Memorable Category Moments

This post has been some time in the making. It was originally inspired by this Paula Roe blog. I started my list, but then it got tooooo long and I put it aside. Then last month my mother moved houses and I decided (at my husband's pointed suggestion) to take a few (!) boxes of surplus books along to her garage/moving sale. So there I was poring (or pawing) over my collections and I found many more books to add to the list. It grew from 30ish to 50ish. I put it aside again.

A couple of weeks back Dear Author posted about category romance and I've only just found time to read all the comments. They provided a timely reminder of why I love these books so much and sent me searching for my abandoned list of favourites.

My immediate problem? Cutting back to 20. Looking over the list and rereading Paula's post, I decided to make mine about the books which made a spectacular impact as a reader or as a writer. Some illicited a light-bulb moment, some were just blow-me-away reads, others represent a particular kind of reading experience that's become a major favourite.

Imposing a one-book-per-author rule seemed like a good way to start cutting the list. Choosing one book per author, not so easy. The books I've listed might not be my favourite by that author, but how do you pick a favourite (for example) from Ruth Wind's amazing backlist? How do you choose one favourite Crusie or a Nora above all others?

So, fanfare please, for my list of 20 Memorable Category Romances. In no particular order, I might add.

1. A Man Called Masters, by Lucy Walker. I grew up on Lucy Walker's romances set in the Australian outback, often with an English heroine, always with an enigmatic hero. She was it, # one.

2. To Tame A Wild Heart, by Emma Darcy. Another outback-set romance, which I loved for the strong Aussie outback heroine and the way she took charge of her problem and set the story in motion.

3. Jezebel's Blues, by Ruth Wind (Barbara Samuel.) My introduction to her amazing writing. Brilliant use of setting--the river, Jezebel, is a major character interwoven into the story arc as well as a metaphor for character conflict.

4. Private Reasons, by Justine Davis. The first Silhouette Desire I read...or I should say devoured. Reread it recently and it's still absolutely riveting. Bonded me with the cool, stiff-suited accountant hero. Just lovely to see him unravel.

5. The Notorious Groom, by Caroline Cross. The ultimate bad-boy-meets-good-girl Desire. Gorgeously written, warm and funny and romantic.

6. The Sister Swap, by Susan Napier. I am an unashamed Napier fangirl and this book is a perfect example of how she takes a classic storyline and twists it into something original, fresh and wonderful. Oh, and then there's the dessert restaurant scene. I feel a yen to reread it right now!

7. Rhys's Redemption, by Anne McAllister. Man it was hard to choose one McAllister. This I chose because of the lesson it taught me, as a fledgling romance writer, about high-stakes motivation. Intense, emotional, lovely.

8. Hell on Wheels, by Naomi Horton. This one taught me that anything is possible and romantic--even a truckie hero and a love scene in his rig--in the hands of a masterful writer. And there's something about Horton's voice, the way she writes, that resonates with me.

9. Killian's Passion, by Barbara McCauley. Again, tough to choose one from the Secrets! miniseries but this was the first I read and it led to me glomming the rest. Plus it's just so delicious and hot and everything desirable.

10. Beth and the Barbarian, by Miranda Lee. This one is all about the guilty pleasures. A sheikh, a feisty Aussie heroine, an abduction. Arabian horses. It's the ultimate fantasy read (and I'm not even a fan of the sheikh romance.) And did I say hot?

11. Baby Down Under, by Ann Charlton. Unfortunately this is the last by Charlton (sob) whose characters are never enlisted from Romance Novel Central Casting. Nor is the conflict predictable in this unusual storyline which also paints Brisbane with loving, atmospheric detail.

12. The Tall, Dark & Eligible trilogy, by Eileen Wilks. I'm not cheating here, really, because this memorable moment is all about the trilogy. Three books, three brothers, concurrent and intertwined timelines. I didn't realise until I was doing my last bookshelf reorganisation, but I suspect this was the unconscious inspiration for my Princes of the Outback trilogy.

13. Her Forever Man, by Leanne Banks. One of my favourites of Leanne's wonderful heroes. A widower, a father, honourable, troubled, bound to do right by everyone he loved. And then there is that piano scene. Hubba.

14. Too Many Bosses, by Jan Freed. You may have noticed that most of my favourites are from the shorter lines but this is my favourite SuperRomance. Loved the characters, the situation, the scenes, the writing. Authentic and real, but without losing the romantic edge.

15. Frisco's Kid, by Suzanne Brockmann. This is probably not my favourite of the Tall, Dark & Dangerous series from a reader's perspective, but to me it was a master class in character, GMC and intertwining the internal and external. Plus I am always a sucker for a wounded alpha!

16. Live A Little, by Nancy Warren. I'm not an easy audience when it comes to humour in romance, and this particular mix of humour and heat isn't easy to pull off. One of the best cute meets ever, the dialogue is laugh out loud funny, and the interaction between h/H is hot, hot, hot.

17. Getting Rid of Bradley, by Jennifer Crusie. Speaking of LOL funny and hot. But it was eeny-meany-miney-mo deciding which Crusie to include. This came out on top because it was an early read which lead me to the brilliance of the others.

18. The McKade brothers, by Nora Roberts. Cheating, but the magic of the Roberts' trilogy (plus one, in this case) lies in the family dynamics so how could I choose one? Although lawyer Jared in that suit...yimminny.

19. The Temptation of Sean McNeil, by Virginia Kantra. Why do I love this book? Because everything worked for me. The everyman hero, the heroine-in-jeopardy, the secondary characters, the romance, the love scenes. It just all came together to press all the buttons.

20. Cullen's Bride, by Fiona Brand. Her debut and long enough to be a single title, but the emotional intensity and the tormented hero just blew me away. Plus, as the first down-under author to sell a debut down-under-set book to Silhouette, Fiona instantly became my hero.

Any on my list make your list of favourites? And if you've blogged a list, let me know. I love to see which books other readers rate as most wonderful!

Labels: category romance