Recommendations based on "Nuts"

A stand alone edition of Annie Proulx’s beloved story “Brokeback Mountain” (in the collection Close Range)—the basis for the major motion picture directed by Ang Lee, starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger, screenplay by Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana.Annie Proulx has written some of the most original and brilliant short stories in contemporary literature, and for many readers and reviewers, “Brokeback Mountain” is her masterpiece.Ennis del Mar and Jack Twist, two ranch hands, come together when they’re working as sheepherder and camp tender one summer on a range above the tree line. At first, sharing an isolated tent, the attraction is casual, inevitable, but something deeper catches them that summer.Both men work hard, marry, and have kids because that’s what cowboys do. But over the course of many years and frequent separations this relationship becomes the most important thing in their lives, and they do anything they can to preserve it.The New Yorker won the National Magazine Award for Fiction for its publication of “Brokeback Mountain,” and the story was included in Prize Stories 1998: The O. Henry Awards. In gorgeous and haunting prose, Proulx limns the difficult, dangerous affair between two cowboys that survives everything but the world’s violent intolerance.

REDEMPTION IS NEVER FREEWhen Reece Murphy is forcibly dragged into the Rose Riders gang because of a mysterious gold coin in his possession, he vows to find the man who gave him the piece and turn him over to the gang in exchange for freedom. Never does he expect a lead to come from an aspiring female journalist. But when Reece's path crosses with Charlotte Vaughn after a botched train robbery and she mentions a promising rumor about a gunslinger from Prescott, it becomes apparent that she will be his ticket to freedom—or a noose. As the two manipulate each other for their own ends, past secrets are unearthed, reviving a decade-old quest for revenge that may be impossible to settle.In this thrilling companion to Vengeance Road, dangerous alliances are formed, old friends meet new enemies, and the West is wilder than ever.

Love. Lies. Murder. A lot can happen... COME SUNDOWNBodine Longbow loves to rise with the dawn. As the manager of her family's resort in Western Montana, there just aren't enough hours in the day - for life, for work, for loved ones. She certainly doesn't have time for love, not even in the gorgeous shape of her childhood crush Callen Skinner, all grown up and returned to the ranch. Then again, maybe Callen can change her mind, given time...But when a young woman's body is discovered on resort land, everything changes. Callen falls under the suspicion of a deputy sheriff with a grudge. And for Bodine's family, the murder is a shocking reminder of an old loss. Twenty-five years ago, Bodine's Aunt Alice vanished, never to be heard of again. Could this new tragedy be connected to Alice's mysterious disappearance?As events take a dramatic and deadly turn, Bodine and Callen must race to uncover the truth - before the sun sets on their future together.

In this steamy cowboy romance, a grumpy ranch owner and a sunny horse trainer must learn to work together—the second novel in the Silver Pines Ranch series. Wade Ashby doesn’t let anyone in. With the death of his father and his failed marriage, plus the weight of the family business on his shoulders, Wade has plenty to deal with. He thrives on being the one constant and steady thing in his family’s life and on their ranch, Silver Pines. Ivy Spencer knows two things for certain: Animals make better friends than people and she can only count on herself. After a turbulent childhood and a string of bad luck since, Ivy is excited to start fresh at Silver Pines Ranch and live out her dream of training a racehorse en route to the Kentucky Derby.  Wade needs help on the ranch, but with two entirely different views on how to train his star horse, it makes absolutely no sense why he allows her to stay on. She’s chaos and he’s control, but it doesn’t take long for the levee to break and their passion to ignite.

Sheriff Boone Taylor has his job, friends, a run-down but decent ranch, two faithful dogs and a good horse. He doesn't want romance—the widowed Montanan has loved and lost enough for a lifetime. But when a city woman buys the spread next door, Boone's peace and quiet are in serious jeopardy.With a marriage and a career painfully behind her, Tara Kendall is determined to start over in Parable. Reinventing herself and living a girlhood dream is worth the hard work. Sure, she might need help from her handsome, wary neighbor. But life along Big Sky River is full of surprises…like falling for a cowboy-lawman who just might start to believe in second chances.

The third installment in the New York Times bestselling McKettrick Cowboys series follows the youngest McKettrick brother as he and his estranged love cross paths after discovering he must marry in order to inherit the family ranch.Jeb is the wild McKettrick, the one who never could stay out of trouble. And trouble is what he gets when he proposes to Chloe Wakefield. No sooner had he and the pretty schoolteacher tied the knot than Jeb discovers she’s already married. After a major dustup with Chloe in a Tombstone barroom, an irate Jeb hightails it back to the Triple M Ranch, certain that his chances of winning the spread in a marriage race with his brothers are dashed.Now Chloe has come to Indian Rock, hoping to find her beloved uncle John and a much-needed teaching post. But when she unexpectedly crosses paths with Jeb, her rage—and passion—flare even stronger than back in Tombstone. Chloe never intended to mislead Jeb about her previous marriage to a scoundrel of a man. But when she finds out Jeb needs a bride and a baby in order to inherit the Triple M, she is livid.Learning to trust will be the hardest part of this mixed-up marriage—until a stagecoach robbery and the return of a dangerous stranger prove to Jeb and Chloe that they need each other to love and honor as long as they both shall live.

World champion rodeo star Austin McKettrick finally got bested by an angry bull. His career over, his love life a mess, the lone maverick has nowhere to go when the hospital releases him. Except back home to Blue River and the Silver Spur ranch. But his overachieving brothers won't allow this cowboy to brood in peace. They've even hired a nurse to speed his recovery. Paige Remington's bossy brand of TLC is driving him crazy. As is her beautiful face, sexy figure and silky black hair.Paige has lost count of how many times Austin has tried to fire her. She's not going anywhere till he's healed—body and heart.And by then her place in his life just might become permanent….

City slicker Rafe Locke is no cowboy. When he arrives at the Last Chance Ranch for his brother's wedding, Rafe refuses to buy in to the whole cowboy "thing." That is, until he sees engineer Meg Seymour whoopin' it up—a city girl gone country—and she hits his libido with a bull's-eye!Meg grabs life by the horns, and it's not long before she's enticed Rafe into riding, roping, country dancing…and gettin' naked in bed! But as they get tangled up in the sheets—and each other!—Rafe has to keep reminding himself that this cowboy life is just a fling.Or is it?

It's Gracie Snow's job as a new motion picture production assistant to get the legendary ex-football player, Bobby Tom Denton, back to his Texas hometown to begin shooting his first movie. Good luck with that. "There's been a terrible misunderstanding, Mr. Denton. Can't you see that I don't look like a stripper?" Gracie snatched up her suit jacket. "Please. Could we go somewhere private to talk?" Bobby Tom sighed and uncoiled from his chair. "I s'pose we'd better. But you've got to give me your word you'll keep your clothes on. It wouldn't be fair for me to see you naked when my party guests can't." "I promise, Mr. Denton, that you will never see me naked." He looked doubtful. "I don't mean to question your good intentions, honey, but judging from my past history, it might not be that easy for you to resist." A head-spinning battle of the sexes—with Beauty waging war against Brain—except this male beauty has a fine intelligence, and brainy Gracie isn't nearly as ordinary as she thinks.

#1 "New York Times"-bestselling author Nora Roberts takes us deep into the rugged Black Hills of South Dakota, where the shadows keep secrets, hunters stalk the land, and a childhood friendship matures into an adult passion. Asummer at his grandparents' South Dakota ranch is not eleven-year-old Cooper Sullivan's idea of a good time. But things are a bit more bearable now that he's discovered the neighbor girl, Lil Chance, and her homemade batting cage. Even horseback riding isn't as awful as Coop thought it would be. Each year, with Coop's annual summer visit, their friendship deepens from innocent games to stolen kisses, but there is one shared experience that will forever haunt them: the terrifying discovery of a hiker's body. As the seasons change and the years roll, Lil stays steadfast to her dreams of becoming a wildlife biologist and protecting her family land, while Coop struggles with his father's demand that he attend law school and join the family firm. Twelve years after they last walked together hand in hand, fate has brought them back to the Black Hills when the people and things they hold most dear need them most. An investigator in New York, Coop recently left his fastpaced life to care for his aging grandparents and the ranch he has come to call home. Though the memory of his touch still haunts her, Lil has let nothing stop her dream of opening the Chance Wildlife Refuge, but something . . . or someone . . . has been keeping a close watch. When small pranks and acts of destruction escalate into the heartless killing of Lil's beloved cougar, recollections of an unsolved murder in these very hills have Coop springing to action to keep Lil safe. Lil and Coop both know the natural dangers that lurk in the wild landscape of the Black Hills. But now they must work together to unearth a killer of twisted and unnatural instincts who has singled them out as prey.