We give Boyle the award for most intriguing book titles—come on, who wouldn’t want to pick up a book called Confessions of a Little Black Gown or Memoirs of a Scandalous Red Dress?
Impoverished Tabitha Timmons is the perfect Cinderella—hardworking, smart, with an independent streak and troublesome relatives. And she has the chance to inherit a vast fortune if she weds the right man. Tabitha knows what the sensible thing is—marriage to the proper Mr. Barkworth.
But the Duke of Preston has other plans for Tabitha, which she would be more willing to participate in if he weren’t such a scoundrel. He’s arrogant (as a duke should be!) but ultimately softhearted and worthy of Tabitha’s love. Despite their differences, they make a believable and genuine match.
Boyle writes with a Jane Austen touch—witty, intelligent, and arch.
Top Five Romantic Dinners
Don’t forget the candlelight!
Chilled shrimp and champagne. Substitute oysters for the aphrodisiac quality.
Steak and lobster.
Asparagus risotto for the vegetarian.
For women, anything on a picnic!
For men, anything on the grill!
5
Bait
KAREN ROBARDS
ROMANTIC SUSPENSE / 2004
“It was a professional job, Sam McCabe saw at a glance. The bare minimum of muss and fuss. A couple sprawled on the floor of their cathedral-ceilinged great room, hands bound behind their backs, blood from the bullet wounds in their heads soaking into the already deep red of their Oriental carpet.”
Robards balances page-turning suspense with an emotionally moving romance, and adds in just the right touch of humor, a juggling act few can accomplish as well as she.
Robards was in law school before she sold her first romance (at age twenty-four).
Robards started her first romance novel as a class assignment for the University of Kentucky. Go Wildcats!
A case of mistaken identity starts Bait off with a bang. There are two Maddie Fitzgeralds staying at a hotel in New Orleans. One is an advertising executive on a business trip. The other is an FBI informant. The FBI informant is killed, but the advertising executive barely escapes with her life.
FBI agent Sam McCabe swoops in to question Maddie. McCabe believes the attacker is a serial killer he’s been chasing—and who has been taunting him with his failure to stop the murders. But the murderer has been successful in killing the informant, so Maddie should be safe … right?
When Maddie is attacked again, McCabe knows the only way to trap the killer is to use her as bait—but first he’ll have to convince her to play along. And she doesn’t want to have anything to do with the FBI, because Maddie’s got a secret.
Like all of Robards’s novels, this one is character driven and engaging.
6
Bet Me
JENNIFER CRUSIE
CONTEMPORARY / 2004
“Once upon a time, Minerva Dobbs thought as she stood in the middle of a loud yuppie bar, the world was full of good men. She looked into the handsome face of the man she’d planned on taking to her sister’s wedding and thought, Those days are gone.”
This is Crusie at her wry best—an appealing opposites-attract novel with memorable characters, a heartfelt and humorous look at how two different people can find their common ground.
To research her PhD dissertation on the different ways men and women tell stories, Crusie set a goal to read 100 romance novels. She was immediately hooked and started writing romances herself—much to our delight!
Crusie keeps a witty, insightful, and very current blog on her official website, where she writes about all sorts of stuff, from things she finds funny to her favorite TV shows to what’s going on in her life at the moment. Don’t you just love when authors give you a sneak peek into their personalities like that?
When Minerva Dobbs (an actuary of average looks but quick wit) is dumped by her boyfriend just before her sister’s wedding, she’s more concerned that her overbearing mother will be annoyed that she’s dateless than emotionally wounded by the end of her relationship. So when gorgeous Calvin Morrisey picks her up at a bar, she goes right along with him. She thinks he’s trying to win a bet by dating her, and she’s immune to his charm. Sort of.
Min’s not Calvin’s usual type—she’s overweight, attractive but not beautiful, and not nearly as adoring as he’s accustomed to. They have nothing in common, so there’s no reason they should pursue a relationship. They both agree about that.
Fate, and their friends, have a different idea. Through a variety of comic but believable incidents, Min and Calvin find themselves forced together—and battle their growing attraction (unsuccessfully, of course!). They learn to see the truth about one another, and to admire what they see.
Bet Me is an affirming, never-a-dull-moment story with a fun subplot about a beautiful psychologist who thinks of falling in love as an intellectual and biological exercise, only to learn the heart has a mind of its own.
Top Five Romantic Chores
Yes, housework can be sexy!
Gardening—working together to make those flowers bloom can be a great way to spend time together.
Cooking—you chop while he sautés, or vice versa.
Walk the dog—and catch up with each other on how the day has gone.
Grocery shopping—and pick out some fun, sexy food for play!
Do something your sweetie hates as a gesture of love—or offer a bedroom game in exchange for his doing a chore you hate!
7
Blue Heaven, Black Night
SHANNON DRAKE
HISTORICAL / 1986
“Fulk the Black, Count of Anjou, was descended from Rollo, the great Viking who laid claim to Normandy.”
A terrific example of the tempestuous romance many of us grew up loving—the strong-willed heroine battles the somewhat (okay, more than somewhat) obsessed hero until she can finally admit her love for him. How enjoyable when they finally come together as true lovers!
Shannon Drake also writes romantic suspense under the name Heather Graham. (Not to be confused with the actress Heather Graham who is best known for playing a porn star in Boogie Nights and a stripper in The Hangover—hey, maybe she should write a romance novel!)
A complex backstory gives texture and depth to this medieval romance (it’s of the “sweeping” variety—“a sweeping romance”); the author works hard to ensure her characters act in an historically accurate way without sacrificing the compelling storyline.
Elise is the bastard daughter of Henry II, the king of England; Sir Bryan Stede is known as the Black Knight. Much to Elise’s chagrin, Bryan engages in a bit of bride stealing, as medieval warriors were wont to do. (You know you already want to read it.)
Elise, of course, being stolen, can’t admit that she grows to care about Bryan or we would have no book, but when he goes off to the Crusades, Elise recognizes her love for him and sets off to join him. This being the Middle Ages, travel is not quite as easy as boarding a plane, and she is abducted (a very favorite staple of 1980s romance), with drama and conflict galore. It’s a roller-coaster ride, so hang on tight till you get to that oh-so-satisfying conclusion.
8
Breaking the Rules
SUZANNE BROCKMANN
ROMANTIC SUSPENSE / 2011
“It happened so fast.”
This is the culmination of Brockmann’s fabulous Troubleshooters series, and it’s everything a romantic suspense should be—fast paced, engaging, heart wrenching, heartwarming, and when you finally put the book down, you want to grab her by the throat and ask her why she ended the series. All this “new direction artistically” is just not a good enough excuse, Suze.
If you thought military suspense was the province of Tom Clancy, you’ve never read Suzanne Brockmann.
Brockmann’s Tall, Dark and Dangerous series of books featuring Navy SEALs sparked a huge trend in romance. And we’re grateful for it.
Brockmann’s
husband Ed Gaffney is also an author. The couple, along with their son Jason, cowrote the feature film The Perfect Wedding.
Izzy Zanella, Eden Gillman, and Danny Gillman have a long, long history. Izzy and Danny are SEAL teammates who’ve never gotten along. Their dislike for one another is complicated by Danny’s sister, Eden, a troubled young woman whom Izzy marries when another man abandons her after getting her pregnant. When Eden has a miscarriage, the relationship between Izzy and Eden ends.
Oh, but this is romance, so it doesn’t end forever. It just takes a breather in order to make things way, way more complicated than they otherwise would be.
Eden resurfaces in Izzy’s life when she tries to get custody of her younger brother Ben. Her abusive stepfather has destroyed her life; she won’t let him destroy Ben’s. Danny agrees to help, but what would help most is if Eden could prove that she and Izzy have a solid marriage.
Yep, a marriage-of-convenience storyline that is nothing like any other marriage-of-convenience story you’ve ever read. Throw in a child prostitution ring, an abduction, and a handful of determined Navy SEALs, and you’ve got a sizzling page-turner.
Ultimately, this is a story about family, trust, and the kind of happily ever after that comes after the infatuation wears off.
Top Five Real-Life Romances
Happily ever after happens in the real world, too!
Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn
Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban
Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith
Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward
Kirsten Dunst and Jake Gyllenhaal
9
Bride of Pendorric
VICTORIA HOLT
ROMANTIC SUSPENSE / 1963
“I often marveled after I went to Pendorric that one’s existence could change so swiftly, so devastatingly.”
Who doesn’t love a retelling of Rebecca? Holt is a suspenseful, romantic writer, sadly neglected these days. We’d publish her in a New York minute.
Victoria Holt is the pen name of Eleanor Hibbert, who also wrote under the names Jean Plaidy and Philippa Carr.
Pick this modern-day Gothic romance if you’re interested in getting started reading Holt.
By the time she died in 1993, Holt had sold over 100 million books. And that was in the pre-social media/Internet hype/über-marketing era!
Young orphan marries a man she hardly knows. What could possibly go wrong?
Favel Farrington has lived on an Italian island (Capri) with her father all of her life—until Roc Pendorric sweeps her off her feet. He seems to adore her, and it looks like they are destined for a happily ever after.
When Favel’s father dies, Roc brings her to his estate on a cliff in Cornwall. (These mysterious estates are always on a cliff in Cornwall, have you ever noticed that? Apparently it’s a slightly crowded cliff in Cornwall.)
There, Favel learns all about the brides of Pendorric, who have an alarming tendency to die young and oh-so-tragically. A series of events (of the unfortunate kind) make Favel wonder if she’ll escape the curse of the Pendorrics—and whether she’s really in danger or just a victim of her own overactive imagination.
There’s a wonderful Mrs. Danvers character that you’ll want to smack, a ghost (maybe), a sister and her family who seem welcoming, and a sense of foreboding that will keep you up for approximately three nights after you finish the book.
This is one of Holt’s most suspenseful novels, and even though you think you know whodunnit, you don’t.
10
Captive Bride
JOHANNA LINDSEY
HISTORICAL / 1977
“The weather was pleasantly warm on this early spring day in the year 1883. The slightest of breezes played daintily with the great oak trees that lined the long driveway leading to Wakefield Manor.”
The language isn’t as flowery as Woodiwiss’s and the plotline isn’t as involved as a Rogers tome, which makes it just right for many casual readers who enjoy a classic tale of a spirited Western gal redefining the rules on how to be a sex slave. It’s not politically correct, but desert romances rarely are.
Captive Bride was the first of fifty-two bestsellers for Johanna Lindsey. She is one of the few pioneers still actively publishing today.
Rather than sticking to one subgenre, Lindsey’s books run the gamut. Sci-fi, the Old West, the Vikings … nothing is off-limits to Lindsey’s fantastic imagination. And as long as she keeps writing those dreamy heroes and steamy love scenes, we’ll follow her anywhere.
Beautiful Christina Wakefield gives in to the lure of the Arabian desert and impulsively follows her brother to Cairo, but her plans for adventure get a new definition when she bumps into someone she knows.
Sheik Abu is known as Philip Caxton back in the London ballrooms, where Christina didn’t deem him worthy of her hand in marriage. He has remained a bachelor because he’s looking for a wife with intelligence rather than merely a flair for fashion. He jumps at this opportunity to show her a new side to him by kidnapping her and holding her prisoner as his slave.
The danger, however, stems from a rival tribe that succeeds in capturing Christina and dragging her away from the relative safety of Philip’s tent. She becomes the lure to bring him to their camp, where they plan to take revenge on their rival for a past slight. As Abu, her lover rescues Christina and escapes a slow death—then lies about his feelings to convince her to return to England and safety before he eventually joins her for their happily ever after.
The tale begins with total male dominance, the usual flavor of the times, and evolves to an emotional dance where Christina and Philip lean toward each other only to pull back when the L-word starts to hover on the edge of their physical relationship.
11
Carolina Moon
NORA ROBERTS
ROMANTIC SUSPENSE / 2000
“She woke in the body of a dead friend. She was eight, tall for her age, fragile of bone, delicate of feature. Her hair was the color of corn silk, and slid prettily down her narrow back. Her mother loved to brush it every night, one hundred strokes with the soft-bristled, silver-backed brush that sat on the graceful cherry-wood vanity.”
As if we need a reason to pick a Nora Roberts title. Bah. [We really need to give a reason.—The Editor.] [All right, all right.—The Authors.] We picked this title, written well into Roberts’s career, because it showcases her ability to engage her readers with a heartfelt, gripping story.
The New Yorker calls Roberts “America’s favorite novelist” and she’s one of ours, too!
The prolific Nora Roberts also writes under the pen name J. D. Robb.
Roberts met her husband when she hired him to build bookshelves for her. A gorgeous handyman comes over to the single writer’s house and she finds herself attracted to more than just his skills with a hammer? Jeez, if that doesn’t sound like the plot of a romance novel, we don’t know what does!
Tory Bodeen, a child with a psychic gift, grows up in an abusive home. Her gift is neither respected nor appreciated by her unredeemable, soul-crushing parents, causing her to develop understandably ambivalent feelings about it. Despite her horrific home life, she is able to seek refuge with her friend Hope Lavelle—until the day Hope is murdered. Hope’s life isn’t the only one that’s destroyed with this brutal act: Tory’s life comes undone as well.
Years pass and as a grownup, Tory returns to her home of Progress, South Carolina, trying to make peace with the past. She has friendships she wishes to renew and a point she wishes to prove—but moving home is going to be harder on her than she ever imagined.
Hope’s family blames Tory for her role in Hope’s death, although Cade Lavelle, Hope’s older brother, steps in to shield Tory from his family’s dislike—and if you can’t guess what happens between them, you are not a romance reader, my friend.
Reclaiming her past and rebuilding her life isn’t complicated just by the mixed emotions she and those around her feel—the murderer is still on the loose
, and Tory is next on his list.
Here Roberts shows off the reason why she’s the queen of southern Gothic.
12
Chance McCall
SHARON SALA
CONTEMPORARY / 1993
“A strange anxiety seized him. It was time! Suddenly he couldn’t get away fast enough. He grabbed the can he’d brought from the station and began walking through the house, methodically pouring a thin, steady stream of gasoline on and over everything.”
This early Sharon Sala novel makes a common fiction trope—the hero who loses his memory—something special and heartwarming.
Sala is the author of more than eighty novels, including those written under the name Dinah McCall. In fact, on the cover of many of her books, her name is actually written as “Sharon Sala, also known as Dinah McCall.” Add that lengthy moniker to a book named after a character with the same surname as the author (i.e., McCall), and things are bound to get confusing—surely only a writer as good as Sala/McCall would be able to get away with it!
Sala began writing in 1980 but it wasn’t until after the deaths of her father and sister several years later that she decided to seriously pursue her dreams of being a published author.
Sharon Sala has won both the National Reader’s Choice Award and the Colorado Romance Writers Award of Excellence five times each!
For years, Jennifer Ann Tyler has had a thing for Chance McCall, who came to her father’s ranch looking for work when he was just a teenager. Though Chance becomes like family, he hasn’t dared to pursue a romantic relationship with her because of his past.
This stalemate is upset when Chance loses his memory—knowing only that he cares for Jennifer but not remembering anything beyond that. He sets out to learn who he is—and Jennifer finds the courage to go with him, not caring what she may risk to do so. Together they must face the secrets of Chance’s past that have kept them apart for so long.
The 100 Best Romance Novels Page 2