Her innocent beauty conquered his iron reserve . . .
The Chieftain
Proud but with a heavy heart, Shanaco fulfills his grandfather's dying wish by leading the last of their Comanche tribe to the safety of the reservation at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. He vows to stay only long enough to ensure the fair treatment of his people. Until . . . he sees a beautiful, flame-haired woman who instantly touches his heart.
The Teacher
Defiant and headstrong, Maggie Bankhead has left the security of her Virginia home for the adventure of the Western frontier. Teaching English on the reservation proves more rewarding than anything she's ever done and she vows to stay at Fort Sill forever. Until . . . she meets the handsome, bronze-skinned warrior with the striking silver eyes that look right into her lonely soul.
Brought together in a dangerous land where there are no rules, Shanaco and Maggie will discover a love powerful enough to forge a destiny of their own . . .
Nancy Henderson is the middle daughter of a Texas rancher and postmaster. She's been married for many years to Joe Ryan, a television executive. Hisoccupation has taken them from border to border and coast to coast. Fortunately, writing is something that can be done anywhere - and Nan shouldknow. The Ryans have lived in Washington, California, New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, Missouri, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, and their own home state of Texas. Nan says it was fun to move around the country and honestly believes that it has helped her writing. The library and the Internet offer a great deal of information on any given place, but there is nothing quite likeactually living in a locale where a book is set.
She began her writing career in 1981. She flirted with writing mysteries, but never finished any. Then, as fate would have it, she saw an article in Newsweek magazine entitled "From Bedroom to Boardroom." It was an interesting story on the women who were writing romance novels. Nan was intrigued. She had never read a romance. She bought a couple, read them, and knew she'd found her calling. She sat down at the Smith Corona typewriter and began her own romance. The first one never left her house. It is burieddeep in a trunk and Nan says it will never be shown to anyone. Her second book sold and she's been writing since. Twenty-two romance novels later, shestill enjoys writing and realizes she's been blessed to have found what she loves to do.
The winner of numerous awards, Nan Ryan says one of the nicest things ever written about her was printed in the St. Petersburg Times. Correspondent AnnV. Hull wrote: "Romance novelist Nan Ryan could step right into the pages of one of her paperbacks. Tall and slender, with smokey eyes and pearly skin,Nan Ryan looks like movie star Jessica Lange's older sister. Ryan writes the most imaginative and bold love scenes, some of which would surely shock herformer teachers at Abilene Christian University."
Antes de llegar a la mitad ya tenía clarísimo que era un libro del montón pero si esperaba que en algún momento mejorara me vi defraudada a medida que iba avanzando en su lectura. Empieza más o menos bien pero casi iba por la mitad y aparte de un par de miradas recalcando lo mucho que se atraían el uno al otro y un par de frases que puedes contar con los dedos de una mano no había pasado nada, a partir de ahí empiezan a pasar cosas pero lejos de mejorar la lectura empeora.
Situaciones absurdas especialmente para la época, diálogos que tampoco tienen sentido en 1875 en pleno oeste américano. Cosas como "nena" o "cachonda" no estaban en su vocabulario, y por si no lo pudiera fastidiar más la autora al final se le ocurre hacer una cosa estúpida con Papá Noel en 1875!! No contenta con eso, se le ocurre la genial idea de decir que el pobre de Revólver llevaba un "gorro de Papá Noel". Vamos que no le pongo menos puntuación porque no puedo.
A disappointing novel especially after reading the glowing reviews for it. The story itself is alright but the dialog is what killed it. It doesn’t “sound” like a frontier/western kind of romance. The hero was calling the heroine “baby” all the time which given how the other characters spoke rang totally false. It was hard to picture this imposing Indian chieftain, even though he was partially raised and educated in a white society, saying “baby”. Neither of them spoke like frontier settlers --it could have almost been a contemporary story which ruins a novel IMO. The scenery, setting and fort life are well illustrated but without the dialog the book just falls flat. It’s like a poorly edited book.
At the beginning Shanaco, the Indian hero, was very aloof around Maggie, the school mistress heroine, even though he really wanted to be with her. It took the two of them FOREVER it to get together which made me lose interest when they finally did get together --we’re talking barely even a kiss for pages and pages. There’s too much filler around their brief encounters, which I think was done to build tension but in the end served only to annoy the reader. There are too many stereotypical things that happen too –like the annoying pretty girl that all the men fall for crying rape, the proud Indian that gets beaten within an inch of his life, “amazing” escapes etc etc. The reader knows what’s going to happen and how the book will progress without even reading on. Some authors have the skill to include these things and make them seem new or at least with a different twist but unfortunately this author made it an eye-rolling-sigh-sigh-here-we-go-again read.
The steam though in this novel is what saves it (but it still doesn’t make it worth lugging through the rest). There’s some borderline erotica here which was quite surprising given how the author wrote the rest of the story.
“Chieftain” has a great cover and title but don’t be fooled by either because it’s not that great of a book the way you’re led to believe.
I picked this up because the hero is a half-breed Comanche who lives at Fort Sill, Oklahoma -- just like my hubby!! I "never" read romance novels but, for that alone, it was worth the buck and a few days' time.
I was pleasantly surprised that the story wasn't as formulaic as the ones I read in high school. The plot was actually plausible. The only thing that really bugged me was the overuse of adjectives and adverbs but, overall, the pages turned quickly and effortlessly.
The crazy thing is that you eventually learn that the family name of Shanaco's white ancestors is "Cooper" -- JUST LIKE MY HUBBY!!
If the heroine resembled me at all, I'd have to sue the author! As it is, I'll just keep the book on my shelf and maybe pretend that I'm a young redhead with a great bod once in a while...
A really good read. I really enjoyed the characters and their strength (most of them anyhow). This was good...and aggravating...and kept me interested. I didn't realize some things and I would definitely like to know more. There were emotions, great story line, good characters, exasperation, some times a good smack was definitely called for for some certain 'people', and a great HEA. Definitely worth another read and a keeper. Enjoy!
This book tells the story of an indigenous man and the white woman who came to love him. It depicts the racist attitudes of the time but I am not an expert and can't really speak to the accuracy of it all. I enjoyed reading it but don't want to give it a rating as I don't feel qualified to judge the historical details fully.
“Aquila Nera” di Nan Ryan è un romanzo che esplora temi profondi come l’identità, l’accettazione e il conflitto culturale attraverso la storia di Shanaco, noto anche come Aquila Nera. Il personaggio di Aquila Nera è particolarmente affascinante: essendo un mezzosangue, si trova a dover navigare tra due mondi, spesso in conflitto tra loro, ma cerca di trovare un senso di appartenenza e di scopo nella riserva di Fort Still. La figura di Maggie, la giovane maestra che rispetta e non teme Aquila Nera, aggiunge un ulteriore strato di complessità alla narrazione. La loro relazione, che si sviluppa nel contesto di una riserva indiana, offre una prospettiva unica sull’amore e sul rispetto reciproco al di là delle differenze culturali. Il romanzo è ben scritto, con personaggi ben sviluppati e una trama che cattura l’attenzione del lettore. In definitiva, “Aquila Nera” è una lettura avvincente e illuminante che affronta questioni importanti con sensibilità e intelligenza.
I love author Nan Ryan! Her books are divine! This one started out great for the first half but sort of fizzled out during the second half. I wish it was more detailed and action packed like her others. However, It is still a nice read.
It’s so oddly written that i can’t finish it 😭 every page she keeps calling him “mixed blood”, “half blood” “half breed” ect its really weird😭 its so fetishizing of his race and the rest is poorly written too
The Chieftain's sex scenes with OW in the first chapter were really unnecessary in my opinion. All right, I understand why the author put them in there, but they are a big NO NO in a romance book imo.
Some of the dialogues were a bit too 'contemporary', which I disliked; however, the setting and characters were not bad at all. Maggie, the main female character, is a very independent and likeable character who likes speaking her mind and she is also fearless. Chieftain is a likeable character as well, but not as much as Maggie.
All in all, it was an okay read.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.