Title:
Madam Takes A
Mate
Author:
Sarah Winn
Published By:
Whiskey Creek
Press
ISBN:
1-59374-140-5
Release Date:
Available Now
Format:
Eelectronic
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A brawl erupts in a whorehouse bar in Dodge. A man is shot dead; another lies unconscious on the floor after being hit over the head by a chair. Sally Sweets, the Madam of the whorehouse has struggled to get where she is in life. Now it looks like she will lose control of the business. Her brave but slow-witted protector has been killed. Buford wasn't intelligent but had always looked out for Sally and her girls. The men of the town have closed Sally's business down because of the ruckus. She knows that it is inevitable that when the whorehouse reopens one of the men from the town council will be in control and Sally will be working as a whore for them. On top of that, Sally receives a telegram saying that her elderly father is coming to visit. Why did she have to tell him that she had married?
The solution to her dilemma is lying unconscious in a back room. The cowboy who received head injuries in the brawl is not expected to live. His name is Jacob Wallace, an alcoholic drover who had fought in the war. When the war was over he returned home and learnt that Indians had slaughtered his parents, wife and unseen baby son. So Sally arranges a marriage to the dying man by proxy. It all goes wrong when the cowboy awakens with a throbbing headache. He is introduced to his father-in-law as "Bob Sweets", but nothing feels familiar. He doesn't even recognise his own wife. Bob quickly adjusts to his situation, even though it doesn't seem quite right. Although he is clearly adept as co-owner of the whorehouse it doesn't seem morally correct to earn a living off the bodies of young women. His father-in-law has heard of a grand hotel for sale in Las Vegas. Bob agrees that Sally should buy it. She has dreams of "Sally Sweets Pleasure Palace." It would be a grand whorehouse with exotic erotic theme rooms. Bob wants to open a real hotel with no girls for sale.
Bob has grown to love his wife fiercely. She was difficult to bed at first, but very quickly their loud nights of passion became the talk of the staff. Bob has managed to break though Sally's defences. She is shocked by the pleasure that only Bob can give her. An ideal business partner by day, at night he is a Lothario. Bob has made her turn straight and given the working girls decent secure positions. Not all of the girls are happy however. Betsy visits the local Justice of the Peace, Hoodoo Brown, to arrange for the removal of Bob so that they can reopen the whorehouse. Hoodoo wants the business and Sally for himself. When he discovers the truth about Bob it becomes too easy. Bob is outraged when Hoodoo tells him what Sally has done. Now he remembers it all - his deceased family, his name, his alcoholic past. After passing out drunk, Jake leaves the next day. For the first time in her life Sally has fallen in love with a kind and decent man. She is left broken-hearted.
I love this book! It sounds, and is, as corny as a 1950's Doris Day movie. Anything that can go wrong for Sally and her girls does go wrong. Sarah Winn has made these working girls very lifelike. They have crazy lives and silly habits, which make them seem very real. Most of their efforts to improve their lot in life end in disaster. The girls are looking for the love of a good man despite Sally's constant reminders that love is a whore's ruin. Jake is a man to fall in love with, kind and decent with a tragic past. He finds it difficult to accept the life he is living. Jake is so upright and moral he cannot understand how he had come to terms with accepting Sally's past and owning a whorehouse. Ms Winn's sex scenes are humorously explicit. Because the setting is a whorehouse the attitude of the girls is very accepting of male quirks. One of the girls, Betsy, gives an excellent introduction into the world of bondage to her naive partner, Gentleman Jim. Madam Takes A Mate is a fast paced, well-planned novel. Full of subtle humour and some very tender moments, I found it very hard to put down. Highly Recommended!Reviewed by: Naomi
