Top 5 new Team Stetson romance novel covers

List by Tosca

"I always wanted to be a cowboy, and Jedi Knights are basically cowboys in space, right?"
- Liam Neeson

I'm a fool for cowboys. Slow talking (but not dumb), southern drawl, big belt buckle, boots, a horse, and a hat. I *adore* them. So much so that when I was in Fort Worth, Dallas airport (the airport lounge at 9 o'clock at night was about as 'Texas' as I was going to get in that trip), I hoped, hoped, hoped that I'd bump into a cowboy (complete with buckle, hat and boots) who would tip his hat and wish me 'Howdy, ma'am.' If he'd had a horse that would be the cherry on top. (Yes, I know, a horse in an airport just isn't going to work, but that didn't stop me from wanting it). I didn't get that in Fort Worth. So disappointed. Life, being what it is, didn't give it to me while I was in the Lone Star State. It gave it to me while I was in New Orleans, instead. I was walking through the Aquarium of the America doors while a group of Texans were walking out, and one gentleman (in required buckle, hat and boots) tipped his hat and said, 'Howdy, ma'am.' I was so taken aback with delight I stood there grinning like a fool for a little longer than was necessary. I still appreciated it as much as if it had happened while in Texas :)

I blame Louis L'Amour. Don't get me wrong, I love L'Amour (do you know how weird it feels to type, in essence, that I love the love?). I read his Sackett series while growing up, and the optimistic part of me that wanted to one day marry and have children wanted to use the Sackett family names (Orrin, Jubal, etc.) as theirs. (It's strange, looking back, to remember I was ever that optimistic). The closest we ever came to that was an Alsatian dog called Hondo. My earliest memories of my parents are of them reading: to us, to each other, and to themselves. They read anything and everything, and would quite often hand a finished novel over to the other one, both of them discussing it afterward. Dad is particularly fond of historical fiction/nonfiction. I remember him reading L'Amour and Edson when I was about 7 or 8 years old. I didn't think much of it, until we moved to Auckland and I had managed to read my way through the school library, my own books, and then, because there wasn't anything else in the house, mum and dad's shelves, as well. In particular, the Sackett books. And I fell in love with them. I laughed, got mad at the bad guys, cried, rejoiced with the good guys, learnt parts of American Indian history I'd never heard about in school, fell in love with the wild west and developed a yearning to visit the States and see the land the way L'Amour did. I believe that this series gave me an idea of how important my own indigenous history was, up until then I'd kind of taken it for granted. I distinctly remember bawling my eyes out when William Tell Sackett's wife, Angie, was murdered and he spent a good portion of the book tracking down the men who did it and 'reading to them from the good book.' That used to be a running joke in our house, my mum would say to dad, 'Did you read to them from the good book?' and dad would reply, 'Nope, I just showed 'em the pictures.' (Seriously, my parents are odd). L'Amour's Sackett books also put me on to Dee Brown's Bury my heart at Wounded Knee and I remember that it was one of the few nonfiction books that broke my heart. It is, to this day, my most favourite (if saddest) nonfiction read ever. I re-read the Sackett novels on and off right up until my late teens and then, for some reason, forgot all about them. Now, every time I read a romance novel, I'm reminded of L'Amour's love of the land and good hearted people who lived by their word. So, there you go. A longwinded introduction (seems to be my trademark) that serves, really, to tell you that you can blame Monsieur L'Amour for this romance novel-related post that is all about the cowboy and nothing but the cowboy (albeit modern ones): Top 5 new Team Stetson romance novel covers.