SAVAGE COURAGE

Author: Cassie Edwards ISBN: 0843952709 2/2005 HISTORICAL Publisher: DORCHESTER/Leisure
Time Period: Arizona 1888

Lovely Shoshana had been ripped from the arms of her Apache people to be raised as a white woman, far from the rushing waters and soaring mountains she had known as a child. But when she returned to the Arizona Territory, a perplexing dream began to haunt her; a vision of a golden eagle carrying her mother to safety and beckoning her home. Whether her mother was still alive or not, Shoshana knew she must answer the mysterious call. Ignoring her adoptive father's warnings that the hills hid wild animals, a vicious scalp hunter and a Chiracahua chief bent on seeking justice for a long-ago massacre, she set out to explore the place of her birth. But would she find the woman who'd been shot down before her very eyes, the man who would gladly kill her for her flowing blue-black hair, or the legendary warrior whose honor was admired even in Fort Chance, and whose bronzed good looks were surpassed only by his...Savage Courage.

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

Very rarely do I ever read a book in which I absolutely, without a doubt, LOVE both the hero and the heroine. In SAVAGE COURAGE that was not hard for me to do at all. Shoshana and Storm were so incredibly strong, even through all of the hardships that they went through. Part of me wanted to cry seeing how harshly these people were treated, and yet another part of me knew that they would be just fine.

Storm is one of the most wonderful heroes that I have read about in a long time. He is strong, caring, faithful, extremely practical and just what Shoshana needs. She trusts him implicitly from their first meeting because he is just the type of man you trust without asking a single question. All through the book that stands true for Storm. He is trustworthy in all situations and truthful even if it means hurting someone that he loves.

Shoshana is a little more complicated because of the life that she has led. Being a full-blooded Apache raised in a white man's world, she is very sure that she wants to live as an Apache and find her birth mother, and yet at times seems to be truly confused over this overlapping of two worlds. It is nice to watch her grow as a woman and become accepted by Storm and his band of Apaches.

The only gripe that I had with this book was that, at times, it seems a little too unreal. There were times when things happened a bit too fast for my taste and it left me kind of wondering...what? I felt that it detracted slightly from the book. But those times were few and far between, so they did not ruin the story for me. This truly is a wonderful book and you will want to read it from start to finish once you begin.

Kristal Gorman