Here are the top books you picked to be included in our poll that are not in the current AAR Top 100. We had about 650 books nominated. All of these entries had three or more votes. Since we didn’t come up with a clean list of 50, we will next vote on this list to get it down to 50 just as we did with the current AAR Top 100. I’ll get that poll up and running with in the next few days.
Once we have 50 from this list, we’ll add it to the 50 from the AAR Top 100 list and the books reviewers have picked over the past six years as their Best of.
I’d like the final poll to have around 300 to 350 books to choose from, I think. So, if needed, I will go back and add books proportionally from the books readers nominated as well as from the AAR Top 100 list.
Thanks!
A Dangerous Kind of Lady by Mia Vincy
A Girl Like Her by Talia Hibbert
A Heart of Blood and Ashes by Mila Vane
A Lady Awakened by Cecilia Grant
A Lady’s Code of Misconduct by Meredith Duran
A Matter of Class by Mary Balogh
A Rogue of one’s Own by Evie Dunmore
A Seditious Affair by KJ Charles
A Summer to Remember by Mary Balogh
A Wicked Kind of Husband by Mia Vincy
Accidentally Engaged by Farah Heron
Act Like It by Lucy Parker
American Love Story by Adriana Herrera
An Unnatural Vice by KJ Charles
Band Sinister by KJ Charles
Beautiful Stranger by Christina Lauren
Bench Player by Julianna Keyes
Bewitching by Jill Barnett
Black Ice by Anne Stuart
Black Sheep by Georgette Heyer
Block Shot by Kennedy Ryan
Blue-eyed Devil by Lisa Kleypas
Book Lover by Emily Henry
Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall
Bringing Down the Duke by Evie Dunmore
Brooklynaire by Sarina Bowen
Burn for Me by Ilona Andrews
By Arrangement by Madeline Hunter
Catch of the Day by Kristan Higgins
Cry Wolf by Patricia Briggs
Daughters of Rome by Kate Quinn
Defying Logic by Nicky James
Dragon Bound by Thea Harrison
Dukes Are Forever by Bec McMasters
Flat Share by Beth O’Leary
Float Plan by Trish Dollar
Forever Your Rogue by Erin Langston
Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
Get a Life Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert
Glitterland by Alexis Hall
Guilty Pleasures by Laura Lee Guhrke
Headliners by Lucy Parker
Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid
Hello Stranger by Lisa Kleypas
Him by Sarina Bowen
His Road Home by Anna Richland
How the Marquess Was Won by Julie Anne Long
How to Tame a Wild Rogue by Julie Anne Long
Ice Planet Barbarians by Ruby Dixon
I Kissed an Earl by Julie Anne Long
In Step by Jay Hogan
It Happened One Summer by Tessa Bailey
Josh and Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating by Christina Lauren
Love and Other Scandals by Caroline Linden
Love Lettering by Kate Clayborn
Love on the Brain by Ali Hazelwood
Magnate by Joanna Shupe
Match Me If You Can by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
Morning Glory by LaVyrle Spencer
Mr. Perfect by Linda Howard
Phoenix Unbound by Grace Draven
Princess in Theory by Alyssa Cole
Proper Scoundrels by Allie Therin
Ravishing the Heiress by Sherry Thomas
Rebel by Beverly Jenkins
Reel by Kennedy Ryan
Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston
Rule Breaker by Lily Morton
Rules of Seduction by Madeline Hunter
Scandal wears Satin by Loretta Chase
See Jane Score by Rachel Gibson
Seven Days in June by Tia Williams
Sweet Savage Love by Rosemary Rogers
Ten Things I Hate About the Duke by Loretta Chase
The Art of Husbandry by Jay Hogan
The Austen Playbook by Lucy Parker
The Bride Test by Helen Hoang
The Deal by Elle Kennedy
The Duchess Deal by Tessa Dare
The Duke’s Downfall by Jane Lynson
The Flat Share by Beth O’Leary
The Gentle Art of Fortune Hunting by KJ Charles
The Heiress Effect by Courtney Milan
The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang
The King’s Man by Elizabeth Kingston
The Lady’s Guide to Celestial Mechanics by Olivia Waite
The League of Gentlewomen Witches by India Holton
The Lost Letter by Mimi Matthews
The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood
The Mesalliance by Stella Riley
The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen by KJ Charles
The Shadow and The Star by Laura Kinsale
The Soulmate Equation by Christina Lauren
The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy by Megan Bannen
The Windflower by Laura London
The Wolf at the Door by Charlie Adhara
Think of England by K J Charles
Until You by Briar Prescott
Venetia by Georgette Heyer
We Could Be So Good by Cat Sebastian
Waiting for the Flood by Alexis Hall
Written on Your Skin by Meredith Duran
I’m looking forward to the final list. I’ll be checking for titles I haven’t read (yet).
Nice to see a couple much older titles on the list, especially The Windflower by Laura London. Time to pull that one out and do my every ten years reread.
Caz pointed out I mistakenly included A Seditious Affair which IS on the AAR Top 100 list. Clearly I am still jet-lagged!
I think there are several books that are in the current AAR Top 100 (from 2018):
Linda Howard: MR. PERFECT
Lucy Parker: ACT LIKE IT
Courtney Milan: THE HEIRESS EFFECT
Mary Balogh: A SUMMER TO REMEMBER
KJ Charles: A SEDITIOUS AFFAIR
Ilona Andrews: BURN FOR ME
Thea Harrison: DRAGON BOUND
Susan Elizabeth Phillips: MATCH ME IF YOU CAN
Sarina Bowen & Elle Kennedy: HIM
Lisa Kleypas: BLUE-EYED DEVIL
Tessa Dare: THE DUCHESS DEAL
I’ll have to check and see if they were in the top 50 we picked from that list. If they are not, then they’ll be added from here to the poll. If they are, then I’ll pull more from the reader nominated list.
I see interesting books that I have not read yet, this is what I like about people puting their favourites in the list. One thing. THE FLATSHARE, by Beth O’Leary appears twice.,
Just FYI, The Dutchess Deal is on the Top 100 list.
I’m also sensing that it might be time to read some KJ Charles.
KJ Charles is pretty amazing and has something for everyone. My first ones were the Charm of Magpie series (alt history, magic, etc) and then Think of England, which is great historical romantic mystery/suspense. I was totally hooked after that and have read most of her books now. The Band Sinister is a delightful homage to Georgette Heyer (the plot seems loosely based on Venetia) but with sex. 🙂 My husband has read several of her books and just finished her lasted, Death in the Spires (mystery, not romance). He loved it as much as I did. Caz reviewed it here recently.
I have been binge reading KJ Charles for the last six weeks. Except for the Magpie series, I have more or less caught up with entire oeuvre. There is not a single book that I did not like, though some are more entertaining than others. Surprisingly for me, I liked her late Victorian and early 20th century spy romances (Think of England; the Will Darling Adventures) more than the regency novels. Her writing is excellent; she gets the historical setting right (though the spoken language and phrases are more modern); sensitively explores queer identities and the joy and precarity of queer love in those times and with all that she spins a darn good yarn. My most favorite is Death in the Spires—apart from being an excellent murder mystery, she captures the rhythm, culture and spirit of academic life in the early 20th century England perfectly.
Indira, I am in agreement with you about Think of England (my personal favorite) and The Will Darling Adventures. Those books were fun and had depth and great characters. I really enjoyed Death in the Spires, but it didn’t wow me. I need to really fall in love with the characters for a book to reach the top of my personal rankings, and I just haven’t fallen in love with the leads in KJ Charles’ last few books. It would be difficult explain what makes me fall in love or not, it is ineffable, as they say in Good Omens.
I agree that the characters were not compelling in the Death in Spires. I liked it more for the academic setting and accurate portrayal of college student life in early 20th century. It was amusing to note that in those days students had to wear black robe to classes!
Interesting! I honestly think Jem is one of the most nuanced and well written characters I’ve encountered in a long time. His blend of hesitancy and fear mixed with the determination to keep going really captured me. He’d lost so much, and was hitting roadblocks, but he was literally willing to risk everything to get the answers that could allow him, and the rest, to have a future. I was also really intriqued by Toby, even though his story was mostly told in restrospect. I agree the setting and the protrayal of academia at that time was excellent.
I liked Jem, but I did not always understand or agree with the decisions he was making. There were so many times I wanted to tell him no, go back, don’t do that, etc. Not quite TSTL but just annoying. But I am pretty risk averse and would not make a good detective or spy, and I definitely would not be spending time alone with someone I suspected of murder!
I loved Jem. As Carrie says, he’s a great mix of someone who is afraid but keeps going anyway because he has to. He’s already lost pretty much everything so what else is there for him? Even spending time with Nicky, despite his suspicions, made sense to me because of the fact this was a last ditch effort to get his life back.
I thought most of the secondary characters were pretty well drawn, although some with broader brush strokes than others.
I liked Jem , even though I did feel over the course of the book that he must be suicidal.or near it. He did not care for his own life anymore, and was willing to take risks, even walk into certain danger, because of it. That is how I read him, and found it hard to bear, but well written and understandable.
Great list! Sorry I missed the chance to add some. Serves me right for not checking this blog more often.
This is such a wonderful list. It’s great to see so many books that have become old friends and fondly remembered.
Thank you for all this work.
I made this when I was jet lagged and it’s clear to me it needs some refining. Overall, I think it’s mostly accurate. But I am working on making sure I get it exactly right to add to the bigger poll.
For any Meredith Duran fans that have been sorry that she hasn’t published anything new recently, there is some news. She has a new website and under her bio she lists things she wants to do. On that list is finish her manuscript. Although there’s no pub date or details, at least she’s still writing.
I have been re-reading her. Her first, The Duke of Shadows, is set in the places (in the first half), I just was. It was breathtaking to see how perfectly she got the time, the attitudes, and the history.
I was thinking maybe we should do a book club on it!
Thank you!
All her books are great. I re-read The Duke of Shadows a few years ago. It was just as good the second time around. I think I read somewhere that she spent a year in India for anthropological fieldwork for her doctoral program.
You can really tell that.
Book club sounds fun.
Eager to see the new 2024 winners even though I’m still working through reading all the 2018 favorites …
Fun to see the nominees emerging. Thanks for sharing as you work through the process, Dabney. I hope you will share more from your trip as you recover from your jet lag and get caught up.
FYI–this survey will close out tomorrow.
Is the 2024 list still in the works?
Yes. It will be done this fall. Thanks for checking!