Breaking Free: A Colorado High Country Crossover Novel, Pamela Clare [i can read book club .TXT] 📗

process, witnessed an authentic Sun Dance that was being run by a hereditary Lakota Sun Dance chief.

I was one of very few non-Natives there. I ate mutton stew, did my reporting, and volunteered in the first-aid tent, giving elders foot massages. At night, I slept in a tent under a piñon pine, waking every morning around sunrise to the sound of the drums. I was invited to join in the ceremony, standing under the arbor, smoking the chanupa for the first time, learning songs and some of the language. Time became irrelevant. The welcome I experienced was profound.

I did my best to cover the story accurately. As a result, word got around. I got calls from Native people around the country facing problems they wanted me to cover. This effort took me as far north as the Cheyenne River Reservation, where I reported on the Si Tanka riders in the coldest weather I’ve ever experienced (-60F with wind chill) and as far south as Navajoland in Arizona.

I met Hopi, Cherokee, Diné, Canadian Cree, Quechua, Inuit, and Lakota/Dakota people. I listened to the stories of Native leaders of all kinds—tribal presidents, spiritual leaders, and community activists. I learned from all of them.

In 2005, I found myself in an inipi ceremony with Native spiritual leaders and NASA scientists. Who was pouring water at that inipi? The Sun Dance chief from that first Sun Dance I’d attended. He became a friend, though we have since lost touch.

Over time, I was asked by three spiritual leaders from three different Nations—Hopi, Diné, and Lakota—to act as a bridge between the white and Native worlds. That is a serious request, and it’s one that I still try to honor, even though I’m no longer working in journalism. The world needs more bridges and fewer walls.

I have tried to share what I know in a way that is respectful of Lakota and Tohono O’odham traditions, while being mindful of their values. I have deliberately obscured or left out elements of ceremony due to their sacred nature. I have also done my best to avoid stereotypes and “tokenism,” bringing to life a contemporary Native couple—plus relatives—who might live down the street in Anytown, USA. Any mistakes I’ve made concerning customs and language are my own.

I offer this story with respect and gratitude and in the hope that this broken wheel of our land can be healed, bringing us together as one.

Mitakuye Oyasin. All my relations.

Pamela Clare

April 21, 2021

A portion of the proceeds of this book are going to Friends of Pine Ridge Reservation. I encourage you to visit their website and give generously.

Thank You

Thanks for reading Breaking Free. I hope you enjoyed Jason and Winona’s story. Follow me on Facebook or on Twitter @Pamela_Clare. Join my reader’s group on Facebook to be a part of a never-ending conversation with other Pamela Clare fans and get inside information about my books and about life in Colorado’s mountains. You can also sign up to my mailing list at my website to keep current with all my releases and to be a part of special newsletter giveaways.

Also by Pamela Clare

Contemporary Romance:

Colorado High Country Series

Barely Breathing (Book 1)

Slow Burn (Book 2)

Falling Hard (Book 3)

Tempting Fate (Book 4)

Close to Heaven (Book 5)

Holding On (Book 6)

Chasing Fire (Book 7)

Romantic Suspense:

I-Team Series

Extreme Exposure (Book 1)

Heaven Can’t Wait (Book 1.5)

Hard Evidence (Book 2)

Unlawful Contact (Book 3)

Naked Edge (Book 4)

Breaking Point (Book 5)

Skin Deep: An I-Team After Hours Novella (Book 5.5)

First Strike: The Prequel to Striking Distance (Book 5.9)

Striking Distance (Book 6)

Soul Deep: An I-Team After Hours Novella (Book 6.5)

Seduction Game (Book 7)

Dead by Midnight: An I-Team Christmas (Book 7.5)

Deadly Intent (Book 8)

Cobra Elite Series

Hard Target (Book 1)

Hard Asset (Book 2)

Hard Justice (Book 3)

Hard Edge (Book 4)

Hard Line (Book 5)

Hard Pursuit (Book 6)

Historical Romance:

Kenleigh-Blakewell Family Saga

Sweet Release (Book 1)

Carnal Gift (Book 2)

Ride the Fire (Book 3)

MacKinnon’s Rangers Series

Surrender (Book I)

Untamed (Book 2)

Defiant (Book 3)

Upon A Winter’s Night: A MacKinnon’s Rangers Christmas (Book 3.5)

About the Author

USA Today best-selling author Pamela Clare began her writing career as a columnist and investigative reporter and eventually became the first woman editor-in-chief of two different newspapers. Along the way, she and her team won numerous state and national honors, including the National Journalism Award for Public Service. In 2011, Clare was awarded the Keeper of the Flame Lifetime Achievement Award for her body of work. A single mother with two sons, she writes historical romance and contemporary romantic suspense at the foot of the beautiful Rocky Mountains. Visit her website and join her mailing list to never miss a new release!

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