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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Different Type of Indian Romance, June 11, 2006
Spirit of the Wolf is such a great book, with so much depth, that I have a hard time knowing where to start in describing it.
Centuries before the main part of the story starts, a village of Indians committed a crime against the Thunder god, and were consequently cursed to live in the mists - neither real nor afterlife - until one of their warriors breaks the curse. Once every generation a warrior is given the opportunity to break the curse before his 30th birthday. That warrior is Grey Coyote. While wandering the plains seeking a way to break the curse, he spends the night with a group of Indians and becomes involved in gambling with a guide named LaCroix. When the Indians gamble, the game continues until one man is completely broke - his home, horse, money, weapons, even his wife is lost.
Marietta Welsford is an English aristocrat who has hired LaCroix to guide her to St. Louis. From St. Louis, she plans on traveling back to England to claim her inheritance. Little does she know that she is about to be gambled away by LaCroix. LaCroix has gambled away everything he owns, but with the gambling fever running strongly, he puts Marietta up as his wife, even though he has just met her a couple of days before. After he loses her to Grey Coyote in the game, he realizes that she, of course, is going to raise holy he__, so he drugs her with opium and corn whiskey. When Marietta awakens, she is in the arms of Grey Coyote.
What happens next is quite simply a beautiful love story full of wonderful and accurate details about the American Indians' way of life. The author, Karen Kay, is a great-granddaughter of a Choctaw Indian, and as such she inserts much about the Indians thoughts and philosophy on life and their idea of being one with the earth. I read the book because I am a romance reader, but I would have read it just for the historical and cultural details. They were truly fascinating.
I know we have all read the typical Indian romances. Indian steals white woman, white woman resists captivity, white woman tries to escape, white woman grows to like and then love savage Indian. Savage Indian grows not so savage and loves her too. None of that garbage here. From the beginning both Grey Coyote and Marietta face each other in a realistic way, and you can literally feel/see the love grow between them. I highly recommend this book.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
4-1/2* Super Native American Romance and Legend, June 24, 2006
Though the action itself is set in 1830's of the American West the author gives a brief background both setting the stage for the main protagonist Grey Coyote as an Indian boy sent to earth on a mission to break a curse that had enslaved his clan and the reason the curse was laid. Once a generation a young boy would be sent with a quest and a riddle to solve before he turned 30 years old, otherwise his clan would again be enslaved for another generation. With time running out, he thought the trader, Jacques LaCroix, who had engaged him in a game of Cos-soo (also explained) held the key to solving his riddle. Winning the game and everything the trader possessed Grey Coyote got more than he bargained for. One of Jacques LaCroix's possessions was the golden haired beauty, Marietta Welsford, who had hired LaCroix as her guide to St. Louis. Unbeknownst to Grey Coyote he wrongly assumed that the white woman was the traders' wife.
Marietta was drugged by LaCroix and handed over unconscious to Grey Coyote before she knew what had happened. Grey Coyote according to life on the plains, and the rules of Cos-soo assumed that LaCroix's `wife' (for a woman could not be traveling with a man who was not her husband) was now rightly his `wife'. Not that he wanted a wife but this fair-haired woman was uncommonly beautiful. As Grey Coyote and Marietta butt heads as to where he was taking her and her intense need to reach St. Louis, the attraction two good looking people felt for one another led to an inevitable joining. Almost convinced to give in to Marietta's demands to reach St. Louis, Grey Coyote was about to give in until another vision showed him that Marietta was an integral part of the key to the riddle he needed to solve.
*** I have to say that originally the plot seemed somewhat far fetched, but I was soon totally caught up in the story. The characterizations of both Marietta and Grey Coyote were quite skillfully done giving them a depth of character that surprised me. Grey Coyote was adamant in fulfilling his quest and was prepared to bring Marietta to the first trading post he could find without taking what was rightfully his according to the rules of the Cos-soo until he saw the second vision. Marietta was impassioned as well, in returning to England to reclaim the heritage that had been stolen from her but neither was ready for the passion each felt for one another. It wasn't long before Marietta realized that Grey Coyote was more a gentleman than any white man she knew. Like an artist the author blends in her love of the American Indian heritage, their dogma, customs with an ancient legend, and with empathy and a sensitivity that left this reader breathless with the beautiful love story that evolved. The sensual scenes were quite passionate and tasteful only enhancing the love story. The dangers of the journey, and even some of the humor that evolved along with lessons of the plains survival were well done with just enough drama to keep the pace lively and refreshing. This was beautifully written, well researched, and contained a nice glossary of terms and explanations that added to this readers understanding of the Native American tongue and of the curse behind the legend. This was an extremely good book I highly recommend to lovers of Native American romances.
Marilyn Rondeau - RIO, Reviewers International Organization
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Spirit of the Wolf, October 30, 2006
Grey Coyote has been chosen as the one in his generation to break the curse upon his clan. Grey Coyote has only one year left before it is too late though. Maria Marietta Welsford is in America. She has hired Jacques LaCroix to get her back to England. Marietta needs to get to England before her family's estate is sold.
Marietta finds herself traveling with a stranger when LaCroix loses all of his possessions gambling with Grey Coyote including Marietta herself.
These two oddly paired traveling companions make their way through the wilderness while a burning attraction slowly simmers to the surface. Their journey is long and arduous and the discoveries they make along the way will change their lives forever.
The Spirit Of The Wolf is a beautifully written story. The descriptive details made me feel as if I were in the book. Grey Coyote and Marietta blend their cultures and their lives on a journey that is enlightening as well as dangerous. They discover much about themselves and in the process they find an extraordinary love full of passion and acceptance. I found Marietta and Grey Coyote to be endearing characters because of their responsiveness towards each other. Their passion for life and love is wonderfully expressed. The Sprit Of The Wolf is a lovely story about love, desire and destiny.
Nannette
Reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed
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