Showing results for "Westerns" in Literature & Fiction

Set in Calgary in 1982, during the recession that arrived on the heels of Canada’s National Energy Program, The Western Alienation Merit Badge follows the Murray family as they struggle with grief and find themselves on the brink of financial ruin. After the death of her stepmother, Frances "Frankie" Murray returns to Calgary to help her father, Jimmy, and her sister, Bernadette, pay the mortgage on the family home. When Robyn, a long-lost friend, becomes their house guest, old tensions are reignited.

Dakota's plan was simple: drive to Las Vegas, start her dream job at a luxury spa, and leave her old life behind. But when her ancient pickup breaks down in the middle of the Nevada desert, she's stranded, helpless, and alone. Enter Frankie, a charming cowgirl with a heart of gold and a big ranch to run. What starts as a desert rescue sparks into an unexpected connection neither of them saw coming.

Best-selling author Nevada Barr delights contemporary mystery fans with novels like Deep South and Blood Lure. In Bittersweet, she departs the mystery genre for a touching story of hardship, perseverance, and love in the old West.

Tim Conroy knows all about patience. He’s waited three years for Rory McCown to get out of jail after doing time for stealing horses from the Blue River Ranch. Now that Rory is eligible for parole, Tim makes it his goal to persuade his boss, Hunter Krause, to give Rory a second chance. He almost regrets it when Hunter agrees. Rory is a morose loner one moment, then arrogant and overconfident the next. The attraction between them is still there, but as soon as they start to get close, an old enemy throws a wrench in the works.

The neighboring Holden and Jessup ranches are anything but neighborly - Jefferson Holden and Kent Jessup loathe each other. But despite his father’s long-held grudge, Haven Jessup just can’t bring himself to hate, especially after Dakota Holden takes him in during a violent storm and Haven meets Dakota’s friend, Phillip Reardon.

Country singer Willie Meadows is a fake. He’s never ridden a horse, and his "Western" gear comes from a boutique shop in LA. No wonder Wilson Edwards, the real man in those fake boots, is suffering creative block. Determined to connect with the music, Wilson buys a ranch in Wyoming to learn the country way of life, even if he has no intention of running the business. Then Steve Peterson shows up desperate, destitute, and hungry, having just escaped a gay deprogramming hospital run by his father’s cult.

William Drake’s living an ordinary life - he has a job, a dog, and a house near Lake Superior - when a frantic call for help from his ne'er-do-well sister, Katrina, throws a big rancher-shaped kink in the works. Proving that no good deed goes unpunished, Will’s arrival at the Montana ranch belonging to Katrina's fiancé, Martin, is marked by a flat tire and unexpected help from a tall, dark, and handsome Good Samaritan. The stranger turns out to be Elijah Hunter, Martin's brother - the most unsettling man Will has ever met.

My life is a mess. I've become the loser my father expected me to be, and now I'm stuck on his ranch. The only good thing in this scenario is the foreman, Blake. I never thought a hot, older man like him would notice me, yet he sees the hidden part of me that longs for someone to care. I wasn't sure I wanted a Daddy, but I love the way Blake takes care of me, challenges me, pushes me to be my best self. I want to make him proud. I want to keep him, even though we seem to belong in different worlds.