Book: Blind Tiger
Author: Sandra Brown
Genre: Romance > Historical Fiction
Date Read: 1/30/22
Stars: ★★★★★

Challenge: 2022 PopSugar Reading Challenge
Promt: #A book with a tiger on the cover or “tiger” in the title

Summary:
Texas in the 1920’s was the capital for bootleggers during the prohibition Era. Laurel Plummer finds herself widowed and becomes successful in a lucrative business of making corn whiskey. Her life becomes endangered by competitors. Thatcher Hutton, an ex-soldier gunslinger, decides to live in Fulton, Texas after jumping off a train. There he is befriended by the sheriff and promoted to deputy. Between an abduction, murder, a corrupt mayor, a madam from the brothel house, and violence, Laurel and Thatcher hold secrets from each other that position their attraction at an unrelenting succumbing force. 

Review:
I picked up this book blindly knowing nothing of its content – likewise the term, “Blind Tiger” had zero meaning to me. It is defined as an illegal bar – synonymous with speakeasies during prohibition. One view is that if an establishment had a stuffed tiger or a pig, it sold alcohol. Blind, because authorities knew nothing of it, or turned their head the other way had they known.

I knew of prohibition, but this book ingrained a side to the 1920’s I knew little about: moonshine, bootleggers, crime, corruption, competition, mayhem, violence, danger, culture, jealousy and lust. The movie in my mind showed me a time and culture that felt incredibly real – that in an alternate universe, this could have happened. It reads like a western historical fiction.

One surprising thing was learning that white lightning was an illicit lucrative business where women thrived. 

The cast were written in such detailed history that one can understand the actions they had to take, be it noble or unlawful. This is what made this book unforgettable.

I searched for Blind Tiger in the fiction section and was dumbfounded that it is classified as a romance novel. Sandra Brown has elaborate sex scenes in her books, so perhaps the reasoning for its genre. I just hastily assumed Brown was a multi genre author. However, the book didn’t focus on sex or sexual tension, it simply stuck to the rich history and culture of the 1920s. A fantastic read.