Ready for another Rec League? I am, because this one is my own personal request!
For some reason, I’ve been in the mood to read survival romances where the main couple must battle nature and the elements. I’m not looking for survival in terms of a human force, but more of an environment.
I know there are more than my brain is remembering.
Sarah: The one by that Ally person where the president’s daughter is in Alaska.
NOT IF I SAVE YOU FIRST! ( A | BN | K | G | AB )
Good job, brain.
The Alyssa Cole series also, Radio Silence et al. ( A | BN | K | AB )
Amanda: I want to note that watching Sarah’s brain connect dots in real time is always a delight.
What survival romances would you recommend? Tell us in the comments!
One of my favourite tropes! Of course that means I’m blanking on titles, lol.
Katie Ruggle has a couple – Gone Too Deep and On His Watch particularly.
Forced Disappearance by Dana Marton
Adriana Anders has one coming out next year which I’m excited about! Called Whiteout. Not much help to you now, though, I guess.
Tamara Morgan novellas with elements of this in the Winter Rescue series.
Which is the Suzanne Brockmann one with Savannah as the heroine in the jungle? Out of Control, I think.
Also, if I may, I’ve written a few! Stranded with the Mountain Man, Trapped with the Mountain Man, and On the Move all by Aislinn Kearns.
I’ll be stalking this thread for more recs!
Linda Howard has one called Prey https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10000269-prey
On the Island by Tracey Garvis Graves. If they hadn’t been rescued when they were that island would’ve eventually killed them.
Linda Howard has another one that I prefer to Prey called Up Close and Dangerous. The hero is a charter pilot and the heroine is his passenger; the plane is tampered with and they crash on a mountain. The part of the plot dealing with who sabotaged the plane is way less interesting than the part about the two of them surviving using the supplies and plane parts they have access to. Most of the book is them staying alive and getting down the mountain.
There’s a novella by Howard called Ice that takes place during a blizzard. The characters are mainly trying to escape from a couple of drug addicted criminals, but there is a certain amount of surviving the cold, too.
Linda Howard is big on insta-love/lust, so fair warning if that’s a problem.
A Scandal to Remember, by Elizabeth Essex, is a historical that features both battling a storm at sea and being shipwrecked on a deserted island.
AFTERSHOCK by Jill Sorenson: The heroine is an EMT caught under a crumbling freeway overpass when an earthquake hits. She teams up with a military veteran to help save the people trapped with them. There are bad guys and, of course, the hero has some secrets…but the heroine is a total bad-ass.
Sorenson also wrote STRANDED WITH HER EX, where a marine biologist and her ex-husband are on a remote island in the Pacific northwest. There are, initially, a few other people on the island, but one of them is trying to kill the others.
Someone above mentioned Adriana Anders’s upcoming WHITEOUT, but there’s also a prequel/setup novella called DEEP BLUE, currently available in a collection called TURN THE TIDE. Anyway, in DEEP BLUE, the h&h fight bad guys on a decommissioned oil rig and later and an uninhabited coastal island.
I know Amy Gamet has several books that would fit the category—including STRANDED WITH THE SEAL (on a mountain) and KIDNAPPED BY THE SEAL (during and after a hurricane). In fact, at some point in all of her Hero Force novels, there’s a point where h&h are in a stranded/isolated situation and have to work together to survive and find their way out.
Jane Henry’s ISLAND CAPTIVE may be a little off-center for what you’re asking for because—although h&h are stranded together on a Pacific island previously used as a scientific monitoring station—it’s labeled as a “Dark BDSM romance” and that is accurate. The heroine is a U.S. Marshall who is transporting a fugitive back to the States when the airplane crashes and she and the fugitive are the only survivors. The “hero” (I use the term advisedly) is a dom accused of murdering his sub. They do manage to survive on the island, but there’s a great deal of bdsm activity and consent is problematic.
There’s a good NA one by Claire Kells called Girl Underwater where two collegiate swimmers survive a plane crash along with a few children and they have to keep everyone alive in the wilderness until eventual rescue.
I once read one called Lost in Kakadu, which I remember as being totally bananas. Plane crash, survival in the Australian jungle. Super competent dude, totally helpless lady.
I enjoyed Last in Kakadu but the heroine is difficult to like.
I loved On the Island by Tracy G. Graves. Fair warning, the hero is the heroine’s student, and underage when they get stranded. They don’t get together until he’s over 18.
I’m excited to read Whiteout by Anders.
Flower in the Desert by Lavender Parker is a survival romance with a WOC heroine and a Native American hero. I liked it. 99 cents on kindle.
Up Close and Dangerous by Linda Howard starts with a plane crash in snowy mountains. So does Two Alone by Sandra Brown, an old favorite of mine. I just read Mean Streak by Brown, a mountain man romantic suspense with an injured heroine. I didn’t like the hero, but it might be someone else’s catnip.
My 2017 book, Stranded with the Navy SEAL, fits this theme. The hero and heroine are stranded on a desert island. It’s got lots of survival stuff!
Susan Cliff
Laura Leone’s Fever Dreams has both opposites attract, second chances and enemies to lovers tropes. She is a pampered socialite and he’s her hired pilot, they had a one night stand that ended badly. The plane crashes, I think, and they get stranded in the jungle. It was published in 1997 and while I remember loving it when I first read it, it’s been a while so proceed with caution.
If memory serves, there’s surviving nature part in As Lost as I get by Lisa Nicholas (which I really liked): https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25109203-as-lost-as-i-get
I assume plane crashes count? Withering Hope by Layla Hagen – heroine is on her way to her wedding in private plane, it crashes in the rainforest, and she and the pilot have to survive and make their way back to civilization.
One of my favorites is The Outlaws series by Elle Kennedy, it is an erotic suspense where they survive in a nuclear wasteland!
Funny, Linda Howard was the first name that popped into my head, as well. She’s pretty fond of the trope, but I have to say, for the love of God and little green apples, DO NOT READ Prey. It took her off my autobuy list. By the end I was rooting for the bear.
That being said, I did enjoy her The Woman Left Behind. I don’t know that it meets the requirements, as she’s on her own while the H is trying to find her.
Perhaps Laura Kinsale’s Seize The Fire? A couple against nature is only a portion of the plot but those scenes are my favorite in the book and the book as a whole is interesting and unique.
Unseen Messages by Pepper Winters: South Pacific Desert Island helicopter crash. It has children in peril so this is not for Sarah.
I’d concur with On the Island by Tracey Garvis Graves.
Driven by Eve Silver aka Eve Kenin Think Mad Max meets Hanna with a smidge of the Terminator thrown in.
Surviving Raine: Shay Savage. Yacht capsizes at sea, MCs end up on a life raft, then a desert island. C/w for alcoholism.
Catherine Mann: Cover Me. Romantic Suspense, Starts out with two people stranded in a blizzard. Loved this series about Parajumpers.
Hiya– the one I read most recently is Starry Eyes by Jenn Bennett a YA/NA that’s a little lower stakes. (She wrote Alex, Approximately and both are so charming). Basically ex-best friends (m/f) take a camping trip together that goes sideways and they have to rely on one of their camping/survival skills. Also sparks fly and it’s not just from the campfire! Har har.
The book that comes to mind immediately is Wild by Adrienne Wilder. A small plane goes down in remote Alaska(?). The only (male) survivor is injured, and is rescued by this Grizzly Adams-type character. These men are battling extreme weather, isolation, food shortage, and discovery by the mafia or some such criminal element. Also there may or may not have been a bear? I remember being utterly sucked into this one, thinking how on earth are they going to come out alive? This is a longer one, but very well written and with a very compelling love story. Highly recommend.
I remember enjoying The Survivors by Dinah McCall. After a plane crash in the Appalachians, the surviving woman has to find a way to get herself and a little boy down the mountain while being stalked by another survivor. The book has little bit of the paranormal, since the searchers looking for the plane are led by a woman with psychic abilities.
Just seconding SURVIVING RAINE (and TRANSCENDENCE) by Shay Savage. And seconding the CW for alcoholism in the first. The second is…accidental time travel back to the Stone Age. It’s really cool.
And I’m blanking on others, but I have read a ton of this trope.
I’ll suggest Shay Savage’s Transcendence which takes place in pre-historic times. The hero is of the time while the heroine travels through time from the present day.
Wreckage by Emily Bleaker might also work.
Cara McKenna- Caught on Camera. Hotttttt
And am also recommending Tamara Morgan
And ok. Not stranded in the wilderness…. but trapped in a building? How to Misbehave by Ruthie Knox
Weird coincidence, just posted this on Twitter in the #RomBkLove hashtag: Softly Falling, Carla Kelly. Heroine Lily has bad timing, goes to live with her father on a ranch in Wyoming in 1886. Oops, there is a very very bad winter coming up.
Imagine by Jill Barnett has the two leads and some orphan children marooned after a shipwreck. Also a goat and a genie. I peeped in at Amazon to check the title and it is free for Kindle right now! (It is not my favorite of hers but still it’s Jill Barnett so it’s gonna be goofy/cute.)
Speaking of which, Just A Kiss Away, also by Barnett, has our leads trekking through the jungle, although the flavor is more road trip than survival. It is extremely goofy/cute and recommended.
It’s only one night, but Annabeth Albert’s Rough Terrain has the two MCs separated from their hiking group by a flash flood. Part of her Out of Uniform series, mm romances with at one SEAL MC.
Jessica Clare’s Last Hope has jungle survival! (And an anaconda of a peen)
Not Your Prince Charming by Kate Johnson has a princess and a cop who have to swim to safety and end up trapped on a tropical island. Lots of survival stuff.
Alaska Wild, Helena Newberry
Storm, Carian Cole
Just a quick note: if you’re looking for CAUGHT ON CAMERA mentioned above by @Rikki, you may find it under Cara McKenna’s other pen name, Meg Maguire. I can’t believe I forgot about that one—I just read it a few weeks ago!
Adding a second here for Withering Hope by Layla Hagen! It’s really an intense and beautiful plane crash survival/love story. Took me a long time to start another book after finishing this one because the details lingered in my mind for a while.
I’ve read the Linda Howard ones already mentioned and they are also good. But there was something about Hagen’s book that really made the precariousness of the characters’ situation seem especially urgent.
Coming out Arctic Wild by Annabeth Albert
tranded on an Island
Beyond the Sea by Keira Andrews Great
Stranded! by Pepper PaceS
Barbarian Alien by Ruby Dixon SFR Candy
Venomous by Penelope Fletcher SFR Epic
Old School Wild Orchids by Karen Robards
Marrying The Royal Marine by Carla Kelly Historical
@DiscoDollyDeb-Thanks for the heads up on the Cara McKenna book-I like her so I just tried to find the book, but had no luck. I didn’t realize she wrote under another name.
I am totally drawing a blank right now about any recs-I also like this trope-but my brain is not cooperating!
Crash and Burn by Rachel Lacey has the hero and heroine survive a plane crash into the middle of nowhere and try to outrun a forest fire on their way to safety. The hero has donated his time and plane to a rescue flight for a lovely doggie named Maya, and the heroine is escorting her while trying to get over her fear of flying. Obviously that ended well.
It’s quick, fun, and the dog on the cover looks extremely pleased to have set that wildfire.
(the dog definitely didn’t set the fire in the book though; I would NEVER accuse a dog of arson)
Backwoods by Jill Sorenson has two parents and their kids encounter serial killers during their camping trip. The daughter gets abducted by them, and the mother, the father, and the father’s son have to find her. It was pretty solid, and I appreciate anything that validates my opinion that camping is The Worst.
It seems like there are a lot of stories with killers, mafia-whatever. I live in Alaska and I can say without a doubt-the wilderness will do you in no problem! You really don’t need to add outside danger to add suspense. There is plenty to be had just in the landscape!
Immediately I thought of the old Karen Robards classic that I fondly remember as “puff the magic dragon” but is actually titled “night magic”.
They take the CAT on the run with them! As a big cat lover I know how impossible they are and I always come back fondly to this book just because they take the car! How can you not love a guy that will take the cat when he’s literally on the run for his life!
Read this one, an oldie but a goody. I can tell you exactly where it’s at on my bookshelf I love it so much.
@Maureen, I actually appreciate having the Mafia after the h and h, since it mitigates the TSTL problem. When the pair of main characters go out into the wilderness unprepared and get in trouble, I tend to throw the book across the room in frustration. Dumb just isn’t sexy.
‘She went all the way’ by Meg Cabot. Action hero movie star, screenwriter heroine who hates him for changing one of her lines (it becomes the franchise’s catchphrase.) Plane crash in Alaska with (I think) people trying to kill them. Haven’t read it for years so not sure how it holds up but I liked it at the time.
Seven Days by Jill Myles is a SFR. Hero and heroine are stranded in space. It’s in kindle unlimited.
Ooooh, making a list, love this trope!
My faves have been On The Island by Tracey Garvis Graves;
Surviving Raine by Shay Savage;
Transcendence by Shay Savage.
Withering Hope by Layla Hagen was a lighter-in-content version to these, an enjoyable 3.5 stars against emotional 5 stars of the other three – if drawing comparisons.