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A Room In Blake's Folly - Book Tour and Giveaway

5/16/2022

63 Comments

 
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A Room in Blake's Folly
by J. Arlene Culiner
Genre: Western Historical & Contemporary Romance Saga  

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If only the walls could speak…
In one hundred and fifty years, Blake’s Folly, a silver boomtown notorious for its brothels, scarlet ladies, silver barons, speakeasies, and divorce ranches, has become a semi-ghost town. Although the old Mizpah Saloon is still in business, its upper floor is sheathed in dust. But in a room at a long corridor's end, an adventurer, a beautiful dance girl, and a rejected wife were once caught in a love triangle, and their secret has touched three generations.



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​ “You a widow?”
“No.” She could hear the tightness in her voice and feel the tension in her shoulders.
His eyes glinted. “A runaway wife.”
“Not that either.” Did she have to say more? She didn’t. But since people were bound to be asking that same question over and over, she might as well get used to it, even though the answer was only partially true. Even though it could never express what her life had been like up until now. “I left of my own accord, but with my husband’s full agreement. He’ll be looking into getting a divorce.”
“And your children?”
Ah, there it was. The big question, the one thing everyone would be curious about. “No children. I’ve never had any.”
He said nothing. Had he heard the note of anger in her voice? She’d done her best to sound neutral, but neutrality wasn’t an easy note to hit. How vividly she remembered the first time she’d caught sight of her future husband, Sam Graham, waiting with a little knot of men by a shanty train station in the middle of nowhere. He and the others had been eager to grab a sight of their brides-to-be, women lured west by the promise of marriage, land, and a home. How had the other women fared? Had they been as discouraged as she at the sight of the vast lonely wasteland, the emptiness, the bleached-out colors, and the coarse men who would be their lifetime partners? Men honed by the elements, a hard life. And rough alcohol.
Westley Cranston stood, walked in her direction—no, walk wasn’t the word she could use. He sauntered, a slow, elegant saunter. A man sure of himself, of his power to seduce. Yes, that was why she’d felt so wary yesterday. He stopped when he was standing beside her. Smiled. No, there was nothing seductive in his smile. She’d been wrong. What had she been imagining? That she was still the young attractive woman she’d been years ago? What a fool she was.
He touched the top of the piano with a gesture that was almost a caress. “Don’t worry. You’ll do well. The boys you’ll be playing with are good musicians, nice guys, too. They play at all the dances in town, and they’ll teach you the sort of pieces folks out here are used to hearing.”
“Thank you.”
His eyebrows rose. “For what?”
“For being so kind.”
“Kind?” He guffawed. “It’s not kindness. I’m fighting for survival. High time we got a good piano player in this place. Bob, before he let that stray bullet hit him, knew how to slap at the keys, all right, but he didn’t know the first thing about keeping time. I’ll bet pretty well all the customers were happy to see him taken out of the running.” Grinning, he moved away in that casual easy way of his, headed toward the front door. Then stopped, looked back, his eyes twinkling. “But they couldn’t do that, not legally, anyway. One of the rules here in town forbids shooting pistols in a barroom.”
She grinned back at him. “Sounds like a pretty good rule to me. And what are the other rules, if you don’t mind me asking. If there are any others, that is…”
“Sure there are. Need plenty of rules in boomtowns, especially after payday. The other ones are, you can’t insult a woman, you can’t ride a pony or horse on the wooden sidewalks, and you can’t ride them inside this establishment or any other business in town.” He was chuckling again when he turned the lock, stepped out into the street, and disappeared.
Hattie remained seated at the piano. Her anguish had totally vanished. Amazing, how he had put her at ease. He hadn’t judged her, hadn’t looked at her with disgust when she’d told him some of her story, hadn’t condemned her for feeling unsure about her piano playing. She wondered why she’d felt so mistrustful. He had behaved like a perfect gentleman—and a friend.
Then another thought struck her. What had he been doing here in the Mizpah so early in the morning? Had he slept here? Obviously he had. Hadn’t he just let himself out? And that meant he had probably spent the night with one of the ladies upstairs. That he was a client.
Disappointment washed over her. She couldn’t condemn him—men had needs, desires. Why was she so saddened by the thought?


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Writer, storyteller, photographer, and social critical artist, J. Arlene Culiner, was born in New York and raised in Toronto. She has crossed much of Europe on foot, has lived in a Hungarian mud house, a Bavarian castle, a Turkish cave dwelling, on a Dutch canal, and in a haunted house on the English moors. She now resides in a 400-year-old former inn in a French village of no interest and, much to local dismay, protects all creatures, especially spiders and snakes. She particularly enjoys incorporating into short stories, mysteries, narrative non-fiction, and romances, her experiences in out-of-the-way communities, and her conversations with strange characters.


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63 Comments
Bernie Wallace
5/16/2022 05:16:31 am

How long did it take you to write your book?

Reply
J. Arlene Culiner link
5/16/2022 10:48:27 am

Hello, Bernie. I'm a slow writer because I re-write so many times, and much research goes into my books — especially this one, because it covers such a long time period (A Room in Blake's Folly begins in 1889 and ends in 2022.) Therefore, it did take me a good two years to finish.

Reply
Randy Curran
5/20/2022 05:15:21 pm

That’s a good investment of time

Beyond Comps
5/16/2022 05:53:27 am

Great cover!

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J. Arlene Culiner link
5/16/2022 10:52:00 am

I think so, too. I was so thrilled when I first saw it! The cover artist is Jennifer Greeff.

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Marcy Meyer
5/16/2022 07:01:27 am

I really like the cover. Looks great! Thanks for sharing.

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J. Arlene Culiner link
5/16/2022 10:53:31 am

Thanks, Marcy. Artist Jennifer Greeff also did the cover to my romantic suspense, The Turkish Affair, and I loved that one, too.

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Sherry
5/16/2022 07:42:16 am

I love the cover and the excerpt.

Reply
J. Arlene Culiner link
5/16/2022 10:54:57 am

Thanks for letting me know, Sherry. It's so difficult to choose a brief excerpt, as you can imagine!

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Bea LaRocca
5/16/2022 10:41:53 am

I like the cover, synopsis and excerpt, A Room in Blake's Folly sounds like a must read for me. Thank you for sharing your bio and book details and for offering a giveaway

Reply
J. Arlene Culiner link
5/16/2022 10:56:10 am

Thank you, Bea! Those are magic words for an author.

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Rita Wray
5/16/2022 11:14:58 am

I liked the excerpt.

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J. Arlene Culiner link
5/16/2022 11:51:16 am

Please to hear that, Rita. Thanks.

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wendy hutton
5/16/2022 01:30:27 pm

very nice cover, this sounds like an exiciting book to read, thanks

Reply
J. Arlene Culiner link
5/16/2022 02:32:11 pm

Hi Wendy. The picture on the cover is absolutely perfect for this story. The right atmosphere, the right colors.

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Victoria Alexander
5/16/2022 02:22:09 pm

Thanks for sharing!

Reply
J. Arlene Culiner link
5/16/2022 02:32:42 pm

You are welcome.

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Jon Heil
5/16/2022 05:23:18 pm

Wonder what secrets are in that room!

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J. Arlene Culiner link
5/17/2022 12:18:42 am

Just imagine the secrets in any room of an old house...

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Terri Quick
5/16/2022 07:13:20 pm

Sounds like a good read

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J. Arlene Culiner link
5/17/2022 12:19:19 am

Authors aim to please.

Reply
Barbara Montag
5/16/2022 08:51:47 pm

This looks like an interesting read.
Thank you for sharing it.

Reply
J. Arlene Culiner link
5/17/2022 12:21:08 am

You are welcome, Barbara.

Reply
bn100
5/16/2022 09:12:00 pm

intriguing

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Diane Eral
5/16/2022 10:46:16 pm

A Room in Blake's Folly sounds like a must read for me. I love to read historical & contemporary Romance books. Thank you for this giveaway and Good Luck with your book.

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J. Arlene Culiner link
5/17/2022 12:20:29 am

I enjoy them as well. Thank you, Diane.

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Debbie P
5/16/2022 11:09:03 pm

This sounds very intriguing.

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J. Arlene Culiner link
5/18/2022 02:35:27 pm

Thanks, Debbie.

Reply
Wendy Jensen
5/18/2022 01:46:28 pm

The book details sound interesting.

Reply
J. Arlene Culiner link
5/18/2022 02:36:07 pm

It IS interesting.

Reply
Michele Soyer
5/19/2022 08:14:56 am

The cover matches the title perfectly.

Reply
Danielle Day
5/19/2022 04:45:19 pm

It sounds interesting!

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David Basile
5/19/2022 06:32:58 pm

Deep cover interesting details

Reply
Ann Fantom
5/19/2022 06:48:14 pm

This sounds like an interesting book and I also like the cover.


Reply
Kim Kern
5/19/2022 06:49:33 pm

That is a very interesting title for your book. The story also sounds interesting.

Reply
Abigail Gibson
5/19/2022 07:49:34 pm

Sounds like a great book!

Reply
beth shepherd
5/19/2022 08:30:16 pm

This would be a great read

Reply
Dillon Herman
5/19/2022 10:55:02 pm

Great book

Reply
David Hollingsworth
5/20/2022 02:22:12 am

Thos sounds really amazing!

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Serge B
5/20/2022 05:35:40 am

I liked the excerpt

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Cynthia C
5/20/2022 07:57:32 am

The excerpt is interesting. Thank you for sharing it.

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K
5/21/2022 11:17:52 pm

Thank you for sharing. I'm looking forward to giving this a read!

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Debbi Wellenstein
5/23/2022 07:04:42 pm

I enjoyed he excerpt. Thank you for the giveaway!

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Peggy Salkill
5/24/2022 10:13:30 am

Sounds like this will be a good read!

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Valerie Seal
5/25/2022 12:54:28 pm

Looks good

Reply
Robin Abrams
5/27/2022 12:34:55 am

Sounds like a great read for me

Reply
Karin
5/30/2022 03:05:05 pm

Nice excerpt

Reply
Stephanie Liske
5/30/2022 04:39:49 pm

I like the book details.

Reply
Calvin
5/30/2022 11:49:51 pm

Great to learn about the book and the author.. unique background... strange characters.. I'm a fan of that, too!

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Jen L
6/2/2022 10:17:14 am

Enjoyed the excerpt

Reply
Bridgett Wilbur
6/5/2022 12:13:53 pm

I just love your cover.

Reply
Tina Meyers
6/9/2022 08:07:01 am

Book sounds like something I'd enjoy reading. Any PR docs I can share on my fb page? Too bad you don't appear to be coming near my town

Reply
Stephanie Jones
6/12/2022 01:08:09 pm

a good i wanna read!!

Reply
Ken Ohl
6/12/2022 03:00:58 pm

this book looks intriguing

Reply
Elizabeth Brooks link
6/15/2022 12:52:26 pm

adding to my TBR

Reply
Daniel M
6/15/2022 02:00:18 pm

like the cover

Reply
BILL HOFF
6/15/2022 08:48:03 pm

My daughter would enjoy this

Reply
Lisa Edwards
6/16/2022 09:45:44 am

Book sounds intriquing and I love a story with a generational storyline. No questions at the moment.

Reply
Candie L
6/16/2022 10:27:16 am

That cover has me asking lots of questions. The room itself opens up more questions. . .

Reply
Jen Reed
6/16/2022 04:38:07 pm

The book details sound interesting to read and the cover art is eye catching and somewhat mysterious.

Reply
jason jennings
6/16/2022 05:54:11 pm

great cover cant wait to read

Reply
Judy Gregory
6/16/2022 09:07:26 pm

Good luck!

Reply
Sand
6/16/2022 09:39:25 pm

Sounds like a great book!

Reply



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