HEART'S BONDAGE

Author: Nancy Henderson ISBN: 0975588834 4/2005 HISTORICAL Publisher: DRAGON FLY PUBLISHING
Time Period: American Colonies 1776

Believing she has killed Chance Stoker, the man who kept her in servitude for many years, Jessie McCrea flees to the frontier with her brother. Scarred both inside and outside, all she wants is a life of peace and solitude. A Mohawk warrior haunted by the past, his wounded heart closed to love, Shadow tries to keep his people from being destroyed during the War of Independence between the colonists and the English. Catching up with Jessie, Chance shoots her and then leaves her to die alone in the woods. Near death, she is found by Shadow who reluctantly takes her back to his village.... Can two wounded hearts find healing within love's web?

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

Jessie McCrea, an Irish immigrant, is given into servitude by her drunk father, to a very abusive Chance Stoker, a lieutenant in the English army. When her brother, Dillian, arrives to take her away, she strikes Chance as he tries to stop her. She believes she has killed him.

Dillian and Jessie decide to start over on the farm he has purchased in New York, but with the onset of the American Revolutionary War, the peace and harmony they both crave isn't possible.

While exploring the wood near their farm, Jessie meets a Mohawk, Shadow, that accuses her of trespassing. After years of physical and mental abuse from Chance, Jessie decides no man will push her around again. She stands up to Shadow, cracking the ice he has put his in heart after the death of his wife, Fawn. Shadow is attracted and intrigued by Jessie.

When Chance finds Jessie alone in her cabin, he asks her to marry him and return to his home in Boston. When she refuses, he begins to beat her. As she flees from him, he shoots her, then leaves her for dead. Shadow's former mother-in-law, Willow, finds Jessie and takes her to their Mohawk village to heal and adopt her as her daughter. When Shadow finds Jessie unconscious in his bed, he wants a second chance at love. But can two people from different cultures find happiness?

HEART'S BONDAGE is a good story of two wounded hearts healing to be one strong love. Ms. Henderson does a great job showing the prejudices during the American Revolution between Indians, Redcoats, and the Colonists. Love between Shadow and Jessie is accepted in his world, but forbidden in hers.

Shadow is a warrior that has seen what war can do his to family, and wants to stay neutral instead having his tribe caught between the Redcoats and Colonists. Jessie is torn between the love for her brother and her new found love, Shadow, and her adopted family.

HEART'S BONDAGE will tug at your heart strings as Jessie learns to trust in Shadow's love.

Debbie "DeeKay" Gilbert