If a man could taste wind and fire, they would taste like Katherine. When he stood in high places looking down on things made small by distance, he tried to feel what the eagle felt soaring free on the wind. He was an earthbound man. Only his spirit could ever soar, and only Katherine raised him so high.I don't think i'll ever get over how powerful words can be. They can build you up or tear you down or in the case of Ellen O'Connell's Dancing on Coals they can paint a picture so beautiful you're transported back in time to a place only read about in books. Filled with danger, violence, hatred but underneath it all compassion and love. This is the fourth book that i've read by Ms. O'Connell and each are different but each has the ability to take you into the past. She doesn't suger coat the relationships between Indians and the White man. Those harsh prejudices are the reality of living in America in the 1880's. When we first meet Katherine, she's traveling alone doing what all Grants do and seeing the world. She's strong, confident, tall, headstrong, has an amazing kind heart and is good with a gun. Her path has many twists and turns and I don't want to ruin the journey for those who haven't read this amazing book. What I can tell you is in Ellen O'Connell style, Katherine Grant does not waver from her beliefs. I felt such a kinship to Katherine, she does not let these circumstances hold her back. She's like a sponge and takes in each moment and learns from it. In some ways I wish I could be more like her. “Your skin is white, but I think the white god made a mistake, or maybe he did it on purpose to play a joke. He gave you an Apache heart.”Gaetan, a fierce headstrong, and loyal Apache Indian, who has not met a white man he liked. Gaetan is filled with hate and his mind is so clouded with it that he's driven himself away from his brother. In the events that take us through 2 years and countless battles, Gaetan transformes his heart and mind. We cannot forget the back drop of the wild west... Mexico's harsh lands, it's hidden caves with so many places to hide. This sweeping landscape became a character in Dancing on Coals that as the reader you became to almost see. It provided for the people, it took from them and it's relenting heat, harsh winters but those beautiful spring rain. Just a little note: I know that this story seems complete but i'd love to learn more about Katherines brothers and how they came to find these vastly different wives. They just seem so fascinating to me. Mainly because of their attitude towards Katherine and her unconventional ways ;). Just a hint, Ms. O'Connell in case you don't know what to write next. He pulled her to him. His kiss was neither fierce nor grizzly-like but a loving reminder of promises made and kept and always to be kept.In conclusion, if you haven't had the opportunity to pick up any ofMs. O'Connell's book, then you're missing out. I know that as a genre Western Romance has this cowboy reputation and some books are perfect for that, but this is not really about cowboys but a harsh land that created a people who could not be broken. Never fearful to shy away from those topics that tend to make Americans uncomfortable, Ms. O'Connell writes this moving love story of two people from different worlds that come together to heal each other.I'm going to spoiler tag this quote because it was at the end of the book and gives too much away. I love seeing Gaetan thru Katherines eyes... Like her sons, brothers and nephews he wore gray flannel trousers, an Oxford shirt and a dark blazer. Unlike them, he didn’t look casual and civilized but intense and only half-tame.His hair contributed to the dangerous aura. Thick and glossy black except for a few intriguing streaks of silver, it still hung past his shoulders. But the real difference was the essence of him, still wild, so very Apache.
