My husband and I listened to the audiobook The Bootlegger’s Daughter by Nadine Nettmann as we have been traveling these past weeks. We both really enjoyed this tale of two women in the 1920’s in the LA area during the time of prohibition. Lettie Hart is the daughter of a winemaker who is forced to find a way for herself and her mother to save their orchard when prohibition and an absent/deceased father have taken away their means of making a living. Annabelle Foreman is a rare female on the police force who wants to make it as a detective when the other police men are not sure she even belongs on the force. This is a book that tells their stories. It’s also a clever mystery and detective story!
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The narration is good! The story is written from three POVs and each narrator has the chapters that are told from their characters POV. It really helped with following the story line. We were kept guessing and trying to figure out how Nettman would bring this all together. I will confess to my jaw dropping at least once during this book!
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At the end we had much to discuss! I really enjoyed this one and we are glad we listened!
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Recommended for lovers of strong women stories and detective type mysteries.
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Thank you to @netgalley and @brillianceaudio for the ALC. This book was published in March so grab your copy now!

This book is really good, the narrators were engaging and made you want to keep listening. This was the first book I’ve read about prohibition and I really enjoyed that the main character was a woman during that time.

Excellent book! I listened to the audiobook and Jesse is one of my favorites, the other two narrators were great as well. The storyline captivated me from the very beginning. I loved it all the way through, especially the end! Highly recommend this one, especially the audiobook.

This one sounded interesting the first time I came across it. Two head-strong, feisty women making their way through Prohibition Los Angeles in an effort to support their families. Definitely sounds like my kind of story – and it was! The book summary basically just introduces the MC’s, Letty, and Annabel, and lays out the start of the story. Letty is the daughter of a bootlegger who left his family years ago for his other “family” and it was soon thereafter reported that he was killed. The vineyard is at risk of being lost if Letty doesn’t sell a stash of brandy, she discovered that her father left. Annabel is the first female LAPD officer who has fulfilled the requirements of becoming a detective, but gets passed over for a male officer, who isn’t qualified (hasn’t met the requirements), but is the son of a highly ranked member of the force.

What the book summary doesn’t say is that there is someone going around town killing bootleggers and no one knows who it is. One night, after making a delivery for a local bootlegger, Shorty, Letty secretly sees the killer cleaning up after killing Shorty, but she doesn’t know him or why he killed Shorty. It’s not long before Letty discovers who the killer is and begins to realize how dangerous the situation is that she’s in. In the meantime, Annabel begins to secretly investigate the killings while not getting caught by her captain, who put her on a case of a missing necklace. She also doesn’t know who she can trust amongst the officers, who have all made it all clear that they don’t like Annabel and they want her gone from the force.

The story flips back and forth between Letty, Annabel, and the killer. It’s well into the second half (75%) that the various storylines began to merge resulting with a crazy twist around Letty. There is also a really intense and scary, but very satisfying ending for Letty and Annabel. I loved the very end, sounds like this may not be the end of Letty, the Bootlegger’s Daughter. Hmmm…..a sequel???

The characterization of Letty and Annabel was well done; I wish the killer was a little more fleshed out. The pacing was really good and had me invested from the get-go. The storyline was interesting and well written. I listened to the audiobook and the narrators (Letty, Annabel, and the killer) were well done too. I’m looking at an overall rating of 4.3 and am rounding down to a 4star rating. I want to thank NetGalley, Brilliance Publishing and Brilliance Audio for sending me this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

#NetGalley #BrilliancePublishing #BrillianceAudio #TheBootleggersDaughter

A well-written and fascinating story about two women trying to make their way in a male-dominated society. I loved getting to know both women, who were on opposite sides of the law, but managed to thrive and find a way around the issues they faced. The story kept me listening through to the very end and the plot twist at the end caught me off guard. Highly recommended for fans of historical fiction with strong women and interesting plots.

The Bootlegger's Daughter written by Nadine Nettmann and narrated by Jesse Vilinsky; Allyson Ryan; Keong Sim is a fantastic novel about two very different women with two very different lives;

Letty Hart, the daughter of a farm owner who had to take over the running of the farm after her father left and was found unalive in a river a year later. In prohibition Era LA, they were lucky enough to get a contract with the local church to provide communion wine and circumvent the law, until the contract comes to an end and their only option is their peaches... and bootlegging the secret brandy they can make from them

Annabel Forman is a police officer, working hard to get a promotion to Detective, but every time, she is surpassed by male officers, because, as her boss tells her, "We don't have women detectives in our precinct" Both women need to survive, and each will defy convention, and the law to ensure they do

The narrating team were brilliant, emulating the cadence of the book authentically and having consistency between each chapter

The story is mysterious, suspenseful and refreshing. I loved the attention to detail, great character dynamics and illustrative narrative. The plot twists were copious and unexpected, rounding out to a fantastic historical mystery/ suspense novel. Absolutely recommend

Thank you to Netgalley, Brilliance Publishing, Brilliance Audio, the author Nadine Nettman and the narration team for a highly enjoyable ALC. My review is left voluntarily and all opinions are my own

This was a great read and great story. I was drawn in from the very beginning and just found myself rooting for the main character the entire time. I would definitely recommend this to others.

I really adored this audiobook. It was fast paced, compelling and thoroughly entertaining. It’s a great slice of bootlegging in Hollywood during Prohibition. Throw in 2 strong female characters and excellent narrators and The Bootlegger’s Daughter gets 4 ⭐️ from me.

Thank you to NetGalley for my review copy.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with this book in exchange for my review!

Title: The Bootlegger's Daughter

Author: Nadine Nettman


I received both an e-arc and an alc audiobook of this book.


Rating: 3 stars:

Brief Summary: The story follows two very different women in prohibition era Los Angeles

What I Enjoyed: Learning about prohibition, and the Los Angeles setting

What I Disliked: Some parts of the story dragged on too much and were a little boring.

I also enjoyed the narrators. Jesse Vilinsky and Allison Ryan were narrators I’ve heard of before but I hadn’t listened to anything narrated by Keong Sim before, but I may have to in the future now!

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Set in LA during the prohibition-era this follows two females who are working in jobs most women at that time weren’t a part of. Police officer and bootlegger. Seeing behind the scenes of what bootleggers, suppliers, and the running of speakeasies looked like was really interesting. I loved the drama and the mystery of this one, plus there was a truly excellent twist I didn’t see coming.

If you’re looking for a historical fiction that’s not based during wartime then this will be an excellent fit!

Thanks to brilliance publishing for the alc via Netgalley.