Since Valentine’s Day is coming up soon, I thought I’d talk about some favorite romances. I don’t read steamy romance, so if that’s your style, you’ll need to get a list from someone else. I’ll try to remember to update this every year. You can remind me. 😉 Please don’t consider this a comprehensive list. Also, as you read “what I liked less,” remember that these made my favorites list, so their faults are pretty minor.
Romance (clean)
most of Georgette Heyer’s romances (with The Masqueraders at the top of the list). What I like: believable situations, engaging characters with a wide variety of physical and personality traits, fun historical settings, and people who fall in love for realistic reasons. What I like less: slower plots, lots and lots of historical vocabulary.
Juliane Donaldson. What I like:Â I once described her books to someone as “Georgette Heyer with a faster plot and a simpler vocabulary.” What I like less: the faster plot doesn’t allow as much time for emotional development, though she does well with what she has.
Sarah M. Eden. What I like: most of the same things I like about Donaldson, honestly. What I like less: sometimes she succumbs to the lure of a love triangle.
Lynn Kurland, until recently. What I like: lots of emotion, funny dialogue, characters you love to love. What I like less: sometimes repetitive, and when she’s having a bad year, it all falls apart.
Mary Robinette Kowal. What I like: Regency romance with magic. Plus realistic characters. What I like less: Stupid pride. Also, I want to smack several parents.
Suzanne Weyn and Cameron Dokey (not co-authors, but write for the same series). What I like: fairy tales with a twist, well-written with good characters. What I like less: depends on the book, but sometimes the fairy tale is twisted pretty far out of shape.
A Death-Struck Year, by Makiia Lucier. What I like: a realistic YA romance that doesn’t include soulmates, love at first sight, or purely physical attraction. What I like less: since it’s about the Spanish Flu, it’s pretty sad.
Ann Turnbull. What I like: quiet Quaker love and standing up for what’s right. What I like less: sometimes heavy on history at the expense of the characters.
The Ordinary Princess, by M. M. Kaye. What I like: a princess with character, a romance based on friendship, and such realistic, fun-to-love characters. What I like less: um… it’s too short. 😉
Ella Enchanted, by Gail Carson Levine. What I like: an ordinary girl in an extraordinary situation who solves her own problems with strength of will. What I like less: reading the other languages, and the total mess the movie was.
Silver Woven in My Hair, by Shirley Rousseau Murphy. What I like: a romance based on friendship, and an ordinary girl who doesn’t give up. (Okay, so I have a “type.” I bet you do, too.) What I like less: I wanted to see the throne scene in person instead of flashback, thank you very much.
Seven Daughters and Seven Sons, by Barbara Cohen. What I like: a romance based on friendship, an intelligent girl, a family who loves each other. What I like less: the jerky cousins, of course.
Beauty, by Robin McKinley. What I like: by now, if I say it’s my “type,” you know what I mean, right? 😉 What I like less: the ending was too abrupt. (Rose Daughter is also quite good, though different.)
Carla Kelly (some of them). I have to put a warning on this one. She used to write according to publisher’s dictates, and those books do not fit my “clean” standard. When she got popular enough, she started writing the way she wanted, and those are the ones I like. So just be careful, and if you find one that shocks you that I recommended it, it’s not one I recommended… What I like: realistic characters, fun situations, believable love. What I like less: picking up the wrong book of hers and being appalled.
Kathleen Baldwin. What I like: humor, gumption, and a refreshing lack of love at first sight in YA romance. What I like less: withholding secrets.
Janette Rallison. What I like: contemporary YA with more humor than angst. What I liked less: not much depth beyond the “life lesson moral.”
Earth Girl series, by Janet Edwards. What I like: YA sci-fi on Earth with a spunky heroine and a hero who won’t give up. What I like less: some things are very convenient—too convenient—including the heroine’s ever-ready answers.
Karen Witemeyer. What I like: non-Regency historical, realistic characters and motivations. What I like less: sometimes their actions don’t match their motivations.
Tiffany Odekirk. Contemporary romance. What I like: characters with real problems to overcome. What I like less: sometimes kind of depressing.
Jessica Day George. What I like: fun characters and loving families. What I like less: a bit scant on emotion. (Sorry, Jessica. Don’t worry, I’ll still read the next one.)
Shanna Swendson. What I like: what if the real world actually had magic? Plus fun characters. What I liked less: sometimes she lost track of the fun stuff.
Kerry Blair. What I like: the romance is the subplot, and there’s always something else going on. What I like less: sometimes I have to scratch my head about the convenient coincidences.
Liz McCraine. What I like: fun characters, lots of magic, happy endings. What I like less: sometimes a little too YA.
Carol Malone. What I like: historical fiction from the 50’s that captures the cadence of the time as well as the vocabulary, plenty of danger in the plot. What I like less: I’m not a big sports fan.
Do you have a favorite to recommend to me? 😀
M. C. Lee
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