Indigo Blue

By: Catherine Anderson

Narrated by: Ruth Ann Phimister

One of romance fiction’s most popular storytellers, Catherine Anderson hits the New York Times best-seller list with each of her scintillating works. Reissued after being out of print for many years, Indigo Blue is one of Anderson’s early gems. In it, a high-spirited woman named Indigo—who is half Comanche and half white—lives a solitary existence among the Oregon folk who don’t understand her. But that all changes when Jake Rand rolls into town.

©1992 Adeline Catherine Anderson (P)2010 Recorded Books, LLC

Reader's voice is too old

Would you listen to Indigo Blue again? Why?

No. The reader's voice is aged. The character is a young woman.

What didn’t you like about Ruth Ann Phimister’s performance?

She was a poor choice for a young virgin. I'm not young either, and I wouldn't be a good choice either.

love love love it

This is another great story line. The story of Indigo Blue and her wonderful love story.

Loved it!

Great series was sad that it ended. Want more,love this author and will start a new series with great anticipation.

Excellent and well paced romance and mystery

I hesitated to purchase this book because the previous review was lukewarm. However, I love Catherine Anderson’s style and have enjoyed the Comanche series. I am really glad I went with my gut because I thoroughly enjoyed this book, the third in the Comanche series. Catherine Anderson has a slow and deliberate style which may be frustrating to readers who want things to happen quickly. However, I find it refreshing and more realistic as the characters unfold and develop at a natural and more believable pace.

It is the story of Indigo, the only daughter of Hunter of the Wolf and his Anglo wife, Loretta (both introduced in Comanche Moon). Indigo is a nineteen-year-old beauty who enjoys living with her parents, working in her father’s mine, and “talking” with her animals. Without revealing his true identify or his great wealth, Jake Rand comes to town to investigate a series of dangerous accidents that have occurred at the mine, one of which injured Indigo’s father, Hunter. The story unfolds into a romance pursued by Jake and resisted by Indigo. Interwoven is a suspenseful mystery, as Jake gets dangerously closer to discovering who is behind the mind explosions.

Hears the thing.....

This series is wonderful. Great story line. However the narration is horrible. She makes all the characters sound like their 80 years old. There maybe some books that her voice would be ok for, but not one with the characters under the age of 60.

Love it!

Loved the book! Was not really impressed with the reader but the story was a very good one.

great story but...

love the book, but again, the narrative killed the story. The narrative made Indigo sound like a 12 year old and Jake a 90 year old.

very well written

awesome book so well written it made me cry at times along with the story

Jake and Indigo

*****SPOILER ALERT*****

Indigo Blue by Catherine Anderson. Audible Premium Plus borrow. Comanche series book 3. Historical, western, biracial (white man and Comanche/white woman) age gap romance, marriage to save the heroine's repudiation, H falls first. Multiple POV (Jake's, Indigo's, Hunter's, and Loretta's). Ruth Ann Phimister's narration was entertaining. Listed as 15 hours 23 minutes; I listened at speed 2.50 for 6 hours 9 minutes. Content warnings: v¡rg¡n h; H mom d¡ed in childbirth when H was 11; h was 13 when her crush and his friends attempted to r@pe her; multiple attempts on the h's life; the death of a beloved wild pet.

Dates and locations: Oregon, 1866; and 1885 in Portland, OR and Wolf's Landing, OR.

Jacob Nathaniel Rand (11, 30; aka Jake) is the tall, black haired, dark brown eyed, eldest of 5 children. His younger siblings are Jeremy (?; aka Jer; a playboy), Mary Beth (8, 27; wants to go to college to become a lawyer), Rebecca (6, 25), and Sarah (3, 22; aka Kitten). In the opening scene, their family is struggling to survive, and the children are burying their mother who just died in childbirth with their sixth sibling. The story jumps ahead nineteen years to find the Rand family successful business owners of Ore-Cal Enterprises. Jeremy informs Jake that their father's business practices aren't always legal. Jake is engaged to Emily, but he's in no rush to marry her. Jake decides to find out for himself what their father is up to, so he goes undercover to Wolf's Landing to discover the truth about their father.

Indigo Rand (19; aka Indigo Rand) is the slim, petite, light blue eyed, dimple cheeked, honey colored haired daughter of Hunter (a Comanche "half-breed;" injured in a mine incident caused by Jake's father) and Loretta (aka Little One; petite, blue eyes, white). Indigo has the ability to communicate with animals and her best friend is a silver wolf named Lobo. Chase, her younger brother, works in lumber and is currently away. She dreams of one day running her father's gold mine, and while her father is recovering from his injuries she is running it. Jake offers to take Hunter's place running the mine until he recovers. Hunter hires him and assigns Indigo to show Jake the mines. On the second day of showing Jake the mines Lobo is shot and while they're hiding from the gunman Lobo dies. The next day when they return to town, gossip begins about Indigo's virtue. After witnessing the way two women treated Indigo, Jake decides to do the right thing and marry her. Jake and Hunter agree to a $700 bride price for Indigo to marry Jake. Indigo has no desire to marry Jake but obeys her father and agrees to the marriage. Franny a seventeen year old who is one of the two prostitutes in town gives Indigo wedding night advice when Indigo's parents fail her. Their marriage does not begin as a live match but eventually the two communicate enough to coexist. Jake falls first but he's afraid of how Indigo will react when she finds out who he really is. He's also concerned that she'll never fit into his actual life in Portland. In the end, the two are safe and happily married.

Denver and Brandon are cousins and, along with Jake's father, are the villains of the story. JP

2 out of 5 on my spice scale

1st listen 12-25-23

Hunter and Loretta are the hero and heroine in 'Comanche Moon.'

Comanche meets Oregon Trail SPOILERS

I love the Comanche books by Catherine Anderson. I gave it only 4 stars in the story category because of Hunter’s marrying off his only daughter without her input. He’d had too much Laudanum apparently and after 20 years of marriage you would think Loretta would have grown a backbone by now and really dosed him good before that “bride price” was struck.

As an aside, where is THE BOOK ABOUT HOW HUNTER AND LORETTA MADE IT TO WOLF’S LANDING? I don’t think there was a Tartis around back then but that part of their story leaves a huge gap.
Everybody is a critic! LOL