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The Awakening of a Vigilante
Lucia Maher is the adopted daughter of a hard-working coal miner. He was the one who taught her all the survival skills, including martial arts learned from the Chinese. When she discovers the truth about her birth history, it lights a fire inside her and she swears to avenge the death of her mother. Under the disguise of a nun, she finds the lair of the killer and begins a ruthless campaign of revenge. Moving through the night in a black cloak and hood, Lucia becomes fabled as a vigilante, feared by her enemies. How far will she go in this bloodthirsty manhunt before she loses herself?
Sheriff Gabriel Davenport is an upright man. When a series of crimes threaten the safety of the town, the handsome sheriff must investigate and maintain order. But when he meets the mysterious Lucia, he is quickly taken with her and they begin a romantic rapport. What if the only woman that helped him let go of his hurtful past knows more about the murders that she’s letting on? Will he be able to choose feelings over duty, should the time come?
In this journey of love and loyalty, faith and friendship, death and destiny, no one can leave the battle unscathed. A suspenseful and action-packed must-read for fans of Western romance adventure!
Sheriff Gabriel Davenport is an upright man. When a series of crimes threaten the safety of the town, the handsome sheriff must investigate and maintain order. But when he meets the mysterious Lucia, he is quickly taken with her and they begin a romantic rapport. What if the only woman that helped him let go of his hurtful past knows more about the murders that she’s letting on? Will he be able to choose feelings over duty, should the time come?
In this journey of love and loyalty, faith and friendship, death and destiny, no one can leave the battle unscathed. A suspenseful and action-packed must-read for fans of Western romance adventure!
- GenresWesterns
Unknown Binding
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About the author
Austin Grayson
116 books40 followersAustin Grayson was born in Wichita, Kansas. He married his high school sweetheart and they currently live happily with their two daughters and an adorable Labrador.
He studied cinematography in the University of North Carolina, but his true passion was always writing stories.
Ever since he could remember, everything inside of him was looking for adventure; in books, movies, life. Now he also gets to write about it!
When he’s not writing, Austin enjoys fishing, trekking, horse-riding and Spaghetti Westerns which he loves watching along with his family every chance they get.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
March 15, 2019
Oh, how I wanted to give this book five stars. It breaks my heart that I can't. I'm lamenting.
The story started out with a woman in labor. She happens to be a prostitute and the baby allegedly has some buyers from New York that are going to raise it in a privileged household. Kitty suspects that isn't true and hands the newborn out the window to a guy who was waiting to whisk the child away to safety. She knows she'll never see the baby again, but she didn't want the little girl being raised in a brothel or be sold into white slavery.
Lucia is raised by Bal, the man who'd taken her to safety as an infant. Bal is a man of many talents. He teaches her to hunt, fish, and methods of self-defense that included a lot of martial arts. At the time of the story, they're mining in the Black Hills of South Dakota, only South Dakota wasn't a state in the 1830's. It was, as the book said, a territory, but it was Dakota Territory and North and South Dakota hadn't been been distinguished as separate entities nor had Montana. Anyway, I don't think that's such a big deal. Bal knew that Lucia would be traveling to towns in Wyoming such as Sundance and Casper and he wanted to be prepared. I don't mean to be nit-picky here, but I'm from South Dakota and I had to learn all this in grade school. It has no bearing on the story. It's just historically inaccurate.
Lucia decides it's time to avenge the death of her mother. Bal isn't so sure it's a good idea, but he goes, too. They disguise themselves as a priest and a nun, when neither of them know a whole lot about the bible and Jesus. Bal admits he knows a lot more about Buddah. They travel back to St. Louis so she can exact her revenge. What they weren't counting on was being taken as the real deal as clergy and people jumping into help them renovate an abandoned saloon to make it into a church. Lucia wasn't counting on the sheriff being an attractive cuss, either.
I liked the characters. I liked the story. Everything worked well together, but the problem is it needs a good editor. There is some wrong usage. For instance, "beats" should have been "beets" when Lucia and Bal were eating dinner. Then, later on Lucia and Gabriel are having dinner and they had "unions" rather than "onions". There was also at least one instance of using "loose" instead of "lose" and then later in the book during a fight scene, "lose" was used instead of "loose". But what really took me down was when Gabriel called Lucia by her name rather than Sister Sally when he didn't know her name was Lucia. A good editor would have caught all of these errors and this book would have been an easy, easy five stars.
Other than that, it's a good, clean Western with plenty going on that will keep you turning the pages. I did enjoy it despite the issues and I will be looking for more books from this author.
The story started out with a woman in labor. She happens to be a prostitute and the baby allegedly has some buyers from New York that are going to raise it in a privileged household. Kitty suspects that isn't true and hands the newborn out the window to a guy who was waiting to whisk the child away to safety. She knows she'll never see the baby again, but she didn't want the little girl being raised in a brothel or be sold into white slavery.
Lucia is raised by Bal, the man who'd taken her to safety as an infant. Bal is a man of many talents. He teaches her to hunt, fish, and methods of self-defense that included a lot of martial arts. At the time of the story, they're mining in the Black Hills of South Dakota, only South Dakota wasn't a state in the 1830's. It was, as the book said, a territory, but it was Dakota Territory and North and South Dakota hadn't been been distinguished as separate entities nor had Montana. Anyway, I don't think that's such a big deal. Bal knew that Lucia would be traveling to towns in Wyoming such as Sundance and Casper and he wanted to be prepared. I don't mean to be nit-picky here, but I'm from South Dakota and I had to learn all this in grade school. It has no bearing on the story. It's just historically inaccurate.
Lucia decides it's time to avenge the death of her mother. Bal isn't so sure it's a good idea, but he goes, too. They disguise themselves as a priest and a nun, when neither of them know a whole lot about the bible and Jesus. Bal admits he knows a lot more about Buddah. They travel back to St. Louis so she can exact her revenge. What they weren't counting on was being taken as the real deal as clergy and people jumping into help them renovate an abandoned saloon to make it into a church. Lucia wasn't counting on the sheriff being an attractive cuss, either.
I liked the characters. I liked the story. Everything worked well together, but the problem is it needs a good editor. There is some wrong usage. For instance, "beats" should have been "beets" when Lucia and Bal were eating dinner. Then, later on Lucia and Gabriel are having dinner and they had "unions" rather than "onions". There was also at least one instance of using "loose" instead of "lose" and then later in the book during a fight scene, "lose" was used instead of "loose". But what really took me down was when Gabriel called Lucia by her name rather than Sister Sally when he didn't know her name was Lucia. A good editor would have caught all of these errors and this book would have been an easy, easy five stars.
Other than that, it's a good, clean Western with plenty going on that will keep you turning the pages. I did enjoy it despite the issues and I will be looking for more books from this author.
May 30, 2021
For some reason this book didn't have the feel of a western. It doesn't have much gun play and overall it felt bland. There were no surprises
March 11, 2019
1815, Shelbyville, MO. Territory. Betsy Macabee was watching Dr. Nate Crane deliver Kitty Maher’s (dove) daughter.
Mr. Cyrus “Coop” Coopersmith (whore house owner) wanted to know how she was doing.
He had made arrangements to give the child to a NY couple.
Kitty had other plans. Balthazar Lewis (husband/adopted father) was outside the window & took the little girl.
Kitty would not live to see another day.
1830, Sundance, WY. Territory, Balthazar had taught Lucia Maher (15) how to survive the harsh environment, ride horses, shoot guns, fish & just about everything a outdoors person needed to know.
Balthazar, & Lucia rode into town. He had to go see Matheson (bandit).
A gambler was telling a tale about a fancy knife he won in a poker game.
It had once belonged to Kitty’s.
1830, Black Hills, WY. Territory. 2 Crow warriors had their eyes on Lucia.
They wouldn’t be going back to their tribe.
Balthazar on Rebel (paint), & Lucia on Pal (speckled Palomino) were headed to St. Louis, MO.
Weeks later they arrived.
Richard “Richie” Burns had donated his deceased fathers’ property to Father Laurence “Bal” Bale, & Sister Sally (nun).
Gateway Saloon/whore house. Lucia had met Mr. Coopersmith (saloon keeper).
Sheriff Gabriel Davenport had gone to the crime scene. It was Jackie Johns (customer).
What happened to Father Bale?
Warning: This book contains some adult content which is only suitable for mature readers. It may be offensive or have potential adverse psychological effects on the reader.
I did not receive any type of compensation for reading & reviewing this book. While I receive free books from publishers & authors, I am under no obligation to write a positive review, only an honest one. All thoughts & opinions are entirely my own.
A very awesome book cover, & great font/writing style. A very well written Western romance book. It was very easy for me to read/follow from start/finish & never a dull moment. There were no grammar/typo errors, nor any repetitive or out of line sequence sentences. Lots of exciting scenarios, with several twists/turns & a great set of unique characters to keep track of. This could also make another great Western romance movie, or better yet a paid-per-view mini TV series.
There is no doubt in my mind this is a very easy rating of 5 stars.
Thank you for the free BookFunnel; Author; PDF, Word book
Tony Parsons (Washburn; MSW)
Mr. Cyrus “Coop” Coopersmith (whore house owner) wanted to know how she was doing.
He had made arrangements to give the child to a NY couple.
Kitty had other plans. Balthazar Lewis (husband/adopted father) was outside the window & took the little girl.
Kitty would not live to see another day.
1830, Sundance, WY. Territory, Balthazar had taught Lucia Maher (15) how to survive the harsh environment, ride horses, shoot guns, fish & just about everything a outdoors person needed to know.
Balthazar, & Lucia rode into town. He had to go see Matheson (bandit).
A gambler was telling a tale about a fancy knife he won in a poker game.
It had once belonged to Kitty’s.
1830, Black Hills, WY. Territory. 2 Crow warriors had their eyes on Lucia.
They wouldn’t be going back to their tribe.
Balthazar on Rebel (paint), & Lucia on Pal (speckled Palomino) were headed to St. Louis, MO.
Weeks later they arrived.
Richard “Richie” Burns had donated his deceased fathers’ property to Father Laurence “Bal” Bale, & Sister Sally (nun).
Gateway Saloon/whore house. Lucia had met Mr. Coopersmith (saloon keeper).
Sheriff Gabriel Davenport had gone to the crime scene. It was Jackie Johns (customer).
What happened to Father Bale?
Warning: This book contains some adult content which is only suitable for mature readers. It may be offensive or have potential adverse psychological effects on the reader.
I did not receive any type of compensation for reading & reviewing this book. While I receive free books from publishers & authors, I am under no obligation to write a positive review, only an honest one. All thoughts & opinions are entirely my own.
A very awesome book cover, & great font/writing style. A very well written Western romance book. It was very easy for me to read/follow from start/finish & never a dull moment. There were no grammar/typo errors, nor any repetitive or out of line sequence sentences. Lots of exciting scenarios, with several twists/turns & a great set of unique characters to keep track of. This could also make another great Western romance movie, or better yet a paid-per-view mini TV series.
There is no doubt in my mind this is a very easy rating of 5 stars.
Thank you for the free BookFunnel; Author; PDF, Word book
Tony Parsons (Washburn; MSW)
June 25, 2020
You can't ever get enough of Austin Grayson and this book is no exception! This is to me a little bit of a change in story,where you have a woman going after whoever killed her mother and knows Chinese moves. Now who in the Wild West knows Chinese moves and then pretends to be a nun in the west?? Who does such a thing ? Well,you are going to have to read the book to find out the answers. The characters in this story have very strong personalities and then some are weak but you are going to find out who they are! Austin has done a fantastic job with his characters where they are so very believable . Very different emotions are display between characters where you get caught up in them yourself.Ever story has the law,this sheriff has his hands full with this so called "nun"...Love, betrayal, revenge and who is "the vigilante", to the degree will it destroy this person or no? You will love the story line where you feel like you are right there in all the different places and events that happen.So,put on your boots and hat,grab your horse and take a ride and see what happens in this tale of living a western life!!🐄🐮🐴🐃🐓🐏🐖
September 17, 2019
I've never read a good western before and now I have. This was a short story that I read as a result of grabbing it free off the author's website and I'm so glad I did. this story has you engaged from its dramatic and action-filled beginning.
It follows the life of Lucia Maher to adulthood (well - until she's 20 - as adult as that is!) as she learns how to survive out west. The action continues in the young town of St. Louis as Lucia discovers what really happened to her mother all those years ago.
Great story that kept me hooked from the beginning. I will be reading more of this author and have already picked up On the Hunt for Justice and look forward to that. The Awakening of a Vigilante is 135 pages, a short story, so if you're interested in trying something new, or just like a good western, I highly recommend you pick this up. You won't be disappointed!
It follows the life of Lucia Maher to adulthood (well - until she's 20 - as adult as that is!) as she learns how to survive out west. The action continues in the young town of St. Louis as Lucia discovers what really happened to her mother all those years ago.
Great story that kept me hooked from the beginning. I will be reading more of this author and have already picked up On the Hunt for Justice and look forward to that. The Awakening of a Vigilante is 135 pages, a short story, so if you're interested in trying something new, or just like a good western, I highly recommend you pick this up. You won't be disappointed!
March 1, 2019
Excellent I am not for Western book but this grab me pulled me in with a twist to a new Western feel. Love the story of kitty the saloon hostesses have a baby and give it up. Bali man who promise to keep baby raise as own. Lucia a baby that finally grown up. The evil villain coop. Just love new twist a real pageTurner.
February 18, 2022
Loved this story! This is the third Austin Grayson book I've read and have never been disappointed. Likeable characters, strong, smart women, and a solid plot. A story of becoming and growth with a bit of a clean romance in a historical setting. Not your usual western, but oh so very good! I liked the novelty and pace this book had. Kept me turning pages. Good read!
December 5, 2020
A mom protecting her child. A mean bar owner and whores . This child growing up and being taught to defend herself . A sheriff that does his best to keep order. I immensely enjoyed reading this book.
October 19, 2021
This is a good, clean inspirational western. I especially enjoyed the Bible references of scripture that motivated St. Louis… I listened to this one on my phone and thoroughly enjoyed it. RECOMMENDED
August 10, 2019
Aside from a few spelling and grammatical errors this was a fun book to read. It was a quick read as well. I would recommend it to others.
November 18, 2021
Lucia's character is unique, strong-willed, independent and vicious - loved her. Action packed story with unpredictable outcomes.
March 13, 2019
Very interesting book. Set in Western town, Prostitute gives her baby up to keep her from being sold into black market. The man who rescue/adopts her is a miner who teaches her how to defend herself with martial arts. When she learns the truth of where she was born and to whom and learns her mother was killed she decides to hunt down her killer and destroy him.
She and her father dress as A Priest and a Nun to move to the town to locate the killer. As the Vigilante, she dresses head to toe in all black so that her identity will not be discovered.
I recommend this book to all who like clean, western books with a new twist.
She and her father dress as A Priest and a Nun to move to the town to locate the killer. As the Vigilante, she dresses head to toe in all black so that her identity will not be discovered.
I recommend this book to all who like clean, western books with a new twist.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews