20181227_151335.jpgHappy Wednesday and welcome to my blog tour stop for The Perilous Adventures of the Cowboy King by Jerome Charyn! I have a review, as well as an amazing giveaway (open to the UK, US, and Canada!), so please read all the way to the bottom to check it out! Thank you to Over the River PR for the invitation to the blog tour!

My Thoughts:

Upon reading The Perilous Adventures of the Cowboy King, I quickly realized how little I knew about Teddy Roosevelt. What a life! What a character. 

Did you know Theodore Roosevelt was a police commissioner for New York City, a Rough Rider, an environmentalist? (Shhh…don’t tell…I didn’t know exactly what a Rough Rider was prior to reading this?) 

No one would have known our fearless twenty-sixth president had a childhood filled with illness, but Teddy Roosevelt certainly did. The chapters on his childhood endeared him to me instantly. Teddy’s older sister, Bamie, had a disability. In addition to Bamie and Teddy, there is quite the cast of characters, including a lovable (pet!) mountain lion named Josephine. 

Teddy has more than his share of hardship with his sick early life. He also loses his first wife during childbirth, and his mother passes away on the same day. Can you imagine? He leaves New York broken-hearted and filled with grief and ends up fighting crime as a sheriff in the Dakota territories. When he returns to New York, he marries his childhood sweetheart and quickly gets his life back on track, filling one political position after another when he becomes the youngest president of the United States after McKinley’s assassination. 

My favorite aspects of the book are the wily and charming “characters,” who just so happen to have been real people, along with the perfectly timed humor. The facts about the time were illuminating and insightful, and the book almost reads like an adventure because Roosevelt led such a fascinating and unusual life. What filled these pages was only about half of Roosevelt’s life! I would love to read more! 

Overall, I was enthralled with Teddy Roosevelt’s story and in awe of how Charyn presented it. 

Thanks to Over the River PR, the publisher, and author for the complimentary copy. All opinions are my own. 

Synopsis:

Raising the literary bar to a new level, Jerome Charyn re-creates the voice of Theodore Roosevelt, the New York City police commissioner, Rough Rider, and soon- to-be twenty-sixth president through his derring-do adventures, effortlessly combining superhero dialogue with haunting pathos. Beginning with his sickly childhood and concluding with McKinley’s assassination, the novel positions Roosevelt as a “perfect bull in a china shop,” a fearless crime fighter and pioneering environmentalist who would grow up to be our greatest peacetime president.

With an operatic cast, including “Bamie,” his handicapped older sister; Eleanor, his gawky little niece; as well as the devoted Rough Riders, the novel memorably features the lovable mountain lion Josephine, who helped train Roosevelt for his “crowded hour,” the charge up San Juan Hill. Lauded by Jonathan Lethem for his “polymorphous imagination and crack comic timing,” Charyn has created a classic of historical fiction, confirming his place as “one of the most important writers in American literature” (Michael Chabon).

Giveaway:

All you have to do is comment below to enter to win a copy of The Perilous Adventures of the Cowboy King AND a copy of I Am Abraham, Jerome Charyn’s historical fiction novel about Abraham Lincoln. One winner will be randomly chosen, and the publicist will mail the prize. Winner must be a resident of the UK, Canada, or the US.  Make sure to visit the blog tour link to see all the tour stops and more chances to win!

Have you read The Perilous Adventures of the Cowboy King, or is it on your TBR? Have you read any other books about Teddy Roosevelt? Happy Reading! ~ Jennifer THR