I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

In the wrong place at the wrong time, Reece is forced to join the notorious bandits known as the Rose Riders on account of his possession of a mysterious gold coin. In order to gain his freedom, Reece must lead Luther Rose to the man who gave him the coin, but after years in the gang he's begun to lose sight of a life beyond violence and pillaging. In a twist of fate during a train robbery gone wrong, Reese is thrust into the path of intrepid Charlotte, an aspiring journalist. Hot on the trail of a groundbreaking story that will ensure her a job as a journalist and free her from the clutches of her greedy uncle, a run-in with the infamous Rose Kid offers an unexpected opportunity. So ensues a dangerous, rollicking adventure where secrets are worth their weight in gold and no one is entirely trustworthy.

A fun, gritty Wild West tale with no shortage of shootouts, high-stakes chases, and good old-fashioned western drama. The action lags a bit in the middle to develop relationships and build towards the final culmination, but the story never failed to keep my interest. Charlotte is young and appropriately naive, yet brave and clever, while Reece's development is the perfect compliment to her growth. This was the ideal companion to Vengeance Road, a story I relished, and fully transported me to a Wild West being irrevocably changed by the arrival of the railroad. A thrilling read. ( )

4 Out of 5 "Redemptive" STARS

I think it has to be tricky to write a YA/Western. The Old West is rather violent, and difficult to pull off in a YA scope. You can't help but feel that scenes in Retribution Rails would have gone slightly differently in these infamous days of old, had they been true to them. So, yeah, this is a lightly (somewhat) watered-down version of the old west. Despite that, it is an engaging tale, with characters who have their own hopes and dreams that are inspirational in a time with little inspiration.

While not necessary, I would suggest reading Vengeance Road beforehand, because the main characters in that book are present for a large chunk of the story in this book. It will enhance your reading experience to know all about Kate and Jesse's story too.

๏๏๏๏๏๏๏๏๏๏๏๏๏๏๏๏๏๏๏๏๏๏๏๏๏๏๏๏๏
~MY RATING~
☆4☆STARS - GRADE=B+
๏๏๏๏๏๏๏๏๏๏๏๏๏๏๏๏๏๏๏๏๏๏๏๏๏๏๏๏๏

~~~~~~~~~~~~๏~~~~~~~~~~~~
~BREAKDOWN OF RATINGS~
~~~~~~~~~~~~๏~~~~~~~~~~~~
Plot~ 4/5
Main Characters~ 4/5
Secondary Characters~ 4/5
The Feels~ 3.7/5
Pacing~ 4/5
Addictiveness~ 4/5
Theme or Tone~ 4.3/5
Flow (Writing Style)~ 4/5
Backdrop (World Building)~ 4.2/5
Originality~ 5/5
Ending~ 4/5 Cliffhanger~ Nope.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~๏~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Book Cover~ Very Awesome!
Narration~☆4.5☆ Amy Melissa Bentley & Michael Summerer both did excellently.
Series~ Companion to Vengeance Road
Setting~ Old West, Arizona
Source~ Audiobook (Scribd)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~๏~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ( )

Absolutely loved it! It's even better then the first book... ( )

I would say Retribution Rails was one of my most anticipated reads of 2017. Unfortunately, it took me forever to get to it thanks to life and my mom (I let her read it first), but thankfully, I was able to renew my library copy enough times to get to it myself.

It took me a while to get into this one. I'm not sure why because I loved both leads and their stories. I think it just took a little bit to get the plot in motion for me. I wasn't as into it as its predecessor (which I couldn't put down) and I'm not sure why. It wasn't like this book was predictable--it went in directions I didn't even fathom.

I think it was just the different style this book took. The revenge plot needed to brew instead of being the main drive like it was in the first book. The characters get a little more time to develop and make mistakes. And the romance is very subtle and goes unnoticed.

But the last third of this book was awesome! It had that faster, thrilling pace to it that reminded me of Vengeance Road and I enjoyed that a lot.

Check out more spoiler-free book and series reviews on my blog SERIESousBookReviews.com as well as read book series recaps!

Full Review: https://wp.me/p7hLUw-13d
Actual Rating: 4/5
( )