Smoky Mountain Romance Books In Order

Publication Order of Smoky Mountain Books

Heading into familiar territory once again, the American writer Erin McCarthy has created another franchise that’s reached new heights of success. Combining immaculately realized characters with fully rounded narrative arcs, she’s taken the tropes of the genre and built something completely new from them. With this particular series she has done it once more, as she takes what has previously worked before, and essentially subverts it providing a number of twists and turns in the process. Taking a more traditional approach to the romance genre, McCarthy heads into familiar territory here, combining location and people for an engaging effect. Set to the backdrop of the mountains, it follows a fun and breezy narrative arc, charting the trials and tribulations of relationships and courting. Whilst this may be fairly typical for McCarthy on the surface, it does offer plenty of surprises within, as she takes some of the more well worn elements of the genre and effectively twists them in the process.

Whilst this series only consists of two titles in total so far, there’s still a lot more room for McCarthy to expand upon the premise. Although the books are only related through their sense of location, they still work well in that they utilize their landscape for maximum effect. Knowing her material well, these books show a clear and confident author who has definitely found her stride with these stories.

Back to Basics

Originally published in 2012 on the 18th of July, this was intended to be the book that set the whole series up. With a long-running series of novel to potentially come from this particular brand, there’s definitely a lot of room to expand on the series as a whole. Creating the sense of the location is also something that McCarthy has managed to do well here, building up the tone of what’s to come.

With classic themes of love and passion, this harks back to all the traditional tropes of the genre, whilst bringing its own flavor into the mix as well. Whilst it may be updated, allowing its modern readers to relate to the story, it manages to retain a timeless quality too. As an author, McCarthy obviously knows the format well, and she’s clearly in her element here, as she utilizes them to great effect. The backdrop of the mountains really works well too, as she conjures up some great visual imagery to contrast the burgeoning romance. With the beauty of the landscape offsetting their love, it creates the ideal piece of escapism for the reader, whether they be a fan or a newcomer. Evocative with her highly descriptive writing, she really manages to capture the beauty of the landscape as well. With the couple at its center, it sees them both coming together despite their differences, and dealing with their passion for one another. Angel Weiss and Rick Dengler are both cynical when it comes to the idea of love and marriage, hoping never to get burnt again. Their fears soon subside, though, as they find themselves in one another’s arms, despite them telling themselves it would never happen.

Getting stood up at a fake marriage, Angel Weiss finds her old friend Brian is apparently not to be trusted, despite the whole thing being a set-up anyway. Rick Dengler has gone through the whole marriage thing as well, something which gave him a daughter which he counts as his one true blessing. Working as a park ranger his job is stop illegal camping, and that’s when he discovers Angel trapped by a black bear, before saving them both, leading to them getting covered in poison ivy and needing to strip. Will they contain their passions for one another? What will it take to overcome their skepticism? Can they get back to basics?

Basic Attraction

Coming out in 2014 a few years after the first, this was to be the second book in the ongoing Smoky Mountain Romance series. Continuing in much the same vein as the previous novel, it manages to build upon the themes and ideas that came before. Whilst it may have its own separate story and characters, it’s still a definite must for fans of the original, although it does have some twists and turns of its own along the way.

Similar to the first, this title encapsulates many of the great ideas that makes classic romance work as a genre. Passion, love and obstacles overcome, all whilst making it relevant to a modern and contemporary audience of today. With the couple at the center of the novel, it works around them as they come together, all whilst McCarthy injects it with her own unique flavor.

House-sitting for his, Luke Weiss is keen to find the woman of his dreams, ever since his sister found her ideal man. That’s when he meets his sister’s friend Sheri and the two of them have chemistry, as sparks fly between them both. Looking to have a brief fling, they end up getting more than they bargained for, as Luke decides that he may want to stay in the smoky mountain town after all. Will they ever become something more than just a steamy affair? Can they ever truly be an item? What will happen as they find that they have a basic attraction?

The Smoky Mountain Romance Series

Knowing it’s genre well, McCarthy manages to bring her own unique and idiosyncratic voice to an already potentially crowded marketplace. With her strong characters who are engaging and easy to relate to, right up to the story-lines that draw her readers in, it’s no wonder that she’s making such an impact on the scene. Whilst each title may work as a stand-alone, there’s still a thematic narrative bringing them all together with the backdrop of the landscape. If there’s one thing that McCarthy excels at in being a writer, though, it’s in her use of location and understanding of people. This then helps to provide her work with a very grounded set of foundations to operate from, something which is clearly the case here. As the series continues and develops, her readers will find that there is a lot to become invested in, with the franchise growing from strength-to-strength.