To the Apaches, Daniella Blackwood was an adopted daughter, respected and cherished. To their shaman, the bold white streak in her hair made her special and her visions in the flames make her a woman of magic. Yet no magic could protect Daniella from the passion that sears her senses when she first meets Travis Colton.
To Arizona rancher Travis Colton, the mysterious Daniella is his only chance at rescuing his son. Travis and his ten-year-old son were captured by a band of Cochise's warriors. Left for dead, Travis managed to make his way home, determined to do whatever it takes to get his son back.
Travis and Daniella's quest together will take more than magic; it will take a passion neither is ready to handle.
Romance novelist Janis Reams Hudson was born in California, grew up in Colorado, lived in Texas, but has called central Oklahoma home for most of her adult life. What little time she does not spend writing and researching her next book Janis spends helping other writers and volunteering her time to various writers' organizations. Janis lives in Choctaw, Oklahoma, with her husband Ron, and various cats, ducks, and sheep.
The girl:Daniella Blackwood. She's spent the last three or so years back east getting a feminine edumacation and on her way back to her father's Arizona ranch. The stage she's on is set upon by a band of Apaches and I guess you can kind of guess what she went through back at camp before they left her for dead. But lo and behold - there was some weird bolt of lightning that tore through the camp, left her with a streak of white in her hair and the Apache shaman pronounced her some kind of magic being to be adopted into their tribe and treated as a beloved daughter by the head honcho himself - Cochise.
And you know what, after all the nasty things they did to her at first (and it was some nasty stuff they did), she loved them right back. In a month's time. For realz guyz.
The guy: Thirty something Travis Colton's young son was kidnapped by a band of Apache while they were travelling west via stagecoach, but unlike Daniella's father who gave her up for dead, he's never given up the search for his boy. Daniella sees the boy in her visions in the candle flames, knows where he is (her *new* Apache family) and tells Travis she'll take him there.
No surprise, but Travis thinks Daniella's pretty hot, but he's an understanding guy and gives her all the time she needs to get over being raped and abused. Why she freaks out over attentions from a white man when she's now old BFF with the tribe that abused her and left her for dead I'll never understand...
Obtained as a Kindle freebie. Sorry I wasted my time. Lots of OTT silly baddies, too much would you two just please talk to each other, until they finally do talk and then it's just tons of TMI sex scenes, and oh that one at the very end after being rescued. Ewwww. . Ewwwww.
Another GR review says this book is over-the-top, but over-the-top was exactly what I was looking for. I am completely satisfied with this read.
Travis Colton barely survived an Indian attack but his beloved son, Matt, was whisked away by the Apache. Travis won't rest until he retrieves his only child from the wilds of the Arizona territory.
Daniella Blackwood has been through some shit. She continues to go through some shit. My hat's off to her for refusing to allow Life to grind her into dust. If you're going through Hell, keep going.
The Apache call Daniella 'Woman of Magic' ever since she was struck by lightning and given psychic powers. (Just go with it.) Dani's latest visions have been of Matt and she feels called to aide Travis in his hunt for his son. In fact if you turn your head at an angle you could look at this book as an origin story. Daniella is given superpowers and rushes in to save people she doesn't know. Travis is her faithful sidekick watching her back. Tucker the Prospector is the Alfred of the group, keeping the homefires burning back at the batcave ranch.
Daniella and Travis retrieve Matt kind of early in the story, but don't worry, there are still wagonloads of trials and tribulations for this couple to go through. There are more children to be rescued, numerous knife fights to be had, toxic parents to be dealt with, scheming ex-lovers to be thwarted, prejudice to be stood up to, squatters to be run off, PTSD to be overcome, and mystic prophecies to be fulfilled.
The next time I get a craving for crazysauce, Janis Reams Hudson will be one of my go-to authors.
This book was exactly what I had been looking for! Authors do not write books much like this one anymore. It was a wonderful very much needed find! I loved every moment of it, cover to cover!
I found this book to be very enjoyable, though the believability of certain circumstances were a bit of a stretch. It was a bit of a stretch to believe that someone who went through such a traumatic experience (abduction, brutal beatings, and repeatedly raped) would be able to get over it as quickly as Daniella did, but hey, that's why they call it fiction, right?
Aside from that, I didn't have any issues with the book, and I look forward to reading the sequel Apache Promise in the coming days.
On an unrelated note, I always enjoy discovering new authors from my home state, and was pleased to discover that Ms. Hudson is among them. I look forward to reading more of her work in the future.
If Native American romance is one of your guilty pleasures, you will likely enjoy this novel.
I read this book in paperback format some years ago. The change of format did nothing to detract from the story. I enjoyed reading it every bit as much this time.
The book is well written, characters developed and the storyline interesting. I sympathized with Dani over the way she was treated by her father upon her return after being captured by the Apaches, however I'm sure that this is what happened in some cases. I enjoyed the way her relationship with Travis developed. I'm hoping to read the other books (don't think I ever did before)as I'm interested in seeing what happens to the other characters from this book. I enjoyed the use of well known Indian chiefs in the book.
I have read many, many historical western romance novels and enjoyed this one very much. The characters were well developed and very believable. This story progressed quickly and held my interest to the very end. Looking forward to reading the next book in this series.
Nice western. Hard to believe with the heroine being brutally raped and falling in love so soon. I liked the characters and think I might purchase the next in the series.