tl;dr: a great story about native peoples and culture that I really enjoyed
The Story:
Naomi lives a solitary life, and has taken some time from her busy jewelry business to spend some time alone in the Colorado mountains. Unfortunately, her relaxing vacation is cut short when two escaped cons from a nearby prison accost her and assault her. She manages to get away, but falls and injures herself. She’s found the next day by Chaska, who is an emergency rescuer, his sister, and their “pet” wolf.
Chaska and his sister are members of the Lakota Nation, and slowly, Naomi begins to realize her roots are there, too. The story from there involves a lot of interesting aspects of tribal customs and ceremonies. Naomi gets a lot of questions about her past and future answered, along with the eventual capture of the two cons and a run-in with parts of Naomi’s past that she’d rather not revisit.
Technical Elements:
The most interesting thing about this story to me was that there wasn’t just one simple plot arc to follow. There were many threads that weaved concurrently around the two central characters, and the whole story was completely wonderful.
I am not native nor associated with native people, so I can’t speak to the book’s general sensitivity to and about native peoples. It seemed pretty well-rounded and not racist, but I don’t feel like I’m a good judge of that. If the Lakota phrases and customs are real, then I think it’s very interesting. There is an author’s note in the final pages that explains the author’s relationship to the Lakota nation that was also interesting.
Final Thoughts:
I really enjoyed all the aspects of this book, and the romance part of it was no exception. Chaska and Naomi were hot hot hot. I loved their romance and the love and friendship that developed between them. Just an altogether wonderful story and I look forward to reading more of this author’s work.
Find it at your local library!
For other books with cults, try Adriana Anders’ In His Hands. Read my review!