Savage Ecstasy (Gray Eagle, #1) in Bodice Ripper Readers Anonymous

Jun 05, 2013 Lover of Romance rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: genre-historical-romance, theme-western, character-native-american

This review was originally posted on Addicted To Romance

Summary
From the moment that Gray Eagle and Alisha met, there was something more between them. Gray Eagle the son of one of the most respected chiefs, and a proud indian brave was captured by white settlers and tortured and would have been worse off if it hadn't been for Alisha who protected him, fed him and gave him water when she could. Alisha doesn't understand the animosity between the whites and the indians, she only ...more

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Jan 10, 2011 Toni rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: bodice-ripper, native-american, extreme-abuse

Well, to begin I must say that I read it the whole way through. Just as Gray Eagle had some strange hold over Alisha in spite of all of the abuse, so to did this book have over me. There were so many WTF moments I lost count.

The abuse was probably the best part of the book, because it wasn't the sex scenes, which were a little vanilla. I actually liked the predicament that Gray Eagle is in. It seems realistic that there would be these real obstacles of cultural/political/social barriers and I fe ...more

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Feb 04, 2011 Sharon rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: alpha-male, rape, favorite, historical-western, american-indian, keeper, captive, bodice-ripper, couldn-t-put-it-down, violence

Excellent story, one I’ll keep to read again.

1st in the Gray Eagle family saga which takes place in the late 1700’s. Events primarily revolve around Gray Eagle (H), a fierce Oglala warrior who is the son of the great chief Running Wolf; Alisha Williams (h), a young English woman who left her home in Liverpool with her parents after taxes and threats of war forced her father to make the decision to journey to the new world at the encouragement of his brother. Within 5 months after arriving in th Excellent story, one I’ll keep to read again.

1st in the Gray Eagle family saga which takes place in the late 1700’s. Events primarily revolve around Gray Eagle (H), a fierce Oglala warrior who is the son of the great chief Running Wolf; Alisha Williams (h), a young English woman who left her home in Liverpool with her parents after taxes and threats of war forced her father to make the decision to journey to the new world at the encouragement of his brother. Within 5 months after arriving in the colonies, her parents were killed in a carriage accident and she was left with her only living relative, her uncle Thad.

Unfortunately, the threat of war and crippling taxation which caused the family to leave England, surfaced in the colony of Pennsylvania, so Uncle Thad and Alisha left with others from their colony to start life anew in the American west with excitement and dreams for the future.

The story quickly pivots once they arrive at their new home.

What I liked so much in this story is the sense of realism and, to me, great representation of vast differences between two cultures. It was so much more than Indian takes captive white woman.

1. Alisha was raised in England, taught the ways of a Lady: needlepoint, painting, reading Shakespeare, etc. An only child, adored especially by her father (a merchant and shipper in Liverpool) and in my imagination, she was likely familiar with different types of people which wouldn’t be unusual due to the type of business her father was in.

Attitudes and harsh behaviors she encountered in the American west were foreign to her sheltered genteel upbringing. What I liked about her was her gift to look beyond a man’s skin color and see a man, her lack of judgmental prejudice (in this story with the native American), and her ability to adapt to a life that was extremely different from her past. Well, maybe she didn’t actually adapt as she was given absolutely no understanding, reasons or explanations of why events happened as they did. I thought it was pretty unfair.

2. Gray Eagle is honored among his people and while his father isn’t present, his father’s position as the Chief of the Oglala carries a heavy weight upon Gray Eagle’s actions, behaviors and determinations. I didn’t like some of the repercussions that entailed. I especially didn’t like it when he shunned his friend, White Arrow’s visions and warnings pertaining to certain actions he was decided upon without any give or take, then later somewhat regretted.

What I did like about him was his pride and strength, and, I thought him fair and just (even in his executions of and eye for and eye). What I didn’t like was his unrelenting stance to stick to culture with his treatment regarding Alisha’s infractions.

3. The soldiers and colonists attitudes and behaviors just did not seem over blown to me. The hatred and prejudice due to absurd assumptions of their superiority…well, it’s all history…

I enjoy reading Romance Fiction and am not a stickler to a typo here or there, which this book did have. Also, I know I’m reading fiction and never think when I’m cracking open one of these books that it will be non-fiction and will toe the line according to actual facts (historical in this instance). Enjoyment is my number 1 priority so if my attention is directed to a statement that isn’t a fact it doesn’t ruin my fun, unless it’s so outrageous I think my intelligence has been insulted.

I’ll read the next in this series, and if I enjoy that one, I plan to pick up the rest of the series. Thanks SmittenKitten for this rec!
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Jan 31, 2011 Lorelle rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: rape, bodice-ripper, historical-romance, native-american-western, captive, kidnapped

I enjoyed reading about the Sioux culture, which I knew little of. I gave the book a 4 star rating because it gave me enough push to purchase the sequel.

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