Annie and the Wolves follows the intertwining stories of Annie Oakley, the famous American sharpshooter, and Ruth McClintock, a contemporary historian struggling to prove her hypothesis that choices Annie made later in life were motivated by childhood abuse. After Ruth is sent some writings purporting to be Annie's personal journal, it sets her on a path to learning the truth not only about Annie's past but also about unsolved mysteries and odd phenomena from Ruth's own personal life.

This isn't your standard dual-time novel about historical research and discoveries, but a multi-stranded thriller about the dawn of psychotherapy, the path to overcoming trauma, women's empowerment, and the tantalizing possibilities of time-travel. It left me thinking about uncanny real-life coincidences and how history itself is formed.

This was my introduction to an interview with the author, available here: https://readingthepast.blogspot.com/2021/02/interview-with-author-andromeda-romano.html

Read this on the treadmill because it’s completely immersive and you want to keep reading. At times I thought it was a little heavy-handed with its point, I also wish it didn’t verge into school violence, but otherwise I really enjoyed it. The characters especially will stay with me; Reece is my favorite.

***Thanks to SoHo Press for providing a copy of this ebook in exchange for an honest review.***
Happy Publication Day to one of my early favorite 2021 releases! I am a sucker for stories that unfold on multiple timelines, and Annie and the Wolves is a fabulous example of just that. Since experiencing a traumatic accident, historian Ruth McClintock has nursed an obsession with Annie Oakley as her personal life fell apart around her. When an unlikely research partner enters the picture, she dives deep into the lesser-known aspects of Annie's life: the Wolves of her childhood abuse she never spoke about publicly but that haunted her into adulthood, and the challenges of recovering from a life-altering accident of her own.

Ruth's and Annie's stories are central, but the cast of characters that fill in the worlds around them are intriguing and troubled in their own ways. The secondary mystery that Ruth seeks to solve, in addition to Annie's Wolves, is as personal and intimate as it gets, and hit close to home. I was reminded me of last year's smash hit, Long Bright River. This novel is also perfect for the reader who likes their historical fiction with a dash of magical realism - think The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, or even The Midnight Library. I am interested to read what Annie Romano-Lax writes next!

Annie Oakley has long been a fascinating character. In this book, Ruth is obsessed with her and finds a long lost journal that may have been Annie’s. This story is told in two timelines and there is a bit of time travel. It is interesting, yet I found it a little bit confusing in places.

5 stars

This book took me completely by surprise.

I had been expecting yet another dual narrative historical fiction novel held together by a simple theme. Annie and the Wolves is so much more than that. It is an exploration of trauma, of women's voices, of how we move forward, and of the tiny yet infinite ways history molds who we are.

Andromeda Romano-Lax takes on an immense amount of work in constructing this story and manages to balance so many varied elements into an engrossing narrative that left me stunned. I am not one to annotate my books, but I might have to get a physical copy just so I can highlight some of the beautiful prose.

It might be a little early to call it, but I have a feeling that this will be in my Top 10 of 2021.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Soho Press for an ARC of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review!

"The future and the past are our two most difficult battles. They are not battles we are always meant to win."

This is a dual timeline about Ruth McClintock, a historian who is obsessed with Annie Oakley and the famous sharpshooter Annie Oakley herself.. This book has a little bit of everything - abuse, mental illness, suicide, drugs, revenge and time travel. The author really made you feel like you knew the characters and what they were going through. I found the time travel element very confusing at times. If I could give it an honest review I would give this book 3 1/2 stars.

This was a really gripping, page turning book. I wasn’t sure what to expect when I went in. Contemporary fiction mixed with historical fiction, family drama, teen angst, maybe some romance thrown in? I got all of that and more.

Told in a dual timeline (something I seem to be reading more and more of lately) this book mixes the modern life of historian Ruth McClintock with the past life of the dynamic Annie Oakley. It’s a nuanced, sometimes dark, sometimes hopeful story that has ties to many historically significant events with parallels to both modern day and Ruth’s own life. Add to the already stellar things I mention above is an element of the unknown in the form of premonitions and out of body experiences.

This book is wholly unique, I couldn’t put it down! I really loved how real these characters were in both word and deed, very relatable. Also, there’s elements of revenge, one of my fave tropes, and how that is handled was very satisfying.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants something really different from the usual, and a well written character driven story.

There are some content warnings for drug use, suicide. sexual abuse and gun violence.

Like many women, I’ve been fascinated with Annie Oakley since I saw a production of Annie Get Your Gun in elementary school. So I’m devouring Andromeda Romano-Lax’s forthcoming Annie and the Wolves, which goes beyond the myths perpetuated by the musical and cultivates fiction based around information revealed by Oakley’s relatives. Romano-Lax uses a dual timeline to weave science fiction and historical fiction into one timely, suspenseful, and complicated tale, and she places the reader directly in the action right from the beginning of the novel. In the early 1900s, we meet Annie at the moment a southbound train collides with the show train she’s traveling on. She thinks to herself, Away, and she does just that, moving through time, skipping ‘like a stone across a pond.’ Meanwhile, in contemporary times, we meet Ruth, an Annie Oakley researcher who is still working through the aftereffects of a car accident and the dissolution of her relationship with her fiancé. When Ruth receives a journal thought to be written by the sharpshooter, she enlists the help of Reece, a computer-savvy teenager, to help her determine the authenticity of it. They discover that the journal concerns Oakley but was written by a third person—possibly a therapist trying to help Oakley work through past trauma and abuse inflicted by someone called The Wolf. Full disclosure: the book addresses many topics and themes, some disturbing—abuse, mental illness, suicide, the human psyche, revenge, and memory among them—but it never feels heavy. Annie and the Wolves is Romano-Lax’s fifth book; I’ve put the other four on my TBR list.

This one was okay, I guess. The premise was interesting, but once I started to read the book, I lost interest about 1/2 way through. I kept hoping that my interest would come back, but it didn't. I would still read another book by the author, to give another chance. I really loved the idea. The cover of the book is gorgeous and, again, the premise is very creative. But it just wasn't the book for me.

2/5 Stars

Whew. This book knocked it out of the park. Told in two timelines - with some out of body/time travel-ish element, this is the story of Annie Oakley and Ruth McClintock. Ruth, a historian, delves deep into her Annie Oakley research while confronting her own dark history.

This is story telling that goes beyond a normal fiction novel. It's about pain, revenge, being a woman, broken families, and over all about human beings and fragility.

Thank to you NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.

"Annie and the Wolves" is a novel of great imagination, and I'm surprised that the publisher's description doesn't mention that the story includes the element of time travel. This is convoluted, but it couldn't be otherwise the way it is set up.

The story has a dual timeline. Ruth, a modern day historian, is writing a biography of Annie Oakley, the extraordinary sharpshooter. Ruth was in a terrible accident and has flashbacks to the event that changed her life. Annie Oakley was also in a terrible train collision that injured her and finished her career as a sharpshooter. A source sends Ruth a notebook in which Annie has written about the flashbacks she has following her accident, and the notes of a Viennese psychiatrist. Do these concern Annie? Ruth needs to find out.

"Annie and the Wolves" is more about Ruth and her teenaged helpers than about Annie Oakley, a woman who deserves a glorious book of her own. Romano-Lax touches on her friendship with Sitting Bull and her remarkable marriage, but much of the book is spent in Ruth's damp dump of a house which following her accident, she finds hard to leave.

I admire Andromeda Romano-Lax's boldness in grappling with the ideas she presents. If the novel is not a complete success it's not from lack of trying to wrangle them into shape. This novel is a fierce semi-success and the author's fearlessness is to be commended.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the digital review copy.

~~Candace Siegle, Greedy Reader

I wished for this book based on my love for Annie Oakley.
However, the dual timeline between Annie and Ruth actually confused me. I felt the story was drawn away from Annie and more about Ruth. I was more interested in reading about Annie.

Thanks to Netgalley for my advanced ebook copy.

This book...wow, where are the words? The author’s creative imagination really just threw together a book I never would’ve thought to be possible. I absolutely loved stepping back in time with Annie Oakley and really just getting thrown into a Western novel but not feeling like I’m reading a book through a spaghetti Western lens. Bravo!

How to review this one... I thought the writing was well done, and well-plotted...but it just didn't grab me the way I was hoping! Still, the author shows promise and I will definitely read other works of hers as they are released.

2.5 stars
I was actually in “Annie Get Your Gun” in high school, which is also based on Annie Oakley, so I was curious to read this.
When I read the synopsis, I wrongly assumed that this would be the story of Annie Oakley’s life.
This book does what seems to be very popular these days; uses a dual timeline. This is not a favorite writing style of mine. I feel as though it never works out as the author intends. The links/ parallel between the 2 timeline never seem as powerful as they should, and there’s always one timeline I care about and one I could do without.
In this case, I was very interested in Annie and very uninterested in Ruth. And the story was basically just about Ruth. Reece and Caleb were featured more than Annie it seemed. I would even say this shouldn’t be categorized as historical fiction. Feels a bit misleading.
It just felt convoluted and I couldn’t get into it. I know that the two characters had similarities and there was a reason for the parallel timelines, but it was would not be my preferred way to read these two stories.
My expectations going into it definitely affected my read.
The writing was totally fine and dual timelines are your thing, this novel could be more up your alley.

My wish was granted as a request for reading Annie and the wolves by Andromeda Romano-Lax. I'm grateful.
This book is quite confusing, it seems to have a dual timeline between two characters a researcher Ruth who is obsessed with Annie Oakley and Annie Oakley herself. Ruth seems to try and prove the speculation that Annie Oakley was sexually and physically abused? ( Just speculation) The researcher Ruth is trying to write a book about her life sometimes not so specific but also bringing in reasons of what can turn you into a sharpshooter. Escape the wolves why the wolves.
The focus is soon drawn away from Annie Oakley into Ruths life and some teenagers around her. Caleb and Reece. Ruths life is falling apart because her obsession sometimes has her believing more of Annie Oakley then herself. There is a lot of time hopping back and forth and multiple at once. It plays on the different aspect on Annie Oakleys experiences, speculative theories that are spread around that might of happen. It lacks world building and character building also.

This Arc Wish was given to me by net galley in exchange for honest review.

Sometimes it’s so refreshing to go into a book with no expectations, no reviews from other people clogging up your brain. I had such a fun time reading this because I knew nothing about it besides the fact that it’s about Annie Oakley. That blindness is so refreshing. It meant that this book was such a pleasant surprise to me. I was attracted by the cover and the blurb, and ended up devouring it.

There is something reminiscent of “A Little Life” and Donna Tartt’s writing in this book, though I’m hardpressed to explain why, other than the feeling it gave me as I read. The feeling of caring so much about the people you’re reading about, a slightly convoluted plot with numerous people and undertones of darkness throughout. You’re brought into the lives of a handful of people, and come to care for them so much, in the same way that Yanagihara and Tartt have mastered. I felt so compelled to read. The book followed me to work, where I regretted not bringing my iPad to the office with so that I could read this whilst I ate my lunch. That’s the sign of a good book, where it simply won’t leave your thoughts alone.

I adored this book and it’s complex narrative. It was expertly executed despite having many threads and themes that at first seemed unexpected. I loved learning about Annie Oakley and the historical elements within the story. It’s inspired me to read more about her.
The protagonist, Ruth was a richly developed character and I appreciated the inclusion of chronic illness, and mental illness.
I felt that the story had a dreamlike quality overall, and although it took time to piece the threads of what was happening together it was completely worth the journey.

This is an abbreviated version of a more detailed review that will be forthcoming. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Romano-Lax does an excellent job weaving multiple character perspectives together. Annie and Ruth have obvious similarities that draw them together, but they are their own individually developed characters in the novel. The time travel aspect of the novel is handled extremely well, and should not be a deterrent for readers who do not generally enjoy speculative fiction. At it's core, this is a novel about the relationship between healing and vengeance after a major trauma. It's attentions to gun culture are both historical and (unfortunately) timely, including both sharpshooter Annie Oakley and present-day school shootings. In addition to gun violence, the novel delves into drug abuse, teen suicide, and molestation--clearly not light subjects; nonetheless, Romano-Lax is an extremely talented storyteller and this was a true pleasure to read,