Excellent as always! This story was a slow burn that pulled me in and chugged along. It was very well done. Thanks to the publisher for the review copy all opinions are my own.

"Do you know my name? Perhaps you should forget it I'm a wanted man.".

"The Outlaw Noble Salt" was a step out of the normal romance books I choose to read. To say it was a pleasant surprise would be an understatement. Amy Harmon pulls you into the world of the wild west and a slow burning love story of the most famous of the outlaws, Butch Cassidy. You can feel the dust under your feet in the flat of Utah and smell the patisserie in the streets of Paris.

All Butch Cassidy wanted to do was turn away from the troubles his youth. The criminal world he lived in continued to pull him back as he tried to shake off the friends and family and escape that life.

"I'm tired. I want to be left alone, and I'd like to have a different life than the one I've lived. It's a new century. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child. Now that I have become an adult, I have put away childish things."

Until, he had a chance encounter with a young mother and famous singer, Jane Toussaint. The encounter with Noble Salt (aka Butch Cassidy) was short but very memorable and one they would remember when reunited years later.

Their paths crossed once more six years later in the streets of Paris as the songbird was looking for security for her American tour. She knew Noble Salt -Butch Cassidy's past, but chose him regardless, knowing that despite what the world said he was a good man. The close quarters of travel to America and the longing that Butch felt for her from the time he heard her sing years ago brought a protectiveness for her that was leading to love. He had thought of her many times over the years.

"Tell me you love me. Even if it's not the truth. I'll cherish the lie."

This fictional story of "The Outlaw Noble Salt" was heartbreaking, full of hope and a beautiful story of find ourselves and each other right where we are. There are characters that you want to hate, but love. And, there are characters that you relate to at a core level. Amy Harmon has written some amazing books and this one now lands at the top of the list for me.

A historical fiction based on what romantics would have hoped had happened to Butch Cassidy after he gave up his bad boy ways... Full of adventure, romance, loveable characters (yes, even the bad guys), and historical charm. I loved this one and couldn't put it down.

This is my first read by Amy Harmon and I can't wait to check out her backlog... one of the perks of finding a new-to-you favorite when they've been writing hits for years!

Growing up, I had heard the legend of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid but I had never given much thought to their lives beyond the crimes they committed as outlaws in the Wild West. Amy Harmon humanizes the outlaws in this story and gives them purpose. Butch Cassidy, wanting to leave his outlaw reputation behind him, takes on the name Noble Salt and is hired to protect opera singer Jane Toussaint and her son Augustus. Butch/Noble is immediately enamored with Jane and Jane with Noble but in the end he realizes he cannot outrun his outlaw reputation and he must save Jane even if he cannot save himself.

Overall, this is another great read from Amy Harmon. I say that about all of her books but it is true. She is one of the most consistent authors for me. I know I can always count on a gripping and emotional story from her and she always delivers.

Another beautiful book by Amy Harmon. I admit I'm not a big Western fan but this blew all my misgivings out of the water!
Jane is a perfect foil for Noble. "No, I call you honey because that's the way you make me feel. Soft and warm and golden." Sigh.
"You opened me up," he whispered to his sleeping wife. "And took my heart from my chest. Now how will I live?" Thank you for making Butch Cassidy a real person to me and not just a person in history books.
"Nobody really knew what was right or wrong in these matters. The wrestle between what was fair and what was lawful , what was merciful and what was good was a universal one. He couldn't unravel it himself half the time." I will definitely recommend this book to any historical fiction lover!! Thank you to netgalley for the book to read and review. I enjoyed every minute of it!!

Amy Harmon never disappoints and I loved her latest, The Outlaw Noble Salt! It had me hooked from the first page until the last. It is well researched and very descriptive making me feel like I was inside the book. Definitely recommend for another classic Amy Harmon novel!

Thank you to netgalley for the arc in exchange of an honest review.

I first discovered Amy Harmon last year when I read Where the Lost Wander and she instantly became a repeat author for me. Im working my way through her backlist titles and was so pleased to be given a copy of Noble Salt! I love how Harmon weaves history with fiction, and this story was no different. I love her portrayal of Butch Cassidy, the writing was beautiful, and the love story was so expertly weaved in and laid out. I will forever look forward to any books by Harmon and recommend them to anyone that will listen.

I really liked this! I didn’t know much about Butch Cassidy besides he was an outlaw and even though most of this is fiction I really loved the character Amy gave him. I loved that he found a love story and that he could change. I loved the little boy and their relationship. I loved their travels and the adventure of it all.

I had never read an Amy Harmon book. I know she has a great fan base so I decided to give this one a try. I probably should have went with another of her books .
For some reason, the book did not capture my attention. It seemed to drag for the longest time. For a book about an outlaw that was rather puzzling to me.
My other main issue was the character of Jane. She was just overwhelmingly annoying to me. Definitely a cactus.
I think if you enjoy historical fiction that isn’t super fast paced this might be a good book for you.
I received an ARC of this book, all opinions are my own

Such a fun read. I love the liberty that Amy harmon took with these characters and so much knowledge was included as well! You can tell that this novel was important to her as she stated in the acknowledgements some ways that it touched her life. Such a deep wonderful romance!

Amy Harmon's latest novel, The Outlaw Noble Salt, offers readers a look at a well known wild west legend with a fictionalized twist. The book asks whether or not an outlaw can truly leave his past behind, even for love. The main characters all have something to escape, and form their own band of outsiders. The novel also questions the idea of identity and how the characters really see themselves versus how the world views them.

Robert LeRoy Parker claimed fame as outlaw Butch Cassidy. Cassidy never really took to criminal life and stole only as a means of survival. In the novel, while visiting New York City, Cassidy watches singer Jane Toussant perform an old Scotch ballad his mother sang to him. After going backstage to speak to her he is mistaken for the doctor sent to look at her ill son Augustus. Cassidy gives his name as Noble Salt. Years later Butch Cassidy, Jane Toussant, and Augustus meet each other again in Paris. Jane needs security guard and asks Noble Salt to accompany her and Gus to America.

Jane's her reputation as a diva belies her inner turmoil. She has terrible secret in her past, one that causes her tremendous shame. Jane longs to be a good mother to her son and protect him from a cruel world. Augustus bears the birthmark that leaves him open to harsh comments yet he is a bright, happy-go lucky kid. Both long for sense of normalcy - Jane wants to give a performing and Gus just wants to be a kid with family.

Butch Cassidy never truly saw himself as an outlaw, yet legend and western novels fixed that reputation to him. His alias Noble Salt evokes both aspiration and the truth - Cassidy wants to be noble and is salt of the earth, having come from a poor family. He yearns to leave his criminal pass behind him, to lead a normal quiet life. Amy Harmon imbues the real life legend Butch Cassidy with heart and soul. His past weighs heavy on his mind yet he knows he can't change the past. Instead he hopes for a future away from his outlaw life. He finds inner peace in protecting Gus and Jane. He becomes Noble Salt, maybe the man he was always meant to be.

“There ain’t a lot of mercy in the world. And even fewer second chances.”

I am overwhelmed with emotions right now. This is not just a story, this an experience. It’s a journey of hope and love and repentance.

“We make our own hell, and we make hell for the people we love with our poor choices.”

Amy Harmon has a beautiful way of storytelling that draws you in, keeps hold of you, and holds you captive to the very end. Her characters are real and relatable, and you want to know them. Noble Salt is an outlaw. He seeks redemption and peace. He is loyal and honorable and protective, and he loves with his all. When he meets Jane and Augustus, his life is forever changed, and man is it beautiful.

“Sometimes…you fall in love with someone. And it doesn’t matter if it makes sense. It doesn’t matter what they look like or what they’ve done.”

This story is written beautifully and with such vivid detail that it plays out before your eyes. Watching Noble with Augustus melted my heart. They have such a beautiful bond. The way Noble cherishes and safeguards Jane and Augustus made my heart break wondering if there was ever going to be a way for them to be together. This is a story of contrition, of wanting to right past wrongs, of wanting to do good by others. It’s a story of sacrifice, of hope, and of an immense love you feel deep within. My heart ached, I swooned, I hoped, and I absolutely loved this story!

“Some people are just ours.”

I’m an Amy Harmon fan and I really enjoyed this one!
The infamous Butch Cassidy meets and becomes enamored with famous singer Jane Toussaint and her young son Augustus. He meets them again by chance years later. Jane hires him as her bodyguard as they travel from France back to the US for her tour. Things with Jane and Augustus aren’t entirely what they seem, and the job is bigger than he ever realized.

Amy Harmon’s books are always so beautifully written and well-researched. I did feel like this one was a bit slow for my taste, but the ending made it worth it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for this e-ARC!

Butch Cassidy is at a point in his life that he is dissatisfied with running from the law and, instead, longs for a more honest living. He discovers Jane Toussant singing on stage and is instantly touched by her voice and her beauty. When she mistakes him for Dr. Noble Salt, who was called to care for her sick son, Butch plays along with the mistaken identity and manages to successfully help the boy due to his experience nursing his many siblings. A few years later, they meet by chance and Jane instantly proposes that he work as her bodyguard on her tour through America. He accepts.

This novel took the real-life, infamous Butch Cassidy and gave him an alternate history, showing a side of him that was admirable and honest. Most of this story was invented by Amy Harmon but everything felt plausible and I found myself drawn into Butch and Jane’s world. Harmon’s version of Cassidy was, deep down, a caring person who had been a big brother to so many siblings and regretted leaving home and never seeing his mother again. The loveable characters, some of whom were other famous outlaws, pulled me in. The historical aspects revealed in their tale were also engaging.

Harmon is an awesome author. I’ve read most of her novels. They are mostly very different from each other and display a variety of genres with a variety of settings and time periods. But they are all populated with terrific people who must rise above their circumstances. And they all include terrific love stories that warm my heart. This one is no different. I thought it was brave of Harmon to take on a legendary character and make him her own.

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me early access to this novel in exchange for an honest review. This novel will be released on April 9, 2024.

4.75 gunslinger stars

The Wild West has been romanticized along with the stories of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. But what if Butch Cassidy decided to walk away from his life of crime for the love of a woman?

A chance encounter in New York sets up Butch to hear noted singer Jane Touissant sing on the stage. The woman and her singing enchant him. Butch is mistaken backstage for a doctor, and so another alternate identity is created. This time, Dr. Noble Salt. Butch treats Jane’s ill son and departs again the next day.

As fate would have it, the pair meet again in Paris years later. Jane invites Butch to serve as her security for her upcoming tour. Butch does yearn to return to the US to see his parents again in Utah, but he’s a wanted man there. He gives in to the temptation and agrees to accompany Jane and her son Gus (a fantastic character in his own right) on an ocean liner to New York. This unlikely pairing eventually turns into a romantic situation.

As both Jane and Butch’s past catch up to them, we also get a glimpse of the Wild Bunch and what the times were like.

This author does a fantastic job of creating a historical time and place for her stories. I was completely drawn into this one, and I loved the story of a reformed Butch Cassidy. Plus, the ending was picture-perfect!

A vivid and hauntingly realistic story of the turbulent, tragic, and and at times violent life of Butch Cassidy as he navigates the final years of his life. It was so vivid and real that I desperate wanted it to all be true.
Noble Salt may have been a fake name, given to a woman and her young son at a time when he was leaving all of his past behind him, but it became something he could not escape. The singer entranced him from the very first moment she opened her mouth and sang, the way she loved her boy, and the heartbreaking way she seemed to expect pain and hurt from men, and not a simple kindness. When a chance encounter years later finds them bumping into again, fate seems to be whispering, but what he does not know. It sets them on a course that will change all of their lives in ways they never could have imagined.
Love blossoms in the most unlikely places and lasts a lifetime, even when we are apart.
It was a beautiful, heartbreaking story that stole my heart, broke it in pieces over and over again, and had me in tears.
I loved all of the characters, even the ones I probably shouldn't, and I wanted better for all of them. Why isn't it all true???!!!

I am an Amy Harmon fan. And I will forever be here for what she writes. (Still working on that backlist, though) The Outlaw Noble Salt was such a fun story about the infamous Butch Cassidy, his brother, and the Sundance Kid. This was such a fun twist on his story, and I was obsessed with what happened next for him. Amy Harmon made Butch a person that you could not help but root for, and who doesn't love an outlaw getting a love story? I was constantly googling real facts of the Wild Bunch while reading, and I absolutely love when books have me deep diving. If you're a historical fiction fan and want more of the Wild West get this on your TBR, stat. Thank you, thank you to Netgalley and Lake Union Publishing for the advanced digital copy!

This was such a unique historical fiction, as all of Amy Harmon's novels are. Although not my favorite of hers, it was a solid 4 star book. What brought it down slightly for me was the slow beginning. I didn't feel invested in the characters until at least the halfway point. For a character-driven book, I want to really love and feel for them, and I just didn't get there until the later part of the book. It was certainly fun learning more about Butch the outlaw!

Beautiful story about self-sacrificing love and redemption. It was emotional, endearing and hopeful. I loved how the story looked at an outlaw, or villain, and painted him into a real-life, relatable character that you ended up wanting to root for despite his past. It blended the original story of Butch Cassidy and the dichotomy that was underlying in history - villain, yes, massive flaws and bad choices, of course, but also with a compassionate and some Robin Hood-like behavior that made him more understandable. His emotion and Jane’s were very well conveyed and written.

I loved how Amy was able to translate so well that often our choices and reasoning and love are more grey than black and white. Good and bad are often less clear than we want them to be and people are complicated. It made Noble/Butch feel relatable and genuine. It allows for redemption and forgiveness instead of judgement and vengeance.

While a lot of the real Butch Cassidy remains a mystery, more and more sources are showing he likely didn’t die as one of the men in that shoot out, which allows for the what-ifs. In some ways, I wish the main chat in the book was a generic outlaw rather than a blending of fact and fiction so my brain didn’t keep warring with that, but the story Amy paints was beautiful nonetheless and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Thanks to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book. All opinions are mine.

I finished this book a few days ago but I am still not sure how to put my feelings into words. The story is beautiful, the characters captured my heart and I just loved it so much. I feel forever grateful to have read an ARC.

Outlaw Noble Salt tells a story of how American’s infamous outlaw Butch Cassidy fell in love. It’s a story of hope and redemption, it’s protecting those you love and taking risks, it’s about love. This is my first book by Amy Harmon and I am not sure why because I loved the story telling and writing style. I love Jane, Noble, and Gus with all my heart, Van and Harry too. And of course I loved the slow burn romance. I felt so many emotions while reading, I cried and I smiled. I highly recommend everyone reads this book.