Here are 47 books that Wild Trail fans have personally recommended if you like
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I’m fascinated by men, the way they think and behave, the problems they have in their relationships. The very first gay romance I wrote was a cowboy story – Cowboys Down – and who doesn’t love cowboys? They’re enigmatic, strong, rugged, ultra-masculine. But what if they were also gay? I think it’s that challenge, to show another side of a role that has so predominantly been drawn in one particular way in western books and films. I think gay men must have to work even harder to be accepted as a cowboy than in many other industries and exploring that is enthralling.
I’m pretty sure this was the first story about gay guys that I ever read. I had a book of Annie Proulx’s short stories I’d been meaning to read and stumbled across this particular one by accident. I only saw the film a long time later and that bowled me over too. The story is beautifully written, though find it so sad to read (and watch). Individuals struggling to come to terms with the way they feel is the essence of so many romances and this opened the door to all those that followed. She’s a brilliant writer.
The inspiration behind 'Life of Pi' director Ang Lee's 'Brokeback Mountain' is one of the short stories to be found in this haunting collection of Wyoming tales.
'Brokeback Mountain' is set in the beautiful, wild landscape of Wyoming where cowboys live as they have done for generations. Hard, lonely lives in unforgiving country. Jack Twist and Ennis del Mar are two ranch hands, glad to have found each other's company where none had been expected. But companionship becomes something else on Brokeback Mountain, something not looked for - an intimacy neither can forget.
I’m fascinated by men, the way they think and behave, the problems they have in their relationships. The very first gay romance I wrote was a cowboy story – Cowboys Down – and who doesn’t love cowboys? They’re enigmatic, strong, rugged, ultra-masculine. But what if they were also gay? I think it’s that challenge, to show another side of a role that has so predominantly been drawn in one particular way in western books and films. I think gay men must have to work even harder to be accepted as a cowboy than in many other industries and exploring that is enthralling.
This is the story of a cowboy whose family throws him out because he’s gay, and the relationship he strikes up with the rancher he goes to work for. There is a lot of hot sex in this, it was certainly the most extreme I’d read at the time. But it’s handled sensitively. The emotions of the two men are all over the place at first and the author does a great job of taking the reader on their journey of discovery and made this reader believe their happy ever after.
Love will grow through the cracks you leave open. Ranch hand Roe Davis absolutely never mixes business with pleasure-until he runs into his boss, Travis Loving, at the only gay bar within two hundred miles. Getting involved with the ranch owner is a bad idea, but Roe's and Travis's bedroom kinks line up against one another like a pair of custom-cut rails. As long as they're both clear this is sex on the side, no relationship, no interfering with the job, they could make it work. Shut out by his family years ago, Roe survived by steadfastly refusing to settle…
I’m fascinated by men, the way they think and behave, the problems they have in their relationships. The very first gay romance I wrote was a cowboy story – Cowboys Down – and who doesn’t love cowboys? They’re enigmatic, strong, rugged, ultra-masculine. But what if they were also gay? I think it’s that challenge, to show another side of a role that has so predominantly been drawn in one particular way in western books and films. I think gay men must have to work even harder to be accepted as a cowboy than in many other industries and exploring that is enthralling.
I love the start of this. An actor (again!) wakes to find himself naked and bound to a plank in the middle of the Texas range. Fortunately, along comes his saviour in the form of Duke, his knight in shining armour, or in this case, a cowboy. It’s a debut novel and it’s very good. Romantic and sweet with a bit of a mystery and I loved the touches of humour. Humour always brings a book alive for me. Sadly I think that’s the only book Thorny has written and it’s shame.
Waking up in a strange place isn't a first for model and actor Allan Seville, but discovering himself alone and bound to a rough plank in the middle of an open Texas range certainly is. With no memory of who did this to him or why, panic sets in, until rescue comes riding up on a big, brown horse. There's more to Duke Walters than a handsome face and sexy drawl. In the arms of this rugged cowboy, Al discovers a peace and safety he never knew he needed, and now doesn't want to be without. But someone wants Al…
I’m fascinated by men, the way they think and behave, the problems they have in their relationships. The very first gay romance I wrote was a cowboy story – Cowboys Down – and who doesn’t love cowboys? They’re enigmatic, strong, rugged, ultra-masculine. But what if they were also gay? I think it’s that challenge, to show another side of a role that has so predominantly been drawn in one particular way in western books and films. I think gay men must have to work even harder to be accepted as a cowboy than in many other industries and exploring that is enthralling.
Jasper is the blacksmith at a small guest ranch. Ellis is the ex-con who is so traumatised by his experience in prison that he can hardly speak. The moment I knew that I was instantly hooked. It’s a slow burn, comfort-hurt story where the blacksmith works his own particular magic to mend the broken Ellis. Lots of heart-wrenching feels and a touching tale of how someone can fall and be helped to rise again. It’s lovely. Hits all the right buttons for me.
“If anybody ever needed him, Ellis did. Ellis was broken. Jasper liked to fix things.”
Jasper has the perfect life. He’s a blacksmith at a small guest ranch in Wyoming. The last thing he needs is to have that perfect life interrupted by a shifty-eyed ex-con, but the ranch needs the tax benefits the ex-con program will bring.
Traumatized by his time in prison, Ellis can barely speak. He’s about to be offered parole. He knows he will hate working on the guest ranch, but what other option does he have?
Cows and horses were part of daily life in my family. For many years of my youth, my father was a working cowboy, running the cattle ranch on a large agricultural operation. We also had our own herd and trained horses as well. While we watched the popular TV Westerns of the time, we were always aware that they had no connection to the reality of cowboy life, and that “cowboy” was a term misused and abused on the screen and in the pages of shoot-’em-up Western novels. Authenticity and a sense of the reality of cowboy life are important to me, and have been since boyhood.
Max Evans knows cowboy life and he writes about it authentically. In The Rounders, we laugh along with Dusty and Wrangler as they do battle with one of literature’s best horses, “Old Fooler.” The boys break horses, hunt for cows in rough country, rodeo, drink, and chase the girls—and it’s all in good fun.
The bawdy and moving story of two contemporary bronco busters, The Rounders, originally published in 1960, was Max Evans's first novel and is still his best known work, thanks largely to the success of the 1965 movie version starring Henry Fonda and Glenn Ford. Acclaimed for its realistic depiction of modern cowboying and for its humor, it is also a very serious work, described by the author as a tragicomedy.
Why do I have expertise on embarrassing moments? I wish I could say I just enjoy watching other people occasionally squirm and nothing humiliating has ever happened to me. That would be such a lie, though. I’m an embarrassing moment waiting to happen. I rode to the vet with a cat who wanted to cling to the top of my head. I got stuck in a gas station in the middle of nowhere. I (nearly) locked myself out of my house in my pajamas. The only good thing about having embarrassing moments is that you can use them in your novels. And I do.
First of all this book has a hot cowboy in it. *Swoons* As far as wish-fulfillment goes, I think most women would like to date a cowboy. Cowboys love horses, have muscles, and wear cool hats. I’m not sure why women ever stopped making men wear hats (top hats especially—every man looks better in a top hat) so I especially appreciate a man in a cowboy hat.
However, I wouldn’t like a cowgirl’s schedule of getting up at the crack of dawn to do ranch work, which is why it’s so nice to vicariously live through this book. You get to date the hot guy but you don’t have to clean stables. Win-win!
Oh, and mixing up a guy with his twin brother and making a fool of yourself—also fun to read about.
Only two things stand between Skye and the life she craves: a priceless necklace and a hot cowboy. Not necessarily in that order.
Skye Stanton enjoys catering for Aunt Judy’s reception center about as much as she likes sour milk and day-old sushi. But she’s trapped as long as Judy holds Grandma’s trust money hostage. So when Skye learns her family may have the rights to a stolen heirloom necklace, she hatches a plan to track down the jewels in exchange for sweet freedom.
For Dillon Wyle, the necklace doesn’t just represent money—it symbolizes loyalty, family, and the mother he…
I’ve been a reader all my life. It started with books like Where the Red Fern Grows, and as I got older, I moved on to books like The Bean Treesby Barbara Kingsolver andSkipped Parts by Tim Sandlin. Whatever I was reading, it was taking place somewhere in the wilds of the mid and western United States. I’m from a small town, and growing up, everybody knew their neighbor’s business. These are the places I love to read and write about. Add some steamy romance, and I’m there! So when the MMC from my first book, Burned, cowboy Jack Cade, showed up in my head, I knew he was from a small town.
Pippa is so down on her luck, she can’t see up. What better way to turn it all around than to return to the small western town of Cabrillo where she and her sisters were happy when they were little girls. Unfortunately, the house her aunt left her seems to have been claimed by the grumpy cowboy next door, who’s aptly named Bear. Attraction grows while Pippa and Bear try to come to an agreement about the house. Their families have something to say about it, though, and therein lies the conflict. With her descriptive writing, Ms. Turner has the ability to take me home, and there’s nowhere else I’d rather be.
A down-on-her-luck woman finds her perfect home—but a surly cowboy claims it’s already his!
She has one last chance to turn her luck around…
Pippa is homeless, jobless, and dead broke. Her last chance for salvation may be in her late aunt’s dilapidated house. One tiny problem… she’s got Bear trouble.
Bear’s had his eyes on the old Crivelli eyesore for years, and now that he’s bought it, he’s determined to tear it down. All is well… until a sassy, sexy woman rolls into town and claims the building for herself.
The house is a death trap, but Pippa’s determined…
I’ve been fascinated by bad-boy heroes since I started reading romance books in my teenage years. Throw me a story about a rebel, player, a guy who likes living on the edge with a wild streak, and you’ve got me sold. There are a few rules when it comes to what I don’t want in a bad boy – abuse, pedophiles, violent men, and lack of consent. I love happy endings and believe that every bad boy and his lover (or lovers if it’s a consensual polyamorous relationship) deserve their happily ever after endings. I’m an ex-journalist who has published romance stories from erotic to sweet.
Wild and sexy ProRodeo cowboy Colton Maples is the kind of hero that had me hooked when I read Ava, a short story by Callie Carmen in the Cowboy Desire anthology. This hot honey didn’t seem like the kind of guy to settle down and be a one-woman man, leaving behind past lovers, but he surprised me. It was love at first sight when he met Ava Kincaid, an artist who was equally smitten with him. It was no surprise when the gray-eyed, dark-haired hunk flirted his way into Ava’s life and in her bed, but would he break her heart? Colton and Ava took me on an emotional ride, that’s for sure. The steamy scenes were written tastefully and I enjoyed reading every page of this sexy romance. And yes, I loved the ending.
Cowboy Desire is an eclectic assortment of short stories. It includes contemporary, historical, fantasy, and even outer space romance, Cowboy Desire offers fourteen stunning short stories.These fourteen authors provide a range of sweet to sexy stories all with a Western cowboy theme. They feature strong men and women battling the weather and dangerous terrain, here on earth and in outer space.The collection is as diverse as the authors who wrote them. Here’s a chance to discover new talented authors and the characters they create. Within these pages, there are blends of tender, often moving, thought-provoking and downright sexy stories.
I grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma and have always been fascinated by the Wild West. Native Americans, cowboys, rodeos, settlers, farmers, and the great National Parks of the West. I’ve been fortunate to see Yellowstone, the Grand Tetons, Glacier National Park, and many western national monuments. My first elementary school was Sequoyah, named for the great Cherokee who created the Cherokee alphabet. While researching early library methods of transportation, I came across books being delivered by stagecoach in the west. That eventually led me to discover the amazing life of Jackson Sundown. I hope these books on cowboys, buckaroos, and rodeos enchant you and your little ones like they have me.
Who doesn’t want to be a cowboy or cowgirl when they grow up? Avery certainly does. Cowboy Dan will help his campers become true rootin’ tootin’ cowboys. Although Avery tries to dress like a cowboy like the other campers, things aren’t quite right for him. He is allergic to grits and beans, he sneezes around horses, and develops rope burn when is tries his hand at twirling a lasso. But his problems come in real handy when Black Bart appears one night.
Giddyup and gallop right over to read this rootin' tootin' tale of an unlikely cowboy. Avery's at camp, training hard with his horse and his lasso. But he's just not feeling up to the challenge. Then a bully threatens all the campers-and Avery proves his mettle in his own unique way. Kids will love the story's lively language and wildly playful pictures.
I came to write books for children somewhat by accident – my first Star Wars book, Darth Vader and Son, was intended to be for adults, but kids decided the book was really for them. One of the most satisfying things as an author has been hearing from parents whose children have them read the book to them over and over. I’ve loved being able to read to my sons, introducing them to books I loved at their age, and discovering others I haven’t read before. The books I love most to read with them, though, are the ones we both laugh out loud at. It’s one of the best feelings in the world.
Although there are some parts of the Nicholas series that don’t hold up quite as well today – Nicholas and his friends attempt to smoke a discarded cigar, and their game of cowboys is extremely dated – these everyday adventures perfectly capture the feeling of being a kid looking out at a world that doesn’t make sense, because the world is run by grownups. Narrated by Nicholas himself, each chapter is a self-contained story full of the hilarious ups and downs of childhood. Sometimes when you’re a kid, no matter how hard you try to do good, you still get in trouble, and sometimes, your parents are endlessly frustrated, while you remain happily oblivious.
Nicholas is the first in a series of five books, that bring to life the day-to-day adventures of a young school boy - amusing, endearing and always in trouble. An only child, Nicholas appears older at school than he does at home; his touchingly naive reactions to different situations cut through the preconceptions of adults to result in a formidable sequence of escapades.
This first book in the series contains a collection of 19 individual stories in which, despite trying to be good, Nicholas and his friends always seem to end up in some sort of mischief. In the school…
