Oct 7, 20214 min read

The Outlaws Scarlett and Browne: Blog tour/giveaway

I am thrilled to be hosting a spot on the THE OUTLAWS SCARLETT AND BROWNE by Jonathan Stroud Blog Tour hosted by Rockstar Book Tours. Check out my post and make sure to enter the giveaway!

Jonathan Stroud is the author of two internationally bestselling series: the award-

winning Bartimaeus Sequence, which has been published in thirty-six languages

worldwide, and the critically acclaimed Lockwood & Co., which is currently being adapted by Netflix. His stand-alone titles include Heroes of the Valley, The Last Siege, The Leap, and Buried Fire. Jonathan lives near London with his wife and three children.

You can visit him at jonathanstroud.com and follow him on Instagram at

@jonathan.stroud and on Twitter at @JonathanAStroud.

Title: THE OUTLAWS SCARLETT AND BROWNE (The Outlaws Scarlett and Browne, #1)

Author: Jonathan Stroud

Pub. Date: October 5, 2021

Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers

Pages: 432

Formats: Hardcover, Paperback, eBook, Audiobook

Find it: Goodreads, Amazon, Kindle, Audible, B&N, iBooks, Kobo, TBD, Bookshop.org

Action! Humor! Fantasy! "Kicking off a new series with a bang (several bangs, in fact), Stroud sends two young fugitives with murky pasts fleeing murderous pursuers across a fractured future Britain." —Kirkus Reviews, starred

Scarlett McCain is a shoot-first ask-questions-later kind of outlaw. She scrapes by on bank heists, her wits—and never looking back.

She’s on the run from her latest crime when she comes across Albert Browne. He is the sole survivor of a horrific accident, and against her better judgement, Scarlett agrees to guide him to safety.

This is a mistake. Soon there are men with dogs and guns and explosives hot on their heels. Scarlett’s used to being chased by the law, but this is extreme. It was only a little bank she’d robbed . . .

As they flee together across the wilds, fighting off monstrous beasts, and dodging their pursuers, Scarlett comes to realize that Albert Browne is hiding a terrible secret. And that he may be the most dangerous threat of all.

In this fast-paced, quick-witted whirlwind of a story, Jonathan Stroud introduces two unlikely allies—the outlaws Scarlett and Browne—who are about to become the most notorious renegades in all that’s left of Britain.

I like to think of myself as someone who is pretty up to date on books. I know the new releases in all genres, I take weekly trips to B&N, mostly just to walk around, see what's on the up and up and add to my neverending tbr. I participate in cover reveals, book tours, etc, and casually stalk new authors on social media.

I am not sure how this book snuck by me, but boy was it SNEAKY!

"That morning, with the dawn hanging wet and pale over the levees, Scarlett McCain woke up beside four dead men. Four! She hadn’t realised it had been so many. No wonder she felt stiff."

That, my friends, is the opening line to a book that is sure to be my favorite of the month and it's only October 6th. TOSAB opens with our spunky bubble-gum chewing outlaw as she kills her way out of a sticky situation and subsequently robs a bank because who wouldn't? She's confident in her skills and very okay about working alone, so when she happens upon a bus crash and a survivor named Albert stuck in a bathroom, she isn't too keen on a tag-along. But she agrees to help him and things go from bad to worse. She's not only running from debtors, but from a group of people who want Albert. He's hiding secrets, but so is she. What's the worse that could happen?

Stroud gives us a Wild West type dystopian England that was a bit of a character in itself. The world is wrought with Tainted humans, oversized animals, and people who make their own rules. He gives us elements of fantasy and dystopian without it feeling familiar. He is an effortless writer (I know he probably isn't and cries behind his laptop sometimes as we writers do) but I'd like to keep this illusion going.

His characters leap off the page. Scarlett is morally grey, fierce, stubborn, and brutal while Albert is the complete opposite in his politeness and calm. Scarlett is jaded about the world whereas Albert is curious and naive and despite their pasts, they are good people at heart who want nothing more than to find where they belong. They are two very different people on very different paths and it took me aback at how perfect they were with each other, despite their differences. Opposites attract, right?

The plot is action-packed and strings us along this journey through a waterlogged world. With each stop along their travels, we learn a bit more about Scarlett and Albert and establish their characters. By the time the book ended, I immediately wanted to jump into book two. Please let there be a book two. PLEEEEEASSSSSE.

My only qualm was that this felt like an epilogue. I didn't feel that sense of completion went the story ended; it felt like the beginning.

Overall, I absolutely loved every single second of this book. it had everything I love in a YA fantasy. This is my first Stroud novel and it will not be my last.