Nina Romano

I love this story so much! It was a book I savored. I read it slowly as it would completely sweep me into another time, another place. I was right there with Cayo and Darby. It wasn’t always a pretty story. Life is as hard as it sweet. Life in the Old West was, often, brutal. The author does not shy away from this. She faced it, along with the prejudices and beliefs, (which sadly we are still working on), bringing a truth to the story. The author was very descriptive making it easy to imagine the scenes as I was reading. I love her writing style. I believe she must love words as much as I do. I know that might not make sense to some. As readers, don’t we all love them? Yes and no. We love the words that tell us the story. I love words that are not commonly used anymore. As a young girl I was heavily influenced by a red haired girl named Anne with an E who loved words. I sometimes use words that my friends look up. It’s a joke with us that is funny because it’s true. In this book I found some of those words, (yes I did show them to some of my friends, haha). This story was a linguistic feast for my soul.
Cayo has a tragic yet rich and interesting life. Darby had a struggle with hers. I really loved her strength in being true to herself. The story of Cayo’s life is woven into Darby and Cayo’s present. The story does swing a bit back and forth but I had no problem with it. To me, this book was not really a romance, yet it was. It was more about life, the choices we make, the ones made for us, and being true to our hearts. I loved this quote from the book that I feel really sums it up:

“Choices. Each one of them that a person made had consequences.”

I believe the author must have spent a lot of time researching Native Americans and white settlers to be able to tell some truths about them. It does bring to question who the “savages” were. Bad people are found in every races as are good people. Most often, though, people are a mix of bad and good. It can depend on so many factors making it difficult to decide if someone is bad or good. I spent a lot of time, while reading, thinking about what I read, thinking about the people and their choices. I love when a book does this.
I would, and have, recommended this book to friends who read historical romance. If you enjoy the Old West, I would tell you to get this book. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.
… (mer)

I’ve only found a handful of Historical Fiction that I found captures the authenticity behind the fact that the work, characters, events, etc are made up in the author’s head, while using historical fact as a backdrop. This novel reads like a fanciful historical look into a real person’s life.
Being Italian myself, I was drawn into the era and the morals and propriety, along with familial obligations that were obstacles for these star-crossed lovers. The author develops characters that you become attached to and you find yourself cheering them on even if their tale ends is heartache.
This is a well-rounded series and I cannot wait to go on to Book 2… (mer)