Friday, October 26, 2007

Top 100 Romances

Here is my list of top 100 romances for the AAR poll, such as it is. It was a lot of work and slightly painful when I had to slash it down to a "mere" 100. And the ordering is pure crap. My top 20 are bunched together and only kinda in order and the rest are ordered as best I could. It's an impossible task and depended on my mood of the day.

I'm not going to turn it in for a few days so I have time to make adjustments. I have already been tweaking it but it's starting to drive me crazy so I just have to let it go.





























































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































1A Rose at MidnightAnne Stuart
2Flowers from the StormLaura Kinsale
3Pride and PrejudiceJane Austen
4The Notorious RakeMary Balogh
5Red Adam's Lady Grace Ingram
6
Fallen From Grace
Laura Leone
7 Night in EdenCandice Proctor
8 After the Night Linda Howard
9 To Have and To HoldPatricia Gaffney
10 Naked in Death J. D. Robb
11 All Through the Night Connie Brockway
12 Black Ice Anne Stuart
13 Duncan's BrideLinda Howard
14Mrs. Drew Plays Her Hand Carla Kelly
15 Truly Madly YoursRachel Gibson
16 Reforming Lord Ragsdale Carla Kelly
17 Sunshine and Shadows Tom and Sharon Curtis
18 Last Summer Theresa Weir
19 Morning Glory LaVyrle Spencer
20 Sea Swept Nora Roberts
21 With This Ring Carla Kelly
22 Angels Fall Nora Roberts
23 Dream Man Linda Howard
24 Heart of Deception Taylor Chase
25 See Jane Score Rachel Gibson
26 Heart of Fire Linda Howard
27 Dreaming of You Lisa Kleypas
28 Thunder and Roses Mary Jo Putney
29 It Had To Be You Susan Elizabeth Phillips
30 The Wives of Bowie Stone Maggie Osborne
31 One Summer Karen Robards
32 The Emerald Necklace Diana Brown
33 Dance Judy Cuevas
34 Lady Gallant Suzanne Robinson
35 Nightfall Anne Stuart
36 Joe's Wife Cheryl St. John
37 Faro's Daughter Georgette Heyer
38 Wolf in Waiting Rebecca Flanders
39 A Fine Work of Art Shelby Reed
40 Untie My Heart Judith Ivory
41 Streets of Fire Judith Duncan
42 Ride the Fire Pamela Clare
43 Cry No More Linda Howard
44 Out of Control Suzanne Brockmann
45 The Phoenix Code Catherine Asaro
46 The Windflower Tom and Sharon Curtis
47 MacKenzie's Pleasure Linda Howard
48 The Lady's Tutor Robin Schone
49 Match Me If You Can Susan Elizabeth Phillips
50 Passion Lisa Valdez
51 One Good Turn Carla Kelly
52 Dream Fever Katherine Sutcliffe
53 Paradise Judith McNaught
54 The Serpent Prince Elizabeth Hoyt
55 Lady of Quality Georgette Heyer
56 Anyone But You Jennifer Crusie
57 A Debt of Honor Diana Brown
58 Prairie Wife Cheryl St. John
59 To Love a Dark Lord Anne Stuart
60 The Monk Downstairs Tim Farrington
61 Harvard's Education Suzanne Brockmann
62 Devil in Winter Lisa Kleypas
63 Heaven, Texas Susan Elizabeth Phillips
64 Simple Jess Pamela Morsi
65 Devilish Jo Beverley
66 Skypirate Justine Davis
67 Perfect Judith McNaught
68 Bliss Judy Cuevas
69 Winter Garden Adele Ashworth
70 My Dearest Enemy Connie Brockway
71 Welcome To Temptation Jennifer Crusie
72 Sleeping Beauty Judith Ivory
73 Libby's London Merchant Carla Kelly
74 All the Queen's Men Linda Howard
75 A Kingdom of Dreams Judith McNaught
76 Born in Fire Nora Roberts
77 Caressed by Ice Nalini Singh
78 A Much Younger Man Dianne Highbridge
79 Slow Heat in Heaven Sandra Brown
80 In the Midnight Rain Ruth Wind
81 Driven to Distraction Judith Duncan
82 Julie & Romeo Francis Ray
83 Birthright Nora Roberts
84 Games of Command Linnea Sinclair
85 Slave to Sensation Nalini Singh
86 Keeper of the Dream Penelope Williamson
87 The Nightingale's Song Kathleen Eschenberg
88 All Night Long Michelle Jerott
89 Kinsman's Oath Susan Krinard
90 Upon a Wicked Time Karen Ranney
91 Render Unto Caesar Gillian Bradshaw
92 Manhunting Jennifer Crusie
93 A Reason to Live Maureen McKade
94 Castaway Hearts Nancy Butler
95 The Lone Rider Lauren Bach
96 Texas! Chase Sandra Brown
97 The Trouble With Joe Emilie Richards
98 Heart Throb Suzanne Brockmann
99 Heat Lightning Anne Stuart
100 Married by Mistake Melinda McRae

17 comments:

Dev said...

Ah, I see you have Sandra Brown on your list! I miss her! I quit reading shortly after she switched to romantic suspense. I just didn't like her books as well after that.

There's some books here I haven't heard of ~ I have a feeling I'll be adding more to my dreaded tbr pile :-)

Rosie said...

Renee I love this list because it covers such a broad spectrum and time span. There are oldie faves of mine on here. (Tom & Sharon Curtis for one)

I've only been keeping a spreadsheet for a couple of years and have a pretty good memory for books I REALLY loved, but I still feel overwhelmed at even starting this.

Gigi said...

I had a lot of trouble with mine too but I'm glad I stuck with it cuz I've bene re-discovering lots of oldies but goodies. Anyhoo,We have many books in common :)

Anonymous said...

I was SHOCKED to see Grace Ingram's Red Adam's Lady on your list. I LOVE that book and have never seen it mentioned by anyone else before now.

A very interesting list!

Cheryl St.John said...

I rec'd my google alert this morning, so I visited your blog. I am HONORED to have books listed in your top favorite list, Renee! Thanks so much.

I hope you find many more wonderful reads.

Smooches,
Cheryl :-)

Tara S Nichols said...

Wow! What an impressive list!!
this is one on my to read list "The Serpent Prince" by Elizabeth Hoyt but I have to finish all of Barbara Pierce's first!
have a great Halloween.
-Tara S Nichols
author of Oasis of My Heart.

ReneeW said...

Dev: Yeah, me too. I have a bunch of old SB in my keeper box and I haven't read any of her newer stuff. But I have her latest "Play Dirty" on hold at the library cuz Keishon liked it so we'll see how that one turns out.

Rosie: You need a spreadsheet, babe :) It was rather overwhelming and I was pretty amazed at myself.

Giselle: I saw your list and I see lots in common. You have a lot of Canham and I've only read one of hers but I've been meaning to try more.

Barbara: Oh, wow, finally someone else who has read RAL. It's rather old (1973) and very HTF. Every once in a while someone mentions it at AAR message board. So there are others out there but it's so sad that people will never get to read it unless they want to pay over $30 for a copy. Of course, there is always inter-library loan.

Cheryl: OMG, one of my favorite authors is commenting on my blog! I'm thrilled. I have many other books of yours in my keepers. His Secondhand Wife almost made my list too. I have several more TBR. Thanks for all the great reading.

Tara: The Serpent Prince was wonderful. Very dark anti-hero type and I loved it.

Cheryl St.John said...

You are most welcome, Renee. And thank you for the support!

Cher :-)

CindyS said...

You list is awesome! I should just print it out and start reading from the top ;) Although I know I don't like regency romances all that much so I can skip those. But bestill my heart, Anne Stuart holds a number one spot!! I need to read To Have and To Hold by Gaffney just as soon as I can get my hands on it!

cindyS

Jennie said...

I love seeing these lists. And there are a few on yours that I've never even heard of, so that's great.

I've been wanting to get Notorious Rake by Balogh, but I'm too cheap to order one off the internet. I keep hoping to find one in a UBS, but I don't think it's going to happen. And Render Unto Caesar--does that have romance in it? I remember hearing about it and thinking it sounded interesting, but if it has romance then I really want to read it. ;)

ReneeW said...

Cindy: Yes, I knew you would want to skip the regencies. TH&TH is a wonderful book. Another dark hero and a fascinating heroine. Worth finding a copy. If you have trouble, let me know and I know I can find one and mail it to you :)

Jennie: I loved seeing your list too. I keep hoping Notorious Rake will be reprinted someday. Balogh mentioned something about her old traditionals possibly being reprinted sometime so cross your fingers. Render Unto Caesar is historical fiction. It features a female gladiator and it has a romance with a HEA. I loved it.

Kristie (J) said...

I've been wanting to comment since I saw your list but didn't have time. We have quite a few in common! I just posted mine now. I think I could add a few more - and wish I could, but I'm fairly satisfied with the list I did. And thanks to seeing your list, I'd forgotten one that I hadn't added onto mine - Nightengales Song. Glad I checked your list first before sending mine in *g*

Anonymous said...

V. interesting list! I see a lot of my favorite books there too. I'll have to print it out and see if I can mine it for gems, including Red Adam's Lady. Thanks for posting it.

ReneeW said...

Kristie: I'm glad to help out with your list :) I looked at your list and I think I counted about 60 books that I have also read.

Rachel: Thanks, we have lots of books in common and because of your list I started reading Gibson's Simply Irresistible which has been hanging around my TBR forever. I'm so glad AAR "forced" me into this because it turned out to be a very worthwhile exercise.

Anonymous said...

I love making lists, Renee, so even though this was a lot of work, it was still fun for me. And there's the added benefit of seeing what books everyone else loves too. Last time we did this in 2004, blogging wasn't such a big thing, so there was less of that. So - hooray for progress. :)

I hope you enjoy Simply Irresistible. Love that book.

ReneeW said...

Rachel: I'm excited to see the final results but it was just as much fun to see everyone else's lists and compare and get ideas for more books to read. I think they should do it every couple years but I know it's a lot of work. I'm just glad they are doing it again.

Unknown said...

I am so happy to see an Asaro book on your list ;-) A great list. I just posted mine. It's more like around 45 or so and that's it. I left quite a few titles out but hey, like you said, it depends on the mood of the day. I'm printing this out. We do seem to have similar reading tastes.

Keishon

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