State of Romance: Finding love in the desert (and mountains)

May is National Military Appreciation Month. New Mexico is home of five military installations — Cannon AFB, Holloman AFB, Kirkland AFB, Los Alamos Demolition Range and White Sands Missile Range. New Mexico's heroes, along with its wide-open spaces, snow-capped peaks and rose-colored deserts, inspire romance of all genres.

Contemporary romances sizzle with Suzanne Brockmann's Identity: Unknown, Stella Bagwell's The Deputy's Lost and Found, Julie Ortolon's Almost Perfect, Aimee Thurlo's Navajo Courage and Ruth Wind's Rio Grande Wedding.

Historical romances explore westward expansion in Carolyn Davidson's The Bride, Alice Duncan's Cactus Flower, Diane Jewkes' The Heart You Own and Ruth Ryan Langan's Christmas Miracles. Old-school historicals are aplenty with Peggy Bechko's Cloud Dancer, Parris Afton Bonds' Dust Devil, Barbara Keller's The Captive Heart and Constance O'Banyon's Enchanted Ecstasy.

Paranormal romance whispers in the wind with Tessa Adams' Dark Embers, Darynda Jones' First Grave on the Right, Alayna Williams' Dark Oracle and Lora Leigh's Megan's Mark and Harmony's Way.

Add to the list of romances set in the Land of Enchantment by using #StateOfRomance on Twitter. Next week we visit Nebraska, the Cornhusker State.

Kim Lowe is an Air Force veteran, Air Force spouse and romance book blogger at SOS Aloha. You can reach her at sos.aloha@yahoo.com.