Ashley Sweeney

Thank you to the author.

Not sure if I ever read a Western book before, but if I did, it didn't stand out like this one did.

Beginning in 1899, Ruby Fortune was a stubborn woman who held her own in life with 4 sons after killing her husband after he abused her time and time again. I loved her grit and determination with everything in life with opening a roadhouse which became eventually a respectable inn in Jerico, Arizona. The author did a wonderful job in describing it even back in the early days.

The characters were all well drawn out and most I enjoyed reading about. Divina was like a mother to her after her mother died in child birth with her. She loved her Pa. She was a sharpshooter when she was young and they traveled with their own traveling circus. The most beloved character to me was Wink, a drunk, who lived in a shack behind her house. He was lovable and quoted Shakespeare all the time and was smart in his own way, especially with Sam, her youngest son, who didn't speak since he saw something that he wasn't supposed to (not spoiling it sorry).… (más)

Hardland is my third novel by Ashley Sweeney. I have previously read her Answer Creek and Eliza Waite. Let’s just say I cannot wait for her next book. All three have been excellent reads. Each tale unique in scope but each one featuring a strong female protagonist.

Here Ruby Fortune (gotta love that name) lives her life in Jericho, Arizona, a small but hopefully up and coming town. Her life is not what she hoped it would be – by a long shot. And she is a very good shot as her abusive husband finds out.

Ruby runs an inn where she manages to maintain her relationships (ahem) and provide a place for her grown sons to call home. Nothing in her life is fairy tale but she is content. But forces are gathering that threaten all she holds dear.

As with Ms. Sweeney’s previous books, Hardland is very compelling and fronted by a strong, female protagonist. No one is going to mess with Ruby Fortune and survive to tell the tale. She is not perfect and she has been hurt but she is a survivor.

I have loved every single one of Ms. Sweeney’s books and this one is no exception. You are drawn in from the start and it’s hard to put down once you begin. I cannot wait for the next one to come out.… (más)

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, or so I’ve been told. Well, He must’ve had His knickers in a knot when He conjured up Arizona Territory because there’s nothing but dust and cactus and rattlesnakes in these parts–and some of the rattiest men you’ll meet this side of Kingdom Come.
from Hardland by Ashley E. Sweeney

From the first sentence, Ruby Fortune leaps from the page, fully realized and vital, raw, and unpolished, lusty, and strong. To survive in the Arizona Territory in 1899 a woman had to be determined. It was a hard land, and the people had to be just as hard. Especially the women.

Ruby’s father ran a traveling wild west show, returning at the end of the season to the hardscrabble town of Jericho. Ruby was the Girl Wonder, adept with a gun. Her mom had died, then her father, leaving the teenager with one friend in the world, Divina, the show’s seamstress. The show was taken over by Willy Fortune who forced Ruby into a common-law marriage.

Too soon, Willy’s abusive side came out. When he started in on their boys, a confrontation ended in Willy’s death–and Ruby’s deliverance. Ruby had to fend for herself, building a business. It was a hard life. She worked hard, and played hard, and stood up to hard men, suffering more abuse. She tried her best for her sons, watched them leave home to find themselves. She found forbidden love, and accepts the love and protection of the town sheriff. And she had Divina, a surrogate mother.

This is not a romanticized view of the West. It recalled to mind Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry in that way, the hard realities, the deaths, women strong and women victimized and women used. Here, it is the woman who tells her story, and it is a story of a place not a journey. Jericho endures through fires, builds again. It’s a harsh land, but has its beauty. There are men who wish to bring Ruby down, but she also forges unlikely friendships with the Shakespeare quoting alcoholic who protects her and the prim school teacher.

One in three women suffer domestic violence, Sweeney states in her discussion questions at the end of the novel. I would hazard to guess that the statistics were higher a hundred years ago. At the core of Ruby’s story is the impact of abuse on her and her sons, and how Ruby faces life’s challenges and survives. And, in the end, thrives.

I received an ARC in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.… (más)