An unexpected blizzard strands Tessa Collins and her traveling companions in the wilds of Alaska. As they struggle to survive, she struggles to follow her heart to true love.
I feel like Ms. Elliston didn't really outline the main plot structure of her novel before writing.
1) We start out with Tessa heading from Minnesota (where she is an anthropologist) to Alaska to study the Inuit people. She meets R.E., a former businessman from New York who gave up everything, changed his name to Running Elk (R.E.) and moved to Alaska to open a general store. The two become friends. She signs up to go on an excursion with a group of people, nearly all of which are well-versed in Alaska and prepared for the trip.
2) Near the middle, the plot change to a girl on a trip who must choose between two men. The Tessa at the beginning of the book had absolutely no intention of finding a man on her Alaska journey -- she was here to study the native people and love would get in the way, naturally. She moves in just a few short pages from becoming a strong, independent woman to grown up Bella Swan.
3) At the end, she decides to both move completely from Minnesota to Alaska (after the one excursion into the Alaskan tundra), without any prospects of job, housing or transportation, and spend some time getting to know herself again and her new residency, thus declining a relationship with either man from Point 2.
I should also note that at no point in this book did she actually complete her study of the Alaskan people. The worst-even-the-natives-had-ever-seen came across and the entire group got trapped in a cave for several days. This, combined with the fact that nearly all of their essential supplies were lost along the way, made it impossible for them to continue on or for Tessa to actually accomplish what she came on the trip -- and to Alaska -- to do.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Having never read any of elliston's novels I didn't know what to expect. I really enjoyed her easy writting style and her characters. It's one of those book you don't want to end. I really got into the characters lives. I definate must read.