The Good Luck Girls by Charlotte Nicole Davis

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 352 

Publisher: Hot Key Books 

Released: 1st of October 2019

Aster. Violet. Tansy. Mallow. Clementine.

Sold as children. Branded by cursed markings. Trapped in a life they never would have chosen.

When Aster's sister Clementine accidentally murders a man, the girls risk a dangerous escape and harrowing journey to find freedom, justice, and revenge - in a country that wants them to have none of those things. Pursued by the land's most vicious and powerful forces - both living and dead - their only hope lies in a bedtime story passed from one girl to another, a story that only the youngest or most desperate would ever believe.

It's going to take more than luck for them all to survive.

What I Have to Say 

A great new fantasy book about girls fighting against their abusers and oppressors. The thing that really set this book apart for me was that though they showed the trauma of sexual abuse perfectly and in several different ways, the emphasis is on fighting back rather than the abuse and trauma itself.

The wild west inspired world that the Good Luck Girls was based in was a really well created picture of colonialism and slavery. The references to the taking and corrupting of native lands made a fantastic contrast to the glorified picture of cowboys and outlaws that are often shown in Westerns.

I loved these girls so much that it was sad to put the book down. I look forward to seeing what Charlotte Nicole Davis comes out with next.

My thanks go to Hot Key Books for providing me with this free copy for review. 

Shadowblack by Sebastien De Castell

Synopsis (From Goodreads) 

Pages: 400

Publisher: Hot Key Books 

Released: 5th of October 2017 

Other Books in the Series: Spellslinger 

It's a few months since Kellen left his people behind. Now aged sixteen, Kellen is an outlaw, relying on his wits to keep him alive in the land of the Seven Sands. He misses home, he misses family and more than anything, he misses Nephenia, the girl he left behind. 

Then he meets Seneira, a blindfolded girl who isn't blind, and who carries a secret that's all too familiar to Kellen. Kellen and Ferius resolve to help - but the stakes are far higher than they realise. A Shadowblack plague is taking hold - and Kellen can't help but suspect his own people may even be behind it. 

What I Have to Say 

This series just keeps getting better. I really enjoyed the first book and this one brought in even more intrigue and mystery. The new characters were interesting and fitted in well with Kellen, Feruis and the squirrel cat. Who were all just as good as in the first book. 

I still really love the setting. I think that it's interesting to have the slightly western theme, but I do think that the characters and the Argosi are the best part of it. It was interesting to meet Rosie and see how different Ferius is to her and how they both fit together well as Argosi while still arguing over the right way to follow the way of the Argosi.

I'm really looking forward to the next book. Things were really heating up in this book and I'll be interested to see how it goes on. 

 My thanks go to Hot Key Books and Netgalley for providing me with this copy for review. 

Crow Mountain by Lucy Inglis

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 368

Publisher: Chicken House

Released: 3rd of September 2015

While on holiday in Montana, Hope meets local boy Cal Crow, a ranch hand. Caught in a freak accident, the two of them take shelter in a mountain cabin where Hope makes a strange discovery. More than a hundred years earlier, another English girl met a similar fate. Her rescuer: a horse-trader called Nate. 

In this wild place, both girls learn what it means to survive and to fall in love, neither knowing that their fates are intimately entwined.

What I Have to Say 

I loved this story. There’s something about the American West which makes everything feel more exciting, not just in frontier times, but with modern day ranches and wild horses. This book had both. The interlocking stories were woven together so nicely, the modern day parts and the frontier parts paralleling well, both telling similar stories.

Even though I loved both stories, it’s the frontier story-line that sticks in my mind the most. I loved Emily’s relationship with Nate. I don’t normally like guys being cruel to women that way, but he was so arrogant and cocky and as he points out, he was only refusing to take her back to the town, not keeping her prisoner. I don’t know, it’s still probably not a good way to start a relationship in real life but the way that Emily was being such a sheep following a path that was set out for her and the way she develops whilst living in the cabin just makes it work for me.

I loved the horses and the Native American characters as well. Especially as the Native American culture is such an interesting one. Also Rose; there was no way I wasn’t going to love Rose and the way she was accepted by the tribe despite acting like a man. It’s such a contrast to Emily’s tight, corsetted life with her family.

I want everyone to read and love this book as much as I did.