TEST
Just as she didn’t in the previous books, Levine doesn’t romanticize or sugarcoat life on the American frontier in the latest of her Men of Defiance series. Neither Sarah, a white woman who was kidnapped, abused, and repeatedly raped by a Sioux warrior, nor Logan, owner of a number of trading posts, walk lightly through life.
When Logan locks eyes with Sarah before she boards a stagecoach on the way to Cheyenne, he is drawn to her. In his heart he knows that this woman needs help and he has been the one chosen to give it.
Changing his mode of travel, he boards the stage with Sarah and two other passengers and learns as they do that she is a widow who watched her husband be killed by Indians who then captured her. She has recently run away from the tribe and her Indian warrior husband.
Her admission panics everyone but Logan, and the other two passengers throw her out of the coach, fearing the warrior will be searching for her. Not wanting her to be out on the prairie alone, Logan disembarks also, offering to accompany her to Cheyenne.
Since she doesn’t know where she is but is also afraid of Logan, Sarah is torn about accepting his help. She is afraid he’s like all the other men she’s known who have used her and raped her. Logan, seeing the fear in her eyes, assures her that she can trust him and spends the rest of the book proving that to her. Little by little, he learns her secrets—how she was taken from her husband and how she escaped her captors who tortured and raped her.
Logan soon learns that Sarah’s husband was forging land deeds and his partners think she still has some of the bogus deeds. There are also wanted posters connecting Sarah to the forgery scams. Knowing she is innocent, Logan now must protect her not only from the Indians who want to recapture her but also from the criminals and the lawmen who are searching for her.
Levine doesn’t make Sarah’s conversion from frightened, yet determined victim to loving, caring free woman a quick or easy transformation. Instead she understands the trauma and long uphill battles Sarah must handle both with Logan and alone.
In Logan, readers see how powerful the strong, silent type can be in restoring a woman’s confidence in herself. Both are so competently drawn that readers can’t help but like and root for them.
While the main plot centers on Sarah’s rehabilitation, an important subplot involves family and belonging. Here Levine infuses the isolation and challenges of the West with the importance of a loyal, dedicated commitment by everyone in a group to look out for everyone else’s well-being.
As in the previous books, Levine leavens her fiction by airing both points of view about western expansion—native and white. Neither side is without blame in the bloodbath and acrimonious relations, and Levine wisely doesn’t choose sides, but presents good people and bad people in both camps.
If there is a flaw with the book, it might be seen in its melodramatic conclusion. Still, this bit of over-the-top fiction does reflect the type of stories that filtered eastward during the late 19th century.
Levine is an excellent writer who makes readers care about her characters, but also adds historical perspective on a part of the country she obviously loves. If readers want satisfying historical romance, they need go no further than Levine to get their fill.
Grade: A-
Book Type: American Historical Romance
Sensuality: Warm
Review Date: 27/04/12
Publication Date: 2012/03
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Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! I’m grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.