Ah, the American West in historical romance. Petticoats. Horses. Leather. Men named Chet who want to get in your petticoat and who smell like leather, sweat, and horses (and why does that turn people on? I’d run for the hills if approached by stanky Chet).
American Western Historicals also present a unique opporunity: your antagonist? The force acting against your couple? Throughout the WHOLE BOOK? Could be the weather!
Now that is an opportunity right there- The Weather Channel: “It Could Happen Tomorrow – The Romance Series.”
If you’re not thinking cold fronts, what Western Historicals would you recommend?
I rarely participate and try to leave the brilliance up to y’all, but I have to put in a word for one of my faves. I am a sucker for old school Jude Deveraux, and I love Wishes, particularly for the somewhat cranky “fairy godmother” who thinks being thin will solve the heroine’s problems (she’s so wrong), and who conjures herself up a year’s worth of People magazine to amuse herself for an afternoon.
So – what other Western Historicals would you like to recommend?
Oldies but very goodies, A Time Too Late and The Reckoning by DR Meredith. Epic saga. One woman against the West. That kind of stuff.
Does Maggie Osborne’s “Silver Lining” count as a Western? This is the first book of hers that I read and it made me a believer!
I second the Johanna Lindsey’s. Haven’t reread one in years, but at the time they were great.
One of the first romances I ever read was Tears of Gold by Laurie McBain. Takes place is California and New Orleans. Still love that book.
Finally, The Tiger’s Woman by Celeste DeBlasis. One of the most perfect romances I ever read.
Sweet Everlasting, Crooked Hearts, and Thief of Hearts, all by Patricia Gaffney.
Are you sure you don’t mean Wild at Heart, Robin? Thief of Hearts was set in England and Italy, IIRC.
LFL
Here are some of my favorite American historicals (not all set in the West):
The Way Home by Megan Chance
Fall from Grace by Megan Chance
The Portrait by Megan Chance
Crooked Hearts by Patricia Gaffney
Wild at Heart by Paticia Gaffney (hands down my favorite of these)
Sweet Everlasting by Patricia Gaffney
Waiting for the Moon by Kristin Hannah
Lions and Lace by Meagan McKinney
Fair is the Rose by Meagan McKinney
Years by LaVyrle Spencer
November of the Heart by LaVyrle Spencer
The Charm School by Susan Wiggs
The Passions of Emma by Penelope Williamson
I have also heard great things about Williamson’s Heart of the West and The Outsider, but these are still in my TBR pile.
Are you sure you don’t mean Wild at Heart, Robin? Thief of Hearts was set in England and Italy, IIRC.
No, LFL, it’s even worse—I wasn’t thinking right at all. How in the hell I mixed up Thief of Hearts with Outlaw in Paradise I’ll never know, but I did. I actually don’t think of Wild at Heart as a Western, either (probably because I live so close to where Crooked Hearts is set), but I do know it’s the midwest, so it is technically a Western. As for Thief of Hearts *does* have an American connection, but it’s to the American South, so I don’t know how it got into my head as I was typing. I was just screwed up all the way around (is that the same thing as screwing around?)!
Almost anything by Carolyn Davidson (especially MARRIAGE BY CHANCE and THE TENDER STRANGER) except OKLAHOMA SWEETHEART, which is so bad that I can only assume that the writer had a serious need for a quick bit of cash and wrote it over a weekend. Well, even shakespeare had his bad days.