Title: Moon in the Water
Author: Elizabeth Grayson
Copyright: 2004
Genre: Historical Romance
Publisher: Bantam Books
Setting: United States–1867, St. Louis, Missouri and along the Missouri River
Part of a series? No, this is a stand-alone novel.
Grade: B+
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Ann Rossiter is pregnant and her stepfather is set on finding her a husband. Commodore James Rossiter, Ann’s stepfather, owns a shipping line headquartered in St. Louis. He offers a captaincy and ownership of his newest stern-wheeler to Chase Hardesty in exchange for marrying his stepdaughter. At first Chase and Ann are both resistant to this plan, but Chase changes his mind when he steps aboard the Andromeda.
I had a real feeling by the end of this book for life on a riverboat on the Missouri River in the 1800s. Elizabeth Grayson does a great job of evoking a setting and bringing it to life.
She does the same thing for the characters she writes about. As the story opens it is obvious Ann Rossiter is a troubled young woman with many secrets. She is pregnant and without a husband. She doesn’t want her stepfather’s solution–a husband he finds for her. She wants to get away from him, but she has already run away once and the Commodore found her and brought her back to St. Louis. He isn’t going to let her leave on her own. She finally gives in to his plans and marries Chase Hardesty.
Chase is a young man who dreams of being a riverboat captain, but he comes from humble beginnings. He doesn’t believe he will ever captain his own boat. Yet he has enough integrity to give Ann a choice about this marriage…until he steps aboard the new steamer. Then he decides he must have the Andromeda and marries Ann despite her protests. He rationalizes he will be a good husband to her, but at first she is unwilling to forgive him. Chase means to buy a house for her as soon as returns to St. Louis after the Andromeda’s maiden run. Ann has other plans though—she realizes she is married and can leave St. Louis with her husband on the Andromeda. Chase is irritated when Ann comes aboard the steamer, but grows to appreciate her presence—though he still plans to ship her back to St. Louis when he gets a chance. However, they make connections with each other and when Ann assures him her pregnancy isn’t too far along she stays aboard.
The secrets they keep from each other—especially Ann’s—become annoying. I understand why she keeps her secrets, but it goes on a little too long for my patience. I liked most other aspects of this book—the other characters were well-drawn and played important parts to the plot. As I mentioned above the setting was excellent and well-drawn. I wish more books were written with a historical United States setting.
Elizabeth Grayson doesn’t appear to be writing historical romances anymore. Moon in the Water is the first book I’ve read by her and I will look for her backlist. She did publish a contemporary book under a different name after this book was written, but that was several years ago. I can’t tell for sure from her website if she has another book coming out.
This book is my review for the TBR Day series. I have had the book for several years after I read good reviews about it. I’m glad I finally read it! I’m writing this review on my laptop in the car as my husband and I drive to Washington, D.C.! We are going to stop in West Virginia somewhere so I can find a spot to get on the Internet!
