A 17-YEAR-OLD BEAUTY RIDES INTO A TEXAS TOWN…

Luna, a feisty 17-year-old lass, rides into Pleasant Valley, Texas in 1871, wearing men's pants and packing a six-gun. She is on a dark mission that will turn the town upside down and her story is told in a fast-paced second person which conveys her thoughts at all moments. At the age of five, she saw her mother raped and killed by her rich, White father. Afterwards she runs away and is raised by a Chinese man, who teaches her how to shoot a gun. Twelve years later she enters the town again to seek revenge against her father. In the town she meets a young Mexican boy and falls in love with him, but he can't deter her from challenging her father to a duel. By and by, she meets her father in the middle of Main Street and ends up shooting him down along with two of his ranch hands. She and her boyfriend ride off into the sunset, camp out at a nearby creek and make love; but the story does not end happily. Revenge brings her immediate relief and she and her boyfriend plan a life together, but ultimately the story is tragic. This is a touching, absorbing novel about a girl whose gritty determination will tug at your heart.

Gerald Schoenewolf