Anyone know the website that enables you to input what you remember about a book.  I think members then try to find the book.

I'm trying to find an old book I read where wagon train leader will not allow heroine (with sickly brother--maybe from the civil war) to join.  The reason being she's unmarried.  This is where I'm not sure if I am remembering correctly:  she may go to the general store and place a request for driver.  I can't remember how the hero steps into the story but he gets her wagon and supplies ready (because her wagon is not trail worthy). 

It drives me nuts trying to remember some of the old bodice rippers I've read !

Margy

Margy,

Try going to Romantic Times: Link in the message boards look for Book Sleuth.  Try posting what you remember about the book there hopefully someone knows your book.

Margaret -- I don't know about a book search site, but we might be able to help here. Need a little more information...

Do you remember when you read it? Sometimes life events help (a summer vacation, while attending school, working at a particular job, living in a particular place, a hospital visit). The purpose of this is to eliminate books published more recently.

Do you recall if it was a category book (i.e., Tapestry, Harlequin Historicals, etc.) or was it a longer stand-alone?

Was it an inspirational line? This one might be more easily asked, have you ever read books by the inspirational publishers? and was the book rated G?

Your description is otherwise very good, so don't lose hope!

Colleen

it wasn't inspirational.  Probably read it in the early 90's, late 80's.  I'm quite certain it wasn't after 1996.  More of a western love story.  Did Avon have western historical?  I read alot of those.  Hmmm, realized I read a lot of Harlequin historicals, too.  I was thinking it might have been a little too "sexually tensioned) for Harlequin. Definately alpha male.  Cover may not have been a "typical bodice ripper".  That's about all I can remember.  Not much is it? lol

Margy

http://www.librarything.com/groups/namethatbook

librarything also has a group devoted to this game, but maybe the romance website is a little more targeted.

I really want to know which book this is!   I love Wagon Train stories and I haven't read a good one in years.

Pamela

The "cut off" of 1996 helps a whole lot, Margaret! Being able to eliminate newer books reduces the possibles by 50%. I ran a search for "wagon" in the synopsis in historical romance genre on the fictiondb.com website. See if any of these sound familiar...

JOURNEY HOME by Susan Kay Law:

"For three years feisty young Jessamyn Johnston had cared for herself and her dying father. She was determined to make a fresh start and travel west by wagon, but to do so she had to pretend to be the wife of Tony Winchester.

The dazzling horse breeder from Kentucky could charm his way into any woman's affections. All Tony desired from a woman was a good time and a simple farewell, for he was a man haunted by heartache. Jessie could be no more than a friend to him, according to their bargain. But mere rules could not prevent him from tasting her soft fresh lips. Soon he knew he'd trade the vengeance that drove him to California for a passion hot as the desert winds and sweet as the rustling prairie grasses.

Jessie thought she was heading for a broken heart -- yet it was too late to turn back. Little did they know that the splendor of love awaited them on the... Journey Home..."

HEART'S JOURNEY by Emily Bradshaw:

"BOUND BY PRINCIPLES ...
Wealthy and willful Harriett Foster was a fiery disciple of Amelia Bloomer's -- determined to blaze a feminist trail from the Plains to the Pacific. When the wagon train master would not allow a pair of Boston ladies to travel unescorted, Harriett and her aunt Lucille reluctantly found a hired gun to accompany them. Crossing the continent under Jake Carradine's brusque protection, Harriett was stunned by his appetite for violence ... and stirred by his powerful presence, her feisty independence shaken for the first time.

PURSUED BY DEMONS...
Jake Carradine was haunted by dreams of a past with too many guns and too much blood. Drinking and womanizing, gambling and gunslinging, were enough to dull the pain -- until he guided Harriet Foster across the wilderness. Jake wasn't sure if it was her indomitable spirit or her electrifying green eyes and sprinkling of freckles that awakened his soul. But what he did know was that his freewheeling days and hell-raising nights were over. Now, if only he could convince the headstrong Harriett that their adventurous trek had truly turned into a Heart's Journey."

WILDFIRE by Norah Hess:

"SWORN ENEMIES
The Yankees had killed her sweetheart, imprisoned her brother and driven her from her home... but beautiful, golden-haired Serena Bain faced the future boldly as the wagon trains rolled out. Ahead lay countless dangers. But all the perils in the world wouldn't change her bitter resentment of the darkly handsome Yankee wagon master, Josh Quade.

BORN LOVERS
Soon, however, her heart betrayed her will. And Serena could not resist her own mounting desire for the rough trapper from Michigan. His strong, rippling buckskin-clad body set her senses on fire. But pride and fate tore them apart as the wagon trains rolled west. Until one night, in the soft, secret darkness of a bordello, Serena and Josh unleashed their wildest passions and opened their souls to the sweetest raptures of love..."

ELUSIVE ENCHANTMENT by Rochelle Wayne:

"PASSION'S SLAVE
When lovely Cassandra Stevenson threw boiling water on the gambler who tried to shoot her brother, she knew she must flee her Arkansas farm forever. She was willing to hide her long blond hair under a boy's cap, to disguise her lissome curves under a rough frontier shirt, and to endure hard work on a wagon trail drive to California. Pretending to be a boy was tolerable--until muscular, black-eyed trail boss Dru Jensen decided to take her under his wing and "make a man of her." When the handsome, virile westerner handed her a bar of soap and suggested they take a bath in the river, Cassandra managed to escape. But her desire could not be tamed for long. She yearned to shed her boy's clothing and crush her woman's body against his taunting maleness....

PASSION'S MASTER
After Dru Jensen lost his wife and infant son in an Indian raid, he swore he'd never love again. His only concern was trying to get his wagons and wild horses to California. But when he learned that young Casey was really luscious Cassandra, he forgot about hostile Indians and horses. All he wanted was to strip off her rough disguise and feel her silky blond tresses between his fingers. He vowed that he would have her before the trail drive reached Carson City--but once he captured her body in passion's ultimate embrace, he knew that he would be possessed forever by her ELUSIVE ENCHANTMENT"

PASSIONATE POSSESSION by Gwen Cleary:

"Martha Collins wuld not give up her dream of going West to be a teacher and not even the handsome, domineering wagon train captain could not stop her. Once he discovered she had deceived him about being a man, he badgered her with vehement protests and blustering threats. But no matter how difficult he made the journey for her, Martha could not be browbeaten into leaving the train..."

WILD HORIZONS by Jeanne Stephens:

"For Megan Riley, the wagon train bound for Oregon seemed the only chance to leave the past behind, but the innocent beauty was unaware of the cruel rumor that branded her a wanton woman.

Jed Dossman was as cold as steel and twice as hard. He vowed no unmarried woman with Megan's "reputation" would join his train. So Megan became the wife of kindly Abner Claunch.

Through two thousand miles of treacherous wilderness, a searing need grew in Megan. She had no right to want Jed. She had made a promise to herself and to Abner. But how could she keep promises made in the cold light of reason when in the darkness passion beckoned?"

AUTUMN DOVE by Sylvie F. Sommerfield:

"HATE COLD AS THE WINTER SNOW
When her parents died without a cent, innocent Tara Montgomery had no choice but to head for Fort Lyon to reunite with her soldier brother. The independent miss never dreamed of the journey's perils - and the worst was her suntanned, buckskin-clad wagonmaster Zach Windwalker. His disdain of women traveling alone infuriated her; his grisly stories of Western life annoyed her. But Zach's masterful lips upon her sensitive flesh drove her to distraction. Even as Tara swore to dispise him forever, the passionate pioneer was guiding his hands to her buttons, her chemise...and to the wildly beating heart beneath!

LOVE HOT AS THE SUMMER SUN
Half-breed frontiersman Zach Windwalker didn't need a tempting morsel like Tara Montgomery in his life - not when he was on the verge of trapping the gunrunners who were supplying the Cheyenne. The virile tracker planned to almost seduce the untouched beauty to scare her back to Washington D.C. But at the moment the strong-willed male should have pushed her away, he pulled Tara even closer. With only the vast plains and distant hills as witness, Zach was as singleminded as the invincible American eagle as he swooped down with unwavering passion upon his unresisting, gentle AUTUMN DOVE"

DECEPTION'S FIRE by Sandra Donovan:

"ILLUSION'S ECSTASY
Maeve Devlin suppressed a gasp at her own audacity. She couldn't join the wagon train without a husband and Claude Langley couldn't join without a wagon so she'd actually asked the handsome gambler to travel with her and let her share his name... at least for the journey west. She tried to convince herself that their union would be no more than a carefully presented charade, but when he looked into her very soul with those piercing blue eyes and set her flesh afire with his tempting touch, she knew she'd soon savor his seductive embrace!

REALITY'S RAPTURE
Claude couldn't believe his luck. A wagon, a way west, and a willing wench all at once! For no matter how prettily Maeve worded her proposition, he could read between the lines. The auburn-haired innocent needed more than his name--she needed to bask in the heat of his most intimate caress, thrill to the searing kisses he'd trace on her ivory skin. And he swore that before their journey was done, his bewitching beauty would surrender to the ecstasy that awaited them in the glorious blaze of Deception's Fire"

SNOWFLAME by Susannah Howe:

"THEIR VOWS WERE A HOAX, BUT THE BONDS OF DESIRE WOULD LAST FOR FOREVER!

Bree Alexander needed a husband, at once, if she were ever to reach Colorado--and her real spouse. So the flame-haired Southern belle en-listed the aid ofJem Tyler, the six-foot-two Yankee with sky-blue eyes, to act as her stand-in husband. But the frontier-bound stranger was more than the drifter he seemed, and would soon try to tame his fiery "bride" on their wagon train westward. And Bree would have to manage a man as hot-blooded as herself...make a match as fierce as the prairies they roamed...and deal with a dangerous passion that would haunt her from the Western wilds to the flames of her beloved war-torn South."

I read a Dorothy Garlock book with a similar plotline. 

That sounds like a Maggie Osborne plot - like Brides of Prairie Gold - but there's no sickly brother in that one.

Colleen, I dunno what it is but those blurbs have me roflamo.  "His strong, rippling buckskin-clad body", "her soft fresh lips"... I was just about peeing my pants here.  I would rather strip naked and stroll through WalMart at high noon than have my DH see something like that on one of my books - and damned if most of them don't pretty much read just like that.  I would never hear the end of it:P.

.....the innocent beauty was unaware of the cruel rumor that branded her a wanton woman.

This is the line that has me in stitches!  A Wanton Woman!  How could they?!!!!

KIM - It's like I said... Sometimes a girl's gotta take out the trash... and read it!

My husband would suffer from a permanent blush, but sis's DH reads them himself.... or he let's his wife read a bedtime story to him. They've been married 28 years. Must be doing something right!

Colleen

I'm going to try Snow Flame.....amazon has it...    And I'll check out Dorothy Garlock books....

Thank you!!!

Margy

Margy, you should try some Maggie Osborne too - if you haven't already.  She does good frontier trail romances.  Brides of Prairie Gold is not one of my favorites, but I Do, I Do, I Do is cute, The Best Man is another good one (3 sisters in a cattle drive), although both of those have 3 individual couples as the main characters - which Osborne does better than you might expect.  The Promise of Jenny Jones is good, and there's also The Foxfire Bride and The Seduction of Samantha Kincade (kinda htf but worth it).  I'm reading Emerald Rain right now myself.  Not a trail romance - it's set in the Amazon - but like most of Osborne's books, it's really good (so far:P).

And (Pam & Colleen) because I just noticed this one above and couldn't help myself...

"She yearned to shed her boy's clothing and crush her woman's body against his taunting maleness...."  LOL!