A Woman’s Western Heart
By Laura Strickland
When we think about the Old West, several images readily leap to mind. The outlaw facing a showdown in the street of some wooden-fronted town. The steely-eyed sheriff who stands up to protect his patch. The devoted (or dastardly) ranch owner. The cowboy out on the lonely trail. The trail guide, the leader of the wagon train, the mountain man.
These admittedly-stereotyped characters tend not to include very many women. Why not? We know women were present in the West but when we do picture them, they seem to fall along a few equally-stereotypical lines. The saloon girl. The homesteader wife struggling to survive. The widow faced with the theft of her land. What about the real women who populated the West? And what about their hearts?
When I was approached to create a new Western Romance series for Magnolia Blossom Press, I knew above all else I did not want my heroine to be a stereotype. I wanted her to be fully fleshed out, a woman with a past, one with an edge. I wanted her to hurt and hope and hate. Thus was Irine Wicklow born.
I am in awe of the women who populated the Old West. It would have required courage for any female to strike out for the unknown some hundred and fifty years ago, especially on her own. Horace Greeley’s directive to, “Go west, young man!” didn’t include, “And bring your sister.” These were extraordinary individuals. If I wanted my heroine to stand out among such an august company, I had to give her the right attributes, and a few significant flaws.
So Irine needed to be courageous and stubborn. It would require both to face the hardships of a land barely-settled in the year 1866 when my series begins, as well as strength difficult to imagine in our day and age. She’d have to be smart and resourceful, wary and determined. She’d either have to be reaching for something like a better life or running from something so terrible she doesn’t dare go home.
Irine Wicklow is running from deep trauma and the belief that she can’t rely on anyone but herself. She’s remade her own image in the form of a man—because men function in the West much more easily than women. She has in fact become the infamous bounty hunter Wolverine who doesn’t need much and isn’t afraid of much, and no longer believes in love.
What has that done to her heart? Because as we readers and writers know, it’s the heart of a woman that truly matters. Irine Wicklow’s heart is in chains. Even though a good man swears he loves her and though he stands by her even when she tries to send him away, she knows it’s caring that makes her vulnerable. It will take all seven books of this series for Irine Wicklow to decide which will win—her fear of being hurt or her heart.
The first three volumes of Irine’s story are available exclusively from Amazon and Magnolia Blossom Publishing. Come join Irine and her black mare Jezebel on their adventures. Find out just how bold a woman’s heart can be.
Blurb for first book, Love and Guns Don’t Mix:
Irine Wicklow lives her life as the merciless bounty hunter, Wolverine. Nobody knows she’s a woman, and she’s earned a reputation that’s as mean as her namesake. For eight years, she’s been running from a past so painful it turned her from a young girl who believed in love, to one with steely armor around her heart. She relies only on her guns and her wild mare, Jezebel, and the need for vengeance drives her on.
Justice Turrant also understands the desire for vengeance. A survivor of the Civil War, he came West with his family after serving time in a Union prison camp. But their bid to settle a homestead went terribly wrong. A varmint called Virgil Clary and his men brutalized Jus’s sister, Jenny, and Jus feels responsible.
He wants Wolverine to bring in Clary, even after he discovers she’s a woman. He never expects to lose his heart to a dangerous female who doesn’t believe in love.
Giveaway!
I’m giving away an e-copy of Book One, Love and Guns Don’t Mix to one person who leaves a comment.
If you were creating a tough, hard-edged heroine, what characteristics would you include?
Purchase the first three books in the series here:
Love and Guns Don’t Mix
A Woman by Any Other Name
Absence Makes the Heart Grow Colder