Destiny Mine

Indian #2

by Janelle Taylor

By the age of 20, the maiden called Kionee can ride, fight and hunt better than most men. Yet, she feels a secret loneliness knowing she can never marry or know a lover's touch. Until an extraordinary vision brings her face to face with Stalking Wolf, the sensual half-breed whose passion will set her free, yet whose love can never be hers.

Genres: Romance, Historical Romance, Native American, Westerns

321 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published February 1, 1995

About the author

The legendary Janelle Taylor was born on June 28, 1944 in Athens, GA. In 1965, she married Michael Taylor with whom she had two children, Angela Taylor-MacIntyre and Alisha Taylor Thurmond. Ms. Taylor attended the Medical College of Georgia from 1977 to 1979 and Augusta State University from 1980-1981. She withdrew from the latter after she sold her first two novels. Today, she is the author of thirty-nine novels, three novellas, and many contributions to other collections. There are thirty-nine million copies of her works in print worldwide and she has made The New York Times Bestseller List eight times. Ms. Taylor's works have also been featured ten times on the "1 million +" bestseller's list at Publisher's Weekly.

Some of Ms. Taylor's most recent books include By Candlelight, Someday Soon, Lakota Dawn, and Lakota Winds (due out in paperback in May 1999). She has also made contributions to other books including The Leukemia Society Cookbook, Christmas Rendezvous, and Summer Love. In addition, readers can see her as co-host of the QVC/TV Romance Book Club Show.

Ms. Taylor's interests include collecting spoons, coins from around the world, ship models, dolls, and old books. She loves to fish, ride horses, play chess, target-shoot, travel (especially in her motorhome and out West), hunt for Indian relics, and take long walks with her husband. Reading, in particular books set before 1900 and current Biographies, Thrillers, Horror, or Fantasy novels, is also one of Ms. Taylor's favorite activities. She is also extremely active with charity work and was even featured on the cover of Diabetes Forecast in February of 1998.

She lives in the country on seventy-nine acres of woods and pasture with a lake and a catfish pond. She writes her novels in a Spanish cottage which overlooks a five-acre lake, a working water mill, gazebo, and covered bridge.

Reviews

[Al · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story was interesting; however, the book contains almost minute details of Native American life of what I believe is a made up tribe. It made it hard to get through.

[Dani · Rating 2 out of 5]

Acho que esse é o único livro que li até hoje com o tema "indígena" onde ambos os protagonistas eram índios, então se tornou uma leitura interessante por ser algo novo para mim. O casal é muito fofo, uma graça, e os personagens secundários muito carismáticos, porém dou uma nota baixa pois achei que a autora poderia ter investido mais na questão do "mistério" da Kionee ser mulher e focar na tensão sexual desse segredo não revelado, porém ela acabou investindo no mote: empecilhos para o casal ficar junto+ sendo muito descritiva com os costumes dos protagonistas, o que deixou o livro maçante. Porém pra quem gosta de ler livros bem focado nessa cultura, é interessante acompanhar os costumes e rituais dos povos índigenas que a autora relata no livro.

[Natasha · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was intrigued by this story because of the plot. I've never read an indian story whereby sonless families forced their eldest daughters to train, hunt and become men to be the provider of that family. This is what happens to Kionee. She had to become a man to be the hunter guardian for her family but her feminine urges and feelings never went away. She met stalking wolf from the cheyenne tribe and together they had to overcome a lot of obstacles to become each other's destiny.

I admit I was expecting a more explosive climax compared to what happen and I was a little disappointed by that. But this author really described everything vividly and with clarity it made for an enjoyable read.

[Shirley Bigham · Rating 2 out of 5]

The manner of speaking was very off putting to me. I know she was trying to get across the language barrier but it detracted from the book in my opinion.

[Richard Guerrero · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved it, great to have an American Indian story with a happy ending.

[Simone Z. Endrich · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not as good as some of her old Native American novels. Too long-winded, particularly when it comes to explaining the so-called 'cunning' in dialogue. I remember that even some of Taylor's Ecstasy series suffers from this problem ... the dialogue being far too long to be realistic ... but I liked the characters well enough to overlook it. I could not overlook it in this one though. Maybe because I hated the 'male' image of the heroine Kionee, and found it difficult to identify the romance aspect when her image was so decidedly male. I liked the hero Stalking Wolf well enough but none of the other characters stood out. All in all, I have to say, this novel left much to be desired.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The language and manner of speaking in this book is different than I had expected, but I really enjoyed the plot. It took a little while to get there, but once it did I found I enjoyed the book. I was impressed with the way the author use the cunning of the main characters to bring about their successes rather than by using brutal and raw force. It was certainly an interesting read and I enjoyed learning more about some of the native American customs.

[Judi Daubitz · Rating 5 out of 5]

So good, I had to read it again!

This is my favorite book so far from Janelle Taylor, I have read just about every book she has authored. I will continue to explore her writing. This books make the reader feel as though they are truly in this place and time, a great romance novel and a great story line. I loved this book...

[Sara Jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read this book maybe 7-8 times over the years. It's one of my favorites. I've always enjoyed Native American history and culture and while Kionee's tribe is fictional, parts are based in fact. It's a neat story to see a woman just as strong as a man.

[Cws]

F Tay