Thank you @oneworldbooks @netgalley for my review copy!

📖It’s 1915 and Adelaide leaves her California home and heads to rural Montana. She becomes one of the “lone women” and settles a piece of land in hopes of taming it and claiming it for free from the government. However, her family secret haunts her and threatens to destroy her plans.

💭This was such an interesting read. I loved the mix of horror and historical fiction. It had me so intrigued, especially the second half of the book. I also really liked the remote setting. It gave a creepiness to the story that was perfect for the horror aspect of the book. This would be a great pick to add to your fall reading list.

📚Read this if you like…
Remote settings
Horror/gore
Paranormal elements

I'm a big fan of horror westerns and Lone Women is one of the better ones I've read in some time. Pacing is a bit slow at times but that doesn't stop it from being a powerhouse of a story. I enjoyed it quite a bit.

I couldn't stop reading this book! It creatively combines historical fiction with horror and suspense. I sympathized with the characters and became invested in the story, and it kept me wondering who was good and who was evil. It checked all the boxes for me!

Victor LaVelle is one of the best horror writers out there right now. When Adelaide leaves the only home she's ever known in California for Montana, she takes with her a heavy locked trunk . The trunk must go where she goes. . Taking advantage of the goverment's offer of free land she is in for brutal weather. This Novel describes so well the weather and conditions Adelaide goes through alone. She has with her a a secret her family has kept fpr a long time. . when people start disappearing will her secret be revealed? Brutal and beautiful this novel is addicting

I received this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Lone Women is a novel that blends horror with historical fiction. The novel's character development is slow-burning, and there is not much character development. I think the novel could have done without a lot of the side characters that didn't fit into the story. During the last 3rd of the novel, I got lost trying to make sense of everything that was happening, and I still don’t really know wtf I read. I think it definitely had the potential to be an awesome story. I also loved the blend of genres!

The books begins with Adelaide burning her farmhouse down and leaving town with just her extremely heavy steamer trunk which remains locked at all times. Adelaide has a secret and this secret has killed her parents. She flees California and heads to Montana to take advantage of free land from the government. Here she must keep her secret quiet or else people will get hurt.

A touch of horror and mildly suspenseful as you’re trying to figure out what is happening. It’s a fast read, diverse characters, entertaining, and a good ending that could lead to a potential sequel.

Worth the read.

Absolutely loved this. Excellent atmosphere, a fun skewering of the Women-helping-white-straight-cis-wealthy-Women culture, a view into history that I just didn't know about at all and commentary on the history-written-by-the-victors.

DNF at 30%

Lone Women is the story of a young woman named Adelaide who after experiencing a horrible accident on her family farm, moves to the rural west with nothing but a trunk she won't open. Most of the horror elements come from this unknown trunk in the story, which left me wanting more. It reads much more like a historical fiction mystery than the horror I was promised.

If you like slow writing, almost nothing happening, and a main character that doesn't do much, you'll like this one. Unfortunately Gothic works aren't for me.

This was an absolutely amazing story! I don't even know if I have the right words to say it. I am truly impressed at how LaVelle captured the independent spirit of the American frontier woman, the quintessential protective mother, and the guilt-ridden daughter. Throw in a beautiful cast of side characters and a perfect reveal, and this was wrapped up in a lovely bow. It's odd to call a monster horror "lovely," but for anyone that's ever felt the need for release of guilt or pent up rage, this is a wonderful proxy.

**Thank you NetGalley and One World for the eARC**

This was my first time reading from Victor LaValle and I cannot wait to read more of his works! This was a stunning novel, beautiful writing, and incredible story!

In the 19th and early 20th century, the Western United States was vast land, nearly uninhabited by people.(excluding, of course, the Indigenous communities whose ancestors had lived on the land for millennia, or the Indigenous people who had been driven there by the initial influx of white colonizers on the East coast. But I digress.) In order to bolster the population, homesteading and claim staking were available to many - if you were willing to work the land, for a small fee a parcel could be purchased and it would be yours, free and clear, after a certain amount of time.
This is the landscape in which Lone Women takes place. Adelaide Henry's parents are dead. After burning her house in the very opening pages - leaving readers, or at least myself, with some VERY intense questions - she packs up a single steamer trunk and heads to promised land in Montana.

This is a story populated by women. Lone women, specifically, unencumbered by husbands or brothers, out to find a place for themselves in the inhospitable Montana prairies. LaValle very deftly writes a series of diverse, intriguing women, almost all of them sympathetic, despite the burdens they bear of past misdeeds. This is genuinely one of my favorite examples of a man writing so many female characters.

One element that drew me out of the story was the casual use of more modern phrases in the narrative writing. Not being in first-person, his use of "fucked up/fucking up" or "slapped the shit out of" didn't seem the most period accurate. While I know swearing is absolutely period accurate, I'm not sure I'm convinced by the way the phrases were presented. I could be very wrong, of course, but at the time they definitely weren't keeping me engaged in the story.

Rep includes: Black female MC, a Black and Chinese lesbian couple, and a transgender boy

I got an ARC of this book.

DNF at 21%

I don't think a single thing happened in the entire time I was reading. This book gets so much praise, but I don't get it. It wasn't the worst book I had read, it was just boring.

Holy cow! This book knocked my socks off. I don't think I've read anything quite like it; a unique mash up of historical fiction and horror. I don't like Westerns typically, but this was so well executed that I actually wanted it to be longer, so rare!

Phenomenal story that kept me hooked from the first chapter and well after I had finished. LaValle writes beautifully but in a way that feels effortless and natural to read. Overall, well crafted story that blended classical horror elements with folk charm and a fresh concept.

This western inspired by the history of "lone women" homesteaders in the US follows a woman with a deadly secret locked away in her steamer trunk. But that's not the only secret lying in wait for her in Montana. And as she meets more people with secrets of their own in town, she realizes that maybe taking on this burden alone was exactly what led to her parents downfall. A really enjoyable historical fantasy horror with plenty of twists and turns.

Loving the new publishing trend of mixing horror with a period Western setting and Victor LaValle's is one of the best, exploring both literal monsters and the ways that women who exist outside of the controlling sphere of men are viewed as similarly dangerous.

I was so invested to know what was in the trunk the Lone Woman carried. When it was revealed it brought to light so many things. THe horror, suspense, nd great detail in the writing of this book was mesmerizing.

i really enjoyed it.

Lone Women by Victor LaVelle follows Adelaide Henry as she travels from California, her only home, to a land claim in Montana in the early 1900s. Why? Because she has a deep, dark secret that she must never reveal for fear of causing harm to others.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! I honestly expected this to be a quick read that wouldn't have much of an impact on me, but once I started reading it, I couldn't put it down. LaVelle weaved history, fantasy, equality, and mystery into a beautiful story of perseverance and the power of a strong woman. Lone Women was extremely well written in my opinion: the book moved at a perfect pace, and every word seemed earned and necessary to the plot. I always appreciate an author who can avoid excessive description while still providing enough details for me to picture each scene or feel each emotion in the book.

If you enjoy a good story, especially one that feels fresh and unique, I encourage you to add Lone Women to your reading list right away.

WOW. When LaValle described his work as multiple genres mushed into an entirely new thing, he wasn't wrong -- and it WORKS. The exploration of complex family relationships, the monster design, the rich worldbuilding that was clearly the result of a great deal of research -- chef's kiss. I also usually find child characters in horror irritating (because usually their authors don't know how to write from a child's perspective so they just use a grating, juvenile voice), but he was one of my favorite characters in the book. I hope LaValle explores weird Western settings more in the future!

A marvelous mix of settler experiences & accepting our monsters
The setting is vivid, characters are layered, and the story (a modern fairytale) is an engaging account of valor, friendship, family & acceptance set in the early West.
Victor LaValle tells the most original and surprising stories about people and monsters.