Tough Luck by Sandra Dallas

 

My thoughts

This book was a delight to read. A light hearted story with some intense scenes along the way. I enjoyed it very much.

When Haidie, Cheet, and Boots, ma dies their lives go awry. Cheet is the oldest. He decided to sell the farm, not that it was worth a lot, and take the money for himself. Their pa had left for Colorado to become a gold miner and Cheet thought he was in charge of everything. In many ways he was. He put his sister and younger brother in an orphanage. Haidie and Boots didn't belong there. They had a pa and wanted to go find him. So they escaped and took off on an adventure that would take them across the country. Through indian territories. Through lots of ups and downs. They didn't know who to trust but did get lucky and found a train of wagons to help them. 

What these two kids went through was tough but they were certainly resilient. Both were hard workers and got along with others. Everyone thought Haidie was a boy. She had cut her hair off short so as to not be recognized. Haidie certainly could do a lot of work that most boys her age would not have been able to do. She was not afraid of much either. She could shoot a gun and that helped when they were attacked by indians.  

You get to know these children and will love them. They work hard to get to Colorado and have plenty of hardships along the way. Traveling the land with strangers took a lot of guts but they really didn't have a lot of choices. 

Parts of this book will have you gritting your teeth. Will they make it. Will they find their pa and if they do will he take them in. He had loved his family. He had been a good pa. But was he still even alive. Haidie would not stop until she had her family back. And Boots would go wherever Haidie went. He trusted his sister. 

This was a fun story. It had just enough to keep me wondering what would happen next and a lot of heart and soul. And boy was Haidie smart. I thought she was maybe one of the strongest children ever. Of course for that era she had to be...

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC. 

About

In this homage to True Grit, a young woman makes a perilous journey west in 1863 in search of her gold-mining father.

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.

Filled with vivid period detail, colorful characters, and the irreverent voice of our scrappy heroine, Tough Luck celebrates both the tenacity of youth and the persistence of the heart in the great American West.