Search - Darkest Heart

Very 1980's romance, i.e. includes rapes. Very hot, but not my taste.

This was an absolutely, wonderful historical fiction, I had a hard time putting it down. Brenda Joyce has a remarkable talent of taking real historical events, characters and battles, and writing a heart wrenching love story. The Darkest Heart is definitely an old style romance with a lot of bad things the main characters must overcome. Jack Savage (he names himself), who is a half breed Indian, is torn between two worlds and can't find his fit. He saves Candace from dying in the desert after she runs from a horrible elopement gone wrong. She is spoiled and loved by her family and neighbors who have instilled hatred in her for the "savages". She doesn't know what to think when she realizes all the biases she believed regarding Jack aren't as they seem. Their relationship was very up and down as they both tried to live in each others worlds, but they were beautiful together especially when they showed their love to each other and forgot about everything else.

Another reason I was so absorbed into the story is because it has some of my favorite themes, strong alpha male, love triangles, jealousy, lots of good sex scenes (not overly long with details) and a heart wrenching romance that you hope the H and h are strong enough to endure. I have read a lot of Brenda Joyce's books and have found these themes reoccur throughout many of them. The Conqueror is my favorite Brenda Joyce book, this one and Dark Fires a close second. Even though they are completely different settings, they have similar angst, brutality and love connection between characters.

believable characters.

Good book. Some pretty intense rape scenes though. Brenda Joyce is always a sure bet for a great romance.