Strong is Sexy Heroine of the Week: Madame Laval & Marie-Louise Weathers

Book: No Good Like it Is, Dog Soldier Moon
Author: McKendree Long
Heroine: Madame Laval, Marie-Louise Weathers

From No Good Like It Is, I choose Madame Laval, proprietress of Chateau Blanc. The 'White House' is the second best brothel in wartime Atlanta. Gloria Constance Marie Laval (real name, Sue Brendan) is an anonymous benefactress of the many Atlanta orphans; she also helps dispose of the bodies of three Confederate provosts, killed by my protagonist after they attack him and the young prostitute he's with. The madam then has a dalliance with my hero until he returns to combat.


In the sequel, Dog Soldier Moon, I'd choose Marie-Louise Weathers. A thirtyish quadroon and former slave, she is the common-law mother-in-law of my hero, and is also the common-law wife of the hero's partner. The mother and octoroon daughter Honey had hooked up with my protagonists (Captain Dobey Walls and Sergeant-Major Jimmy Melton) in the first novel, in 1865 Mississippi. There, they had helped their husband/father run a country store until Union deserters had murdered the man and attempted to rape Honey.

Dobey and Jimmy stumbled on the attack and killed the three attackers, and the two women decided to accompany the saviors 'home' to Texas. There for three years they help their men build a new frontier community, until another brutal attack by desperate thugs. Marie-Louise and Honey are raped and savagely beaten. With a dying effort, Marie-Louise slams one her attackers with an oil lantern, setting him and the house on fire, which saves her daughter.


Blurbs:
1858, Fort Gibson, Indian Territory. 2d Lieutenant Dobey Walls meets and bonds with veteran Corporal Jimmy Melton. As the Civil War begins, they leave to join the 8th Texas Cavalry in Houston, then take part in the first and the final charges of the Army of Tennessee. Between those events, they ride with Nathan Bedford Forrest, play an honorable role in the Fort Pillow Massacre, harass Sherman with Shannon's Raiders, and visit the second best brothel in Atlanta. As surrender looms, they're released to search for Dobey's long-missing family in the Texas Panhandle. Their efforts are hampered by destitute farmers, lonely widows, dangerous militia, freed slaves, and runaways, who increase their numbers and excitement. In the process, they save a quadroon and her daughter from Yankee deserters who have stolen a Union payroll. This act of mercy brings them romance but puts Pinkerton detectives and a renegade lawman on their trail. Confederate Cherokees and Cheyenne Dog Soldiers add to the chaos.

In this sequel to his novel, No Good Like It Is, McKendree Long continues the saga of Dobey Walls and Jimmy Boss Melton during the three years following the Civil War. In Dog Soldier Moon, a great crime decimates the tiny Panhandle community of Canadian Fort, twisting relationships and putting Dobey and the Boss on a trail of retribution and frontier justice, yet unaware that they are targets of two Pinkerton teams. Black Kettle, Meotzi, the 'Boy General' Custer, and J.B. Hickok flesh out the cast in this all new classic tale.

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Spotlight & Giveaway: Colonization by Aubrie Dionne

Andromeda has spent all seventeen years of her life aboard a deep space transport vessel destined for a paradise planet. Her safe cocoon is about to break open as Paradise 21 looms only one month away, and she must take the aptitude tests to determine her role on the new world and her computer assigned lifemate. As a great-granddaughter of the Commander of the ship, she wants to live up to her family name. But, her forbidden love for her childhood friend, Sirius, distracts her and she fails the tests. The results place her in a menial role in the new colony and pair her with Corvus, “the oaf”.

But when Andromeda steps foot on Paradise 21, her predestined future is the least of her worries. Alien ghosts from a failed colonization warn her of a deadly threat to her colony. And when Sirius’s ship crashes on the far ridge in an attempt to investigate, she journeys to rescue him with Corvus. 

Andromeda now must convince the authorities of the imminent danger to keep her protect her new home. What she didn’t expect was a battle of her own feelings for Sirius and Corvus. 

Can she save the colony and discover her true love?


Excerpt

We were the only people in the corridor, and the air thickened with static friction. He dropped his head next to mine, our foreheads almost touching. “What a great adventure, Annie.”

He glanced down at my quivering lips. Was he going to kiss me?

We hung suspended for a small eternity. So many emotions swirled through me at once, I couldn’t process all of them: excitement, elation, fear. My conscience murmured one word. Forbidden.

I pulled my head back before it was too late, feeling my heart tear. “You could have gotten us into trouble.”
He took a deep breath, as if he tried to repress his own feelings as well. “Just wait until we reach Paradise 21.”

Our destiny slapped me in the face. The truth was a wall between us. Our assignments loomed in our future and soon there’d be no more adventures. Not for the two of us, anyway. A hundred teens made up our graduating class and the possibility we’d be matched together was slim, especially after they computed my miserable test results.

Buy Links:     Amazon           Barnes & Noble


About the Author:

Aubrie grew up watching the original Star Wars movies over and over until she could recite and reenact every single scene in her backyard. She also loved The Goonies, Star Trek the Next Generation--favorite character was Data by far--and Indiana Jones. But, her all time favorite movie was The Last Unicorn. She still wonders why the unicorn decided to change back to a unicorn in the end.

Aubrie wrote in her junior high yearbook that she wanted to be "a concert flutist" when she grew up. She majored in flute performance at the University of New Hampshire on a full scholarship, then secured two teaching jobs at a University and a local community music school. While playing in orchestras and teaching, stories popped into her head, and she used them to make the music come alive for her flute students. Her students said they were so good, she had to write them down! Maybe they were right, who knows? Two careers seems to keep her busy. For now.

She is represented by Dawn Dowdle and writes sweet and adventurous fantasy, science fiction, and contemporary romance.

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Giveaway:

Aubrie is giving away a digital copy of her book. For a chance to win please fill out the rafflecopter below.


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Coming Soon: Royalist Rebel by Anita Seymour

Intelligent, witty and beautiful, Elizabeth Murray wasn’t born noble; her family’s fortunes came from her Scottish father’s boyhood friendship with King Charles. As the heir to Ham House, their mansion on the Thames near Richmond, Elizabeth was always destined for greater things.

Royalist Rebel is the story of Elizabeth’s youth during the English Civil War, of a determined and passionate young woman dedicated to Ham House, the Royalist cause and the three men in her life; her father William Murray, son of a minister who rose to become King Charles’ friend and confidant, the rich baronet Lionel Tollemache, her husband of twenty years who adored her and John Maitland, Duke of Lauderdale, Charles II’s favourite.

With William Murray at King Charles’ exiled court in Oxford, the five Murray women have to cope alone. Crippled by fines for their Royalist sympathies, and besieged by the Surrey Sequestration Committee, Elizabeth must find a wealthy, non-political husband to save herself, her sisters, and their inheritance.

Royalist Rebel by Claymore Books, an imprint of Pen and Sword, is released on 17^th January 2013

http://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Historical-Fiction/c/146/

For a little background on the novel, see Anita’s Book Blog

http://royalistrebel.blogspot.co.uk/

The National Trust Website of Elizabeth Murray’s former home, Ham House, at Petersham near Richmond, Surrey

http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/ham-house/

Anita’s Blog

http://thedisorganisedauthor.blogspot.co.uk/

Tip from Tara: Easy on the Eyes

Yes, please, go easy on the eyes. I swear it's one of the most commonly overused words in literature. Some common things I'm seeing that are driving me nuts...

I've ran across manuscripts that feel, for some strange reason--I guess the authors think we have sh*t memories and won't remember what their characters look like because I have noticed some authors like to remind us, the reader, constantly, what eye color the hero/heroine eyes. Make a note: You don't have to tell me the eye color every single time to you mention their eyes.

I looked into his deep brown eyes. Then a page later: His deep brown eyes were full of sadness. Then a page later: I could feel his deep brown eyes raking over my skin like hot coals.

And while I'm on the subject, your eyes don't pop our of your head and rake over anyone's body.

His eyes met mine.

Did your eyeballs pop out of your head at the same time as his and have some kind of eyeball meet and greet? *Note. I personally love disobeying the disembodied parts rule, but I hate it when it's eyes. I try to use the word gaze as much as I can.*

My point today: Enough with the eyes. You told me once his eyes were a deep brown. I don't need to be told every single page or every time the character is mentioned.

And that's all folks. Hope this wasn't hard on your eyes. ;)

Virtual Code: Infinity Love by D.F. Krieger

HUGE thumbs up for uniqueness. In a time when 1,000 ebooks are releasing a day, it's quite a feat to write a story nobody has read, and Krieger pulled it off.


The heroine Zayda is designing a program that through virtual reality allows you to "visit" your dead loved ones. So she uses the program to see her dead husband, but only when it's too late does she realize the emotional ramifications of this...what if you don't want to go back to the real world?

And there's a glitch...she has taken a microchip of her husband (this is kinda futuristic, technology wise) and because of this chip, her husband is REAL, just in virtual land. He's not a program after all.

I had a hard time at moments visualizing stuff, but that's probably because I know nothing at all about these things. I know how to open a program and type and that's about it. I felt kinda dumb at moments. LOL

But it was a solid, unique, and entertaining read, and I can see why the ending may be controversial, but it made perfect sense to me. If you have nothing in your life to lose...well, then...

Four bikes. I won this from the author in a blog hop.

The Painted Girls by Cathy Marie Buchanan

Def giving this points for uniqueness. I learned so much about ballet, opera, Degas, his art. There's a bit of a mystery at the heart of this, but to me, I honestly felt this was a story of women and their never-ending struggle to be loved, respected, and successful. It's also a tale of children not being allowed to be children. It's about a very different time.


Three sisters, each one striving for something. Antoinette wants to be adored. Marie wants to take care of her family. Charlotte wants to be successful. And yet, they all become whores. One is a whore to love. One is a whore because in the end, despite all she does, she's left with nothing else. One is a whore in order to succeed, and in the end it's utterly sad.

Though very true to the era it's penned about, I had a hard time with Antoinette's story. She was just terribly dumb in my eyes. The truth was in front of her face so much...but it's amazing what a girl will do to have a man's approval. This book really makes you think of that.

Marie, the trial, the guilt she felt for the decision she made...very gripping.

Vivid. Realistic, sad, and wrenching. This is the kind of book you pick up when you wish to time travel. But it is full of heartache. In the middle, my mind began straying and at times the book lost my interest as it got repetitive, but it hooked me again towards the end.

The Gilded Fan by Christina Courtenay

This is the sequel to Scarlet Kimono. I think Scarlet Kimono is my favorite story still by Courtenay, mainly because of the adventure and the exotic setting, but this is just as well-written and has to be my favorite heroine.

Midori's parents are dead and her own country is exiling half-breeds like her. She's half Japanese, half foreigner, and during the time this book takes place, they were exiling all Christians whether they practiced or not, including those of Japanese blood, and though Midori doesn't practice Christianity, she must leave to save her life.

And this is why she runs into a group of seamen at camp and ends up in a sword fight. This is why she meets Nicco, the captain of a trading ship. This girl is imprisoned, put on a ship full of horny, vengeful men, drugged in an opium den, and yet still lands with dignity and grace in Plymouth England...where she has to suddenly convert to Puritan religion and customs.

Majority of us would have broke down at some point, but Midori handles everything life throws at her. She doesn't need a man. She proves time and time again she can do just fine without Nicco, the captain who has stolen her heart. Matter of fact, she turns him down at first.

But if he loves her, must must work for her, he must restore his honor as he lost it at some point in her eyes...and I'm not revealing a thing more.

The historical is rich and spot-on. The war with King Charles is ongoing throughout the last half of the novel and though I'm not overly fond of England's wars (Sorry, England. And I think this is why I prefer Scarlet Kimono.) and normally I wouldn't care less who won or not, I could really feel this little town, Midori's family included, really banding together. They have a lot of heart. Midori has a lot of heart. She runs out into BATTLE. I mean, I LOVE this chick.

I didn't think the romance was Courtenay's strongest, but I still enjoyed this story. It's an adventure tale following an amazing young woman who faces more in the span of a few years then many of us do in a lifetime. There's also a strong moral, more than one actually. Family is important, protecting them is important. Sometimes you must do what's right for them. And words...words can have more effect on people than you realize.

Five bikes. I bought this on Kindle.