Filthy Lucre by Sharon Cullars

Filthy Lucre is a historical romance written by author Sharon Cullars. When I start reading a book by Ms. Cullars I do so with a certain expectation of quality. I'm pleased to say that in reading Filthy Lucre I wasn't disappointed. The author's writing style and ability stands out like a shiny star. In this, her latest book, the story takes place in the 1930s and begins with the robbery of a local store. This won't be the only robbery that takes place in the book, but it is important to events that take place later in the story. During the robbery we are introduced to Teddy Holliday. Teddy, which is short for Theodora, is a single African-American woman who lives alone in her family home (where she occasionally rents out a room for extra money) in Joplin. During the robbery, Teddy's money is stolen and she heads home empty handed. A surprise drives up to her door in the form of a white man named Louis Daniels. Louis needs a room to rent and pays her handsomely for three days. In need of money, and against her better judgement in being a single black woman alone in a house with a single white man, Teddy rents out her room. Each recognizes that there is a dangerous attraction between them and they get to know a little about one another over the first night while sharing pie, meals, music, and the same home. Unfortunately  things aren't what they seem with Louis and his reasons for being in town. He's expecting company, bad company, and soon Teddy finds herself a hostage in her own home.

A Battle Raging by Sharon Cullars

Note: I was given a copy of A Battle Raging by the author in exchange for a fair and honest review.


There was a lot to like about A Battle Raging, yet when I reached the final page I felt a little let down. Does that mean that I didn't like the book or that I think it isn't worth reading? No, it doesn't mean that at all. In fact, to not read this book is to lose out on a story that is very well written and captivating. I honestly thought about parts of this book days after reading it. A Battle Raging is about tragedy and life-altering events that are probably more common than we would like to imagine or think about. It's about a man named Zach who lost his ability to walk while serving in Afghanistan. In the story Zach is trying to confront the demons that have been haunting him since his injury. The thing is, he isn't handling life or his feelings very well, and he is plagued by nightmares... Enter our heroine Maya Temple. Maya is an art instructor who tries to help an unpleasant Zach only to discover that he is more than she first imagined.


What I liked: Zach and Maya. Both characters seemed very real to me. Maya didn't handle Zach with kid gloves or put up with him being an a**. I also enjoyed her relationship with her sister Jada. And then there was the handling of Zach's PTSD, and the group therapy sessions... (that's all I'm gonna say about that).


What I didn't like: I can't really get into why I was disappointed by the end of this book without giving away too much. What I can say is that I felt there was a lot of story that still needed to be told. You can't write a story like this and have an ending that doesn't explore what happens next. I want to read what happens not guess or assume. This deserved a longer story and I felt a bit cheated.


My final thoughts: Basically this is a great story that I highly recommend. The story isn't a light and fluffy tale, nor does it feature a billionaire, mobster, physically perfect hero, or any of the other usual suspects that are common IR romance characters. Ms. Cullars is a wonderful storyteller who got into the heads of her characters and made you feel for them. Unfortunately, the story ends too soon in my opinion and that is a crying shame. There was so much that still needed to be told in order to get the true story of Maya and Zach. I waited a couple of days to post this because I really wasn't sure what rating to give it. I give it between a three and a half and four stars, but it's leaning pretty heavily on four stars.

Rating 3.5 Stars