think she did a wonderful job.

Kela Tukumu ("Snowy Owl" in the Miwok language) is a member of the Miwok tribe that lives a few miles from the town of Blessings. She is in the running to take over for the current tribe healer, who is also like a father figure to her. He, along with her grandmother, were the ones to raise her when her parents died. She is getting pushback from other tribesman, who judge her for not already being married with kids and for wanting the healer position. Basically, Snowy Owl is the black sheep of her tribe.

Then there is Dr. Jonathan Edwards, the town's doctor and a widow with two kids. His wife died by possibly by a Native American, possibly by a white guy who made the murder look like it was done by a NA. Anyway she is dead and he is not dealing with it very well - getting drunk and working overtime. He has Emmy, a black woman who is part nanny/part cook/part housekeeper/part the person who has to occasionally kick the doctor's ass when his drinking gets out of control. Semi-spoiler: Emmy gets her own romance as the subplot with one of Snowy Owl's tribesman. 

Snowy Owl works alongside Jonathan to learn more about Western medicine as well as start a cultural bridge/Old West version of diplomacy. They do clinic work as well as go on house calls, using whatever medicine/treatments work in that particular situation. As they work, they start to admire, then fall in love with each other. This relationship takes a turn when Jonathan's son gets sick and needs the help of the tribe's healer and Snowy Owl. It is waiting for the son to get better that the two make their relationship official. 

The bad guys aren't an obstacle to the relationship; the bad guys are just the town's assholes and the particular bad guy gets it in the end by an unlikely ally who is just done with his shit. In fact, all the bad guys get it in the end from their own foolishness; meanwhile, the Miwok and the townspeople work together to solve issues and ignore the bad guys. That seems more realistic than the hero having to confront the bad guy over deeds done. And yet the bad guys' plotline and the hero/heroine's plotline intersect in a natural way. 

We get a long look at Miguel and Chel from book four in the beginning of the book and a quick peek at the couple in the third book, yet neither felt shoe-horned; it was a seamless interaction as all the people live in the same town. Bring on book three and the end of the mystery!

Man this site is running slower than a turtle walking through peanut butter this morning. 

Anyway, happy Friday everyone. My goal today and tomorrow is to finish the COYER Diverse RAT and then on Sunday start the next big anthology. I discovered the world of flosstube, so part of my time was spent going down the rabbit hole of fellow cross stitchers' vlogs. Through flosstube, I found my mojo to stitch again - since moving last summer I haven't felt the urge to pick up my needle and it has been almost a year. So I sit and half-watch the videos while I stitch. Reading has been done mostly when the sun starts to set and the light isn't good enough to continue stitching. With stitching, reading, and just focusing on not being on social media so much - I am feeling more light. Granted the pandemic news here in the US is getting worse and I am worried about this autumn and another looming shutdown/stay at home orders. I've insisted both the kids and I have our masks on whenever we go anywhere. My husband's work provided fabric masks to use in the offices (they have to wear specialty masks when working on the aircraft due to the chemicals) and he doesn't go anywhere but home, grocery shopping, or work. 

Speaking of the kids, they finished the first goal (read for 200 minutes) of our library's virtual Summer Reading Program and earned a free book each. Joshua picked up I Survived True Stories: Five Epic Disasters by Lauren Tarshis and Sophia picked Whatever After #7: Beauty Queen by Sarah Mlynowski. For those not into MG fiction, the I Survive series is a fictional series about real historical disasters (the fictional part comes from the MC) and it is HELLA POPULAR with the 3rd-5th graders. The Whatever After series is about two siblings who visit different fairy tales and help out before returning to our world/time. Another series my kids are really digging is the Owl Diaries by Rebecca Elliott - we have read seven of these books in the course of 12 days. I'm just happy Sophia is out of the Junie B. Jones phase. 

Here's what I'm reading this weekend/week:

The Diverse RAT reading has Where Snowy Owl Sleeps (also for BL-opoly) and Birth of the Butterfly by Mimi Milan and Proper English by KJ Charles.

The next anthology is the one with the second most amount of stories - Once Upon a Wedding. 

For the adult SRP requirements, I will try to get to On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder.

Working through the last quarter of Because He's Perfect anthology; hopefully I will be finished with this monster by the end of this coming week. For BL-opoly, I am reading Rainy Day Friends by Jill Shalvis. For COYER's Diverse RAT I'm reading Proper English, Where Snowy Owl Sleeps, Birth of the Butterfly, and Dance All Night.

Stay safe, stay strong, stay hydrated (we are hitting the 90s here in Kansas). 

A 3 overall.
Starry Night
This was too descriptive for a novella. I could argue it would be too desciptive for a full length novel too. Either way, it took me out of the story. Not read FM before and not inclined to after reading this.
Mistletoe and Mimosas
While I liked both characters, I think the subject matter and subsequent love story would have been better in a full length novel. Layla was bullied growing up by Sebastion's friends. While he didn't participate, he also did nothing to stop or discourage the bullying. Layla was poor, Sebastion rich.
For most of the novella Layla thought about the past and limited her interactions with Sebastion, so their romance was too fast for me. I did like the writing and will be checking out more from the author.
Missing Christmas
Having known each other for years, this was a nice, believable romance. I liked the alternating points of view.

One Snowy Night is an outstanding holiday romance by Jill Shalvis. This is a fairly quick read, perfect for those with limited reading time. Ms. Shalvis has produced a book that is well-written and populated with fantastic, lovable characters. Rory has promised to be home for Christmas. Max is going to the same area and Rory's boss asked him to give Rory a ride home. Max and Rory's story is loaded with drama, laugh out loud humor and spice. I loved this book from start to finish and look forward to my next book by Jill Shalvis. One Snowy Night is book 2.5 of the Heartbreaker Bay Series but can be read as a standalone. This is a complete book, not a cliff-hanger.