Where the Water Meets the Sky

by Diane Les Becquets

For readers of Tell Me Everything and Heartwood, Where the Water Meets the Sky is the story of a brave young woman seeking wholeness and love in the untamed forests of Michigan’s upper peninsula—and answers about a fire that took away everything.

On a night in January, on the Garden Peninsula of Michigan, a farmhouse burns to the ground. A young child makes it out and flees into the woods with a book of matches in her hand.

Ten years later, Abby, a lover of birds and the natural world, returns to Garden, to the woods and lakes and farms and fisheries of her childhood, to assist her uncle on an environmental study of trees. Her best friend, Brew, invites her to a party where she meets a troubled girl named Seda, on the run from her abusive ex. Abby sets out to protect Seda and introduces her to an abandoned cabin that becomes a sanctuary for them both. Here, Abby begins to process her unrequited feelings for Brew while also discovering the person she is becoming. She wants more for her life, a hunger both spiritual and physical, and seeks to understand the trauma of her childhood that took her mother from her. Abby cares deeply for the people and flora and fauna around her and identifies with the wounds of the environment. She is desperate to remember what happened the night of the fire and as the summer of 1996 unfolds, Abby will be forced to reckon with the truth.

Perfect for fans of the lush and tender nature writing of Helen Macdonald and Richard Powers, Where the Water Meets the Sky is a coming-of-age novel that expertly delves into the connection between our perception of ourselves and our natural environs. It is a paean to the vast and beautiful wildscape around us and to the power of community and the wisdom of love.

Genres: Fiction, Literary Fiction, Coming Of Age, Summer, Contemporary

320 pages, Hardcover

First published May 5, 2026

About the author

Diane Les Becquets is the author of BREAKING WILD and THE LAST WOMAN IN THE FOREST. Breaking Wild, an Indie Next Pick and a national bestseller, received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, and Booklist, and was featured on NPR’s "Morning Edition." It was the recipient of the Colorado Book Award in Fiction, the New Hampshire Outstanding Work of Fiction, and was shortlisted for the Reading the West Book Award in Fiction. Her newest novel, WHERE THE WATER MEETS THE SKY, will be published by Simon & Schuster on May 5, 2026. For more information, visit: https://lesbecquets.com

Reviews

[Kelsey reviews•books · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is for readers that like a much slower, subtler reveal, and appreciate the use of flora and fauna as writing mechanisms to deepen human experiences.

❝She felt such passion then, in thee song of the bird, in the night air that felt warm, then cool, the same passion she felt so many times in the woods, or on the water, and it stretcheth her heart apart. This was prayer, she decided. This was everything she wanted to say to God.❞


▹My Rating: ★★★.5 out of 5
▹Format: 📱 eReader
Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for this advanced copy in exchange for my honest review. This book comes out May 5, 2026.
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○★○ What to Expect from This Book: ○★○

– About: 17-year-old Abby returns to her roots on Michigan’s Garden Peninsula to aid in her uncle’s environmental research. But the last time Abby lived in this neck of the woods was 10 years prior—when her mother died in a house fire that Abby can’t quite remember. When Abby meets Seda, a free spirited girl who is on the run from an abusive relationship, Abby has to navigate a lot of emotions, relationships, and old memories. How can the two help each other out in this coming-of-age story that parallels the beauty and importance of nature with the complexities of human existence?
– Location: mid 1990s Michigan (Garden Peninsula)
– POV: Single third-person
– Spice: None (kissing at most)
– Tropes: lit fiction, environmental impact, coming-of-age, flora and fauna, self-identity
– Content warnings: grief, PTSD, house fire, memory loss, animal death (not cruelty), environmental hazards
– Representation: Indigenous cultures of Michigan (only as a setting/description)

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↻ ◁ || ▷ ↺ 1:00 ──ㅇ────── 4:12

Now Playing: Flume by Bon Iver

╰┈➤ ❝ Only love is all maroon; Gluey feathers on a flume; Sky is womb and she's the moon ❞

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⍟»This or That«⍟

Character Driven—————✧——————Plot Driven
Light/Fluffy——————✧————— Heavy/Emotional

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🎯 My Thoughts:

I’ve never been to Michigan, but it doesn’t take much to see that this is Les Becquets love letter to a place that’s near and dear to her heart. Her descriptive writing style made me envision the loons on the lake, the pinkish sunrises, the columbine blowing in the wind.

What spoke to me was Abby, who isn’t unlike like a wounded baby bird when we meet her—but like the nature she so gently observes and supports, you watch her strengthen her wings, even when doing so causes her to rehash a dark time in her past. I loved watching her evolving relationship with her family, her delicate friendship with Brew, and her kindred spirit with Seda shape her.

The pacing was slower than my attention can usually give and the story was subtler than I expected, but the writing was what kept me engaged.

————
Pre-read thoughts: I’ll admit it. The cover drew me in. But that synopsis?!? Excited to travel to Michigan’s UP for this lit fic book being compare to Wild Dark Shore, coming out May 5 from Simon & Schuster.

*Thank you to NetGalley and S&S for an eARC of this book. My review will be my honest opinions*

[Bam cooks the books · Rating 4 out of 5]

First off, what a gorgeous cover! This is a book about the beauty of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and the cover expresses it so perfectly. Abby and her uncle are back in the Garden Peninsula of the UP, where their family has lived for years, to study the effects of climate change on these woods. But Abby also hopes to get answers about the death of her mother when Abby was just seven.

It is also a love story: Abby is in love with the natural world but also with a young man named Brew, a cousin but not by blood, who has been Abby's best friend through thick and thin. Abby also becomes friends with a wild and crazy girl she meets that summer named Seda, her complete opposite. She needs a place to stay so Abby shows her an abandoned cabin in the woods and that becomes their meeting place. Can Seda help Abby face her demons?

I enjoyed so much about this novel, especially learning more about the beautiful state where I was born and raised and its fauna and flora. The descriptions of nature are just spectacular, making me long to return. It's true--you can take this girl out of Michigan but you can't take the Michigan out of this girl. It will always be a part of who I am.

Many thanks to the author and publisher for providing me with an arc of this new novel via NetGalley.

[Marianne Boesch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this book and how Les Becquets captures nature in such vivid detail that you feel as though you are walking alongside Abby discovering the beauty and birds in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan! This is a captivating story about the power of nature and going back to one’s roots to discover oneself and seek the truth. Highly recommended!

[Robin Loves Reading · Rating 4 out of 5]

The memory of a burning farmhouse on Michigan’s Garden Peninsula is one that Abby has carried with her for years. The fire was accidental, but the loss it caused was immeasurable. Now older, Abby returns to Garden to assist her uncle with a study he is preparing. Her uncle’s passion is trees, while Abby’s heart belongs to birds, making them a perfect team.

But Abby’s journey is shaped by more than the landscape and the lingering memory of the fire. Her relationships, both old and new, become just as meaningful. Her longtime friend Brew and her new friend Seda each play an important role in Abby’s life, and watching those friendships deepen and evolve adds so much warmth to the story.

One of the most touching aspects of the novel is Abby’s care for the injured birds she nurses. Those moments are written with such tenderness and compassion, and they beautifully reflect Abby’s own emotional growth. Diane Les Becquets captures Abby’s connection to nature in a way that feels vivid and heartfelt.

The mystery and emotional weight surrounding the fire continue to shape Abby throughout the novel, leading to some especially moving moments. Combined with the author’s beautiful writing and the gradual unfolding of Abby’s personal growth, particularly in her relationships and understanding of herself, this becomes a thoughtful and deeply rewarding story that I would highly recommend.

Many thanks to Simon & Schuster and to NetGalley for this ARC for review. This is my honest opinion.

[Brittany · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

This book had beautiful writing and I loved the setting but I hated the twist and felt it was unnecessary to the plot. I also sometimes had to reread pages because I couldn’t follow along or remember what was happening because I just didn’t care about some of the characters enough. Was 4 stars until the twist and then dropped for me unfortunately. I would try something else by the author because I like the writing style but this one wasn’t a home run for me.

[KaseyG · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to the publisher for the gifted copy!

Synopsis: Abby is seventeen when she returns to her childhood home in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula to work with her botanist uncle for the summer. She must confront her past and the fire that killed her mother ten years ago that she can’t quite remember.

Thoughts: What stands out to me the most is that the author clearly has a deep love for the upper peninsula of Michigan that really comes across in her vividly descriptive writing and incorporation of the local flora and fauna. This is a slower paced, character-driven coming of age story, so if that is your jam I think you’ll love this! It really is beautifully written. As for the mystery aspect, this is where it lost a star for me. I think the twist is likely going to be pretty polarizing. It didn’t work for me, but I’d love to hear your thoughts if you read it! A note on the audio: The narration was lovely! I really felt transported into the story while listening.

Read this if you like:
🌳 small town
🌳 coming of age
🌳 character driven
🌳 mystery

[Kristi · Rating 4 out of 5]

“She was more than her past. There was more to her life—there was more. That was what she hungered for.”

What an immersive and atmospheric read this was. I have never been to the UP but now I feel as if I have, even if only via the words in this book.

This story of a young woman trying to navigate the fire that took her mother and what role she may have played in it was so heartbreaking. There are some twists/revelations towards the end, one that did have me like hmmm and one that broke my heart.

If you love slow burn mysteries, coming-of-age stories, nature, conservation, birds, and atmospheric reads then grab this one today!

“To be known, truly known, and to be loved, that was the greatest gift of all.”

Thank you to Simon Books #SimonBooksBuddy for the free book!

[Erica S · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was beautifully written and did a great job of capturing the feeling of its setting and the slow days of summer as a teenager, but that’s about it. The story itself was really slow and the mystery was not that interesting. Then when we finally found out what happened and about the twist, it was just meh.

Thank you NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for an early copy. The views are my own.

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

The setting is the star of the show in this beautiful novel. Anyone who has been to the Michigan UP will recognize descriptions of the woods and water on the pages. Abby’s search to remember what happened during the fire from her childhood and figure out who she is now and what she wants is tied to nature. It’s a slow read that keeps unfolding as it moves forward that I enjoyed more as I read on. 3.5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the eARC in exchange for a review.

[kellylikestoread · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the privilege to read this as an ARC.

I requested to read this book because I'm a fan of "Wild Dark Shore" which is one of the comparable titles listed within the description. I was hoping for something more akin to McConaghy's work but alas. Les Becquets delivers a story with an interesting premise, she just delivers it like an apathetic FedEx driver.

On a technical level, the writing and construction of the story was not something I'm a fan of. There were an extreme amount of run-on sentences and lots of sentences that were composed entirely of fragments, or a fragment to a list and then it ends. The punctuation also seemed inconsistent and often incorrect. Both emdashes and commas can be used to signal an aside within a sentence, and Le Becquets would use both, except she would use commas within the sentence and then an emdash if the aside was towards the end. There was one moment that I had to reread three times because the sentence felt unfinished and the emdash hadn't been "closed" so to speak. There was also another instance where it felt like a sentence started with an aside and then the emdash hit only to give us the actual meat of the sentence. It was weird.

Along with that, lot of chapters started with "Abby" and a lot of sentences started with "she." There were a couple of points where a whole page (a page worth on my phone, not sure how that translates to print or other methods of consumption) wouldn't name Abby once but started over half the sentences with "she."

Les Becquets made me feel like she was both holding my hand and repulsed by me while telling the story. There was a lot of "she remembered" "a memory came to her" "an image came to her mind" "a thought came to mind" etc as though weaving those thoughts into the narrative would be too hard for the reader to understand. Yet at the same time, I felt like I was removed from the story and wasn't given the right to access the "here and now" of Abby's life, just her memories.

Now, I must give a disclaimer for this next issue I have: I am a dialogue snob. I personally believe I am great at writing natural sounding dialogue and will gladly hold my head up high. Other things? No guarantee. Realistic chit chat? I'm a pro. So with that out of the way... I hated the dialogue, or lack thereof. I think there were maybe a dozen actual conversations that lasted more than one page (again, on mobile) and most of them still weren't complete. Instead of letting me watch the conversation, it often ended up recapped. At one point, a character goes away for a week. When they return, they tell Abby about it, except we don't get to know what Abby knows. Does it end up being relevant? Nope. But it happens over and over and over again. It frustrates me to no end. Let me see how these people talk and interact! Let me see how they move and learn what their voices sound like! There's so much character development and world building and relationship data that's being withheld by not exploring actual conversations! ...I need to move on.

And finally, the cherry on top, the actual plot twist, the thing that annoys me nearly as much as the lack of dialogue: Abby and Seda are the same person. This annoys me because it feels like Les Becquets has taken an actual thing and shoehorned it into her plot for the sake of the twist. Seda is another side of Abby, created due to intense trauma. This is called Dissociative Identity Disorder. The sort of "split personalities" are often called alters. There are YouTubers you can look up to learn more about DID but this version of it, where Abby talks to Seda, isn't a thing. When an alter is fronting, they don't interact with other alters. Alters CAN interact, but not when they're fronting. They're also not something to be resolved by learning the truth. Seda wouldn't just disappear now that Abby knows the truth. Maybe she'd front less, but it's not a conscious decision. Maybe a person with DID wouldn't be as uncomfortable with this revelation as I am, but I know I hate it when my autism or seizures or queer identity or various traumas are used as plot twists and I can't help but think about how insensitive this is. Any enjoyment I had prior to this revelation was killed. The only reason is didn't get a 1 star is because I think it's redeemable, if given time for an edit. That's it.

So yeah. This is not a book I'll be picking up after release.

[Brad Gambill · Rating 5 out of 5]

It took me only a few pages to fall in love with Abby, the sixteen-year-old protagonist of Diane Les Becquets' new novel. Like Damon from Kingsolver's Demon Copperhead and Kya from Owens' Where the Crawdads Sing, Abby’s the kind of character who makes you want to simultaneously hug and shake her. “Your life might be truly crappy right now,” you want to tell her, “but take a deep breath and learn to trust yourself and the world around you.”

That's the great joy of coming-of-age fiction: the powerful reminder that despite the challenges we all face, life still presents us with options — an exhilarating possibility and a terrifying liability all at once.

And it's true that Abby has inherited a crappy life. At around six years old, she loses her mother in a house fire that she may or may not have started. Her biological father died in a freak accident before she was even born. Now, at sixteen, she lives with her loving but emotionally adrift adopted father — a man who never quite made it past his own grief, content to watch Jeopardy! and dream of one day buying his very own boat. He's not a villain. He's just a man who stopped showing up for his own life. Abby, by contrast, knows there's something more out there for her, even if she can't yet name it.

The novel is set in the Garden Peninsula of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, a place Les Becquets clearly knows well, and it shows in the quality of the author’s prose and the precision with which she presents the rich flora and fauna, her descriptions so alluring in fact that I’m seriously thinking about taking my next vacation there.

The book’s three central sections (named after the Loon, the Falcon, and the Heron) reflect Abby's deepening connection to the wildlife and landscape of the region. There's real pleasure in watching the character come alive to the world around her and ultimately finding herself as one part of a larger eco-system: a moose and her calf crashing through autumn leaves, the particular loyalty of loons to their place. (It's no accident that the novel's epigraph comes from Barry Lopez, one of the great nature writers of his generation.)

Along the way there's a boy who seems to share Abby's passion for the natural world, even if his relationship status is, well, complicated. And then there's Seda, who we first meet surfing the top of a speeding car. Foolhardy, yes, but Seda is the kind of person who knows instinctively that playing it too safe is just another form of disappearing — which is precisely what Abby's gentle, grieving father has done, and what Abby herself risks doing if she can't find a way through her loss.

The mystery of the house fire that claimed her mother's life gives the story its narrative spine, and there's a plot development move late in the novel that I won't spoil. I appreciate writers who take real narrative risks, and Les Becquets' choice here might indeed catch a few readers by surprise. The move worked for me, though I found myself wishing she'd revealed the conceit a bit earlier, letting us wrestle with its implications alongside Abby.

What Les Becquets ultimately gives us is a novel about what it means to be whole — connected to community, to place, to the people willing to walk alongside us. In a moment when screens tell us who we are, and algorithms stand in for the natural world, there's something quietly radical about a story that insists on putting a young woman back in her body, back in her place, for there is redemption to be found there. I need such success stories, fiction or otherwise.

I'm no longer sixteen, but I still need to be reminded of what a full, embodied, connected life can look like. To her credit, Diane Les Becquets offers that reminder with generosity and grace in Where the Water Meets the Sky. Demon CopperheadWhere the Crawdads Sing.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for the ebook in exchange for my honest review.

📝 Short Summary

After surviving a childhood fire that destroyed her home and took her mother, Abby returns years later to the wild beauty of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. As she reconnects with the land, her memories, and the people around her, she begins uncovering the truth of what happened and who she is becoming.

Review

This was such a beautifully written book. It has that quiet, emotional, nature soaked kind of storytelling where you don’t just read what is happening, you feel it. The writing made it so easy to picture the woods, the water, the cabins, the birds, the heat of summer, and that heavy feeling of carrying something from childhood that you don’t fully understand yet.

I really connected with Abby. She felt soft, wounded, curious, and searching in a way that felt very real to me. She’s not this loud dramatic character, but there is so much going on underneath her. You can feel how deeply she is tied to the land around her, and how nature becomes almost like a mirror for what she is feeling inside. I loved that part so much because it gave the story this emotional depth that felt tender but also heavy.

The mystery of the fire gave the book a quiet pull, but for me, this was more about Abby’s emotional journey than just finding out what happened. It’s about grief, memory, trauma, love, friendship, and trying to understand the pieces of yourself that were shaped before you even knew how to name them. I liked how the story slowly unfolded instead of rushing. It gave everything room to breathe.

I also thought the writing did such a good job making Abby’s inner world feel alive. I honestly could see where she was and feel what she felt because the descriptions were so vivid without feeling overly done. The natural world was not just background here. It felt like part of the story, part of Abby, and part of the healing.

There’s also a lot of tenderness in the relationships, especially in the way Abby is trying to understand her feelings, her past, and the people she wants to protect. Her connection with Seda added another emotional layer, and I liked how the book explored sanctuary, safety, and what it means to care for someone while you’re still trying to figure yourself out.

This is not a super fast paced book, and I don’t think it’s meant to be. It’s quieter, more reflective, and more atmospheric. But if you like beautifully written stories with strong nature writing, emotional depth, and a coming of age feeling that is both painful and hopeful, this one really works.

Overall, this was a moving, thoughtful, and gorgeous read. It felt like a story about remembering, healing, and finding yourself again in the places that once broke you.

✅ Would I Recommend It?

Yes, especially if you love quiet literary fiction, emotional coming of age stories, nature writing, family secrets, and books that feel more atmospheric and heartfelt than fast paced.

[Monnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book – no doubt about it – but my feelings are mixed. The writing is almost exquisite – no doubt about that, either – but I spent way too much time, well, yawning. Simply put, no matter how important descriptions of scenery and events are to the story – and they certainly are – I’m used to mysteries and thrillers with nonstop action, and that doesn’t happen here.

As a child, Abby was found running from her farmhouse on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula – a home consumed by flames. She’s picked up by a couple who know her, and she’s sent to live with relatives because her mother perished in the fire. All Abby can remember is that when she was found, she had a book of matches in her hand with a few missing.

Haunted by that memory and desperately seeking the truth (especially about that book of matches), Abby returns to her roots a decade later, in part to put her keen interest in the great outdoors to use helping her uncle, who has a grant to map and study trees and forests in a nearby area. Shortly after she returns, her best friend Brew invites her to a party and she meets an intriguing girl named Seda, whose behavior seems to range from confused to mental illness. Abby makes it her life’s work to protect Seda, keeping her fed and housed in an abandoned cabin, well away from all her friends and worrying when she disappears from time to time – and their encounters are written about in great detail.

As a reader, I, too, wondered about those matches and who really set the fire. I also wondered why, given Seda’s behavior, Abby would even want to be around her (I’d have given her the boot at her first transgression). The rest of the story leads up to learning the truth about both, mostly filled with descriptions of scenery, events and memories from an angst-filled Abby. As I said earlier, the writing is wonderful, the story itself seems to go nowhere fast, though resolution to the matches issue and Seda’s strangeness are a bit of a surprise (one totally satisfying and the other crossing a bit over the line of credibility). But overall, I must say that while it’s not an edge-of-seat chiller thriller (perhaps best read by a cozy fire with a glass of wine nearby), I definitely recommend the book and thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to read a pre-release copy.

[Lauren Giac · Rating 4 out of 5]

📜Quick Summary: Abby is returning home ten years later to the Garden Peninsula, where she fled ten years ago. A fire in her childhood home took the life of her mother, and when Abby fled, she held a box of matches in her hand. With memory loss and grief attacking her brain, Abby never fully understood the impact of that night. Her return home brings Brew back into her life, her best friend and someone she secretly harbors feelings for. As Abby sets out to find herself again, she also finds herself on a path to uncovering her past, and what truly happened that night ten years ago.

👀Trigger Warnings:
Grief / loss of parent
Memory loss

📖Read if you want:
A coming of age story
A lot of the story to be about nature / woods
Slowwwwwwww burn read

🩷What I enjoyed:
Beautiful setting (Michigan’s Garden Peninsula; I did like reading about how the author came about to pick this setting)

💔What didn’t work:
Rushed plot; unequal slow and fast build ups for specific parts
Too much nature (which I know sounds confusing, since I said I like the setting… but I didn’t need a science lesson. And yes, I understand flora and fauna are the premise and a HUGE part of the story; just didn’t click for me)

🌟Overall Rating: 3.5 stars

💡Final Sentiments: First of all, the most gorgeous of all covers! If you are a nature lover, love how humans/animals/nature intersect, you will love this one. It had a lot of connections between words/names and their meaning, and her writing reflected that. Her style of writing is definitely appealing, and I appreciated the time and effort it took to construct a novel like this. I don’t think I was the intended audience and although this was a beautiful piece of writing, I think maybe I went into it thinking it more of a mystery with the house fire, and the slow burn was too slow for me. Her relationships with Drew was a slow moving, beautiful story as well, with minimal spice. Seeing where Seda and Abby went was a surprise, and that definitely added layers to the story. Many raving reviews, so I would definitely pick this up if the premise is something up your reading alley!

🔉Special thanks to Diane Les Becquets, Simon and Schuster Publishing, and NetGalley for this arc of Where the Water Meets the Sky.

All opinions and thoughts are solely my own.

📘Grab yourself a copy on May 5, 2026!

[Jaclyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a lovely read, especially for those (like me) who appreciate when the setting almost serves as a character in the story. Les Becquets uses a lot of poetic language to establish a sense of place. Abby's deep connection to that place as she sorted through her identity and past felt very authentic. Her age (17) provides an opportunity to turn up the drama and introspection, as some of the setting descriptions and emotions would feel like too much for an adult narrator.

Overall I loved the characters, story, and place. This was a compulsive read for me. However, I did hit a few snags:

First, there's a pretty big reveal in the third act and I felt we moved through it a little too fast. The actual moment of this reveal didn't play out on the page: we were told about it, rather than shown Abby's actual experience of it. I wanted to live through this along with her.

I also felt the author was maybe a little too soft on her characters. The central characters all seem really good and easy to like. The reader doesn't have to work very hard to choose to root for them. It may have enriched the story even more if we saw Abby falter in her relationship with Brew, or Brew struggle to accept/process something that is revealed about Abby. These characters are only as flawed as each other can handle. There are opportunities to wedge a little distance between them and force them to repair, but we don't have that heart wrenching moment with them. I think most of us who have had long, intense friendships like that have gone through something with that person, even if they are a dream bestie. To me this is a missed opportunity to increase the emotional amplitude of the whole story.

That said, as someone from a beautiful small town I love very deeply and left around Abby's age, I enjoyed stepping inside her world. Les Becquets has crafted everything in this book with such tenderness. It isn't necessarily going to challenge the reader, but it will paint an unforgettable picture of a specific place, and a specific moment in this character and community's life.

[Sandy Quill · Rating 4 out of 5]

My thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the ARC of "Where The Water Meets the Sky" in exchange for an honest review.

I found myself seduced and entranced by this beautifully rendered coming-of-age story set amid the stunning flora and fauna of Michigan's Upper Peninsula.. And I say this as a reader who's not the biggest fan of books steeped in elaborate descriptions of natural settings that might tend to overwhelm the characters' story.

But this book perfectly blended well-drawn real people with the picture-postcard views of the lush forests that surround them.

17 year old Abby faces a pivotal summer as she helps her environmentalist uncle conduct a climate change study of the Upper Peninsula. Her forever best friend Brew is headed for college and and Abby herself soon faces choices about where her journey into adulthood will next take her. But she's also tormented by the mystery of her mother's tragic death in a fire which 7 year old Abby somehow survived.....and found wandering dazed with a book of matches. And during this summer amid the spectacular MIchigan woods, Abby befriends Seda, an outgoing but troubled girl who immediately captured her attention. Together, this unlikely duo of opposites find and take up partial residence in a remote abandoned cabin.

All of these various elements - Abby's longtime loving friendship with Brew, the mystery of her mother's death and Abby's possible part in it, the bonding with Seda, and her UP explorations, all come together........but with an eye-popping twist that I'm thinking readers will either fully embrace or judge as an obvious, facile metaphor. While I tend to lean toward the latter opinion, it didn't in any way lessen my overall favorable impression of the book.

For anyone who loves to lose themselves in a tender story that unfolds, around some brilliant prose painting of landscapes, there's a summer getaway vacation awaiting you in these pages.

(My other reviews can be found at www.thesandyquill.blogspot.com)

[Lori L (She Treads Softly) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Where the Water Meets the Sky by Diane Les Becquets is a recommended coming-of-age drama about memory and the natural world.

As a seven-year-old Abby escaped from the fire that killed her mother at their farmhouse in the upper peninsula of Michigan. She has few memories of that night and it haunts her because she fears she started it because she was found holding a book of matches. Now, over ten years later in the summer of 1996, she has returned to the area to help her Uncle Dennis with his environmental study of trees. While there she is hoping to find answers about that night as she reconnects with her Nonna, her aunts, and Brew, the cousin by marriage she’s loved since childhood.

Honestly, while I was initially reading this novel it was rated much, much higher in my estimate until the thoroughly unnecessary, unbelievable, and ridiculous twist in the plot toward the end. In one fell swoop, after the eye rolling stopped, my rating dropped two points.

Setting aside the incredulous twist, the pace is even and the writing beautifully descriptive and thoughtful as Abby reflects on the natural world around her. Abby and Seda, a local girl she meets, end up retreating to a local abandoned cabin they found where Seda becomes a friend of sorts and a safe sounding board for Abby's feelings as she tries to remember what happened years earlier.

Where the Water Meets the Sky is recommended for those who enjoy the natural world and reflective coming-of-age stories, and can ignore a bad plot twist. Thanks to Simon & Schuster for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2026/0...

[MaryEllen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sometimes you get to read a book that is so beautiful and so unique that you cannot find words to describe it. This is the case with Where the Water Meets the Sky by Diane Les Becquets.
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A literary fiction book that is full of vivid descriptions of the Garden Peninsula, dropping into Northern Lake Michigan out of the UP. This books unfolds at a deliciously slow pace, with beautiful language about the flora and fauna that somehow gives meaning to the human experience. I was entranced. The publisher said, “For readers of Wild Dark Shore and Heartwood, Where the Water Meets the Sky is the story of a brave young woman seeking wholeness and love in the untamed forests of Michigan’s upper peninsula—and answers about a fire that took away everything.”
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This book made me long to visit this part of the country and learn more about its history and its struggles brought on by modern industry. Unlike many books that address the impact of our modern civilization on nature this book never lectured me or talked down to me, instead it quietly inspired me to do better, without even my really be aware that it happened. I think it’s because, at the end of the day, this book was about human nature and how trauma impacts us and how we heal. All the rest just happened in the background. These were real people that I cared about and won’t stop thinking about for a long time.
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I recommend this to readers who love descriptive language, thought provoking sentences, and slowly unfolding stories.
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It was a privilege to be offered an advanced review copy of this book, which I am not certain I would have discovered on my own. Thank you to Emily at Simon & Schuster for recognizing that I was a fit for this book! Thank you also to NetGalley. My opinions are fully my own.

[Susan Poer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This really reminded me of 'Where the Crawdads sing', except this is set in the upper peninsula of Michigan.

Where the Water Meets the Sky is an evocative coming of age novel and ode to the natural world. Set against the lush, untamed landscape of Michigan’s upper peninsula, it weaves together themes of identity, healing, memory, and the bonds between humans and the environment.

We first meet Abby on a tragic night when a farmhouse burns to the ground on the Garden Peninsula of Michigan, leaving her to escape into the woods with a book of matches in her hand. Ten years later, Abby returns home to assist her uncle with an environmental study of trees. Amid the forests, lakes, and farms of her childhood, she confronts memories she has long pushed away and the deeper trauma surrounding her mother’s death.

At a local gathering she reconnects with her friend Brew and meets Seda, a troubled young woman fleeing her past. Abby’s instinct is to protect Seda and leads her to an abandoned cabin where they form a hideaway place, and where Abby begins to more fully reckon with her past, and her unrequited feelings for Brew. This isolated location allows her to commune with nature and escape into her imagination to heal.

This book has a slow meditative pace and is a great character study, along with touting the healing effects of nature. The location itself is a main character as you feel the scenery and feel of the area and how it influences the main characters' decisions moving forward.

[Madalynne Bridge · Rating 3 out of 5]

I requested this book for a few reasons: I lived in WI for several years and loved visiting northern WI and the Upper Peninsula. I love these areas so much. The book summary sounded like a really interesting mystery. Finally, the cover is gorgeous.

The story ended up being very strange to me. The writing style makes the story feel incomplete and like the reader is missing things. Conversations between characters seemed to start and end very abruptly. The character development in terms of relationships amongst characters seemed incomplete. I am very confused about Abby and Brew’s relationship. They are cousins but seem to both have feelings for each other. (I understand they are not biologically cousins, but this still seems weird to me.)

It seems like this is the first time that Abby is considering how the fire happened. It seems like the reader is supposed to be believing that she has never wondered about this before, which seems unlikely to me.

The best thing about this book is the description of the setting. The author has clearly spent a lot of time in the UP and loves this area very much. There is also a lot of discussion about nature.

I would recommend this book to readers who enjoy stories: that involve nature and the outdoors, set in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and about young people who are trying to come to terms with who they are / their past.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of the ebook ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Gary Guinn · Rating 4 out of 5]

On rare occasions, a novel appears at the very time its message is most needed. Where the Water Meets the Sky, by Diane Les Becquets, is just such a novel.
Where the Water Meets the Sky, set in the Upper Peninsula of Minnesota, is first and foremost a story about love, identity, memory, and family. About the connection between humans and Nature. About the miracle that is Nature. It opens with a child fleeing a burning house into a life of mystery. The loss of her mother, her memory, and herself open into the long struggle to recover them all. It is a coming-of-age novel, a coming of self, in which Abby, the fleeing child, becomes a young woman struggling to bring a divided self into a unified self. Family, friends, and Brew, her love since childhood, help her on the journey.
In the current U.S. political landscape, where our leaders think nothing of destroying environmental treasures, Les Becquets’ novel calls us to reconsider. In the face of attempts by our government to open the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in Minnesota to copper mining, Where the Water Meets the Sky should be welcomed by anyone concerned about protecting the rich inheritance which is our environment. The novel brings the land of the Upper Peninsula to life in intimate detail on every page.
Diane Les Becquets offers love and friendship and family as an antidote to the ills of a broken life. And from beginning to end, she calls for humanity to embrace Nature and cooperate with her.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Where the Water Meets the Sky by Diane Les Besquets is a wonderful coming of age novel with a slight mystery element.

Abby has returned her family’s hometown in Upper Peninsula, Michigan to help her uncle with a forest project. She is also happy to spend the summer with her best friend, Brew. He takes her to a party where she meets free spirit Seda. Abby also hopes to answer the question that has long haunted her: is she responsible for the house fire that killed her mother?

Abby enjoys spending long days in the forest working with her uncle. As she begins working by herself, she and Seda find an abandoned cabin the woods where they spend days together. Abby’s hope to spend more time with Brew is dashed by both of their working schedules. However, they do carve out time to enjoy the waning days of summer.

Where the Water Meets the Sky is a beautifully written novel that celebrates the Upper Peninsula. Abby is a wonderful teenager who slowly finds herself over the summer. Her time in the forest helps bring her future into focus while time with Seda brings back memories of the house fire. The storyline is engaging but a bit slow moving at times. The gorgeous Michigan setting springs vividly to life throughout this incredible story. With a fan shocking twist, Diane Les Besquets brings this captivating novel to an uplifting conclusion.

[Susan Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you #NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for the ARC!

#WheretheWaterMeetstheSky opens with a birder walking in the woods at night, observing a great horned owl, when a little girl runs past her. There was a fire and the girl’s mother is dead. The fire will come to define that girl’s life; and the vivid description of the owl, those woods will come to define this book.

It has been ten years since Abby’s mother died. She and her father moved away from town, but her relatives still live there so she’s around here and there. Now she’s in town for the summer, helping her uncle with a tree surveying project.

Abby spends the summer navigating her feelings for Brew, her childhood friend who later became her cousin by marriage, and befriending Seda, a girl with a troubled past who is trying to rebuild her life.

While there is a touch of mystery here (who started that fire?), this is really a coming of age story. It is atmospheric and reflective, and while there’s not a lot going on plot-wise, it doesn’t feel slow because all of the space is filled in with all of the nature, especially birds, that surrounds Abby at every moment.

But the plot that is there is so meticulously crafted - and the conclusion, the way everything comes together, is super satisfying!

[Victoria · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the reasons I like being asked by publishers to read books via NetGalley is that I find myself reading things I might normally pass over. Take this book, for example—it didn’t seem like one of my “normal” reads. But when the publisher described it as a book “For readers of Wild Dark Shore and Heartwood, Where the Water Meets the Sky is the story of a brave young woman seeking wholeness and love in the untamed forests of Michigan’s upper peninsula—and answers about a fire that took away everything.” Well, that piqued my interest as I had read both of those—one for NetGalley, the other because my husband highly recommended it.

And I am so glad I did! I absolutely loved all the natural stuff, and I learned a lot about the UP (Upper Peninsula of Michigan), someplace I’ve never been. I also really enjoyed the story—the main characters, the couple of twists I wasn’t expecting, the closeness of the family . . . let’s just say I teared up more than once!

Diane Les Becquets, from the UP herself, really makes this work. I am so glad I read it, and it had the added bonus of being by a fellow Episcopalian.

[TaleshaReads · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is beautifully written. It sits somewhere between 3.75 and 4 stars for myself. This one is a slow-burn read for sure! I kept expecting for little hints here and there to help the reader learn what happened to our main character, but instead it all is revealed within the last few chapters, but I actually enjoyed the reveal and how it is done!

This book primarily takes place in nature and the author's ability to describe the environment and scenes so well makes you feel like you are right there with Abby! I will admit I was not the biggest fan of the relationships between her and Brew though. I feel like if Brew was pulled out of the book I would have enjoyed the story more because I think for myself it would have been easier to focus on our main character and her journey to self-discovery as well as her past.

Overall, I did enjoyed the way this book really captured the beauty in nature, the confronting of her past and figuring out what truly took place, and I did really enjoy her and Seda's character and the relationship that we see formed there.

I need to thank Simon and Schuster for my copy in return for my honest review!

[Alison Taylor-Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the most beautiful book I've read since—I don't know when. The language is exquisite. Abby, the protagonist, is thoughtful and brave. She's as strong as this community of resilient characters, who are as much a part of this unique landscape as the herons and the loons. Theirs is a simplier life, tied to the land and the water. The scenes, set in the natural world of upper Michigan, make you feel not only that you are there physically, but that you are experiencing the emotional, spiritual impact of such fragile beauty.
 
You will be rooting for Abby almost immediately, as she deals with the tragedy of her past and seeks the truth. That said, be aware that this book is not a mystery or a thriller. If you tear through it to get to the answers, you will miss the lovely elements of this special place and the kinship of the kind of community that we all long for.
 
A beautifully written love song to the wild elements in nature, the strength of friends and family, and to that fragile period of our lives when we are trying to understand who we are and who we can become.

[Janine · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a story of resilience and how nature can heal.

Abby returns to her family in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula to help her Uncle Dennis with mapping the woods, part of his ecological research. Abby is haunted by a fire she escaped from and returning to her home brings back the memories. As she works among the lush forest with its breathtaking beauty , she meets a girl named Seda with whom she grows close. But those crushing memories keep returning. Did she cause that fire?

While the book eventually helps answer that question, it is the magical realism in the book that brings the answer forward. I loved Abby and Seda. I also loved the beautiful descriptive writing of the Upper Peninsula environment, animals and landscape. These are both characters somewhat in the novel. They are important because it is nature that releases Abby to be her true self.

This book is for readers who love nature, stories of characters discovering themselves and beautiful writing.

I’d line to thank NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for allowing me to read this ARC.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting coming of age story about a young woman named Abby. Abby has come to spend the summer mapping out trees with her uncle, in her hometown where she experienced great tragedy. When she was 7 years old, she was found in the woods with a matchbook in her hand, as her home burned. Abby had spent her life questioning if she is the one who started the fire, and caused the loss of her mother. As the summer unfolds, Abby grows closer and closer to unlocking the memories of that night. All of this as Abby yearns for a love she feels she cannot have, and makes a friend who pushes her to look deeper at her past. I gave this book 3 stars, because while I enjoyed the setting and the idea for the story, the pacing felt all wrong. So much time was spent in a slow build up, and then a huge twist occurred, and then things went far too fast and hurried from there. I wish there had been more time after the twist, to explore what was going on. All in all though an interesting idea for a book written in a beautiful setting. I received an ARC, and this is my honest review.

[Vanessa Rodriguez · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the kind of novel that moves quietly but leaves a deep, lasting imprint. It makes you feel a sort of nostalgia through the narration. It’s rich storytelling.

Les Becquets writes with a true love for the natural world that feels so achy and meaningful . The landscapes aren’t just backdrops, they breathe, and reflect the inner lives of the characters. If you love immersive settings, this book delivers in a slow, cinematic way. if you’re drawn to character-driven stories especially ones that explore loneliness, memories, and survival, this will resonate deeply.

It’s thoughtful, a little haunting, deals with trauma and readers who don’t mind sitting with slow narratives that feel so real will love this.

Details :

* Literary fiction - Coming Of Age
* Wilderness and survival themes
* Introspective, character-driven narratives

[Francis M. Prensa · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was not what I expected. It starts off with a mystery: a little girl named Abby runs from her house while it’s on fire, and later in the story we learn that her mother died in the fire. That mystery hangs over Abby for years and becomes a major part of the story. She still has her father, but she ends up living with her uncle, and honestly, the way the story flows felt a little confusing to me at times.

This was definitely a slow-burn read, but unfortunately it didn’t hold my interest for long. I felt like the author kept repeating the same points over and over without the story really moving forward. Then another character and storyline were introduced, which made the pacing feel even slower for me.

I can absolutely see why other readers may enjoy this book, but sadly this one just wasn’t for me.