A Gunslinger for Grace by Sarah Lamb is a Fall Into These Great Reads pick #historicalwesternromance
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  • N. N. Light
    • Sep 11, 2023
    • 5 min read

A Gunslinger for Grace by Sarah Lamb is a Fall Into These Great Reads pick #historicalwesternromance



Title: A Gunslinger for Grace


Author: Sarah Lamb


Genre: Historical Western Romance


Book Blurb:


Grace just can’t do it alone anymore. When her husband died, he left her with a store to run and two children to take care of. Now, her son is friends with the wrong crowd and her daughter keeps sneaking out. When a string of vandalisms hit her store and the sheriff does nothing, she’s more than desperate for help and puts an ad in the newspaper.


James is passing through town after dropping off a criminal at the local jail. A gunslinger by trade, he moves from town to town looking for high-paying work. When he chances upon Grace’s ad, the thought of home cooked meals and an opportunity to rest for a while tempts him, and he applies.


No one else wants the job, so Grace reluctantly accepts his offer. But how will a gunslinger be able to help her with her children, the store, and stop the robberies? And why does she feel so drawn to the man who is like no one she’s ever met?


Excerpt:


Chapter 1


1875, Kansas


A sudden crash startled Grace Fletcher. She sat up in bed, then sprang forward, wrapping her robe around her. “I’ll get you this time,” she muttered, and flung open her bedroom door. Without a thought to her safety, she unlatched the door leading down the stairs and to the general store that she managed solely on her own since her husband’s passing three years prior.


“Who’s there?” she called out. “I’ve sent for the sheriff.”


That was a lie, though whoever was there wouldn’t know that. But just like every other time before, there wasn’t anyone there by the time she stepped into the shop. Only a mess. This time, a glass jar of penny candy was broken, along with the globe on the oil lamp she kept near the counter. Surprisingly, the oil hadn’t spilled.


Luckily, she’d kept the money in the safe. The safe which no one, no one at all, had the combination for. She’d seen to that.


Over the last several months, there had been multiple instances where her store was broken into. Money was taken at first, until she made use of the safe she special ordered. Now, it was more often than not small objects taken, things easily put into a pocket, or things damaged for whatever terrible reason the criminal had.


The problem was that she wasn’t sure who was breaking into her store—or why. The sheriff had promised to keep his men nearby and set up a nighttime patrol, and she reported each incident, but never had she, or the sheriff’s men, found out who was breaking into her store.


This was one problem that she didn’t need, on top of her other problems. It was hard enough being a woman alone, trying to manage both the raising of her children and running a store to support her family. To top it off, motherhood was being less than rewarding as of late. Her two children, Alice and Calvin, had been rebelling and her exhaustion at trying to keep them safe and behaving, combined with the store’s constant destruction, might just do her in.


At first, Grace thought their acting out was simply the grief of losing their father three years before to the sickness that took nearly a quarter of the town. Both children had been very close to their father. They adored him, and his passing was both sudden and frightening. Grace herself had struggled deeply with it.


However, as time passed, she realized that the way they were acting was more serious than that. Their behavior was reckless, and she was at a loss to put a stop to it.


Alice was too interested in men. Not boys her age, which was thirteen, but those much older. Meanwhile, Calvin was roaming around with other eleven-year-olds, getting into as much trouble as he could, even skipping school or staying out after dark at times.


Both were experts at sneaking out of the house and, to be honest, as she was so busy trying to run the store on her own to keep a roof over their heads and food in their stomachs, it was quite possible she was missing quite a bit of their behavior.


The problem was how to rein them in. She just wasn’t sure how. That stress, combined with her worry over the store break-ins was the final straw. She was sure of it. Grace honestly wasn’t sure how much longer she could manage everything on her own.


Grace sighed, wrapped her robe a little tighter around her, and headed back toward the stairs. She’d have to clean up the mess tomorrow. It was too late now, it was near midnight, and she wanted to get some sleep before making breakfast and getting the children ready for school.

What she needed was a solution to her problems. But…what could that be? She trudged up the steps and stopped. Was that a light under Calvin’s door? She hesitated, her hand on the knob, then gave in and turned it, pushing the door open.


When her head poked through the door, it was dark inside. Calvin was in his head, but there was the smell of a recently extinguished lamp. She moved closer, resting her hand on his head. He seemed to be asleep, but she wasn’t fooled. He’d been out somewhere, she was sure of it. His forehead was damp, his breathing wasn’t even, and his eyes were squeezed closed just a little too tight.


Sighing, Grace left the room. All of a sudden, she wasn’t in a hurry to get back to bed. It meant tomorrow, and all its problems, would arrive just a little too soon.


Buy Links (including BookBub):


Free to read on Kindle Unlimited!





What’s your favorite thing about autumn:


I am fortunate enough to live in an area with all four seasons! I love in fall as our street fills with beautiful mums, pumpkins of all sizes, and crunchy leaves! Local farms offer cider for sale, and there’s that not quite summer, and not yet winter feel in the air that’s so delicious and cozy!


What inspired you to write this story:


It all started with a crash one day, while my husband wasn’t home late in the evening. The kids and I were startled, and I couldn’t help but think what if someone were breaking in? Grace’s dilemma sprang to mind, only she didn’t have a husband. She had two children—one who thought she was more mature than she was, and the other who wanted to have fun without any responsibility. A bit relatable for many! To complicate things, she’s living in the time a single woman really was in a position where she couldn’t just get help from a man without eyebrows being raised.


The idea of who might come to her rescue, and someone quite unexpected, was the gunslinger, James. He’s got a few secrets of his own, but he might just be what she’s looking for to help around her shop and with her kids. Of course, if tongues start wagging about them, Grace might be pretty upset. Hopefully, for her sake, it all works out.


Giveaway –


One lucky reader will win a $75 Amazon gift card



Open internationally.


Runs September 1 – 30


Drawing will be held on October 2.



Author Biography:


Sarah is wife to an amazing teacher and mom to two boys who are growing up just a little too fast. Her day job is helping others to become writers, while she squeezes in each spare moment she can on her own books. She spends her days working and writing in the Blue Ridge Mountains and planning her next trip to Disney World.


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