My Best of 2010

I have a few 2010 books that I still want to read so this is just a preliminary list.  Only two were A reads, the rest were B+.  I have only reviewed one of these books.

There are four more 2010 books in my TBR and a whole bunch more on my wishlist. I'd better get cracking and get some more read before the annual poll at AAR.  I love to submit my yearly favorites for this poll.

I think my favorite of the year is Libertine's Kiss by Judith James.  An unusual book with a great hero and heroine set in an unusual time period (Restoration Period) - also very HOT.   James also wrote Broken Wing which is one of KristieJ's favorites. 

Author	Title	Grade
Balogh, Mary	A Matter of Class	B+
Bourne, Joanna	The Forbidden Rose	A
Carr, Robyn	Forbidden Falls	B+
Dahl, Victoria	Lead Me On	B+
Dreyer, Eileen	Barely a Lady	B+
Higgins, Kristan	The Next Best Thing	B+
James, Judith	Libertine's Kiss	A
Robb, J. D.	Fantasy in Death	B+
Ross, JoAnn	The Homecoming	B+
Singh, Nalini	Bonds of Justice	B+
Total		10

AAR's Top 100 Romances Results

I'm meant to post this a couple weeks ago.

I was amazed to discover that I have read 92 out of AAR's Top 100.  Of the 8 I have not read, 4 were written by Julie Garwood.   Here's the complete list:

The Last Hellion by Loretta Chase
Honor's Splendor by Julie Garwood
The Secret by Julie Garwood
Ransom by Julie Garwood
Saving Grace by Julie Garwood
And Then He Kissed Her by Laura Lee Guhrke
The Rake by Mary Jo Putney
When He Was Wicked by Julia Quinn

I have been meaning to try Garwood because CindyS is a huge fan and I know most of these are probably on her list.  So maybe I'll dig up one or two of these and give them a shot.

In comparing AAR's Top 100 with my Top 100, I found that only 30 of my favorites appeared on AAR's list.  I guess my tastes are a bit different.  Many of the book's on AAR's list were pretty good reads for me but were not what I would consider keeper.  For example I remember liking Lord of Scoundrels, but it didn't exactly "wow" me.  Maybe I need to re-read that one.  I'm a bit surprised and disappointed that there were no books Anne Stuart or Carla Kelly. 

Num	Title	Author	AAR Ranking
2	Pride and Prejudice	Jane Austen	#4
3	Flowers from the Storm	Laura Kinsale	#6
8	After the Night	Linda Howard	#55
9	To Have and To Hold	Patricia Gaffney	#60
10	All Through the Night	Connie Brockway	#90
11	Naked in Death	J. D. Robb	#24
19	Morning Glory	LaVyrle Spencer	#59
20	Sea Swept	Nora Roberts	#74
22	The Spymaster's Lady	Bourne, Joanna	#20
23	Dream Man	Linda Howard	#47
27	Not Quite a Husband	Sherry Thomas	#18
28	Dreaming of You	Lisa Kleypas	#2
29	Thunder and Roses	Mary Jo Putney	#88
30	It Had to Be You	Susan Elizabeth Phillips	#15
40	Sugar Daddy	Lisa Kleypas	#52
43	The Duke of Shadows	Duran, Meredith	#94
45	Cry No More	Linda Howard	#80
51	Match Me If You Can	Susan Elizabeth Phillips	#42
52	Passion	Lisa Valdez	#65
54	The Madness of Ian Mackenzie	Jennifer Ashley	#10
55	Paradise	Judith McNaught	#13
56	The Serpent Prince	Elizabeth Hoyt	#44
65	Devil in Winter	Lisa Kleypas	#3
66	Heaven, Texas	Susan Elizabeth Phillips	#22
70	Perfect	Judith McNaught	#45
73	My Dearest Enemy	Connie Brockway	#86
74	Welcome To Temptation	Jennifer Crusie	#36
87	Slave to Sensation	Nalini Singh	#51
94	See Jane Score	Jane Gibson	#50
95	Slightly Dangerous	Mary Balogh	#7
Total	30		30

This was a fun activity for a book-aholic like me.  Next time this poll comes up I'll do some re-reading and spend more time creating my list because I just kinda slapped this together at the last minute.  I know my top 10 or 20 favorites is correct but the rest .... not so much.

Top 100 Romances

I promised to post my Top 100 Romances that I submitted to AAR a few days ago. I procrastinated until the last minute. No surprise there. I used the list I made in 2007 and just updated and rearranged it a bit. Before doing this next time I should re-read some of them and take a little more time putting them in order.

I had a hard time figuring out how to put them in any kind of order. In general, my favorites are grouped at the top and everything else I just kinda stuck them in.

Num	Title	Author
1	A Rose at Midnight	Anne Stuart
2	Pride and Prejudice	Jane Austen
3	Flowers from the Storm	Laura Kinsale
4	The Notorious Rake	Mary Balogh
5	Red Adam's Lady	Grace Ingram
6	Fallen From Grace	Laura Leone
7	Night in Eden	Candice Proctor
8	After the Night	Linda Howard
9	To Have and To Hold	Patricia Gaffney
10	All Through the Night	Connie Brockway
11	Naked in Death	J. D. Robb
12	Black Ice	Anne Stuart
13	Duncan's Bride	Linda Howard
14	Mrs. Drew Plays Her Hand	Carla Kelly
15	Truly Madly Yours	Rachel 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	The Spymaster's Lady	Bourne, Joanna
23	Dream Man	Linda Howard
24	Heart of Deception	Taylor Chase
25	Breathless	Guhrke, Laura Lee
26	Heart of Fire	Linda Howard
27	Not Quite a Husband	Sherry Thomas
28	Dreaming of You	Lisa Kleypas
29	Thunder and Roses	Mary Jo Putney
30	It Had to Be You	Susan Elizabeth Phillips
31	The Surgeon's Lady	Carla Kelly
32	The Wives of Bowie Stone	Maggie Osborne
33	One Summer	Karen Robards
34	The Emerald Necklace	Diana Brown
35	Dance	Judy Cuevas
36	Lady Gallant	Suzanne Robinson
37	Nightfall	Anne Stuart
38	Joe's Wife	Cheryl St. John
39	Faro's Daughter	Georgette Heyer
40	Sugar Daddy	Lisa Kleypas
41	Wolf in Waiting	Rebecca Flanders
42	A Fine Work of Art	Shelby Reed
43	The Duke of Shadows	Duran, Meredith
44	Ride the Fire	Pamela Clare
45	Cry No More	Linda Howard
46	Out of Control	Suzanne Brockmann
47	The Phoenix Code	Catherine Asaro
48	The Windflower	Tom and Sharon Curtis
49	MacKenzie's Pleasure	Linda Howard
50	The Lady's Tutor	Robin Schone
51	Match Me If You Can	Susan Elizabeth Phillips
52	Passion	Lisa Valdez
53	One Good Turn	Carla Kelly
54	The Madness of Ian Mackenzie	Jennifer Ashley
55	Paradise	Judith McNaught
56	The Serpent Prince	Elizabeth Hoyt
57	The Libertine's Kiss	Judith James
58	Lady of Quality	Georgette Heyer
59	Anyone But You	Jennifer Crusie
60	A Debt of Honor	Diana Brown
61	Prairie Wife	Cheryl St. John
62	To Love a Dark Lord	Anne Stuart
63	The Monk Downstairs	Tim Farrington
64	Virgin River	Carr, Robyn
65	Devil in Winter	Lisa Kleypas
66	Heaven, Texas	Susan Elizabeth Phillips
67	Simple Jess	Pamela Morsi
68	Devilish	Jo Beverley
69	Skypirate	Justine Davis
70	Perfect	Judith McNaught
71	Bliss	Judy Cuevas
72	Winter Garden	Adele Ashworth
73	My Dearest Enemy	Connie Brockway
74	Welcome To Temptation	Jennifer Crusie
75	Sleeping Beauty	Judith Ivory
76	Libby's London Merchant	Carla Kelly
77	All the Queen's Men	Linda Howard
78	A Family for Gillian	Catherine Blair
79	Born in Fire	Nora Roberts
80	Caressed by Ice	Nalini Singh
81	A Much Younger Man	Dianne Highbridge
82	Slow Heat in Heaven	Sandra Brown
83	In the Midnight Rain	Ruth Wind
84	Menage	Emma Holly
85	Family Blessings	LaVyrle Spencer
86	Games of Command	Linnea Sinclair
87	Slave to Sensation	Nalini Singh
88	The Reluctant Heroine	Dawn Lindsey
89	The Nightingale's Song	Kathleen Eschenberg
90	All Night Long	Michelle Jerott
91	Kinsman's Oath	Susan Krinard
92	Upon a Wicked Time	Karen Ranney
93	Render Unto Caesar	Gillian Bradshaw
94	See Jane Score	Jane Gibson
95	Slightly Dangerous	Mary Balogh
96	Silk and Secrets	Mary Jo Putney
97	The Lone Rider	Lauren Bach
98	Texas! Chase	Sandra Brown
99	The Trouble With Joe	Emilie Richards
100	Heart Throb	Suzanne Brockmann
Total	100