Nightsong

Nightsong Carolyn Davidson Grade: C Sensuality: Warm Kate G. just reviewed this one at AAR and because I liked it more than she did - and yet not nearly enough to recommend it - I'm adding my thoughts here.

Nightsong is set in the Dakota Territories during the late 1880s. It begins when a man on the run breaks into the isolated farmhouse of Debra Nightsong. He is Ethan Tyler, and bounty hunters are on the look-out for him for the murder of another man. Tyler has learned of the isolated farm of a half-breed Indian woman whom he assumes is an old crone. Well, he was wrong...Debra Nightsong is a lovely young woman, and though she tempts him enough that he scares her into acquiesence, he's not a bad guy. Nope, the man he killed his son and raped and killed his wife.

Debra works her farm alone because she doesn't fit in - either in white or Indian society. Well, that's not quite true, as some of her neighbors would like to extend friendship, but she doesn't trust anyone because others are racist and rude. So she's not really concerned about the ruin of her reputation, and after the rocky start of his holding her hostage, Tyler stays on at her farm to work as a handy man. As they work together, they get to know one another, and to fall in love. And just as she tempts him, he tempts her. Any conflict between them for most of the book is minor, and based on her inability to trust a man, particularly a white man.

Their love story is interrupted by the appearance of a bounty hunter, some second sight, and a huge hero/heroine separation before the one true conflict between the two that occurs shortly before the story concludes. I actually enjoyed the first half of the book; it's the second half, which features that lengthy separation, where I lost interest.

And though I enjoyed the first half to a greater extent, it too wasn't without its faults. I liked Ethan's every-man quality, but both he and Debra were so perfect they should have appeared with halos around their heads. I also liked the day-to-day working of the farm, which is something our reviewer disliked intensely. It's probably because I'm a pretty crappy "housewife" that I like reading about other people's getting things in order, whether in a Medieval when the heroine becomes the chataleine of a ruined castle or in a western featuring a mail-order bride.

The author's style was the real culprit here, though. I can't describe it as anything other than bland - to call it a more exciting name would lend the book more excitement than it deserves. Which is sad, really, given the beginning when Tyler held Debra hostage. And yet, there's some real romantic yearning here that is lacking in too many romances today, which is why, in the end, the book earns as high a grade as it does.

I've read this author before, and both Texas Lawman and Tempting a Texan earned C level grades from me. I felt the former had some strong points, though, which is why I gave the author a third shot. As much as I hope for a good western when I pick one up, I've learned my lesson. Three mostly bland and muted strikes, and she's out.

TTFN, Laurie Likes Books

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