Reviews

Fallen Women by Sandra Dallas

sverslues's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

desert_dragon88's review against another edition

5.0

It was a slow start, but the more I read the more I got caught up in it. The twist and turns, who needs reality TV when you have a great book like this!

nursenell's review against another edition

5.0

Set in 1885 this murder mystery in which 3 prostitutes, known in that time period as fallen doves, are murdered keeps you guessing until the end.

Reread it, not by plan but I didn’t realize I had read it. Just as good the second time.

scrapnstitch's review against another edition

3.0

Good story and characters. Was a bit obvious a couple times where it wanted to lead the reader. Would want to read this author again.

mcczaw's review against another edition

emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.0

mcczaw's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

ashvaberle16's review against another edition

1.0

Ugh. I actual read this all the way through during my second attempt. Just... blah. Not exciting, and guessed the end in the first third of the book.

kdferrin's review against another edition

2.0

You could play a drinking game with the sentence “It was a statement not a question.” I usually like [a:Sandra Dallas|74078|Sandra Dallas|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1276294358p2/74078.jpg] but I just didn’t get the premise of this one.

Spoiler

Why would someone so ambitious put their niece who has been cheating with their husband in a whore house in their home town? It doesn’t make any sense. Why not send her somewhere far, far away from the rumor mill and from her husband.

mixedishshelby's review

3.0

Well...that was predictable. I did enjoy Dallas' attention to detail with the description of Denver. It was fun picturing Beret walking around the town I grew up in. Even if it were 200 years ago.

plumeriade's review

1.0

this is awful. awful, misogynistic, and I kept hoping it would redeem itself but it did not.

given the notes at the end, and some of Beret's comments in the book, I think the author BELIEVES she's giving a sympathetic look at prostitution. but tearing apart a CHILD for not being a perfect innocent is uh, not really sympathetic.

Beret's sister, Lillie, is an adult when she dies, but a child when it all starts.

Spoiler

she is a CHILD when Beret marries and it's implied the husband is skeeving on Lillie (in a passage about 14-year-old Lillie choosing a low-cut dress and the husband, Teddy, being delighted and calling her candy). she is probably still a child, or not much past it, when that FATHER FIGURE (as her and Beret's parents are dead) has sex with her. and then she's thrown out by her loving, devoted sister for it. and she's not far into her 20s when another father figure, her uncle, also has an affair with her. oh, and then her mother figure/aunt sells her to a brothel and later kills her. and yet! and yet! it is Lillie we hear about, Beret who is repeatedly told, and has to finally accept, that her little sister was not the angel she thought, that she was wild and wanton. yeah, it's not like it's very likely these ADULT FATHER FIGURES TO HER took advantage of her.

gross.