I have been looking for this post on and off now for four days. And turns out that it isn’t even the right post.
But by god I found it and am gonna repost! You are gonna read it! And like it says I. Ok you don’t have to like it but feel free to post more western recs. Or mock me for not being able to remember what I titled this… cuz duh. Now to figure out where the post with the rec’s went.
First posted on April 21, 2006
I started this in response to D.’s post Heathitis ,you say? Is it fatal?, her request for Elizabeth Lowell rec’s (to be posted) and the comment about why anyone would want to read a western… I got a lil long. Shocking I know!
WesternHo
I am from texas. I have lived here all my life. And omg I am a bad texan. I don’t think I would date a cowboy if you paid me. I wouldn’t be caught dead in a cowboy hat. Only boots I own have heels and I lament repeatedly that my parents bought land on what use to be a ranch and now live out in the sticks with bugs. Or the Hill Country, whatever you want to call it, the thing I stick on are the bugs and no easy access to a fast internet connection.
So ummm real isn’t what I get out of the western. [of course saying all that, the next guy I date will end up being a cowboy… oy you think after X-Files, Deadwood, Romance Novels and westerns I would know whatever I mock I am gonna love later]
I like the ‘western’ idea.
And as wendy pointed out on kristie’s blog, westerns seem to lend themselves to great ‘themes’. Want a good cabin romances, you and me against the world, the fight for survival vs fight for a Duke to marry or just a road romance – you will find one in a western. Some really really good ones.
Keep in mind I don’t read romance to fall in love with the hero or the heroine or to want be the heroine. I read them because I want to fall in love with story, with the characters and their love for each other and the idea of a perfect HEA that is forever and evah.
Westerns should be dirty (not in a good, Sarah McCarthy or Diana Whiteside way *eg*… that is a pun… really no issues with sex… I am very pro sex… no erotica authors were harmed in that statement), think Deadwood. I mean how can you ride through mountains on horse back, with little clothes, living off the land and want to have hot sweaty sex with anyone? But I can get around them not being dirty, most heroines have their ways of keeping clean… I can go with it. And of course the hero is always the one of few guys in the area who care about keeping clean but again, I want to believe!
And I have found more than one western to make me believe. Hell I am not even one for second chance type romances but westerns can make me buy what they are selling.
So what westerns have you read and loved? Are you still a western virgin? If so look for some rec’s… hopefully tonight depending on how late I have to work. If not for sure this weekend.
And now that I know how to use the expandable thing, look for Elizabeth Lowell recs… whheee! But first I have to go… be back soon!
One western I really enjoyed that is largely overlooked is Claudia Dain’s A Kiss to Die For. It’s set in Abilene Kansas. It’s very hot and dusty. I remember one scene wherein the heroine felt overcome by the dust. She could taste in the back of her throat. It was a big departure from Dain’s medeival settings and it also featured a serial killer. Watching them try to figure out “whodunit” without the aid of modern conviences like DNA and forensic science was really enjoyable. Dain has a few writing quirks (the tendency to be repetitive) that don’t appeal to everyone but it was an unusual western setting.
Keep in mind I don’t read romance to fall in love with the hero or the heroine or to want be the heroine. I read them because I want to fall in love with story, with the characters and their love for each other and the idea of a perfect HEA that is forever and evah.
I love this. You should post this as your slogan. (G)
I’ve never read a western…I’ve purchased a few: 2 Gentry books (I know you dislike her) and 1 old Samantha James…still in my TBR pile…oh, wait…I also have Texas Glory and Texas Destiny by Heath, but I have to buy Texas Splendor before I begin them…I love aristocrats and love the whole rake hero…I’m willing to try westerns, but they’re not the first romances I grab. I’m definitely going to try E. Lowell; you and Kristie love her and her reviews have been pretty good.
>>You should post this as your slogan.
I second the motion!!!!!!!!
**Claudia Dain’s A Kiss to Die For**
I second that! I didn’t like her first two books, but that one blew me away. I agree she tends to be repetitive with some bits, but as an overall, it’s a good yarn. Worth reading, methinks.
OMG – Maili, we are separated at birth because I swear I was the only one who read that book.
Count me in as another one who loved A Kiss to Die For. This was my first Claudia Dain book and I tried her others, but couldn’t get into them at all. But AKTDF – now that’s a horse of a different colour!
All of Elizabeth Lowell’s Only series, Johanna Lindsey, and so many more. I am a Western Ho for sure. It is my favorite genre to read and write. Sigh… Me love cowboys. 🙂
One of my all time favorite books across all genres was Rebecca Brandewyne’s Outlaw Hearts.
I just recently re-read A KISS TO DIE FOR and it’s still a rockin’ good western. Jessamyn West’s THE MASSACRE AT FALL CREEK and the only Janet Daily book I like, THE PRIDE OF HANNAH WADE is a good book.
I was just going to write that I’m a western virgin. Then I realized, no, I’m a western virgin widow. Hmm, okay, bad metaphor. Just a western widow. Cuz if Sweet Savage Love isn’t a western, I’ll eat my copy. Wagon train, making love under a wagon, dust, heat, dust, dust, heat. Was there a whorehouse too? Ah, to be fourteen again and reading it in wonder for the very first time.
I absolutely love Elizabeth Lowell’s “Only” series. It’s on my keeper shelf. Favorite westerns ever.
Though I do agree with Sherry’s assessment of Rosemary Rogers’ Sweet Savage Love. Ahh, the love scene under the wagon. Who could forget that?
Jude Devereaux’s The Enchanted Land. Great western romance! Everybody else already mentioned Lowell and Lindsay. And Kristen Hannah wrote a time-travel western I loved, When Lightning Strikes. Must re-read that, it sizzles…
I was getting ready to post something and it’s gone, is it really Maili??
It’s been a long time, but I remember enjoying Patricia Potter’s westerns. I’ve been wondering if they stand the test of time – I keep thinking about picking one up again to see.
Jane A: Patricia Potter’s books do stand the test of time – at least for me anyway. I’ve reread several of them lately and enjoyed them just as much as the first time around.
I love just about every Western by Maggie Osborne! I have the collection somewhere in my Keepers Attic….*heh*