REVIEW: The Bootlegger's Wife Blog Tour! (+$25 Amazon GC Giveaway!)

Title:The Bootlegger's Wife

Author: Terri Lee

Series: N/A

Pages: 316

Date Published: October 9th, 2014

Publisher: Capricorn Publishing

Format: N/A

Genre: Historical Fiction

Source: Goddess Fish Blog Tours

Synopsis:

Life often demands much of love. True love always answers, yes. It's a story as old as time. Then again, every love story is brand new. And the world never tires of rooting for a couple who hand in hand are determined to defy the odds. So we turn each page with hopeful hearts as we watch the layers of love unfold, knowing all the while that no two people arrive at true love's door unscathed. There is always a price to pay.

Life had been well planned for Frances Durant, but she was fond of saying, "I rarely do what's expected of me." In the summer of 1919 she, like the rest of the country, was ready to throw off the gray days of war and laugh again, now that the 1920s were about to come roaring onto the scene and change everything. What she wasn't ready for was a tall, tanned Marine fresh from the battlefield and ready to take New York City by storm.

Frankie Lee was just the sort of guy to sweep a restless young heiress off her feet. The sort of man who could see that her sass was a thin veil covering an emptiness, a longing and a heart waiting to be found. Their two worlds collide on the dance floor and set in motion a love story that careens through the twenties, when the world thought the parties would never end, to the crash of 1929 and the devastation that followed. A brush with the dark side of the bootleg world, and a tragedy that reaches out from the cold dark night will test their love over and over. Life often demands much of love. Sometimes more than a person has left to give.

~My Thoughts~

My review of the book! Ah the twenties. Is there a more dramatic or cherished time period in American History? With nostalgia reaching back, similar to today's "90's kids" to a time before the Great Depression where affluence was all over and life revolved around an endless swirl of parties and bright flashing lights and alcohol. When the crash hit, worlds came down around the wealthy's ears and the chaos and drama that ensued

It's against this setting that our two lead characters meet. Frances and Frankie are from two different worlds. An heiress has no rightful business being with a marine just back from the war, but when the two meet across the dance floor there is no denying or stopping their chemistry. There's a kind of desperate romance to their relationship that made you feel breathless anytime they were in the room together.

The couple has to fight tooth and nail to stay together, but the drama adds spice to their lives and makes them that much more dedicated to being together in the end. So romantic and sweet!

One of my favorite things about this book was that it didn't take place over days or weeks, but years. You get to see nearly the full expanse of this couple's relationship and that gave it a certain weight that I really loved. I felt like I really got to know them, the good and the bad, and it made them stick in my mind much easier than some others have. Definitely give this one a read if you are a historical romance junkie! 

~Try an Excerpt!~

Lake Champlain was beautiful. The freshwater lake was in its glory for this summer soiree. Of course, Lena would stand for nothing else and even Mother Nature knew enough to comply. The younger crowd had gathered at the water’s edge on this second day of festivities, preparing for the first swim of the season. The water, smooth as glass, looked like a polished dance floor in the flickering sunlight. Although the girls were in their bathing suits, they had no intention of going into the cold water. It would be quite enough to sit on the sidelines and look pretty.

There had already been a bit of a stir among the parents regarding the latest swimwear fashions. The girls were accused of pushing the boundaries of propriety with their choice of attire. Bare arms and legs, which were now all the rage, were still considered an appalling breech of etiquette among the older crowd. So Frances and Lucy knew exactly what they were doing as they sashayed down to the lake, heady with the full force of their female power. 

Laughter from the group that had already made their way to the dock greeted Frances on the dirt path and she quickened her steps, eager to join in the merriment. It was a joyful noise, trumpeting from free-spirited youth, in those heady moments before stepping fully into adulthood. Life had not yet stolen their dreams, for once dreams have been handed over there is nothing left to do but stand with clenched fists and watch them go. However, now would not be the time for such sobering thoughts, for it was the time of invincibility. They owned their future and they wore their glorious youth like a suit of armor as they prepared to take on the world. In their laughter was the sound of summer.

~Meet Terri!~ 

Born and raised in northern California, that part of the country will always have a piece of my heart. My family moved to Missouri in my teenage years and when the love of my life walked through my door at my summer job, that is where my heart truly found its home. As with all good things, when I least expected it. Of course it didn't hurt that the first thing he did was buy me a chocolate malt. Forty years later I am still married to my High School sweetheart, who has always been my biggest cheerleader in whatever scheme I dream up. And believe me, I'm capable of dreaming up almost anything. We have a golden/lab named (Elizabeth Bennett) Lizzie,  who is my muse and my steadfast writing partner. She offers only the kindest critiques. Not to be outdone, our cat, Baby Kitty, is a card carrying terrorist, whose only mission in life is to thwart any goodness that comes my way. I make my home in a small rural town outside of Springfield, MO, the sort of place where the adventures reside only in the stories I spin, which is just the way I like it.

I can't remember a time when I wasn't scribbling away and playing with words. I wrote my first novel at the age of thirteen. I gladly exchanged the bulk of my sunny days that summer for afternoons spent on the back porch at a make shift table, surrounded by pens, pencils and paper. There, I marveled as I watched the little character that I had created take shape and come to life. That was my first foray into writing, certainly not to be my last. Through times of great joy and times of confusion writing has always been my solace. It is the one thing I return to over and over again.  I only truly understand how I feel about something once the words have pushed themselves down through my fingertips and out onto the page. 

How are my stories born? The words, colors, smells, family legends, people, places and things of my past provide the fertile soil for a small seed of an idea to take up root and blossom. They present themselves to me when they are ready, when they have lain in the soil and soaked up all that they need. Once they come to me and beg to be written, to be set free, it is only then that I recognize the work that's been going on behind the scenes. Sometimes for many years. 

The Bootlegger's Wife is a story near and dear to my heart.  It grew from the tales I heard as a small child., words that floated around the kitchen table. A phrase  here, a snippet there...an unfinished sentence that piqued my curiosity.  With the writing of this story, I am able to say to my grandparents. " I heard the stories you told me. I took them to heart. I heard every word you said and even all the words you couldn’t bring yourself to sayAnd it is my hope, that you dear reader, will find some small piece of yourself in my stories. Something familiar,  something that feels like home. May  you find yourself nodding along and whispering. "Of course."

Terri will be awarding a $25 Amazon GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour, and a $25 Amazon GC to a randomly drawn host.

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