Strong Heart

Strong Heart #1

by Charlie Sheldon

"...rife with secrets and hidden depths." - Kirkus ReviewsOne stormy May night, just as Tom Olsen is about to leave with his Native American friends to visit his grandfather's grave deep in Washington State's Olympic Peninsula wilderness, he answers a knock at his door to find an abandoned thirteen year old girl. The girl announces her name is Sarah Cooley and that Tom is her grandfather. She tells Tom he lives at the end of the earth. All she sees is dripping forest, tall trees, rain and wind. Astonished, all Tom sees is trouble. He knows he should cancel the trip and deal with Sarah, but when his friends suggest bringing Sarah along, Tom reluctantly agrees, hoping a backpacking trip might teach Sarah some sorely needed lessons about character, responsibility and grit.All too soon, Tom and his friends have reason to wonder - are they taking Sarah Cooley on this journey, or is she taking them? Adventure, scientific inquiry, a tinge of mystery, and a hint of the unexplainable infuse this meticulously-imagined tale. In a story matching the breathtaking scope of its Pacific Northwest and North Pacific setting, Sheldon's tale startles, yet challenges us to think.

Genres: Fiction, Fantasy

269 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 5, 2017

About the author

Lives in the Pacific Northwest. Ancient, nearly. Survived as a commercial fisherman, consultant, fisherman again, port planner, port construction manager, executive, port director, then ordinary seaman, able bodied seaman, boatswain's mate...Kids grown. When home he cooks for his wife, hikes in the Olympic mountains in Washington State, and continues to write tales....

Reviews

[Antonella · Rating 3 out of 5]

2,5 stars
there is so much dialogue but in the end I felt they didn't say enough...
how did that happen I don't know but this writing wasn't working out for me...

[Marilyn · Rating 1 out of 5]

The author obviously had a good amount of knowledge and a great passion for the things he writes about in this novel --- ancient peoples, conservation, nature, modern tribes, hiking, fishing, the Olympic Peninsula. Unfortunately, the novel is not very good. The characters are mostly one-dimensional, often difficult to know or like. The dialogue is not credible, and much of the book is marred by what sounds like (but what is certainly not intended to be) a crude mockery of the speech of indigenous people. Why would ancient people speak like a caricature of Indians from bad movies? There are long expository passages about ice ages, prehistoric animals, and more. Informative, but not justifiable in context. The sentences are short and choppy. The entire novel could use some good proofreading and editing.

[Gregg Sapp · Rating 3 out of 5]

In many Native American cultures, the “vision quest” is a rite of passage for a young person – usually, a male – which involves ritual, fasting, and isolation. In Charlie Sheldon’s “Strong Heart,” the novice is a young girl, Sarah, who returns from her trials with a story too baffling to be believed, but too detailed to be imagined. Ultimately, the whole novel hinges on whether the supporting characters, and ultimately the readers, follow her story and accept its rarefied symbolism.

“Strong Heart” is also a kind of pilgrimage. Tom Cooley is preparing for a difficult hike in the backcountry of Washington’s Olympic National Park, where he intends to leave a Native American artifact at this grandfather’s remote grave. The day before his long-planned departure, Tom’s exasperated ex-wife visits, bringing with her a thirteen year-old girl whom, she informs him, is his granddaughter and, furthermore, she is leaving her with him. It seems that this girl is a bit of a problem child. Tom invites her inside his modest house, sizes her up, and decides to take her with him and his companions on the hike.

From this somewhat implausible premise, the story evolves into a mystical crusade and a coming of age trial for Sarah. Days into the hike, Sarah vanishes in the wilderness without a trace for several days, along with the artifact, before reappearing in the midst of a storm. And she has one whopper of a story to tell.

Sarah’s subsequent narrative in its two parts takes up approximately one-third of the novel. It is a somewhat jarring digression, both in terms of its length and its complexity, so that the main storyline becomes almost a subplot. Further, her story is set in an otherworldly milieu with several characters that seems more symbolic than human. Although, in the tale, Sarah was kidnapped into slavery, she soon distinguishes herself and earns the moniker, Strong Heart. There is conflict and intrigue within the tribe, but the prevailing plot involves a journey home via canoe. There is a lot of…

“The canoe rocked and plunged. Spray blew into our faces. The sky was dark gray, the disc of the sun faint. We all paddled as hard as we could, into the wind, seeking the lee of the island. We seemed to be making no progress at all.”

Sarah’s story is long and difficult to follow, with no apparent relevance to the this-worldly plot, so as readers proceed through these chapters, they could be forgiven for wondering just where all of this is going. The ultimate resolution comes as a surprise, where the meanings of Sarah’s vision quest are revealed. Whether any given reader accepts that conclusion as a profound discovery, or shrugs it off as a disappointing denouement will probably vary significantly. To me, as much as I liked the characters, the finale seemed intriguing, but also contrived.

[Reader57 · Rating 1 out of 5]

Strong Heart is set in Olympic National Park in the Pacific Northwest, where the author has lived and worked for several decades, giving him a good foundation for the American Indian legend he includes in this book.

Tom and his American Indian friends William, known as Walleye, and Myra, Walleye’s daughter, are finishing their packing for a long backpacking trip up into the mountains. Suddenly Tom’s ex-wife, Ruth, arrives and drops off their granddaughter Sarah, a granddaughter Tom didn’t even know existed. The hiking group decides they will take Sarah with them rather than postpone the trip. They want to get to Tom’s grandfather’s grave site before a mining company starts their work in the area. Before the group can finish their trip Sarah goes missing for 8 days. Where has she been? How did she survive on her own?

I rate this book 1 out of 4 stars for several reasons, mostly because of the presentation of the storylines. The plot is largely carried through dialogue among the characters, so we just infer their emotions. There is no internal dialogue of each character to help the reader understand their point of view and feelings in difficult circumstances. Many of the paragraphs contain very choppy sentence structure and there are virtually no similes or metaphors to bring the reader into the scenes.

There are also unbelievable aspects. Sarah is described as about 12 or 13 years old and “thin as a stick, less than 5’ tall, a determined mouth, and a metal pin in one nostril.” The image is that of a girl tossed from family member to family member and exhibiting a bad attitude. However, Myra slaps one of her old backpacks on her and they set off on a 30 mile hike “some off trail with possible snow” and Sarah just goes with them with only a little complaining. The mining company is said to be “extracting erbium”, but a quick search on the Internet reveals that “erbium is not found free in nature”. While this storyline is presented early in the novel as a major local conflict, by the end of the book it is pushed aside with no final resolution.

[Chelsea DeVries · Rating 4 out of 5]

Strong Heart by Charlie Sheldon is a beautiful story that tells of the healing power of nature, the love between family, and the ties that bind our ancestry. Tom Olson is heading out on a backpacking trip in the Olympic Peninsula Wilderness in Washington State with his friends when a knock sounds at his door. On the other side of that door stands Sarah Cooley, an abandoned thirteen year old girl. Come to find out, that thirteen year old isn’t a runaway or a foster child but his long-lost granddaughter. Along this trip comes a story that is a coming together of both Hatchet and A Call In the Wild as the story proves that no matter where you go, it’s what you’re made of that shows when your only choice is to survive.

While reading the book, I found myself instantly enthralled with Sheldon’s writing style. How it sweeps you in like a breeze along a hiking trail. I reminisced about reading books that had similar storylines and plot points in my youth, and what it felt like to escape inside a book again. Reading this book made me love reading again, and for that was the biggest aspect of all. There are few books that I read as an adult and thoroughly enjoy but this one kept me reading, I enjoyed learning nature and geological facts while reading as well as being swept up in the storytelling of the Native American ancestral stories.

Some aspects of the book were two overwhelming with geological facts and I found myself not being able to stay focused in those parts. The emphasis of the strong main characters were what would pull me back in and remind me why I began to read this book and fall in love with this story: Tom and Sarah's bond was definitely something I connected with on many levels, and felt anyone could find a connection with when reading this book.

I rate this book four out of five stars because while it helped me fall in love with reading again because it reminded me of the stories of youth, it also contained a lot of detail within the geological fact parts that made me lose my focus while reading and actually struggle with certain levels of sensory overload.

My recommendation is that those who go to read this book are aware that a good ten to twenty chapters of the book are geological and nonfiction in writing, they do not read like fiction but instead contribute a lot to educate the reader of real life issues with the ecosystem, etc.

I found no errors while reading but am unsure if I would read the follow-up books in this series because of the geological memoir like sections of the book.

[Elaine Douglas · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was blown away by “Strong Heart”. This novel is as rich as the finest gourmet meal – and like a fine meal it has multiple layers, varied textures and complex and complementary tastes. This is a story filled with history, myths, legends … all in a way that sounds like truth.

Truthfully, Sheldon’s book reminds me of Dan Brown’s “The Da Vinci Code”. It is that complex and that good.

I was lucky enough to listen to this while on a roadtrip in the Pacific Northwest. Gazing at the mountains and terrain described in the book while listening may have enhanced my experience. But I believe I would have smelled campfire, heard bears’ breath, and seen the ice floes even if I was sitting on a sofa in Manhattan.

The narrator, Laurel Anne White, is brilliant in bringing this story to life on the audio book.

I highly recommend reading … or listening … to “Strong Heart”.

[Heidi · Rating 1 out of 5]

I honestly didn't know what to expect when I first started to read this. But, it was one of those reads that I just didn't enjoy. There was hardly character development, barely any character backgrounds given, the switching story line (present and Sarah's disappearance time) was off-putting to me, and in general it was something that did not capture my attention. I hate to give this such a low score, but there it is.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Strong Heart has great themes about extended family and values along with a nice look at Pacific Rim Native culture. Best of all a fine and fun story. I would actually give it about 3.5 stars rather than 4, only because the story within the story; while central to the direction of the book, was a bit long and fanciful and I wanted back to the tale of Tom, William, Myra and Sarah (and Sergei). My thanks to Charlie Sheldon!

[Kenyatta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Charlie Sheldon's Strong Heart is a new, fantastical take on the age old question of, 'where did we come from' and 'how did we get here?' Mixed with historical and scientific inquiry, true history buffs or anthropologists would truly enjoy this book. The segue into evolution of people of life is told from the perspective of a 12 year old girl who believes she's been kidnapped and lived a grueling, hard life of chaos, growth, challenges, death, and survival. It is this 12 year old who draws you into the story of Strong Heart. Often in the book, William and Tom question if they took Sarah on a trip, or if Sarah was taking them. By the end of the book, I believe it's safe to say that Sarah took them on a trip.

Sarah is aged well beyond her age and understands equally as much on an adult level, more than any one at her age. And while a lot of the book deals with the origins of human evolution, there is more than one other tale of the story centering around Sarah. And the mystery and intrigue of that is what drew me into the story. Here you have a girl, basically dismissed from one family, thrown into the clutches of another, and still dropped off at the door step of a third like an injured animal no one knew what to do with. In a second side of Sarah, you have a girl who has fought off sexual predators in the places she called home and from people who should have loved her and accepted her, but saw her as an object for their taking. In a third side of Sarah, you see a girl, coming into womanhood all while learning new people, a new way of living, of being and existing, whether with her grandfather TomTom, William and Myra, or the people she came to know and learn a new way of living and existing with on the boat while she was missing. It was these people, whether real or imagined, who taught her a lot about life, living, loss, betrayal, and surviving. And yet a fourth side of Sarah, is the most courageous, strong, and determined young lady you can ever meet. In her short time of living, Sarah has already lived and experienced a lifetime. I can only imagine how she felt when she returned after her disappearance, to tell her story, which matched the condition of her frail, shell of a body, and to not be believed. I can only imagine the sense of gratification she had when Sergi spoke up indicating he believed her story to be data; which could be proven. And when her grandfather pledged he'd returned with her until he saw the short faced bear for himself, when he openly didn't believe her to begin with, the feeling of acceptance she must have felt and a sense of connection and belonging.

The story of Sarah's time while she had vanished, at times seemed hard to follow. You really have to invest in knowing the characters, named by Sarah to follow that part of the story. It seems to carry on a long time as well, and could have been a little more precise and shorter to have the same effect. And I suppose the choppiness of the story is such because it's told and seen from the perspective of a 12 year old. Despite this, which can be seen as a shortcoming, the book still did quite well to hold my attention and to draw me into the story, even the potential love story of Sergi and Myra which seems to be taking shape in the undertone of the story.

And still yet, there's an underlying message of the book centering on Native Americans and how they have a sense of belonging to the land, a way of connecting and communicating with it, and their claim to be the first inhabitants. There's a story here of holding on to traditions, and the necessity to pass on those traditions, their legends, and their way of life, and be taken seriously. And it seems also, still they are in a fight for recognition, equality, and still, an acknowledgment of what belongs to them, what belongs to the land, and a struggle to not lose it all.

Overall, I found the mysticism and intrigue of the book quite enjoyable; and Sarah and the other characters were endearing. This was a good, solid read. I would recommend this book to others.

[Livia Verrell]

Strong Heart by Charlie Sheldon begins as Sarah, a thirteen-year-old girl, appears in the middle of a heavy rain storm on the doorstep of her estranged grandfather Tom’s home just as Tom is preparing to go on a hike into Olympic National Park. Tom’s friend William and his daughter Myra are joining Tom on the planned excursion to his grandfather’s grave. As the story progresses, we soon learn that William and Myra are part of the Haida North American Indians from Haida Gwaii just off the coast of British Columbia. Reluctantly Tom, William, and Myrna decide to take Sarah with them to lands described as filled with magic, history, and legend.

On the surface the story structure is that of the masculine journey. Tom is going into the wilderness on a quest to his grandfather’s grave. This is a place where years before his grandfather died suddenly deep in the wilderness and Tom was forced to bury him. Tom is compelled to return to make peace with the spirits and his own memories. The journey structure shifts when Tom reaches the grave site well before the story’s ending. At this point the focus shifts to Sarah and another journey plot line comes into focus. The Buckhorn mining people emerge as the primary antagonist and a new goal is revealed.

The story structure issues in the story are complicated by POV problems throughout. The author uses a third person objective POV that shifts from character to character and then to omniscient at times. There is no clear protagonist. The lack of using a close third person POV leave the reader wondering who to attach to. Is this Tom’s story or William’s?

The story pacing was dragged down by too much narration and backstory. Key points of conflict and tension lost their power when bogged down with telling and not showing. The reader is told that Tom and Sarah never get along but never actually sees examples of their antagonism. Tom mentions William’s shamanic ways, but we never see real examples even thought there are multiple opportunities to bring in reverence of the dead, totem animals such as the short faced bear and Sarah’s experience of a shamanic journey.

Sarah’s character was not believable. At no time does she act like a typical thirteen-year-old in her actions, knowledge, or skill levels. At times she leads the group but she has no real hiking or camping experience. Her companions are Native American’s with knowledge of the area and its ever present risks. The other characters are stronger and more believable. I got a strong feeling of who Myra was and what she believed. Tom and William’s characters are fairly well fleshed out, however their relationship to each other is never clarified. The reader never is shown what kind of bond they share and why.

Due to the lack of story tension I never felt completely satisfied at the ending. The overpowering descriptions took over the plot.

The author’s educational background and experience bring a lot of color and potential to the story. The educational narration if done sparingly would add power and increased pacing. I would rate the book a 2 out of 5 stars. The story has promise but the POV and pacing problems were difficult to overlook.

[Prakriti Singh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tom and his friends are all set for camping in the trails of Olympic National Park. Sarah, Tom's previously unknown granddaughter, goes along with them. She is stepping foot on the journey that her grandfather, great-grandfather, and great-great-grandfather had once taken. But strange things happen in the trail when she sees an extinct bear and then gets lost.
Sarah wakes up in a world, thousands of years back, very different from reality, and does not remember anything about the past. She is involved in a months-long voyage across the sea. People have names according to their features and personalities, and Sarah is the Strong Heart. She travels in the canoe, fights wild animals, survives starvation, and just when she is about to reach the destination, she's back in the real world.
Was it a dream? Will life be the same for Sarah after she encounters a different world, the world their legends have been telling them for centuries? Does this dream have anything to do with the scientific theories about the people thousands of years ago?
Strong Heart by Charlie Sheldon is a riveting venture into the legends and history of people. The author uses his knowledge of expedition and wildlife to push the reader deep into the book. Initially, I had been hesitant to read the book, wondering it must be all about camping and trailing in the forest. But I soon found myself engaged with the plot and their adventurous journey.
The initial storyline follows a third-person perspective but changes to a first-person perspective when Sarah starts narrating her tale. At first, no one believes her, but they soon realize that she is the one guiding them. She is low-tempered, easily irritated but a great artist and a brave fighter. Twists and turns taking place in the story make the readers more lured and curious about what would happen next.
My favorite part of the book was when the words made me feel that I live in their world. I felt as if I was walking with them or paddling the canoe on the voyage. I could see the scenes from the author's eyes. The action scenes were quite intriguing, and the mystery made me hold on to the story.
Another appealing part of the story was that the author used legend and history to connect to the tale. The proper mentioning of places and wise use of geography was a plus point to the story. There is a brief account of conflicts taking place about the inheritance of the people. The book mentions the culture and descents of the people that make the reader more aware.
The storyline was appealing, but the book had many grammar errors and did not seem professionally edited. Sometimes, the speaker was absent, making it difficult for me to understand the text. It was the most unappealing part of the book that I came across.
I give the book 3 out of 4 stars. Reading the book was a wonderful experience, and I would have given it a full score had it not for the grammar errors and punctuation take it away from the book. The book is a suitable read for both children and adults without any profane language and erotic content. I recommend this book to anyone who likes adventure stories assorted with magic and mystery.

[Maggi]

“Strong Heart” by Charlie Sheldon, is a cross genre novel; at times a coming of age drama and also a survival and adventure story.
After the death of her mother, Sarah finds herself unceremoniously dropped at the doorstep of the grandfather she never knew, and in a land, that to her, seems to be the middle of nowhere.

I wanted to like this book. The reviews seemed positive, and the premise of a young girl having to survive on her own was appealing. As much as I tried, I could not get invested in this story. To begin, the novel greatly would have benefited from more editing and proofreading. There’s missing words, grammatical errors, and poor word choices just within the first twenty pages. This is where the author should be pulling the reader into the story, and all these errors make it hard to concentrate on the characters.

Mr. Sheldon begins the story in the middle of the action. And this can work well as a storytelling device, if the details the audience is given piques their interest to find out how the characters got where they are. Unfortunately, the beginning of this story suffers from both too much of an info dump, and too little.

We find out Sarah is the granddaughter of Tom, when his ex-wife drops her off. There’s reference to their child Becky, who has been dead for five years. Little information is given on why Tom is so surprised to find out he has a granddaughter and why he did not stay in touch with his own daughter, Becky.

With this, Tom immediately does not come across as a likeable character. And maybe that’s the intention of the author, to reveal parts of him as the story progresses, and to move from a grumpy character to one the audience roots for. The grumpy meets sunshine trope is popular, but from what’s on paper none of these characters come across as positive individuals. You need that balance, because a cast of unhappy people quickly loses their appeal.

The exchange between Tom and his ex-wife Ruth, is too quick. There’s clear history there. Vital information needed that could have made the reader sympathize with Tom being so caught off guard by his granddaughter’s sudden appearance. The information is simply hurled at Tom, and vicariously the reader.

The reader may have empathized with Sarah in these moments, if more attention had been focused on her character, rather than the interruption of this rag tag group’s camping trip.

Too much has happened in the past that we, the reader are not privy to. The author has neither shown nor told anything related to these characters that would make the reader invested in continuing on their journey.

In conclusion, the plot had potential as did the characters. Poor writing mechanics and poor world building, made this novel an addition on my did not finish pile.

[Lauren · Rating 2 out of 5]

In Charlie Sheldon’s Strong Heart, it followed the story of a grandfather (Tom) and his thirteen-year-old granddaughter (Sarah). Tom was just about to leave for his hiking trip in Washington’s Olympic National Park, to visit his grandfather’s grave, when his ex-wife showed up and announced, “This is your granddaughter. I just found out five days ago. She’s Becky’s child.” “She’s been with Fletcher and me four days. That’s enough. It’s your turn. This is your granddaughter, Tom. Her name is Sarah.” Sarah was a troubled girl that was stubborn and bullheaded. She did not like to follow the rules, had foul language, and was disrespectful. Tom ends up taking Sarah, along with his friends William and William’s daughter Myra, on his camping trip. Sarah was utterly upset and hated that she had to go on this hike, but after Sarah disappears for eight days, she is lucky to be alive when she stumbles back to camp during a horrible storm. While Tom was happy to see her living, he would not believe the story that she has to tell.

Sarah’s narrative takes up most of the novel and is somewhat hard to follow and is very complicated. Her story introduces several characters that seem more symbolic than real people, and she explains how she woke up in a cage and was forced into slavery. However, through her difficult journey home, via canoe, Sarah grows and matures and earns the name “Strong Heart.”
This story was long and difficult to follow. Several times I had to reread chapters to understand the plot and felt as if this narrative had no relevance to the story until I reached the end of the book. The reader will be surprised by the conclusion, but whether it will be a disappointing ending to them, I cannot say.

I ended up liking the book once I figure out the symbolism of Native American culture. Native Americans believed in visions and had several rituals for young children to become adults. Sarah experienced this changed into adulthood with her struggle to find her way home. Ultimately, the whole novel is centered on whether the readers can follow her story and accept its complex symbolism.

Personally, I would rate this book a 2 out of 5 stars. This is not a book that I will probably read again, but I cannot say that reading this book was a waste of my time. Why I gave it such a low score was because of the intricate plot and the fact that I had to reread chapters several times because I did not understand what was going on. If you love sociology, native myths, rituals, this book would be a great read.

[Juanita · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review: Strong Heart by Charlie Shelden. 4.5★'s

This is written by a new author whose writing style is good, understanding, and the story was well organized and interesting. I felt his characters were well developed, likable and each had their own individual traits. I’m hoping to see more from this author. I believe his story, the theme, plot, and the environment he created delivered enjoyment and interest to keep a reader wanting more. I thought the interaction between the characters were exceptional. The story setting is in the wilderness of Washington State. The story has historical facts, native culture, past legends and flows with a spiritual quest that makes the story more interesting.

The story is about a Native American grandfather, Tom who is going on a journey into the wilderness to visit his fathers grave. However, his motive is more than that; he also has an old environmental artifact that is mysteriously linked to his past that he feels he must return. Just as his friends, William who is in poor health and his daughter Myra who is struggling over different issues picked up their backpacks to join Tom on his journey when someone knocked on the door. For the first time he meets his granddaughter, Sarah who is thirteen, rebellious and strong willed. An elder family member left Sarah on his porch because they could not control her and felt he must do his share in raising this child and keep her out of trouble.

This left Tom in a dilemma. Sarah has never been backpacking through the wilderness before so he really didn’t want to take her but William talked Tom into taking her with them. Sarah didn’t want to go plus she didn’t think her grandfather liked her. It was interesting to follow Tom, his friends and most of all his granddaughter. As the reader I could tell how Sarah might be mischievous throughout their trip. They had some situations that stood in there way but they made the best of it. Sarah gets angry and walks off but eight days later she was found with a story to tell and what a story… Sarah got to complete the mystifying and hard to believe story on their second journey into the wilderness.

It was a great story of adventure, myths, and legions that was beyond the modern world. It felt like I was watching all the scenes from above them. The story just flowed with ease…..

[Cole · Rating 2 out of 5]

In Strong Heart, Tom, William, and Myra take Tom's granddaughter, Sarah, into the mountains on a camping expedition. The goal was to return an ancient artifact found by Tom's father to his final resting place. The group is dealing with some family strife and this is the first time Sarah has been in Tom's care. An adventure in the woods for a pre-teen girl, with her grandpa? Possible danger, and the potential to disrupt a mining company and save the park? Sarah goes on an adventure all her own, and ends up helping the group understand that their history is both different than they knew, and exactly what they knew all along.
This book was conflicting to rate. It had some very good aspects, but a lot of drawbacks as well. Let's start with the issues I had with the book. The beginning had a lot of sections with numerous very short sentences in sequence. It made the writing seem choppy and ruined any sense of pace as I read. The dialog is also lacking in flow.
There are a lot of awkward sentences structured around the dialog that didn't fit for me. I appreciate a book that can write a conversation as if it was actually happening, but this book struggled with the dialog. There was an instance where a sentence had eight commas. You usually only see that when listing off a large number of items, not describing a scene.
But the story was good. After the characters had some time and it started to make sense where everything was leading, then I found myself enjoying the read. The characters weren't all that deep, but they were good enough. There were moments of Sarah's adventure that were quite compelling and had me continuing to read. It was her adventure that was the most solid part of the entire book.
I like how it wasn't a nice clean ending; there wasn't a bow at the end to wrap it all up. Sometimes a story is about a journey that someone takes, and I feel like this was all about Sarah's journey. It was about her relationship with Tom, her ability to be vulnerable, and her growing strength. She found confidence because those around her listened to her story, and began to trust her. She, in turn, became a very different person by the end of the book. She was always strong, but gained the confidence to contribute, lead, and trust.

[Amy Sparks · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s easy to immerse yourself in one or two genres, but that could lead to burnout. I find myself losing my reading mojo when I get into too much of a rut. Readers have a variety of options available to dabble with and figure out what’s best for them. Sometimes I’ll make a subtle change, like reading cozy mysteries instead of thrillers. Other times, drastic measures are in order, and I’ll follow a recommendation from another person which I would never pick for myself. In this case, I decided to feed my love of fantasy while transporting myself out of the city to the wilderness.

Strong Heart starts in a straightforward manner. A company wants to exercise its mining rights on property in the Pacific Northwest wilderness, and the locals are concerned about the mining’s impact on local residents and the fishing industry. A rebellious girl is shuffled around between family members before being dumped on her grandfather’s doorstep. A man wants to visit his father’s gravesite and return a relic to the wilderness. But if this relic turns out to be a significant archaeological finding, then the mining could not take place. Sounds like a fairly straightforward nature vs. business struggle until the girl gets lost in the wilderness and comes back with an extraordinary story to share.

I was quickly drawn into the basic plot points with the vivid descriptions of the characters and settings. The Native American mythology and culture are carefully brought into the story so that the girl’s unbelievable story fits. The character development is profound but makes sense given how her experience impacts the others in her hiking group.

I haven’t read much Native American folklore, but I quickly appreciated the beautiful canvas Charlie Sheldon created. I’m not familiar with Native American mythology but Sheldon’s carefully crafted tale drew me in anyway.

Strong Heart is the first book in the series. I’ve grabbed a copy of the second book, Adrift, and am looking forward to reading it. I want to spend more time in the setting Charlie Sheldon built in Strong Heart. I’m going to grab a blanket and hot tea, then curl up and get swept back to the Pacific Northwest wilderness.



Thanks to NetGalley for a copy of the book.

[Nicole Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

After a long-lost granddaughter shows up unexpectedly, Tom wants to put their hiking trip through the Olympic Peninsula Wilderness in Washington State on hold because he does not want to take his thirteen year old granddaughter Sarah there. His friend suggested it might be good for her. After conversing with his friend and friend's daughter about Sarah going, Tom finally agrees to let her come. On this hiking trip, great and worrisome events happen, making them all wonder who is leading who on this adventure.


From the moment I began reading Strong Heart by Charlie Sheldon I was mesmerized immediately. The writing is beautiful and the story was astonishing. This reminded me of the camping trips I had as a child and I love this book for that. I also enjoyed the camp fire stories in this because it had a history background which made this very interesting. I also loved that after a while in the story, Sarah and Tom are able to bond with one another and to me this was a beautiful story with a grandfather and granddaughter who finally have the chance to spend time together.


The parts that I disliked were the page numbers of my copy were not accurate at all which made it very frustrating at times and the ending. I know there is more to this book but how it ended it just feels like the brakes were put on before we actually get to know what will happen. As for the page numbers, my copy was saying it had over five thousand pages which for me did not sound correct and I was not able to write exactly what page I had left off at.


I would rate this 4 out of 5 stars because yes the story was beautiful but I did not like the ending or how the pages were off by a lot. Other than these issues, I did not see any other errors in the writing. Overall, I was very happy that I read this and I will be reading the next book in the series. 


I personally would recommend this book to others that enjoy camping, hiking, or nature loving people. This book does have a great deal of geological issues that are happening in real life but I like that you get to read about it and how the characters are trying to prevent the issues from happening. In my opinion, after you read this, you will want to go hiking or camping.

[BreeAnn (She Just Loves Books) · Rating 1 out of 5]

What I Loved: The authors descriptions and knowledge of the Olympic Peninsula, the wilderness, hiking, and the American Indians set up a beautiful pictures for me. Charlie Sheldon clearly has a strong and detailed knowledge on a variety of subjects, these included. His writing of these things was a positive in this book.

How I Felt: I did not feel like I was able to get to know the characters. Most of the book is written as dialog, making if feel like a script instead of a book. This led to a disconnect between the characters and I. I could only ever guess at their emotions or inner thoughts, as they were not described in the book. This was such a huge negative for me. There was also a lot of repetition in the story and I get really frustrated with that. If the book told me something earlier in the story, a second reference to remind me makes sense, but more than that makes me think there should have been more editing involved. I had to put this book down multiple times and pick it back up later, as I really wanted to finish it.

To Read or Not To Read: I hate giving a book a less than 3 rating because my star rating may not be your star rating. Take a look at the synopsis below, and if it sounds interesting, give it a try! There’s a book for every person, this one was just not for me.

What’s This Book About Anyway?
As Tom Olsen prepares for his hike into Washington’s wilderness, Sarah Cooley, a 13 year old girl knocks on his door. She tells him she is his granddaughter and she seems to be having visions of his upcoming hike. Tom offers to take her on the trek instead of cancelling his trip. During the trip Sarah goes missing for over a week, creating some thriller and mystery to the story.

All of my reviews can be found at: https://shejustlovesbooks.com/

[Nancy Retallick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tom finds out he is a grandfather the hard way when the girl’s grandmother, Ruth, drops the granddaughter, Sarah, off at Tom’s then leaves. Sarah is defined as defiant by Ruth. She wants Tom to take care of Sarah. Tom had plans to hike to his grandfather’s grave to pay respects and almost backed out because he felt uneasy about taking a young girl into the wilderness. Tom chose to stick with his plan to hike through the Olympic National Park woods to pay respects to his grandfather’s grave before a big corporation comes in and destroys the natives’ land. During the hike Sarah gets mad and takes off into the woods alone. A search party was sent out to look for her when she doesn’t return.

A young girl lost in the woods is every family’s worst nightmare. The author, Charlie Sheldon, did a good job in describing the panic everyone felt when Sarah went missing. I was hoping they would find her sooner. After she had been missing for eight days she returns and tells a tale of her experience, or her vision.

Later in the year they return to the park only to be betrayed by Myra’s friend who works for the corporation that wants to take their land. Tom and his friends, William and Myra, defend their native heritage and respect traditions. They are very compassionate about keeping the native lands out of the hands of a corrupt corporation. Myra argues with science defending the stories of her native heritage.

I was glad to see the maps at the beginning of the book. I grew up in Alaska near where Sarah had her adventure. I have watched my friends fight for their native rights. I’m giving a 5 out of 5 review because Charlie Sheldon conveyed compassion for the cause for native rights.

[Sayantoni Das · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sarah appears on Tom’s doorstep almost like an unwanted guest. Though Tom and Sarah start off on the wrong foot, they soon learn to warm up to each other. What appeared to be a rather simple hike through the trail of old Olympic National Park in North America, turned out to be a life altering journey for the characters. A land steeped in rich history and culture held secrets that had to be uncovered.



Readers could take pleasure in the subtle development of the story as Tom and his friends discover an ancient spear thrower, called the atlatl, from his grandfather Bob-bob’s grave. It ignites their spirits as that atlatl, being an artifact could save the land of their ancestors from mining activities by the company of Buckhorn.

The story deserves points for some real edge of the seat incidents, like when Sarah disappears, for instance. Although, I wouldn’t give full points to the writing style as there were quite a few times when the narration felt offbeat and disconnected.



I would recommend this book to crude adventure lovers, to experience an epic journey through a seemingly ordinary trip. Ancient history diggers would love to get a piece of this too. But if you are craving for a light headed novel or looking for an ordinary fiction, this is not for you. This story seeks, rather demands the readers’ undivided attention. So if you are willing to curl up on your bed along with a nice cup of coffee, you can pick this up for a good time. And also, you will not be able to resist a hiking trip to the Olympic yourself, so beware.

[Lady · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! Every second of this book was amazing. The story-line is fantastic and so unique. You can learn so much from this book about native America and the debate about when man first came to North America. This wonderful fiction book is so informative and very well researched. From the very first page I knew I was going to love this book. I was hooked and I love books surrounding the northern region of North America. It was extremely well wrote and lead to me being enchanted by this tale. The characters were amazing and I quickly became to love or hate many of the main characters. There was so much action, adventure and mystery surrounding the story that I had to read on. This book is a real page turner with a air of magical realism. The ending was great it really left you extremely excited to read book two of this trilogy. I loved the age range of the characters so it lead you to really understand the importance of the story from different eyes. It was very interesting to find out the importance to each character to find the evidence needed to protect this historic site from the evil grips of the miners. The story really captures the interactions between the native Americans and the corporate Big wigs owho are only interested in their bottom line. It also looked into the local issues and how they impact different people.
So much praise to the author and publishing team for bringing us such a delightful book for us all to enjoy.
I can't wait to read and learn more from this author.

[Genevieve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Strong Heart by Charlie Sheldon is a coming of age story about Sarah whose parents are dead and whose step father has left the country. She finds her grandfather Tom and with his friend William, and William's daughter Myra go into the national park hiking to place an antique thrower on Paul's grandfather's grave. While on the hike Sarah goes missing for over a week and when she is found she is missing part of a finger, bruised, cut, dirty and with a strange story to tell.
The characters are all well written and I love how they interact with each other. Though not all of them are family they look after and care for each other like family. I hope Sergei and Myra will develop a good strong friendship and that Sarah isn't taken away from Tom.
The story line though good did drag a lot in several places especially when Sarah was telling her story of how she had survived with no food or water. The parts that dragged made it hard to get through the book and finish it. I am glad though that I persisted and found myself intrigued as to how the story would end. I enjoyed the arguments between fact and myth and logic and legend between Sergei and Myra and I could almost see the bears, eagles and trees the descriptions were so well done. A good story with some great characters that I will be interested in seeing in further books in this series.

[Joyce · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story takes place in the Olympic Peninsula wilderness in Washington State. Tom, his Native American friend William and William's daughter Myra are about to go on a camping trip. Not an ordinary camping trip but Tom is going to find the place where his great grandfather died while Tom was with him. Right before they are about to leave, Tom's ex-wife arrives at his doorstep with his young teenage granddaughter, who he didn't even know existed. Sarah is not happy about this situation and voices her opinions. Tom and his friends decide to go on this trip anyway and take Sarah with them. On this trip they are learning about each other and learning to trust each other as well. Sarah disappears for a time and when she returns she tells them what happened to her. Tom doesn't believe her story, thinking that it would have been impossible to happen in this day and age and within the time she was missing. Her story tells of a long ago time of Native American history.
They are also fighting to keep this area from being taken over by developers believing that this could be a historical site.

[Jennifer Allsbrook · Rating 5 out of 5]

Strong Heart is an interesting look into a young girl's journey to find herself among virtual strangers, one of which is the grandfather she has just met. Sarah is dumped onto her grandfather's doorstep by a grandmother that doesn't want her. Sarah and her grandfather Tom and two of his friends venture into the Olympic National Forest to visit Tom's grandfather's grave. This journey is fraught with danger, discoveries, and Sarah's disappearance. After being missing for a week, Sarah stumbles into camp covered in mud and blood and speaking of a spiritual quest into the past. What really happened?
Charlie Sheldon spins a wonderful tale in an amazing setting as readers go along on the adventure with his characters. Each character has depth and brings his or her own importance to the story as the present intertwines with the past. Ancient relics, indigenous stories and oral traditions, and theories of the origins of human habitation in the Pacific Northwest were all intriguing aspects of Strong Heart. I encourage readers who enjoy fiction mixed with science and mysticism to give this story a try. You will not be disappointed!

[Kimberly Hallahan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I appreciate and admire the premise for this book. I truly enjoyed the physical descriptions of the Olympic Peninsula and the historical lessons and hypotheses presented throughout the story. Unfortunately, I found Sarah's behavior did not fit her characterization as an angst-ridden, angry teen. Most of the characters seemed as one-dimensional, paper-doll cutouts, like the characters of Around the World in 80 Days. The prose throughout the modern-day portion of the book was contained a preponderance of choppy, short sentences in a repetitive structure. The ancient portions of the book read more fluidly, and the Afterword displayed beautiful paragraph structure. That leads me to wonder why the author chose annoyingly choppy, short sentences to describe the actions of the modern-day characters. Once I'd accepted the anomalous behavior of Sarah, and ignored some glaringly unrealistic aspects of the plot, I found the final 20 pages of the book engaging and exciting. I enjoyed reading this conclusion that pulled together the historical the story compellingly, though it dropped the modern conflict storyline completely.

[Kayla Rhein · Rating 1 out of 5]

0 stars. None. Zilch. Nada. This book was a hard no from me. The writing was incredibly choppy in every sense of the word. The dialogue was entirely underdeveloped, there was literally no inner dialogue or any other way to surmise how a character was truly feeling. The sentences themselves were short and ended abruptly. There were ZERO segues between topics and a severe lack of timeframe for the story. I really just did not enjoy this one at all, it was painful to get through. To sum up the story, three adults have a hiking trip planned when one adults granddaughter (that no one knew existed) was dumped on his door step. They all decided to take this surly, skinny, epically “teenager” young teen on an arduous hike. The teen gets lost and an ancient short faced bear was part of the storyline I guess. I really don’t think this author has met a teenager before and I seriously cringed when the grandfather says he will “put her over his knee” if she did something, I don’t even remember. 10/10 do not recommend this book, no thank you. But…thank you to @netgalley for providing this book to me for free in exchange for an honest review. #bookstagram #netgalley #netgalleyreads #netgalleyreview #speedreader #donotrecommend #bookworm

[Linsy Alvarado · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was hard for me to finish this book. It took a while to feel the attachement to the main characters right away.

This is not to say that it's the authors fault but I did not feel that attachement you want to feel for characters in this genre.

The places were beautifully written and descriptive. But the characters did not get me there.

They felt very one dimensional, particularly the young girl. Sarah. She is just angry and no depth to her. Or no explaining her thinking. Im sure she has more than reasons to be angry but I almost feel like she was put there more as a prop than an actual fledged out character.
This is a shame because the author can clearly flesh out characters as shown by Tom and William.. and sometimes Myra...
But Sarah is just blah. And this is coming from someone who used to be an angsty angry teen girl ...

The explanations were sometimes too long for what it brought to the story as well.
Such as explaining the atltl. Its interesting but.. in the end, we did not need all that. It could have been shortened for sure.

Actually, I feel like this should have been a short story or novella more so than a novel.

My favorite character was for sure Myra but even then, sometimes just accepting things that are weird, and not questioning things really annoyed me because thats not how humans are in real life.

The villains were ok too. I mean, are they really villains if they are just doing their jobs? Who knows. Maybe.

I wanted more villany I guess. Like if the president of the company was there and disrespecting the land.

The legeds in this were beautiful. The creatures really great. The landscapes beautifully written. I really struggled to stay with the people.

[Pamela Barrett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Strong Heart is set in the Olympic Peninsula Wilderness of Washington State. It’s the story about a grandfather, Tom, who meets his rebellious, strong willed granddaughter, Sarah, for the first time and decides to take her backpacking with his Native American friend William and Williams’ daughter Myra. Tom has his reasons for doing this trip, part family mystery and part closure after the death of his father. Regrettably, Sarah has never backpacked, William is in poor health, and Myra is going through a lot of unresolved issues herself; but they set off not knowing the dangers that lie ahead. The story is a mix of historical facts, mysterious legends, and a spiritual quest that collide in the modern world.
I enjoyed reading it, and I think older teens and adventure loving adults would like it too. My critique is that the writing could be more polished and the transitions need a little work. But after saying that, I do feel that this new author has more stories to tell and that there are future novels to come. 4 stars

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Strong Heart is a work of fiction by Charlie Sheldon. It's essentially two stories built into one. The main story takes place in current time, while the secondary story takes place centuries ago. The setting for both stories is the Olympic Peninsula Wilderness of Washington State.

The author shows his knowledge about the history of Native Americans. specifically those in the Pacific Northwest. He also shows familiarity of the terrain, as he describes it vividly. The characters appear well-developed, and I could picture an image of their personalities in my mind as I read the book.

I found I enjoyed the book. However, the end of the book left me confused. It felt as though the story of ancient times was concluded, but not the current story. I was left with significant questions about the ending. I’m not sure if this is supposed to be a cliffhanger, or if the author forgot to finish the story.

You can read my full review at https://forums.onlinebookclub.org/vie...

[Denise Kawaii · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this book up from the "Local Author" section of my local bookstore. Not only was I happy to find such an interesting book written by a local author, but the story that Sheldon weaves is deep in character, history and legend. It isn't often that I find stories so deeply saturated in Native American legend, and it was a delight to get lost in the Olympic Peninsula with Sarah, her family and friends, as they dug through the deep forest on a hunt for who they were and where they came from.

Midway through the book the perspective changes, and Sheldon does a great job of giving a new voice to his characters of the past. I truly enjoyed travelling back in time tens of thousands of years with the characters and seeing the world as it was then - dangerous, beautiful and unyielding.

If you'd like to read something different, learn about the need to explore our pasts so that we can move into the future in harmony with the world around us, give Strong Heart a try.