The best gritty western historical romances for lovers of the show The English (who wanted a HEA)

The day I found Maggie Osborne was the day I found a kindred western romance novel-writing soul. Her heroines are the kind of tough that won the west. They didn’t need a man; they could tame that place themselves. However, if a worthwhile male comes along... they can be persuaded.

I read every book Maggie ever wrote, but Silver Lining is the one I remember the best. Low Down is not your typical romance novel heroine. She’s rough, gruff, and tough. And she only wants one thing—a baby.

Not a husband, mind you, just a baby. In the 1800s. How she gets one, makes for one of the best yarns I’ve ever found.

This novel takes place during the post-Civil war period, so it is not “technically” a western though it does take place in Texas. However, it has that gritty reality and deep, dark emotion I search for in my favorite novels.

The hero is tortured. The heroine is vengeful. They come together and terrible, difficult, life-changing, and character-building plot twists happen. They choose each other, above all odds.

If you want proof that love conquers all this is the book. I have never forgotten it.

It has been years since I read this novel and I still vividly remember the “Wow, this is good stuff and I want to write something just like this” feeling it gave me.

Take a strong woman beset by unbelievable odds, add a dark, dangerous, tortured anti-hero. Sprinkle a little vengeance on top, then mess it all up with love.

Oh, baby! Yes, please!

Sexy, lazy, drawling, dangerous, womanizing, gambling gunslinger. Who can resist that? Add in a secret baby, a lost love, and the end to an epic western series.  

Sure, I wrote 3 of the books in this 6 book set, but when I read Cash, I bawled. I lived with the Rock Creek Six for long enough that they felt like family and if you read about them, they’ll feel like family to you as well.

Sexy, dangerous, haunted-by-their-pasts family. But family.

Redeeming Love is a retelling of the Biblical story of Gomer and Hosea, set during the California Gold Rush, with a heroine who was sold into prostitution as a child and a hero who heeds God’s call to marry her and love her unconditionally.

I have always been drawn to dark heroes, in both my reading and my writing, but this book is all dark heroine and after reading it I wanted to write a few dark heroines too. The characters in this book have stayed with me for years as I’ve endeavored to create something as powerful as Redeeming Love.

When asked if there is a common theme that runs through all my novels, I realized I write books where the characters will do anything for love. Sometimes “anything” isn’t pretty. Sometimes “anything” is scary. But love is worth the risk.