"Woman of Ill Fame" by Erika Mailman~Gold Rush Romp!

SUMMARY :

Looking for a better life, Nora Simms sails from the East Coast to gold rush San Francisco with a plan for success: to strike it rich by trading on her good looks. But when a string of murders claims several of her fellow “women of ill fame,” Nora grows uneasy with how closely linked all of the victims are to her. Even her rise to the top of her profession and a move to the fashionable part of town don’t shelter her from the danger, and she must distinguish friend from foe in a race to discover the identity of the killer.


PARTICULARS OF THE BOOK :
This is an ebook
Found:  Amazon
Pages:  257
Genre:  Historical Fiction
Website:  http://www.erikamailman.com

*Isn't this cover awesome!?

Praise for Woman of Ill Fame

“I LOVED Woman of Ill Fame! Nora Simms is hilarious, heartbreaking, tough, perceptive…and one of the most engaging characters I’ve ever met between the pages of a book. Wonderful story, great setting and really good writing made this one of the best books I’ve read in a long time!” -Diana Gabaldon, internationally-bestselling author of the Outlander series
“The whodunit aspect makes Woman of Ill Fame a page-turner, and Mailman manages to keep the reader guessing. Yet it’s the depiction of early San Francisco that propels this thriller above its genre, in the manner of historical fiction such as Caleb Carr’s The Alienist.” -Kemble Scott, San Francisco Bay Guardian
“Mailman serves up vivid description, sparkling prose and a Gold Rush prostitute as scrappy as Scarlett O’Hara.” -Kathleen Grant Gelb, Oakland Tribune


ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

I'm a historical fiction writer who is absolutely obsessed with the past. Many time periods draw me in: I'm most compelled by the 1800s in America, but also love medieval Europe, ancient Egypt, Revolution-era France...on and on.

I wanted to be an author since I was in fourth grade, and was thrilled to see it come to fruition when I was still cognizant enough to enjoy it. ;)

As of this writing, I have two novels out. The Witch's Trinity is about a medieval German woman accused of witchcraft by her own daughter-in-law, and was published by Crown/Random House in 2007. Woman of Ill Fame is about a Gold Rush prostitute who solves murders, published by Heyday Books in 2007.

I live in the gold country area of Northern California and enjoy the historic sites around me whenever I get a chance. http://www.erikamailman.com


THE BOOKISH DAME'S REVIEW :

Absolutely wild romp with this one!  There's magic and mystery, a feisty little prostitute who doesn't mind getting her hands AND feet dirty in her line of business, and a wild ride in the wild west, as well.  The book starts out a little bawdy for me, but then once I stayed with it for a couple of chapters, I could see the value in the story.  What a crazy whirlwind of a story Erika Mailman tells with hardly a breath to take in between!  I appreciated the scenes of early gold rush times in San Francisco very much.

Her minx of a character,  Nora, soon grabs your heart as she steps over corps and cons to find her way in the rough and tumble world of hard-necks and gold rush aficionados.  Nora is no wilting lily.  She's a fighter who knows how to get ahead in her business, although she employs some scathing ways that made me blush many a time.  Whores can be very resourceful and tough..like Nora!

The murder mystery here is strong and compelling as the basically good-hearted Nora works to stop a creep from destroying other "working girls."  You'll love her ingenious ways.

I don't know if I'd have picked this book up for a general read if I hadn't been recommended it by my favorite tour company, but I will tell you that it was a happy change from the ordinary!  It's a very quick read and one that kept me laughing and blushing at the risqué parts.

 A fun read and departure from the every day....3 stars.

Deborah/TheBookishDame


*This review was brought to you in cooperation with Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours...

Please find more reviews, interviews and guest posts here:  http://www.hfvirtualbooktours.com

"The Orchardist" by Amanda Coplin ~ Powerful Read!

SUMMARY : 
 

Publishers Weekly

The implacable hand of fate, and the efforts of a quiet, reclusive man to reclaim two young sisters from their harrowing past, are the major forces at play in this immensely affecting first novel. In a verdant valley in the Pacific Northwest during the early years of the 20th century, middle-aged Talmadge tends his orchards of plum, apricot, and apples, content with his solitary life and the seasonal changes of the landscape he loves. Two barely pubescent sisters, Jane and Della, both pregnant by an opium-addicted, violent brothel owner from whom they have escaped, touch Talmadge’s otherwise stoic heart, and he shelters and protects them until the arrival of the girls’ pursuers precipitates tragic consequences. Talmadge is left with one of the sisters, the baby daughter of the other, and an ardent wish to bring harmony to the lives entrusted to his care. Coplin relates the story with appropriate restraint, given Talmadge’s reserved personality, and yet manages to evoke a world where the effects of two dramatic losses play out within a strikingly beautiful natural landscape. In contrast to the brothel owner, Michaelson, the other characters in Talmadge’s community—an insightful, pragmatic midwife; a sensitive Nez Perce horse trader; a kindly judge—conduct their lives with dignity and wisdom. When Della fails to transcend the psychological trauma she’s endured, and becomes determined to wreak revenge on Michaelson, Talmadge turns unlikely hero, ready to sacrifice his freedom to save her. But no miracles occur, as Coplin refuses to sentimentalize. Instead, she demonstrates that courage and compassion can transform unremarkable lives and redeem damaged souls. In the end, “three graves side by side,” yet this eloquent, moving novel concludes on a note of affirmation. Agent: Bill Clegg, WME Entertainment. (Sept.)


ABOUT THE BOOK :
Publisher:  Harper Collins
Pages:  448
Genre:  Historical Fiction
Author  Amanda C


ABOUT THE AUTHOR :

Amanda Coplin was born in Wenatchee, Washington. She received her BA from the University of Oregon and MFA from the University of Minnesota. A recipient of residencies from the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Massachusetts, and the Omi International Arts Center at Ledig House in Ghent, New York, she lives in Portland, Oregon.

Find out more about her here:  Amanda Coplin


THE BOOKISH DAME REVIEWS :

A rare treasure of a novel.  "The Orchardist" is one of those you'll read like enjoying a box of chocolates...slowly, just to savor every morsel of the story and the fine writing.  This is a book you'll want to capture and keep on your shelves to recall days spent visualizing the orchards of Northwestern America, and the hearts of incredible characters that will live on in your mind.  I love family sagas when they're written by a gifted author who can drop you down in the setting and with the people of the story.  This is a novel like that.  You shouldn't miss it this year. 

Story development and plot are so absorbing.  I was tortured by the hard life and gentle heart of Talmadge, the orchardist, but more so by the background and broken spirits of Della and Jane, the girls who escaped unimaginable torment to find shelter like stray cats on his farm.  Their story is blindingly bear in its open wounds~vulnerable and raw with emotion.  I found myself cringing and crying with them at their most horrific, heartbreaking stops along the story.  Michaelson is a despicable antihero. What powerful writing!

Amanda Coplin is a young woman who is wise beyond her years.  She writes with such brilliance and imagination.  Her characters just breathe tension, love, hatred, vulnerability, wisdom and life.  It was a wonderful experience to read her book.

Highly recommended to everyone.  This is a powerful novel of love and redemption.

5 stars             Deborah/TheBookishDame


"The Orchardist" is available here:  Barnes and Noble

Free Kindle Finds!! "The Deliliah Complex: The Butterfield Institute" by M J Rose; "Exposed" by Ashley Weis, and "Ghost Ship" by Gerrie F. Finger

I found this book compelling enough to add

it to my Kindle today.  Great ratings on Amazon!

Here's why~

Summary:

As one of New York's top sex therapists, Dr. Morgan Snow sees everything from the abused to the depraved. The Butterfield Institute is the sanctuary where she tries to heal these battered souls.

The Scarlet Society is a secret club of twelve powerful and sexually adventurous women. But when a photograph of the body of one of the men they're recruited to dominate -- strapped to a gurney, the number 1 inked on the sole of his foot -- is sent to the New York Times, they are shocked and frightened. Unable to cope with the tragedy, the women turn to Dr. Morgan Snow. But what starts out as grief counseling quickly becomes a murder investigation, with any one of the twelve women a potential suspect.

The case leads Detective Noah Jordan -- a man with whom Morgan has shared a brief, intense connection -- to her office. He fears the number on the man's foot hints that the killings have just begun. With her hands tied by her professional duty, Morgan is dangerously close to the demons in her own mind -- and the flesh-and-blood killer.

I understand "Deliliah Complex" isn't the only book in this series,

so I'm going to track down the others for a read!

Another amazing find for my Kindle.  This ranked 6 to 1  perfect

5 star ratings

I love a book about ghostly ships...

Here's more about it:

Summary:

What if you could go back to 1921 and climb aboard a great five-masted schooner on her maiden voyage?
You’d be a witness to history; you’d be on her decks when her keel smashed into an Outer Banks shoal. You’d get to know the villains who caused the tragedy. Was it pirates, Russians, rumrunners? Or something else?
Would you dare?
Ann Gavrion did and her life was never the same.
The history:
One cold, foggy morning in January, 1921, a five-masted schooner in full sail plowed into Diamond Shoal in the infamous Graveyard of the Atlantic. Known to history as The Ghost Ship, her officers and crew were not on board and their bodies never washed ashore. The only living thing on board was a six-toed cat. Also, her anchors and lifeboats were missing. Six agencies investigated the mystery, but it was never solved.
The novel:
Ninety years later, Ann Gavrion travels to Cape Hatteras to get over the loss of her fiancé in an airplane crash. She meets the enigmatic, yet charming, Lawrence Curator on the beach.
Behind her she hears the cries of villagers. “Shipwreck!”
A surfman runs up and shouts that the missing schooner, her sails set, is aground on the shoal. Ann recognizes the enormous ship from a photograph she’d seen the night before.
So begins her journey back to 1921 with the man the Navy sent to investigate the grounding of the great ship.
When Lawrence and Ann solve the mystery, Ann must return to her world. On the very beach where she’d begun her voyage with Lawrence, she meets his great-grandson, Rod. Exhausted, wet, she spills an account of her fabulous sea adventure. He calls her a charlatan and accuses her of using his famous ancestor to write a first person account of the tragedy for her magazine.
How many times, how many ways, must she prove that her voyage was real to Rod and the unbelievers of the world?

The one that intrigued me most...
Would you believe this book has a 6 star rating from 38 people,
4 stars from 5 people ~ nothing lower than that!
This is a widely championed book!!

Here's the summary:

Honest, raw, redemptive, surprising, fearless EXPOSED is storytelling at its finest. Ashley Weis has woven two compelling stories into one, highlighting the devastation of both sides of the porn screen. --Mary DeMuth, author of Thin Places and Life in Defiance

Ashley Weis takes us where few in fiction dare to tread. She addresses every woman's nightmare with devastating frankness. Her style is clean and efficient, her story line, powerful. Weis shows that hope can shine just as brilliantly among the neon of the sex industry as it does through a stained glass church window. Anyone who claims that Christian fiction is pat and irrelevant hasn't read Ashley Weis. --Gina Holmes, author of Crossing Oceans and founder of Novel Journey

Product Description

Allyson Graham, marriage counselor and lover of love, lived a life of romance few could imagine. Until her husband's secret addiction stared at her from the computer screen. Will she be able to forgive the man who lied to her all of those precious years?

Follow her painful story alongside the heartbreaking story of Taylor Adams, a young girl searching for her worth in the world. As Allyson struggles to forgive her husband for lying about his addiction, Taylor naively falls into the same self-destructive industry and discovers that the attention and fun is nothing like she thought it would be.

Discover the hearts of these two women as they search for beauty after the rain.

*Note:  The above summaries were taken from Amazon.com and are not my own.

These are my Kindle picks this week.  It's hard to believe they are free. What did you find?  Share!!! :]

Deborah/TheBookishDame