|
I was one of those kids who would read anything I could get my hands on. To this day, I can be found reading anything and everything except for westerns and hardcore horror. Romances still dominate my reading lists though, and a few depressing endings in a row from other genres always remind me why. I need that happy ending!
I've always been a huge fan of mysteries in any medium, and I eased into reading romance with romantic suspense. It's still my first love in the genre, though I've branched out quite a bit since then. I read any kind of contemporary, series and mainstream, with a slight emphasis toward suspense and romantic comedy. Despite my love of history, I don't read many historicals, mainly because the settings and time periods that dominate the landscape don't hold much appeal for me. The exception is anything involving a touch of the paranormal. I'll grab anything (except most horror) if it involves a bit of magic.
I currently live in California, and in the rare instances when I'm not reading (or at my day job - the less said the better), I can be found seeing a movie or two a week, or at my computer, trying to create a great romance of my own.
| Favorite Romance Authors |
All-Time Favorite Romance Authors
Anne Stuart
M.J. Rodgers
Kathleen Gilles Seidel
Best Discovery/Buried Treasure Authors
Harper Allen
My Biggest Glom
Claire Delacroix
Beverly Sommers |
|
What I'm a sucker for in a book: Intelligent heroes and heroines, witty banter, humorous stories with depth and emotion, thieves, con men, and heist plots, legal thrillers, surprising surprise endings, good mysteries, paranormals except for aliens, space settings, and certain futuristics, dark heroes, outcasts, ugly ducklings, tortured heroes, gothic style and tone, characters falling in love when they have every reason not to, European-set contemporaries, strong heroines, athlete heroes and sports romances, unusual plots, 20th-century historicals or time travel romances, morally ambiguous characters, archeologists and archeology plots, artistic characters, unusual conflicts, first-person narratives, characters with unusual careers, old Hollywood (pre-1960) stories, impossible situations, tear-jerkers, and books that teach me things I didn't know before.
What I don't particularly care for in a book: Cowboys, ranch settings, and westerns, will-stipulation plots, amnesia (unless caused by childhood trauma or paranormal phenomena), secret children (unless the child is now grown), pretend, forced, arranged marriages and marriages of convenience, meddling or matchmaking family members, pregnant heroines, babies and children, secretary/boss romances, and time travels where the heroine stays in the pre-1900 past.
What drives me absolutely nuts in a book: Books that promote the "small town - good/big city - bad" cliché, stupid misunderstandings, stupid, whiny, or passive heroes and heroines, characters who wallow in misery, sexist heroes, bitchy heroines, annoying heroines who hurt or humiliate their heroes, weepy heroines, predictable twists and obvious surprise endings, obvious villains, illogical plots, emotionally manipulative writing, athetic/musical/artistic heroes or heroines who give up their art for love, paranormals that solve the impossibility of the characters' love by separating them in the end, characters who judge their potential love interests on their bad experiences with the opposite sex, and stories where the author proves this relationship is "real" love by having the hero or heroine learn their previous love interest wasn't so perfect after all.
|
Favorite Hero
Clayton Holland, Always to Remember by Lorraine Heath
Harry Braxton, As You Desire by Connie Brockway
Quinn McGuire, Guarding Jane Doe by Harper Allen
Favorite Heroine
Any M.J. Rodgers heroine
Most Tortured Hero
Dunndrogo, Whispers in the Woods by Helen R. Myers
Eddie Berlin, Cool Shade by Theresa Weir
Teo Sandoval, Sharing the Darkness by Marilyn Tracy
Favorite Couple
Charlie Tenniel and Allie McGuffey, Charlie All Night by Jennifer Crusie
Zane Coltrane and Ariana Justice, Love vs. Illusion by M.J. Rodgers
| Favorites by Mood |
Comfort Reads:
French Twist by Margot Dalton
Could It Be You? by Mary Anne Wilson
The First Horseman by Elizabeth Morris
Most-Hanky Read:
Flashback by Terri Herrington
Guilty Pleasure:
Gabriel's Woman by Robin Schone
|
|
Contemporary:
Banish Misfortuneby Anne Stuart
Welcome to Temptation by Jennifer Crusie
Cool Shade by Theresa Weir
More than You Dreamed by Kathleen Gilles Seidel
Frontier or American Historical:
Always to Remember by Lorraine Heath
Honorbound by Tracy Hughes
European Historical:
To Love a Dark Lord by Anne Stuart
As You Desire by Connie Brockway
Medieval:
Magician's Quest by Claire Delacroix
Lord of Danger by Anne Stuart
Alternate Reality:
Wolf in Waiting by Rebecca Flanders
The Man that Got Away by Harper Allen
Special Gifts by Anne Stuart
Category:
A Thousand Roses by Bethany Campbell
Losing It by Beverly Sommers
The Night in Question by Harper Allen
A Risk Worth Taking by Kathleen Gilles Seidel |
