Sarah's Heart and Passion by Ginger Simpson

[Birdlady1950]

Sarah’s Heart and Passion by Ginger Simpson
Western Romance full of emotion
On the Santa Fe Trail, Sarah awakes to a nightmare. Indians have attacked the wagon train on which she is traveling from Independence to California. Sarah was running from a forced marriage after her parent’s death. Everyone on the wagon train is dead except for Sarah and another traveler Molly. Sarah will become much stronger than she ever thought possible. Sarah does her best to treat Molly’s injuries, but Molly does not survive her injuries. The author sets a scene of graphic horror. Sarah is injured, lost, and defenseless. The opening of the story was very powerful for me, as I could see the all devastation, as she stumbles around the train wagon. The only thing to survive the fire of her wagon was her valise. The few items it contained were all she had left in the world, which included her mother’s cameo and her father’s gun with a box of bullets
After dressing as a man Sarah starts her journey back the way the wagon had traveled. She meets many mishaps: hunger, heat, stampeding basin, an injured Indian, and snakebite. But the injured Indian she left where he lay on the trail, will be her greatest love, challenge and heartache, Gray Wolf is a half-breed Indian, shunned by both sides in most cases. This has made him an independent and strong. He hires on as the scout to the wagon train. Due to unexpected delays in purchasing a piece of property for his future, Gray Wolf finds the wagon train to late; Pawnee Indians had already raided the train.
Gray Wolf finds Sarah passed out and very ill on the trail from the snakebite. So begins the story of the half-breed Gray Wolf and Sarah, their journey from strangers to something very much more. Sarah and Wolf encounter prejudice, hate, false accusations, beatings, and cruelty.
I could feel Wolf’s desolation and sadness as he was falling in love with Sarah, knowing the world would never accept their love. The author portrayed the beliefs, prejudices’, and cruelties of that time period so very well. I wondered if the author was using history from one of her ancestors. My heart ached for Wolfs and Sarah’s sorrow at what could never be, so well the author portrayed the emotion.
The ending was totally unexpected; I had no idea that this was how the story would end. My mouth actually fell open. The author certainly gave a surprise ending.
I highly recommend this book.
I received a free copy of this book from Reading Alley in return for an honest review.