Moonbeam & Roses By Stephanie Payne Hurt

Rating: 4.5 Stars

Sara knew Wes since they were kids, but they didn’t become very good friends until they reconnected at a neighborhood social event when they were older, especially since Wes is a cowboy and he follows the horse shows. So he wasn’t around for a few years, but after they reconnected they got reacquainted and become closer, and Sara has secretly been in love with him most of her life. When their relationship was about to embark at a turning point and become something more, Wes decided to take a job working on a ranch in Montana…
After hearing that Wes moved on with someone else after he left, Sara was heartbroken. So she wrapped herself in her art work, and eventually Brooke, her agent and best friend, decided to set her up on a blind date, and after meeting Quinn, they hit off quite nicely, though she was still in love with Wes. When things with Quinn started getting serious, a tragic accident happened, and Wes drives down to be with the one woman he loves and couldn’t forget. But when Sara wakes up, and discovers she is blind it will take fate to bring Sara and Wes together…

This book was written in a different format then I am used to, but fortunately it didn’t distract me from the story. The book was a fun read, I liked that it didn’t have any swearing and that the sexual content was just suggestive and didn’t go into details. I liked that Wes and Sara knew each other when they were kids and when they got older that they got to know each other and build their relationship, instead of diving head first into it. Wes’ character is every girls dream come true, in the way he treated Sara and took care of her, as well as doing everything in his power to help her get through this obstacle in her life. I enjoyed that they were different, him being a cowboy, and Sara being an artist, and being able to involve themselves in each others life without the characters getting frustrated or having it tear them apart. Sara was an admirable character. I like that she was true to her feelings for Wes, and though she tried to move on, she did it only because she thought Wes moved on and wasn’t going to come back to her. And when she lost her sight she tried to stay strong and to get the help she needed just in case she didn’t get her eyesight back.

This book was an enjoyable read and was just the right length. It wasn’t long and drawn out, and it had a great pace to it. I look forward in reading more from Stephanie Payne Hurt if her others are like this cute western romance.

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Lakota Surrender (Lakota #1) by Karen Kay

RATING:

5 Out Of 5 Stars

REVIEW:

When Tahiska of the Lakota Indian Tribe father is returned home dead along with one of his father’s friend from a hunting party, Tahiska along with his companions Wahtapah of his own tribe and his cousin Neeheeowee from the Cheyenne tribe set on a journey for revenge. After learning the descriptions of the two men responsible for killing his father from the other two in the hunting party they set out to the closet fort to find them. There he meets Kristina and after he meets her and gets to know her, he discovers after thinking things through that he must claim her for is own…
Kristina never had any animosity towards Indians and it had everything to do with the relationship she had with her Indian nanny, Many Moons, who was a mother, a friend, and who she loved as a sister. During the time Many Moons was her Nanny she taught Kristina many things of her Indian heritage and sign language. Before Many Moons was dismissed as her nanny she shared a vision she had about Kristina. She told Kristina in her vision, “She was Indian. You were still you, but you were no longer living in the White Man’s world nor were you living in my world or anything resembling our village. I believe you were living somewhere out west among the free tribes that still live there and roam as their ancestors did long ago. And Kristina there was much happiness for you there…”
Kristina never told anyone, but she had her own vision as well. “In her vision she saw buckskin and leather, skin-covered lodges, and a man with flashing black eyes that looked straight through her…” When Kristina met Tahiska for the first time she thought he looked familiar to her and after talking to him and becoming his interpreter under the most unusual circumstances she discovers he was the one from her vision…
This is the first book I read by Karen Kay and I really enjoyed it. Tahiska and Kristina seemed to fall in love at first sight, though they both weren’t sure what they felt for each other at first. They were able to get to know each other when Kristina became Tahiska’s interpreter and after coming to terms of his feelings for Kristina wanted her to be his wife. When Kristina find out Tahiska had married them through the way of his people and it was hard for Kristina to come to terms with it, do to it not following her customs, but after figuring out her feeling for him comes to accept their marriage.
I liked how the author had them figure out how to work out their differences from belonging to two different cultures and how they were able to overcome the boundaries that kept coming up. I liked how the author integrated how they Indians were treated back then, but not a lot where I can’t wait to finish it or want to stop reading it because it was too much.
All in all it was a good book to read and one I will read again in the future. I plan to read author titles by the author, especially the story for Neeheeowee and Kristina’s best friend Julia, which was introduced in Tahiska and Kristina’s story.