I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Summer 1886—When nineteen-year-old Belle King turns herself in for murder, the last thing she expects to see is her abusive husband Reginald standing outside her Dodge City jail cell, impossibly alive. He’s there to take her back, but Belle is not going without a fight. Reginald was the first man she ever meant to kill, but certainly not the last . . .

Now, while there are still bars between them, Belle is forced to resort to all the tricks in her arsenal to prevent her husband from ever being in control of her again. But in the 1880s, the last soul anyone will believe is a girl—even when she confesses to her own crimes.

With the seductive horror of a fairy tale, Lady or the Tiger is the dark, twisty story of how one mountain girl from Kentucky became the wickedest woman in the Wild West and an ode to girls with tigers in their hearts who can save themselves.

Short and Sweet Review

Lady or the Tiger follows the story of Belle King, who is wanted for murder and just recently turned herself in. Belle is ready to face the consequences but what she isn’t ready for is to see her abusive husband Reginald outside of her jail cell. Belle has done a lot to get away from Reginald even going so far as to kill him or so she thought. Belle would rather die than to be back with Reginald but its the 1800s and she may not even be believed about the crimes she committed.

I’ve never really been into Westerns and going into this book I didn’t remember anything about it, but while I was reading it I found myself pleasantly surprised and enjoying it. The book takes place in 1886 and our main character is a wanted woman and she turns herself in. We follow her while she’s in jail and get chapters that are flashbacks that shows how she even got to this point in life. Belle is ready to face her fate in her mind it’s inevitable. When her husband Reginald shows up it seems like he wants to rescue his wife but he’s a bit nefarious. Belle was a smart character and she had a mouth on her, she did a lot of cunning things and people weren’t expecting it. Seeing Belle and Reginald interact is like a game of cat and mouse and it was interesting to see how everything would play out. There’s more to the story than just Belle and Reginald, there’s also her actual love interest Cal that we get to see in flashbacks, we also see some acquaintances she’s made along the way. There’s some chapters where it’s like Belle is speaking directly to the reader and throughout the whole book you get to decide if she’s the hero or the villain. The ending was great and wasn’t something I was expecting at all.

Overall, this was a great book and there’s a lot of twists and turns involved that’ll keep readers engaged and on their toes. Like I said earlier I don’t usually enjoy the Western genre but Herrman did a great job of exploring social issues that happened than that are still present today. Definitely recommend this book for anyone looking for an antihero paving her way in the Wild West.