This month’s prompt of “No place like home” took me straight into a gritty Western that worked well for me. I’m not sure I would have picked up Claiming Her Legacy were it not for Wendy’s review back in 2022. However, that review made me throw it into my next book order, and this turned out to be the perfect time to finally read it.

Home lies right at the center of this novel. Willa Malone and her two younger sisters have been left alone following the murder of her father. Willa’s late father was off hoping to hit it rich in the silver mines and after his death, the women learn that he had mortgaged their small farm to fund his expedition. The bank is ready to foreclose the loan, but Willa has one, last desperate idea to save the small, cramped cabin that she describes as nicest place she has ever lived.

Her last chance to save her home involves hunting down her father’s killer and bringing him to justice – a feat that will entitle her to a $1000.00 reward, a princely sum in 1890 Oklahoma. Willa is no curl tossing fool; she knows she will need a good, experienced person to help her if she’s going to save her family’s home. And she quickly learns that one of the best trackers in the business is right there in town. He may have retired, but Willa is determined to get Gideon Hartley to help her.

While this novel does feature a grueling and difficult trip through the wilderness to catch the outlaw, Ms. Goodnight spends a larger portion of the book setting up her story world. It’s a narrative choice that could have dragged the story down, but it worked curiously well for me. As the author introduces us to Willa’s family and the town of Sweet Clover, she does a good job of setting up various tensions and secrets in town, as well as creating characters I wanted to know more about.

I enjoyed the scenes that let me see the dynamic between Willa and her sisters. As the oldest, Willa feels very responsible for her younger sisters. Willa’s sisters clearly have their own talents and strength, but Willa is their rock.  The opening chapters also set the stage for the developing relationship between Willa and Gideon as they reluctantly join forces.

Since this is an inspirational romance, I was curious to see how some of the themes in this book would be handled because the author does cover some difficult territory. Not only do we have Willa’s quest to track down an outlaw, but we have some of the issues that haunt Willa and Gideon as well. While she is very strong, Willa has had a difficult life after losing her parents and stepmother. She’s hard-working but next to her sisters and others around her, she sometimes feels inadequate because of her lack of education and resources.

Gideon, on the other hand, is haunted by his own difficult past. It’s clear from the early chapters that he is an alcoholic and throughout the book, the author shows how this struggle impacts his life and his image of himself. I appreciated that the author deals with the topic sensitively and also that she shows Gideon struggling to be sober rather than letting him easily pray away the drink. Christianity is present in this book, but it’s more in the sense of people drawing a quiet strength from their faith in difficult times rather than coming in the form of instant cures or awkward sermonizing.

I haven’t read a Western in quite a while, but Claiming Her Legacy was a pleasant surprise. The author left a few characters’ secrets unrevealed in this book, so I have to admit that I very much hope there will be a sequel or two. If you enjoy Western historicals, you may want to look this one up.