I had said before, while reviewing another of Ms. Hagan's books, that I like the way she puts enough history into her novels so you can learn some genuine facts as well as be entertained by the fictional story. Such was the case wit this book, as I learned some things about Native customs and culture, a little of what it was like for Native scouts, as well as those who were torn between two worlds, like the H, Howling Wolf, a.k.a. Luke, who was educated among white people, which made him a bit of an outsider in his Comanche tribe.
(This was even more so for his adopted mother Sunstar, a white woman kidnapped by the tribe after a wagon train massacre, where her husband and (so she thought) baby girl were killed. She was brought to the tribe to nurse baby Howling Wolf, whose mother had died, and she later became his father's wife as well as a medicine woman. It took her a while to adjust to her new life, but when she later had the opportunity to go free, she chose to stay with the Comanche, believing there was no longer a place for her in her former world.)
I also learned that the Cheyenne had their own newspaper, and lived in log cabins, or at least some of them did.
The novel centers around Jacie Calhoun a young southern woman in the mid 19thc who's considered a bit too nonconformist, as she's fond of riding fast horses and learning about Native American customs and medicines, knowledge gained from Mehlonga, an elderly shaman. Jacie's expected to settle down soon and marry Michael, her childhood sweetheart, but she's not sure she loves him. Everything is further complicated when her father dies and a long kept secret is revealed, sending Jacie on a search out west for her mother, accompanied partway by Mehlonga, who feels his tie is running out and wishes to die among his fellow Cherokee. Jacie has more than her share of adventures on her quest, and meets Native army scout Luke, not knowing he's her stepbrother, Howling Wolf.
As the story progresses, Jacie and Luke fall in love, they battle both white and native people, she's reunited with her mother, and pursued by Michael, who's determined to bring her back home. Jacie has to decide whose world she belongs in, and if she'll return to the life she's always known, or the one that awaits her in Mexico with Luke and his people.
I won't give away anymore details (and I've skipped a few things so as not to spoil this for anyone) but I will say that this book could have earned another star if it hadn't ended so abruptly. I've noticed this with all of Ms. Hagan's books that I've read: she starts all her stories in a way that captures your interest, continues to hold that interest, but then just seems to stop at the finish, as if she got tired of writing and just wanted to wrap things up ASAP. In this novel, it involved Michael doing a complete about face in the blink of an eye, which - considering his character - just didn't make sense. Naturally, you want a HEA, but you don't want to get hit in the head with it, either.
I also would have liked more time spent on Jacie and Sunstar, getting to know each other as mother and daughter, as well as have Jacie learn more about her mother's life among the Comanche, and with Luke's father. Jacie could have shared her knowledge of native herbal medicine with her mother, leaving open the possibility that she might take over as medicine woman someday. Instead, their time together was rushed, sacrificed to create a situation where Jacie and Luke are separated and Michael comes back into the picture. It seemed too forced, and so was Jacie's kidnapping by Zach, the former overseer who had a thing for her, and was encouraged by Michael's scheming cousin, who wants him to marry her daughter.
Too much time on unnecessary stuff, too little time on things that matter more, and way too abrupt an ending. Still a good book, but could have been better.