The romance genre is hugely popular, full of treasured tropes about happily ever after (or happy for now), instant attractions, miscommunication and opposites attracting all over the place. Like many other teenage girls, I had an era where I just devoured Harlequin Romances, as well as anything by Barbara Cartland.

Then someone gave me the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but that’s a different story.

I don’t read a ton of romance novels any longer, mostly because I find myself unable to relate to the main characters. Maybe I’m too old. Maybe I ‘m a cynic.

Lou Dean

But we all know how life works. I say, “I don’t read romance,” and somehow Autumn of the Big Snow by Colorado author Lou Dean ends up in my hands. And I devour that sucker because Dean’s main character is a woman of such depth and substance that I don’t just want to read about her, I want to live next door to her and befriend her.

The romance aspect of this book appeals because Katie Jo is such a well-rounded and realistic character, who does not view a romance as the defining characteristic of her identity. She would never wait for a white knight to ride in and save her, although if you can keep that image in mind, there’s a moment in the book where it will pay off, and you’ll shake your head (or roll your eyes) right along with Katie Jo.

When we meet Katie Jo McVay, she’s in a mandated anger management course, and we’re rolling our eyes right along with her. Although, as we keep reading, we start to believe there might be a good reason why she’s there.

Katie Jo, fiercely independent, is the only woman working construction in her small Colorado community of Elk Creek. Dean’s love of the mountains shines through her descriptions of the ridges, canyons and streams on Katie Jo’s property. The terrain is difficult to navigate, but the hidden treasures and the views are worth it, much as Katie Jo is revealed to August Atkins as the attraction heats up between them.

The character’s depths are revealed slowly, letting our understanding of, and respect for, Katie Jo build as the story unfolds. She’s got a full life, owns the property her cabin sits on, which she shares with five dogs and a remarkably stubborn jackass named Willie Nelson. She’s proud of her Native American heritage, demonstrated by how she lives her life, how she regards other people, the way she stewards the land that she owns, and the way she deals with grief.

Katie Jo walks through life carrying a lot of grief that she doesn’t know how to banish or work through. Her ex-husband broke her heart as he broke her trust. Her current married lover, Charlie, is passionate but undependable. And last, there’s the grief she carries over her only brother’s death, a grief heavily seasoned with guilt and frustration.

Katie Jo’s insecurity is also keeping August Atkins from getting close to her. A Texas transplant in town for the season to work construction, he’s become a good friend. Will Katie Jo ever be able to let him be more than a friend? There’s a spark and a sizzle growing between them, but Katie Jo doesn’t want anything combustible in her quiet life.

In search of some peace, Katie Jo plans to take her dogs and her mule, Willie Nelson, into the mountains behind her cabin for a few days. She wants to explore her property, hunt, and possibly finally confront her grief. But as she’s about to leave, an unfamiliar car pulls onto her property and parks by the cabin. The woman who gets out and points a gun at Katie Jo introduces herself as Mrs. Charlie Hawkins, and announces her intention to shoot Katie Jo.

Certain this citified white woman is no match for her, Katie Jo heads for the hills, literally. She tells the woman to shoot her if she must, but she’d rather die in the mountains.

Mrs. follows, stubborn, mad, broken-hearted and determined.

An unexpected autumn snowstorm turns an almost laughable game of cat and mouse into a perilous struggle for survival for the two women, neither of whom is inclined to trust the other. For both of them to walk out of the mountains alive, they’re going to need to learn how to depend on each other. Does either one have that much trust left in her?

Author Lou Dean lives in remote northwest Colorado, and has written three memoirs, two young adult novels and countless magazine articles. Autumn of the Big Snow was a finalist for the 2024 Colorado Book Award for Romance.

She writes about the mountainous terrain near her home as only someone deeply in love with the area can.