Desert Phoenix

by Suzette Bruggeman

*NATIONAL INDIE EXCELLENCE AWARD WINNER*
*BOOK EXCELLENCE AWARD WINNER*

Nevada’s gold country, 1901. No longer young or fresh, Tempa is staring face to face with the whore’s unholy trinity: alcoholism, drug abuse and suicide. While her best friend, Belle, has chosen laudanum, Tempa finds escape in literature, which she shares with the illiterate prostitutes in a book club-like setting at the cribs. Forced into prostitution as a girl after losing her family to yellow fever, Tempa also retains a sense of self-worth by using her knowledge of herbs to heal others.

When she nurses Henry—a good-natured, young German immigrant on the run from a man who has reason to want him dead—Tempa sees a future she longs for but cannot allow herself to claim. So when the noose tightens around Henry’s neck, she ransoms her life for his.

At once a sweeping love story and a harrowing account of the harshness of the American Old West, DESERT PHOENIX is the tale of a middle-aged, crib prostitute who gains an unlikely ally in her struggle for physical and emotional survival. Based on local history and family stories passed down from Bruggeman’s grandfather, this engaging and evocative novel for fans of Kristin Hannah and Kate Quinn interweaves Tempa’s rise from the ashes of her old life with Henry’s turbulent passage into manhood.

PLEASE NOTE
*Contains mature themes, including non-graphic suicide and sexual assault.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Westerns, Romance, Historical Romance, Fiction, Historical

450 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2023

About the author

For a girl who grew up foraging for pine nuts and arrowheads between today’s Area 51 and Butch Cassidy’s old stomping grounds in southern Nevada, Suzette is bewildered to find herself living in Montana’s land of ice and snow. In writing novels, she is compelled by stories found within her family tree. A lifelong songwriter, she is also the author of several stage musicals. She and her husband are the parents of three grown sons and newly grandparents to a set of identical twin girls. To learn more about Suzette’s creative projects visit www.suzettbruggeman.com.

Reviews

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

You can tell the passion that Suzette Bruggemam has for this story. It is inspired by true events and reads like a historical fiction with the romance added in. Tempa has a heart of gold, and is just trying to carve out her own little piece of happiness in the lawless Gold Rush Era. When she meets Henry their lives become forever entwined.

[SuperWendy · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's not perfect, but I still loved it. The timeline of the story isn't linear, with some flashbacks being employed, and I found myself impatient during times when I knew there was more to the story (how did Tempa go from upscale brothel to downtrodden mining town?) and had to wait for it. I also feel like the Author's Note would have worked MUCH better at the end of the book, than the beginning.

Past my quibbles however, the world-building is dynamite, the happy ending for our couple hard fought and well deserved, and the care the author takes with consent and the nuanced depiction of prostitution, it's pretty remarkable. We'd classify it as "historical fiction with romantic elements" today but the sweep and scope of the story reminded me a lot of the romantic sagas of the 1980s - just without the over-the-top purple prose (thank the Lord).

[Danielle · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such a fascinating look into a time, place, and situation that I’ve not read about before. While there were some difficult and graphic parts, they were important to the story and character development. The characters (major and minor) were well drawn, complex and interesting.
I love a good historical fiction with some romance. 😄

[Tamsen M · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was so well written; I laughed, I cried, I never wanted it to end.

[Jennifer Santiago · Rating 5 out of 5]

Desert Phoenix
by: Suzette Bruggeman

Thank you to NetGalley, Skinny Leg Press Publishing and the author, Suzette Bruggeman for the advanced copy of Desert Phoenix.

I really enjoyed this book. If you are looking for something different but can hit the spot of historical fiction in a place that seems scarcely written about this is the book for you!
One of my favorite parts of the book, besides being inspired by real life people who the author did extensive research on, is the use of photos of what the characters looked like in real life, and the actual area they lived, etc.
Favoite quote-"Hogwash....a load of codswallop is what it is...When will Tempa realize a woman with a past is not a woman without a future".
Can love, real love help "save" Tempa?
This book takes place in Utah, in the early 1900's during the mining time. Lou, an innocent young woman, who goes by the name of Tempa after a series of very unfortunate events hands her a very rough time. After the loss of her family and attack by her sisters husband, he forces her away to get a job and leaves her at a brothel. She does not want to be there but meets some of the other girls and becomes best friends with Belle, another worker. Tempa soon becomes one of the most sought after women, but is also very kind, helpful and intelligent. She becomes well loved because of how she assists others outside of the bedroom. One afternoon, she is at her special place reading when a man named Henry stops. She is in her 30's, he in his 20's. Tempa helps him, feeds him and while she belives him to just be a boy, he becomes smitten with her.
The book follows the friendship, love, heartbreak, trust, pain, suffering, beauty and loss between Tempa, Henry and Tempa's best friend Belle. You will laugh, you will cry, you will gasp and be surprised.

[Aubrey Daly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a good read! It reminded me of the book redeeming love in some ways, but it was a little more graphic and descriptive. The writing was clear to understand and the plot flowed quickly without losing me. I love historical fiction and this book totally scratched an itch and made me excited to read her other book.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved how this book was based on real people and all the real photos that accompanied the story (tip: if the photos look distorted on your Kindle itself, try viewing them in the Kindle app on your phone!) It was a little long and I think it could have been cut down a bit, but at the same time I thought it was well-paced and I was interested in where the story was going.

I am glad that the author’s note about Henry and Tempa being real people was at the beginning of the story rather than the end, because you know immediately that they both live to end up together. That knowledge helps the reader get through some tragic events in the middle. I normally struggle with books that have too many sad events in them, and particularly dislike when they also have sad endings. The happiness of the ending here outweighed the hard stuff in the middle.

I enjoyed the characters and particularly loved Tempa’s love for books. This was a different perspective on an “Old West” story that I really liked for its uniqueness.

Thank you to the author - I received a complimentary eARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Bev Stegmann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh my goodness, this is such a good read. Tempa (Lou) and Henry’s love story is heartbreaking and heartwarming over the years of their life together. The trials they endured to be together is overwhelming at times. This book has it all. Romance, love, friendship, righting of wrongs, trials, suspense and joy. Must read. I was given an advanced reader copy by NetGalley and I am freely leaving my review.

[Tammy Buchli · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. Some of the bad reviews missed the point, I’m afraid. Readers expecting a standard historical romance were bound to be disappointed. This book is a love story, not a romance - there is a difference. That said, I can’t fault it on the historical side. Well researched and deeply evocative of time and place, Desert Phoenix is as good an old fashioned period novel as you’ll ever find.

Many thanks to NetGalley for providing an ARC copy for my review.

[Muireann80 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tempa and Henry's story of love, hardship and sadness was engaging and kept my interest throughout. The photographs of the characters and their descendants throughout made it realistic and a reminder that it is a true story. Thanks to Netgalley for allowing me access to this book.

[Natassja Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book quite a long read. Very well written. Lou has to overcome such misfortune in her life that you can not help but to feel for her. All seems filled with despair until a budding friendship.
A grave insight to how some women were treated with no say in their lives at all.

[Samantha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tale of a truly badass woman surviving the Wild West. Thoroughly entertaining and eye opening love story as well.

Thank you to Skinny Leg Press and Netgalley for providing an eARC for a honest review.

[Susan P · Rating 4 out of 5]

Based on local history and family stories, this is a story of a prostitute in gold-rush Nevada.

[Sissy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would describe this story as like watching a summer thunderstorm roll in while reading the clouds and trees as the wind picks up. I really enjoyed this. I felt SO bad for Tempa and Henry. Knowing that this was based on a real story makes it even harder to swallow sometimes, especially since it is a dense, long read. The west was so rough, and this is a good reminder of that. The language used was very beautiful and I cared about the characters. I was going through a pretty rough time mentally while I was reading this beast of a story, so at times it was hard to get through, but I do appreciate darker-toned stories. Just be aware of that when you pick up this read.

I received an ARC for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Pearl Cantrell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best love story!

It unfolds the countless threads of the human soul through the love of literature and reveals beauty from suffering and loss.

[Suzette · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tempa and Henry were friends of my great-grandfather’s. I wrote this book as a love letter to my homeland, a tribute to my ancestors and a legacy to my posterity. Though gritty, this story celebrates the resilience of the human spirit and the redeeming power of love and will satisfy lovers of happy endings.

[Kim Garrow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this ARC publication for an honest review.

Oh, this was an intense historical read based on real events! The path that Lou/Tempa was forced into was utterly heartbreaking. Her only ray of sunshine was her friendship with Belle and meeting Henry. This book had a lot of dark issues surrounding it (rape, forced prostitution, drug abuse, suicide...) and I was so sad/angry at the injustice that poor Lou had to endure. I loved Henry and the way he saw beyond "Tempa"...he saw Lou and her true worth.

4 stars

[Nicki · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is hard to imagine how life was in the times of our ancestors. Things we take for granted now were unimaginable. Lou lost her family and was forced into a life she didn't want. Her kind and healing nature could not be squashed. I like the fictionalizing of her story. It was not an easy life and did bring tears to my eyes a few time.

[Elizabeth Connor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks to Netgalley for the advanced ecopy of this book. I found it very helpful and enlightening to read the prologue to understand more about the historical background of the characters. Even knowing the background of the story and realizing it’s fictional, based on true events, I still wasn’t prepared for the poignancy with which the story of Tempa and Henry was told. Theirs is portrayed as a once-in-a-lifetime love that spans decades, together and apart, never fading, and often enough, hurting. It’s the only thing that makes it worth reading the misery that is Tempa’s life. That, and the prose, which is so beautiful and evocative, I had to pause many times to let the words wash over me. In fact, these lines really spoke to me, and I hope the author knows that her writing had the same effect on me. “She glanced up at him. The book sat idle in his lap. His face was a display of total wonderment. Her hands went limp. She knew that look. That sentence had grabbed him by the lapels and demanded he stop to admire its beauty. How often had a sequence of paltry lines and curves inked on paper held her in thrall while the rest of the world carried on without her?” I can’t help but feel that Bruggeman poured her heart and her soul into the writing of this book, leaving everything on the page.

We meet Lou in the aftermath of her family’s deaths in the space of mere days from an outbreak 0f Yellow Fever. The soul survivor, not yet fifteen, she wanders about her home in a daze. “To Lou, this house she had loved so well had always seemed a living, breathing thing. Now the life had gone out of it too. Suddenly it seemed as if she were trapped in the belly of a rotting carcass. The squirm of maggots against her skin sent her into a fit of squeals.”

The first time Lou is raped, the visual is almost childlike its characterization—in that it demonstrates the destruction of her childhood—reflecting her age and state of mind and the unfathomable pain she experiences. “Her limbs were flung out haphazard. Her stitches began to pop. ‘No, no…please, no,’ she pleaded through the fingers barred across her mouth. Then she was being torn straight up the middle. She was sobbing now, sucking air. He was ripping her apart at the seams. Her stuffing was springing loose, spilling out, on and on until she was but an empty sack… She felt the Platte running over her feet as it moved toward the Mississippi River. She squeezed her streaming eyes shut and imagined the water sucking the last of her spirit with it, carrying her soul out to the Gulf of Mexico. If only she could melt away with the water, never to be seen again.”

Her life is a daily misery after that as she does her best to avoid the man responsible for destroying her. “Since the fever took her folks, Lou had been walking through life as if she was barefoot and the days were strewn with broken glass.” “Rescued” by her sister and husband, aka. her rapist, she seeks retribution in small ways, as the abuse she suffers continues. Eventually, things go from bad to worse and she finds herself on the doorstep of a brothel, tricked into asking for work. Along the way, as her soul flees her body piece by piece, and as she shucks away the remaining bits of Lou, she becomes Tempa, no doubt, for her temper.

Tempa loses herself in the stories she reads. For example, when she meets the madame at her first brothel, she sees her as the Queen of Hearts. “Crimson paint had bled into the lines around her lips like little tributaries of blood.” If you think the Queen of Hearts was a monster, at least, she chopped off their heads rather than putting her victims through daily torture. Initially, Lou’s stories are those of a child, seen through a child’s eyes. Even when she enters the brothel, she still sees them this way and applies them to her life. Later, she still reads some of her favorites, but now she recognizes them as an escape from her life that she craves more than anything.

The moon is a frequent character, personified in various ways. “The moon squeezed between the branches and peered down at him with a look of condemnation.” “That night the waxing moon smiled down on her with a crooked, crescent grin. But soon heavy-bellied clouds rolled in, covering the satisfied smirk, and the heavens bowed under the weight. Then God pulled the plug in the sky, and everything changed in a flash.” “The moon leaned in through the window and brushed a translucent kiss on her forehead.”

A little girl and boy befriend Henry. They add necessary comic relief to this tale. While Rex is more soft-spoken and serious, Betty always speaks her mind and says the funniest things. “‘I just knew you was a good neighbor, Henry…even if you do have an ugly face and smell like a dead dog in an outhouse,’ she said in that butterscotch voice. Then she flounced away. ‘Betty’s bossier’n an old crow,’ Rex said in a conspiratorial tone.” For the record, Henry does not have an ugly face. He is recovering from a beating; we find out more about that later. Several times, Betty refers to someone named Mister Sam Yerrington,” and we find out she means the good Samaritan. I also laughed when someone else, commenting on the weather, said, “It’s so dry the trees are bribin’ the dogs.”

Guilt is a reoccurring theme, with new metaphors introduced each time. Some of my favorites include: “Guilt was like boiled cabbage. It stank, and the stench lingered forever.” “Guilt was like a stray dog that was always at your heel no matter how many times you kicked it.” “Guilt was like the French Pox. The flare-ups were excruciating, and it never went away.”

Little by little, we learn the landscape of Tempa’s life, and the one constant: Belle. At the age of fifteen, she meets Belle at the brothel and they become sisters of the heart. Now, so many years later, Belle has aged well beyond her years and has become feeble and frail, clearly, close to death. Tempa cares for her as best she can on her bad days and Belle shows the optimism hidden within her from time to time, reminding Tempa of all the happy memories they share, despite the terrible ones. Belle’s final words to Tempa are written in a note: “The best part of my life was you. Love, Belle.” I’ll be honest, when Belle dies, I had already experienced so much of Tempa’s sorrow, I was in tears as I read of Tempa’s inconsolable loss. When she tenderly and reverently cleans Belle’s body for burial, I read through blurred vision.

Tempa has been beaten down so much by life, with one disappointment and tragedy after another, she has come to believe she doesn’t deserve any better. She keeps pushing Henry away; each time it leaves her “feeling as black and foul inside as the contents of a brothel spittoon.” At one point, when she and Henry part to go their separate ways for work, the narrator paints the picture of “Henry trudging further up the mountain to work in the dark underbelly of the earth, and she, going down the mountain to work in the dark underbelly of society.” At first, Tempa wants to deny her feelings for Henry, but as her feelings deepen, she wants to protect him from her filth. She thinks he deserves better and refuses to believe he will continue to love her as he says he will. Henry’s sorrow over losing her is tangible and unrelenting and also had me choked up.

After the uncountable number of times Tempa has relinquished her body to satisfy a man, when she and Henry FINALLY make love, the description is almost ethereal. “She locked her gaze with his as his arm came under her. Then he clutched her beneath him and carried her away to a more exalted place… Tempa died in a glorious show of flames, and like a phoenix, a new creature arose from the ashes. Lou.” And this was the clincher: “Henry wasn’t like other men; he hadn’t just taken a piece of her, he’d taken all of her—of which she’d been empowered to freely give…but what he’d taken, he’d given back one hundred-fold.”

This story, but especially the telling of it, brought me to tears several times and left me wallowing in them at the end. It was tragic and despairing and beautiful and hopeful. At times, the remembrances of abuse were palpable and stopped just short of descriptions that would have created lasting damage to my mind. They will be hard to strike from my memory, though. The rapes were bad enough; some things were best left unsaid. But it ends on an uplifting note of love that rises above everything ugly in the world. It was almost a storybook ending, but it was worse than any (original) Grimm fairytale to get there. Suzette Bruggeman is going on my list of authors to watch and this is going on my favorites list. Truly outstanding.

[Thomas Riddell · Rating 5 out of 5]

*Contains mature themes, including non-graphic suicide and sexual assault

Before the turn of the century Lou is a young girl living in gold country. She loses her family to yellow fever, and she soon finds herself forced into prostitution. The other girls take her under their wing, and they give her the name Tempa. The business is frightening to her, but she finds comforts and luxuries within the crib that she only dreamed of as a poor child growing up. She meets an older girl named Belle and they become best friends and their relationship would last a lifetime. Tempa grows into learning her profession, and becomes very good at it, but she is also able to keep a piece of herself and she strives to help others in healing their wounds with herbs.

She meets Henry, a young German immigrant, along a riverbank but he is badly injured and near death. She nurses him back to health and learns that he was attacked and the man who beat him is still on the hunt for him. Soon, Tempa and Henry become close, and he puts his trust into her. She reads books to him and talks to him, and she too finds that she is becoming attracted to this boy who is not yet a man.

A love story begins, highlighting the many hardships and realities of life back in the old west. What will become of Tempa and Henry? Will they find happiness or will their situations in life prove to be too difficult for them to be together?

It's exceptionally rare to be completely captivated by a story from the first page to the last but this one did it. Suzette Bruggeman strings together words that are enchanting and vibrating with an energy that takes this novel to the highest level. She touches on subjects and themes that are not for the weak of heart but in telling this tale, which is inspired by a true story, she allows us into a very real and difficult time when life brought out the best and worst in people. I fell in love with Tempa and Henry, but I was also shocked by some of their behaviors and some of the decisions they made.

This is high on my list of best reads for this year. It's a story that will certainly stay with me for years. This is a must read.

[Amberleigh Million • a.millionbooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Desert Phoenix begins with what is probably the most unique and intriguing author's note that I've ever read. The author currently lives in Montana and descended from a line of people who lived in the American Old West. Her great-grandfather was a mining-era wagon freighter which allowed him to meet a great number of people. Sadly she never got to meet him but grew up hearing his many stories that had been passed down. In middle school, she decided to write a report for an essay contest about the love story between two people her great-grandfather had met - Henry and Tempa. Twenty-five years later the author decided to novelize the essay she had titled, "Love's Longest Wait in Lincoln County." After an immense amount of research, interviews, imagination, and love - Desert Phoenix came to fruition.

The main character of the story is Tempa, who with alternating past and present timelines we get to know and care about. Tempa began as "Lou" but attained a new identity to better deal with being forced into prostitution at a young age after losing her whole family. Her story is tough, almost too heavy and heart-breaking to continue reading at times, but her hardships are important for her character development. She meets Henry when she finds him severely injured and with her heart of gold, decides to help him heal. Tempa is beyond believing she's deserving of anybody's love, but young Henry is determined to try. What follows is an epic journey of friendship, survival, trials, redemption, and love.

I really enjoyed this one and the author's passion for the story and amount of research was quite evident. But, as I said before, it can be a heavy read at times and I'm not sure it would be for everybody. So please make sure you check trigger warnings before diving in.

Thank you to NetGalley, Skinny Leg Press, and Suzette Bruggeman for allowing me access to an eARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

[Lynne Spreen · Rating 3 out of 5]

As the story opens, Lou is a young teen, stunned nearly comatose by loss. Her entire family has been wiped out by an epidemic. When she is taken in by her not-much-older sister, now married to a horrific man, she is raped and dumped on the doorstep of a whorehouse to make a living for herself. We learn in adeptly-placed flashbacks how her fortunes rose and fell, but now at thirty-three, she is working a mining town with three other prostitutes. The four women rent "cribs" -- little more than animal pens built of stone with tin roofs -- from which to ply their survival.

Henry is twenty, on the run from a psychopathic rancher for whom he worked and was forced into criminal deeds. When Lou (who took the name Tempa when she became a prostitute) finds Henry barely alive on the bank of a stream, she helps him. A friendship is born that will grow into love which Lou cannot allow herself to accept. Will she and Henry ever get together? Disappointment, crisis, heartache, loss, and cruelty challenge them again and again, and they hurt each other, as well, trying to survive. Henry works in a mine so dispiriting that the miners make friends of the rats who clean up after them.

This book was almost too negative for me, although I do believe it was an accurate depiction of how hard life was in those circumstances. Really horrific. The few times Henry and Lou found beauty or happiness in small things, it was as much a relief to the reader. The writer is to be commended for her diligence and story-craft, but this is a gritty tale.

[Shirley McAllister · Rating 5 out of 5]

Books, Whisky and the Nevada Desert

A western saga based on a true story. This is truly a book about humans, emotions, tragedy and redemption. How the human spirit can heal itself with love and kindness. A historical coming of age story set in the Nevada gold mines in the 1900's.

A prostitute named Tempa helps a young German man named Henry when she finds him hurt and sleeping. He is running from a ruthless man who wants him dead. They find common ground in a love of literature and eventually fall in love. Tempa knows she can never have the life she longs for and she tries to barter her life for his with the ruthless man from her own past that means to do harm to both Tempa and Henry. Known to her as Lamont and known to Henry as King.

It is a story of Henry as he finds work in the mines and struggles to come to terms with a hard life and with the life that Tempa lives. The range of emotions is great in this story, the characters play their parts well and the pictures are wonderful.

A little bit of history about a small town called Stateline at the border of Nevada and Utah and the people living there striving to make a living from the gold in the ground. The sad, the happy and the stories each have to tell.

This is a beautifully written book and I loved reading it. If you love historical western romances and courageous women then you will love this book.

Thanks to Suzette Bruggeman for writing a great story, and to Book Sirens for making a copy available for me to read and review.

[Deborah Kinate · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story from the turn of the 19th. century is based on real-life characters, Tempa and Henry. Tempa, who real name is Lou, grew up in southern Illinois. When she was fifteen, her parents and little brother all passed away from yellow fever. A few days later her older married sister along with her husband and child show up to take Lou with them as they travel west by wagon. Along the way Lou's brother-in-law sexually assaults her. When they reach a larger town, the brother-in-law abandons Lou at a brothel telling her to make her own way in the world. This is the life Lou(name changed to Tempa by the madame of the house) is forced to live for the next 18 years in various locations. As she sits alone at a creek one Monday, she finds a half-dead young man named Henry. Tempa nurses him and they become friends meeting every Monday so that Tempa may read to him and talk of the world. Henry becomes enamoured of Tempa not knowing that she is a prostitute. The tale of their entwined lives makes up the rest of the tale. The author writes in a very descriptive manner that enables the reader to envision the characters and the world they inhabit.

[Denice Langley · Rating 5 out of 5]

While the story is not dated, history shows that as the western states were being settled life was hard. Choices were few. For a young single woman with no family, choices were limited to whatever you could do to survive. In Tempa's story, she becomes a prostitute but refuses to limit her life to that of a typical prostitute.

Based on true stories passed down through her family, Suzette Bruggerman has shown readers that Tempa was more than the sum of her existence. She could read and write, using these skills to better herself and others. She learned the basics of healing, saving lives in a time when there were so little access to treatments. Above all else, she taught others that all lives have value. As she stepped forward to save a life, she is given a choice that will reward her for her faith.

A very different kind of western, love story, historical fiction. The book is not like anything I've read lately. The backstory and characters are true to the era and the ending will make you sigh......

[Stephanie Allen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book. It took me some time to get through because, as other reviewers have pointed out, it's a pretty heavy story. But it was well worth it.

The level of detail in Bruggeman's descriptions made me forget that this book is supposed to be historical fiction. As a writer, I know how much research must have gone into accomplishing that, so I also applaud that effort.

I also found the characters to be well-developed. Many of them had to make really hard choices in order to survive, and their motivations were clear -- which made it easy to feel sympathetic. I also loved watching the dynamic between Tempa and Henry develop, and the end of the book honestly left me super in my feelings.

While Desert Phoenix isn't right for the students I work with, I know a lot of adult historical fiction readers who would love a book like this.

Content warnings: rape, drug abuse, suicide, violence, animal death, murder

Thank you to the author for providing a copy for review.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

A True Love Story

Lou is only a young teen when this story begins. Her parents and little brother have died in the epidemic and she is alone in the world. Three days later her sister Sarah and her husband pull up in a wagon and offer to take her west with them. What originally looks like the answer to Lou’s prayers quickly becomes a living nightmare. Lou is a diminutive woman with a backbone of steel. She is a survivor. Many people look down their noses at her but she continues to give of herself freely and to nurse them when needed.
Henry is a young man from Germany that Lou finds lying along the creek beaten to a pulp. She patches him up and he quickly falls in love with her. Their love for one another is the common thread throughout this book.

I don’t generally read historical romances but the synopsis of this book intrigued me. I plowed through the book in just over 24 hours but I did little more than read! If you enjoy books that describe what life was like a hundred years ago I believe you would enjoy reading DESERT PHOENIX.

[Andi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I chose this book of historical fiction, because it tackled an era, place, and people who are not often written about. -- a prostitute and immigrant in the American West. It is inspired by real people, Lou/Tempa and Henry, who were known by the author's family. After a series of tragic events, Lou is left at a brothel. It is not often that one has the opportunity to read an authentic and sympathetic story of a prostitute. Her life was both heartbreaking and inspiring. Henry also defied the odds. He is a young immigrant with an abusive past. Henry has a heart of gold. He is patient and kind and tender-hearted. I simply adored him. I rooted for both Lou and Henry to find peace and happiness.

I appreciated the research and care Suzette Bruggeman put into Lou and Henry's story.

Thank you to NetGalley, Skinny Leg Press Publishing and the author, Suzette Bruggeman for the advanced copy of Desert Phoenix.

[chez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a beautiful, heart-wrenching story of bravery, survival, and love based on a true story. I was drawn in by the blurb - Tempa was sold into prostitution after her mom, dad, and brother die from fever. Many years later she meets Henry who is dying in a river bank and nurses him back to life. They soon strike up a friendship which slowly blossoms to love. But not without all the trials and tribulations of life in the Wild West.

This had so many things I love - fierce but down on her luck lady, cinnamon roll man who is head-over-heel in love with said lady, slice-of-life as a Pioneer on the American frontier in the 1800s, gold mining, cowboys, farming, friendships with the neighbor children, Little House on the Prairie / Redeeming Love vibes -

I want more! brb while I go on a Pioneer / “Little House on the Prairie” reading binge

[suzanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

A compelling story of a woman's survival and enduring spirit of love.

Wasn't sure I would get into this book so much in the beginning, but being based on a true story kept me reading until I couldn't put it down. An innocent young girl who fell victim to the early days of our country's expansion, has to survive, being tossed into the oldest profession of sex for sale in the newly establishing wild west. Her integrity and intelligence make her a true role model of a woman's strength and perseverance while being true to her open heart of love and devotion. A true romance develops and takes years of trial, tribulations and heartache to evolve. I unexpectedly shed tears over the bittersweet ending. Very well written with pictures and descriptions of the reality of the struggles of the times.