Romance and Cowboys- Yeehaw or neehaw?

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

CheekyReads

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.

blodeuedd83

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!

PaulaSHx

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?

  

Read more...