Barbara Ankrum

Author Information
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  • Bibliography:
    30 Books (8 Series)
  • First Book:
    August 1990
  • Latest Book:
    February 2025
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About the Author

Barbara Ankrum says she's always been an incurable romantic, with a passion for books and stories about the healing power of love. It never occurred to her to write seriously until her husband, David, discovered a box full of her unfinished stories and insisted that she pursue her dream. Need she say more about why she believes in love?

With a successful career as a successful commercial actress behind her, Barbara decided she had plenty of eccentric characters to people the stories that inhabited her imagination. She wrote her first novel in between auditions and led to a publishing contract, but she's never looked back. Years later, she still believes in happy endings and feels very lucky to do what she loves. Her historicals have won the prestigious Reviewer's Choice and K.I.S.S. Awards from Romantic Times Magazine, and she's been nominated for a RITA Award from Romance Writers of America. Barbara lives in Southern California with her actor/writer/hero-husband, two cats and one scruffy, unrepentant dog at her side. They have two perfect grown children.

Full Series List in Order

Almost Turner

1 - Almost Paradise (Jul-1995)
2 - Almost a Lady (Sep-1996)

Band of Brothers

1 - Unsung Hero (Jan-2019)
2 - Road to You (Jun-2018)
3 - Unexpected Hero (Jun-2018)

The Canadays of Montana

1 - A Cowboy to Remember (Aug-2014)
2 - Choose Me, Cowboy (Oct-2015)
3 - The Cowgirl's Christmas Wish (Oct-2016)
4 - A Cowboy to Keep (Sep-2017)

The Guardian Angel Chronicles

1 - Every Time a Bell Rings (Nov-2019)
2 - The Christmas Fix Up (Oct-2021)
3 - Calling All Angels (Jul-2022)

The Hardestys of Montana

1 - The Cowboy's Bride (Jun-2024)
2 - Cowboy Don't Go (Sep-2024)
3 - The Cowboy's Miracle Baby (Nov-2024)
4 - The Way to A Cowboy's Heart (Feb-2025)

Renegades

1 - Renegade Bride (Jul-1992)
2 - Renegade's Kiss (Apr-1993)

Wild Western Hearts

1 - Holt's Gamble (Aug-2013)
2 - Renegade Bride (Jul-1992)
3 - Renegade's Kiss (Apr-1993)
4 - Chase the Fire (Jul-1991)

Wild Western Rogues

1 - The Lady Takes A Gunslinger (Jul-2015)
2 - The Ruination of Essie Sparks (Aug-2016)

Multi-Author Series List

77th Copper Mountain Rodeo

4 - Choose Me, Cowboy (Oct-2015)

Copper Mountain Rodeo

12 - Choose Me, Cowboy (Oct-2015)

Book List in Order: 30 titles

  • Passion's Prize

    Zebra Heartfire

    Rereleased as: Holt's Gamble Her fate was in the cards... Kierin McKendry was humiliated when the cold-hearted owner of her indenture papers used her as a tempting ante in a game of poker and lost her to a rugged, dark-haired stranger. But she ...

  • Chase the Fire

    Wild Western Hearts - 4
    Zebra Heartfire

    Libby Honeycutt was determined to keep the Lazy H ranch going -- even though the place was run down and mortgaged to the hilt and her ranchmen were quitting left and right. When things looked their bleakest, an arrogant drifter rode onto her land in ...

  • Renegade Bride

    Renegades - 1
    Wild Western Hearts - 2
    Zebra Heartfire

    SHE WOULD BE HIS Mariah Parsons had believed since she was sixteen that she'd spend her life with the man who'd given her first kiss. Now after four years apart and with many doubts in her mind, Mariah was on her way West to begin their lif...

  • Renegade's Kiss

    Renegades - 2
    Wild Western Hearts - 3
    Zebra Heartfire

    SHE COULDN'T LET HIM GO Widowed and alone as the Civil War raged around her, ebony-haired Andrea Winslow was relieved when Jesse Winslow, her brother-in-law -- and first love -- arrived at Willow Banks farm. But when be told her be intended to s...

  • Almost Paradise

    Almost Turner - 1

    THE HERO WORE BLACK After reading plenty of dime novels on the subject, Grace Turner was convinced that she knew all she needed to about the "Wild West." so when the prim miss arrived in Pair-a-Dice, Texas, to hire someone for a perilous scouting ...

  • Almost a Lady

    Almost Turner - 2

    BETWEEN LOVE AND DANGER IT'S HARD TO CHOOSE Everyone had to go sometime, but Luke Turner never figured he'd end up freezing to death in the middle of a Colorado snowstorm, handcuffed to a gorgeous pickpocket named Maddy Barnes. Of course, she w...

  • To Love a Cowboy

    Mills & Boon Intimate (Australia) - 433
    Silhouette Intimate Moments - 834

    NOWHERE TO TURN Lost, alone, desperate, Carly Jamison had returned to the Colorado high country, and to the only man she had ever loved -- a man she had walked away from years before .... Rafe Kellard's secluded ranch was a place of healing...

  • I'll Remember You

    Mills & Boon Intimate (Australia) - 491
    Silhouette Intimate Moments - 972
    Silhouette Sensation - 596

    A DANGEROUS GAME... He stumbled into her steadfast life with no name, no memories and nothing but trouble etched into every inch of his well-muscled body. The bullet lodged in his shoulder told Tess Gordon somebody wanted him dead. She just wan...

  • This Perfect Stranger

    Mills & Boon Intimate (Australia) - 557
    Silhouette Intimate Moments - 1103
    Silhouette Sensation - 747

    WAS A HUSBAND A REQUIREMENT IN THIS WILD COUNTRY? For Maggie Cortland, a widow struggling to keep her husband's ranch -- her beloved land -- the answer was crystal clear. She needed a man, preferably one who was big and strong, and not afraid to t...



  • Holt's Gamble

    Wild Western Hearts - 1

    Kierin McKendry is indentured to J. Talbot, a ruthless saloon owner, until Clay Holt wins her in a rigged poker game. When Clay tries to collect his winnings, he's attacked by Talbot's men and badly injured. Clay never expected Keirin to take him to ...

  • A Cowboy to Remember

    The Canadays of Montana - 1

    Twelve years ago, equestrian Olympic hopeful Olivia Canaday and her best friend, Jake Lassen, made a pinky-swear promise to reunite at the Big Marietta Fair on her thirtieth birthday and marry each other if they were both still single. But that was b...

  • A Fair to Remember

    Twelve years ago, equestrian Olympic hopeful Olivia Canaday and her best friend, Jake Lassen, made a pinky-swear promise to reunite at the Big Marietta Fair on her thirtieth birthday and marry each other if they were both still single. But that was b...

  • The Lady Takes A Gunslinger

    Wild Western Rogues - 1

    Aspiring Novelist Saves Brother from Noose in the Western Historical Romance, The Lady Takes a Gunslinger, by Barbara AnkrumTexas, 1867Fallen ex-Texas Ranger, Reese Donovan, wants no part in helping aspiring dime-novelist, Grace Turner, rescue her br...

  • Choose Me, Cowboy

    The Canadays of Montana - 2
    77th Copper Mountain Rodeo - 4
    Copper Mountain Rodeo - 12

    The Copper Mountain Rodeo has returned to Marietta and cowboy reputations aren’t the only thing at stake…Marietta Kindergarten teacher, Kate Canaday, is doing perfectly well without the ex-love of her life mucking up her intention to stay gloriou...

  • The Ruination of Essie Sparks

    Wild Western Rogues - 2

    A Getaway and Abduction Becomes Respect and Passion in the Historical Western Romance, The Ruination of Essie Sparks, by Barbara Ankrum1888, Montana TerritoryAfter protesting abuses at the Montana Indian Boarding School, Essie is dismissed from her t...

  • The Cowgirl's Christmas Wish

    The Canadays of Montana - 3

    E

    vent planner Eve Canaday and her secret crush, Dr. Ben Tyler, are unexpectedly drafted to help a little girl fulfill her late mother’s wish -- a magical Christmas to create some happy memories. Eve sees this opportunity as a sign; Ben, as a gli...

  • A Cowboy to Keep

    The Canadays of Montana - 4

    On the run from her past, photographer Ali Thibeaux arrives undercover in Marietta to find her biological half-sister. Plan A: Meet Olivia, photograph her wedding, and disappear before endangering anyone. Plan B: All hell breaks loose.Reclusive ranch...

  • A Little Christmas Magic

    Navy SEAL widow Holly McGuire returns to small town, Marietta, Montana, at Christmas time to close a chapter of her life and begin again. She’s not looking for a second chance at love or romance at this reunion of the ex-SEAL team’s Band of Broth...

  • Road to You

    Band of Brothers - 2

    Investigative reporter Gemma Wade has been dispatched to her own personal purgatory -- small town Marietta, Montana -- to write a fluffy, romantic piece about the unprecedented spike in marriages there. Being punished for an embarrassing career misst...



  • Unexpected Hero

    Band of Brothers - 3

    Can exposing their secrets give them both a second chance?Ex-Navy SEAL Noah Mathis has buried his secrets from even his most trusted friends. But when he joins a gathering of the Band of Brothers in Marietta, Montana, for the wedding of one of their ...

  • Unsung Hero

    Band of Brothers - 1

    Forgiving him is not an option, but getting over him is impossible.Second chances are Nio Reyes' specialty. He lifted himself from humble beginnings to wealth and helped his brother's battered Navy SEAL team recover after a mission went south. When h...

  • Every Time a Bell Rings

    The Guardian Angel Chronicles - 1

    Once upon a time, he was everything to her, except for one thing: her future Christmas sparkles from every bough and window at the cozy Four Winds Ski Resort, where single mother Eden Kendall and her eight-year-old son are spending the holiday. A sur...

  • Holiday Hearts

    Event-planner Eve Canaday and her secret crush Dr. Ben Tyler are unexpectedly drafted to help a little girl fulfill her late-mother’s wish―to have a magical Christmas that creates some happy memories. Eve sees this opportunity as a sign; Ben, as ...

  • The Christmas Fix Up

    The Guardian Angel Chronicles - 2

    Heaven made a mistake. Can one clumsy, rebellious angel right a wrong by Christmas Eve without losing her heart?Angel Elspeth Aloysious is hidden in celestial clerical work to avoid painful memories when her mentor sends her on her first earthly ming...

  • Calling All Angels

    The Guardian Angel Chronicles - 3

    What if soulmates truly are forever?Emma James isn't sure if she's dead, dreaming, or somewhere in-between after a car accident leaves her hospitalized in a coma. And the gorgeous but grumpy Scot with a sexy brogue claiming to be her guardian angel s...

  • The Cowboy's Bride

    The Hardestys of Montana - 1

    Drive, she said...When Isabella Stanton's Dallas society wedding becomes the most humiliating day of her life, there's only one thing to do: run—hard to do in a wedding dress. She begs a ride from the handsome wedding limo driver offering him ...

  • Cowboy Don't Go

    The Hardestys of Montana - 2

    Single mom, Shay Hardesty, thinks her life finally checks all the boxes: teenage son and semi-dysfunctional, but loving family, check. New ranch enterprise, check. Heartbreak free? Check. Then her brother hires her old secret crush, the sexy cowboy C...

  • The Cowboy's Miracle Baby

    The Hardestys of Montana - 3

    Cami Hardesty might have a problem saying no. Not that she doesn't love her full life teaching school, herding six-year-olds in Christmas pageants, and helping on her family's guest ranch. But finding an abandoned newborn at a pageant rehearsal acco...

  • The Way to A Cowboy's Heart

    The Hardestys of Montana - 4

    On possibly the worst day of her life, British ex-pat Wall Street financial analyst EMILY QUINN, finds herself on a crowded New York City subway, holding her cardboard box of shame. It's Valentine's Day. She's single, suddenly unemployed, and her wor...



  • Web of Days

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Award-Winning Books by Barbara Ankrum

Passion's Prize
1990 RT Reviewers Choice Award -- First Western Romance


Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Barbara Ankrum has published 30 books.

The next book by Barbara Ankrum, The Way to A Cowboy's Heart, will be published in February 2025.

The first book by Barbara Ankrum, Passion's Prize, was published in August 1990.

Yes. Barbara Ankrum has 8 series.
Author Series
Multi-Author Series
Publisher Series
Top Authors in Historical
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