Jilted by love, Cara Lindsay sails from Boston to Mexico’s rugged California in 1833, to start a new life with a favorite aunt. Heartbroken to learn her aunt has died, she takes a companionship position to the brain-damaged wife of Miguel Navarro, the tough and irresistible owner of El Rancho Monte Vista.
Miguel’s wife suffered this permanent injury in a suspicious fall, and the lonely ranchero’s heart opens to Cara’s kindness and beauty like parched earth to rain.
Despite fears her life is threatened by unknown forces, Cara’s feelings for Miguel ignite. But love may break her heart again, for she would never be any man’s mistress. Until ships sail for Boston months away, she’s trapped in the midst of danger and an impossible love.
"Cry of the Bells is a picturesque and stark look at a complex potpourri of characters in the harsh environment of old West hacienda life. Miguel is dark and forbidding; he's suffered immeasurably. Cara is youthful, innocent, and unprepared to deal with all that her living at the ranch entails. The cast of supporting personalities in this book are extremely well done, with a wide spectrum of ages, races, cultures and temperments. The fine and tangible sexual tension between Miguel and Cara grows, and the danger she's in only heightens its power and seductiveness. Dee Ann Palmer pulls readers into her story, and makes them feel and see what she's written with incredible clarity." Reviewed by Michelle of Fallen Angel Reviews, 4 ANGELS
"Eighteen year old Carolina Lindsay is fleeing loss, betrayal and the threat of an even more bleak future when she leaves1833 Boston for a new life in Nueva California, in Mexico's El Pueblo de Los Angeles. But this gently brought up daughter of a Bostonian father and an Argentine mother is still a consummate Norte Americana. When she secures a position as a companion to the brain-damaged wife of Don Miguel Navarro she is ill prepared for life on the Monte Vista estate.
"She is ill prepared for its beauty and cruelty, for its bears and mountains lions, its Indians, it's fiestas, for the needs of poor Desira Navarro, and most of all for the handsome, stubborn cousins, Miguel and Arturo, who compete for Monte Vista, and Carolina's attention. And after repeated attempts on her life Cara's discoveries force her (to) ask herself if the man she's come to love is not as beautiful and cruel as the land itself. His cruelty cloaked in gentleness, disguising itself as love, but played out in pefidity.
"Like its heroine watching the sensual, seductive dance of the Flamenco described in Cry of the Bell's pages a reader quickly surrenders to this book's breathtaking imagery. Dee Ann Palmer has filled her first novel with an original and engrossing story line, mesmerizing characters, and a heart-stopping conclusion. One would be hard pressed to find a better historical romance than Cry of the Bells." Reviewed by Helen Haddad, author of 'Picture of Guilt'
Dee Ann Palmer began writing when she was eight. Her first “publication” was a poem her mother
discovered in the elementary school yearbook. Captivated by journalism as the girls sports
reporter in junior high school, she’s continued to use those skills as a volunteer press woman for
Marriage, raising two sons, a career in nursing, and earning an advanced degree didn’t snuff out
the need to write. She sold over sixty profiles, articles and stories. Winning awards kept her writing embers smoldering.
What was once the original chapter of Cry of the Bells, her first novel, was composed over twenty years ago. Nursing was her career, but in the back of her mind was the idea that someday she’d finish her book and sell it. She had to retire from nursing to reach that goal.
Today she writes, bicycles with her husband in the Southern California town where they met as university students, runs footraces, and is active in writers organizations. Their sons live in the Los Angeles area, and have careers in music and television.
