It is the spring of 1943. With a wedding and a cross-country move, Millie’s world is about to change forever.
If only her past could change with it.
Soon after the break of day, Bump will become Millie’s husband. And then, if all goes as planned, they will leave the rain-soaked fields of Mississippi and head for the wilds of the Colorado Rockies. As Millie tries to forget a dark secret, she hasn’t yet realized how drastically those past experiences will impact the coming days.
For most of Millie’s life, being free felt about as unlikely as the mountains moving. But she’s about to discover that sometimes in life, we are given second chances, and that the only thing bigger than her past … is her future.
Julie Cantrell is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of Into the Free, which won Christy Awards for Best Debut Novel and for Book of the Year 2013. Cantrell has served as editor-in-chief of the Southern Literary Review and is a recipient of the Mississippi Arts Commission Literary Fellowship. She and her family live in Mississippi, where they operate Valley House Farm.
My Impressions:
When Mountains Move is the sequel to Julie Cantrell’s debut novel, Into The Free. Into The Free won 2 Christy Awards in 2013 for Debut Novel and Book of The Year. I loved it and highly recommend it to anyone. (You can read my review HERE.) However, this novel, which takes place immediately following the end of Into The Free, never really captured me in the same way. I kept waiting for the magic that was present in the first novel to show up. But in the end When Mountains Move was just a predictable and unsatisfying read for me.
When Mountains Move begins with the marriage of Millie and Bump and their move to Colorado from Mississippi to start a horse breeding ranch for the rodeo they both work for. Due to the rape that takes place in book 1, Millie has trouble with intimacy with Bump. Add to that her pregnancy by the rapist, and you have a story in which deeply held secrets strive to destroy the future that Millie has hoped for.
As I stated earlier, When Mountains Move was a predictable novel. Bump and Millie’s marriage suffers from the secrets held by Millie. The neighboring rancher, Kat, is a temptation for Bump and a point of jealousy for Millie. The novel became very soap opera-ish for me. The character of Millie’s grandmother was a shining spot, though. And even though the ending resolved problems begun in book 1, it was predictable as well.
Although I didn’t enjoy When Mountains Move, many did. Please check out some reviews HERE to make your own decision. It got overwhelmingly positive reviews on Amazon.
(Thanks to the publisher for a copy of this novel. The opinions expressed are mine alone.)
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