The AAR Top 100 Poll has always been a readers’ poll. It’s not a list of what AAR staffers, critics, libraries, or the media thinks are the Top 100 romance novels ever written–it’s what OUR readers think those books are.
Over the years, our readers have created different Top 100 Romances lists–the list changes as the reading habits and preferences of AAR readers do. Thus, what readers loved in 2018, the last year we did this poll, is likely to be different from what they do in 2023. This is not to say that readers won’t still pick classic romances–I’ll be genuinely shocked if there isn’t more than one Lisa Kleypas on the list! But, I suspect, this year’s poll will have new contenders which is as it should be.
I’d like you to let us know what books you think you should be on the poll. I can’t promise I will include your suggestions but it will give us a place to start beyond the 2018 list and all the books that have made our Best of each year lists in the past five years.
I’ve created a Google Sheet you can enter your choice(s). I’ve asked for titles, authors, genres, and names–although the last is optional. The link is here. (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1633JTlk2Dg1smuuA2ECt9KTRJay83O9C70X3CvPxdmU/edit?usp=sharing) And please put a title in even if it’s already on the list. The more recommendations a book has, the stronger the case for including it is.
I can’t wait to see your picks! And thanks–we couldn’t do it without you!
One of the biggest problems I have is that some of my very favourite romances take more than one book to reach an HEA. I think it’s more common in m/m than m/f and it means that something like the Adrien English series – which is a really important milestone in m/m – is disqualified because it takes 5 books to get to the HEA. There are of course, other single titles I could add, but it’s a shame that some of the best romances in the genre will be excluded.
Well, perhaps, after the Top 100 Romance Poll, we can do a best series poll.
Perhaps. Although a same-couple series where the HEA takes a few books to get there is ONE romance.
Same-couple series are different to series where each book is set in the same world but is otherwise a standalone.
The poll is Top 100 Romances. Adrien and Jake, Aslan and Quaid, Larkin and Doyle, Lucien and Stephen (Magpie Lord) are all multiple books that chart the development of ONE romance. Top 100 Romances doesn’t say Top 100 Romance “single titles”.
I know doing the poll will be difficult enough and I am not advocating for changes. I just want to make the point that there will be stories/authors that really SHOULD be represented that won’t be because we limit entries to stories that go from 0 to HEA in one book.
Again, it’s always been single titles. Let’s plan on doing a survey for series.
When I wrote about Genre Labels, I described several different kinds of series, including OPCMV: One Primary Couple, Multiple Volumes.
Are there enough OPCMV series to do a poll of only those? I can think of several by JAK, but they aren’t among my favorites by her.
I think we could just do series in general and OPCMV would be under that rubric.
But it’s apples and oranges. IMO, you can’t compare a series that has a different couple per book with a series that features one couple across several books. In fact, I’d suspect that the majority of the books nominated in the Top 100 will be titles in series.
There are lots of OPCMV in m/m – and honestly, I don’t see why “Adrien English”, or “Magpie Lord” for instance, couldn’t count as one entry. (You can’t just nominate the final books in those series because those are where the HEA happens, because you need to have read the others.) Back when the Poll began, single titles were probably the norm, but things have moved on since then.
These are the kinds of series labels I thought of when I wrote about genre labels (http://www.ccrsdodona.org/markmuse/reading/genrelabels.html):
MRC Major Recurring Characters
MVCA Multi-volume Character Arc
MVSA Multi-volume Story Arc
MVSCC Multi-volume Same Central Characters
OPCMV One Primary Couple, Multiple Volumes
OPCPB One Primary Couple Per Book
OPCMV and OPCPB usually feel very different.
And these are reading orders:
ARRO Author’s Recommended Reading Order
RIAO Read In Any Order
RICO Read In Chronological Order
RIPO Read In Publication Order
I expect this list to include only single titles. If it hasn’t got a HEA or HFN, it does not qualify as romance novel, IMO. It’s not what I expect as a romance reader, and I think I’m not the only one.
More than once I’ve felt ‘cheated’ because the author or the description of the book do not say up front that the happy ending is not in that book. If they don’t warn me about this, I usually don’t read the following books in the series.
So what I usually do in my blog is explain that this book is not a romance novel. What you can do is put the last book of the series, the one in which they have their HEA, as a single title. It’s not a perfect solution but, at least nobody feels cheated.
Nowhere in the title of the poll does the word “novel” appear. It’s Top 100 Romances – I’m just saying that a romance isn’t always complete in a single book. And I think that the final choices will be missing some really good romances because of sticking to the “single book” rule.
I don’t expect anything to change – the poll is hard enough to do as it is – but I just wanted to weigh in on the fact that things have changed since it started and some of the very best romance I’m reading right now is not in single title books.
Most authors – the ones I read, anyway – always inform readers when a romance arc is going to be developed over several books and warn not to expect an HEA at the end of book one. Maybe that didn’t happen so often in the past, but it isn’t the case now.
And honestly, there’s no point nominating The Dark Tide (Adrien English #5, for example) because you wouldn’t advise anyone to read it as a standalone. The same would apply to most same-couple series.
Caz, I sympathize with your desire to include series which feature one couple. Some of my favorite romances fall into this category. I don’t see why the list could not include series. You could simply note that it is an entire series that is being nominated, not a single book. But the rules are the rules, so I will look forward to a list for series, which will hopefully come in the not too distant future. And I would enjoy seeing your list. Perhaps you could do a blog post on your favorite series? I would love to read that.
A fews issues I personally have with adding series are that, as a romance reader, I don’t want to have to read several books to have gotten a single romance. Additionally, I think it would be tough to say some series qualify and others don’t. (I envision al the In Death fans, the Virgin River fans, etc… asking why those books aren’t included.) It’s too complicated to say, OK, we’re only accepting series that follow ONE romance and that don’t have a true HEA until the end. And I don’t think this poll is for the Top 100 Romance series. That’s another poll which I plan for us to do.
Just my two cents!
I might give some thought to that once the poll is out of the way – if Dabney does go ahead with a top series poll, perhaps it would make for an interesting companion piece!
We should definitely plan on a top 100 series poll next!
That would be great, and sure to spark a whole lot of interesting conversations!
I would love if after the Top 100 Romances poll, you do a Top 100 Authors poll (as suggested by commenters on the previous blog post). I think that might help with the issue of one couple across multiple books.
I agree!
Is it all right if I include in your spreadsheet my 50 favourite romance novels?
Sure.
Done, with a few more. But I think each of the novels I put there is not only one of my favourites but also very good in their genres.
We’re really gonna try this again?
Good luck!
Thank you to whoever suggested “We Could Be So Good” … lord that was soft and sweet and yet had great themes of family, and hiding / finding yourself. Loved it!
I think that’s Cat Sebastian’s best book yet. Glad you enjoyed it.
I can open the link but not able to add my choices
That’s weird. Did you scroll to the bottom? Use this link?
No.
Yes. I did. I cannot add a row and fill in the text. I tried this using my iPad and iphone
I don’t know why that is. I’m sorry. If you post them here, I’ll add them for you.
Here are my somewhat offbeat choices (in no particular order):
1. Black Madonna—Stella Riley, Historical Romance
2. The Last Queen—Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, Historical Fiction
3. You Had me at Hello—Mhairi McFarlane, CR
4. Hana Khan Carries On—
Uzma Jalaluddin, CR
5. The Other Bennet Sister—Janice Hadlow, HR
6. Everything is Fine—Cecilia Rabess, CR
I love The Black Madonna! I almost put that one down.
I have added them. Thanks!
When I used my iphone, I had to tap on the pencil icon (lower right) to be able to type and when done, I had to tap on the check mark (upper left).
Checked again. No pencil icon.
When it first came out (at least 20 years ago), I have reread Jennifer Cruisie’s “Bet Me.” at least once a year. The perfect romance, it makes me laugh on almost every page and got me through the covid lock down. If you like the beginning, you will like the whole book.
It opens with Min’s skunk of a boyfriend, breaking up with her. Min had endured him to have a date for her sister’s upcoming wedding to try to please her overbearing mother. Min overhears the skunk appear to make a bet with a very handsome charmer to bed her, so she is both repelled and attracted to the said charmer.
I know that I am the only person in the world who likes to laugh <G>, so I love Loretta Chase. If you have never read Chase, you might start with “Lord Perfect” which, again, makes me roar with delight. Most people’s favorite is “Lord of Scoundrels,” but mine is “Dukes Prefer Blondes.” Our heroine tries to broaden her world beyond dresses and to gracefully decline marriage proposals from aristocratic men who think they are in love with her–as she is “the fashion of the year.”
If you like fairy tales, although “A Countess Below Stairs” is not really funny, it has enormous charm. Most of the heroine’s Russian aristocratic family managed to escape Revolutionary Russia to England, without the family wealth. After reading a how to book on being a servant, our heroine gets a job below stairs in an English estate. “A Countess” is like having a rich hot chocolate, in front of a roaring fire when it rains outside.
I love Lord Perfect. It cracks me up every time.
I will never forget the dog who ate the jewels and had his poo carefully monitored!!
I love Bet Me. If I could pick my Top 10 list (instead of Top 5), that book would be on my list. I know lots of people like Welcome to Temptation but Bet Me is my favorite Jennifer Crusie book.
Perhaps one day or one year you could do a top 100 authors. That would save me the trouble of trying to figure out which Jo Beverley is my favorite, which Loretta Chase, etc.
Yes. That’s in the plan!
Thus far, we have almost 500 suggestions from readers. These are the book that have appeared more than once:
The Spymaster’s Lady by Joanna Bourne – 5 times
Bet Me by Jennifer Crusie – 4 times
Lord Of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase – 4 times
The Black Hawk by Joanna Bourne – 4 times
A Seditious Affair by K. J. Charles – 3 times
A Week To Be Wicked by Tessa Dare – 3 times
A Wicked Kind Of Husband by Mia Vincy- 3 times
Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall- 3 times
Morning Glory by LaVyrle Spencer -3 times
Not Quite A Husband by Sherry Thomas – 3 times
Private Arrangements by Sherry Thomas- 3 times
Welcome To Temptation by Jennifer Crusie- 3 times
What I Did For A Duke by Julie Anne Long- 3 times
Archer’s Voice by Mia Sheridan- 3 times
We Could Be So Good by Cat Sebastian – 3 times
A Dangerous Kind Of Lady by Mia Vincy- 2 times
A Heart Of Blood And Ashes by Milla Vane- 2 times
A Kingdom Of Dreams by Judith McNaught- 2 times
A Knight In Shining Armor by Jude Deveraux- 2 times
A Lady Awakened by Cecelia Grant- 2 times
A Nobleman’s Guide To Seducing A Scoundrel by K. J. Charles – 2 times
Anna And The French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins- 2 times
Any Old Diamonds by K. J. Charles – 2 times
Anyone But You by Jennifer Crusie- 2 times
As You Desire by Connie Brockway- 2 times
Beauty And The Mustache by Penny Reid- 2 times
Bewitching by Jill Barnett- 2 times
Black Hawk by Joanna Bourne- 2 times
Band Sinister by K. J. Charles- 2 times
Bringing Down The Duke by Evie Dunmore- 2 times
The Duke Of Shadows by Meredith Duran- 2 times
The Secret Lives Of Country Gentlemen by K. J. Charles- 2 times
To Have And To Hold by Patricia Gaffney- 2 times
When Beauty Tamed The Beast by Eloisa James- 2 times
Winter Garden by Adele Ashworth – 2 times
Without Words by Ellen O’Connell- 2 times
Thank you, Dabney, for doing this! About 5 years ago, I was going through a stressful time and started reading romance at bedtime to help me clear my mind and relax. Little did I know that romance is not always relaxing, and that I would become a devoted romance reader. Early on, I Googled “what are the best romance novels” and discovered the AAR Top 100, and that guided a chunk of my early reading. I am very grateful for having that resource, and I think it’s wonderful that you are updating the list.
I haven’t inputted my picks yet, but will do so later today. I noticed that the top picks do not include authors of color, or characters of color, as far as I can tell (please correct me if I’m wrong!) Come on people, you’ve got to have some of those on your lists! Love the LGBTQ rep, though.
One reason I think we struggle to get POC representation on this list is that, for a long time, those books weren’t well-marketed or, often, even published by mainstream publishers. That has changed massively–YAY!!!–for the good in the past decade but lists like the Top 100 often are weighted down by favorites that have stood the test of many many years. I think this next poll will have more books by POC authors than the 2018 one did.
Also, remember reader suggestions are also not the only source that we will use for the survey. We will also add in the books from the last poll (2018) and all the books we’ve–the reviewers at AAR–have chosen as their Best of… books in the past five year. Lots of the latter are by POC.
No. Top picks don’t have any people of color characters or authors of color.
Again, there will be lots of books by AoC and with PoC in our survey.
My votes go to:
Not Quite A Husband – Sherry Thomas
Radiance – Grace Draven
Foxfire Bride – Maggie Osborne
The Wall Of Winnipeg & Me – Mariana Zapata
From Lukov with Love – Mariana Zapata
The Bride – S. Doyle
Broken Wing – Judith James
Strange Love – Ann Aguirre
Eyes of Silver, Eyes of Gold – Ellen O’ Connell
Devil in Winter – Lisa Kleypas
Waking Olivia – Elizabeth O’Roark
Homebound – Lydia Hope
The Sins of Lord Lockwood – Meredith Duran
Courting Miss Hattie – Pamela Morsi
Snow-kissed – Laura Florand
On The Island – Tracey Garvis Graves
The Devil Is A Marquess – Elisa Braden
Fourth Wing – Rebecca Yarrow
Did you add these to the spreadsheet? Thanks!
If you could list genre for each of these, that would be great. Thanks!
This list shows “The Black Hawk” by Loretta Chase. I am not aware of this book and can dot find it on a list of Chase’s books. Could this be the same as “Black Hawk” by Joanna Bourne?
Yikes! Typo! Thanks for noticing that. I’ve corrected it.
I wasn’t sure how to insert a book/author on the spreadsheet or if it’s finished, etc. but I would like to add Dark Highland Skies by Lizzie Lamb. Much over-looked author, IMO, with great contemporary stories set in Scotland. I submitted a review of this book that is here on AAR but she otherwise seems to have escaped AAR’s attention.
I’ve added some titles to the spreadsheet.
I noticed that Meredith Duran’s book is called ‘Duke of Shadows’ on the cover, but the ebook pages are headed ‘The Duke of Shadows’. I’ve listed it as ‘Duke’, but it has been entered by others as ‘The Duke’, so you may like to edit the entries so it is counted correctly.
When is the actual poll?
I am working on it–too many AAR tasks and too little time is the problem. BUT, I hope to have it up soon!
I’m sure, doing this poll sounds like a huge undertaking. I’m asking more because I don’t want to miss participating!
I hope to get it done within the next couple of weeks. We’ll see.