Reviews with content warning for Domestic abuse - Upright Women Wanted

I enjoyed the read, but kind of wished it had more adventure if it was going to be an adventure novel, or more romance if it was going to be a romance. As it is it hits very lightly on both. Myself, I think in this world of dystopian wild west with queer librarians saving everybody, I think Id' opt for more adventure. Still, I love the heartwarming realness of the character coming out to herself, and coming to understand that she's not a burden on society.

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phantomdoodler's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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morebedsidebooks's review against another edition

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fast-paced

3.0

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jayisreading's review

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adventurous hopeful fast-paced

3.0

I really do commend authors who take a stab at writing novellas because I think there’s a particular challenge in finding the right balance of plot and worldbuilding that won’t leave the reader unsatisfied. In my case, Upright Women Wanted left a lot to be desired because there wasn’t a good balance. I could tell that Gailey had a plot in mind, which, yes, it happened for the most part, but it wasn’t particularly compelling. Their worldbuilding was interesting, but this also suffered a bit because there were a lot of things left unexplained that I would have loved to learn more about, particularly the Librarians. In other words, the worldbuilding introduced some great concepts, but they weren’t as developed as they could have been.

That said, it was an engaging enough read that I got through the book pretty quickly (though it helps that the book is pretty fast-paced). I was just expecting more from it.

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boglord's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful inspiring fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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o_morr's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

I realllly wanted to love this book. I mean the blurb made it sound so good. A queer sci-fi western? What an amazing concept. I really think this book had so much potential, but thre just wasn't enough time for Gailey to fully flush out everything she was trying to include in this story. The characters all feel very flat, even our protagonist, Esther. I find it really disappointing that so much of her character revolved around her love interest, alternating between half-hearted sorrow for her best friend and feelings for a person that she just met.

Look, I know everyone grieves in different ways, but I find it hard to understand how our main character can go from witnessing her best friend and love interest be hung per order of her own father, to developing feelings for someone new two days later. I honestly don't know why her best friend's death was ever included in the story, sure it starts the plot of the story, but that can be done in so many ways. Why include this tragic and untimely death if the main character is never going to be shown to react to it in a way that doesn't feel forced. Also, I really don't understand the inclusions of the whole "I'm going to be married off" thing, it was literally mentioned once in the entire novel. The author really could have just made Esther run away since she was queer. There was no need to include all these loose plot threads.

Past the questions I have about the start of the novel, the plot is relatively simple. Main Character has a flawed mindset that they slowly overcome, all while riding horses and shooting guns. Heck yeah. I mean not super groundbreaking but good enough for me. (Well at least good enough to motivate me to finish the book). The main thing that makes this book different is that it focuses on women (well really not-men) who are queer. I love me some good representation, but that doesn't mean I'm going to give this book a pass on its flaws. (Though I really did love the fact that not only was there a non-binary character but said character was a love interest).

Circling back to flaws in this book; world-building! Look I understand you can only fit sooooo much into 186 pages but man I really wish there was some more world-building. The setting of this book was so intriguing but it left me with way not many questions (and not in a like a fun philosophical way, but in a "hey this feels really incomplete" way). Like what is up with this war? Who exactly is the government, and what is the governmental system? If there used to be cars what happened to all of the infrastructure? What are the rebels fighting for? and so much more!

To just summarize my thoughts and feeling here: I think Upright Women wanted was an ambitious novel, but that lead to its own downfall. I think the author was trying to do something really great here, and I genuinely love getting to see queer representation, but there was just too much the author was trying to make happen. This book needed to either focus on characters or plot or world-building, but it tried to do all three, leaving it feeling underdeveloped, rushed, and just 'meh'. I wouldn't really recommend this book unless you're looking for a short palate cleanser between more serious novels.

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