It Sleeps in Me

In Me #1

by Kathleen O'Neal Gear, W. Michael Gear

Sora is the wise, young High Chieftess of the Black Falcon Nation. For many winters her heart belonged to her husband, Flint, a warrior from a neighboring clan. Flint truly loved Sora, but jealousy drove him to beat men to death for merely casting a longing glance at his wife. Unable to live with his murderous rage, Flint moved back to his mother's clan, divorcing Sora and leaving her forever.
Remarried and fully devoted to her duties as the High Chieftess, Sora tries to bury her memories of Flint. Then, on the eve of war with a neighboring nation, she is visited by Skinner, an old friend of Flint. Skinner tells her of Flint's death, but Sora feels that he carries part of Flint's soul inside him. When Skinner reveals secrets that only Flint would know, and rouses her passion in ways only Flint had, Sora must figure out if this is the clever witchcraft of enemies who want to seize her power and destroy her nation, or the spirit of her one and only true love.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Native American, Historical Romance, Historical, Romance, Fantasy

320 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published June 27, 2006

About the author

My professional life began in the dark basement of the Museum of Cultural History in Los Angeles, where I was cataloguing three-hundred-year-old Guatemalan saint carvings. I quit this fascinating job and moved to Wyoming to work for the U.S. Department of the Interior as a historian and archaeologist. When I finally understood the error of my ways I moved to Wyoming and started writing books. Since then, I've authored or co-authored 54 novels and around 200 non-fiction publications.

I love writing. And buffalo. And hiking the wilds of Wyoming's backcountry.

I'm married (until he comes to his senses) to W. Michael Gear, the novelist and my co-author, and we live at the edge of the Wind River Indian Reservation in the Owl Creek mountains of Wyoming. We're contented watching buffalo and writing books.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/kathle...

Reviews

[Sandi *~The Pirate Wench~* · Rating 4 out of 5]

Re-read..last read 10 years ago, I needed to "refresh" my memory so I can finally get the next two done.
Review stands as the same, I enjoyed this story again but not sure why..what drew me in once again.

Sora, Flint, and Skinner, were from different clans, but became fast friends although Sora & Flint's friendship turned into love & they married.
Flint's love for Sora becomes obsessive to the point that he killed a man for looking the wrong way at his wife.
Unable to live with his murderous rages he divorces Sora & moves back to his clan.
Sora tries to bury her memories & grief of Flint by devoting her duties as the High Chieftess of her clan.
Although she has re-married her love for Flint has never died.
When their friend Skinner brings word of Flint's death, Sora notices something different about him & when he starts revealing only things that she & flint knew, its as if he carries a part of Flints soul inside him.
Is this only a clever witchcraft of enemies who want to take her power of Chieftess?
Or is it truly the spirit of Flint her never-forgotten love?
I've read Michael & Kathleen Gears other American Indian series but this 1st book in a trilogy has way more suspense, mystery, obsessive erotic love & passion, with a touch of the paranormal..rounding it out nicely with women who held power in a mans world, with native folklore.
Is Flint's soul alive in Skinner's body to reach out to Sora once again?
Or is it Skinner who wants Sora for himself?
Is there a deeper conspiracy in all of this?
Lots of twists & turns in this story that kept me turning the pages...and an ending I didn't expect! Now on to the next 2 in the series...

[Darcy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this one to be a little odd. I figured it was set in the past but wasn't sure when, but there were times when it almost seemed like the story was more modern. I was surprised to hear in the afterward that the story was actually set in the 1400's.

What was weird was the story itself. Sora seemed like a normal person, with a slight obsession with her ex-husband, but it sounded like it was mutual until he divorced her. At times it seemed like the shadow soul story seemed like it rang true, but then when they talked conspiracy that one seemed true too. So I wasn't sure where that left me.

I hadn't planned on going on with this series, but then with the ending and not really sure what was going on I will read the next one.

[Theresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

It sleeps in me (Black falcon series) Kathleen O'neal Gear

The Beautiful exotic Sora High Chieftess of the Black Falcon clan, has lived through many trials in life. The loss of family, and even her abrupt devorce from Flint. She is a survivor, a mentally strong woman, beloved leader of her people, but can she face the mystery that comes from within. A beautiful story about the struggles one woman goes through to piece her life back together. She is faced with her memories of her prior husband, Flint, and the nightmares and fantasies that he put her through. These memories can be overwhelming, so detailed and emotional. She begins to question her reality. This is confounded by the behavior of the surviving friendship from that time in her life. Spinners return after three years abruptly disturbs everything in her world. The beginning of the rollercoaster of events that take the reader through the doors of madness.
This book asks the reader to look at reality, memory and personal motivation that we all struggle with. The reader will question their personal beliefs and how even the smallest thing can bring to question your perspective. Originally begun in an interest in the healing circles of Huron. This book is one of the most erotic and sensual books I have ever read. Kathleen’s descriptions at times can be overwhelming, as a reader I had to stop and disconnect from the book, just to calm down.

[Gitana · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoy Native American Novels, this one was a couldn't put down, slightly erotic read. I had to get the next book to see what happens.......

[Jodi · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't really care for this book. I didn't like the ending at all. I guess because I didn't get any satisfying conclusions at the end like I expected.

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book YEARS ago back when my husband and I married so probably over 4 years ago now. I bought it on a whim as a paperback in a grocery store and the cover caught my eye. I'm so glad it did. I'm not big on Trilogies, I usually can't find the time to stay dedicated to a long and winding tale but I'm pleased to have stuck with this one. It was such a good read. I refuse to part with the series. :D

[Frieda Thompson · Rating 5 out of 5]

It Sleeps In Me - Wow!

This is a bit more than I'm used to when reading a novel by either of the Gear Team! Ooh La La!! That said, I loved the story & can hardly wait to read the next! Without spoilers, I hope, there are twists & turns I didn't quite see until the instant before the story exposed them! Like Sora, I didn't know who to trust! Who was doing all these scary things? WHY were they doing them? You'll never believe it! Now you'll just have to read & see!

[Mandie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I flew through this book for some reason. It was engaging, well-researched, sexy, and interesting. The tense moments kept me from putting this one down any time soon. I really liked the main character, Sora.

[Farhana Faruq · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like all the other books by the Gear's, this was awesome. Similar style to the "People" series, but those novels can be read in any order, these three need to be read in order (which I didn't do...haha)

[Christa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely wonderful reading! I have always loved her style of writing.
This book really draws out the emotions in you!!!
Looking forward to the next book!

[Sarah Kirkpatrick · Rating 1 out of 5]

Way too..... Um .. Smutty.

[Maya]

Erotic horror, is what I guess this sub-genre would be called. Rife with triggers, including marital rape, severe mental health issues, and a woman's loss of agency in sexual situations. Technically, these are plot points and ambiguous within the story (meaning open to interpretation), but I am including them as general content warnings.

The storytelling was fast, compelling, and packed with historical detail, a hallmark of author Kathleen O'Neal Gear, who is an acclaimed historian in this field. I agree with other commenters that the details were at times tricky to follow, which I think is due to the speed at which the story progresses over the course of about 12 days.

Throughout the story, Sora, who is the main character and leader of the Black Falcon Nation, often runs through the village. I didn't find it believable that she could do this without notice given what we are told is the historical size of the community, now known to us as the Lake Jackson Mound people of present day Florida, consisting of thousands of residents. The people would have had greater awareness of their leader's presence.

As far as the ending, which almost everyone seems to have found unsatisfying-- it was almost great. I looked ahead to the other two books in the series to see if the story and characters had developed and might be worthy of consideration despite this book's foibles, but the readers' responses looked to be equally as discontent with those books as with this one. If the author had concluded this book mere paragraphs earlier, the readers would have been sated. This was clearly intentional to make way for the next two books in the series.

Context: I have read more than 10 (estimated) of Kathleen O'Neal Gear and Michael Gear's books in the 1990s and they were foundational to shaping my young worldview.

Note: The author is incorrectly recorded in Goodreads. It is Kathleen O'Neal Gear only.

My Source: Little Library.

[Mish Mash Succotash · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was hot. It was...a lot.

This book is part of an experiment where I went to a thrift store and picked out a couple of books I've never heard of. I'm happy with this find.  

I want to start by saying I enjoyed this world. It's set in what is now the Florida panhandle around 1400 A.D. It's obvious that research went into the culture, the land, and the food pathways of the native people which this story is about. Which makes sense as the author is an archeologist with an interest in this period. I thoroughly enjoyed the little tidbits of history, the detail about the religious beliefs, the food descriptions, and other cultural tidbits.

**Spoilers below***

But honestly, the spice in this story took the cake. The passion you feel in Sora's memories of Flint, the electricity that ignites the pages when she thinks she's found him again. It's good shit.

The place she lost me was the 100 different possible confusions, betrayals, and treasons. I realize Sora's trying to untangle a knot, but the politics get confusing and, frankly, a little boring. We are told that Sora's decisions are dangerous, even deadly, but there is very little to make that threat feel real. After every poor decision, the Sora is met with frustration or hurt that inevitably melts into tenderness and understanding. Sora's plot armor is glaring.

And while I love an unreliable narrator, it was a tough adjustment when Flint showed back up and was such a "good guy." I get that Sora's narrative is twisted, but everyone around her just went with it when Flint gave them no reason to believe the terrible things she said about him? I dunno.

Overall, I enjoyed this book enough to pick up the next one.

[Ariana Fae · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kathleen O’Neal Gear created a complex and intriguing character with Sora, the High Chieftess of the Black Falcon Nation. Gear pulled me immediately into wanting to know who Sora is with the first sentence in the book,“OF COURSE, YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND. HOW COULD ANY SANE person believe that he is still alive inside me?” As I delved deeper into Sora’s world it nt only showed me a culture’s beliefs, customs, and mythology but how the Native Americans explained schizophrenia or epilepsy. Not only does Sora have to deal with her condition, she has to decide the fate of her clan, their relationship with the other tribal nations, conspiracies, and deal with the return of her dead ex-husband’s soul—which was the most interesting scenes in the book.

IT SLEEPS IN ME is about love, obsession, soul possessions, power struggles, and something I found interesting, spiritual suicide. I enjoyed reading it and can’t wait to read the second book in this trilogy.

[Jess · Rating 2 out of 5]

This story is incredibly problematic. About 3/4 of the way through I thought it could go one of two ways, Sora being gaslighted and fooled by a whole bunch of rapey men or the spirit thing being real and she's just hopelessly tied to rapey Flint, but then it went in a third direction that I'm intrigued enough by to get into the next volume. But overall, the sexual aspects are just overdone, and disturbing - the author claims to be exploring a historic aspect of indigenous culture, but it's written for the shock value, let's be honest. Sora has very little agency, which makes me wonder how on earth she became such a powerful and supposedly beloved Chieftess in such a small amount of time. I guess I'm reading the next book out of morbid curiosity.

[Gypsie Holley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This captivated me from the very first page, then I read the entire trilogy in a day! I felt like her, Sora, I didn't know which way was up and which way was left. The weaving of this plot is extremely tight and intricate. I couldn't tell what was real and what wasn't and I didn't know until the very end of the last book! There are scenes that are hard and graphic and sensitive for triggers so be cautious of what you want to read here.

"Berdaches had male bodies but female souls. They were divine bridges between Light and Dark, Male and Female, War and Peace. In most villages they were prized as sacred beings."

[Tina Osterman · Rating 5 out of 5]

An eye opening read

Kathleen O'Neal Gear is superb at catching your attention and not letting you go. She touches on the truly compassionate nature of the Natives NY displaying their caring, loving, gentle way they take care of their own. Whether they by physically, spirituality, !mental, or emotional, healing was done with love in mind. Today's people could learn from this! I would recommend this book to everyone who wants a better understanding of human nature and what it is like to be stuck mentally. Another best for Kathleen!!!!

[Vanessa Mozes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dark, sexy, and intriguing. As High Chieftess, Sora struggles to keep peace in the Black Falcon Nation, but war threatens her on every side. To make matters worse, a man from her past appears and lures her down a path she's compelled to follow.

I tore through this book and found myself captivated by the historical elements and emotional stakes. There's more focus on the drama than politics, but the book is no less engaging for it.

[Kathy · Rating 1 out of 5]

This became one of the few DNF's in this year's reading challenge. I had taken a long term break from the Gear's and their Native American series. A series that I had been reading starting in the early 80's.

This one just didn't capture my attention. It get shelved, and I move on. The Gear's have a large library of Native American and Science Fiction books available. I prefer the Ancient people's books.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this book. I couldn't put it down. Gear does her usual excellent job of developing characters and describing the world the characters lived in. This book has a definite mystery to it. I went back and forth with who was causing all of the problems Sora was encountering.

I can't wait to get started on the second book in the triology.

[Bill Oehler · Rating 5 out of 5]

It Sleeps in Me

This is book one of the "in me series." I should've read them in order but they are still very interesting. Learning about the great civilizations before the European's started getting involved in our society's civilization.

[Gayana Grigoryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The ending was very abrupt without explanation, which forces you to start the next book. Overall I would say this book was engaging and kept me going to try to see what would happen.

[Alyssa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Their series is amazing

[Brie Ungs · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have yet to find any O'Neal Gear book I don't totally love!

[Sianne Morrison · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this one a bit wishy washy. Confusing and somewhat over complicated and underwhelming. I have another one from the series, but I am not going to bother.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

surprising, twist ending!

[Lindsay · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Corrine Nebeker · Rating 1 out of 5]

I just can’t finish it. I’ve hit a wall and it’s just too much for me to move past

[Rachel Santino · Rating 4 out of 5]

The soul jumping made for an interesting read and gave it an eerie edge. I always enjoy stories of the People.

[Juanita · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review: It Sleeps In Me by Kathleen O 19Neal Gear.

I enjoyed the historical aspect of the book. Kathleen Gear was clear and insightful about the cultures of that time era. Most of her books, along with this one, shows how well researched she is when it comes to the native people. Throughout the book I was mesmerized with the culture and the beliefs of these tribes. She has modified her writing in this novel to a more updated version but still keeping the anthropological detailed time and setting. The story was well organized, interesting, intriguing and concluded as a great mystery. As I was reading I kept trying to predict what would happen next and how the ending would turn out but with the surprising twist and turns of events it was really unpredictable. There were a few scenes (I could have done without) that were very sexually graphic, in full detail, the sexual desire that the main character, Sora liked to be a part of and experience fully.

The story is about Sora, a Native American Chieftess who divorced from Flint and remarried to an older man named Rockfish. She ruled the Black Falcon Nation and she faced other opposing clans, misleading friends, and a medical defect of seizures unbeknownst to her. Just as political problems started among the clans she was forced to consider going to war. Sora also learns from a good friend, Skinner that her first husband has died. Flint was the love of her life and this message placed her in a whole different world. Skinner had come to her because he claimed he had to tell her Flint 19s last words.
Sora soon feels and believes Flint 19s shadow soul is moving from body to body in an effort to stay on earth with her.

However, in the meantime Chief Blue Bow, the enemy Loon Nation, ask Sora for warriors to help attack another clan. As she seeks council from her second husband, Rockfish and her best friend Wink. Sora is shocked that they are eager to accept Blue Bow 19s proposal of receiving a bounty of a large Jade stone. Sora becomes confused and feels a great conspiracy going on, one that would overthrow her position as Chieftess.

Many more events of criminal activity takes place including adultery with men who Sora believes are Flint. Sora has times she couldn 19t remember what she did or where she went. The ending was compelling and a surprise to me. I enjoyed the book and thought it was unpredictable all the way through.