Stargazer

Laura Baker weaves a tale of heartache, history, mysticism and love as she tells the story of Lonewolf, a Navajoy stargazer, and Willow Becenti, a woman who believes in the future, not looking into the past. When I discovered Laura Baker I stumbled upon an author who can tell a story that keeps me spellbound from the first page to the last. I'm anxiously awaiting her third book this fall!

I'm not a time travel or Indian romance reader but this book joins my best of 1998 reads. It's a really well crafted story that gives a very good mixture of the history of the Navaho's doomed position in the 1860's and their native myths and belief's with a wonderful romance between a 1860's shaman and a modern Indian police woman.

Lonewolf, chosen from birth to lead his people, is a "stargazer"-he has visions of things to come. Unfortunately, he is unable to stop the inevitable death and destruction of his people in 1863. Desolate after losing his wife, child, and family, and rejected by his people because of his visions, Lonewolf seeks solace from the stars. He is transported through time to the modern-day world, where he meets Willow, a police officer who is half Navajo. His powers, when combined with hers, can help save the life of one very important and deathly ill little boy. This book was a real page-turner for me because I was never quite sure where it was leading. It had its painful and touching moments, but there was also humor. I bought the entire time-travel idea (and liked how it was resolved in the end), and I admired both of the strong lead characters, who would do anything for the people they loved. STARGAZER is a rather short book and the story takes place in the span of six days, so the relationship between the hero and heroine developed quickly, but it worked for me because the author made me believe they were incomplete without the other. The love scenes are of the sweet variety, but there was enough sexual tension to keep me happy.