"Touching time-travel romance."

Kris Baldwin is about to embark upon a new journey after receiving notification that she's been accepted to teach in Lawton, Oklahoma. Kris celebrates by taking a swim in a natural spring in Barton Springs, Texas, where she's living. She wants to help her people, participating in a heritage she's grown closer to since locating her maternal grandmother, even though her white father frowns on her relationship with her Indian grandmother.

While swimming in the Barton Springs pool, a vision of a man appears at the edge of the water. He tosses in a stone that Kris catches, which is exactly like the stone her grandmother gave her that she always wears. Clutching a stone in each hand, a power takes over. Soon the ground below her opens, and Kris is sucked down through the water into a dark swirling tunnel. She struggles to hold her breath, sure that she's going to die.

Kris awakes, her throat raw, and the man who appeared before is now standing over her. The man, obviously Indian, is dressed in a loincloth. Anxious to get away from him, she walks up to the ridge. She's confused to discover that the scenery is very different. Gone are the buildings, streets and cars, replaced by the wide open prairie. Kris comes to realize, then reluctantly accept, that she's somehow stepped back into the past to a time when the Comanche Indian is about to lose against the white buffalo soldiers and be directed to reservations.

The Indian, Black Eagle, who had seen Kris in a vision quest and asked the Great Spirit to send help, is determined to take her back to his people to talk to the War Chiefs. She's to tell them how they will win against the white buffalo soldiers. Black Eagle is disheartened to learn that Kris is part white, but he's promised the Great Spirit he will protect her.

This is a lovely story of love, understanding and soul mates. I was intrigued by Ms. Lyon's take on the events that led up to Quannah Parker's decision to move his people to the reservation. TIME'S CAPTIVE gave me the opportunity to ponder how I would react as a modern-day woman if I were thrown back to a time where women did not do as they pleased and were not outspoken. The growing relationship between Kris and Black Eagle speaks of soul mates and acceptance. Read it, you'll love it.

Reviewed by Sabrina Marino
Posted June 12, 2004

Summary

On a quest to save his people from death and starvation, Chief Black Eagle he experiences a vision from the Great Spirit, which shows a beautiful doe-eyed woman shedding a tear, followed by a warning: "Guard her well." Black Eagle stands in the cool water of Barton Springs -- the same water that had pulled Kris Baldwin back in time. The woman he recognizes from his vision quest floats downstream, her body appearing lifeless. With the Great Spirit's words echoing in his mind, Black Eagle pulls the beauty to safety. But how can this white woman be the answer to his tribe's plight? Black Eagle will soon find himself torn between duty and love, clinging to nothing more than faith.