Customer Reviews

Dakota Dreams (Signet Eclipse)

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It has been four years six months and counting since Jim Buckner arranged for Chasing Elk to be sent to Yuma Prison, a hell hole of abuse from the likes of guard Fat Tom. Only revenge and seeing his daughter Leah keeps Chasing Elk going. When an opportunity arrives to escape, he takes it, but is severely injured in the process.

With her parents recently dead and Apache Marteen wanting rancher Catharine Lyons as his woman, she so far she has refused him using the excuse that her man is coming for her though she knows she will not have much time left to say no. She either must return to Boston or he will take her as her brother Mark is no protection. When a near dead Chasing Elk reaches her ranch at about the same time as Marteen and his retinue of braves, she claims he is her husband. The stranger agrees. As Catharine nurses Chasing Elk back to physical health and he begins to work the ranch, an attraction between them arises. However, Marten wants him dead; the law wants him in prison; Chasing Elk wants his daughter; Catharine wants his love. However, first his mind must heal if he lives long enough.

DAKOTA DREAMS is a tense Indian romance starring a courageous heroine and a battered male with demons screaming at him to avenge the death of his wife and to bring his daughter home, which he wants to believe, is at Catharine's ranch. The character driven tale is loaded with plenty of action as the key players will converge in a showdown. Though the support cast seems somewhat one dimensional, Madeline Baker's latest nineteenth century star-crossed romance contains a fresh fun story line.

Harriet Klausner

Nathan Chasing Elk has been in the brutal Yuma prison, wrongly convicted of killing his wife, for over four years, when he escapes, his only thought to see his daughter Leah again and to get revenge on the real murder.

He's seriously injured in the escape, and is found by Catherine Lyons, who takes him in.

Catherine is a young woman, living alone since her parents died and her younger brother abandoned her. Nathan frightens her, but he's also a solution to her most immediate problem: the Apache Marteen is determined to take her for his bride. Catherine has been putting him off, saying that her man is coming for her, but Marteen is losing his patience. Now Catherine can point to Nathan as her husband.

After Catherine nurses him back to health, Nathan's eager to be on his way to find his daughter, and Marteen is still determined to get Catherine by whatever means necessary, so Catherine accompanies Nathan on his quest.

And of course, they fall in love (this is a romance--it's a foregone conclusion).

It's not all that simple, however. Nathan is still a wanted man, still bent on revenge, and, most heartbreakingly, Leah believes he killed her mother.

The historical aspects of the story are interesting, and the emotional dilemmas Catherine and Nathan have to face are compelling. There are no easy answers for these two, and that makes it all the more satisfying when they earn their happy ending. I'd definitely recommend this if you're a fan of the sub-genre, but it's not quite enough to make me love it enough to overcome my sub-genre prejudice.

Madeline Baker can write Native American romance better than anyone I
have ever read, because to her the story and the Indian hero are more
important than the sex. Hope to see a lot more from her.

Yuma Prison - Arizona Territory.
What a nasty Hell hole.
How does one survive the brutish mentality of the guards, especially when you know that you are not guilty of the crime for which you are incarcerated?

Four and a half years have led Nathan Chasing Elk to the point of trying to excape one last time. He has to find his daughter, he has not heard of her in almost 3 years.

Catherine Lyons is struggling to protect herself from Marteen the Apache who wants her for his woman while waiting for her brother, Mark to return. Well she has had it. She decides to strike out for Finley's Crossing and head east.

Marteen seems to bring Chasing Elk and Catherine together.
Catherine takes Nathan back to her ranch house. As time passes they are both under survalience by the Apaches and decide it is time to move out.

Chasing Elk can't leave Catherine behind as she seems to fascinate him. We get to follow them on a dirty, dusty trek across the Territory in search of Leah, Nathan's daughter.

Oh, oh Marteen is back.
Then a broken leg holds them up until there is danger of Nathan being recognized. There is another long trek to the Dakotas in search of Nathan's mother and her People.

This leads to a very important education for Cate and Leah when they finally find and make a summer home [after marriage]with Macawi and her family. Ah, but there is one more desperate rescue that Nathan must perform with the help of his step-father.

But, oh boy, Nathan finds out that Jim Buckner is in the vicinity and he decides to wreak his vengence on the man. Even bringing him in to the sheriff does not stop the miscarriage of justice once again. Will Nathan ever get to see Catherine and Leah again?

DEFINITELY RECOMMENDED [hey, no premarital sex and the story is still great.]

This is not your typical romance novel. I love reading authors who aren't afraid to mess with the "formula"! It *is* a HEA, it just takes a different route to get there.

It had been four years since Nathan Chasing Elk had been falsely accused of murdering his wife, and thrown in the Yuma Prison. The only thing that keeps him sane is the day in which he will be able to seek revenge against the one who put him there and finding his daughter Leah. The opportunity to escape presents itself, and he doesn't hesitate to accept it, but in doing so he is gravely injured.

With her parent's untimely death, Catharine Lyons is left with the responsibility to run the family ranch by herself. Apache Marteen is convinced that Catharine should be his wife. She keeps him at a distance by telling him that her future husband is soon to arrive.

When Catharine finds a man close to death, she sees it as the perfect opportunity to say that Nathan Chasing Elk is the man that she has been waiting for. She takes him in, and tends his wounds. When she learns that he is an escape convict, it doesn't extinguish the growing feelings she is developing towards Nathan.

When Nathan is well enough to travel, she insists that she go with him into Lakota Territory to find his daughter, and help prove his innocence. The journey will be one that is assured to be filled with danger, will the two of them be able to survive and clear Nathan's name?

Madeline Baker is the queen of historical romance. It is hard to find another author who puts so much depth and emotion in her books that allows you to play out each scene she writes in her books in your head. She is an author who has always held a high place on my keeper's shelf. DAKOTA DREAMS is an exceptional romance; you immediately fall in love with Nathan and Catharine. You will find yourself holding your breath as you turn the next page in anticipation to see what happens. A book such as DAKOTA DREAMS is a shiny example at what this author is capable of achieving.

Chasing Elk is determined to avenge his wife's death and recover his daughter. But when he finally escaped the Yuma prison, he wasn't planning on getting shot on the way out...

This is a nice mix of a few historical facts about Native Americans and a love story. Nathan Chasing Elk is a good man, wrongfully charged. Ms. Baker makes his character very realistic. He is still grieving the loss of his wife and feels guilty because he hasn't been there for his daughter. He's also determined to get his daughter back and find the man who killed his wife.

The other lead character, Catherine, is a young woman living in a strange land with a missing brother. She also has extreme challenges trying to keep the Apache chief from claiming her as his wife. Everyone in the story has some baggage from the past to settle. Watching how Ms. Baker's characters manage to get past the problems and work towards settling their lives down for the future is part of the fun of the read.

The author puts her two lead characters together by need, but soon the sexual tension between them grows. Adding Nathan's daughter to the mix creates an even more interesting situation because she testified against him and is afraid of him, and she hampers the romance.

The author's descriptions of the land paint a lovely picture in your mind and you can understand why the Indians wanted to retain the land they hunted and lived in. She's also very good at adding new side stories to the main story as you read along which enhances your interest in the story.

The story flows well, the situations described are plausible and you're not sure just how this story is going to end until you read the last pages. It was a very good read.

Originally posted at the Long and Short Of It Romance Reviews

I couldn't put this book down. It is the first Madeline Baker book I have read, but it won't be the last. I really liked the way she tied in geographic history with a very exciting plot and a very sensual love story. I really appreciated that the characters had high morals and showed that you can have desires and control them until the proper time!! and find REAL love.