Reflections - Lost Hearts

Lost Hearts

Though I bought Lost Hearts from Kathy Otten at the Pennwriters Conference, I was a bit hesitant to start reading. Her first western romance, Between the Lines, was such a great read, I was afraid Lost Hearts would be disappointing.

I was wrong. Lost Hearts was a delightful read.

Kathy makes the two main characters vivid, flawed, and likable. Johnny has been disguised as a boy since childhood to protect her from her cruel outlaw father and his gang. Kathy writes Johnny’s dialogue in Oklahoma hill dialect. That kind of spelling usually annoys me, but it works for Johnny, an intelligent character who is masterful at healing and who dreams of a home with a loving family.

The one armed lawman Richard, who Johnny calls Rab, is haunted by flashbacks from the Civil War so follows rules precisely to make up for horrors he can’t remember.

Kathy makes the journey—across Choctaw territory to take the outlaws to jail—compelling with escape attempts, a festering leg wound, flooding river, and the growing attraction between Johnny and Rab.

Historical facts are woven into the fabric of the story. Pacing and tension are fine tuned. Kathy keeps the plot realistic yet manages to get Johnny and Tab together by the end.