State of Romance: Take me home to romance, country roads
On this day in 1862, President Lincoln approved the admission of West Virginia into the union. The new state was comprised of 50 counties that broke away from Virginia during the Civil War. Known as the Mountain State, it is home to logging, coal mining and a karstic environment — the latter making it a destination for research, recreation and romance.
West Virginia denizen Jennifer L. Armentrout uses her home state for her Young Adult Lux series, including Obsidian, Onyx, Opal, Origin and Opposition. Under the pen name J. Lynn, she also wrote the New Adult series With You, including Wait for You, Be With Me and Stay With Me.
K.A. Robinson kicked off her New Adult series Torn at West Virginia University. The series also includes Twisted, Tainted, Toxic and Tamed.
Lora Leigh brings her Breeds series to West Virginia with Bengal's Heart. Kathy Love's Young Brothers visit the Mountain State with Fangs But No Fangs. The heroine in Christine Edwards' Charleston Past Midnight hails from West Virginia.
The Appalachian Mountains create romantic suspense in Elayne DiSano's For Your Sake in the Mountain Skulls series, Karen Fenech's Imposter in the Protectors series and Lindsay McKenna's Never Surrender in the Shadow Warriors series. Cozy mystery brings humor to West Virginia in Rett MacPherson's A Misty Mourning from the Torie O'Shea series.
I found several vintage contemporary romances set in West Virginia, including Heather Graham's All in the Family, Janet Dailey's Wild and Wonderful and Laurie Page's Cara's Beloved.
My favorite title for the week is a memoir, Lyn Widmyer's Chasing Cows: I'm Not in the Suburbs Anymore: "Born in Brooklyn, raised on military bases around the nation and the world, I never thought I would become a farm wife in West Virginia." No doubt the military experience prepared Lyn for anything.
Add to the list of romances set in the Mountain State by using #stateofromance on Twitter.
Next week we visit Connecticut, the Constitution State.
Kim Lowe is an Air Force veteran, Air Force spouse and romance book blogger at SOS Aloha. You can reach her at sos.aloha@yahoo.com.