# Trying to find a romance novel I read years ago **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** books-writing-myths\ **Created:** [August 11, 2025, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-find-a-romance-novel-i-read-years-ago/1021939 "2025-08-11T20:24:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2025, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-find-a-romance-novel-i-read-years-ago/1021939/1 "2025-08-11T20:24:16Z")
Author may have been LaVyrle Spencer though I haven’t been able to find anything in her bibliography that matches. It’s set in a motel in the 1930s (I think), along US Route 66, in Arizona or New Mexico. The female protagonist is the child of the aging owners, and comes home to help run the place. There are some bad characters inhabiting part of the motel, as well as the male main character. I don’t recall much more of it than that. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2025, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-find-a-romance-novel-i-read-years-ago/1021939/2 "2025-08-12T05:06:23Z")
Song of the Road by Dorothy Garlock? ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2025, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-find-a-romance-novel-i-read-years-ago/1021939/3 "2025-08-12T23:00:11Z")
That’s it - thanks!! I read a lot of books by both Spencer and Garlock at about the same time and tended to get them mixed up.