Customer Reviews

Waltz With Me, Alaska

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This story will leave you wondering why you ever complained about anything in the first place!!!Donna a true pioneer and inspiration of the North will make you cry when she cries,and laugh when she laughs. A story about a couragious family with enough love and strength to accomplish anything!! A love and survival story of how a family survived a cruel winter in Bush Alaska building their dreams and their home in the sometimes -69 degrees below zero. You can do anything when you put your mind and heart into it!!! Thankyou for such a GREAT read!! Hope to see this story in lights!!

Lady Alaska, you are one incredible woman to endure it all in the name of pursuit of your dreams, to hold your family together, to see the injuries to your loved ones and get them through with only meager facilities. It was a story that painted a real picture. I have been there, as you know dearest high school classmate, to see the beautiful dancing lights at night, to see the beauty of winter, to drive the roads heaved from frost, and to feel the strong pull Alaska has on your heart forever. As we did in our youth, your children also did....had a unique experience that few will ever witness. Your written words made me laugh when you laughed, cry when you cried, felt pain when you were injured, and mourn when you lost your "Grizz"--the love of your life and your soulmate. I am so glad I bought this book and am so appreciative you shared your life with us readers. I hope to see this as a movie.....it certainly is deserving.

On any given Monday morning it crosses the minds of millions of Americans to just "tell the boss to keep his job, go home and sell everything absolutely unessential...then take the money and strike out for the adventure of a lifetime". That's exactly what Dick, Donna and their two children did...into the cold of interior Alaska. "Waltz With Me Alaska" is the story of their love for each other and their love for the most beautiful and unforgiving land God has created. It's also the story of struggles, heartbreak and the triumph of watching your dreams come true.
The story centers around their search for land and then their struggle to get a cabin constructed before winter began. They didn't make it. I sat in my home, 80 degrees outside, and felt like I was freezing to death with them (...)as the temperatures plumeted to 60, 70 and 80 below zero in Tok. Alaska. Food was running out, it looked like they might starve. Is this the 1800's? No, it's the 1970's!!!
"Waltz With Me Alaska" is a story of love, determination, good luck, bad luck and what it's REALLY like to leave the warm confines of our mundane lives....and strike out for the unknown to build a life and a dream.
I encourage you to read the book. Even if you decide to continue getting up on Monday morning and stare at the boss's smiling face, you'll know what it's like to break free, find your own corner of the world and then build a new life one log at a time.

Just when our kids thought we were crazy for moving to the mountains of N. Carolina to build a cabin, I find proof of another brazen family striving to bond with the wilderness-and in rugged Alaska! I'm almost ashamed to speak of our own obstacles after going along on the literary journey of the Bernhardt's adventure. The tale of her strapping husband, able-bodied children, and a mother's faith and energy that 'knows-not-defeat' nor fatigue was an incredible, selfless story to share with the world. This novel, full of heartaches, success and struggle, will fill the reader with hope for humanity. We all have our hardships that we endure, but sometimes we can help one another through tough experiences, even if it's only offering a kind word. Bless Donna and her wonderful family...

Chrissy K. McVay

author of 'Souls of the North Wind'

A "dream life" desired by a young family from Anchorage, Alaska becomes a story of survival, love, and a frontier spirit for the Bernhardt family in this remarkable book. Would you and I be able to complete this dream? Not I!

The hardships Donna, Dick, Ricky and Katherine endured are an inspiration. The book is impossible to put down once you have embarked on their journey. A book to be read and re-read, enjoyed and applauded!

I've had the privilage of meeting Donna Bernhardt, her daughter, Katherine married my son, Chris, in 1995. I also had the time of my life when I first went to Tok and got to experience the wood stove, outhouse,and staying in one of Donna's cabins, "Toms Cabin", to be pricise. I didn't get to meet Dick, but feel like I know alot more about him after reading "Waltz With Me, Alaska".This book is written so vividly, you can feel the cold, the pain and the love. I fell in love with Alaska at the begining of the book and cried at the ending. Good job, Donna North, can't wait to see the movie. Donna south

This is an incredible story of one family's true story of survival in an old M.A.S.H. type army tent during 13 months of the Alaskan winter, while they build their log cabin.

Donna is still in the cabin today and runs her Summer season Winter Cabin, a bed & breakfast, where guests stay in additional log cabins. She has been on TV and has had numerous books, poetry, children's books published, and also has written several screenplays, including one from this book.

I can't stress how much I enjoyed reading this book. It has many lessons on family love and bonding during adversity.

Donna is a gifted story teller. I felt the heart break they felt, lived the hardships with them and envied the experience they all had. Even knowing I could never do anything like that. Yes, I too love Alaska but I am not hardy enough to do what she and her family did. To face no electricity, no medical help, little or no heat and the ever present outhouse--in the cold dark night--no thanks. I honestly admire her.

The best family book I have read that tells it lke it was and still gives love, hope, caring and sharing a new meaning. An excellent read.

I enjoy true-life accounts of human endurance in extreme climates such as Alaska, the Antarctic, the Arctic, etc. It started when I read about Susan Butcher's experience on the Iditerod several years ago. Donna's book tops my list of great reads. It is honest and written from the heart as she did not hold back the emotional aspects of what she and her family endured. It not only relates all the facts, but you can almost imagine going where few would dare to tread in their horrific experience. It would make a great movie if the book lands in the right hands. I highly recommend this book, but be warned; you won't want to put it down till you're finished.

"Waltz With Me, Alaska" by Donna Blasor-Bernhardt is an outstanding book that will leave you in awe when you read it. I found myself from the very first chapter on thinking, "wow this book is amazing".

I had read "Pioneer Road" by Donna Blasor-Bernhardt so the fact that I enjoyed this book did not surprise me. This book and "Pioneer Road" Are both GREAT books.

After I read "Waltz With Me, Alaska" I looked up ( Donna Blasor-Bernhardt ) using the Yahoo search engine and found her web-site. I discovered that she has written other books and not surprised that she had been recognized for her writings.

The Book Description , Notes from the Publisher and the other previous reviews give information about the book. I can only add that this book is even better than I imagined that it would be. I hope it becomes a movie and I think it will. Thank you Donna Blasor-Bernhardt for sharing your story.