The Sword-Edged Blonde by Alex Bledsoe (Review & Giveaway)

At the end of January, online friend Deborah Blake hosted author Alex Bledsoe on her blog, Writing the Witchy Way.  He spoke about finding time to write when you're a stay-at-home parent.  (Geez, the mind boggles.)  Deb reciprocated by explaining the concept of maladaptive inertia to Alex's readers.  Both posts are good reads, and I would get all cute and ask you to read them while I wait for you to come back to this post. EXCEPT. I. CAN'T. WAIT. THAT. LONG.

Do not look away. Finish this post.
Click through on the links later.

Read them later.  (Seriously, it's good stuff.)

Right now, at this very moment, I need to introduce you to the best thing I learned from Deb's and Alex's posts; I need to introduce you to Eddie LaCrosse and The Sword-Edged Blonde.

You're going to be so glad I did.

See, Eddie is tough guy, a sword for hire.  Living in a place that feels a little bit Medieval Times and a little bit Tombstone, Eddie makes a living by his wits, by his word, by his weapon.  I don't want to date Eddie, and I really don't want to be Eddie, but I would love to have a guy like Eddie at my back.  When you're in a pinch, and you need someone discreet to straighten out your mess, Eddie is your guy. He's a little bit Sam Spade, little bit Harry Dresden, and whole lot of Easy Rawlins.*

*If you're unfamiliar with any of these three, we can talk later.

At this point in his life, Eddie has his own code of dos and don'ts (like those other three), and he sticks to it even when it gets awkward.  Eddie gets the job done. In The Sword-Edged Blonde, the job is to find out what happened to his best friend's wife and infant child on the night everyone thinks the wife went crazy and murdered the boy.  The fact that Eddie's best friend commands his own kingdom and hasn't spoken to Eddie in years makes the situation trickier, but it doesn't change Eddie's code. The fact that the wife doesn't remember that night nor anything that happened before the day she met the king makes things interesting, but not nearly as interesting as Eddie's belief that he's met the woman before.

This book is for the tough guy in all of us.

The Sword-Edged Blonde takes Eddie on an adventure- and memory-packed journey to find the truth about that night.  You'll find out how a guy with Eddie's sordid past becomes friends with a king, and you'll be reminded that we're often the last ones to offer ourselves forgiveness.  It's Eddie's sordid past that makes me call this book western noir. The noir part is right.  Eddie is hard-boiled. He hasn't forgiven himself, but the western part is a bit odd because everyone else calls it sword-and-sorcery fantasy. I just can't shake the feeling that Eddie would fit right in during the shootout at the OK Corral. (Once, of course, he traded in his sword for a revolver.)  I'd say western noir is for anyone who likes the idea of frontier justice, the sanctity of friends, and never letting yourself off the hook.

So, I really, really liked this book, and I want to thank Deb for introducing me to Alex's work by paying it forward.  I have a paperback copy of The Sword-Edged Blonde to give away.

Yay, free book!  Free GOOD book!

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