Cassie Edwards, Savage Dawn

In 1850 for the safety of his Owl Clan tribe Chief Eagle Wolf leaves to die alone as he believes he suffers from the highly contagious white man's revenge smallpox. At the same time he leaves his people, Nicole Tyler travels from St. Louis to Tyler City, Utah where her parents live in hopes of using her recently earned teaching certificate.

Instead of being greeted in euphoric welcome home by her parents, Nicole arrives to a gruesome site; every one of the townsfolk has been murdered and the psychopath Sam Partain stalks her as he holds a grudge against her for rejecting his advances; besides he logically knows no witness can be left alive to blame a white man as the rumors throughout Utah are an Indian massacre occurred. Nicole escapes racing alone up the nearby mountains with a killer in pursuit. She runs into a feverish Indian whom she nurses back to health from measles. Eagle Wolf and Nicole fall in love as they flee an obstinate predator.

This is an exciting well written, but typical Savage historical romance starring two likable but totally diverse lifestyle lead players. The key stars are out of Cassie Edwards casting 101 with a noble male Indian, a tolerant white woman, and a crazed white male. Although the story line has been used a seemingly quadrillion times by Ms. Edwards, her fans will relish Nicole's efforts to adapt to an increasingly outraged tribe trying to survive the white tsunami.

Harriet Klausner