You Never Can Tell

Rating:
Summary: The Plight of Native Americans
Review: She finally tracked him down in a bar way out in the boonies. She tried to make eye contact but he wouldn't bite so she followed him a long way down the road until he caught her.

Heather Reardon wants to do a story on Native American Kole Kills Crow. He had been a popular activist several years' back and one of her particular heroes. He had suffered with his protests, personally as well as trying to help Native Americans. He even served a stretch in prison. He is haunted by his past. Now he is making flutes, living a simple life and has lost all of his energy for causes. He is living in an old cabin in the woods without amenities with his wolf dog. He feels dead inside. Heather is determined to tell his story in a positive light but how can she convince him of that? He has been taken advantage of and been alone for far too long.

Heather awakens something in Kole that he thought was long gone. It is passion and a longing for a fulfilling life. He is moved to take a stand for himself and for his people.

Kathleen Eagle never fails to enthrall and captivate and she certainly does just that in YOU NEVER CAN TELL. She has always expounded the Native American cause and in this novel, she comes out stronger than ever. It is very political and tells the story of the plight of the Native American through the years in the U.S. The story is mesmerizing as she gets her message across with excellent writing and her love of the Lakota people. Ms Eagle's particular strong suit is her dialog and her knowledge of the humor of the Lakota. She makes a very strong statement for her adopted people as she relates the love story between Heather and Kola. Sometimes funny and always moving, YOU NEVER CAN TELL is a must read for the Kathleen Eagle fan.

Rating:
Summary: Boring
Review: This book starts out slow and gets slower. The characters are stereotypical, the dialogue tedious, and the plot leaden. I could barely finish reading it.

In the author's favor, she does write good descriptive prose and is knowledgeable about Native American history and culture. If there had been an interesting story and characters to accompany these positive attributes, then this would have been a good read.

Rating:
Summary: Ms. Eagle please don't do this to us again!
Review: What a disappointment! I normally love all of Kathleen Eagle's books. I buy any book she writes without a second thought. I can't tell you how bad this book is. The plot was so strained that I wondered if Ms. Eagle was under pressure to write it and didn't believe in it in the same way she believed in her other works. For example, the reason for the caravan undertaken by the hero and heroine and others is so trival as to make the participants seem like whiners who have absolutely nothing better to do with their boring lifes not as if they have a burning passion to stand up for something worthwhile! I got the impression that Ms. Eagle was trying to use an old formula from a previous book and stick in a new motive. It fails miserably. I was interested in the meeting of the characters from the earlier book but by then I couldn't stand the hero and his lady and didn't care how they dealt with the reunion!
The really bad and sad part of all this for me is that I don't trust Ms. Eagle and her future books the way I once did. All you writers and editors out there take notice of this. Romance readers are loyal as long as you respect us.