Outlawed Review

Outlawed   
By: Anna North  
Released: January 5th, 2021
Pages: 272
My Rating: 3.5/5

Goodreads Synopsis: 

In the year of our Lord 1894, I became an outlaw. 

The day of her wedding, 17 year old Ada's life looks good; she loves her husband, and she loves working as an apprentice to her mother, a respected midwife. But after a year of marriage and no pregnancy, in a town where barren women are routinely hanged as witches, her survival depends on leaving behind everything she knows.

She joins up with the notorious Hole in the Wall Gang, a band of outlaws led by a preacher-turned-robber known to all as the Kid. Charismatic, grandiose, and mercurial, the Kid is determined to create a safe haven for outcast women. But to make this dream a reality, the Gang hatches a treacherous plan that may get them all killed. And Ada must decide whether she's willing to risk her life for the possibility of a new kind of future for them all.

Featuring an irresistibly no-nonsense, courageous, and determined heroine, Outlawed dusts off the myth of the old West and reignites the glimmering promise of the frontier with an entirely new set of feminist stakes. Anna North has crafted a pulse-racing, page-turning saga about the search for hope in the wake of death, and for truth in a climate of small-mindedness and fear.

My Review:

I was so excited when I saw this book as a choice for Book of the Month. As soon as I read the synopsis, I added it to my cart and could not wait to dive in. It was unlike books I typically read especially since I have never read a book about the Wild West and I was thrilled to channel my inner outlaw. 

To be honest, I was fully expecting to be emerged into a world that revels Red Dead Redemption; gun slinging, catching wanted persons, and robbing all the banks, however, I left this book feeling a tad disappointed. Now, this is a very good novel and I did enjoy the story, but I expected it to be something it is not and that is 100% my own fault. To me, the story centered on Ada's life as a midwife more than I would have liked. While there were a few scenes that depicted bank heists I would have loved a lot more of that action.

I also felt like the backstory of the other gang members was crammed into the last 50 pages of the novel and I would have loved a bit more backstory, earlier on. You got a good grasp on Ada's and how she was run out her town for being a barren women who was thought to be a witch because of it and then how to she got to Hole in the Wall, but after having so many scenes with the other gang members I would have loved more from them and sooner. 

While this may not have been the book to live out my fantasy as a Wild West outlaw, I do feel intrigued to pick up more books that take place in the time period which I do not think I would have done before reading this. I also do think this is a great book and many people will enjoy it, but again, it got a but muddled for me due to my expectations of what I thought it "would be". 

Catch you later, 

Molly