Jefferson Tallchief is building a case to return her father to jail while sparks fly with Victoria. Good tale I enjoyed.

DNF. It's dated and offensive in the way that the RWA/Courtney Milan debacle has highlighted.

I've read several of this author's '80s books, i.e., from non-PC times, meaning that today, they come across as dated, and yet they were in line with what was considered acceptable when talking about race/religion, etc. in those days. But, in 2019 (it's copyrighted) and particularly in light with the current RWA/CM controversy, this is not a book that should have been reissued. **I came back to add, that there's mention of iMac and Kindle, but also faxes are still in use, so I'm not sure if this is an old book that's been updated (badly, poorly) or a new one that's just really poorly thought out. Either way, it's not one that I felt comfortable reading at all. The following is not entirely as appears in the text of the book, as I've abbreviated slightly to fit in an explanation of why this book was a DNF.

I'm a Brit of Asian origin, and within 5 minutes of reading this, I was offended. There's a senior female government figure meeting a senior male government figure in a swanky hotel (so that's where taxpayers' monies go!) to discuss her 'giving' him Tallchief for a mission/op. She refers to Tallchief as 'that Indian kid'. She goes on to say, 'What the hell's his name anyway? I've been trying to forget it. Big Bear. Little Dog. Some freakin' Indian thing.' When he tells her 'the correct term is Native American.', she says, 'Oh, yes, let's be correct', and salutes the guy sarcastically with a glass of Dewar's (neat) and goes on with the names, coming out with 'Sly Fox?' This is a senior *government* official in 2019 showing her true colours and thoughts, and no, it's not in a state of in vino veritas. She's simply showing her prejudice and no way do I find this acceptable. No doubt she'd be adored by a certain Wotsit.

There's further mention of 'Mr Native American and his hippie hairdo' and, yes, 'noble savages' *is* used... Further on, there's, 'her only sibling is a semi-vegetable' used to describe a guy who survived a car crash but was left with significant brain injury. And, stuff like, 'Who cares? Brown is brown, mixed or not, and sexy is sexy.' There's also use of 'a mutt of 57 varieties' and 'a beautiful mutt.'

As if that wasn't bad enough, the female lead is called Victoria by the Tallchief, and yet all along, she either calls him Tallchief or Native American or Penobscot, though the latter two are not used as an insult. Even in the narrative, likely because of the book's title, the male lead is called Tallchief throughout, which causes an imbalance.

I skim read the book until 73% gone. I stopped reading when Tallchief suddenly started spouting about history, after saying that history wasn't his forte, then started detailing, chip-on-the-shoulder style, how Native Americans suffered at the hands of whites. This was just wrong. Have the publishers not looked at this book? Has the author not considered whether this book is fit for a 2019 release?

I'm disgusted at this.

As the author herself says, there is a certain fascination with a Native American as hero, especially if they look like this author makes them! The archetype that is portrayed of a strong, silent, deep person, with hidden emotions, capable and surprising and loyal.
This is how she writes Tallchief and provides him as a foil to the pale, apparently weak, heroine of the story. Someone he could rescue, cherish and take away from her cage and set her free to flourish.
But it turns out that she has hidden depths too, and is more capable than he imagined.
The father is the villain here, and hs crimes are very nasty indeed.
Overall a nicely crafted story but not original in concept even if different in delivery.

And just FYI. This author has written a series of 4 novels earlier in her career about Native American heroes and the storyline is very similar. The heroine is nearly always blonde and pale and from the North, and they are mostly set in Florida. Basically, she writes the same story with slightly different settings and careers and backgrounds, but always with two different ethnicities and cultures at play.

This review is my own words giv3n voluntarily for this ARC. talk about ripped from today's news. So typical as to whats going on in the world at the moment. Too much corruption and ni morals. Well wriiten. Good read