Tough Luck.

 

 

⭐️⭐️⭐️

3.5★  

Thank you to publisher, St Martin's Press for providing with E ARC via Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.  

After their mother dies, Haidie Richards and her younger brother, Boots, are put to work in an orphanage. Their father left four years earlier to find a gold mine in Colorado Territory, and since then he’s sent only three letters. Still, Haidie is certain that he is alive, has struck gold, and will soon send for them. 

But patience is not one of Haidie’s virtues and soon she and her brother make a break for it. Boots and Haidie, disguised as a boy, embark on a dangerous journey deep into Western territory. Along the way, Haidie learns fast not only how to handle mules, oxen, and greedy men, but also that you are better off in a community. Hers includes a card shark, independent “spinster” sisters, and a very fierce dog. 

Once she arrives in Colorado and finds out the truth about her father, Haidie will need all her new friends for a get-even plot worthy of The Sting.

 

 🌷

 
I love western historical fiction. I think it’s the Western setting that I love. I have read and seen a few Western movies and enjoyed them. When I came across Tough Luck and read the description, I knew I had to check this book out; it sounded just like the types of books I like. I loved the way Sandra Dallas described the travels of Haidie and her brother, Boots; I found myself going on adventures alongside the siblings. I can hardly begin to imagine having to go through what the siblings did, especially at their age. As time passed, I began to wonder if the two of them would ever find their father. I was worried that if they did, it wouldn’t be the reunion that they were hoping for. 

Although I enjoyed the story, I did feel that it was at a slower pace and dragged in some parts. I thought that the chapters shouldn’t have been; if they were, they could have been broken up into more chapters. In general, there was a lot of interesting stuff happening in the story that kept my attention. I also felt that the characters could have had more character development; I didn’t connect to them the way that I usually do when reading. However, the one character I liked and found myself connecting with was Haidie; she was the one character that I loved from the start and was rooting for throughout. I liked the way that all the characters stick with each other through the journey; looking out for one another. 

I could tell the amount of research that Sandra Dallas did for this book. This was my first book by Sandra Dallas and I cannot wait to check out her others. Tough Luck is the book that is worth checking out!