What do you think?
Rate this book
Dester Granville
Golden Fever
HER HEART WAS PROMISED...
Paulette Faviere knew one desire: to rejoin her love. Dester Granville. Raised like brother and sister on his parents' sprawling Louisiana plantation, Dester had gone to California to seek his fortune in the gold fields and Paulette was soon to follow.
HER SOUL WAS PLEDGED...
But fate had other things in store for her. Shipwrecked and stranded in Panama, she was forced to accept the patronage of the notorious gambler Jeremiah Walker. He secured her passage to California, but his price was high -- first her bed and then her love were his prizes.
TWO MEN OWNED HER FLESH...
From the blazing lights of San Francisco to the dark canyons of the shacktown gold camps, she followed the two men who were her destiny. She cherished them both until the night she was forced to choose between man she had grown up loving and the man she had grown to love.
Paulette Faviere knew one desire: to rejoin her love. Dester Granville. Raised like brother and sister on his parents' sprawling Louisiana plantation, Dester had gone to California to seek his fortune in the gold fields and Paulette was soon to follow.
HER SOUL WAS PLEDGED...
But fate had other things in store for her. Shipwrecked and stranded in Panama, she was forced to accept the patronage of the notorious gambler Jeremiah Walker. He secured her passage to California, but his price was high -- first her bed and then her love were his prizes.
TWO MEN OWNED HER FLESH...
From the blazing lights of San Francisco to the dark canyons of the shacktown gold camps, she followed the two men who were her destiny. She cherished them both until the night she was forced to choose between man she had grown up loving and the man she had grown to love.
- GenresHistorical Romance
314 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 1981
22 people want to read
About the author
Parley J. Cooper
25 books6 followersParley Cooper is the author of over twenty-four novels, including the bestseller Dark Desires. He also writes under the bylines Jack Mayfield, Alex Nebrensky, William Freytag, and Dorothy McKinney.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
September 14, 2021
Great first half, dismal second half. Our nineteenth century heroine is an entitled Southern Belle making a dangerous trip from Louisiana to California to join her lover, who has caught Gold Fever there. She has a backbone, displays a lot of courage, and has adventurous spirit. Unfortunately, her intelligence dims when it comes to her weak, petty, unethical pseudo-fiancé. Even after he attempts to kill her and probably would have left her to be gang-raped by a bunch of grimy miners, she STILL doesn’t stop “loving” him. Phhhhttttt.
Eventually, she enters a marriage of convenience with the kick-ass hero who has been obsessed with her ever since they shared the journey from Louisiana to California. The marriage seems to sap all of her strength and spirit. She becomes a weak, passive, limp noodle who lets life pass her by and then just falls AGAIN into the trap set up by her ex-lover and his latest woman (who happens to be her own psychotic half-sister lol).
The ending left me mad that there wasn’t enough comeuppance for the villains and that the hero was too good to be true, and definitely too good for this idjeet. I wish the author had not decided, in the second half of this book, to strip the heroine of all her personality and give her a characterization that was entirely inconsistent with her past actions.
Overall, this story was compelling, the pacing was good, the setting interesting and well-written, so there was huge potential to give us a truly satisfying ending. Quel dommage :(
Eventually, she enters a marriage of convenience with the kick-ass hero who has been obsessed with her ever since they shared the journey from Louisiana to California. The marriage seems to sap all of her strength and spirit. She becomes a weak, passive, limp noodle who lets life pass her by and then just falls AGAIN into the trap set up by her ex-lover and his latest woman (who happens to be her own psychotic half-sister lol).
The ending left me mad that there wasn’t enough comeuppance for the villains and that the hero was too good to be true, and definitely too good for this idjeet. I wish the author had not decided, in the second half of this book, to strip the heroine of all her personality and give her a characterization that was entirely inconsistent with her past actions.
Overall, this story was compelling, the pacing was good, the setting interesting and well-written, so there was huge potential to give us a truly satisfying ending. Quel dommage :(
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 23, 2020
This was an all right read, which didn't take me very long to get through. All I have to say is that I'm glad Dester got it in the end!
A few questions/comments though:
1. Could the author not have used a different mining camp for the main camp besides N....R Camp? I mean come on. I'm not a fan of that word and with a good majority of the story taking place there and repeatedly seeing that word....yeah...not a fan.
2. I found it surprising that Paulette didn't try to convince Jeremiah that she was a virgin, prior to having sex. With all the historical type books I've read, that's what the female usually always does, whether she was truly a virgin or not. Most didn't want the man to think they were sluts.
3. I seriously could not figure out how Paulette was still 'in love' with Dester after how he treated her and then his treatment towards Elisha. That made no sense to me. I could understand her still caring about him, considering they'd known each other for a long time, but to be 'in love' with him? Baffling!
4. Another baffling situation was with how Paulette was with Jeremiah for YEARS and still hadn't realized she loved him, until she had sex with Dester?
A few questions/comments though:
1. Could the author not have used a different mining camp for the main camp besides N....R Camp? I mean come on. I'm not a fan of that word and with a good majority of the story taking place there and repeatedly seeing that word....yeah...not a fan.
2. I found it surprising that Paulette didn't try to convince Jeremiah that she was a virgin, prior to having sex. With all the historical type books I've read, that's what the female usually always does, whether she was truly a virgin or not. Most didn't want the man to think they were sluts.
3. I seriously could not figure out how Paulette was still 'in love' with Dester after how he treated her and then his treatment towards Elisha. That made no sense to me. I could understand her still caring about him, considering they'd known each other for a long time, but to be 'in love' with him? Baffling!
4. Another baffling situation was with how Paulette was with Jeremiah for YEARS and still hadn't realized she loved him, until she had sex with Dester?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 2, 2025
One RIDICULOUS book! If I had gold fever, this would cure it in no time! The h has two crummy men: one's a gold obsessed lunatic who expects his tune to be danced to, the other's a boring wimp with no pride at all and who cries like a little boy. If they were all that's available, I'd join a convent!
Not only DNF, but Do Not Waste Your Time!!!
Not only DNF, but Do Not Waste Your Time!!!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews