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CHAPTER ONE

REVIEWS

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    REVIEWS, REVIEWS AND MORE REVIEWS! No, I don't expect you to read them all word for word, but it would be nice. Yes, they are real, and no, Shadows hasn't been bashed by any of the unwashed yet. Once you've devoured Shadows yourself, send me an email with your thoughts, and your permission to post them and your name and a link to your website if you have one. It might take a while to get the page updated, but I will do it. Due to space constraints, and to prevent other readers petrifying from boredom at all these expected kudos, I may use just snippets of your comments. Ah ha! you are thinking...just the good stuff, eh?. Well, I promise, as long as you aren't cruel, I will even post a negative or even two.
     To keep you reading further I've posted snippets about me that I'm sure you're dying to know. And do, please, sign my guestbook.

     Shadows of the Eclipse guides the reader on a wonderful journey into the world of the Crow Indians...and provides a fascinating contrast to the world of their ultimate enemy and nemesis -- the white man.
The story of Arakashe and Beth is compelling and at times disturbing...a glimpse of the extremes of human nature, and our incredible ability to hurt the ones we love, and then to find healing. Arakashe is strong and tolerant, yet at times vulnerable and fallible---the embodiment of the Crow people. Beth is strong as well, but her journey is by far the most difficult. At times her strength fails her, to the point that she behaves like a spoiled child and at times I found myself wanting to scream at her to grow up and face the truth as well as her responsibilities. But who among us hasn't gone through such periods in our lives? This sort of fallibility and depth makes the characters realistic and believable, and Bonnie's lyrical voice lends an eerie sort of poetry to the land of tipis, buckskin and buffalo.
I almost NEVER read historical romance, and yet I found myself drawn hopelessly into this story. Not your typical off-the-rack historical. Well done, Bonnie!

ERIN FOX   www.charlisheer.com

      Now this is a romance --- the real thing!! It contains all those elements that should be contained in a romance and then some. The characters are believable, the story balanced and well written, and an interesting read.
Within the pages of this book, the reader will find caring, tenderness, sharing, passion--all those things that make up today's romance, plus one more thing so often missing - plot. This tale evokes emotions in the reader on a higher level than those stories that are merely obligatory sex scenes with a faint story written around them.
To any reader who enjoys a well told tale, I highly recommend this book. Happy reading .
Anne K. Edwards www.ebook-reviews.net
Author of "Journey Into Terror"

     Don't you just hate it when someone asks you what your favorite movie or book is? If you're like me it's so hard to pick just one! How about favorite author? Food you can't live without? Favorite pasttime?
Well read on. I am about to tell you more than you ever needed to know about me. Interspaced among these reviews, of course...starting here with the one food item life just wouldn't be worth living without.
Chocolate. Yeah, I know EVERYONE with tastebuds says that. But I really mean it. Dark chocolate, milk chocolate , white chocolate and bittersweet. There are days my meals and snacks consist of nothing else. And, it is the absolute best cure for a headache. Honest.

      Bonnie Napoli did an excellent job bringing together a story of love, hurt, forgiving, and moving on. The love between Arakashe and Elisabeth is one of truth. Their's is not a tale of finding a true love and riding off into the sunset, but this is a story of overcoming haunting pasts and learning to cope with the things life throws in your path. It also shows that most often listening to your heart is the best medicine.
      There were so many characters in this book that this reviewer either loved or hated. Oh yes, this book definitely had a few characters that the reviewer wanted to wring their necks several times, but it also had those characters that made the reviewer laugh. One of these characters was the old widow, Hiciapitec. Bonnie Napoli made this reviewer laugh so hard a few times with images of this old woman and her way of life. The reader develops feelings for so many of the characters in this book. The way the author created each character that completed this novel was superb. Shadows of the Eclipse is definitely a must read!
Reviewed by JOANN...March 2003
Love Romances www.loveromances.com

My favorite pasttimes...reading and gardening, and more reading and gardening!

          Favorite authors, without a doubt, for mainstream: Louise Erdrich and Cathie Pelletier, Anne Lamott, Barbara Kingsolver, and Amy Tan. Suspense, Erin Fox , who gave me that great review above. Contemporary Romance: Susan Elizabeth Phillips.

          Favorite books is really a tough one. But since my first published novel is Native American Historical, I'll start there. My inspiration, and the book that finally propelled me into getting my story on paper was Gayle Rogers' "Nakoa's Woman" published back in the seventies ("The Second Kiss" in hardcover.) Thank you, Gayle! Kathleen Eagle's "Fire and Rain" and "Sunrise Song" make me weep every time I read them. Beverly Bird's "Comes the Rain" and "Touch the Sun" are awesome.
Historical Romance--that would be LaVyrle Spencer's "Hummingbird" which I reread every year. And of course, anything by Louise Erdrich with perhaps "The Bingo Palace" and "The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse." my favorites. Anything by Cathie Pelletier, especially "Beaming Sonny Home."
          I know I've left out about a hundred more!
          Now, sign my guestbook and tell me yours!

      WOW!!!! I picked up your awesome book and ... needless to say, I did not want to put it down and resented every interruption or time I had to stop - yeah, did not even want to cook or eat or sleep -but forced myself. This is not your 'usual' novel. It is very different - not only in content - but in the style or way that it is written. I am feeling a void in me now that I have finished the book. I want more and don't want to end my relationship with the characters. This is a story that will stay with me for awhile. And I do hope there is more where this one came from.
Martha Carpenter      www.EpicureansDelight.stocktonet.com

     My favorite actors: Kevin Costner , of course. I do wish he'd contact me about making Shadows into a movie. I'd even let him play Captain Ross. Robert Duvall, David Strathairn, Graham Greene...
     Whoopi Goldberg is without a doubt one of the best dramatic actresses alive today. I love her dramatic roles way better than comedic.

Ok, this will be the last of my "favorites" list, but I do hope it stimulates you to sign my guestbook and tell me yours.

     Favorite mini-series is Centennial. Even today just hearing the first few moments of the title music swells my heart in my chest and brings a lump to my throat.
All time favorite TV shows, and there aren't many...X-files and Northern Exposure. Do also love NYPD & ER. Have just discovered Six Feet Under!
Movies, movies, movies: Dances with Wolves...of course, preferring the 4 hour version to the 3. Could you expect anything else?
The Color Purple ...know that one almost by heart! I cry everytime I watch it.
Michael I believe is one of Travolta's most underrated roles. No matter how down I am, if I watch this one I just smile and smile, from beginning to end.
Same with Moonstruck and The Legend of Bagger Vance...they make me smile for hours.
Now, this one I really didn't like the first time I saw it, but by the second watching it was on my top ten list (no, I'm not listing all ten here): As Good as it Gets . Nicholson's finest hour.
Passionfish ...how can you not love a movie with all that zydeco!
Pulp Fiction. Yes, Pulp Fiction. A masterpiece of writing, acting and wit. Ok, so it's a tad gory, too

     The journey through Shadows of the Eclipse is not an easy romp; the story itself is painful, wrought with conflict, danger, trauma, and emotional and physical suffering. The lack of ease itself, however, helps to impact the reader with the profundity of this tale of clashing cultures and wounded hearts. And at the same time rewards the reader with the extreme highs possible as the beauties of nature and the human spirit are captured in powerful writing in an amazing first novel.
An intriguing understory, enigmatic mentor figures, and solid historical research make SHADOWS OF THE ECLIPSE a much more complex and engrossing read than what one might expect in a romance novel of the early West.
     Indeed, Ms. Napoli has given us no less than a classical tale of the challenged human spirit, a brilliant expose of how the human soul can be free when in captivity, and captive when free.
I became captive to the language and Native life of the tale-a tribute to the writer's subtlety and gift for powerful and picturesque prose...Even more sensual and gripping are the love scenes between Arakashe and Elizabeth who linger at the doorstep of sexual culmination in tenderly rendered and emotionally exquisite passages.
Eleanor Sullo ~ author of Moonrakers and The Emerald Eye
http://pages.cthome.net/sullo/