I will not dress in buckskin clothing or sleep in a tipi, I’m not too keen on horses, I haven’t been on a vision quest and I’m not particularly thrilled by the thought of leaving my well equipped kitchen to go cook on an open campfire. All in all – I’m not a wildlife person and I don’t harbour a romantic dream of living my life as a member of an Indian tribe! But I guess that my lack of enthusiasm for a life in balance with nature shouldn’t get in the way of my pointing you in the direction of a couple of romantic fic’s that fits this theme.
The two stories that I’ve come across are both based on the classic western theme of a white girl living with an Indian tribe back before the world turned into a civilized place with modern housing and amenities, but unlike the classic westerns the young white women don’t wait around to be rescued from the savages by a fair, blue-eyed young man. They fall in love and choose to make a life with an Indian woman of the tribe – surprise!
In “Tiopa Ki Lakota” by Redhawk you’ll meet Anpo and Ketlin (Kathleen). Anpo is an Indian woman trained in the ways of a warrior and hunter, while Ketlin is a widowed white woman who is held captive by an Indian tribe later to be given to Anpo as a settlement in a dispute. As you might have guessed the meeting of Anpo and Ketlin are not a chance encounter, but the fulfilment of a vision Anpo has received that she shall kill a white buffalo and meet a striking blond woman whom she will unintentionally hurt.
If you look beyond the western setting “Tiopa Ki Lakota” is a classic romance with a hint of the standard uber soul mate theme, but you do have to be patient with the women as they are not only set to go through the usual bumps on the road to love and “living happily ever after”, they are also totally unaware of how to consummate their love.
The story is well written but a tad long for my taste and somehow not quite entertaining enough to keep me from doing a bit of fast scrolling at times, and I’m not particularly impressed by the emphasize on getting the reader acquainted with Lakota language and lifestyle – it’s too detailed, but if this is in your line of interest it might not bother you too much.
With a little help from a member of the forum at The Athenaeum site I’ve located another story with a similar theme that I read a while back – “Drifter” by D. In this story you’ll meet a young redblond, white girl by the name of Donoma who was raised as the daughter of an Indian shaman and his tribe, and the half-breed Koko Kanti who was taken in by Donoma’s tibe, when she was abandoned by her Indian father’s tribe.
As the story begins Donoma is following a vision to find and heal her soul mate, along the way we are told the story of how Donoma and Koko grew up together – one trained in the ways of a shaman and seer the other as a warrior, once best friends, but torn apart by feelings that none of them knew how to deal with. The women are thrown together again when Koko returns to the tribe after a five years separation with wounds serious enough to kill her, and Donoma takes on the task of healing her body.
Even though Donoma is well skilled in the healing of a warriors body it takes more than wisdom to heal the Koko’s soul and Donoma’s wounded heart – a bit of divine intervention from the Great Spirit is needed and … well as you can imagine – freely given.
“Drifter” has a much more compelling storyline than “Tiopa Ki Lakota” perhaps due to a more detailed and convincing drawing of the protagonists and a likable subcast of family and friends. The story it’s well written, with a touching storyline and entertaining writing style.
The story holds both a romance along the lines of a first love that will never die even when faced with dire misunderstandings and hurt feelings, and a drama involving the “white mans world” in which Koko chose to live as Reb Stone a bounty hunter during the years she spent apart from Donoma and the tribe.
If you like the western setting and want a catching romantic read with a bit of drama you could do a lot worse than spend a few hours on this story, and should you like to take a sneak preview of the story by looking up the “book cover” please use the link.
After I read this review, I grabbed Drifter and was SO excited to read it. I loved Tiopa Ki Lakota (you can catch the Cocktail Hour where Andy and I discussed it here:http://cocktailhour.us/archives/48) and have been looking for another Native American themed story.
Honestly, I had to stop reading it about 1/2 way through. The constant flashbacks were painful to me. I cringed every time I saw the words “it stirred memories” or something along those lines because it mean there was ANOTHER flashback coming. Once the flashbacks stopped coming after nearly every scene, I really felt like the plot and dialogue started going down hill.
It takes a lot for me to stop reading a story that I’ve stuck with that long but I had to move on. Because of my quirks, I’ll probably go back and finish it but, in my opinion, there’s no comparing Tiopa Ki Lakota with this story. Tiopa Ki Lakota (I read the online version) had some issues and some BS was called but it also delved into the cultural aspects of the tribe and how the culture and traditions shaped the characters and the events.
Just my opinion, of course. I look forward to seeing more comments on this one.