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wendy.jpgWendy, The Super Librarian and blogger maven, tells us why westerns are better than chocolate.  Well.  Almost…

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When AAR’s latest Top 100 Romances poll was released I was highly annoyed to see the total lack (OK, one LaVyrle Spencer title!) of any American-set or western romances on the list. C’mon people! But I’m willing to give you all the benefit of the doubt. Maybe you just haven’t been reading the right westerns? So here I am, Wendy The Super Librarian, to help you out. I’m all about using my super powers for good!

Wendy The Super Librarian’s Top 12 Western Romances (in no particular order)…

Book Cover 1. A Reason To Live by Maureen McKade.  A gut-wrenching book about a Civil War nurse’s mission to bring dying soldiers’ last words to their relatives. All the while battling post-traumatic stress and traveling with the hero, a man haunted by the deaths of his wife and son.

Book Cover 2. Courting Miss Hattie by Pamela Morsi.  Possibly one of the best friends-to-lovers stories ever written. A plain-jane heroine finds herself with a suitor thanks to the prime farm land she’s sitting on. The hero, who has worked her farm for years, finds himself jealous – even though he’s set to marry the prettiest girl in the county. Then an innocent kiss turns into a barn-burner and all bets are off!

Book Cover 3. The Horseman by Jillian Hart.  A hero to die for. Seriously, if this guy showed up on my doorstep tomorrow I’d leave The Boyfriend so fast his head would spin. Her marriage over thanks to a miscarriage, and her family disowning her for “disgracing the family name,” the heroine finds herself rescued by the hero, a horse trainer on her father’s estate.

Book Cover 4. The Seduction Of Samantha Kincade by Maggie Osborne.  Some readers dislike the “tomboy” heroine, but at least Osborne had the guts to write real tomboys. The heroine disguises herself as a man (no really, she cuts her hair off and everything! No flowing locks stuffed under a hat! Ugh, I hate that!) and works as a bounty hunter in the hopes of tracking down the man who raped and murdered her mother – thereby causing her father’s suicide. She runs across the hero, also looking for the same man. Did I mention the murderous outlaw is also the hero’s half-brother?

Book Cover 5. I Do, I Do, I Do by Maggie Osborne.  Three romances for the price of one, plus charming and funny to boot. Three very different women discover they’ve all married, and been swindled by, the same con man. Determined to get back their money, and unravel the mess, they follow him to the Yukon Gold Rush, only to discover three perfect heroes just waiting for them. But are any of them really married to the con man? And where the heck is the guy anyway? Added bonus: This story features one of the most memorable love scenes I’ve ever read.

Book Cover 6. Patterns Of Love (Coming to America, Book 2) by Robin Lee Hatcher.  The heroine is the plain sister in a family full of Swedish beauties. Determined to have an adventure (and a life) she takes a housekeeping job for the hero, a widower with two daughters and a sick mother. I read and loved the original 1998 mass market paperback. The book was “rewritten” years later for the inspirational market, an edition I haven’t read so not sure how it compares.

Book Cover 7. Hope’s Captive by Kate Lyon.  The heroine, a former Indian captive, has heard that the man and tribe who rescued her is being forced onto a squalid reservation. Determined to take a wagon full of medicine and supplies, she needs to find a man to travel with her. Along comes the hero, who suspects the tribe the heroine wants to help has kidnapped his young son. Epic, glorious, and a real page-turner.

Book Cover 8. The Heartbreaker by Nicole Jordan.  I love a good jackass hero who ends up groveling and this one is for all the Alpha hero lovers out there. The hero had a “perfect first wife” (or was she?) and enters into a marriage of convenience with the heroine. He treats her like crap, and she (bless her heart) doesn’t back down.

Book Cover 9. Cherish by Catherine Anderson.  Vintage Anderson, but not as sugary as some of her other work. The heroine is deeply religious and deplores violence of any kind. She’s traveling west with her family on a wagontrain when outlaws attack, murdering everybody except her. She’s rescued by the hero, a former gunslinger with a haunted past. Anderson has a made a name for herself writing “innocent heroine, world-weary hero” stories, but what I especially liked about this one was the heroine’s crisis of faith and how the hero “brings her back.”

Book Cover 10. Prairie Wife by Cheryl St.John.  It’s hard to pick one St.John book because she’s written many wonderful westerns. This one is my favorite, perhaps because she hit an emotional peak with this marriage-in-trouble story. After the death of their toddler son, the heroine closes herself off emotionally and the hero falls into a bottle. Can they work their way back to each other?

texas-destiny.jpg texas-glory.jpg texas-splendor.jpg 11. The Texas Trilogy (a.k.a. The Leigh Brothers Series) by Lorraine HeathTexas Destiny, Texas Glory and Texas Splendor features three brothers who all find romance on the Texas plains. While most readers tend to favor the first two books, Splendor is probably my favorite because I’m a sucker for “younger hero who wants to prove himself” storylines. I’m a sap like that.

Book Cover Book Cover Book Cover Book Cover Book Cover Book Cover 12. The Rock Creek Six series by Lori Handeland and Linda Devlin.  I saw some mixed reviews for some of the books when they were first released, but know many readers who count these as real favorites – me included. It follows six men who survived the Civil War and now ride together like a band of vigilante lawmen. The series starts out when one of the heroines hires Reese, their leader, to rid tiny Rock Creek, Texas of some outlaws. It’s always a little weird for me to recommend this series because the first book is my least favorite, and the last three are really fantastic (if I do say so myself). But it gives readers that epic, saga-like quality in bite size pieces, which is part of it’s charm. In order: Reese, Sullivan, Rico, Jed, Nate and Cash.holly.jpg