Kathleen Eagle

Contemporary/Suspense

Overall:
Sensuality:
Cover Cheese:

I've got a dirty little secret.

I adore romance novels.

Feels a bit like going over to the dark side after years of reading only the most esoteric, academic, and critically-lauded Literature.

Note the capital L.

I've gotten used to -- heck, I even get a kick out of -- the ubiquitous heaving bosom jokes and blank stares from colleagues.

Because I really adore romance novels.

There is a type of fiction devotee who may get slightly less respect than we romance fans ...

The comic book reader.

Seems some people think comic books are cheesy and immature, rather than appreciate the artistry and literary skill it takes to create them.

Can you imagine.

Happens that nowadays, "graphic" novels -- book-length comics with literary text and sophisticated art -- have critics taking comic books more seriously.

Novels such as "Night Falls Like Silk" are doing the same for the romance.

Engaging, and entertaining, "Night Falls Like Silk" is a finely-woven tale that combines ultra-hip imagery and American Indian themes in a seamless story of universalities: Family obligation, denial or acceptance of one's prejudices, and, of course, love.

Thomas "Tommy T" Warrior, wildly successful graphic novelist and comic book artist, grapples with demons from a youth spent struggling for survival on the streets.

He's bowled over by cool Society beauty Cassandra Westbrook. Light to Thomas' shadows, Cassandra has ignored her needs and desires for so long she barely recognizes any remain.

Their lives interlace when Cassandra outbids a mysterious stranger on a series of antique Lakota Sioux ledger drawings.

When the rare ledger drawings disappear along with her nephew, Cassandra turns to the boy's art mentor, Thomas Warrior, welcoming and fearing the knowledge he might possess about both.

As they fall for one another, Eagle invites us to glimpse the tentative way Thomas and Cassandra open themselves to emotion, to feel the sometimes raw and always soulful sensuality they share.

That's something I really dig about Kathleen Eagle's novels, the authenticity of the sensuality to the characters' personalities and relationships.

What makes this book rock is that the mistakes the characters make trying to set their hearts right are the same ones that keep us rooting for them until the end.

And, by that end, you just might swear you "saw" Thomas Warrior's graphic novel characters move throughout the prose. I swear I did.

I like the down-to-earth quality of Kathleen Eagle's novels and their characters. As a bonus, she does us a service by continuing to introduce us to heroes who are American Indian. These are men who display strength by vanquishing inner conflict; no Wild West stereotypes need apply.

Compelling characters, well-strung suspense, funky imagery. All good reasons to ...

Go buy the book!

Eagle's newest, "A View of the River," is out in September. Check out excerpts and more at kathleeneagle.com.

Next week's review and AuthorView: "Sin and Sensibility," by Suzanne Enoch

Congratulations winners of Romance Writers of America's prestigious 2005 RITA Award. See the list of award recipients at the official RWA Web Site. The awards were handed out recently at the 25th Annual RWA conference in Reno, Nev.