Romance and Cowboys- Yeehaw or neehaw?

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

I have a confession to make: I had prejudices. (notice the past tense please) Big surprise I know. But for me Cowboys were never something I would have imagined I would like reading about. The big question is why? After talking on twitter about my first real cowboy experience I came up with some reasons:

1.) I'm European and it seems the whole Cowboy world is just so foreign to us. For us Germans in particular it mean Carl May movies and I always hated those. We don't have rodeos here either so I have no idea what this is like. I just have my prejudiced imagination about how bad for the animals that is.

2.) Cowboys smell like horse and animal dung. LMAO Yes I said it. And I know it's stupid. *hides in shame*

3.) They have old fashioned views on woman and their role in life. This is something I gathered from the experience with German farmers who all seem to want a good wife who will cook, make the laundry and bear a bunch of children.

4.) Cowboys are country bumpkins and don't know how to party. Yes I'm a city girl through and through. For me living in the country means as much as never going out and not be able to get a burger when I want one at 3 AM (even though I never feel like that- but I could if I wanted).


I read Long Hard Ride by Lorelei James last week and she cured me (cuz it is for free right now at amazon and b&n - thanks to Nadia Lee for pointing out to me that I can also get it for free in German Kindle store now). I was totally blown away by her story and the way she presented her cowboys. This was a really naughty and dirty read and her men weren't at all how I pictured them. Her series is set in a contemporary world and follows a group of cowboys who earn their living through participating in rodeo. They all have their farms too but we see them letting loose while on the road.
So why do I like it all of a sudden? I think it has to do with the contemporary  setting. I wouldn't like it playing in the past. I don't even want to imagine how that guys would behave. *ick* (me picturing guys spitting around)

So now I'm curious about what you guys think. I asked around on the interwebs and here are some opinions:

NellDixon
Love cowboys, am sucker for a cover showing man in stetson

I'm not a fan of Cowboys in Western romances. If more contemp-feel then maybe. Only a few I've enjoyed.

Hate to say I think it's because I grew up in Cowboy country & know what they are really like. NOT SEXY. At least to me

On the other hand, Carolyn Brown & Vicki Lewis Thompson have created modern cowboy romances I've loved.
NadiaLee  
I don't really like cowboys in general.

I prefer big cities in my contemp romance. Cowboys =
not city. Also after they've been working w/ horses? Sweaty and stinky.

I also I don't find ranches particularly romantic or
interesting. Rodeo seems just suicidal to me.

I feel like rodeo cowboys are going to end up dead
or something. Not my idea of HEA.

I think cowboys are popular b/c of romanticism &
what they rep: rugged American individualism, etc.
This may be silly but to me they are "exotic" and hot of course...it's the hat I think, and the horse lol
LauraSummers
I love cowboys stories, I think it's because that life is so remotely different from my life, you don't get cowboys in UK!
I like them when there is something to them. When they are just brutes I wouldn't waste my time.
Stella @ Ex Libris:
As an European I find cowboys a kind of hero I have difficulty to make up my mind about.. first my urban European prejudices would make me think of cowboys as not very intellectual and rather "simple"
but then I read a few Westerns and they were so much better than I would have thought. I love the thought of a man on a horse but as an urban girl through and through I would find it difficult to live happily ever after in a ranch far away from cities.
I will have to read more cowboy romances because now my opinion is not too favourable: the books I have read so far the H/H were quite old-fashioned: with mindsets as if stuck in thze '50s.. I havent given up hope that there are good Western rmances, so if you can give some recommendations, I'm open =)
It seems I'm not completely alone out there. 

So what do you think? 
What is your biggest prejudice concerning cowboys?
Do you like to read about cowboys?
Do you have a favorite setting?
  

14 comments:

MrsMixx said...

Oh my...you make me sound like a country Bumpkins myself!!! LOL I might not live in a big city but I don't have cowboys running around either lol.

I try not to think too hard about what would be the French equivalent of a cowboy coz i'm pretty sure it'd be farmers. and LMAO that's not sexy at all . O_o AT ALL.

Love the post hon, I do need to read this series too *g*

Anachronist said...

I need to be cured too - for me the cowboys are silly creatures from westerns who have simplistic outlook, square jaw and a hat. Sometimes white sometimes black. NOT impressive. Another European chick with prejudices? We will see...I am going to give this one one chance to charm me.

Unknown said...

I know what you mean, no cowboys here in the UK but sadly plenty of people who spit! Ick.
I'm not a fan of cowboy books I've read a few and they have all been three-some and four-some's and all about the sex and less about the romance which just doesn't work for me so I generally steer clear of them now :(

SusiSunshine said...

@pattepoilue Awww sweety you're not. You are a internet-cosmopolitan. *hugs*

@anachronist LOL exactly. It is really steamy and has all the things Ally mentions she doesn't likes. Many hunky men LOL

@Ally Yeah I would appreciate a men less too LOL I'm sure there some more romantic ones out there. We just need someone with good recs.

Blodeuedd said...

Oh Susi, you are so prejudiced against those poor cowboys. Smelly, psawh!

Hm..do you think I can handle it better considering my grandparents lived 100 m from our house, and they had cows. I used to go and visit the cats who liked to stay with the cows. And yes smelly but used to it ;)

So I can take a cowboy. Cowshit is much smellier

evi said...

So you finally discovered Lorelei James' sexy cowboys, Susi! Yeah!
I soooo love this series, and I'm glad you liked the first book, too.
There is something about this rough guys LJ writes... *sigh*, I just can't get enough of them!
You definitely cannot compare these guys to our (German or Austrian) farmers - just watch five minutes of "Bauer sucht Frau". *shudder*

Julia Rachel Barrett said...

Susi - cowboys may smell like a horse but that's a sexy smell! I love the smell of horses!
They are many things - poets, song writers, competent, hard-working, honest and true. Hard-bodied, sexy, sweaty - it's not all romance, but yeah, cowboys are very romantic and most of them know how to treat a woman.

SusiSunshine said...

@Blodeuedd See the thing is my granparents had many animals two. Just no cows and horses. More like pigs, chickens and so on. And it was smelly when I went to visit them. LOL And yeah I believe now that they know what soap is. LOL

@evi Bwahahahha exactly what I thought about...this show ruined the appeal for me. *shudders*

@Julia Perhaps I should meet more of those to cure my prejudices.

Aurian said...

Not a fan of cowboys, and not a fan of "menage" either. I have heard good things about this particular series, but it is too "hot" for my tastes.

SusiSunshine said...

@Aurian It definitely is that and at some points I felt like a prude. LOL

Melissa (My World...in words and pages) said...

Um, cowboys on a steel horse... he he. I don't really read about cowboys. But there are a few in the fantasy books, but they aren't really what I would call cowboys. And we have the ones that are on the spaceships. ;) lol. Oh, this was a great post!

nix said...

I love Cowboys...I don't know what it is about them!! I think its the whole muscles, tan, surliness etc...:D It has got to the point where my blog is just full of them! This isn't my favourite in the series by any stretch of the imagination, that would be Kade's book, but this series is on my auto-buy list.

SusiSunshine said...

@Melissa I like the space cowboys. Or the steampunk ones. Did you read Wilder's Mate? YUM.

@nix Ohhh I already got the rest. Will keep on reading.

TitaKini said...

I love Lorelei's books! They are definitely my favorite guilty pleasure! My boyfriend calls them my "cowboy porn" but since he's a real working cowboy, that's okay by him. Especially all the little extras I bring to the bedroom from reading them!

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