Dear Mrs. Eagle,
Your books have been favorites of mine for years. When I got back into reading romance novels about 10 years ago, “The Night Remembers” was
one of the first books I read and from there I started to collect everything you’d written. Your latest book, “Mystic Horseman,” reminds me of the best of your books from the golden 1990s.
Last year we caught a glimpse of Dillon Black in “Ride a Painted Pony.” He’s a man with a hard history who’s done some crazy things but who adores his two children even if his marriage to their mother (the end of which caused some of those crazy things) broke up 10 years ago. Now he and Nick Red Shield have built up a nice little business running cattle and breeding Indian ponies. And not just any Indian ponies but the supposed descendants of the horses of Sitting Bull. Dillon hopes this summer he and his daughter Emily can expand on the program they started the previous year which brings horses and the Lakota youth, descendants themselves of one of the Great Plains horse tribes, back together.
Dillon’s ex-wife Monica hopes to be able to help with this expansion. A local TV celebrity due to her ‘decorating on a dime’ show, she pitches the camp to her friend Ella Champion, producer of the transformation reality show which basically invades a neighborhood and fixes something up to improve the lives of the community. What nobody expects is just how much the two week taping of the show will change everyone involved.
“Mystic Horseman” is parts of “Reason to Believe” crossed with “Sunrise Song,” “Bad Moon Rising,” and “This Time Forever.” It’s a full on return to the modern reality of life in Indian Country – both the good and the bad. People pitching in today to remember and honor the past and also work towards a future. The beauty of the land and the memory of the ancestors surrounds those working on the Mystic Warrior Horse Camp. Relationships intermingle – Dillon and Monica sort their past, they both struggle to help their teenage children advance through the landmines of youth, Dillon and Ella cautiously advance into romance, the TV crew squabble and begin to learn about Indians past and present and the Lakota add their time honored community spirit and subtle, cutting humor.
I raced through the book, soaking up 50 pages at a time, getting deeper and deeper into the story and more caught up in the characters. This is a book I know I’ll reread and one that I’m happy to give a top grade to.
~Jayne
available in mmp but no ebook that I can find. Bummer.
Jayne, would you recommend this book to someone who has never read a story by Kathleen Eagle before? I always wanted to try her out and your review seems to have given me the necessary kick and reminder to put her on my soon to be read list. On the other hand, the golden 90s sound very tempting, too *g*. This term kind of reminds me of the time when I discovered Linda Howard and the incredible books she used to write :-)
Katie, I think it would be an excellent book to start with. Any of the ones I mention in this review would be fab as well. “Fire and Rain” is another favorite of mine. Here’s a link to “This Time Forever” at AAR.
Many thanks, Jayne, I’ve marked down all of them. One can never have too many recommendations from an author, ya know *g*.
I love her stories, but I cannot stand the writing style and finally after many frustrating reads, in which I loved the story ideas, but got so annoyed at the writing voice, I had to regretfully give up on her. Such a shame, too, because I want to read the stories… I know many people who are not bothered by her style at all, but I know as many who feel like I do.
She does have a distinct writing style with lots of visual descriptions and I agree that it’s not for everyone. Here’s a link to the first chapter excerpt at her website.
I just LOVE her work and had no idea she had a new book out! Thanks!
[...] the Heart Knows, This Time Forever, Fire and Rain, and The Last Good Man. Jayne reviewed her latest novel and I’m sure it’s good. I have it TBR and will read it [...]
Just got the book and finished reading. It was a great book and really enjoyed every bit of it. I’lll recommend it to you all.