When Tara Marie was the second one to bring up western romances in about a week in her Westerns, Westerns and More Westerns… post, I got a bee in my bonnet over just how many of them I actually had. My brain always tells me none, but I know that isn’t right. So, I grabbed my trusty stenopad, which I never go anywhere without – well, almost – and went to check my keeper shelf. Here’s what I found:

  • Three Weddings and a Kiss anthology – I’m not sure whether to actually count this one since I keep it not for the Catherine Anderson western story but Loretta Chase’s Mad Earl’s Bride.
  • Merline Lovelace’s The Captain’s Woman – An absolute favorite comfort read of mine, but again, I’m not sure this one counts either. A sequel to The Horse Soldier & The Colonel’s Daughter, which I also have but wasn’t all that crazy about, technically it starts in the west but ends up in Cuba with Roosevelt’s Rough Riders. So, you tell me, western or not?
  • Of course, there’s always Julie Garwood’s For the Roses and Prince Charming, a choice guaranteed to send any true western romance fan into fits, I suspect. Not necessarily good ones, but, hey, I, personally, really love the story in Prince Charming so back off and cut me some slack here. I’m only making use of what I’ve got on the shelves here.
  • Oh, another personal top favorite, Donna Fletcher’s Tame My Wild Touch. Yes, that is the title and the cover would also send the cover patrol into ugly transports, so, again, be nice and stay on target, er, topic. I also have a few more of her western oriented books but they didn’t strike quite as strong a cord as TMWT did. I just loved the way their relationship grew and changed over the course of their tempetuous journey west.
  • And I also have not one but four from Stobie Piel, two time travels, which I don’t usually touch with a ten foot pole so she has to get credit for that, Free Falling & Blue-Eyed Bandit, plus a couple of secret identity Zorro rip-offs that I absolutely adore, Renegade and Renegade’s Heart.

Seems like there should be more but that appears to be it. See what I mean? I could really use some good recommendations of mating challenges, secret identies or best friend romances set in the good old wild west. I could probably come up with more plots I like but those are the ones I usually can’t resist and don’t seem to be finding in westerns.

Either that or I’ve been completely conditioned not to check for them . . . hmmm.

5 Comments

  1. Ah, Nicole, don’t be ashamed. Be afraid, be very, very afraid. (VBG)

    Hey, I have a couple of those guilty pleasures too. (G)

  2. I do have a western on my keeper shelf.

    And it’s a Johanna Lindsey *hangs head in shame* but really, I do love Angel.

  3. Suisan: See, it’s the “sneaking in there with my realizing it” that got me too. Seriously, my brain insisting that I don’t read westerns was why I knew I’d have to physically check the shelves. Even then I still ran across a couple that I wasn’t sure about “being” true westerns. And that’s another interesting question, what actually constitutes a western?

    Tara Marie: You know, it always gives me a start when anyone says they’re going to check out books I talk about. My immediate reaction is to scream, “Wait, let me give you more information.” Then I tell myself to relax and let it go already ’cause I don’t do, er, that “r” word to begin with. Let’em do some research. (VBG)

    I will say this, you can’t go wrong starting with Lovelace, however. She’s a hidden gem as far as I’m concerned, particularly with respect to all things military and she really shines in doing ones from the old west. She does a doggone good romance on top of that, too, and is one of the few authors I trust to do separations in them, I guess because of that military mindset, i.e. she sees them not as romance obstacles but possibilities. THE CAPTAIN’S WOMAN, especially, is an awesome romance that sets intense character growth against real events that are adventurous by their very nature.

    It’s also one of those books that I can never talk about without wanting to reread again, so you know where I’m heading now. (G)

  4. Considering that the only books you listed that I’ve read are the Garwoods, I now have several to look for.

    Even though I’ve found a few that I enjoyed, I’m not likely to start ardently searching them out, unless they’re recommended.

  5. Hmmm. Can’t say that I have any Westerns on my keeper shelf either. But I also have a sneeeeking suspicion that some may have snuck in there without my realizing it.

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