If you’ve been reading my books for a while, you already know I have a soft spot for heroines who don’t sit quietly on the sidelines. I love women who roll up their sleeves, take on the world, and still make room in their hearts for love.
Why My Heroines Don’t Fit the Stereotype
Many old Western stories painted women as either delicate angels or dangerous seductresses, with not much in between. My heroines land somewhere far more interesting: they’re capable, complicated, and not afraid to make mistakes.
They may sew, cook, and keep a home, but they also:
- Run businesses or ranches when no one expects them to
- Stand up to bullies, outlaws, and sometimes even the hero
- Carry private wounds and scars they must work through over the course of the story
The West was a harsh country, and real women needed grit to survive. When I create a heroine, I’m always thinking about those actual frontier women who battled weather, isolation, and loss—and still kept families, communities, and even small joys alive.
Grit With a Soft Center
One way my heroines break the mold is by combining toughness with tenderness. They can shoot straight, argue with the sheriff, or out-negotiate a cattle buyer, but they also cry in private, pray over hard choices, or comfort a frightened child.
I don’t want “perfect” women on the page. I want women who:
- Lose their tempers and then regret it
- Misjudge the hero at first and have to own up to it
- Try to handle everything alone before learning to trust someone else
Their strength isn’t about never needing help. It’s about choosing when to accept it and when to stand alone. In a good Western romance, the hero doesn’t “fix” the heroine; he respects her, backs her up, and sometimes has to catch up to her courage.
Rooted in Real Western Women
I often draw inspiration from letters, diaries, and true accounts of women who came West expecting one life and found another entirely. Many of them weren’t naturally adventurous; they learned bravery one hard day at a time.
That’s exactly what I want my heroines to reflect:
- They’re shaped by droughts, dust storms, and danger, not just ballroom dances.
- They face moral dilemmas—protecting family versus telling the truth, loyalty versus justice, security versus freedom.
- They carry faith, superstition, or stubborn hope into each decision, just as many real women did.
History matters to me, and I work to keep the roles my heroines play believable for their time while still making them women you’d want as friends today.
More Than Just a Love Story
While romance is at the heart of my books, the heroine’s personal journey is just as important as the love story. When you meet one of my heroines, I want you to see a whole life, not just a woman waiting for a man to show up.
Over the course of a book, you’ll often see her:
- Grow from survival mode into true confidence
- Let go of guilt or shame she’s carried for far too long
- Discover that she deserves happiness, not just duty
The love story becomes a catalyst, not a cure-all. The hero supports her growth, and in turn, she challenges him to become more honorable, more honest, and more open-hearted.
Flaws, Failures, and Second Chances
Another way my heroines break the mold is through their flaws. They make poor choices, jump to conclusions, or cling to bad coping habits—sometimes with painful consequences.
You might see a heroine who:
- Trusts the wrong person because she’s desperate to belong
- Hides a secret that puts everyone at risk
- Puts herself last until her health or safety is in danger
I give them room to stumble because real growth requires a few bumps and bruises along the way. But I also give them second chances—and often third ones. Western stories, to me, are the perfect place to explore redemption, forgiveness, and starting over.
Balancing Historical Reality and Modern Readers
Writing Western heroines today means walking a careful line. Women in the 1800s didn’t have the legal or social freedoms we enjoy now, and I don’t want to pretend they did. At the same time, modern readers rightly look for agency, consent, and emotional partnership in a love story.
So my heroines break the mold by:
- Pushing back where they realistically can—within a town, a marriage, or a business
- Making active choices, even when options are limited
- Refusing to settle for a man who doesn’t respect them
They find their power within the constraints of their world rather than magically escaping them. That tension between “what was” and “what could be” is part of what makes Western romance so rich for me as a writer.
Why These Heroines Matter
Readers often tell me they see themselves in my heroines—in their exhaustion, stubbornness, love for family, or quiet hopes they’re almost afraid to name. Even though we’re no longer hauling water from a well or hitching up teams of horses, we still face loss, loneliness, and the question of whether love is worth the risk.
When a heroine in a dusty Texas town finds the courage to try again—whether in love, in business, or simply in trusting someone with her heart—I want that to echo in your own life. Maybe she nudges you to forgive yourself, to speak up, or to believe you’re not too broken, too old, or too busy for a happy ending.
Because underneath the corsets and calico, these stories are really about something timeless: a woman discovering her own worth and finding a partner who sees it too.
If you enjoy Western romance heroines who are capable, complicated, and a little bit stubborn, I hope you’ll keep riding along with the women who populate my fictional towns and ranches.
