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Dreamcatcher #1
Running Fox
Forced by her evil stepfather to sing nightly at his seedy saloon and participate in his whiskey trading scheme, Nancy Partain, looking for a way to escape, is kidnapped by a virile Lakota warrior who, using her as leverage, is determined to stop her stepgather from corrupting his people. Original.
336 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published December 5, 2006
1 person is currently reading
351 people want to read
About the author
Cassie Edwards
163 books419 followersEdwards began writing romances in 1982 and released her 100th novel, Savage Skies, on August 28, 2007. Although her earlier books were classic historical romances, the vast majority of her novels involve Native American tribes. Edwards's grandmother was a full-blooded Cheyenne. Her first 99 books sold a combined 10 million copies as of August 2007, with her more recent novels averaging sales of 250,000–350,000 copies.
Edwards has won the Romantic Times Lifetime Achievement Award and the Romantic Times Reviewer's Choice Award, as well as being named one of Affaire de Coeur's top ten favorite romance writers. Edwards has a reputation for meticulously researching the proper anthropological backgrounds of each tribe she writes about.
Edwards and her husband Charles, a retired high school biology teacher, have been married for over 50 years. They have two sons, Charles and Brian, and three grandchildren. The family lived in St. Louis, Missouri for over thirty years, but now reside in Mattoon, Illinois.
Edwards has won the Romantic Times Lifetime Achievement Award and the Romantic Times Reviewer's Choice Award, as well as being named one of Affaire de Coeur's top ten favorite romance writers. Edwards has a reputation for meticulously researching the proper anthropological backgrounds of each tribe she writes about.
Edwards and her husband Charles, a retired high school biology teacher, have been married for over 50 years. They have two sons, Charles and Brian, and three grandchildren. The family lived in St. Louis, Missouri for over thirty years, but now reside in Mattoon, Illinois.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
June 18, 2017
I read this ages ago (at least I think it was this one) and thought it was really silly. I know - I should have known what I was in for based on the cover and the summary. What I learned is that, while I appreciate a few aspects of the romance genre, it definitely isn't one I choose from often (side note: I think I picked this one out because it had "fox" in the title, and I like foxes... I figured it was as good a reason as any). Those who love romance seem to like this one well enough, though, so take my criticism with a grain of salt. ;P
February 28, 2024
This certainly was a cute and fluffy romance and that's what I needed. It was a quick and light read and I got it done in a day and a half. There was did seem to be a couple dark reminders in there - whites taking advantage of the Native and how alcohol has and will destroy many lives. I certainly didn't expect Whiskey Joe (Nancy's evil step-father) to be the only bad guy. In the end, he did prove to be quite the baddie and a madman.
Sometimes this did seem to be over the top of cute and fluffy. Oddly, there wasn't an abundance of smutty scenes. Not complaining...but it was odd. There was more kissy-face and lots of talk of loving each other. More talk then action in this. It was cute...but got a little annoying, because it was pretty much copy and paste of previous talks they had. Meh.
The characters were okay. Running Fox was your a-typical Historical Romance man character. Loving, but a man's man. It did seem odd that he fell in love the moment he saw her. There was not much of a fight there...that was part of the motivation of kidnapping Nancy to begin with. Yes, he wanted revenge and he wanted to teach Whiskey Joe the errors of his ways, but c'mon...he even admitted that he fell in love with her the moment he seen her. I liked him though. I wish he was more complex and not so 2D, but oh well.
Now Nancy...I had mixed feelings with her. At the beginning and middle, I really liked her. She's very beautiful and she can sing and she has a brave, but loving heart. Perfect in almost everyway. BUT she has to wear glasses. LOVED the fact that without them, she was lost. She couldn't see worth a damn. She was humble. However, a certain event happened, which seems TOTALLY not possible; maybe a one in one million chance. It ruined it. I was not happy. *SPOILER ALERT* The author took the one major flaw that made me like this character. Nancy just happens to slip and fall and hit her head on a rock. She comes to and she can freakin' see perfect. 20/20. WHAT ARE THE CHANCES????? *END OF SPOILER* I couldn't keep it in. I had to rant a little bit about that event.
In the end, this was certainly a cute and fluffy romance. More kissy-face and words, then actual dirty stuff. It was there, but not what is normal for these type of books. I liked it. Even though the kissy-face got annoying from time to time, it was a nice change. I liked the baddie, he certainly was a baddie and a madman too boot. The other characters were alright too. I would recommend this to those that like Historical Romance and for those looking for a nice cute, light, and fluffy book to read. Out of five stars, I shall stamp this with...ummmm....3.
Favorite Character(s): Nancy, Whiskey Joe (just because he was a good baddie) Tiny Doe, Soft Star, and Running Fox
Not-so Favorite Character(s): Carole (Nancy's madre. Just ugh.)
**PS - Doesn't the guy on the cover look like a super tan and buff version of James Franco????**
Sometimes this did seem to be over the top of cute and fluffy. Oddly, there wasn't an abundance of smutty scenes. Not complaining...but it was odd. There was more kissy-face and lots of talk of loving each other. More talk then action in this. It was cute...but got a little annoying, because it was pretty much copy and paste of previous talks they had. Meh.
The characters were okay. Running Fox was your a-typical Historical Romance man character. Loving, but a man's man. It did seem odd that he fell in love the moment he saw her. There was not much of a fight there...that was part of the motivation of kidnapping Nancy to begin with. Yes, he wanted revenge and he wanted to teach Whiskey Joe the errors of his ways, but c'mon...he even admitted that he fell in love with her the moment he seen her. I liked him though. I wish he was more complex and not so 2D, but oh well.
Now Nancy...I had mixed feelings with her. At the beginning and middle, I really liked her. She's very beautiful and she can sing and she has a brave, but loving heart. Perfect in almost everyway. BUT she has to wear glasses. LOVED the fact that without them, she was lost. She couldn't see worth a damn. She was humble. However, a certain event happened, which seems TOTALLY not possible; maybe a one in one million chance. It ruined it. I was not happy. *SPOILER ALERT* The author took the one major flaw that made me like this character. Nancy just happens to slip and fall and hit her head on a rock. She comes to and she can freakin' see perfect. 20/20. WHAT ARE THE CHANCES????? *END OF SPOILER* I couldn't keep it in. I had to rant a little bit about that event.
In the end, this was certainly a cute and fluffy romance. More kissy-face and words, then actual dirty stuff. It was there, but not what is normal for these type of books. I liked it. Even though the kissy-face got annoying from time to time, it was a nice change. I liked the baddie, he certainly was a baddie and a madman too boot. The other characters were alright too. I would recommend this to those that like Historical Romance and for those looking for a nice cute, light, and fluffy book to read. Out of five stars, I shall stamp this with...ummmm....3.
Favorite Character(s): Nancy, Whiskey Joe (just because he was a good baddie) Tiny Doe, Soft Star, and Running Fox
Not-so Favorite Character(s): Carole (Nancy's madre. Just ugh.)
**PS - Doesn't the guy on the cover look like a super tan and buff version of James Franco????**
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 28, 2024
Super simple. Simple plot. Simple characters. Simple writing style. Simple spice scenes that are ridiculously short and quite vague overall. Simple deus ex machina solutions to problems.
My plans to try other books in the series have been scratched. There is nothing wrong with this book if you want to read something that feels like it's from the 80s romance genre, with a progressive view on indigenous people for that time period. It is, however, originally published in 2006. I have no idea if the lands, traditions, etc are fully accurate, but since I do not plan to proceed with more from the series, I'm not going to deep dive into research for it.
Anyhow, let's go forth with the spoilers!
Running Fox is a fair, loving, man's man and Nancy is a highly compliant doormat of a woman who's dream in life is to be a wife and mother. Trying to keep to time period this was supposed to take place in fixed within my mind I barely controlled my need for fake retching.
Pretty much view this whole review as a spoiler if you don't want a lot of plot details from this point on.
There was near insta-love on Running Fox's part. Sure he kidnaps Nancy to teach her evil stepfather a lesson....but he had some sort of major crush on her before he even came up with the idea. So did Nancy for the most part. Only she was initially attracted to his voice, since she couldn't see him.
So Nancy's stepfather keeps selling whiskey (hence "Whiskey Joe") to young members of the tribes in the area of his Tavern...palace....drinking establishment complete with stage, despite multiple warnings from the tribes authority figures to stop. One being Running Fox, a 26 year old chief of a Lakota tribe. Seems young, but whatever. Running Fox and others are SUPER lenient on him for repeatedly breaking his promise to stop trading whiskey for pelts from young tribe members. Even when said tribe members do horrible acts such as r*ping a woman in their tribe.
Running Fox is the only one who takes things a step further by getting Whiskey Joe to sell him a wagon full of whiskey barrels and then promptly dumping it into the river, and taking back his pelts as a more serious warning to Whiskey Joe. Of course the unusually dense man with the devil of greed whispering in his ear doesn't get the hint. So next logical step, kidnap his daughter who makes the whiskey runs with him. It is the most polite kidnapping I have ever read about.
He simply sneaks into the establishment (after scouting out the place and watching it for a few nights), covers her mouth and wakes her up, promising not to do anything to her if she just keeps quiet and comes along. The man even turns around and waits for her to dress warmly for her own kidnapping. Nancy, after the quickest of contemplating about just running away from both men all together, does as he asks, gets dressed and leaves with him.
Cue a lot of Nancy basically trying to please him so he won't send her back. She changes her looks (minus the glasses), what she wears, attempts to learn what she can in order to make herself useful to him. He in turn teaches her to rid and shoot. But this is all super vague (and glossed over for the most part) and Nancy is a natural, of course.
Back at the drinking establishment, Nancy's mother (who is a terrible mother really) is forced to take on her daughter's forced role of entertainer. Now let me be clear, her stepfather told her to and her own mother is the one basically making it happen as her daughter would repeatedly beg her to run away with her and stop forcing her to do such deplorable things. What does her mother think? At least Nancy couldn't see the men all lusting after her because she would take her glasses away from her before every performance. Excuse you mother dearest?
Later on her mother readily admits that she was worried her second husband was going to go into Nancy bedroom and "defile" her...and that he was abusive to her as well, but she never once thought to leave. If you knew he was such a horrible man, why would you subject yourself AND your daughter to such treatment? I REALLY didn't like Carole. But I guess I can see where Nancy gets her doormat tendencies from. But I digress.
Serious plot spoilers ahead.
The first deus ex machina is when Nancy slips and falls and BOOM magically doesn't need the glasses she has needed since a child in order to see her hand in front of her face. Wow...really? Glasses were the one thing that made Nancy slightly different from the standard Mary Sue, and the author takes that 'interesting' thing and tosses it out the window, making Nancy blend into the wallpaper that is the plethora of Mary Sues that came before her.
Second deus ex machina is Tiny Doe at the end of the book. The fact that this lovely little child would also randomly decide to break the rules set out by her chief, her mother and everyone else in the tribe is truly unbelievable. Something right out of something very wrong is how I think they put it in the book.
I won't even bother talking about the 'spice' too much because it is almost the most vague spice I have ever read that has a publishing date from the early 2000s. The author never deviates from calling it his 'manhood' and scenes are barely even a paragraph. I can't even remember if there are 2 or 3 of them written. But Nancy repeatedly says how wonderful he is and how happy and content she is in their life together. Repeatedly. Before and after marriage (I said marriage in my head like the priest from Princess Bride, btw)
All in all, I am completely indifferent to this book. It wasn't super romance grade terrible, but it definitely wasn't good. Again, personal opinion. Others may love it for their own reasons.
My plans to try other books in the series have been scratched. There is nothing wrong with this book if you want to read something that feels like it's from the 80s romance genre, with a progressive view on indigenous people for that time period. It is, however, originally published in 2006. I have no idea if the lands, traditions, etc are fully accurate, but since I do not plan to proceed with more from the series, I'm not going to deep dive into research for it.
Anyhow, let's go forth with the spoilers!
Running Fox is a fair, loving, man's man and Nancy is a highly compliant doormat of a woman who's dream in life is to be a wife and mother. Trying to keep to time period this was supposed to take place in fixed within my mind I barely controlled my need for fake retching.
Pretty much view this whole review as a spoiler if you don't want a lot of plot details from this point on.
There was near insta-love on Running Fox's part. Sure he kidnaps Nancy to teach her evil stepfather a lesson....but he had some sort of major crush on her before he even came up with the idea. So did Nancy for the most part. Only she was initially attracted to his voice, since she couldn't see him.
So Nancy's stepfather keeps selling whiskey (hence "Whiskey Joe") to young members of the tribes in the area of his Tavern...palace....drinking establishment complete with stage, despite multiple warnings from the tribes authority figures to stop. One being Running Fox, a 26 year old chief of a Lakota tribe. Seems young, but whatever. Running Fox and others are SUPER lenient on him for repeatedly breaking his promise to stop trading whiskey for pelts from young tribe members. Even when said tribe members do horrible acts such as r*ping a woman in their tribe.
Running Fox is the only one who takes things a step further by getting Whiskey Joe to sell him a wagon full of whiskey barrels and then promptly dumping it into the river, and taking back his pelts as a more serious warning to Whiskey Joe. Of course the unusually dense man with the devil of greed whispering in his ear doesn't get the hint. So next logical step, kidnap his daughter who makes the whiskey runs with him. It is the most polite kidnapping I have ever read about.
He simply sneaks into the establishment (after scouting out the place and watching it for a few nights), covers her mouth and wakes her up, promising not to do anything to her if she just keeps quiet and comes along. The man even turns around and waits for her to dress warmly for her own kidnapping. Nancy, after the quickest of contemplating about just running away from both men all together, does as he asks, gets dressed and leaves with him.
Cue a lot of Nancy basically trying to please him so he won't send her back. She changes her looks (minus the glasses), what she wears, attempts to learn what she can in order to make herself useful to him. He in turn teaches her to rid and shoot. But this is all super vague (and glossed over for the most part) and Nancy is a natural, of course.
Back at the drinking establishment, Nancy's mother (who is a terrible mother really) is forced to take on her daughter's forced role of entertainer. Now let me be clear, her stepfather told her to and her own mother is the one basically making it happen as her daughter would repeatedly beg her to run away with her and stop forcing her to do such deplorable things. What does her mother think? At least Nancy couldn't see the men all lusting after her because she would take her glasses away from her before every performance. Excuse you mother dearest?
Later on her mother readily admits that she was worried her second husband was going to go into Nancy bedroom and "defile" her...and that he was abusive to her as well, but she never once thought to leave. If you knew he was such a horrible man, why would you subject yourself AND your daughter to such treatment? I REALLY didn't like Carole. But I guess I can see where Nancy gets her doormat tendencies from. But I digress.
Serious plot spoilers ahead.
The first deus ex machina is when Nancy slips and falls and BOOM magically doesn't need the glasses she has needed since a child in order to see her hand in front of her face. Wow...really? Glasses were the one thing that made Nancy slightly different from the standard Mary Sue, and the author takes that 'interesting' thing and tosses it out the window, making Nancy blend into the wallpaper that is the plethora of Mary Sues that came before her.
Second deus ex machina is Tiny Doe at the end of the book. The fact that this lovely little child would also randomly decide to break the rules set out by her chief, her mother and everyone else in the tribe is truly unbelievable. Something right out of something very wrong is how I think they put it in the book.
I won't even bother talking about the 'spice' too much because it is almost the most vague spice I have ever read that has a publishing date from the early 2000s. The author never deviates from calling it his 'manhood' and scenes are barely even a paragraph. I can't even remember if there are 2 or 3 of them written. But Nancy repeatedly says how wonderful he is and how happy and content she is in their life together. Repeatedly. Before and after marriage (I said marriage in my head like the priest from Princess Bride, btw)
All in all, I am completely indifferent to this book. It wasn't super romance grade terrible, but it definitely wasn't good. Again, personal opinion. Others may love it for their own reasons.
February 9, 2022
The ending felt a bit rushed. Of course the villain had to make one last appearance before the end of the story. Exactly what one expects of an Edwards book.
September 28, 2022
I had read this book out of curiosity. I liked the story because of the drama and romance plus being set in the Dakotas. I thought the novel was somewhat interesting. It was okay but not a favorite.
February 1, 2016
This book from Cassie Edwards is full of adventure, excitement, danger, romance and even humor at times. This is all about a woman who runs away from her evil whisky drinking stepfather who wants her to suffer despite marrying her mother and she runs off and ends up meeting the leader of the Lakota tribe, the title character himself who shows her that never to be afraid of her stepfather and fall in love. I love this book so much and great writing, anyone new to her stories and or a longtime fan, this is for you!
January 30, 2021
Another Spellbinding story from Cassie Edwards. If you've enjoyed her other books you will love Running Fox and Nancy. Everyone has heard of evil step-mothers well in this you have an evil step-father! This book will keep you hooked until the end.
February 28, 2013
When it comes to Historical Romance Indian Novels...I love Cassie Edwards!! She is great!!! These books take you back in time and I mean literally...It's like your really there. This book was great...A must read and I bet you will become a reader of these books too...Blessed Be...Enjoy :)
February 1, 2009
I don't know how many times I have pick this book up to read?
I love this book! Never gets to old!
I love this book! Never gets to old!
March 1, 2010
I think my bff said it best: so bad it snarks itself. DNF; could only be handled in short doses.
January 17, 2008
I love these stories it makes me fell like im there in the storie
i love how she writes
i love how she writes
August 6, 2018
Book 1 of 3 in the Dreamcatcher series. Did not put this book down. read it straight through.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews