In Her Sights (Pink Pistol Sisterhood #1) Karen Witemeyer. 2023. 108 pages. [Source: Borrowed]
First sentence: Every legacy started from a single act of courage.
Premise/plot: Tessa James, our heroine, has a huge crush on Jackson Spivey. His hobby is guns and shooting. To try to catch his eye, Tessa wants to immerse herself in that world. So, of course, she just happens to seek out the show starring Annie Oakley [aka Mrs. Frank Butler.] If she can "catch a man with a gun" maybe she can too. Meanwhile, in the prologue, Annie Oakley [aka Mrs. Frank Butler] had been gifted a gun--a pink pistol--by a grieving father. [To be honest, I'm not sure if his daughter died by her own hand or if it was natural causes. But her heart was broken when she was disappointed by love/lust.] At her discretion, she is to gift this "courtship" pistol to a young woman who needs some help with hope--hope in finding true love. When Tessa admits openly, hey, I'm here to learn how to shoot because I want a man, well Annie's job is over. She'll pass this pink courting pistol on....with a special note in its case.
Will Tessa's new pistol bring her good luck when it comes to winning her crush? Happily ever afters have to be earned even in wee little novellas.
My thoughts: I have zero interests in guns or shooting--pink or not. I did like the musical Annie Get Your Gun, so there was that at least. (Though I'm not absolutely positive that musical was historically accurate. Did she really catch her man with a gun??? Maybe. I just thought it was a catchy song.)
I think in a full-length novel the balance between character development, relationship development, and melodrama [aka CONFLICT] is naturally better. I felt in this novella, at least, the balance was off. There was just as much melodrama as if it was a full-length novel but not nearly as much to balance it out in terms of character development. It was a very short journey in terms of relationship development. Like SO short. And then almost after the fact there was conflict added.
I do typically love, love, love Witemeyer's novels. (Yes, even her novellas.) But I was more meh with this one than I usually am. I think a full-length novel would have had time to win me over.
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