Review of Silver Thaw (Mystic Creek #1) by Catherine Anderson
Silver Thaw is the first book in the series Mystic Creek.
Amanda Banning has lived in fear of her husband for years, but she's gotten out intact and moved to Mystic Creek, Oregon, with her six-year-old daughter. Life is hard and they scrape by. To give herself hope, Amanda writes messages on slips of paper and sends them into the wind.
Jeb Sterling has been finding slips of paper on his land with the secret thoughts of a mystery woman. He wants to find her and help her after getting to know some of her secret desires.
A cold snap hits, and while Jeb is checking on neighbors, he discovers Amanda and her daughter huddled in their freezing house with the power out and busted pipes in below zero temperatures. He convinces Amanda that it's not safe for her to stay in the house and he has room and a backup generator, so she can stay with him until the power comes back on.
Amanda is terrified to trust a man, but there's something about Jeb. She's nearly given up hope for happiness, but Jeb is determined to give her everything.
I was not expecting to like this book so much. I'm a sucker for survivors finding happiness, so I knew it was possible I'd love it, but I was pleasantly surprised.
Amanda is a strong woman who sees herself too much through her husband's eyes after years of abuse. She'll praise her daughter to the skies, but talk down about herself. She won't accept Jeb's handouts and is stubborn about paying her own way. She's fierce, intelligent, and independent. A character it's easy to root for.
Jeb is a kind, gentle man who wants nothing more than to help. Once he realizes that Amanda is the note writer, he uses the knowledge he gained from her messages to provide for her. He sneaks his way around her stubbornness to provide things she needs and can't get for herself, like proper winter gear and more income. Once Amanda is completely homeless, he's able to convince her to accept more from him, including a place to live that's warm and safe.
Amanda's husband was the obvious Chekov's gun from the beginning. In a story about an abused woman on the run from her partner, the partner will always come for them in the end. He appeared earlier than I expected, and the way they easily made him go away again heightened the tension about when he'd be back. It was no longer expected that he'd just show up for the climax, but that he could show up at any moment. It was very well done. The climax wasn't what I expected it to be, and then the way it played out was far different than I thought when the sequence began.
The dialog was very natural. It got a little cheesy at times, but it wasn't over the top. Smooth and direct without being on-the-nose. The characters spoke very similarly, but they didn't blend together, which was good.
The conflict drove the story on, and while Jeb had almost no negative qualities, the back and forth between them about his help made up for that. He was an ideal man, especially for someone with Amanda's background, and developed a loving and supportive relationship with her daughter from the start. Amanda's stubbornness was both frustrating and understandable, and Jeb's sneakiness and white lies were devious and close to crossing boundaries while also being touching and sweet.
The descriptions were excellent, and I was delighted to have a good vision of all the locations described, even those only visited briefly. Minimal descriptions were efficient, and the descriptions came in organically so there would be no info dumps. Descriptions of people were also good, and I knew what each person looked like. Action sequences were easy to read and follow.
There are Christian themes, so an atheist may not enjoy it.
A wonderful book that I highly recommend.
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