Shyfawn Tucker and her friend Mabel just wanted a little excitement, a chance to see New Orleans, but after their arrival, they are drugged, kidnapped, and taken to the rugged, lawless town of Larksdale. They are to work as prostitutes in a saloon owned by their kidnapper, a ruthless man named Jared. Soon Shyfawn learns that she will be saved from servicing Jared’s clientele, but will become the virgin singer to draw more patrons to the already-thriving business. Mabel, however, suffers a terrible fate, and Shyfawn vows to protect as many of the women forced into service as she can.
Unbeknownst to Shyfawn, her older sister Jo is planning a rescue mission. Jo enlists the help of David and Matthew Reeves, brothers who own ranches near Rimrock, several days’ ride from Larksdale. Matthew reluctantly agrees although he barely knows Jo and goes along to keep David safe more than anything, but as soon as he sees the captivating Shyfawn, he can’t keep his eyes or mind off of her. A difficult mission is made even more impossible when Jared vows to never stop looking for Shyfawn, and not even the undeniable attraction between Matthew and Shyfawn will be enough to keep her safe.
Promise of Tomorrow is set in the American West, in the 1830s. It’s a rough and tumble community that places women as property. T. K. Conklin paints an authentic picture of the Old West, even though at times, we may cringe at the treatment women endured. Women were considered property, often bought, sold, raped, and disowned for the crime of being taken advantage of. Shyfawn’s story of abduction exemplifies this sad scenario. Though the author spares her heroine the burden of rape, Shyfawn is still a captive, a prisoner, kept for the entertainment and profit of Jared, who treats most of “his” women as disposable, and she is under constant threat of rape if she misbehaves. Though she escapes, Shyfawn knows her past involvement, though completely involuntary, with the saloon will forever taint her reputation and will make finding a decent husband nearly impossible. Townspeople will judge regardless of her guiltless purity, and she can never return to her hometown of Charlotte. Even Matthew worries about what her reputation will do for his own when he brings her to work as a cook at his ranch.
A surprising plot element is a connection the Tucker sisters have to the paranormal. All three sisters have some “otherworldly” ability. To mention more here might be a dead giveaway!
Conklin has done a great job at creating a world in the same vein as Deadwood – jacked up on romance. Even as the author gives us scenes of trauma true to the Old West, she elevates the positive themes of family, belief in better days, and finding one’s purpose in life. Shyfawn never feels sorry for herself despite the horrors around her. Her optimistic attitude leads her to shake off her sadness and look for the good in virtually everyone. She befriends the ranch hands despite their sordid pasts and even manages to see good in some of the men who hold her captive. She is able to remain positive when her chances are bleak, and her playfulness with everyone–especially Matthew–gives the novel humor and creates a fun, good ole fashioned Western.
Promise of Tomorrow by T. K. Conklin won the CIBAs 2018 First Place in the LARAMIE Awards for Western Fiction and placed as a Semi-Finalist in the CIBAs 2019 Chatelaine Awards.
Since his father’s death, seventeen-year-old Antonius Sardi has become the man of the house, keeping up the spirits and providing for his mother, younger sister, and younger brother. When he takes a job in the household of Conte Leonardo Valperga, he works hard to prove useful in hopes of raising his status above that of a lowly servant. Occasionally, Antonius glimpses Savinus di Benevento, a seer of great renown in the medieval town of Pesaro, and a member of the Conte’s household as well. When Savinus advertises for a new apprentice, Antonius knows this is the opportunity for which he has been waiting, a chance to show his abilities to a man who can appreciate rather than fear them.
In the second in a series by author Halverson, an aristocratic, intellectually curious young woman has fallen in love with a young physician, a commoner whose radical experimentations have jeopardized his reputation. The couple is just recovering from the professional and personal rigors of dealing with London’s plague victims when the city is overwhelmed by fire. Their services are needed now more than ever.
Irish-born Gillian McAllister knew she was meant for bigger things than a quiet life among her large extended family. Leaving home at seventeen against her protective father’s wishes, Gillian is looking for adventure – and that’s exactly what she finds. She was a nanny for a maharaja, a caretaker for WWII internees, and a nurse on the Isle of Man before finally becoming a wife, mother, and grandmother in London, Canada, where she spent the majority of her eighty-nine years.
Twenty-two-year-old museum intern and unknown artist, Anne Gautier, has undertaken a significant project, restoring an elegant house on one of the most beautiful streets in New Orleans. The grand old Creole home has been in her family for many generations, and, when her grandfather died, he left her the house on Esplanade Avenue, where all the best French Creole families once lived.
The Soolivan family is split apart by the Civil War, but when the ugly side of fate intervenes, a silver lining appears to bring a broken family back together again. While Andy Soolivan is convalescing in the hospital with his new friend, Bicker, he receives news that his uncles have all been killed. In a letter explaining the details, August Soolivan urges his son Andy to come home. The family has suffered enough.