Category: Romance
The Dancer (by Bonanzagirl)
Summary: Joe and a saloon dancer accidentally meet, and more problems arise than Joe ever expected.
Rating: PG Word Count: 19000
Stranger In A Strange World (by Heather-Chrysalis)
Summary: Adam time travels to the 21st Century to visit his girlfriend. He discovers that she has been abducted by the Abominable Snowman and sets out to rescue her. A series of other fantasy elements and creatures appear in this story.
Rated T Wordcount: 35, 488
Adam and the Chocolate Bookworm (by Heather-Chrysalis)
Summary: Chocolate, poetry, and Adam…what more could you want for a Winter’s tale. Adam is in his final year at Harvard and visits Boston where he meets a very special young lady. WIP title: A Season of Chocolate and Poetry.
Rated: T Wordcount: 59, 991
Miss Tyndale’s Diary (by Krystyna)
Summary: A young librarian in Virginia City shares her story through her diary, including being smitten with one of the Cartwright brothers. This story has been incorporated into the Captain Cartwright/Home is the Sailor series. However, this is the original story.
Rating: G, Word Count: 4824
Adam’s Lost Love (by Ponderosa Pines)
Summary: Jess, George, and Sally left the people they loved, including the Cartwrights. After six long years, Jess has returned to Virginia City, running from the man who forced them out of their homes in the first place: her own father. What will happen when she meets Adam again? Will the memories of their past come rushing back, or will they be forced to face a future without each other?
Rating: K+ Word Count: 22,507
Pine Tree Loss and Gains (by BettyHT)
Summary: This is the third and last installment in this series. Ben does his best to make amends for what went wrong, but Joe has a plan too. Only time will tell which will be more effective.
T 7,071
The Soiled Dove and The Unicorn (by Heather-Chrysalis)
Summary: A look at Sue Ellen Terry from The Sisters. What she felt and thought during her time with Adam. Author’s Note: I started this piece as a pinecone challenge in July 2023, then I developed it a bit more into a short story.
Rating: T Wordcount: 3,314
Longings (by BluewindFarm)
Summary: Written in Response to the May 2023 – Double Drabble Prompts: “Will he kiss me?” and “Metamorphosis!”
Rating: Teen (Words: 600)
A Shady Encounter (by JC)
Adam entertains an old flame. Could it be love the second time around?
Rating: Teen Words: 750
Brandy (by BettyHT)
Summary: A sequel to Mis-Everything. What appears to be a juicy scandal has the gossips joyful, but it’s not what they think. The real story is far more interesting. That romance works out far better than Joe’s tragic one that brings Adam full circle in facing a demon from his past.
PG 16,643
Mis-everything (by BettyHT)
Summary: Adam has trouble finding success on his terms and returns home. His family worries about him because of his strange responses to situations. There’s a lot they don’t know and there are surprises for them and Adam.
PG 12,968
A Daring Adventure Begins In the Heart (by BettyHT)
Summary: When Adam meets Presha, sparks fly but interest grows too setting off a chain of events that affect both Adam and Hoss. The story was posted on another site as two stories that overlapped: Christmas Comes Only Once a Year, and Baby Blues. Those stories have been combined, edited, and expanded slightly.
Rating: T Word count: 52,542
Adam and the Saloon Girl Stories (by BettyHT)
Summary: This is a series of four stories that can each stand alone, but follow chronologically. Angela’s Story — Acting in a wholly uncharacteristic way, Adam meets a saloon girl on a trip and begins to fall in love, but will the Cartwright Curse strike again? Who Are You? — What would happen if you lost some of your short-term memory and it never came back? Adam has to deal with it in this story, and Angela suffers too even as the family tries to help both of them. Travels and Travails — Adam and Angela travel to Arizona to see her family and must face problems that emerge because of her past and new issues. Helen and Hoss – A Hoss story although all the other family members are included. Helen Layton returns. That Hoss will be hurt again is what his family fears, but then they have a series of problems to face as they seek a happy ending.
Rating: T Word count: 71,173
Dream Stories (by BettyHT)
Summary: in Bustin’ Loose — Broken Dreams, Adam leaves the shambles of his dream in Boston to take an entirely different direction for his life in Colorado but doesn’t tell his family what he is doing. Meanwhile, Joe has a romance. In a Dream Catcher, Adam’s former fiancé creates trouble for him but the solution is one that no one anticipated. In By Chance To Dream, a troublemaker, a gang, and babies on the way complicate life for the family.
Rating: T Word count: 65,898
The Weather Vane and Coming Home (by BettyHT)
Summary: This is a sequel to the Advent story about the weather vane. It is not necessary to read that one first but it might make it easier to understand some small parts if you are familiar with the first story. The healing power of that weather vane continues to work, this time on Adam.
Rating: PG Word count: 3075
Toni series (by BettyHT)
Summary: It began with a massage and started a romance for Adam that continued through 57 chapters in 9 stories. The whole family is involved in the story with more Hoss than the others. Hoss has a serious romance in this one too. The OC’s family is also part of the story but it doesn’t get too complicated. It begins with a Massage and continues with a variety of other subjects. There are romance, family squabbles, hurt and comfort, trouble with the Paiute, intrigue, adventure, and drama,
Rating: T Word count: 104,138
My Angel Went To Heaven Today (by BettyHT)
Summary: a poem about Ben’s life from Boston to the Ponderosa and his family there.
Rating: PG Word Count: 540
Ellie and the Lost Years (by BettyHT)
Summary: There are two stories here. The Lost Years is a WHI for the last seasons of Bonanza: Hoss is missing, Adam has been found, and he is coming home. This is what happened to them, and what will happen with Ben, Joe, Candy, and Jamie. Heart of Ice is a continuation of the Adam and Ellie story with more of an emphasis on Adam’s darker memories and what happens when he remembers those.
Rating: T Word count: 58,319
Escape (by BettyHT)
Summary: This begins as a story of family conflict: first it is a WHI for The Lady from Baltimore with Joe and Adam at odds and how they will repair their relationship and what changes will happen for the Cs especially Adam who meets a new friend who is significant in the future of his life. Then it is a WHI for She Walks In Beauty as Adam and Hoss are at odds. It continues as a WHN then as there are further developments for Adam in the third part of the story because of conflict with his father and his own dissatisfaction with his life that drives him to make decisions.
Rating: T Word count: 36,620
A Double Life (by BettyHT)
Summary: A Double Life starts with a story of Adam doing a favor for a friend that becomes a career choice as Adam strikes out from the Ponderosa on a new career that is a cover for a second more dangerous career. The second part is By Crooked Paths in which someone is leaking the details of Adam’s secret life which allows those who seek vengeance to find him.
Rating: T Word count: 72,460
On and On and On (by BettyHT)
Summary: This is a series featuring Adam but with significant roles played by Hoss, Joe, and Ben. Each story can stand alone, but features the same OCs and they tell a progressive story as well.–On Borrowed Time— There are conflicting accounts of what happened in a gunfight, and the family of the man killed won’t believe Adam. –On the Run— about five years later, Adam faces accusations and a tragic loss, and has to flee. –On Edge— Adam and Elaine get to know each other but it’s complicated by Elaine’s disapproving father, and court fights too. –On Top of the Mountain— There are ups and downs in Adam’s romance and Hoss gets to be romantic too.
Rating: T Word count: 111,885
Just a Neighbor (by millieshepherd)
Summary: In the aftermath of Laura Dalton running off with Will Cartwright and Adam’s accident that left him crippled, he is still trying to recover both physically and emotionally. In an attempt to heal and get rid of the itch to leave the Ponderosa for a while, he buys a six-month homestead claim contract. His piece of land is a beautiful little spot about forty miles north of the Ponderosa and he soon discovers his closest neighbor is a pretty young lady named Felicity Quinn. While helping each other through multiple situations, a close friendship grows between them and they aren’t sure if they want to continue to be “just neighbors”. (This story takes place around the beginning of season six.)
Rating: PG
Word Count: 7,648
To Live or To Die (by millieshepherd)
Summary: Shelia Johnson, Little Joe Cartwright’s fiancée, gets captured and held hostage by the Lassiters. A WHI for Five Sundowns to Sunup.
Rating: T
Word Count: 10,268
The Redhead – Romancing the Ponderosa Book 2 (by millieshepherd)
Summary: Adam talks Ben into making a trade with Chief Winnemucca. The trade isn’t your average deal, the Chief has a redheaded white girl and he wants a few head of cattle for her. Adam takes full responsibility for the girl and soon finds out he might have gotten himself in deeper than he expected.
Rating: T
Word Count: 21,487
Part of Romancing the Ponderosa Series, links to the stories included within.
After the Kissing Booth (byBettyHT)
Summary: In a noble deed, Joe talks Adam into the annual kissing booth not knowing what will result but hoping for the best.
Rating: PG Word count: 5,153
Trouble Comes Looking (by BettyHT)
Summary: The story is set five years later than A Fight You Do Not Want, and Adam has to recover from a tragedy and find a way to move his life forward. He has made some terrible mistakes in doing that and has to figure out how to make his life better.
Rating T and Word count 28,726
Part of the Fight and Trouble Series, links to all stories included within
Ponderosa Schoolmarm – Cartwright Gals: A Romancing the Ponderosa Spinoff Book 1 (by millieshepherd)
Summary: Madeline Cartwright, Ben’s oldest stepdaughter, is Virginia City’s new schoolteacher. She has a school program planned but doesn’t have anyone to build the stage she needs, that is until Kevin Butler steps in. Kevin and Madeline are very close to being enemies, so the sparks are bound to fly!
Rating: T
Word Count: 20,397
Rose, My Love – Romancing the Ponderosa Book 4 (by millieshepherd)
Summary: Ben runs into a lady friend from his past and the sparks fly again.
Rating: T
Word Count: 15,453
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