Heart of Thunder (Southern Series, 2)

I thoroughly enjoyed "Heart of Thunder" and was all set to write a glowing review when I noticed a reader mentioned the plot of "Heart" mirrored that of Lindsey's first novel, "Captive Bride." All right, I thought: I'll bite. So I spent a torturous week reading "Captive" just so I can now say "Heart of Thunder" is 1) nothing like it and 2) far, far superior in every way possible.The plot of "Heart": To force an American rancher off his ancestral land, Mexican hottie and bandito Hank Chavez orders the kidnapping of the rancher's daughter, not knowing that the daughter is the same girl who jilted him.The plot of "Captive": Jilted desert Chieftain Philip tricks comely Christina into coming to Egypt so he can kidnap and steal her away to his desert camp, where he can make her his love slave.Okay, the common denominators are "jilted" and "kidnap." But that's about all these books have in common. "Heart" is passionate, with spirited, likable characters who show gumption and can barely keep their hands off one another. "Captive" is an exercise in patience, so wooden that it's difficult to feel anything for the characters - even when they are hurt.In typical Lindsey fashion, both books have key elements: good guy gets hurt, bad guy comes after girl, baby is involved. Most of her novels follow this pattern (like "Brave the Wild Wind," "When Love Awaits," "Warrior's Woman," etc.). So those don't count as similarities, in my opinion. But, in "Heart," these elements are exciting and keep you turning the pages. In "Captive," you wail, "Will this EVER end??"All in all, "Heart of Thunder" is a sexy, steamy story with lots of appeal. Be warned: it is a sequel. Be further warned: its prequel "Glorious Angel" is pretty blah, but I won't go into it here (read more about me to see my review on "Glorious"). I would never put "Heart" in the same category as something as pedestrian as "Captive," and heartily recommend it as an extremely enjoyable read.

When she is good, she is very, very good. And, this one is very, very good. Hated to finish this book as it was so engrossing and had me emotionally invovled. This is the sequel to Glorious Angel, which introduced Hank Chavez, the hero, as a roguish outlaw. His appearance in that book, though fairly minor, was so strongly drawn, he almost stole the storyline. Apparently Johanna Lindsey's mother thought the same thing, since in the dedication to this novel, JL thanks her mother for "falling in love" with Hank Chavez in the previous novel. She wasn't the only one to do so! This is a superb love story between two very strongwilled people. Sometimes JL makes such relationships too strong and too stubborn--almost always they require a year of living apart once married to realize they cannot live without each other-- a theme she develops over and over in many of her books. In this book she has again created some minor characters that would lend themselves to books of their own, Lorenzo, Hank's faithful outlaw/rancher friend and Sheldon, Samantha's brother. The latter closely resembles the Malory caracter of Warren. This book ranks in my top 5 favorites of JL and is worth re-reading many times.

Hart of thunder was the very first book of Johanna's that I read and in fact whenever I need a good book to get away from it all, I pick it back up and read it all over again. I think this is one of the best books she has every read, and I read all that come out, I believe that the stubbornness that they have make it all that more interesting to read. She is an excellent writer and even when I don't agree with some of the way the storylines are going, I still never stop till I reach the very last page, and I always have something positive that came out of the experience. Hank and Samantha have it all, sex, love and passion.... Forever!

This is the very first book that I have read from Johanna Lindsey and let me say that I am very happy that I started off with this book. I am already on her third book, and I still haven't read better than Heart Of Thunder. I also noticed that alot of JL's readers did not like the stubborness between Samantha and Hank. I think that their stubborness brought such an exciting challenge to the story. It's kind of boring when the charactors get along too well!

Despite what the other reviews say, this book is quite good. I first read about Hanks character in Glorious Angel and always wanted to know more about his story. I liked the character of Samantha because she made mistakes! Also loved the setting!