Michelle McLean’s ‘The Gunslinger’s Guide to Avoiding Matrimony’ Is the Western the World Needs Right Now [REVIEW]

He just wants a fresh start. She just wants a father who won’t embarrass her. Neither one of them is interested in marriage. But suddenly they find themselves caught in the middle of a marriage mart and unwittingly married. Will they split just as suddenly as they wed? Or could this new arrangement prove lucrative for both of them? Find out in Michelle McLean’s hilarious new romantic comedy, The Gunslinger’s Guide to Avoiding Matrimony.

In the Old West, Desperation is the fabled town where gunslingers, thieves, and other notorious characters hang up their spurs and live out the rest of their days in solitude. While the idea of sanctuary is great and all, there’s just one problem. Sometimes it isn’t easy for folks whose faces are frequently featured on wanted posters to get used to a quiet life. That’s why the town council has decided that all new residents need a purpose in life to help them settle down. So, they have three choices: get a job, get married, or get the heck out of Dodge.

On the day 28-year-old gunslinger Adam Brady accidentally stumbles into town, he initially thinks it’s his lucky day. Then again, he never has been a lucky fella by any stretch of the imagination. No matter how good his intentions are, he always seems to find himself in some scrape or another, and usually with the law on his tail. Maybe Desperation, a town that isn’t on any map and which he has only heard rumors about, will offer him the second chance he’s so eager to have.

Then he meets tall, leggy, spunky Nora Schumacher. At 25, she’s pretty, industrious, and smart. But she’s also “one of the guys,” and no one has ever looked at her with anything in their eyes but friendship, so marriage is not even on her radar. It doesn’t help that her father is the town drunk and she’s constantly cleaning up his messes, which is exactly what Adam finds her doing when their paths cross. But she’s in no mood to deal with the newcomer, even though both of them find it impossible to resist trading verbal barbs with one another.

What starts as banter soon becomes a shouting match between the fiery spinster and the impossible gunslinger. Both have avoided marriage for this long, and yet their boisterous verbal exchange has them both shouting “I do” in the middle of a marriage mart, even though neither of them intended to exchange vows in front of the entire community. Now the sheriff tells them they’re hitched in the eyes of the Lord, and they can either get an annulment or sign the paperwork to make it legal.

Michelle McLean’s The Gunslinger’s Guide to Avoiding Matrimony is a comedy of errors that will surely have readers holding their sides with laughter. It’s a lighthearted, delightful romp through the Old West that could easily turn into a brilliant Hollywood feature film, much in the way Mel Gibson and Jodie Foster’s Maverick did back in 1994. Like that movie, this book is filled with great one liners and over-the-top zingers that make it impossible not to grin, chuckle, or flat-out guffaw.

It takes more than just great humor to win readers hearts though. There also needs to be fabulous characters, and McLean delivers them in spades. The leads, Adam and Nora, are both bold, brassy, and destined to lock horns throughout. But the rest of the cast is just as delicious, both campy enough to keep us giggling and authentic enough to make us believe in them. Joyful, playful, and more than slightly irreverent, The Gunslinger’s Guide to Avoiding Matrimony is the rom-com the world needs right now.

Michelle McLean is a jeans and T-shirt kind of girl who is addicted to chocolate and Goldfish crackers and spent most of her formative years with her nose in a book. She has a BS in history, an MA in English, and loves her romances with a little heat, a lot of humor, and always a happily-ever-after.

Michelle currently lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, their two amazing kids, the world’s most spoiled dog, and two cats who absolutely rule the house. She also writes contemporary romance as Kira Archer.

To learn more, visit MichelleMcLeanBooks.com, like her on Facebook, and follow her on Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and BookBub.

THE GUNSLINGER’S GUIDE TO AVOIDING MATRIMONY
By Michelle McLean
368 pp. Entangled: Amara. $8.99

Purchase directly from Jathan & Heather Books or from one of these other fine online retailers: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Books-A-Million | Half Price Books | Hudson Booksellers | IndieBound | Powell’s | Target | Walmart.

The Gunslinger’s Guide to Avoiding Matrimony is brought to you in association with TLC Book Tours.