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Hitched to the Gunslinger is goofy. It even has phonetically spelled dialogue. But it is so funny and so charming that I couldn’t help but enjoy the entire enterprise of reading it.
The amazingly-named Gray ‘Quick Shot’ Woodson is a newly retired gunslinger trying to figure out how the simple life works. It’s his irascible horse, Birdie, that directs him to the quiet town of Desolation, where he believes he’ll find his destiny – or at least be able to shed his terminally-cheerful sidekick, Jason Sunshine, who has finally caught up with him.
The orphaned Mercy Douglas wants one thing, and that’s to secure her family’s land and protect it from the avaricious Josiah Banff. She wants to shoot the man herself, before he tries to pressure her into marrying him, but when Gray shows up she realizes there are much easier methods at her disposal. She’ll ask the older, somewhat rumpled man to pose as her fiancé, which will at the least put Josiah off his marriage scheme and buy her more time to think of a solution to her problems. Gray has no desire to get mixed up in Mercy’s affairs, but in trade for a quiet spot in her house and regular meals, he’s willing to pretend to be her man. But will companionship turn to love? Will Mercy get to keep her land? And will Gray ever find something resembling peace?
I enjoyed every minute of reading Hitched to the Gunslinger, which never takes itself too seriously and isn’t ashamed to have a lot of fun with its tropes. Add a sweet layer of found family goodness and it’s an appealing, if not fully historically accurate, trip to the Old West.
Gray is a simple guy who wants simple things out of life, and it turns out Mercy is just one component of that. She, meanwhile, yearns for the same kind of thing – family and stability – though she is less reckless than Gray. They banter with a great deal of humor shared and ridiculous scenarios lived through. Their romance is hot and adorable, and colored by their impetuousness and ridiculous life choices (their dance! Gray trying to cut Mercy out of her corseted dress the first time they make love!) and I loved that Mercy is no virgin and Gray no spring chicken (they’re their mid-thirties and early forties respectively).
The colorful supporting cast reminded me of another western dramady I love, The Adventures of Brisco County Jr. Take if you will Mrs. DuVere, the town’s brothel owner… and mayor. Add in the lively Birdie and the smiling Jason and you have a great found family for our characters. I like that it’s not Gray alone but the whole town that ultimately comes together to get rid of Josiah.
What a fun little romp of a story. Hitched to the Gunslinger is by no means perfect, but it is darned entertaining and I highly recommend it.
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Grade: B+
Book Type: Frontier/Western Hist Romance
Sensuality: Warm
Review Date: 23/10/21
Publication Date: 08/2021
Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! I’m grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.
Lisa Fernandes is a writer, reviewer and recapper who lives somewhere on the East Coast. Formerly employed by Firefox.org and Next Projection, she also currently contributes to Women Write About Comics. Read her blog at http://thatbouviergirl.blogspot.com/, follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/thatbouviergirl or contribute to her Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/MissyvsEvilDead or her Ko-Fi at ko-fi.com/missmelbouvier
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Thank you for the review. This sounds like a lot of fun. I’m in ;-)
Hope you like it!
Lisa, Thank you for the review.
On the one hand, HttG sounds not overly concerned with historical accuracy. (Is it a “modern” romance in the trappings of the late 19th century U.S. West?) :-(
On the other hand, you say “it never takes itself too seriously and isn’t ashamed to have a lot of fun with its tropes”. This makes me hopeful that it will be entertaining. :-)
Plus, you have an older H/h. :-) :-)
Seems like something I may want to read, but I’ll get it from the library…
Also: Is it Grey or Gray?
Also: Might just be me, but it seems that the cover cowboy–even though he is holding the woman with both hands–might like her to slow her roll a little.
It’s Gray, I’ll ask Caz to correct it soon.
It’s really worth reading, I think. It’s lighthearted and a fresh breeze of a book. And no, it doesn’t really feel like a wallpaper historical in a bad way.
Also the heroine is older too! in her 30s.
Sorry, that’s my fault – I must’ve made some changes in editing and needed to use the hero’s name, and completely forgot you lot spell it differently! :P