Hard call on this one but ultimately, it wasn't for me. While I liked learning more about Annie Oakley, there was just so much going on that I got lost. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Over to others.

This was a good book in theory - in practice, it's something that perhaps goes a little too hard into the genres that it tries to play into. To be quite frank, this book is only a three star on the basis of the fact that it tries to get its teeth around a little too much. I really did enjoy it - although I will say the titular character is a little too much, and her opinions on things were also a little too much.

Side characters came in and out like a cast of thousands, and I just didn't connect with them as well as I could have. I do wish that it were a little more pulled together, but it was a solid novel. I think I will need to reread it eventually to get a better grasp on the whole thing.

"Annie and the Wolves" is a hauntingly beautiful novel that seamlessly blends elements of mystery, folklore, and family secrets. Set against the backdrop of a small town, this story follows Annie, a young girl with a fascination for the enigmatic tales of her ancestors. As she delves deeper into her family's history, she becomes entwined in a mesmerizing web of dark secrets and supernatural elements. With its lyrical prose, atmospheric setting, and compelling characters, "Annie and the Wolves" captures the reader's imagination and keeps them spellbound until the final page. It is a thought-provoking and captivating read that intertwines the power of storytelling with the complexities of identity and heritage.

I really enjoyed the synopsis and the premise of the book. Unfortunately, I had a hard time following the story at times and I kept losing interest.

DNF @ 68 %
This was just not for me. I did not really like the characters, expect Caleb. He seemed somewhat interesting. But i was all around very bored.

I really loved the concept of the body swapping with Annie Oakley and solving some mysteries. The book was so well done and kept me interested from beginning to end. I hope the author writes more like this as I really enjoyed this.

I found this interesting because I did not know much about Annie Oakley. However, there were many graphic scenes that I could not stomach. I also did not like Ruth very well. Still, I recommend this for someone who knows a lot about Annie Oakley.

This was a fast-paced, wonderful story! I was gripped right from the beginning! I needed to know what was going on! I enjoyed the characters and their struggles and adventures. This definitely has a fantasy element, so make sure that if you are a historical fiction reader, you also enjoy fantasy!

I don't even remember now what I expected when I requested an ARC of Annie and the Wolves, but the novel itself was quite different than I assumed it'd be going into it. Which isn't a bad thing, although I do wish it had been a bit tighter, if that makes sense. The prose was a little jarring initially, but then the plot picked up and the writing smoothed out, and I found myself gleefully noticing connections between Ruth, Reece, and the various other characters and their situations. Truthfully, I found Annie Oakley's sections to be some of the weaker ones—and this leads to one of my larger notes, that being the fact that I wasn't really satisfied with the way everything (including Annie's chapters) culminated at the end. The climax was too jumpy for my liking—even with the presence of time travel—and it left me feeling a bit unsatisfied. However, the meat of this book was quite enjoyable and I flew through it.

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

A real mishmash of contemporary fiction, historical fiction, and family drama with the backdrop of Annie Oakley. It works. She is a historian with a sister who died and the details torment her. The dual timeline is Annie Oakely and her backstory. Very ambitious.

An excellent portray of Annie Oakley, whose brutal childhood affected the rest of her life. Written from 2 perspectives, modern day historical researcher Ruth McClintock, finds parallels with the life of sharpshooter Annie Oakley, to her own. Well written historical fiction.

Annie and the Wolves is an interesting and entertaining tale of Annie Oakley and a modern day historian who is fascinated by her. Ruth McClintock has become obsessive about researching little know aspects of Oakely’s life. As her personal life deteriorates she begins to have out-of-body experiences that including such subjects as cultural expectatioins and treatment of women's role, sexual abuse, and time travel.

Thanks to Netgalley and Soho Crime for providing me with a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Annie and the Wolves by Andromeda Romano-Lex ☆☆☆

* Phew * This novel has A LOT going on! I feel like the author wanted to incorporate so many important topics (gun control, depression, suicide, sexual abuse, school safety, the Me Too Movement, and more) while also having the story revolve around an iconic historical figure (Annie Oakley) while also throwing time traveling into the mix, which for me adds enough complexity to any book.

There was so much going on, that by the end of the book I didn't mind not putting all the pieces together.

@Rubibooksday

A great read. I love historical fiction and dual timelines.. this was a different feel, but very interesting.
Thanks NetGalley!

I loved this book! It was heartwarming and strong. It was exactly what I needed with everything going on in the world! A happy little escape!

I have just finished reading Annie and the Wolves, by Author Andromeda Romano-Lax

The main character Ruth McClintock is a modern-day historian, who is researching and writing a book on Annie Oakley

This is a very complex book that touches on many subjects such as women's rights, sexual abuse, and time travel to name just a few

I enjoyed the premiss of the book, however found it a bit hard to follow, and keep interested at times.

Thank You to NetGalley, Author Andromeda Romano-Lax and Soho Press for my advanced copy to read and review

#AnnieandtheWolves #NetGalley

Still recovering from two events that changed her life, her little sister’s suicide and a car crash that still causes her difficulty to walk, historian Ruth McClintock becomes obsessed trying to prove the authenticity of letters she mysteriously receives that indicate Annie Oakley sought help from a psychoanalyst claiming the ability to time travel. Through her research, and with the help of teenager Reece who she recently befriended, Ruth uncovers the mystery of Annie Oakley’s haunted past, Oakley’s hidden abilities, while also uncovering the mystery behind Ruth’s sister’s reason for suicide.

This was an ambitious novel and had a lot going on-duel timelines, multiple narrators in the present timeline, mystery, and historical references. For me, a lot of it worked. I really enjoyed Annie Oakley’s story and almost wanted that part to be its own book. I felt there were too many narrators in the present timeline and I felt drained because all of my empathy was being pulled for each of these characters. The sexual abuse of young teenagers in the present timeline was also sometimes difficult to read and not what I had expected when I read the synopsis of the book. Overall, this is a fresh take on the dual timeline format of historical fiction but with some darker elements.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the eArc in exchange for an honest review.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐭 𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐰𝐨𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐬.

Annie Oakley, born Phoebe Ann Moses in 1860, went on to become a legendary sharpshooter charming the world over, performing in Wild West shows and even meeting royalty. A mean feat for a girl whose early origins were brutal, whose very hunting skills provided food and money for her family at a wildly tender age. This novel, however, is not solely focused on her fame but on the wolves that haunted her mind. She was a survivor, first and foremost, and this novel takes us through the real event of a train accident she was injured in and how it derailed her life, for a time. Annie’s injuries were severe, leaving her with yet another mountain to climb in a life full of obstacles. Yet, this novel is about the wolves that haunt us all and parallel to her tale is the very woman obsessed with researching Annie, through combing through Oakley’s past she exhumes deeper truths she has been avoiding about her own sister.

Ruth McClintock has ‘lost herself in the weeds’ of her work on Annie Oakley, wanting desperately to explain what drove the icon to encourage women to arm themselves. Ruth is sure that Annie’s suffering, poverty, abuse, starvation, and other far more sinister transgressions against her during her childhood is the seed that drove her to want every female to protect herself from the wolves of the world. The pressing issue is, how can she prove it? No one wants to focus on the ugliness of the legend’s past, allowing it to dim the shine of her amazing rise and success. Ruth is coming up empty, despite her search for evidence to back her claims. With an unfinished autobiography and a bit of correspondence remaining before Annie’s death, there is very little to find. Fate may be in her favor, an antique collector is sending her photocopies from a journal that, though not authenticated, could be Annie Oakley’s. This takes her down a rabbit’s hole, desperate to find out if Annie was ever secretly being treated by a psychoanalyst. Surely such visits are evidence that Oakley was suffering mentally about what happened in her youth. Ruth is dealing with her own demons and strange episodes of ‘out of body experiences’, changes in memory, time, events not unlike those Annie experienced. Her fiancé Scott has given up on her, on their life together, blaming her obsessions, her very negative views of life gone sour for ruining everything. Her life has slipped from her hands, and it’s time to confront the wolves of her own past.

High School Senior Reece offers to fix Ruth’s laptop, a whiz at tech stuff, her ex fiancé assures her. When Reece confides he is a problem solver, she lets him in on her research of Oakley. Already she feels a comfortable familiarity between them and he aides her in her pursuit of authenticating the journal. Without knowing it yet, he may also be a link in the tragic suicide of her younger sister, a past she has chosen to lock away inside of her, refusing to confront. Strange things have been happening to Ruth, uprooting her life, making her question reality and time since she survived an accident of her own. Life no longer seems to be keeping order , events and memories aren’t quite solidified. Could it be that Annie Oakley, through her own trauma, experienced the exact same uncontrollable escapes from her body and time? Is it a simple slip of the mind, a delusion? Why is Annie’s dark past, her tormentors so important to Ruth? What truths are Ruth, herself, avoiding?

This story turned out to be richer than I imagined. It’s not your typical historical fiction at all as it plunges the reader into the low bellied monsters that hunt the young. It attempts to explain how these dark souls escape the radar, how the victim is locked away in fear of exposure. It challenges how we cope with revenge, what it costs to fight smear campaigns in all their devilish forms. How do we push the dark forces into the light, when they are so good at protecting themselves? How do we make things right without ruining our own lives in the process? How does one truly move beyond the trauma they’ve experienced, be it violence at another’s hands or any other obstacle? This is why so many people prefer to remain blind or ignore the ‘red flags’. It was a heavy read and every character matters. Time, how we experience it, what we envision or dream, imagine or conjure… it’s all personal in the end. I need to read more by this gifted author.

Available Now

Publication Date: February 2, 2021

Soho Press

Annie Oakley, time travel, and the subject of revenge converge in Andromeda Romano-Lax's novel Annie and the Wolves. I loved uncovering the mysteries right along with our main character, Ruth McClintock. Ruth is a former historian charged with deciphering a journal thought to be belong to famed Annie Oakley, a woman whom Ruth has been studying for years.

Or was studying before her car accident. An accident that triggered a strange vision. And when a high school boy says he's seen Ruth in a vision of his own, Ruth has to figure out if these visions are merely dreams or premonitions.

As Ruth is unraveling the mystery of Annie Oakley and Oakley's childhood trauma, Ruth also realizes that there's more to the story of her younger sister's suicide than she previously knew. Is it possible to go back and change anything that happened her sister's past? Is it possible to go forward and change the future?

This book will make you think, make you do double takes, and keep you guessing. I didn't want to put it down! This is a perfect book club read.

Annie and the Wolves is published by Soho Press and is available to purchase now. I received a free e-ARC in exchange for my review.

Annie and the Wolves by Andromeda Romano-Lax is fictional look at a Annie Oakley and a historical researcher who finds new letters, that will change space and time. Annie and the Wolves is grounded yet really out there. There's a plot twist that takes this really grounded story linking Annie Oakley and Ruth the woman researching who are linked in their fight against wolves/predators, and then turns it on it's head. The twist not revealed in any synopsis or press materials materials happens less than halfway, and is used effectively at the end. I was a little confused at the beginning which feels like Ruth has ADHD as subjects get bounced around, the plot twist helped be understand this better and I throughly enjoyed it once I got used to the bouncing around narrative. The book has an exciting yet compelling finish. I was not expecting the book to go where it did but I enjoyed the unexpected ride. Thanks to Netgalley and SOHO press for letting me read Annie and the Wolves before publication. Annie and the Wolves by Andromeda Romano-Lax was published on 2-2-21.

The Plot: Ruth has spent two years recovering from a car wreck, that had her push people and her live in boyfriend away. Ruth spent this time researching Annie Oakley of the wild west from the late 1800'2 to early 1900's who had her own debilitating train crash. Ruth becomes obsessed and then she is sent letters from a psychiatrist who treated Annie, this is a time when they would just mark women hysterical who had strong feelings, this what Ruth is expecting, but she gets a whole lot more. Annie talks about dealing with her wolf, a sexual predator when she was young, that now wants to confront them. Ruth has her own wolf in a former coach at her old school, will Ruth learn from Annie how to give justice?

What I Liked: Te Annie Oakley scenes with Sitting Bull in the tent. The twist as I mentioned was unexpected but it made this novel so unique, I hate not giving it away but my rule is not to give more than the synopsis. I like the characters of Reece and Caleb, Caleb took a while to like but Reece was immediate. Te ending was pulled off really well with a couple of layers to it. I liked all the connections that Annie and Ruth had, I liked that Ruth questioned if she was giving Annie these characteristics or they were real. That this novel is low key science fiction novel, sort of.

What I Disliked: The twist was great but I still wanted more explanation on how it worked exactly. The Annie Oakley scenes were my favorite I wanted more.

Recommendation: I will recommend this totally unique novel. It is a quarter historical fiction, half a drama with a little mystery element to it and the plot twist takes it to almost science fiction level. I rated Annie and the Wolves by Andromeda Romano-Lax 4 out of 5 stars.