Big thank you to Rose, who suggested this Rec League in a previous Books on Sale post. She also promised everyone cookies!
Elyse: There was a Tessa Dare I think!
Redheadedgirl: Beauty and the Blacksmith ( A | BN | K | G | AB )
Amanda: Adriana Anders has a contemporary blacksmith hero in Under Her Skin ( A | BN | K | G | AB ). He has some lovely beta qualities and I highly recommend him.
Carrie: There’s Kate the Blacksmith in A Knight’s Tale. When it comes to books, I got nuthin’.
Sarah: First, this TV Tropes article about The Blacksmith is really neat. In the sense of “there goes five hours of my life”
I think the heroine of Here There Be Monsters by Meljean Brook ( A | BN | K | G | AB ) is a blacksmith, but that person maybe asked for heroes.
AND OF COURSE Ludvig Rundstom from The Unleashing ( A | BN | K | G | AB | Au )(maybe you’ve heard me mention the Call of Crows series a few times) is a blacksmith, but specifically weapons that are very much in demand among the other clans.
Which blacksmiths in romance would you recommend?
I’m with Amanda on the Adriana Anders rec. Ivan was adorably gruff. And I just finished binge reading the third book in the Blank Canvas series and enjoyed them all. I will say that the whole series needs trigger warnings because they deal with characters who have a lot of trauma in their backgrounds.
And that series is why I am currently awake after an all night reading binge. I am a card carrying member of the bad decisions book club, and I bought the T-shirt to prove it.
Good n-….I mean good morning. 🙂
Not strictly romance, but I must mention Terry Pratchett’s witches series which frequently feature the incomparable Jason—-Nanny Ogg’s hulking, inarticulate Morris-dancing son—-who serves as Lancre’s blacksmith and bespoke shoer of Death’s horse.
The next (long awaited) Meljean Brooks book in the Iron Seas series will have the Blacksmith (with a capital B) as the protagonist.
Also a shout out to The Dark Is Rising, with a cameo from Wayland Smith.
Surely there are some Hephaestus novels? (Blacksmith marries Aphrodite? Like—please someone write this, if you haven’t already?)
YA rather than romance (if you want to pass on the smithing bug?), but Tamora Pierce features a girl blacksmith mage called Daja (and her blacksmith mage mentor) in her Circle of Magic series.
Also, there’s a Wikipedia page for Hephaestus in Popular Culture: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hephaestus_in_popular_culture
Also also, there’s an old Goodreads list for M/F romances with blacksmith/mason/builder/farrier/welder heroes. (I don’t know why it’s quite so specific in that way, but okay.) https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/47678.Blacksmith_Mason_Builder_Heroes
I loved Elisabeth Hobbes’ The Blacksmith’s Wife – very quiet medieval, with a really great sense of setting.
Ummm, when we were first married, the dh wanted me to read the entire Jordan Wheel of Time series with him. I did. A gazillion words I read and listened to and this was my takeaway: Perrin the Blacksmith=Hot. Blacksmiths in general=hot.
So I’m here for this thread.
Another YA, but with some romance component (and STRONG female friendship): Robin McKinley, Spindle’s End. Narl is a major character and quintessential blacksmith! Wonderful retelling.
If you like menage then No Bag Limit by Kaliana Cole has a blacksmith as one of the H’s. The heroine is a romance writer and actually puts a blacksmith scene in her books inspired by the H.
It’s been quite some time since I read this so I’m not entirely sure how much the blacksmith element features but I think there’s at least one scene between the characters and one in the h’s book.
I’m with Katrina. I’ll rec Meljean Brook’s forever pending Iron Seas book about The Blacksmith, although steampunk may not meet the requirement. Otherwise you’ve hit all the books I’d recommend.
Echoing Bonnie F with Robin McKinley, this time with the adorable Ger, from Beauty. Class differences are overcome, and he and his wife get extended domestic bliss. I love them.
I haven’t read it yet, but it’s on my goodreads TBR pile: an inspirational romance titled “To Win Her Heart” by Karen Witemeyer. The blacksmith hero in the book is also an ex-convict, and the heroine is a librarian
The Blacksmith’s Heart by Nerys Leigh is such a sweet, romantic, inspirational read. I loved it.
SLOWLY FELL by Jayne Fresina has a blacksmith hero ` lovely book!
Isn’t the upcoming Alyssa Cole (A Duke By Default) applicable here?
Well, close, swordmaker. Close enough for me, but it’s not out until the end of July.
I AM SO HAPPY. Thank you all so much!! Especially thank you to Sarah for that TV Tropes article, which was fascinating. My TBR list is glittering with joy!!
I wish I could bake each and every one of you cookies. As they tend to break up over wifi, please accept this offering instead of Lee Pace holding a pie: https://goo.gl/images/622ZgJ
Second, third and fourth on Adriana Anders Blank Canvas series! Ivan in Under Her Skin is totally swoon-worthy! I love that he’s big, scary and confident enough to let Uma take the lead.
My romance novel, The Preacher’s Promise features a Black hero who is both minister and blacksmith.
Melissa McShane’s AGENT OF THE CROWN features a blacksmith hero, and a heroine who’s a Deviser, sort of a magic artisan. It’s the third book of a series (all of which are pretty good) and the epilogue mostly follows up on an earlier couple, but the rest stands alone quite well.
Patricia Briggs’ Mercy Thompson series has a fae who’d known as “The Dark Smith of Drontheim” … but he’s not the hero (although he’s stepped in to save her) … he is, however, impressive.
Donna Andrews has a mystery series, and the main character, Meg is a blacksmith
The Tessa Dare is the novella Beauty and the Blacksmith.
P.C. Cast did a series with Greek Gods, and the Hades / Persephone story “Goddess of Spring” has Hades working at a forge.
The hero of The Unleashing by Shelly Laurenston is also a blacksmith. It’s more urban fantasy/paranormal but hey, he does make awesome weapons for those chosen by the Norse gods.
I started reading the Robert Jordan Wheel of stile series in middle school and the last book came out when I was in my late 30s, and I bought them all in hardback because I loved it that much. I feel like Perrin the blacksmith is the true hero of the series, and his romantic partner is awesome. Also the author’s wife was his longtime editor and after the author died she arranged to have the series finished by Branden Sanderson, and apparently she was a totally badass influence on the series. I have so many good feels about it, despite its flaws.
My blacksmith loving heart thanks you for this post!
In later books in her Copper Ridge books Maisey Yates has at *least* one blacksmith hero. I think it’s the one where the heroine is a mechanic? The descriptions aren’t helpful, but he does big pieces, like fancy gates.
“Red, Red Rose” by Marjorie Farrell is an old traditional Regency, where the hero started out as a blacksmith in his youth, but by the time the heroine meets him he’s a career soldier.
Miranda Jarrett’s historical romance novel “Sunrise” has a hero who is a blacksmith on 18th century Nantucket. He falls in love with a French born Boston shopkeeper who is shipwrecked on the island. I believe her sister’s story may have been another book. I remember liking this book when I read it many many years ago.
It’s interesting because of the setting, the unusual occupations and the fact neither are noble or super super wealthy.
Kristen Callihan has a novella in her Darkest London series, Entwined that has a blacksmith hero. Eamon is also a virgin, if I remember correctly. The series leans steampunk/paranormal, if that’s a thing that you do or don’t like! This novella is set apart from the main books in the series, so you can definitely read it as a standalone.
GA Aiken’s The Dragon Who Loved Me features a warrior heroine whose true love is forging weapons like her Da. Not my fave in the series, but anything by Aiken/Laurenston is a dependable and generally hilarious auto-read for me.
“Transgressions” by Erastes is a historical m/m romance where one of the heroes is a blacksmith.
Ah, our Jason!
Jordanna Max Brodsky’s Olympus Bound series features Hephaestus though not as the hero.
The hero of Milan’s Suffragette Scandal is a blacksmith (among other things). There isn’t a ton of on-camera blacksmithing in the book, but there’s a bit, and it’s a wonderful story.
„Main Gauche“ by Megan Derr has a blacksmith‘s apprentice hero. It’s a cute m/m fairytale, very Cinderella, with the nasty stepfather, two not-so-nice, but redeemable older stepbrothers, and a prince. But it’s blacksmithing instead of kitchen work for the hero and dueling tournaments instead of balls. Very swashbuckling… The story is part of a collection, The Rapier Brothers, the second and third stories are the stepbrothers’ stories.
I am so happy to see the comments about Perrin! When I saw the subject of the rec league he was all I could think of. And I totally agree: he IS the true hero of that series.
Into the Fire by Mia West is an M/M set in post-Roman Britain where one of the heroes is a blacksmith.
I picked it up when it was free on Kindle. Don’t think the whole thing is free any more but the first part still appears to be.
There’s a novella with a hero who is a metal artist/blacksmith, and I want to say he is a virgin b/c he had been kidnapped and held in an isolated forest cabin as a kid? Or his mother had been, and he was the result of her being raped? And so he hosts a lot of parties at his loft / art space but he himself doesn’t have any sex and is a loner? And the heroine, who I think is homeless and ends up crashing at his loft, brings him out of the shell. I just cannot go thru my kindle to figure this one out, but I do love books with metal artists.
I also thought Anne Calhoun’s Breath on Embers had a metal artist/ forge angle, but when I just checked, it doesn’t seem to. I must be thinking of something else.
It’s not a romance, but the short story “The Heartsmith’s Daughters” by Harry R. Campion is FREE on Amazon and I recommend it at the highest level if you’re into brand-new fairy tales that read like they’ve been discovered in the corner of the attic of an abandoned house.
Ironbound by Mel Sterling. The heroine is a blacksmith, urban fantasy set in Portland. A reimagining of Irish folk lore which I enjoyed.