State of Romance: Let's find love in the Dakotas

North Dakota is our 39th state, bordering Canada, Minnesota, Montana and South Dakota. Bismarck is the capital city, but Fargo is the largest city. North Dakota is nicknamed the Peace Garden State in honor of the International Peace Gardens shared with Canada. It claims to be the longest unguarded border. Yet North Dakota offers stark landscape, including the Badlands, to inspire all genres of romance novels.

Historical romances feature the pioneer spirit in Lori Copeland's Love Blooms in Winter, Linda Ford's Dakota Cowboy, Lauraine Snelling's A Measure of Mercy and LaVyrle Spencer's Years.

Wide-open spaces spark contemporary romance in Kathleen Eagle's To Each His Own, Elle James' Thunder Horse Redemption and Emily Stone's Bittersweet Homecoming.

Jennifer Lynn Barnes stops in North Dakota with Taken by Storm from her YA paranormal series Raised by Wolves.

South Dakota became a U.S. state simultaneously with North Dakota on Nov. 2, 1889. Pierre is the capital city, while Sioux Falls is the largest city. South Dakota is nicknamed the Mount Rushmore State, home to the four presidential busts carved into the granite face of the famous mountain. Its diverse geography, from the Great Plains to the Black Hills, serves as the backdrop for a wide variety of romance books.

Paranormal creatures appreciate the ability to be anonymous in Tessa Adams' Forbidden Embers, Jeaniene Frost's At Grave's End, M.T. Murphy's Silver Shells, Lili St. Crow's Strange Angels and Nancy Straight's Centaur Legacy.

Historical romance is no stranger to South Dakota with Madeline Baker's Wolf Shadow, Lori Copeland's Under the Summer Sky, Kathleen Eagle's Fire and Rain, Julie Garwood's The Lion's Lady and Lindsay McKenna's Brave Heart. Holly Bush found love twice in South Dakota with Charming the Duke and Train Station Bride. Ann Weisgarber breaks the color barrier in the Western Expansion with The Personal History of Rachel DuPree.

Cowboys rope in contemporary readers with Patricia Rosemoor's Stealing Thunder. Jaci Burton's Riding the Night pays homage to the motorcycle legacy of Sturgis. Lisa M. Airey looks to the night sky in Touching the Moon. Sharon Brondos finds A Place to Land.

Add to the list of romance books set in the Dakotas by using #StateOfRomance on Twitter. Next week we visit Colorado, the Centennial 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.