I was interested in Amazon’s list of the top romances of 2023. (Of these, we’ve reviewed Fourth Wing, Iron Flame, Happy Place, Hello Stranger, Love, Theoretically, Forget Me Not, The Love Wager, The Blonde Identity, and Tastes Like Shakkar.) While this is not a list that AAR readers would have generated–not enough m/m or historical romance–it’s fascinating to see what Amazon, the definer of book sales, picked as the best.
I was thrilled when Amazon reached out and asked if I had any questions about their list–there’s pretty much NOTHING I don’t have questions about. When I said yes, hooked me up with Amazon senior editor, Kami Tei.
Our conversation, conducted via email, is here:
Dabney: In what ways do these top romance novels represent diverse perspectives and identities? Were there particular stories or characters that stood out in this regard?
Kami: The romance list this year is very diverse, with Lauren Asher’s Love Redesign representing Hispanic heritage, Business or Pleasure by Rachel Lynn Solomon representing the Jewish community and The Build Up by Tati Richardson celebrating Black love. Dahlia and Julian from Love Redesign stand out to me the most because these characters portray wealthy professionals who still have close ties to their families and hometown communities which I think is not a perspective we see frequently represented in diverse stories.
Dabney: Romantasy seems to be a popular genre among readers. Can you highlight some unique elements or themes from these novels that blend romance and fantasy?
Kami: I believe romance readers in general are looking for stories they can get lost in. The mix of fantasy and romance takes the romance getaway to the next level by providing entirely new worlds for readers to get lost in. Many readers have been deep romantasy fans way before the new term was coined, but for readers new to this sub-genre, I think many will be surprised how easy it is (and how talented these writers are!) to be sucked into these worlds, that almost feel real as you get more and more immersed in the story—and to then add a love story to top it all off provides a superb reading experience.
Dabney: Alpha males are often a focal point in romance. How have these novels approached and portrayed the concept of the alpha male, and did any of them challenge or redefine this archetype?
Kami: There are definitely alpha males portrayed in some of these titles: Lucian from Things We Left Behind by Lucy Score, Will from Practice Makes Perfect by Sarah Adams, and of course Xaden from Rebecca Yarros’s Fourth Wing and Iron Flame, however, all of these men have women who are all forces to be reckoned with and I wouldn’t cross any of them!
I see more and more romance novels focusing on women and their journey to finding who they are so they can find the right type of love for themselves. I’m also seeing less alpha male, and more stories about just regular people who are trying to find love. I really like this trend because I feel like it makes the characters more relatable. One story that does stick out to me that turns the concept of alpha male on its head is The Marriage Auction series by Audrey Carlan. At first glance I totally though this series was going to be alpha male/dominant heavy, but I was pleasantly surprised on how the four women in this story are depicted and their background and motives that drive their stories.
Dabney: Diversity in authors is a crucial aspect. Could you elaborate on how these novels have contributed to showcasing diverse voices in the romance genre?
Kami: I agree, diverse authors are really important, not only for the stories they bring, but also because it allows others to see that writing is open to anyone, regardless of race, background or sexual orientation. One of my favorites on the list this year was Dragged to the Wedding by Andrew Grey—the deuteragonist in this story is Daniel who is in drag as Lala Traviata for a wedding weekend. Daniel is one of the most comfortable-in-his-skin characters I have read in a long time and I think this diversity of voice is so important for both those who can and can’t relate, to be able to see the truth in other’s stories. This truth is how we, as a collective, learn how to really see and accept the differences that make up who each of us really are.
Dabney: Were there any standout titles or narratives that pushed the boundaries of traditional romance storytelling, either in terms of structure, character dynamics, or plot twists?
Kami: Yes! The concept of the strength of friendships and found family is a theme we have seen in our overall top 20 Best of the Year list. In romance we typically see a romance between two people, but in Emily Henry’s Happy Place even though there is a second chance romance storyline between Harriet and Wyn, the bigger element is the dynamic between their close-knit circle of long-time friends. Happy Place is more than a rom-com—it is about the beauty, pain, and joy that comes with biological families, chosen families, growing up and apart, and how as adults we handle and deal with this thing called life. I believe this broadening of traditional romance storytelling makes romance appealing to a wider group of people, bring more interest to the genre, which I love.
Dabney: Looking at the overall selection, are there common threads or trends that emerge across these novels that define the romance landscape for 2023?
Kami: 2023 was a great year for romance. The rise of romantasy was for sure a highlight of the year, but I also have been seeing more and more LGBTQIA+ romances as well as more offerings from diverse authors. I have also seen a trend of authors creating characters who are dealing with different types of anxiety or neurodiversity and how this affects their lives and how they approach relationships. Excluding the worlds of romantasy, romance seems to be shifting and changing to reflect the changes in the world around us, while also still providing a pathway to a happily ever after, which I think is what we all really want in not only our stories, but in real life too.
Dabney: Thanks! This was super interesting.
About Kami Tei: Kami Tei spent her adolescent years journeying with her mom from library to library, roaming the shelves to find her next great read. During college, Kami hid novels in her textbooks during class to read “just one more page.” Now there’s no hiding it! As an Amazon Editor, Kami spends the majority of her time reading romance, historical fiction, and pretty much anything else she can get her hands on.
How do they pick the titles for their Best of list? AAR reviewers gave two of these titles C’s and one was listed as WF. While some of the books make sense, others on the list (I went and looked) didn’t. The one LGBTQ book listed has mediocre reviews on GR. I can’t imagine they couldn’t have come up with a stellar 5 star LGBTQ romance of they tried.
Sales plus profile, is my bet. TikTok!
Five of the 20 books chosen are KU, and I would love to know whether that was a factor. I bet they make more money off the KU books.
I suspect you are right.
Of course they could. I’ve enjoyed books by Andrew Grey but no way are they 5 star reads.
And it’s just a token inclusion – someone looked at the synopsis and thought “oh – drag artists!” And didn’t bother to look for anything actually good. If their list is limited to trad. pubs, there was the wonderful We Could Be So Good by Cat Sebastian, KJ Charles Doomsday Books, Alexis Hall’s 10 Things That Never Happened and Rachel Reid’s Time to Shine. But they went for something mediocre. I don’t get it.
Well, you think it’s mediocre which is fine. But, to be fair, the book has a 4.5 rating on Amazon. It is, though, rated lower at GR–just a 3.9 there.
To compare, We Could Be So Good has a 4.6 rating/4.3 on GR and has far more reviews at both places.
So We Could Be So Good rated higher in both places but wasn’t picked?
Exactly!
I don’t know why they didn’t pick it. I’m just saying it got good reviews from most who read it!
I’ve seen a number of articles about fake reviews on Amazon and Goodreads. The fakes could be positive or negative, so you just don’t know whether to round up or down when looking at the rating. As a result, those reviews are not nearly as helpful as they used to be. Dabney, if you get a chance to do a followup interview, please ask them what they are doing to crack down on this problem.
It is harder to do it on Amazon because you have to have bought the book. Goodreads is a joke.
Not quite – I review books all the time on Amazon that I don’t buy there (often NetGalley books). It just doesn’t show up as a verified purchase review (and will be lower down in the review list as a result).
Huh. Every time I review a book, I’ve bought it. I didn’t think you could.
That’s too bad for readers then.
Thanks!
Yes – you can’t leave a review on Audible unless you own the audiobook, but you can review on Amazon, although I know that they’ve introduced a policy that you have to have spent a certain amount there to be able to write book reviews.
Exactly! There were some amazing LGBTQ books published this year. This feels lazy, and also makes the rest of the list suspect. Oh well. Dabney has a point: Tik Tok has an oversized influence these days.
One person’s amazing is another’s blah.
There’s a book we recently gave a DIK to that several AAR readers have loved that I was so bored with, I quit after fifty pages.
On this list, I think it’s clear they are skewing for a younger audience. Maybe that group doesn’t like angsty m/m?
My local bookstore has a Spicy #Booktok table with all the latest trends! Seeing Tessa Bailey, Katee Robert, Colleen Hoover, Mariana Zapata, and several others with romances released at least a few years ago (like Sally Thorne’s The Hating Game is on that table!). Tessa Bailey now has 3 full shelves of her books at my bookstore! That’s the power of TikTok.
Great interview! Glad you were able to connect with them Dabney.
I am completely certain that they have a serious calculation behind their list.
No matter whether I would spend money – or even want to read for free- what is on the list, I do not like it when the reaction is « they cannot have used a legitimate method to get to this list ».
Maybe I misread the comments, but that upsets me. I care desperately about staying factual and objective when disliking/disagreeing with a person/organization – I feel like we are dumping the baby with the bathwater in this discussion, and I need to express that.
Apologies if I misunderstood & for upsetting anyone with this.
I’m not sure what you are saying–I think we can all say “We like a list or not.” without saying the list isn’t valid.
I think this list is reflective of the tastes of Amazon’s editors which is valid because it’s Amazon’s list!
I’m sorry you’re upset, but I don’t see how my not liking their methodology is any different than me not liking a book someone else loved. It’s my opinion and I’m expressing it. I can’t see how we can “stay factual and objective” when the thing we’re discussing is anything but. Whether it’s my list of “Best ofs”, or Amazons, the lists are absolutly subjective. When it comes to a company that aims to make the most money it can, then I have every reason to be suspect of how they chose their Besy Of list. I’m pretty sure it’s more about commercial success than the quality of the books. Maybe it would be better for Amazon to choose a “Most Popular” or “Best Seller” list, because that seems like a quantifiable goal.
Yes, I agree that the name of the list may be misleading, and I am glad you answered me.
I am completely ok with anyone disliking their method, and discussing it.
I understood you to say that they did not use ANY method but were just pulling stuff out of a hat based on their wish to sell, and that seemed unfair as a judgment.
Now I understand what you were saying, and agree with you:
I am sure their list is based on « most sold » or « most downloaded » or « most five star reviews » or something like that, easily quantifiable criteria, with limited quality aspects.
Which may overlap partially with AAR, where reviews have quality control and a rating standard, but where there is also a huge disparity due to some of the points mentioned below. .
Lieselotte, I also questioned Amazon’s methodology, because they are a huge corporation, and as I mentioned below, they have a big problem with fake reviews as well as a strong profit motivation. I went to the website to see if they provide a description of the criteria they use to select their Top 20, and this is what they said:
The books included in the Best Books program are hand-selected by the Amazon Books’ Editorial team, and are not influenced by sales, paid placements, or publishers. Our team reads broadly and deeply, and we’re passionate about uniting readers of all ages and tastes with their next favorite reads, helping our customers find terrific gifts for book lovers, and shining a spotlight on the best books by exceptional authors of all stripes.
According to this, sales etc are not a factor, and I am sorry if I unfairly suspected them vis a vis the high number of KU books.
My tongue is in my cheek here… but they would say that, wouldn’t they?
Yes, of course! But it’s hard not to be suspicious of them, but I am trying to be openminded. After all, I still buy way too much stuff from them, and I love my Kindle, so I would like to think that the editorial staff is trying to honestly choose what they feel are really good books for their customers, without interference from corporate. One can hope, right?
Well, I think they editorial staff is trying to pick what they feel are good books. But no company exists without corporate at the very least nudging the choices.
Yes, they would.
Maybe they are trying not to be influenced, but I have a really hard time believing it. Then again, there is no perfect way to choose the “best of” anything. In the case of books it’s going to be limited to the books the choser actually read. You can’t chose a book not matter how good if you haven’t read it. So perhaps that’s why We Could Be So Good lost out to Dragged to the Wedding.
I still have lots of questions. Who is “our team?” How many people are on it? Have they all read the same books? Are they all chosing for all the categories? How many books in each category did they read? In 2023, I read 54 LGBTQ romances that were published in 2023, and while that’s hardly tons, that’s a fair number of books to choose from for my 2023 list.
I think I’m critical of Amazon’s list because it’s a huge company with a lot of reach and influence. If they say “This is the best LGBTQ Romance of 2023” then it carries a lot of wieght and will no doubt drive sales. I believe that means they shouold be very tranparent on how they chose the books. The reviewers for big company like Amazon should read at least as many books as I have to make their decisions. (IMO)
Yes – if whoever makes the choices had to read, say, six books each in particular categories, that’s one thing. But if they read random books and the only queer one was Dragged to the Wedding, they’ve got nothing to compare it with. I find it hard to believe that someone who read the Sebastian as well would not have chosen it.
She read lots of queer romances as did her staff.
In their mid year picks for Best Romances of 2023, they picked The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen. I do think Kami’s list is more about diverse straight romances than queer.
My sense in talking to Kami is she LOVES romance and she loved these books.
I see where your coming from. Please read my response to BeckyK to see why I’m wary of the Amazon Best Of list.
Yes, I get it!
And thank you to all who clarified additional aspects, among others that it was amazon itself who said the list was not based on sales. I do not actually mind a list based on sales or downloads, it is a legitimate wish of a business oriented entity to rank based on that. Once they use other criteria, it would be great to understand them. Editors favorites sounds nice, and tells us very little.
I disagree. They say in each blurb why they liked a book. We do the same. All choices are opinions and I think they justify theirs.
I have many many problems with Amazon but this list is not one of them!
I’ve seen many of these books on other “best of” lists or prominently displayed in bookstores. (Yep, I still visit the brick-and-mortar places regularly). I know that you can hardly traverse a bookstore without seeing Fourth Wing everywhere. I also have several of the extended list books (not yet reviewed by AAR) on my TBR. I will try to review them if I can, but nothing surprises me here. I did read and enjoy several of their books on last year’s list, so it will be interesting to see if I enjoy the ones I have from this year.
I think their list is valid. Is it the one AAR would have picked? No. But it certainly seems reasonable.