This OR That #Giveaway № 128 ~ The Paper Daughters of Chinatown by Heather B. Moore & Allison Hong Merrill OR The Storm Makers by Jennifer E. Smith #TheStormMakers #ThePaperDaughtersOfChinatown

 

I have sooooo many books!

The This or That Giveaway! feature that I post every Saturday is a way for me to cull my collection and to share some of the many books I have. I get to clear off some of my shelves to make room for more books and give someone else the chance to enjoy these treasures.

Good luck and be sure to stop back next week!

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The Paper Daughters of Chinatown

Adapted for Young Readers

by Heather B. Moore & Allison Hong Merrill

ARC ~ Published April 2023

Based on the true story of two friends who unite to help rescue immigrant women and girls in San Francisco’s Chinatown in the late 1890s.

When Tai Choi leaves her home in the Zhejiang province of China, she believes it’s to visit her grandmother. But despite her mother’s opposition, her father has sold her to pay his gambling debts. Alone and afraid, Tai Choi is put on a ship headed for “Gold Mountain” (San Francisco). When she arrives, she’s forced to go by the name on her forged papers: Tien Fu Wu.

Her new life as a servant is hard. She is told to stay hidden, stay silent, and perform an endless list of chores, or she will be punished or sold again. If she is to survive, Tien Fu must persevere, and learn who to trust. Her life changes when she’s rescued by the women at the Occidental Mission Home for Girls.

When Dolly Cameron arrives in San Francisco to teach sewing at the mission home, she meets Tien Fu, who is willful, defiant, and unwilling to trust anyone. Dolly quickly learns that all the girls at the home were freed from servitude and maltreatment, and enthusiastically accepts a role in rescuing more.

Despite challenges, Dolly and Tien Fu forge a powerful friendship as they mentor and help those in the mission home and work to win the freedom of enslaved immigrant women and girls.

Read my thoughts here

⭐⭐⭐⭐

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The Storm Makers

by Jennifer E. Smith

ARC ~ Published January 2012

Enter the world of The Storm Makers, where there's magic behind every forecast.

What starts as an ordinary summer turns exciting and perilous for twins Ruby and Simon when strange occurrences begin happening on their farm -- sudden gusts of wind, rainstorms, and even tornado warnings -- that seem eerily timed to Simon's emotions.

Then a stranger arrives and tells the twins that Simon is a Storm Maker -- part of a clandestine group of people entrusted with controlling and taming the weather -- and that he is in great danger. Soon Simon and Ruby must race against the clock as they try to master Simon's powers in time to stop a rogue Storm Maker's treacherous -- and potentially deadly -- plans.

In this thrilling new adventure, loyalties can shift as quickly as the wind . . . and the ordinary can turn extraordinary in the blink of an eye.

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I think we can all agree! What else are you thankful for?

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Release Day! The Paper Daughters of Chinatown by Heather B. Moore & Allison Hong Merrill ~ My Thoughts & Interview #ThePaperDaughtersOfChinatown @heatherbmoore @Xieshou @ShadowMountn

Congrats Heather & Allison

on the release today of

The Paper Daughters of Chinatown!

The Paper Daughters of Chinatown: Adapted for Young Readers from the Best-Selling Novel by Heather B. Moore & Allison Hong Merrill

Middle Grade/Young Adult Historical Fiction, 240 pages
Published April 11, 2023 by Shadow Mountain

Based on the true story of two friends who unite to help rescue immigrant women and girls in San Francisco’s Chinatown in the late 1890s.

When Tai Choi leaves her home in the Zhejiang province of China, she believes it’s to visit her grandmother. But despite her mother’s opposition, her father has sold her to pay his gambling debts. Alone and afraid, Tai Choi is put on a ship headed for “Gold Mountain” (San Francisco). When she arrives, she’s forced to go by the name on her forged papers: Tien Fu Wu.

Her new life as a servant is hard. She is told to stay hidden, stay silent, and perform an endless list of chores, or she will be punished or sold again. If she is to survive, Tien Fu must persevere, and learn who to trust. Her life changes when she’s rescued by the women at the Occidental Mission Home for Girls.

When Dolly Cameron arrives in San Francisco to teach sewing at the mission home, she meets Tien Fu, who is willful, defiant, and unwilling to trust anyone. Dolly quickly learns that all the girls at the home were freed from servitude and maltreatment, and enthusiastically accepts a role in rescuing more.

Despite challenges, Dolly and Tien Fu forge a powerful friendship as they mentor and help those in the mission home and work to win the freedom of enslaved immigrant women and girls.

My thoughts about The Paper Daughters of Chinatown ~~

(I love to note the first lines of the books I'm reading. First lines can really grab a reader's attention and I love seeing where the author takes the reader after their first line.)

First line—"Tai Choi pounded  her fists on the door and screamed, 'Let me out! Lao Ye, where did you go?' How could Tai Choi's father think of locking her in here?"

I read The Paper Daughters of Chinatown when it came out in 2020 and was enthralled by the way the author portrayed the hard times of the Chinese women in China, as well as the horrible lives they lived here in America. Heather B. Moore writes amazing and well-researched historical fiction and I have learned so much from reading her books. 

I was excited when I found out that Heather, along with Allison Hong Merrill, wrote a young reader edition of this compelling, heart-breaking time in our history. I just knew I had to read it and was interested to see how she would depict these hard lives to young people. 

They did an amazing job with the hard stuff, focusing on a young girl, Tien Fu, as she is taken from her family and forced to live an unimaginable life in America. There is enough drama and hardship for young readers to understand how hard it was for Chinese children but also enough love and caring to make it uplifting for them. So heart-breaking but also so very heart-warming. 

I would highly recommend this for young readers who are interested in reading about history as this is a well written, informative novel about a significant time in our history. 

I received a copy of The Paper Daughters of Chinatown from the publisher and this is my honest opinion.

Read my thoughts about it here

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Watch this interview with the authors

About the authors

Heather B. Moore is a USA Today bestseller and award-winning author of more than seventy publications. She’s lived in Hawaii and on both the east and west coasts of the United States. She attended school abroad, including the Cairo American College in Egypt and the Anglican School of Jerusalem in Israel. She loves to learn about history and, as an author, is passionate about historical research. Visit Heather’s website here: HBMoore.com 

Other Books by Heather B. Moore:

The Paper Daughters of Chinatown

The Slow March of Light

In the Shadow of a Queen 

Connect with Heather

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

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Allison Hong Merrill was born and raised in Taiwan and came to the US at twenty-two as a university student. She holds an MFA in writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts and writes fiction and creative nonfiction in both Chinese and English. Her work has won both national and international literary awards. Visit Allison at www.AllisonHongMerrill.com and sign up for her short monthly email.

Other Books by Allison Hong Merrill:

Ninety-Nine Fire Hoops

Connect with Allison

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

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It's Monday! What Are You Reading? March 27, 2023 #IMWAYR

      

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a place to meet up and share what you have been, are and about to be reading over the week. It's an opportunity to visit other blogs and to comment on their reads. And ... you can add to that ever growing TBR pile! So welcome everyone. This meme started with J Kaye's Blog and then was taken up by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at the Book Date. And here we are! 

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Thanks for stopping by. I hope you all have a good week. 

Happy reading!

What I'm currently reading

Twelve Hours in Manhattan

by Maan Gabriel

eARC

Pub date ~ April 18

The Scavenger's Daughters

(Tales of the Scavenger's Daughters #1)

by Kay Bratt

Narrated by Will Damron

 audio-book from my TB shelves

What I recently finished

The Paper Daughters of Chinatown: Adapted for Young Readers from the Best-Selling Novel

by Heather B. Moore & Allison Hong Merrill

print ARC

Pub date ~ April 11

The Echo of Old Books

by Barbara Davis

eARC

Pub date ~ March 28

The Widow

by Kaira Rouda

Narrated by Donna Postel, George Newbern, & Nancy Wu

audio-book from my TB shelves

Belle Mer

(Getaway #4)

by Luanne Rice

Narrated by Jennifer Jill Araya

audio-book from my TB shelves

What I am going to read next

The Golden Doves

by Martha Hall Kelly

eARC

Pub date ~ April 18

I really love my reading life!

What are you reading this week?

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Be sure to check the sidebar for all of my current giveaways!

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? March 20, 2023 #IMWAYR

         

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a place to meet up and share what you have been, are and about to be reading over the week. It's an opportunity to visit other blogs and to comment on their reads. And ... you can add to that ever growing TBR pile! So welcome everyone. This meme started with J Kaye's Blog and then was taken up by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at the Book Date. And here we are! 

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Thanks for stopping by. I hope you all have a good week. 

Happy reading!

What I'm currently reading

The Echo of Old Books

by Barbara Davis

eARC

Pub date ~ March 28

The Widow

by Kaira Rouda

Narrated by Donna Postel, George Newbern, & Nancy Wu

audio-book from my TB shelves

What I recently finished

The Last Port of Call:

(Sail Away Series #9)

Elizabeth Bromke

eARC

Pub date ~ March 22

Yet You Cry When It Hurts

(Nothing is Promised #4)

Susan Kaye Quinn

eARC

Pub date ~ March 9

The Mystery of Mrs. Christie

by Marie Benedict

print from my TBR shelves for a challenge

What I am going to read next

The Paper Daughters of Chinatown: Adapted for Young Readers from the Best-Selling Novel

by Heather B. Moore & Allison Hong Merrill

print ARC

Pub date ~ April 11

I really love my reading life!

What are you reading this week?

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Be sure to check the sidebar for all of my current giveaways!

The Paper Daughters of Chinatown by Heather B. Moore ~ My Thoughts #ThePaperDaughtersOfChinatown

The Paper Daughters of Chinatown by Heather B. Moore

Print and e-book, 384 pages
Published September 1st 2020 by Shadow Mountain

Based on true events, The Paper Daughters of Chinatown in a powerful story about a largely unknown chapter in history and the women who emerged as heroes.

In the late nineteenth century, San Francisco is a booming city with a dark side, one in which a powerful underground organization—the criminal tong—buys and sells young Chinese women into prostitution and slavery. These “paper daughters,” so called because fake documents gain them entry to America but leave them without legal identity, generally have no recourse. But the Occidental Mission Home for Girls is one bright spot of hope and help.

Told in alternating chapters, this rich narrative follows the stories of young Donaldina Cameron who works in the mission home, and Mei Lien, a “paper daughter” who thinks she is coming to America for an arranged marriage but instead is sold into a life of shame and despair.

Donaldina, a real-life pioneering advocate for social justice, bravely stands up to corrupt officials and violent gangs, helping to win freedom for thousands of Chinese women. Mei Lien endures heartbreak and betrayal in her search for hope, belonging, and love. Their stories merge in this gripping account of the courage and determination that helped shape a new course of women’s history in America.

My thoughts about The Paper Daughters of Chinatown ~~

(I love to note the first lines of the books I'm reading. First lines can really grab a reader's attention and I love seeing where the author takes the reader after their first line.)

First line—"Donaldina Cameron leaned her head against the cool glass of the window as the train slowed to a stop, its whistle mimicking the call of a mournful dove—deep and melancholy—a fitting echo of her life over the past few years."

Although this book was tough to read in spots because of the cruelty some people forced on others, it was a very informative, insightful look at a very real part of our history. The author did an amazing job of giving the reader both the heartaches and the joys in the lives of the paperback daughters.

Based on the true life of Donaldina Cameron, The Paper Daughters of Chinatown is a must-read for anyone interested in the injustices done to Chinese women at that time or in the history of Chinatown in San Francisco in the late nineteenth century. Reading about the hard life that Mei Lien had to endure woven around the wonderful things that Donaldina did for so many women made this a very compelling story.

I received a copy of The Paper Daughters of Chinatown from the publisher via NetGalley and this is my honest opinion.

About the author

Heather B. Moore is a USA Today bestselling author of more than fifty publications. Her historical novels and thrillers are written under pen name H.B. Moore. She writes women's fiction, romance and inspirational non-fiction under Heather B. Moore. This can all be confusing, so her kids just call her Mom.

Heather attended Cairo American College in Egypt, the Anglican School of Jerusalem in Israel, and earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Brigham Young University in Utah. Heather is represented by Dystel, Goderich, and Bourret. ~ Goodreads

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

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Be sure to check the sidebar for all of my current giveaways!

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? August 31, 2020

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a place to meet up and share what you have been, are and about to be reading over the week. It's an opportunity to visit other blogs and to comment on their reads. And ... you can add to that ever growing TBR pile! So welcome everyone. This meme started with J Kaye's Blog and then was taken up by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at the Book Date. And here we are!

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Thanks for stopping by. I hope you all have a good week. 

Happy reading!

Take care. Stay safe and healthy everyone. 

And remember to wash those hands!!

What I'm currently reading

First Frost
(Waverley Family #2)
by Sarah Addison Allen


Road Trip
by Andie M. Long & Laura Barnard
Narrated by Victoria Fitzgerald 

What I recently finished


Garden Spells
(Waverley Family #1)
by Sarah Addison Allen

The Ones We Leave Behind
The Paper Daughters of Chinatown
by Heather B. Moore
Pub date 9/1

One for the Blackbird, One for the Crow
by Olivia Hawker
Narrated by Jackie Zerowski

What I am going to read next

The Beach Cottage
by Joanne DeMaio

I really love my reading life!

What are you reading this week?

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Be sure to check the sidebar for all of my current giveaways!

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? August 24, 2020

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a place to meet up and share what you have been, are and about to be reading over the week. It's an opportunity to visit other blogs and to comment on their reads. And ... you can add to that ever growing TBR pile! So welcome everyone. This meme started with J Kaye's Blog and then was taken up by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at the Book Date. And here we are!

**************************************

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you all have a good week. 

Happy reading!

Take care. Stay safe and healthy everyone. 

And remember to wash those hands!!

What I'm currently reading

The Paper Daughters of Chinatown
by Heather B. Moore
Pub date 9/1

One for the Blackbird, One for the Crow
by Olivia Hawker
Narrated by Jackie Zerowski

What I recently finished

The Ones We Leave Behind
by Deanna Lynn Sletten

Pub date 9/8
An amazing story by one of my favorite authors!

No Place too Far
by Kay Bratt
Pub date 9/1

What I am going to read next

The Beach Cottage
by Joanne DeMaio

I really love my reading life!

What are you reading this week?

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Be sure to check the sidebar for all of my current giveaways!

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? August 17, 2020

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a place to meet up and share what you have been, are and about to be reading over the week. It's an opportunity to visit other blogs and to comment on their reads. And ... you can add to that ever growing TBR pile! So welcome everyone. This meme started with J Kaye's Blog and then was taken up by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at the Book Date. And here we are!

**************************************

Take care. Stay safe and healthy everyone. 

And remember to wash those hands!!

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you all have a good week. 

Happy reading!

What I'm currently reading

No Place Too Far
by Kay Bratt
Pub date 9/1

One for the Blackbird, One for the Crow
by Olivia Hawker
Narrated by Jackie Zerowski

What I recently finished

The Outsiders
by S.E. Hinton


Until I Find You
by Rea Frey

The Night Swim
by Megan Goldin

Read my thoughts HERE.

What I am going to read next

The Paper Daughters of Chinatown
by Heather B. Moore
Pub date 9/1

I really love my reading life!

What are you reading this week?

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Be sure to check the sidebar for all of my current giveaways!