Reader Mary Star recently sent us an email asking for romances set in Canada. Here’s what she said:
I’m hoping the Bitchery can help me out — I’m going on a cruise to Nova Scotia and New Brunswick this fall and clearly need to start thinking about my reading! 🙂 I like bringing books that sort of evoke of the feeling of the vacation and I’d be all for some romances set in Atlantic Canada, especially anything historical.
I’ve read very little at all set in Canada generally except Anne of Green Gables (which I love) and helped inspire me to explore that part of the world more.
Redheadedgirl suggested The Bride Ship by Deborah Hale ( A | BN | K | G | AB ), which was mentioned on an early podcast interview she did with Sarah.
This was also the subject of a Good Shit vs. Shit to Avoid post. The comments are a goldmine, but the post is around nine years old. I’m sure there are some newer releases out there, especially with the discovery of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s dreaminess.
What Canadian-set books do you recommend?
@Trix @Angela Highland, I appreciate the music recs!
@Karin squeeee! That sounds so fantastically up my alley. Sara Donati was actually one of the only authors I could think of that touched on historical romance in Canada with her scenes set in Montreal. I’m amazed by how little Canada has been used as a setting. Maybe because, like America, you are talking very different racial, social, and economic realities than England of the same period.
Thank you everyone for fulfilling my biblio-wanderlust needs!
Started my Canadian TBR. Shit just got *real*.
Love the Charlotte Macleod (aka Alisa Craig) stories – primarily cozy, crazy mysteries with touches of romance. The Mounty series set in New Brunswick is interesting, but love her quirky Lobelia Falls, Ontario mysteries with Heroine’s husband who is Lex Laramie a writer of hokey westerns and his aunt Arethusa Monk who writes classic old style Regency Romances. Hilarious
dialogue where townsfolk’s conversations are sprinkled with lots of ‘gadzooks’ and ‘stap my garters’ etc. Readers also get a glimpse into her book heroine, the stupidly naive Lady Ermintrude who keeps getting kidnapped, etc. Lovely clever parody. Several books describe Arethusa’s eyes as ‘inscrutable pools of mystery, etc.’ Hilarious – have to read all her series once each year and her gift for quirky names is the gold standard in cozy mysteries for me.
Vivian Arend is a Canadian author who has a number of series I enjoy. Six pack ranch erotic romances are set in Alberta, Canada and really love some of the books in her Shifter series Granite Lake Wolves. She has also done a series with one of my favourite Canadian authors Elle Kennedy, but not sure Elle has written anything set in Canada.
Okay – weighing in – because Mr Richland flies the maple leaf.
Susan Fox also writes as Susan Lyons – she has a ton of books in a variety of genres (small town like Caribou Crossing series or hot like her Champagne Rules and Hot in Here books). There will be something you will enjoy.
Toni Anderson is a Brit who lives in Canada and writes awesome romantic suspense. I reviewed one of her books (The Killing Game) for RITA Reader Challenge a couple years ago, and it sent me off to her backlist. She uses a lot of settings – Canada, Scotland, etc – but you’ll get lost in her list too.
Literary Fiction (I know, this is romance, but there is some great Lit Fic in Canada and for some reason it doesn’t annoy me as much as the stuff I read from American authors.) My mother in law gives me Canadian fiction for Christmas, and I remember enjoying Crow Lake by Mary Lawson and A Good House by Bonnie Burnard (not THE Good House, by an American and set in Boston, but A Good House). Also you can look up the Giller Prize – for best Canadian fiction – and see if anything catches your eye.
TV: Try a few episodes of Republic of Doyle, set in Newfoundland. It doesn’t take much to get the flavor. Canada has a lot of their own TV because they have a Canadian content law, so they can’t fill the air with just American stuff. There’s also This Hour Has 22 Minutes (a comedy show, hit or miss).
And I second Angela about Great Big Sea’s music – they are wonderful. Alan Doyle’s solo career is also excellent – and The Paperboys (West Coast of Canada), Barenaked Ladies – you will learn it is “Kraft Dinner” which my husband’s family really says, not mac and cheese.
Have fun! We were in Newfoundland last summer and it was spectacular!
If you’re willing to go for nonfiction, Will Ferguson has some great books! I recommend Beauty Tips From Moosejaw – a travelogue across Canada – and Canadian Pie – a book about what it means to be Canadian. He’s an awesome writer, very funny.
Oh, and I also second (third? fourth?) all the Great Big Sea recommendations. GBS is The Best.
If you’re looking for well-written erotic romance, Ainsley Booth recently released PRIME MINISTER. It’s fun and well, may or may not be based on Justin Trudeau.
@Karin, I had the happy synchronicity of finding I had downloaded the Verge book a few weeks ago and forgotten all about it. I was very pleased by my prescience! 😀
For anyone interested, Heaven In His Arms is free for Kindle.
It’s so much fun for me to read all these wonderful recs. Thank you!
JUSTIN FAN FIC!!!! I will go check out Prime Minister.
One of my friends went to college with him – lucky lady. The man can work a pink partially unbuttoned shirt at a Pride parade AND a cowboy hat at Calgary Stampede.
OMG Prime Minister is part of a series called “Frisky Beavers.”
Just. Speechless.