Book picks similar to
Montana Star by Deann Smallwood


romance
historical-romance
historical
western

The Strong One


Vivi Holt - 2016
    In an attempt to find peace with their neighbors, the Apsáalooke chief has promised her hand to a soldier at Fort Smith, and Sarah’s determined not to be traded or bartered like an ornament. She strikes out on her own, leaving behind everyone and everything she has ever known. However, a woman travelling alone in 1866 Montana territory can fall prey to unscrupulous men. Sarah must confront her fears and draw on an inner strength she didn’t know she had, as well as a new-found hope in God, if she is to survive. Bill Hanover is a tired and lonely cowboy. After four long years fighting in the War Between the States, he returns to his family ranch in Montana only to discover it’s no longer his home. He heads south to Cutter’s Creek, where he encounters a beautiful woman whose feisty spirit takes his breath away. But she’s hiding a secret, and her past is about to catch up with her. Bill turns to God for help and guidance, and encounters a new kind of love. Set in beautiful, wild, and untamed nineteenth century Montana, this novella will take you on a journey back in time to the perilous life of a pioneer on the western frontier.Please note: Bill and Sarah's story continues in "Of Peaks and Prairies", now selling on Amazon.

Loving a Rebel: The Preacher's Daughter


Linda Ford - 2019
    Note: each book can be read as a stand-alone. Flora Kinsley has always been a red-headed rebel who delights to ride madly across the country. After being orphaned at age four, she has always had an insatiable desire to run. But when her wild riding leads her into trouble, she finds herself lost and stranded in a snowstorm. She takes shelter in the home of a bachelor rancher. Kade Thomas has lost enough loved ones because of foolish choices and risky behavior. The last thing he needs is to be involved with a wild rebel. But being stranded unchaperoned with Flora for two nights gives her preacher father plenty of reason to insist they marry. Knowing that if he forces Flora into marriage against her wishes, it would make for a miserable situation, he begs for a chance to persuade Flora she wants to marry him. Will this pair find that love is awaiting them? Or will the truth destroy any chance of love? Read more books by award-winning author Linda Ford: Love on the Santa Fe Trail: Wagon Train Baby Wagon Train Wedding Wagon Train Matchmaker Wagon Train Christmas Dakota Brides series: Temporary Bride Abandoned Bride Second-Chance Bride Reluctant Bride War Brides series: Lizzie Maryelle Irene Grace Wild Rose series: Crane’s Bride Hannah’s Dream Chastity’s Angel Cowboy Bodyguard Big Sky Country series: Montana Cowboy’s Baby Montana Bride by Christmas Montana Cowboy Daddy Montana Cowboy Family Montana Groom of Convenience Montana Lawman Rescuer

Lady in the Mist


Laurie Alice Eakes - 2011
    Dominick Cherrett is a man with his own secret to keep: namely, what he, a British nobleman, is doing on American soil working as a bondsman in the home of Mayor Kendall, a Southern gentleman with his eye on a higher office.By chance one morning before the dawn has broken, Tabitha and Dominick cross paths on a misty beachhead, leading them on a twisted path through kidnappings, death threats, public disgrace, and . . . love? Can Tabitha trust Dominick? What might he be hiding? And can either of them find true love in a world that seems set against them?With stirring writing that puts readers directly into the story, Lady in the Mist expertly explores themes of identity, misperception, and love's discovery.

A Quest of Love and Redemption


Lorelei Brogan - 2018
    Beyond that, a sobering past surrounding her older brother, who was exiled under mysterious circumstances, is haunting her. While Billie dreams of her personal freedom, the one thing she desires the most is the reunion of her fractured family...When the new sheriff of Pueblo, Colorado Jack McAllister takes over for his late father, Billie has more than just a chance to find what she’s been looking for. She gets a chance to love. Quite unwilling to take on his father’s badge, Jack has always been a rather reclusive man. But when he meets fearless Billie, he finds a spark that he’s been missing all this time. She and Jack set out to solve the mystery of her brother’s fate, but what they find will change their lives forever... Will he risk his chance for love for the sake of justice?Their long journey takes them across Colorado, brings them into dire peril and hair-raising adventure, and opens the doors to a timeless romance. Love and loss, courage and wisdom, all tangled up with strategic games of power. Will Billie find the love she wants and the family she needs, or will it wind up costing her everything, even her life?"A Quest of Love and Redemption" is a historical western romance novel of approximately 80,000 words. No cheating, no cliffhangers, and a guaranteed happily ever after.

Western Bear Hearts


Tess Wilder - 2015
    $0.99 cents for a very limited time. In the American frontier, man against wild can be treacherous, and man against nature is perilous, but what about when man’s very nature is wild? Hope Everett The year is 1883. Hope Everett and her group of six American mail order brides living in New York finally have a reason to celebrate. After years of hoping to be married, husbands await them all in the west. Courtesy of a mail order bride agency in Manhattan, their finishing school headmistress and her husband have arranged to be their chaperones, and accompany them to the small cattle farming and mining town of Oro Valley, Arizona. Excited on their arrival, they can barely wait to meet the men of their dreams, but what they discover when they get there has the potential to forever shatter the hopes and dreams of the six mail order brides and their chaperones. Blake Osborn Ready for a simpler life outside of the now bustling Tucson, Arizona, Blake heads to the nearby town of Oro Valley in his party of six single bear shifters, comprising of two groups of three brothers. His brother Bryce was offered the position of Sheriff, and Bryce’s closest friend Colt Sullivan is hired as the Deputy. They arrive to find the situation in town to be more dire than they anticipated, and they too share a secret of their true nature, which they cannot afford to ever make public--until Blake and Hope get caught in the powerful yet dangerous tides of fate that threaten to end it all. This is a full length, standalone bear shifter romance with no cliffhangers. Each book in the Western Bear Shifters for Mail Order Brides series tells the story of one of the Osborn or Sullivan brothers, and can be read in any order. Western Bear Hearts is a historical western bear shifter romance packed with wild west action and adventure throughout the story, as well as steamy romantic scenes in the epilogue. Six mail order brides for six western bear shifters? Oh my!

Only His


Elizabeth Lowell - 1991
    But she fears this stranger who burns to avenge the wrongs of treacherous men. For Caleb is as wild and unpredictable as the uncivilized land he loves. Yet, though she challenges him at every turn, the spirited southern lady knows this proud, enigmatic loner is her destiny. And no matter what peril awaits, they must face it together -- for Willow has become a fever in Caleb′s blood ... awakening a need so fierce that he would defeat the devil himself to possess her.

Dust Devil


Parris Afton Bonds - 1981
    the feisty Irishwoman with secret fears—and secret loves. She made the Cambria empire hers forever.Stephen... he was stern and cruel. But one day, he would pay for his crimes—and his ambition.Lario... a Navajo, he had vowed revenge. But one day, he would promise his heart to Rosemary Rhodes.Grant... forever desiring Rosemary, he linked his destiny with hers. Only to gain a dangerous rival.Stephanie... headstrong and passionate, she was bound to her Indian past—and doomed to her Indian future.Chase the Wind... fated to struggle in the white man's world, and destined to inherit it, he became the first of his kind in the land of the Dust Devil.(

Double Jeopardy


Donna Schlachter - 2020
    Now his murder bequeaths her a mystery, a ramshackle homestead, and a silver mine.Zeke Graumann signs on as Becky’s foreman to keep his portion of his family’s ranch. He shares the workers’ reservations about a woman boss, especially one who burns water and prances around in dungarees. Even though she did look awful good in the dungarees.Then a series of accidents add threat to tension. Can Becky trust Zeke, find her father’s killer, and turn her mine into a profitable venture? Will Zeke be forced to give up his ranching dream to win Becky’s heart?“With a feisty heroine and a secret hero, sparks fly.” —Lena Nelson Dooley, editor, speaker, and author of fifty Christian novels

Sunset Embrace


Sandra Brown - 1985
    Two passionate travelers, united by need, threatened by pasts they could not outrun ...Lydia Bryant --- voluptuous and russet-haired, fleeing from a secret shame, vowing that never again would a man, any man, overpower her ...Ross Coleman --- dark, brooding and iron-willed, with the shadow of a lawless past in his piercing eyes, sworn to resist the temptation of his wanton longings ...Fate threw them together on the same wild road, where they fought the breathtaking desire blazing between them, while the shadows of their enemies grew longer. As the wagon train rolled west, the danger to them drew ever closer, until a showdown with their pursuers was inevitable. Before it was over, Lydia and Ross would face death ... the truth about each other ... and the astonishing strength of their love ...

A Distant Melody


Sarah Sundin - 2010
    While Allie has nearly resigned herself to that fate, Lt. Walter Novak - fearless in the cockpit but hopeless with women - takes his last furlough at home in California before being shipped overseas.Walt and Allie meet and begin a correspondence that will change their lives. As letters fly between Walt's muddy bomber base in England and Allie's mansion in an orange grove, their friendship binds them together. But can they untangle the secrets, commitments, and expectations that keep them apart?Book 1 in the Wings of Glory series, A Distant Melody is an exciting and tender story of love, courage, and sacrifice during World War II.

Ride with Me


Janith Hooper - 2013
    She is invisible to him...Jessica Harper is a sweet and innocent woman, held back from a life of her own. Clint Wilkins is a cut above the rest, but he’s broken, and emotionally unavailable. When Clint’s vow to never marry and his attraction to Jessie square off, will he take her innocence...or her heart, and change both their lives forever.Jessica Harper only daydreams of escaping her demanding family. So when her Uncle Roy begs her to come to his large cattle ranch in Montana to help Mabel, his cantankerous cook, she jumps at the chance. Once Jessica arrives, the cook isn't her only problem. Right out of the chute she meets the compelling, handsome ranch foreman. Though she recognizes him as her life-long dream, she must face the fact that they are not a matched set. He’s much too...everything, for her. Yet, Jessica can’t seem to keep her mind or her eyes off him. Her desire runs rampant, her faith is tested, her courage fails her, and that’s all before an unforeseen disaster strikes.Clint Wilkins, the rugged, stand alone foreman — and Gallatin County’s most sought-after bachelor — has successfully fought off marriage for years. But, before he knows it, Jessica’s sweet nature and strong character burrow under his skin, blazing a path straight for his philandering heart. When he finds himself poleaxed by the wholesome Jessie, he must re-evaluate his calloused lifestyle. But, as he tries to change, he is reminded how damaged and used up he is, and how pure she remains. Yet, he can’t seem to resist her powerful tug on his reins.Will they trust the path God has set for them, or turn away from each other for good?

Where The Four Winds Collide


Hildie McQueen - 2013
    Plotting another escape becomes harder, the more she gets to know her new husband. Jackson Pruitt didn’t expect a secretive mail order bride to show up the same week cattle rustlers absconded with a large part of his herd. The bigger surprise was the loveliness of the woman. Why would a beauty like her need to travel so far to marry? Jackson and Adeline learn that secrets and marriage do not go hand-in-hand when both of their pasts comes knocking and both have to come to grips with the reality, that sometimes trust comes only after you lose it all. Retelling of my bestselling novel!

The Wren


Kristy McCaffrey - 2003
    Now, at nineteen, she’s finally returning home to North Texas after spending the remainder of her childhood with a tribe of Kwahadi Comanche. What she finds is a deserted home coated with dust and the passage of time, the chilling discovery of her own gravesite, and the presence of a man she thought never to see again.Matt Ryan is pushed by a restless wind to the broken-down remains of the Hart ranch. Recently recovered from an imprisonment that nearly ended his life, the drive for truth and fairness has all but abandoned him. For ten years he faithfully served the U.S. Army and the Texas Rangers, seeking justice for the brutal murder of a little girl, only to find closure and healing beyond his grasp. Returning to the place where it all began, he’s stunned to encounter a woman with the same blue eyes as the child he can’t put out of his mind.A sensuous historical western romance set in 1877 Texas.2003 CAPA WINNER The Romance Studio ~ Best New Author Traditional2004 Holt Medallion FINALIST ~ Best First Book2004 Texas Gold FINALIST ~ Historical Category“…McCaffrey’s mastery of setting and historic details gives this western gritty realism.” ~ RT Book Reviews“…a heart wrenchingly emotional story…” ~ Coffeetime Romance“The main characters were well matched and the secondary characters were just as good. Don’t miss this incredible read in what is sure to be a great series to follow.” ~ The Romance Studio“Handsome, rugged heroes, strong heroines and a super storyline make The Wren a keeper.” ~ The Best Reviews“…well written…captivated me from the first line to the poignant last.” ~ NovelspotDon’t miss all the books in the series~The Wren: Book 1The Dove: Book 2The Sparrow: Book 3The Blackbird: Book 4The Shiny Penny: Short Story 4.1 (available free exclusively to Kristy’s newsletter subscribers)Song Of The Wren: Novella 4.2 (available free exclusively to Kristy’s newsletter subscribers)The Bluebird: Book 5Echo of the Plains: Novella 5.5

The Man from Stone Creek


Linda Lael Miller - 2006
    Badge and gun hidden, he arrives posing as the new schoolteacher, and his first order of business is to bring the ranchers' children under control. He calls on local postmistress Maddie Chancelor, whose brother is in firm need of discipline.

Heart of Texas


Constance O'Banyon - 2004
    But Casey Hamilton had nowhere else to go, no place but the Spanish Spur ranch to make a new home for herself and her little brother and sister. And when none of the local men would work for her, when trouble seemed to dog her steps, she had no choice but to hire the loner with the low-slung guns strapped about his lean hips. She knew he was part Comanche, a man who'd fought his share of battles; was he a gunslinger as well? Was that why the past seemed to haunt him? Either way, his silver eyes held secrets too deep for telling; his warm lips whispered warnings she dared not ignore; and his hard arms promised that in his stirring embrace she would find the true...Heart of Texas.