WALKS IN SHADOW

Author: Joyce Henderson ISBN: 0843955082 2/2005 HISTORICAL Publisher: DORCHESTER/Leisure
Time Period: Central Texas 1855 & 1860

He stood on a hill, wild, proud, fierce, as beautiful as Texas was brutal, and she wanted him with a yearning so intense, so primal, it took her breath. But even after the magnificent black stallion was captured, no one could break him. No one until Holden Walker. She knew he could gentle a horse, but was he the one who would help her wrest back control of the ranch, and show her that a woman could find soaring joy as well as heartbreak in a man's world?

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

I like reading Native American romances, but most have the same, or similar, plotlines. You know what I mean. Either the captive white woman falls in love with a brave and accepts his way of life, or the hero is a 'breed" and must prove himself to all the townsfolk before he and the heroine can shack up. There are also a few about a female Indian falling in love with a white male captive, but those are still pretty rare.

I am not saying some of those books aren't filled with some shockingly good scenes, or that a couple of them aren't in my "keeper" boxes. What I am saying is that I am grateful to Joyce Henderson for writing WALKS IN SHADOW, a completely different type of Native American Romance. One that reminds me a bit of the movie, Dances with Wolves.

Though I hoped for bit more tension between Samantha, the heroine, and Walker, the hero, there are unresolved issues and plenty of obstacles surrounding them, so the attraction must be in the background for the story to work. The romance is an intricate and crucial part of the story, but the secondary characters and Samantha's and Walker's internal struggles are more interesting than their unity, at times. I want them to be together, but I wonder when the next bad turn will come about.

Simply because this story is unique in its choice of hero, makes it a good read. It's also nice that the plot surprises and delights you with many well choreographed twists and turns. What a truly interesting take on what I thought was going to be the same old thing.

>Shannon Johnson