Does Tough Luck Have True Grit? Thoughts on Sandra Dallas’s New Novel

From the desk of Laurel Ann Nattress:   

Do you enjoy reading novels that are homages to classic stories? They are quite popular. I have read dozens paying tribute to Jane Austen’s novels. And then there are books inspired by Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes, and the enormous universe of Star Wars and DC Comic heroes. It seems we don’t want to let our favorite iconic characters fade to black.

Being prone to enjoy this special genre of fiction, I was immediately drawn to Tough Luck, whose book description includes a claim of it being an homage to Charles Portis’ superb novel, True Grit, one of my top ten favorite books, and movies. If author Sandra Dallas could mirror Portis’ spunky Mattie Ross and her fellow ensemble of colorful characters, then I was in for a wild and satisfying ride.

Here are more details on the forthcoming book, and my thoughts.

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BOOK DESCRIPTION

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.

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MY THOUGHTS

Tough Luck & True Grit share definite similarities: fourteen-year-old spunky heroines, an adventurous search for justice, colorful secondary characters, period accurate details, and an emotional denouement that made me cheer with joy. Story telling doesn’t get much better than this.

I do give author Sandra Dallas full credit for making Tough Luck her own story, though. Written from the cheeky perspective of young Haidie, we closely follow her thoughts and reactions, tempered only by the slow pace of the oxen driven wagons transporting her and her young brother Boots across the American prairie to Denver. Furthermore, their mission to find their estranged father, stricken by gold fever, is brought vividly to life by the villains they encounter and defeat, and the heroes they meet along the way who help them and become their friends.

The final scenes will make your head spin with its clever con to dupe a con man! Brava, Sandra Dallas! I highly recommend Tough Luck. It is a spirited, dramatic, humorous, and uplifting adventure across the American west of 1863. Does it have true grit? Darn tootin.

5 out of 5 Stars

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BOOK INFORMATION

• Tough Luck: A Novel, by Sandra Dallas
• St. Martin’s Press (April 29, 2025)
• Hardcover, eBook, & audiobook (288) pages
• ISBN: 978-1250352309
• Genre: Historical Fiction, American West Fiction

AMAZON | PUBLISHER | ADD TO GOODREADS

We were gifted a copy of the book from the publisher. Book description & cover image courtesy of St. Martin’s Press © 2025; text Laurel Ann Nattress © 2024, austenprose.com, an Amazon affiliate. No AI: material on Austenprose.com may not be used in datasets for, in the development of, or as inputs to generative AI programs.

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