Molly was raised by the worst of parents. They are grifters.
Originally the word may have been used for circus people who swindled patron, especially with games of cards. However, with the loss of circus entertainers in general and it being such a cool word, it’s definition broadened a bit. It now means anyone who illicitly acquires money or property from another person (formerly designated as the ‘mark’). The first time it was used in an American novel appears to be in 1915: George Bronson-Howard’s God’s Man. Here’s the reference:
"Grifting ain't what it used to be. Fourteenth Street's got protection down to a system—a regular underworld tariff on larceny."
In Saving Molly, when Molly was a child, she had an adorable smile and sweetest personality, so her ‘parents’ used her in their cons. Molly was the perfect distraction while they would lift wallets or create untrue reasons why the mark should give them money. Whenever a con would go awry, they would blame Molly and once they got home, beat the poor child painfully. But in public, they seemed the nicest couple, and Molly had the brightest smile on her face. ALWAYS.
By
Liza O’Connor
Book 2 of the
Requires Rescue Series
∞
Contemporary Suspense
∞
Sometimes even the strong
requires a helping hand.
Blurb
Molly Brown always faces life with a smile, even when a frightening thug is intent upon killing her. At first, Detective Sean Cushing finds Molly’s cheery disposition unnatural, especially when he discovers the seriousness of her injuries. When she asks for police protection, he instead offers her a job and home being a nanny to his five-year-old daughter, hoping her cheery disposition can pull his child from her dark hole of misery. Never did he expect he’d be proposing marriage within a day, but life has a way of going in odd directions when Molly Brown is involved.
EXCERPT
Suddenly a hand gripped her arm. “Hey, you okay?”
The nice lady officer had returned for her.
“Thank you for coming back. I’m sorry; I couldn’t keep up with you. Normally, I could, but I think I’ve pulled my hamstrings,” she explained with her best smile.
The bathroom turned out to be only about twenty feet from where she stopped. Had she continued on her own to the door and entered the hallway, she could easily have found it. Now she felt doubly stupid. Why hadn’t she done that? She wasn’t a kid in Kansas anymore.
She stumbled as fast as possible to the bathroom stall, and barely got her butt on the seat before her bladder exploded. The smell was vile.
Someone coughed outside the stall.
“You don’t have to wait for me…Go while you can still breathe!”
A moment later, she heard the door open and close.
She covered her face with her hands. Why can’t I be like everyone else? Why do I have to be so freakin’ weird?
But she knew why. Her college roommate, Sandra, who did her psychology thesis on Molly, gave her a copy to read the day they graduated. In one horrible day she discovered how strange she appeared to others, her parents’ manipulations of her difference for their own gain, and that her only friend she’d ever had actually had seen their relationship as one of researcher to lab rat.
That had been the worst day of Molly’s life, far worse than today.
She smiled. If she could survive that day, she could survive anything. She was unsinkable! No matter what, she would come up smiling, because that’s who she was.
BUY IT NOW!
SAVING MOLLY
AMAZON
DON’T FORGET—-
7/1-7/7
SAVING CASEY
AMAZON
NOTE: EACH BOOK STANDS ALONE
AND CAN BE READ IN ANY ORDER.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT
LIZA O'CONNOR
Investigate these sites:
Liza's Blog and Website Facebook Twitter
My Review...
Saving Molly is a wonderful story of how we don't always know what one person has going through just by looking at them. Molly is always smiling but we quickly learn that her smile hides a horrible childhood and now death threats.
The action in this book grows as Molly finds herself in one situation after another. And when Sean enters her life, she finally gets the protector she deserves...even if no one really believes she is innocent.
Ms. O'Connor writes characters who are likable and very honest. I could easily see myself being friends with Molly--although I think I would have understood her different smiles and her past.
Even with danger, childhood issues and thugs, Ms. O'Connor writes a story sure to make you smile. Her wonderful sense of humor comes through in her writing. Even the outrageous is possible and always true! I love each of her books and can't wait to see what happens in the next Saving book!