The Ballad of Hattie Taylor

Author: Susan Andersen
Genre: Historical Romance
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group, 2021
Pages: 400
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: In the small, bustling town of Mattawa, Oregon, the turn of the century offers a new kind of frontier for women: a vast and exciting range of possibilities - to a point. It's a time for change, and no one is more eager to embrace new paths than free-spirited outsider Hattie Taylor. If only she could embrace Jake Murdoch too.

Jack can't remember a time he was so confused. Hattie is off-limits. The provoking spitfire is under his mother's protection - his protection - and he has always belonged to another. But now, with the passing of his wife, Jake feels something shift between them. Frustratingly aware of Hattie as a woman, he struggles with new feelings, new questions, new desires.

But when a desperate decision born of good intentions turns out to have ugly repercussions, Hattie confronts a cruel reality she can no longer ignore: the truth of where women really stand and the actions men take to keep them there. To navigate her new world of tainted justice and privileged order, Hattie will draw on the strength of women around her - and Jake will learn what it truly means to support the woman he loves.

Review: This book is a challenge to review. I liked it, but it contains a lot of graphic sex, not all of it consensual. There are cringe-y moments, and there are moments that are completely sweet and endearing. Women are tough, and women have been under-estimated throughout history.