Guest Blog by Bobbi Smith, Queen of Western Romance

      
 

Hi everybody!

Today I thought it would be fun to blog about my favorite books—and there are quite a few of them. Below I’ll tell you about a few of my all-time favorites.

I have loved reading my whole life. There’s nothing more enjoyable than losing yourself in a wonderful story. When I was a kid, our family made weekly trips to the library, and summer vacation was definitely reading time. The book that stands out to me from my childhood was Gertrude Chandler Warner’s The Boxcar Children. I was fascinated by this story of how four brave orphans survived. It pleases me that the series this book began is still popular today. Not bad for a book published in 1924! Some of my grandchildren have read it, too.

It was during my college years that I read some of my first “adult” novels. Racy books weren’t readily available back then. Harold Robbins’ The Carpetbaggers was one I clearly remember. And Gone with the Wind will forever be on my all-time favorites list. I’ve never had so much fun learning history. Margaret Mitchell certainly gave us a woman ahead of her times in the strong-willed, determined Scarlett O’Hara.

When I was a stay-at-home mom, I read my first actual “romance.” I still remember taking it up to the counter at the bookstore. I asked the cashier if was any good and she went wild, raving about how wonderful it was. And boy was she was right! I truly believe The Flame and the Flower by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss led the way in establishing the enormously successful historical romance market. Though I had a toddler at the time, I stayed up until three in the morning to finish it. I also remember thinking to myself, I could write one of these. . . .

(It took a while, but a few years later I finished my first handwritten, then typed, manuscript. I was very blessed to sell that novel, my first romance, Rapture’s Rage, to a publisher. I have to say, it will always be my very favorite of all the books I’ve written. There’s nothing like the first.)

Lately, I’ve been reading contemporary romances. Julie Garwood is one fabulous writer and so is Suzanne Brockman. I also love Julia Quinn, Mary Jo Putney and Mary Balogh, to name a few.

What are your all-time favorite novels? It’ll be great to hear from you.

All my best,

Bobbi Smith

 http://bobbismithbooks.com/

Captive Pride:
 
 When Cecelia Demorest discovers that arrogant Lord Noah Kincade will be a guest in her father’s home, she plots to promise him her charms and then double-cross him, diverting his black market weapons to the Colonial cause. But when his soft lips caress her throat, she throbs with desire and when his muscular form presses hard against her, she is awash with feelings she cannot deny. Before she surrenders to ecstasy, she vows to find a way to get what she wants and humiliate him in the process.
SHE TEACHES HIM A LESSON

Notorious womanizer and gun runner Lord Noah Kincade gazes at ravishing Cecelia Demorest with ardent lust. When he gets her alone and tastes her luscious lips, he is on the verge of taking her then and there…until he discovers she bears a torch for the patriot cause. He realizes this clever girl has set out to sabotage him and he will get his revenge. Cecelia heats his blood beyond boiling and it’s far too late for him to stop. He’ll have his arms deal and the girl as well.