Warrior Moon by Sara Orwig

Warrior Moon Reviews

• 
  MelissaB

  Warrior Moon was a nice western historical romance with a Native American hero. I wasn't completely blown away but the story was full of action and kept me entertained.
  
  Vanessa is travelling with a wagon train on her way to a convent that her father is forcably placing her in because she refuses to marry the men he chose for her. She plans to run away whenever she can get away from her escorts so she can go home and save her 16 year-old sister from an unwanted marriage to an older man. She plans on taking both her younger sisters to San Fransisco to get away from her unloving father. One night along the river, she comes upon a three year-old Indian girl and a wounded warrior. She seizes the moment and takes off on the horses she finds, along with the young girl and the warrior.
  
  Lone Wolf hates the white men who over run his land because they killed his wife and mother. He used to be a scout for the army but stays away from whites after his wife was killed by white men after a railroad man offers money for dead Indians (yeah it was Vanessa's father - which of course causes problems). Lone Wolf's Kiowa village is attacked by white men, where his brother and sister-in-law are killed. He goes after his little niece despite being shot and wounded. While he is delirious from his wounds, Vanessa comes upon the two Kiowa. He can't do anything to stop her because of his wounds, so he is forced to head south with her toward the town where her sisters live when he needs to head north to his tribe. Vanessa refuses to turn around because she needs to save her sister from a horrible fate, but Lone Wolf knows he has a high chance of being killed by white men if he is seen travelling with a white woman but he has no choice but to go with her plans - at least until he regains his strength then he may just decide to kidnap this white woman and take her back to his village.
  
  This book had a lot of action going on. Vanessa and Lone Wolf (and the little niece) travel all over the place on the run from soldiers as they try to save her sisters from a selfish father. The basic conflict of the story was that Vanessa felt she needed to save her sisters despite the fact that Lone Wolf was certain he had a high chance of dying if he tried to help her out and he was worried that she could be hurt or killed - plus he was trying to come to terms with the fact he hated her father for being responsible for his wife's death and the fact that he cared for Vanessa because she was a good person who helped save his life. I wavered back and forth from feeling bad for Vanessa because she just wanted to help her sisters, to hoping that Lone Wolf would just kidnap her and take her to his village so she wouldn't get either of them killed. I enjoyed the romance between Lone Wolf and Vanessa but I felt like the impact of the romance was lessened by so many side characters being pulled into the story (the little niece, random grandmotherly Comanche woman who travels with them, the two sisters). One little thing did bother me a bit that I wanted to warn about: at one point Vanessa and Lone Wolf are captured by a fort commander who basically threatens Lone Wolf's life unless Vanessa pleases him. The commander kisses her and fondles her breasts, against her internal wishes of course, but she can't say anything because she is afraid the man will kill Lone Wolf. Nothing further than that happens but I didn't love that part and wanted to warn anyone that would be a deal breaker for. She didn't want it to happen but couldn't stop it without having Lone Wolf pay the price but it didn't go too far.
  
  So overall, the story was interesting and written well for the most part. Some small parts annoyed me but I liked the adventure and excitement of the fast-moving story. Most of the story was told while the couple rode around on horses, so I would consider this story a western/Native American romance, with some small parts actually occuring in Indian villages (Comanche and Kiowa to be exact). I think this book is worth reading despite the small issues which I have outlined if you enjoy western/Native American historical romances.
  
  On a side note: I loved the cover on this book, the hero actually looks Kiowa and not like a white man in a loin cloth.
• 
  Rebecca Bodiford

  Oh what can I say about Warrior Moon? I have read this book so many times over the years. It's probably one of my favorite Native American Romance novels. Something about Lone Wolf touched my heart I kept seeing him as this big bad arrogant softy, and Vanessa well she was vibrant and spunky a true storm that left his life in chaos. I think what I love most about the story is that instead of taking a captive, being held and mistreated and eventually falling in love with the captor. Which if I'm being honest always seems a little to much like Stockholm syndrome. He thinks about taking her against her will, but basically he has a sense of right and wrong. like I said he's a big bad arrogant softy. Everyone needs a Lone Wolf in their life.
• 
  Tina

  4.5 stars
  
  Oh my goodness, all the feels! The first half of the book I absolutely LOVED. Then when Dupree entered the story, I was pretty upset. I won't give spoilers, but I was close to throwing my reader and DNF'ing. But I was curious to how everything would be resolved. There's a lot more angst to the story than I like, but I was able to look past than to some extent because I really loved the characters. And Orwigs writing is so good. I'm interested in reading more from her. I enjoyed reading Warrior Moon so much. I expect to have a book hangover for awhile. Absolutely recommend.
  
  Edit to add: There are ZERO rape scenes in this book. The hero threatens with it as warnings to Vanessa like "If I wanted to, I could…", but he says he respects her too much to force her or beat her.
• 
  Em

  Writing style made me cringe
  
  The plot was fine and the characters perfectly likeable. But I really struggled not to roll my eyes at the writing style. It gave me that same uncomfortable feeling I get watching really bad 'Hallmark' movies. Try Ellen O'Connell's "Eyes Of Silver, Eyes Of Gold", or "Dancing On Coals" instead.
• 
  Emma Rose

  A Great Read
  
  It kept my interest until the end. I love the tension and love/hate relationship.
  I will definitely read more by Sara Orwig.