I rarely read Westerns - but when I do, I so far seem to have picked immensely well. Lucky Red is no exception - it's utterly engrossing. It wasn't entirely what I was expecting - the focus, especially for the first two-thirds of the book, is much more on saloon life than out in the wilds. However, I was so invested in the lives of Bridget and her contemporaries - even as Bridget continued to be naïve and generally foolhardy, I couldn't help but root for her. I found the writing style, positioning us in her head, kept me interested. I'm keen to see what Claudia Cravens writes next.

When Bridget's alcoholic father dies, she does whatever it takes in order to survive. Arriving penniless in Dodge City, she quickly finds that the best way to make money is to work at the only brothel in town. Whilst working there she meets the mysterious and enigmatic Spartan Lee, and her life changes forever.

I'm not usually the biggest fan of westerns, but it turns out that if you make it feminist and queer then suddenly I like it. I knew the relationship was doomed but I was still rooting for it. I loved how much Bridget changed over the course of the book and how she gained agency. Her transition from caretaker to prostitute to gunslinger was really interesting and I love that it was ultimately a well-written revenge story.

I thought the setting was really interesting and immersive and I was hoping the best for most of the characters. The love interest/villain was also a different character to have and I liked the dynamic between her and our hero.

It was a little bit slow at times which is why it wasn't a 5 star read for me but I still really enjoyed it.

a sapphic adult coming of age western. when i first heard about it i had it in my head this was a sapphic western thriller so i had some different expectations going into this.

this has a really slow start for me. the first quarter of the book is outlined in the blurb so i did have a bit of a hard time getting into it because i was waiting for the story to get going. the plot is the meandering sort — this might be my first real western so i don’t know if this is a common trait within the genre, and i can be impatient.

bridget is very much a Main Character TM, but she does grow (up). she’s the kind of character i really don’t like but she was interesting enough to follow along. side characters also made reading her bearable since they’d call her out on shit. the found family aspect and the friends and enemies bridget makes at the brothel create a lively cast.

the writing itself was also a huge plus. lots of great turns of phrase and descriptions that really make the historic western setting.

while the beginning was quite slow and tedious for me, i did quite like the latter half of the book and the climax and ending in particular.

overall a really strong debut, and looking forward to more of cravens’ work in the future.

I really enjoyed this sapphic historical western novel, and the characters and setting have stuck with me since I finished it.

The plot is a slow burn, but there is something compulsive about it. It's suspenseful and I felt like I was genuinely there, alongside the richly drawn characters.

The prose is gorgeous, creating a vivid sense of the setting and perfectly evoking all of the protagonist's emotions.

My only complaint is about the blurb, which I feel sets up the wrong expectations about the nature of the story. The promised "revenge" plot doesn't happen until the very final chapters—don't go in expecting a lot of gun-slinging on the main character's part.

However, the actual story is so well executed that I had no problem sinking into its more sedate pace.

I have already bought a physical copy of this book to give as a present, and I will no doubt be recommending it to plenty of other people, too!

I received a free e-galley of this book from Netgalley in exchange for a review.

I heard ‘lesbian Western’ and didn’t need to be told anymore.

This is a fun, original, very readable queer Western. There’s a fun kind of bildungsroman element that reminded me a lot of, say, Sarah Waters, as we follow our protagonist on her journey from orphan to sex worker. It’s a rollicking ride. I enjoyed the depiction of the women in the whorehouse. There’s betrayal and drama and it’s a very fun read.

I didn’t love this the same way other readers seem to have though. The pacing seemed weird to me — but this might have been because the blurb describes events that don’t happen until well into the book. So, the last act of the book didn’t really work for me, but I had a great time until then so I’ll still recommend it.

Thought this sounded really interesting, and definitely want to read more female-led westerns, but unfortunately I wasn’t a huge fan of the narrative voice.

I really enjoyed Lucky Red by Claudia Cravens.
I'm a big fan of Western's so I was really excited to read this!

I really liked the writing style and the characters.
I really loved Bridget!
The ending was also really good!

I highly recommend this book!
Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Absolutely loved this! I read this practically straight through and didn’t want it to end. Red goes on quite a journey of self discovery and the author throws the reader right into the environs of Dodge, complete with whore house saloon, gun toting bandits and a great crew of characters. Something about this really captured my imagination. Many thanks to Netgalley for an arc of this book.

Lucky Red is a western set in 1877, and follows the story of Bridget, newly orphaned after her late father trades their home for a piece of land and two donkeys. Bridget finds herself in Dodge City, starving and without a penny to her name.

Bridget is soon recruited into a local brothel, spotted because of her beautiful copper hair. The local deputy sheriff takes a shine to Bridget, and she has to keep him sweet in order to keep the peace at The Buffalo Queen, and keep the other girls safe from bandits and outlaws who would otherwise frequent their establishment. But when a female bounty hunter rides into town, everything changes for Bridget.

Lucky Red is full of gunfights, bandits, gambling, friendship, love, betrayal, loyalty, bravery and deception. But is ultimately the story of a young woman who comes from nothing, navigating her new life in Dodge City, and trying to figure out what kind of life she wants to lead. It is brilliant, and I highly recommend.

★★★★

Summary: We follow Bridget who becomes orphaned after her less than dependable father is bitten by a rattlesnake during a perilous journey after selling their home. In the middle of nowhere and down on her luck, she finds her way to the town of Dodge, Kansas City and to the Buffalo Queen’s madams who take her on as a whore.

While there were areas where the plot lulled, Cravens kept a mostly fast-paced and engaging plot with likeable characters and love interests. I really enjoyed the relationships between the women in the brothel and each character was memorable and charming in their own way. Bridget was a convincing main character who was unique, feminist and recklessly stubborn. The love interests were intriguing in their own way and the plot twist in the latter half was pleasantly surprising but quite gut-wrenching. Overall, I found the plot and characters strong and it was an enjoyable read.

If you have picked up this book specifically for the LGBT+ themes, it does take a while to build but keeps true to its progressive promise - it was also believable for the time era. (To clarify this point, I have read other books where it simply felt that the characters were raised in a modern time period and put into a historical setting, while Cravens’ comments on social issues felt authentic for a book set in the 1800s)

However, one thing I did struggle with was the overly-flowery language; there were countless similes and winding sentences. While I understand that this is a personal preference and also suited to the romance genre which this book is somewhat apart of (I would argue that this book focuses more on relationships between women than wholly romance), often a lot of similes were nonsensical and the comparisons were very niche and hard to picture - “Some cowboy would lie out full-length while his tool pulled back into itself like a judge shrugging his coat on after adjourning the court.”

There were also times where these heavily descriptive similes were appearing multiple times a page and on almost every single page (I had tabbed over 80 pages where something was ‘like’ or ‘as’ something else). Cravens’ writing was strong and engaging, but I think keeping some of the description minimal would have made the pacing smoother. I found myself rereading pages of description because I had not really grasped it yet.

Overall, I enjoyed the book and had fun reading it. The language choices at times made me struggle but if you can power through something heavily descriptive, I would recommend this as a nice sapphic read with bubbly, relatable characters and a satisfying ending. This was my first western (I don’t know if Holes counts) and this book has made me both intrigued at what the author will write next and has also completely sold me on the idea of gay westerns.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this e-ARC!

This is a Western with a difference. It’s many decades since I read a Western and they were full of gunslingers and sheriffs. This is totally different. Same setting with a bar, brothel, sheriff and small town occupants but the huge difference here is that the perspective is from the female point.

Sixteen year old Bridget arrives in Dodge City; her assets are her beauty and red hair. She ends up working in the Buffalo Queen, a brothel run by women. Then her world is turned upside down when a female gunslinger rides into town and Bridget falls for her. This story totally reworks the genre. Such strong women, plausible, feisty and the reader is drawn along with them. I never thought I’d enjoy a Western style story so much, but bits of it reminded me of Dietrich in Destry Rides Again where the strength of the story lies in the female aspect. It’s not about violence it’s about people who feel real and their struggles to make sense of th3 ir lives. @bso,utely loved this and I hope there’s more from Claudia Cravens.

I really enjoyed this historical Western with a feminist twist. Bridget (the Lucky Red of the title) is a resilient orphan who washes up in a whorehouse, where she quickly learns how to turn tricks and survive in a brutal business. Cravens has chosen an unusual POV, a young woman selling herself, and it was refreshing to read a story set in the world of cowboys from a wholly female vantage point. When Bridget falls for a female gunslinger, Spartan Lee, the tension ratchets up, and love blossoms. But then the story twists again, and the ending is not what I was expecting. Whipsmart writing raises Lucky Red above the crowd, and I look forward to reading more from Craven.

would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this book

bridgets life hasnt been easy with a drunk for a father but when he sells their house for a couple of donkeys and cart its gonna get a lot tougher

as they set out its not long before they get into a routine but its the snake bite that finally gets her father and bridget has to carry on alone, alone and penniless

her life in dodge city goes the way of many a young girl and so she starts work at a whore house but its the betrayal that leads bridget and a couple of the girls to try and get revenge and maybe help heal a broken heart

an interesting and compelling read and the characters were well thought out some you liked and some you didnt

A sad story and excellent historical fiction with an unusual cast of female characters and a realistic depiction of what should have been then.
The author is a talented storyteller and I liked the fleshed out characters and the world building.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

I read an eARC of this book so thank you to the author, the publisher and Net Galley for this.

Lucky Red was an absolutely fascinating piece of historical fiction. It was unlike anything else I can remember reading.

We follow Bridget, a hard working teenager who keeps her and her father going through taking on chores and work from anyone she can. Her father decides to move them after selling their farm. Along their route he dies from a snakebite and Bridget has to make her own way. She walks to Dodge city, arriving starving and then gets work at a brothel.

I really like Wild West as a theme but it’s rare to see female led story in this genre. This book has a female MC but also features found family, female friendships and sapphic romance as core themes. It felt really unusual to read a novel from the perspective of someone working in this profession in this location and time but it was fascinating. I really liked that we joined Bridget earlier in her story so the choices she makes towards the end of the book made a lot of sense. We learn more of the other girls back stories too which I appreciated.

Towards the end of the book the story takes quite a dramatic turn and I won’t say too much to avoid spoilers but it was very exciting!

I thought this was well-written, punchy and it felt really original.

The story starts with 16 year old Bridget and her father crossing from Arkansas to the prairies of Kansas looking for 20 acres of land that he traded for. However along the way, her father dies from a snakebite, and Bridget is forced to continue the journey along. She finds her way to Dodge, where she uses her last bit of money to rent a room at a boarding house for a week. By the end of the week, she finds herself working at the Buffalo Queen a saloon, gambling hall and brothel, run by 2 women.

However Bridget is curious and headstrong with a mouth that speaks before she thinks and she repeatedly lands in trouble with the Queen's two madams. To add to her troubles she finds herself tangled up with the sheriff and a rogue female gunslinger.

It’s a sad story and if you are looking for a sweet romance with a happy ever after this is not the book for you.

I'm discovering a love for Westerns at the moment and as such I thoroughly enjoyed 'Lucky Red'. Claudia Cravens has produced an excellent debut and I can't wait to hear more from her. Kinda hoping we get to hear more about Red's adventures, and the women of the Buffalo Queen. I'm so invested in these characters and didn't want to leave them! Brilliant read. Highly recommend!

I first heard of Lucky Red when the other was interviewed on one of my fave podcasts (Vulgar History). I decided to not listen to the whole thing and request the book, and boy I'm happy I did!

Bridget is an orphaned young woman who finds herself alone after her dad tragically dies.
She walks through the prairie, ending up in Dodge, where she is taken in by Lila, one of the "madams" at the Buffalo Queen, one of the nicer brothels in the city.
Bridget isn't really phased by "whoring", as they call it, but she soon attracts the attention of the deputy Sheriff, which ensures the Buffalo Queen is protected from dodgy types and outlaws.
But when a woman bounty hunter, Spartan Lee, rolls into town, everything changes....

I loved Lucky Red, and grew attached to Bridget and her friends, and wanted to know what happened next - I'm going to be honest, though, the first 10% of the book was hard to get into - I am glad I stuck it out!
I loved this exploration of sexuality and friendship and this spin on the western genre, which is usually dominated by men. I would definitely recommend this especially to anyone who enjoyed Outlawed by Anna North (which i really loved!)

There's a lot to be said about first written books the energy, plot, characters and thrills are just a few things to mention that this author has done extremely well. From red dressed whores, an alcoholic father, gun slinging cowboys, card sharks and smoke filled saloons its all in this book. I absolutely loved it for me 5 stars.
The characters are well developed you feel as if you have known them long after reading the book and before this story even began. The plot has humour, lust, regret, secretiveness, sorrow, horror, honesty the list could go on but I really think you should read this to experience this story of lucky red and make your own decisions. It's unputdownable....

Lucky Red follows Bridget, recently orphaned and left to find her own way in the world. Arriving in Dodge City, Kansas, she finds herself employed at the Buffalo Queen, becoming embroiled in brothel life, making a friend in Constance, earning her own money, and soon becoming the favourite of the local Deputy. However, when notorious female gunfighter Spartan Lee arrives, Bridget’s life is turned upside down.

Lucky Red was an explosive and thrilling ride from start to finish. It throws you right into the deep end as you follow the main protagonist, Bridget. As a character, Bridget is incredibly well written. As the reader, you are taken right into her mind, and the direct POV leaves nowhere to hide from her emotions. It can be brutal and intimate and heartfelt in equal measure.

This book blends Western adventure with the desires and darkness of humanity. It doesn’t hold back on the brutality of life in Dodge City for those less fortunate, but it juxtaposes this with the beauty of friendship and found family. The setting is brought to life by Cravens’ writing, so much so you can imagine all of it in your mind, feeling as though you are there yourself.

This one was a story of love, loss, revenge, and, above all, friendship. It delved into the darkness of humanity while also bringing light and levity. As you read, you have a front row seat to Bridget finally discovering who she is, who she loves, and what she wants from life. She isn’t a character to follow what others expect of her, and it is liberating to see her finally be her true self.

There are twists to keep you guessing, your heart will break multiple times, but mostly this is a heartwarming frontier adventure that focuses on sapphic love, female friendship, and strong female characters.

I really enjoyed this book and sped through it in a few hours!