At this point, Victor LaValle is a must read author for me. After loving The Changeling, I picked this one up without even reading the synopsis. I'm not a fan of westerns. I'm not super big on the paranormal. But his writing, the characters he creates, how he takes true history (did you know there were communities of Black farmers in early California? did you know there were single women homesteaders in Montana?) and gently, slowly twists it to create an amazing world for the reader draws me in! It was like a lullaby and a fairy tale all at the same time. But, of course like those Grimm tales, there is the dark side and this one came out in the form of powerful feminism! And Adelaide wasn't the only character with a secret. The messages in this story, both subtle and in your face, made for an impactful read! Plan your time accordingly or you will be "just one more chapter"ing yourself into a night of little sleep!

Okay. Honestly? 5 stars. I want to call this a Western Horror. I don't know. I loved it though. I laughed, I "awwed" and I was shook. It was an evenly paced journey. This book was so interesting. The narration, the way they kept calling each other "Mrs", the twists and the humor. I want to hug this book.

"History is simple," Mrs. Reed said. "The past is complicated."

ooooh this was a deliciously dark horror story. I loved that it is set in the times of free land claims and settling the vast, unknown west. Our story mainly takes place in the unmapped, barely tamed Montana. It's a story about Adelaide as she crosses the land from California to Montana to buy a claim and try to make a start for herself. She's worried, appearing to travel alone as a women but also as a black women. But she is reassured her neighbors (who are still miles away) will be welcoming the help of new people nearby.

But this isn't only the story of Adelaide. It's of a small town. It's of connections to community, of family, of togetherness. It's about burdens, passed down from parents to children, and the secrets we keep from others. It's about what happens behind closed doors and when we feel the world is small. It's the ugly side of people and isolation. And about women standing together, stronger than when they are alone.

Because even though Adelaide appeared to travel alone, she traveled with a very heavy locked case. It's her physical and emotional burden, and she'll do anything to keep it locked. Anything.

A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

This is not what I expected but in a very good way. My advice would be to go in blind and enjoy the ride as this book was so well-written and engaging. Would recommend this to my audience and I am grateful to the publisher for allowing me to view this book. It was my first but not my last by this author.

This one kept me on my toes without keeping me up at night (which is good, since some of LaValle's work is too scary for me). Good pacing, some twists you see coming and plenty you don't, and gripping characters. The author comes down firmly on the side of the misfits, and the most chilling moments are the ones that are so easy to imagine happening in our everyday world, here and now. Our heroes prevail in the end, though, and I can't wait for this to reach its publication date so I can start recommending it to people.

This book.. what to say. I thought it was going one way, then the story went another way, and another way, and another. What a great book!!!!

I just reviewed Lone Women by Victor LaValle. #LoneWomen #NetGalley

This was my first Victor Lavalle book but it definitely won’t be my last. What an incredible mix of adventure, historical fiction, horror, and magical suspense; centered around the lives of single women making homesteads and trying to survive the harsh territory of Montana in 1915. I absolutely loved it. Thank you to the publisher for sending me an early copy in exchange for an honest review.

Lone Women was not what I expected and I was delighted with the difference. Adelaide Henry is fleeing her homestead in California, leaving her dead parents and her sins behind. She travels to Montana to become a homesteader, one of the "lone women" who by law is permitted to homestead without a husband, brother or father taking control. Adelaide travels light, with only a small bag and a large trunk, a trunk only she is allowed to touch and one she checks constantly to make sure it is safely locked. The lone woman finally gets to her land and is immediately struggling with the harsh environment. Fortunately she finds other lone women is the same predicament and soon has a group that stick together. The strange thing is that Adelaide isn't really alone - the secrets she contains within that trunk are deadly. Soon she may be forced to face those secrets and release the horror to help her and her new found neighbors survive. Lone Women is a well-paced, excellent story. I stayed up all night to finish it.. Readers who want something new and different and exciting should read this as should anyone who enjoys a well-crafted story.

Thanks to Netgalley and Random House - One World for gifting me an early copy of this book. Below, you'll find my honest review.

This one starts off with a bang... Adelaide, the main character, is leaving her home and her life behind to head out west and try to start a new life on a land claim. And even her exit is eventful!

Once she hits the west, things begin to happen that have you wondering what's going on, with just enough information coming at you to keep you interested. Eventually, the trunk full of secrets is burst wide open, and the you know what hits the fan.

As Adelaide begins to let people into her heart, antagonistic forces surround her from all sides, threatening this new life she's building for herself.

I'd read The Ballad of Black Tom by this author last year, and was glad to be approved for this novel, as I've wanted to read more of LaValle's work. I'll definitely be reading the rest of his novels!

Highly recommended for horror/thriller fans, western with a twist fans, and fans of strong female protagonists.

What I love to read is a good story of the settling of the old west. That is what I expected once this book started out with our leading lady leaving home with her possessions, which was a large trunk. What in the world would be so heavy? Of course we have to continue to read in order to find out! And nobody wants to stop a good book or cheat and read ahead to find out. Awesome suspense with very unusual happenings all the time. It gets weird but then continues to become even more thrilling and mysterious. I enjoyed this book so much that I am going back to read his other work. Thank you Publisher and NetGalley! I love you guys!!

This is a spoiler free review because giving away the details, really spoils the book.
I went into this book JUST reading the publisher description and nothing else. But this is the line that caught me:

Adelaide Henry carries an enormous steamer trunk with her wherever she goes. It’s locked at all times. Because when the trunk opens, people around Adelaide start to disappear.

Say what now?

Typically, historical horror is not my lane, But my goal this year is to read more books not in my comfort zone. The opening of this book was so...strand and intriguing and eerie that I could not put it down. I was RIVETED. I loved that there were people of different races and ethnicities and queerness. And there were several twists that I didn't see coming until they were right there including the...main plot as you might say.

Overall, this was a pleasure and a thrill to read!

Thanks to Netgalley for th the free ARC. All opinions are my own.

“Blue skies, empty land—and enough room to hide away a horrifying secret.” Yeah, if that isn’t enough to capture my thoughts and terrify my imagination.

Lone Women is a historical horror story and a brilliant one at that. The story starts out innocently enough, well for a horror story that is. Adelaide Henry is moving; she is taking her steamer trunk and she is moving to the wide-open range of Montana. She just needs to escape her isolation (a different kind of isolation) on her family’s farm in California, she has her reasons.

Her goal is to move to Montana, work the land for a few years in order to claim her piece of the world, to settle down and make her new home and life; but life has other plans and they are in the form of… well, just read the story.

I really loved following Adelaide on her journey, she is strong woman with the grit and determination. She has this perfect balance of heart and soul and love and strength and fearlessness. Yeah, this story is atmospheric, it has tension, fear, heartbreak, loss, and of course horror.

The horror mixes perfectly with the setting and the boldness of the characters. I loved the subtleness of some of the themes and the story expresses more than just horror.

I haven’t read any other books by this author yet and I immediately went out and bought a few of them after reading this one because if they are even remotely as wonderful (and I HIGH believe they are) I have found a new favorite author!

If you are looking for something unique, exciting, atmospheric, pulse pounding and adventure wrapped this story is for you!

I received an ARC from NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Random House, One World and I am leaving an honest review.

Adelaide is a tall, strong, independent black woman moving from California to Montana. She carries a small bag of belongings and a large, heavy trunk. She’s running, trying to leave her past behind.
When Adelaide finally completes her journey at her cabin in the cold and gusty hills of Montana, she questions her own logic but knows she must push on. She remembers her father’s words that she was built to plow with mules. Her mother simply stated on numerous occasions, “a woman is a mule”. With these two mantras in her head, she toils and survives. She meets other stragglers living in the harsh hills of Montana and builds friendships with a few. But Adelaide didn’t come to Montana alone.
Adelaide has a horrible and terrifying part of her history in the trunk and it’s alive. She attempts to live a normal life, but her buddy in the trunk has other plans.
Adelaide’s friendships and future are tested in the following weeks and much is revealed about the true nature of women and men. But she’s already as low as she can be; she came to Montana in that frame of mind. So there’s nowhere to go but up. The struggle to survive and save the ones she loves is a fast-paced thriller full of unexpected twists. The closer I got to the end of the book, the faster the roller coaster went. And I absolutely loved the ending. Kudos to Victor LaValle!
Thanks to Random House Publishing Group- Random House for an ARC in exchange for my honest review. The publishing date is March 28, 2023.

Wow - my second Victor LaValle book, and this one was even better than the first. Jordan Peele meets Stephen King. I loved it!

I usually try to write my reviews the night after I’ve read the book so its still fresh in my mind. However, with this one, it took me a while to formulate my thoughts and get them down on paper.

From the publisher: Blue skies, empty land—and enough wide-open space to hide a horrifying secret. A woman with a past, a mysterious trunk, a town on the edge of nowhere, and a bracing new vision of the American West...

What genre would this fall into? A little historical fiction, a little gothic horror, a little fantasy all rolled into a delicious piece of what is this book. To say I’ve never read a book like this is an understatement. While I have read historical fiction / horror mashups, this was the first with the fantasy mixed it. To be honest I wasn’t quite sure how great it worked until it was done, and I was reflecting – when I was deep into the pages I keep going “huh”, “okay – this works”. It was interesting and held my attention that’s for sure. I really didn’t want to put this one down. After the big reveal of what was in the chest, I wanted to know more, I needed to know more, and how what was found worked. The writing was impeccable and fun to read. The plot – oh gosh – well its well developed and written.

Check this one out if you are looking for a fun and engaging read – it’s out March 28th. Thank you to @netgalley, the publisher Random House Publishing Group – Random House, @randomhouse, for an e-ARC in exchange for this honest review.

First and foremost, shoutout to the One World team for recommending I pick up Lone Women due to my review of a novel by another writer, as well as to the NetGalley team for supporting readers, reviewers, and authors. This novel, set during the early 20th century during the U.S. historical era of Westward Expansionism, has fabulous pacing that matches the western/horror/time period style incredibly well. Right around the halfway mark, readers get a big reveal, which allows for really nice ramping up of the story itself. Our protagonist is a Black femme homesteader during a historical period in the United States that was not kind to unmarried Black femmes.

There's a really gothic feel to this novel, and it's a bit of a combination of something like a monster noir story set during this period alongside a more traditional Western style novel. This combination isn't one I would have thought would work for me, but my experience is that this combination felt really clean and fresh.

I was pleasantly surprised by the LGBTQNIA2S+ representation in the novel as well and that these characters don't play solely a secondary part in the novel, but become the main focus for large portions of the story.

I would recommend this novel to folks who enjoy horror, Westerns, and are willing to take a risk on a combination of the two. Due to the style/setting/time period in question, the pacing is slower, but anyone who enjoys a good Western will be familiar with this!

CW: child abduction, transphobia, homophobia, monsters, classism, racism (albeit to differing levels among these).

In ‘Lone Women’, Adelaide Henry is forced to leave as a fugitive under the dark skies and dark past of California for the big skies of Montana in the early 1900’s. She is a very tall black American who hopes to hide and start over alone by taking advantage of a federal government homesteading act (which bears a resemblance to the true Homestead Act of 1862) giving out a 320-acre plot of land to adults and only requiring the ‘individual’ to live on the land for three years, cultivating crops and improving the land to a suitable state. It was an indomitable task in the vast, small-populated, northern open prairies of Montana.

The only thing Adelaide travels with is a small travel bag of personal belongings and a huge, heavy steamer trunk locked with a big heavy brass padlock - she always wears the burdensome key to the solid trunk around her neck and the steamer is always locked

Beyond the harsh winters when you have no choice but to rely on your neighbors who most often live miles away from your own homestead claim, the secret of the Seward steamer trunk preys on the mind of Adelaide.

Survivors are the only ones who stay but can even they survive the hell and dread of the monstrous secret that Adelaide has brought with her? The few men she sees prey on her loneliness and the horror of what is inside the trunk becomes even harder to conceal. If it was to be opened . . .

Lyrical moody writing by Victor LaValle captures the barren brutal landscape of a raw territory and the hidden, desperate terror inside the steamer trunk.

Thank you to #OneWorld, #PenguinRandomHouse and #NetGalley for the opportunity to read this unputdownable book! #LoneWomen #Montana

Lone Women by Victor Lavalle is an incredible story told about a woman and her life in the plains of Montana in the early 20th century. Tragedy abounds in this book, as do fantastic images, and graphic violence. But there is also love, hope, and acceptance. This book is so many things: it is a historical fiction, feminist, supernatural, horror novel. The only book I have ever read even remotely similar is Lavalle’s previous book, The Changeling. I am so happy to have gotten a copy of this gem! Thank you to One World Random House and NetGalley for the advanced copy!

I've not enjoyed LaValle's previous work I've read (a me problem) but this one was great. I didn't find it scary, but it had some of my favorite elements of horror - a strong setting that lends itself to general creepiness, a strong female lead, and a plot that gives you just enough crumbs to keep reading as fast as you can to figure out what's happening. I really enjoyed it.

This book is my curse! From now on I’ll compare any book I’ll read with this and I’ll hardly enjoy them! This is EXCELLENT! It absolutely lives up to its hype! It’s even better! I was so sure I would enjoy this book! But I didn’t think I would love that much!

The plot, the characters, twists are incredible! The beginning hooks you up! Tension keeps escalating! The disturbing and troubled characters couldn’t be portrayed so great!

Each of them fights with their inner demons. They’re flawed, far from perfection. That’s why you can easily connect with them.

I’m normally not into historical fictions. But this book provides us great combination of different genres including horror, thriller, women’s fiction, historical fiction, fantasy. This is powerful feminism story meets a monster’s survival saga takes place in Montana, early 20th century!

Adelaide Henry is unconventional, unique, peculiar woman, strong, tall, trapped. In 31, raised like a mull more than a human, deciding to take her own fate into her hands. Her life completely changed at the day she put fire her farmhouse in Redondo, where her parents Glenville and Eleanor Henry’s corpses left behind.

She dragged her trunk that carried a special delivery/ her big secret/ her curse inside, moving to Montana to start over where her fate crosses with a very suspicious woman and her 4 blind sons.

She tries so hard to keep her secret hidden for not only her but also townies’ sakes! But what if she’s not the only cursed one in this town! What of town is already rotted with hypocrisy, inequality, greed. What if she’s not the only lone women in the town who has to fight against the monsters live under human furs? She has to do anything to survive, doesn’t she?

I’m so shaken to the care! Giving only five stars is not fair to this book! This is exceptional! Please urgently read it! Highly absolutely extremely recommended!

Millions of thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group/One World for sharing this FANTASTIC digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest thoughts.