Customer Reviews

Distant Heart (Westward Hearts, Book 2)

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3 star:		(3)
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In 1850 former prostitute Toni Rodden and the three runaway indentured servants the Caldwell siblings (Fannie, and young teens Katie and Kip) flee Hawkins, Kansas to forge into a family of sorts as part of a wagon train traveling to Oregon. However although Toni feels good for Fannie as the latter marries wagon master Blake Tanner, she feels loneliness also. Toni knows no man will ever want her beyond a night or two because of her background until the Cheyenne war chief offers three horses for her.

Wagon train scout Sam Two-Feathers vows to himself that he will protect Toni with his life before allowing her to be sold again. He knows the war chief will be back offering more to purchase Toni and fears some of the train will want to do so as she is a fallen woman and not worth the price of angering the Cheyenne. However, although Sam knows he loves Toni, he believes as a half Sioux, they cannot be together as white society will ostracize her; Toni likewise feels the same except she fails to meet his much higher standard.

The second Westward Hearts tale (see DEFIANT HEART) is a terrific western romance starring fully developed characters who bring to life the dangerous decade before the Civil War while heading westward. The story line is inspirational yet filled with so much historical insight fans will feel they are traveling on the wagon train as Tracey Bateman provides a vivid exhilarating mid nineteenth century Americana tale.

Harriet Klausner

I absolutely LOVED this book and the other two in the series! I literally read each one of these in 24 hours or less.

A wonderful story! I couldn't put down the book until I had finished it. I had to order the 3rd book in the series to see what finally happened to the characters I had fallen in love with. Very well written and intriguing!!
I wish there were more books in this series. I will definitely look for other books by this author.

Ok - so I read this book and the first one and they are interesting but not gripping. I am looking forward to seeing what happens next though. I have one main problem with the two books and that is a slight discrepency. The third book is about Grant and Ginger. Grant is a player in the series from the beginning but in the first book he's supposed to be a retired sheriff and in the second book they reffer to him as a retired doctor. Hmmmm... what's up with that? Was he both or what? I hope someone can explain that to me. I really don't like books with discrepencies like that. You'd think the author could remember what all their characters did.

It is a great romance, full of adventures and surprises. It has an excellent plot and very good characters. I highly recommend you to read it - It is a page-turner !!!

I loved the previous book in this series, but enjoyed this one even more. It was compelling and interesting. I dare say it is one of Tracey's best historical novels...at least that I've read so far. And it was very well-written.

While Distant Heart has characteristics of a typical prairie "wagon train" western-type novel, it's far from the usual fare. The tension and conflict were awesome and real, and there was plenty of hardship and grit on the "journey" the heroine experienced. Real life issues such as shame, addictions, sin, jealousy, strife, deceit, murder, kidnapping, adultery, etc. They're all in there and comprise one incredible tale.

I SO loved this story and the message it contains. And the perception Toni and Sam had in regards to each other made me crazy. I wanted to shake them both so they'd see the truth. But they were also self-sacrificing, and that makes for an awesome love story. The secondary characters were incredibly well done, too, and I'm looking forward to reading the final story in this series.

I enjoyed reading Defiant Heart and was looking forward to continuing the story with Distant Heart. Ms. Bateman has a wonderful writing style that seems effortless (I still believe her best work is the Claire series - they are a lot of fun to read!). It's effortless to read as well- very light and easy reading. But not much seems to happen story-wise. The focus is on Toni and Sam's romance, which was pretty much well under way in the first book. There is some drama regarding an Indian chief trying to steal Toni away but even that is played down where there is no real climax. That must be coming in the final installment, Dangerous Heart. Blake and Fannie get married but the ceremony is extremely brief and with little detail. I realize they now are secondary characters but since we got to know them in the first book it would've been nice to still 'interact' with them, to see how they get on as newlyweds. The only real new happening is the introduction of a new character, Ginger, who acts like a man (doesn't like to bathe and dresses in pants) and has a mysterious past that is suggested to be linked to another wagon trail member. The few lighter moments are because of her antics and her aversion to smelling nice... Ginger and Grant Kelley are the new romantic leads in the last book. I'm still interested to see how the story wraps up but hopefully the actions picks up and the climax finally happens.

(I was very happy that they lowered the price of the book this time around. For Defiant Heart, the list price was $12.95. Here they dropped it down $3. Since these stories are barely over 200 pages (considering the margin size and page size), they are definitely not worth spending $13 for.)

Toni has caught the eye of the Cheyenne Chief. He offers three horses for her. This is a substantial offer, which was turned down. They know he will be back with a larger offer. The trail scout Sam loves Toni and is afraid they will accept a second offer so that they will not have any problems with the Cheyenne. Sam also deals with the fact that he is half Sioux. Toni because of her past feels she is not worthy to be in Sam's life. This wagon train has some very interesting problems other than survival. By Ruth Thompson author of "Natchez Above The River" and "The Bluegrass Dream"