Really enjoyed this book. Great plot and engaging, believe characters. I was drawn right into the story. Would definitely recommend.

I think that the students in our school library need to hear lots of diverse voices and read stories and lives of many different kinds of people and experiences. When I inherited the library it was an incredibly sanitised space with only 'school readers' and project books on 'the railways' etc. Buying in books that will appeal to the whole range of our readers with diverse voices, eclectic and fascinating subject matter, and topics that will intrigue and fascinate them was incredibly important to me.
This is a book that I think our senior readers will enjoy very much indeed - not just because it's well written with an arresting voice that will really keep them reading and about a fascinating topic - but it's also a book that doesn't feel worthy or improving, it doesn't scream 'school library and treats them like young reading adults who have the right to explore a range of modern diverse reads that will grip and intrigue them and ensure that reading isn't something that they are just forced to do for their English project - this was a solid ten out of ten for me and I'm hoping that our students are as gripped and caught up in it as I was. It was one that I stayed up far too late reading and one that I'll be recommending to the staff as well as our senior students - thank you so much for the chance to read and review; I really loved it and can't wait to discuss it with some of our seniors once they've read it too!

This was a solid presentation of a fictional tale of Calamity Jane. I love the wild west and western lifestyle so I enjoyed the novel for what it was. The writing style wasn't my personal favorite, but it was still a good novel. Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Another well written historical fiction by Libbie Hawker. Calamity is about none other than the infamous Calamity Jane. This tome is over 500 pages and could have been more streamlined. The writing is well done using language and slurs of the time. It starts when Martha is a small girl and all she endure raising her siblings. Covers all her adventures, and many husbands. This I one to read! Thank you Net Galley for the opportunity to read in exchange for an honest review. 4.5 Stars

Calamity by Libbie Hawker is a fictional biography of Martha Jane Canary, the legendary Calamity Jane. It is written in first person as if she was dictating her memoirs to the author. This reads as a true biography, with recounting her exploits, mistakes, setting the record straight on her life to dispel all the rumors of the time about her. Not many people can envision all that happened to her and the realistic tone was refreshing. My only complaint would be the length of the novel – it was a little overwhelming at times. Thank you to Net Galley and Kobo for allowing me to read the e-book for an honest review – what a great addition to previous works about Calamity Jane.

I just finished reading this book, which was so hard to put down.
The writing is incredible. While reading, my world receded and I was transported into Calamity’s world and life. This author’s writing is superb.
I didn’t like the ending too much, but I understand the reasons explained by the author in the afterword.
Overall, a 5 star book for me, and highly recommended for fans of the old west, or to anyone with even a fleeting interest in Calamity and her time in history. This book will grip you.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for providing me with a free review copy in exchange for an honest review.

I loved the tone and style of this book. It read as being well-researched, and it was very entertaining. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review. It really changed the way I think about Calamity Jane!

Libbie Hawker’s Calamity is an ambitious novel, to say the least. A biographic fiction of Martha Jane Canary (known to history as Calamity Jane), the novel chronicles the life of the legendary frontierswoman, the history of the American frontier, and the folklore that came to immortalize both in public imagination past and present.

At five hundred and thirty-one pages, Calamity is not light literature and while I admired a lot of the content, I’d have preferred a more condensed and streamlined presentation. The author’s passion for the subject matter is more than evident and while I appreciate her dedication to comprehensively illustrating the course of Martha’s life, I have to admit the sheer amount of story made it difficult for me to remain fully engaged throughout my reading.

Readers should note the novel is relayed in the first-person past tense and includes intentional use of period-appropriate terms, colloquialisms, grammatic errors, and misspellings. None of this bothered me, but it’s the sort of stylistic choice that should be accepted and understood by prospective readers from the start and not retrospectively held over the author’s head after the fact.

Hawker tackles multiple themes and ideas through the life and adventures of Martha. Of these, I really enjoyed Hawker’s take on the real West and its contrast to the commercialized sensationalism immortalized in the American imagination. The unrequited love story did not appeal to me in the same capacity, but I seem to be in the minority so please take my commentary with a grain of salt.

Recommended to fans of biographical and/or western fiction.

If you love history of the wild west and of course of the one and only Calamity Jane. Libbie Hawkers is a wonderful author as finds Calamity Jane's voice who doesn't sugar coat her flaws, her disappointments in life but for the first time Calamity Jane is real and a person who lived her life in the days of the wild west.
The author will have readers eating out of the palm of her hand with her writing style, research, passion on who Calamity Jane was.

Thank You to Netgalley and publisher Running Rabbit Press for the copy of Libbie Hawkers Calamity