Penniless Souls

by Eve Gaal

Twenty years after Penny’s Hawaiian adventure, she and her husband are moving to Las Vegas, Nevada.

But when they run out of gas in the Mojave Desert, the couple is rescued by a famous painter. The eccentric artist hires Penny to redecorate his property, while her husband finds work on a skyscraper on the Strip.

Things are looking up, until Penny hears rumors about human trafficking. When her daughter goes missing, Penny’s mothering instinct goes into high gear. But will a mother’s love make a difference, or does God hold all the cards?

Forty-eight hours is all Penny's got to rescue Lani, and the clock is ticking.

251 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 18, 2018

About the author

Eve’s writing began with a toy typewriter she received at age four. Much later, she wrote poems for school publications and work related newsletters until landing a job writing ad copy and selling advertising space for major metropolitan, and community newspapers. Her first novel Penniless Hearts, is part adventure, part romance, and a gentle reminder to communicate. Eve has published poems, fiction stories and non-fiction, in various anthologies, some of which are: Anything Prose and Poetry Too, Open Doors-Fractured Fairy Tales, and Not Your Mother’s Book on Dogs and Travel. She followed up Penniless Hearts with Penniless Souls, also a travel adventure but set in the Nevada desert. A short faith-based novella titled, The Fifth Commandment came later, and most recently, The Happy War, which is also a romantic travel adventure. When not writing, she likes swimming, reading and walking her Italian Greyhound mix.

Reviews

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Penniless Souls is the second book in the Lost Compass Love series written by Eve Gaal. Although the novels are connected, you do not have to read them in order as they are standalone stories focusing on common characters. Although the series title might suggest this is a romance, I wouldn't classify it that way. To me, this was an adventure story where readers were treated to a few months in the life of Penny and her family. The plot ranges from potential murder to dangerous prostitution rings and back again!

When the book opens, we learn that Penny and her husband have had some financial troubles due to loss of jobs and the general financial situation in the country. They've moved around a few times to find better employment and raise their 19-year-old daughter, Lani, in a solid place. When Penny visits Las Vegas with her husband to help him find a new job, she unexpectedly meets a famed artist she admires and gets a job painting murals for him. She also gets a call from someone about a possible inheritance, which leaves her confused about next steps. Lani stays behind with an aunt and meets a potentially troublesome guy in the park, and then she begins her own adventure. Through misinformation, unintentional confusion, and lots of twists, everything collides and results in near-death for a few of them.

Gaal presents characters who are definitely complex. At times, I was angry by the way they treated one another (over debt, leaving home, past mistakes), and I saw evidence in their daughter that she was shaped by her parents' rough edges. Maybe it's just me, but they were all rude to one another when they communicated. That said, they also do things to show their human and sentimental sides, which made me feel bad for them when they encountered such horrible trouble. The exploitation of young girls for prostitution is a difficult topic, but Gaal is careful not to get explicit or vulgar -- we know it's happening, but the details aren't important. This is a story about how parents try to save their daughter, and how a girl falls in love despite everything going on around her. Not about what actually happens in the brothels, although we do get a few necessary facts about the 48-hour rule! You'll have to read up on that yourself...

Gaal's writing style is easy to digest and interpret. She offers tons of shocks and surprises, as well as several low-key moments to let us ponder the situation for ourselves. This was partially based on something real-life, so it makes you scared to know it could happen... but then it gets quite explosive in the last third -- to the point, I honestly had no idea how it might end. I could've seen many culminations that would've worked, but of course, the author leaves a nice little twist in the end about the change in Penny's financial situation. Did she get the money? Was she going to be killed for it? What will happen next? I'm curious to know if there will be more... thanks for a fun read, Eve Gaal.

[Mari · Rating 5 out of 5]

Penny is older, but still wildly in love with life and her husband, and still capable of becoming involved in the most madcap adventures in our own sin city known as Las Vegas. When the economic tanks, so does John’s construction job. They have a daughter’s college fees, a mortgage, and don’t even think about health insurance. Then Penny receives notice that she has inherited a couple of cool million from a scalawag thief she’d met in Hawaii. For some reason she fears John will berate or leave her and she tucks the letter of instructions away. They rent their house to pay the mortgage, park their daughter with John’s sister and head towards Las Vegas where the construction jobs abound. Nothing is easy. Their auto breaks down and no one is inclined to stop. Penny solves the problem by removing her tank top and waving it over her head. The limo stops, offers a ride, and the fun begins. The owner a passenger is a famous artist and offers Penny a job painting murals in his new spa/retreat. A fancy apartment is part of her salary. John finds his construction job and life is sweet or is it? Their daughter’s new boyfriend’s brother is mixed up in a sex/drug gang. The spa isn’t really its going to be a seedier type of establishment. Worse their daughter and boyfriend go missing. As usual, the author packs a lot more into her novel. Find out how Penny manages to save a plane load of young girls destined for the sex industry and rip-roaring escape from her employer and gang members. It doesn’t stop there. The next victim is her daughter and new husband. It doesn’t end there, but you’ll have to read it to find out how Penny can dive through two million, have their house trashed, and still wind up a success.

[B. Roman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eve Gaal opens her novel with a tribute to Woman’s power, and notes that hers came through her religious faith and literature. What follows is a thoughtfully written, and sometimes ironically humorous, glimpse into the trials and travails of marriage, parenting, and the evils of human sex trafficking. Her faith runs like a golden thread through the story but is never heavy handed or preachy. Instead, it acts as a solid foundation for her heroine, Penny’s, bravery and sure-footedness.
Life, as in a casino, is a game of chance. Why are some of us fortunate and others experience loss, sometimes devastatingly so. But what keeps people coming back for more - to a shaky relationship or to a slot machine? Hope. And Faith. In this continuation of Lost Compass Love Book One, “Penniless Hearts,” Penny & John, married in Hawaii now living in California, are suffering the blows of the recession, which is driving a wedge between them. Jobless, (she a newspaper writer and he a contractor) and potentially homeless, Penny reluctantly agrees to move with John to Las Vegas for new work opportunities. To add to their troubles, their adult daughter Lani is dealing with a broken heart, but they must leave her behind to live with John’s aging spinster sister. A bizarre stroke of fate in the form of a huge sum of money left to her by a shady criminal from her past, who has met a grisly end, changes Penny’s outlook. It could be financial freedom. But, feeling that its dirty money, she keeps the windfall a secret from John, lest he go berserk. She first needs to figure out how to tell him and how to use the money wisely.
On the dark, lonely desert road to Vegas, Penny & John’s imaginations run to wild, hazardous, deathly scenarios but their “rescue” by 2 strange men inadvertently leads them into a vicious sex slavery operation hidden behind a famous artist’s reputation. Initially, the men, pretending generosity, exploit Penny’s artistic talents and consign her to paint murals in what is to be a posh Vegas “spa.” Penny soon learns it is a front for a bordello that will employ European sex slaves.
All the seemingly innocuous decisions we make can pull us towards peril, defying every instinct that says run like hell in the other direction. But soon Penny finds herself, John, Lani, and some innocent young women at the mercy of a crew of murderous gangsters. Like a first responder running towards danger instead of away from it, Penny devises a courageous plan, with the help of good friends and that huge sum of money, to thwart the villains and bring them down. Though John’s moods and loyalties at times swing like a pendulum, and their marriage and family bonds are tested beyond what most people can endure, his love and admiration for Penny transcends their Job-like challenges. And without giving anything away, fortune smiles on them. After all, fortune favors the brave.
Gaal tackles serious issues - the sex slave trade, and the seamy side of Vegas - with honesty and well-researched facts and details. At the heart of her story is the desire to bring to light the nefarious exploitation of women who are vulnerable and have nowhere to turn and no one to save them. She has been hurt in her own life, and her understanding of the pain and sorrow that are suffered by those who feel powerless is her Muse.

[Kenna McKinnon · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a sequel to Penniless Hearts, I found this novel more serious and somewhat sobering. The author presents both the flamboyant side and the seamy side of Las Vegas. Many of the same characters reappear, older and somewhat more mundane at first, but the women remain strong and the men remain charming though somewhat flawed in their steamy and soulful protectiveness but pursuit of their "goddesses". The angels in every sense of the word oversee Penny and John, and their somewhat wayward daughter, Lani and her handsome friend Peter. I think this is a modern day fable, somewhat unbelievable, but good does overcome evil in real life, too. As someone who experienced a close call with the sex trade as a teen, I can shudder with a mother's love and an artist's soul at the stunning description of "Sin City" and its vagaries, both wonderful and evil. You must read this fast-paced novel to learn about the "48 hours" and the dangers of the sex trade, and how love (with the protection of beautiful angels at the end), can lead to happiness and a satisfying resolution.

[K.J. Simmill · Rating 5 out of 5]

The recession had hit hard. Already Penny could see houses on her estate popping up for sale as desperate people tried to make a sale, and then there was the dreaded foreclosure sign opposite, almost mocking her as her husband broke the news he had lost his job. With their daughter, Lani, being almost 20 they do the only thing they can and left her in the care of her aunt and went to where the work was which, in this case, was Vegas. Little did Penny realise the desperate struggle she would find herself immersed in. While decorating for a famous painter she learns the sordid truth of the life awaiting unsuspecting girls who are brought and sold like cattle. When her daughter goes missing, last seen associated with the brother of a well-known sex trafficker, she fears the worst. She would move mountains for her family, but what can one woman do to save her daughter and stop one of Vegas' dark vices?

Penniless Souls is the second book in Eve Gaal's Lost Compass Love series. I enjoyed how many real and hard-hitting issues were addressed, bringing to the forefront of the story a world many readers will be aware exists, but have no real understanding of. This book bridges that gap, shining a light on the darker side of the glamorous tourist strip. I enjoyed how events from Penny's past still influence her presence, the sweet romance of her and John, and how stresses impact their relationship. This involved plot is not only a gripping read but an eye-opener to a very real problem which is presented in a tense and entertaining way. Romance, tension, and a race against time will keep a reader fully entertained as the plot unfolds and life unravels.

[Gina Rae Mitchell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Penniless Souls by Eve Gaal is book two of the Lost Compass Love series. Each book could easily be read as a standalone story. The author provides enough backstory to fill in any gaps in necessary information needed for Penniless Souls to make sense. With that said, I think the reader will gain a much deeper insight into the characters by reading book one, Penniless Hearts, first.

The blurb is explanation enough for the plot so let's move on to my thoughts.

Eve Gaal has a way of tying faith, religion, and life together without overwhelming the reader in writing her stories. Her descriptive writing style makes the settings and plotlines come alive.

Human trafficking is difficult to portray without totally focusing the story on the bad in the world. Many times, I had to stop and ponder the situations presented in the tale to judge the right and wrong of the character's decisions and how I might react in similar circumstances. Eve walks a fine line in keeping the entertainment and mystery level high while providing details of the sordid side of life.

The dynamics between husband, wife, adult daughter, and the various people they meet play an essential part in the story. There are lessons about faith, trust, and honesty throughout the book. I felt the biggest problem with the main characters is that they spent more time talking in their heads and not communicating their true feelings.

While the cast is entertaining, I found their lack of respect for each other hard to understand in light of all the professions of love. Secrets and half-truths always lead to trouble, and sometimes the way they speak to each other is very disrespectful. However, the conversations ring true and don't seem contrived.

The one sticking point for me in assigning a star rating for the review is that the characters often lean toward unlikeable. The author deftly writes about conflicted feelings, redemption, just rewards, and problem-solving.

Overall, I recommend this book to readers who love a heartfelt story with relevant themes. I believe everyone will take away positives from Penniless Souls.

[Arch Font · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found Penniless Souls to be a fun and most satisfying read. The plot is like a tasty cocktail of suspense, exploitation, and love that would whet the appetite of the most demanding connoisseur. I enjoyed this fast-paced and entertaining novel as it explored the shocking rise in sex trafficking and presented a compelling story of a mother's struggle against it. Penny is a mother who would do anything and everything to save her daughter, Lani. Evil traffickers test her love when she becomes ensnared in its web as she fights to protect her daughter. It surprised me to see many characters from the author's first book, Penniless Heart, reappear but this time the stakes are higher. Skillful writing easily lured me into the plot. The author's vivid description of the Las Vegas Strip and its casinos were as good as being there. The novel paints a portrait that reveals faith and forgiveness as powerful weapons, but are they enough? The author's thrilling conclusion answered the question, find out for yourself.