Lesbians And Gays Of The Past #4: Book Review of Josie and Rebecca The Western Chronicles by Vada Foster and BL Miller
Okay! So what a book this is. Before I get too much into the review I just want to preface this by saying one of the main characters is a Native American woman and I am pasty white lady and I don’t live in America, so if anything I say in this review is inaccurate just shoot me a message and I’ll fix it right away! I’m going to try and review this the best I can while keeping in mind what I have heard Native Americans talk about. Now to the review~!
Josie and Rebecca The Western Chronicles is very true to the romance genre. When most people think of the modern romance genre they probably think of Harlequin romances. I feel as though this book is the lesbian equivalent of those stories. It is full of cliches and romantic shenanigans. But I think that’s what give this book its charm!! I feel as though not many current lesbian books have that light and fun romance. It also has many lesbian twists on to those notorious straight romance tropes. There is the dark and tough brooding love interest who has a sad past that has shaped her to be the outlaw that she is. There is the sweet and innocent main character that seems to always find herself in danger and needing to be saved. While these are definitely not tropes everyone will enjoy I was honestly thrilled to find them in this lesbian western romance! It made for an incredibly fun and sweet read that has a lot of heart.
This novel follows Josie and Rebecca. Josie is a Native American outlaw who has been by herself for years. She is famous for robbing trains and many believed she has killed thousands. She is tough and strong, but she also has a very kind and warm soul that not many people get to see. Rebecca is a sweet and innocent farm girl who is seen as the town beauty. She meets Josie after a group of men try to rape her, for Josie to come along and save her. Though Josie originally takes Rebecca back home, once she is there her father continues to abuse her, so she decides to run away. She runs into Josie again, and while Josie is at first reluctant to let Rebecca come along with her, but she soon finds Rebecca has a determination she wasn’t first aware of and the small and caring woman eventually grows on her.
Plot wise not a lot happens, but this story never feels like it drags on and it is full of lot scenes and moments of female friendships and females helping each other, which was very wonderful to see. It is also deals with the racism and hardships many Native Americans had to go through and continue to go through. It also shows parts of Josie’s past and what it was like for her as a biracial child. This is a small spoiler but I feel it is important to state as well (just skip to the next paragraph if you don’t want to see a spoiler). It is later revealed in the book that Josie was never the outlaw people painted her as. She only robbed the trains because the trains killed her Native American father, and she gives all the money back to her family and community on the reservation she lived on. The main reason she entered this lifestyle as well was because she was falsely accused of killing a young woman when she was younger just because of her race, so was almost killed over it so she decided she had to be on the run to protect those who she cared about. This part of the plot reminded me of Robin Hood. Throughout her life she was also falsely accused of other killings, which is why people think she is meaner then she is. But most of this novel is about her saving and protecting people. She is portrayed as very heroic and kind. Rebecca also grows and changes as a person. She gains lots of strength and independence and I think It was really beautiful and inspiring that Josie was able to help her find that strength.
I would recommend this novel to anyone who is looking for a sweet story of female empowerment with a wide cast of different kinds of women and warm romances. A read that is fun and engaging but not too serious.
Trigger Warning: Racism (plus racial slurs such as savages and redsk*ns), sexual assault, homophobia, domestic violence, rape threats, gun fights.
Spoilers: Has a HEA ending.