A Lady Newspaperman’s Dilemma

In 1921, Alex Lawson goes from her small town of Jericho Flats, Montana, to the slightly larger town of Sunset Valley to work at the newspaper. The editor is surprised to find she is a woman and not the young man he expected but sticks by his choice to hire her. When the head reporter is injured while pursuing a story, Alex finds herself thrust into the position of writing headline articles, as well as thrust into the heart of the town’s drama.

I love stories in this subgenre and was all set to love Alex’s story. There’s certainly plenty of action, and as a girl from the Rockies myself, I was very happy to read a book set in small-town Montana. Fun as it was, I did feel the book could have been stronger. At times, the ratio of dialogue to description felt very unbalanced, leaving me wondering what was happening while people spoke. I also thought Alex could have shown more growth; even in the last third of the book, she had to be directed in what to do, which didn’t square with the image of a woman who could be trusted with writing headline stories.