Avon, $5.99, ISBN 0-380-80339-9
Historical Romance, 1999

Karen Kay’s Night Thunder’s Bride tells the story of Night Thunder, who had to marry Rebecca Cothern in order to save her from his tribesman. The story is nothing new really, to be honest. I didn’t really warm up to these two characters; they never really sustained my interest. Probably because the story was very slow-paced, and there was no external conflict much to spice up things. The story was more of Rebecca’s journey to self-discovery and understanding of the life and cultures of the Blackfoot tribe.

Yet the greatest impression I received from reading this one is the strong sense of love and care for these people from the authors practically emanating out of every page. Karen Kay’s painstakingly detailed Blackfoot way of life, her wonderful glossaries, notes to the reader, and additional quotations from some Blackfoot figures – I was struck by how much effort she must have spent on their work, communicating with her American-Indian friends, reading up and analyzing reservation laws, writing about and definitely feeling what these people feel.

Too bad none of that translates to an interesting story.