When I read John Larison’s Whiskey When We’re Dry, I called it Lonesome Dove meets Calamity Jane. I loved everything about it. When I saw he’d blurbed Sandra Dallas’s Tough Luck (St. Martin’s Press 2025), which is marketed as a homage to True Grit, the new release was immediately placed on my radar. (A huge thanks to the publisher for sending me a finished copy for review.) I can see why Larison weighed in as there are some similarities between his Jessilyn/Jesse and Dallas’s Haidie, but Larison is gritty and unflinching, a liquor that burns. Tough Luck is more akin to sweet tea, going down easy but at times too saccharine.
Several times while reading, I had to double check that the novel was not a middle grade novel. IMHO, that’s the target audience and how it should have been marketed. There’s nothing wrong or lesser than about middle grade novels, and had Tough Luck been marketed as such, most of my concerns would have vanished. But it’s not a middle grade novel and therein lies the rub.
When Haidie’s mother dies, her older brother, Cheet (unfortunate name for a gambler) sells the family farm and takes her and their younger brother, Boots, to an orphanage. She lies about her age because 14 is too old for the orphanage, and she needs to be there for Boots. The orphanage isn’t a bad place, but Haidie begins to plot for their escape. She plans to go to Colorado, to find their pa. With a series of adventures and characters that have a Tom Sawyer / Huck Finn taste to them, Haidie, masquerading as a boy, and Boots eventually make it to Colorado.
It’s cute, easy to swallow, and action packed. I think a 11-13 year old would love it. Are there “hoors”? Yeah, but they barely kiss the page. Indian shootout? Yeah, but again, it happens in a blink. Is she discovered as female and almost raped? Yes, but that is even less than a blink. The weight of those scenes is what remains unwritten.
Now let’s talk about the cover. It’s absolutely gorgeous. And it is absolutely the incorrect choice for this novel. Give me a girl with “hacked off” hair, britches and a mule. Don’t give me a cowgirl with a braid. I don’t know who is on the cover, but it’s not Haidie.
A Girl Named Tommi 