Rosary Without Beads

By: Diana Holguin-Balogh

Narrated by: Daniela Medrano

Upon her mother's deathbed, Ambrosia Salazar, a sheepherder's daughter, swears she will care for her mentally challenged sister and vows to bring home her prostitute sister.

While at the brothel, a drunk assaults Ambrosia. William Bonney - better known as "Billy the Kid" - stands down the lout and saves her. Expected to marry Ramon, Ambrosia shuns Catholic tradition and, craving excitement, falls for the young outlaw.

War erupts. Ambrosia digs a slug from Billy's leg and later helps him escape lynching. Ambrosia travels to Fort Sumner to warn Billy that Sheriff Pat Garrett is closing in on him. They make love before he leaves to fetch food. Shots ring out. Billy lies fallen as Garrett's gun smokes. Humbled, what will become of Ambrosia as she returns to her old life?

©2018 Diana Holguin-Balogh (P)2020 Diana Holguin-Balogh

Great listen, loved it!

A captivating story thats a perfect mixture of history and romance! Writing and narration are superb!

Excellent story

I loved the authors telling of the history and fictional blending of our western past. The narrator really brought the characters alive through her interpretation of their speech and dialects of the time period. Well done!

Rosary Without Beads

Listening to the audio of Rosary Without Beads by Diana Holguin-Balogh caught my attention at the get go and kept me interested through the whole audio. Daniela Medrano used an enthusiastic accent that made me feel as though I were listening to a true unpolished Ambrosia. The author did an incredible job capturing the historic times of Billy the Kid during the period of the Lincoln County War in New Mexico. Diana portrayed the historic Kid as a man whose charm and charisma was hard for women to resist. She also included believable naive citizens of a small town who lived simple lives of poverty and hardship, focusing on Margarita, her challenged yet intuitive sister and Sinforasa, her worldly sister who worked at a brothel pleasing men. Both sisters reflected women who were determined to escape from circumstances beyond their control. The historic background, factual presentation of Billy the Kid as a free spirit, and women who characterized the many women in his life was will done. If you listen to this story, you will not be disappointed.

Loved this novel!

Loved this novel!!!

I had the privilege of meeting the author, Diana Holguin-Balogh, years ago at a historical recreation experience of 1800s life at Bent's Fort in Colorado, when she was finalizing Rosary without Beads. So, I was very eager to read it when I saw that it was up on Goodreads. She had truly immersed herself in the experience of life in the 1800s, so I wanted to see how Diana incorporated this into her novel. Well, it was done exquisitely!

What I loved best about the book was how the author made the characters come alive. Each one is given so much detail and life that I found myself tearing up at the end. I didn't want to let go of Ambrosia and her younger sister, Garita. I felt that I knew them and wanted to continue learning about them and their goings-on. They lived under such miserable circumstances and yet kept surviving.

As a youth, I grew up with tales of the Old West, so Billy the Kid was an interesting real-life character. The novel uses both facts and imagination to create a believable story that could have happened between Ambrosia and Billy the Kid.

The lyrical author, Isabelle Allende, is one of my favorite writers. Diana Holguin-Balogh is now among my top ten as she writes a lot like Isabelle Allende. Rich detail, immersing the reader in the life of others who lived very long ago. She left me wanting to read more of her books.