2009: My Fave Reads (and Un-Favorites)

It's nearly a week after my 2009 stats post, but I'm finally getting around to posting my list of favorite reads from 2009. At first I was planning on picking the "best" books from only the pool of books that were both published in 2009, and that I actually read in 2009. But when I started choosing books I discovered that I wasn't happy with those rules. Yes, I'm going to have to follow those rules when choosing my selections for the AAR poll, but who says I have to follow them on my blog too? I say I don't, so I'm not gonna.

So with that in mind, the following books were chosen using only one rule: I first read them in 2009. Some were published in 2009, some were published earlier, so I'm not calling this my list of Best Books of 2009. Instead, these are my Favorite Reads of 2009.

(Hyperlinked book titles will take you to my reviews.)

Contemporary Romance
Under the Influence
Author: Nancy Warren
Published: 2009
Grade: A-
It was a really close decision between this one and Hot Under Pressure by Kathleen O'Reilly, but Under the Influence wins it by an itty-bitty margin. I picked this book up because I happened upon Cindy's review -- this was before I really started blog-hopping so I have no idea how that happened -- and just fell in love with it. It's light, funny, sexy, and has a gender role-reversal plot (usually it's the heroine in a service position, and the hero as the high-powered executive). Because this book also happens to be a series romance, it's my pick in that category too.

Erotic Romance
Crossing Borders
Author: Z.A. Maxfield
Published: 2008
Grade: A-
Normally I don't go in for romances where one or more of the protagonists is under the age of 25, but this one really worked for me. Tristan is only 19 to Michael's 26, and this age difference is a source of conflict between the two, in addition to Michael's job as a police officer. This one was emotional, compelling, sexy, and romantic. Really it's one of the best erotic romances I've read, period.

Romantic Suspense
Fever Dreams
Author: Laura Leone
Published: 2004
Grade: A-
After reading Leone's awesome Fallen from Grace, I started tracking down her backlist. Fever Dreams was originally issued in 1997, but in 2004 this revised version was released by Leone's then-publisher Five Star. It's an adventure romance set in a fictional South American country that erupts in civil war, and is an edge of your seat, I-can't-possibly-put-this-book-down experience.

Mystery
Out of the Deep I Cry
Author: Julia Spencer-Fleming
Published: 2005
Grade: A
Clare Fergusson and Russ Van Alstyne. *Sigh.* Two of the best romance protagonists, ever. Out of the Deep I Cry is the third book in Spencer-Fleming's incredible series following this Army chopper pilot / Episcopalian priest and the Chief of Police in fictional Miller's Kill, New York. After hearing my AAR colleagues Rachel and Lynn rave about this mystery series, I just had to give it a shot. Oh. My. God. I read all 6 books (that are out) in about a week and a half. I couldn't stop myself, nor did I want to. I've loved them all, but Out of the Deep I Cry was just spectacular. It features a compelling mystery dating back to the 1930s, and one of the hottest, sexiest, most emotional kiss-scenes I've ever read.

Paranormal Romance
At Grave's End
Author: Jeaniene Frost
Published: 2009
Grade: B
Currently the only paranormal series I follow is Frost's Night Huntress series, although I haven't had the chance yet to read her latest entry in that series, Destined for an Early Grave, so I can't compare these two 2009 releases. What I can say is that I thoroughly enjoyed visiting with Cat and Bones in At Grave's End, and look forward to reading more of them in the future. This book is also distinguished as, IIRC, the only paranormal romance I read in 2009 that I actually enjoyed.

Historical Romance
Lord of Scoundrels
Author: Loretta Chase
Published: 1995
Grade: A-
After hearing so many readers rave about this book, I finally got off my ass and read it when it was one of the picks for the AAR Book Club. I am so thankful, because I just loved this book. Jessica Trent quickly became one of my favorite romance heroines, and I must say that she rocked my world when she actually shot Dain. I know a lot of readers don't like that scene, but I thought it was awesome. I guess I was expecting traditional romance fare and a heroine who threatened but wasn't really willing to pull the trigger (heh). While I enjoyed the entire book from start to finish, I found the first half much more solid than the second half, hence the minus attached to the A grade.

Women's Fiction
Red's Hot Honky-Tonk Bar
Author: Pamela Morsi
Published: 2009
Grade: A-
I don't read much Women's Fiction or Chick Lit, but I couldn't resist the premise of a forty-something bar owner grandmother heroine paired with a younger man. When I started the book I wasn't sure if I was actually going to like Red, but as the book wore on and Morsi peeled away the layers of her character, I grew to not only like her, but have a great deal of respect for her. The big reason I didn't like Red in the beginning is that she seemed like a terrible mother and grandmother. But at some point I realized that Red wasn't actually so terrible; that was her opinion of herself, not others' opinions of her, but because the book is told from Red's perspective, in the beginning (when you're only getting her view of herself) you're only seeing the bad stuff. 

Most Disappointing Book
What I Did for Love
Author: Susan Elizabeth Phillips
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Published: 2009
Grade: C+
I was so very excited that SEP had a new book coming out last year and I was thisclose to buying the hardcover. Then I read LinnieGayl's less-than-stellar review, and because she's normally a big fan of SEP like myself, I decided to wait and get it from the library. I'm so glad I did, because I was really disappointed with this one. It was kind of like a cross between SEP's older saga-style women's fiction books and her contemporary romances, only without her trademark humor. For most of the book we know the heroine far better than the hero, which is a problem because the heroine only sees the jerk the hero used to be, hence the readers see him as a jerk. It took far too long for me to like Bram, and I was disappointed that this one wasn't funny like SEP's romances usually are. What I Did for Love is far from the worst book I read last year, but it was the one that I was most eagerly anticipating that didn't end up paying off.

Least Favorite Book (aka Worst Book)
Lucky in Love
Author: Carolyn Brown
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Published: 2009
Grade: F
What can I say about Lucky in Love? How about that I hated everything about it, from the pushover hero, to the selfish heroine, to the frustrating Secret Baby plot, to the extreme head-hopping, to the 40-page epilogue final chapters, and especially the constant references to feces and/or bowel-movements. It was a chore to read this book. Had I not been reading it for review there is no way in hell I would have ever forced myself to finish it. I can't even make myself think about it anymore; I just want to banish it from my memory.

Biggest Gloms
Elizabeth Hoyt
Julia Spencer-Fleming
Megan Hart

Favorite New Author Discovered
Julia Spencer-Fleming

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So that wraps up my Favorite Reads of 2009, plus a couple of un-favorites. Have you read any of these books? What did you think?

Year in Review: 2009

I considered a few different approaches for my 2009 year end book review, but I figured nobody would be interested in reading a list of all 178 books I read last year, so I axed that idea. Instead I'm talking statistics -- specifically the various statistics from my 2009 reading habits that interest me. Probably none of you are interested in that either, but it interests me and it's my blog so I'm doing it anyway. Feel free to move onto the next item on your feed reader.

Total Books Read
As I already mentioned, in the year that was 2009 I managed to read a total of 178 books. This is nowhere near how many I've read in previous years, but I actually figured the number would be much lower. 2009 just felt like a busy year, but apparently I squeezed in more reading time than I'd thought.

Single-Title vs. Category vs. Short-Story
Of those 178 books, 3.4% (6) were anthologies, and another 9.6% (17) were short-stories* that were not part of an anthology. I also did a fair amount of category romance reading, and apparently I'm in love with the Harlequin Blaze line. (This is not really news to me, or anybody who knows me.)

Category romance made up 23.6% (42) of the books I read, and of those books, 90% (34) were Blazes. I expect this latter percentage to change a bit in 2010, simply because thanks to Lynn and SuperWendy, I'm discovering a new-found affection for the Harlequin SuperRomance line.

*I categorize books by length into the following groups: short stories (<20,000 words), novellas (20,000-40,000 words), and novels (>40,000 words).

Series vs. Stand-Alone
A whopping 60% (107) of the books were part of a series of connected books, which means that either I just love series, or simply that a large number of authors like to write connected books. I actually think both of these reasons are at play.

Pubbed in 2009 vs. Pubbed Prior to 2009
Only 45.5% (81) of the books were first published in 2009, indicating that I accomplished a fair amount of TBR shelf reading, as well as checking out recommendations of older books. The downside is that I have fewer books to choose from when making my selections for the AAR Annual Reader Poll.

New Reads vs. Re-Reads
Probably the number that most amazed me: only 5% (9) of the titles I read were re-reads. Normally this number would be significantly higher, if just for the holiday re-reading alone. But this year I wasn't able to find the time to re-read any of my annual holiday favorites, much to my disappointment.

Books Reviewed
Here's a number I'm quite proud of: I reviewed a total of 28.7% (51) of the books I read. Yay me! (Actually I wrote reviews for 53 books, but 2 won't be published until this year.) After 10 months of reviewing for AAR, I'm still loving it, although I suspect given my new job, the number of reviews I'm able to turn in will drop down a bit.

Borrowed vs. Bought vs. Freebies
Of the 178 books I read, I borrowed only 15.2% (27) of them, which quite surprised me, and almost all of the borrowed books I read in the first half of 2009. The latter half of the year was categorized by me borrowing quite a few books, and returning the vast majority of them unread.

I received 19.7% (35) of the books for free by reviewing them for AAR, and purchased a total of 65.2% (116) of the books I read. Holy crap! So that's where all my money went.

Print vs. Electronic
After receiving my Sony Reader in late-October, I managed to squeeze in 34 ebooks into my reading schedule, accounting for 19.1% of my reading. Ebooks made up the overwhelming majority of my reading from November and December, so I expect this percentage to skyrocket in 2010.

Genre/Subgenre Breakdown
Contemporary Romance: 50.6% (90)
Erotic Romance: 17.4% (31)
Romantic Suspense: 11.2% (20)
Historical Romance: 9.6% (17)
Mystery: 5.6% (10)
Women's Fiction: 2.8% (5)
Para Romance / Urban Fantasy: 2.3% (4)
Non-Fiction: 0.6% (1)

So, which genre/subgenre do you think is my favorite? If you answered Romance/Contemporary, you're right!

Grade Breakdown 
As usual, I had a pretty damn good reading year. This is because I almost totally rely on reviews and recommendations from fellow readers before trying a new author, and I pretty much have my strategy nailed.

I must add, however, that my number of C, D, and F reads were higher than in years past. There are two primary reasons for this: 1) I started reviewing for AAR, thus becoming unable to rely on reviews before trying a new book, and 2) my entry into ebook reading prompted me to take many more chances with books and authors that were unknowns to me. I discovered many new fantastic authors, but I also discovered a lot of average or crap reads. But enough about that. On to the statistics*!

A Range: 15.8% (30)
B Range: 55.8% (106)
C Range: 21.6% (41)
D Range: 2.1% (4)
F Range: 1.1% (2)
DNF: 3.7% (7)

*Anthology stories were graded individually, and these figures do not include re-reads.

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Okay, I'll stop boring you all now. (And if you're still reading, I give you props -- you're probably a stats weirdo like myself.) I'd originally planned to include my favorite reads from 2009, but this is already a hellishly long post, so I'll save that for another day soon.

So tell me: How did your 2009 reading year shape up?

Plugs and Sequel Setups: A Rant

Warning: This post contains ranting and bitchiness. 

I think I'm becoming pickier the older I get. Either that, or I have a lower tolerance for bullshit. A few years ago I wouldn't have batted an eyelash when reading this section from His Secret Agenda by Beth Andrews:

"But," she continued when Dean remained silent, "if you have a problem with people who've paid their dues to society, reconsider if you want this job." And really, did she want someone so...judgmental working for her? "One of my good friends spent time in prison and he stops by quite often."

Dillon Ward, Kelsey's brother, had served time for manslaughter after killing their stepfather while protecting Kelsey. After his release, Dillon had battled prejudice and his own guilt. Luckily, he'd gotten past all of that and was now able to move forward in a relationship with local bakery owner Nina Carlson.

Allie smiled sweetly. "I wouldn't want any of his criminal tendencies to rub off on you."

But now when I encounter sections like this? Yeah, now that middle paragraph reads to me like a flashing neon sign, jerking me out of the story for what is an obvious commercial break. Within the space of a couple of pages, the author managed to plug both her previous releases -- although the other plug was a mite subtler than this one -- and had me gritting my teeth. (In all fairness, though, I did enjoy His Secret Agenda and bought both of Andrews' previous books, so clearly I wasn't too annoyed.)

I also have to point out, as I'm sure all of you already know, that Andrews is far from the only author to plug previous books in the middle of a story, so I'm not picking on her specifically. Hers just happened to be the example I had at hand.

Maybe it's just me, and nobody else is bothered by these advertisements right in the middle of the story. Or maybe you all are just as irritated as me and want to shout: Don't plug your other books in this one, because frankly: I DON'T CARE. If I like the one I'm reading enough, I'll check out your other books. So, please, STOP with the commercials.

Then there's the case of hijacking the current story for the sake of setting up the sequel. This really ticks me off. Now, I'm not referring to not-quite-subtle hints that there will be another book in the series. I can generally roll with those. No, I'm talking about an actual hijacking of the plot, such as what occurred in Donna Kauffman's novella Lock, Stock, and Jingle Bells in the Kissing Santa Claus anthology. As I said in my review:

But what really irked me, and dropped the grade a bit, was when the author introduced a subplot midway through. At first I was intrigued, and hoped the author was using it to help bring Sean and Holly together. Uh, no. Turns out that the sole purpose of adding this little mystery was so the author could establish an elaborate setup for a future story. The ending that should have been devoted to Holly and Sean’s romance – you know, the romance in this story – felt hijacked and I felt cheated.

This little "setup" dropped the grade from a C+ to a C-, and had me pretty irritated. When I've put the time and effort into reading a book, I expect a satisfactory conclusion. I don't expect to have the characters' story shoved to the side in favor of promoting a subplot that is entirely irrelevant to the characters' romance and conflict resolution. But maybe it's just me.

With so many books containing obvious commercials, and others featuring obvious series/sequel setups, it's making me wonder if I'm the only reader irritated by this state of affairs.  

• Do book plugs bother you, or do you like knowing that the author has another book out? 
• Does it take you out of the story when you read a plug for another book, or are you able to just ignore it? 
• Have you ever felt that the ending of a book was hijacked so that the author could setup the next book in the series?
• How do you feel about obvious series/sequel setups?
  
• Am I just being a total bitch and this isn't worth ranting about? It's okay, you can tell me.

Rambling Ponderings on Authenticity

Sometime back, somewhere in my Internet travels, I read a comment by an aspiring author that said something like:

"Because I'm a virgin I've been worried that my sex scenes won't be very good, but your comments have given me back my confidence!"

I admit, my first reaction upon reading that was to think, yeah right, those scenes are going to suck bad if she's never even experienced sex herself.

Then I pondered my very bitchy cynical reaction.

I'm all for authors having the freedom to write about experiences they've never had -- occupations, places, people, etc. If all authors only wrote what they themselves had directly experienced, the book world would be a hell of a lot less diverse than it is. I want to read about firefighters and treasure hunters and lawyers, and most authors have never, and will never, hold one of these jobs. I want to read books set in Alaska and New York City and 18th century London, and I don't particularly care if the author hasn't ever lived in that place, in that time, as long as the setting feels authentic to me as the reader.

But here's the thing: Even if an author researches her butt off, she's still likely to get some of the details wrong. There are just some things that you don't know until you experience it firsthand -- and you don't know what you don't know -- so it's almost inevitable that an author will get something wrong. It may be a minor thing, or it may be a major thing, but either way, if it's a subject that you, as the reader, knows very well, the inauthenticity of it is going to pull you out of the story.

Then again, the majority of readers won't have a clue that the author got something wrong, nor will they care. Because, like authors, most readers haven't had firsthand experience with all the occupations and places featured in books. I've never been a firefighter or treasure hunter or lawyer; I've never been to Alaska or New York City or 18th century London. So the only time this issue arises for us readers is when the book we pick up happens to be one of those featuring something we are intimately familiar with. Otherwise we remain happily clueless.

As I see it, the big problem facing the virgin writer above is that the overwhelming majority of her readers have experienced sex, and they're going to know if she gets it wrong.

But, wait. It's not like Romance Novel Sex is completely realistic in the first place, is it? We have Magically Orgasming heroines and Expert Sex God heroes, and romance couples never get sand in uncomfortable places after sex on the beach. There's no awkwardness or pain or messy bodily fluids or not-so-sexy noises. It's a perfect, rose-colored view of sex, and much of it ain't exactly realistic, although I do think the realism has improved over the years.

So, if the writer in question relies on the conventions of the genre, will her sex scenes read authentically to readers?

Part of me thinks she could fake it, but the bigger part of me thinks the scenes will feel "off" in some way. Why? Because, as a reader who started reading romances long before having sex, I know that I didn't really "get it" until I experienced it. Sure, I understood the basic mechanics from sex-ed classes, and I'd read a gazillion romance novel sex scenes, but it was all still rather hazy and indistinct. It didn't click until I did it. Hell, it didn't fully click until I'd done it a lot more than once.

TMI? Anyway, moving on...

What about female m/m authors? The m/m romance and m/m erotic romance genres are rapidly growing, and it seems like most of the authors and readers are heterosexual women. Do these authors' m/m sex scenes read inauthentically given that they've never experienced m/m sex, let alone what it's like to be a gay man? As I'm not a gay man, I don't really know. But that's exactly my point: If most of their readers are straight women, they're not going to know either, will they? Which means that most readers aren't going to be bitching afterward about how the author "got it all wrong." And hell hath no fury like ticked off readers.

Which brings me back to my main conclusion: That the biggest problem the virgin writer is facing is the fact that she's relying on books, research, and her imagination, whereas most of her audience will have firsthand, intimate experience with the subject at hand. Even with Romance Novel Sex conventions on her side, she's fighting an uphill battle to convince readers of the realism of her sex scenes.

Thoughts? Agree? Disagree? Do you think authors can ever write a truly authentic experience they've never had?

_________________
For further reading on the subject of writing and authenticity from a reader's perspective, check out Lynn Spencer's post All in a Day's Work, and Rike Horstmann's Familiar Territory.

November '09 in Review

November was by far my lowest reading month for the past two and a half years, which doesn't surprise me. For the whole month I was busier than in the past. Then there's the fact that during the first part of the month I was just coming out of a reading slump, and during the second half I became addicted to Supernatural -- which had a significant impact on my available reading time.

In all, here are my stats for the month:

Novels:

• Tempted by Megan Hart - This one was interesting. It was like women's fiction with a dose of erotica. It was different enough from my usual reading material to help break me out of my slump, so I'm very grateful for that, but I hesitate to give it a grade because I'm not totally sure about my feelings.
  
• Breakfast in Bed by Robin Kaye - Click book title to read review.
  
• Tie Me Down by Tracy Wolff - Review Forthcoming
  
• Captain's Surrender by Alex Beecroft - Click book title to read review.
  
• Make Her Pay by Roxanne St. Claire - Review Forthcoming
• Crossing Borders by Z.A. Maxfield - I loved this book. It's one of the best erotic romances I've read (emphasis on romance), but given that it's M/M, it certainly won't be for everyone. I'm very grateful to one of the posters on the AAR message boards for recommending this one.
  
• Under the Covers anthology by Jordan, O'Clare, and Mellor - Review Forthcoming
  

Novellas:

• Making Waves by Pepper Espinoza - I really liked this one; solid B-level territory. It's the story of an A-list actor who's very much in the closet, and the openly gay brother of his fiancee.
  

Short-Stories:

• This Is What I Want by Megan Hart
• Four O'Clock by Pepper Espinoza
• And to Hold... by Pepper Espinoza
• Playing the Game by Megan Hart
• All You Can Eat by Megan Hart
• After Class by Megan Hart
• Opening the Door by Megan Hart
• Peanut Butter Kisses by Pepper Espinoza

(You probably noticed the crap-load of stories by Hart and Espinoza. After I read the latest Hart, Newly Fallen, I'm planning on doing mini-reviews by author for all these short-stories.)

Despite the length of this list, only 7 of the titles were full novels, and at least a couple of the short-stories were short enough to be read in 15-20 minutes. Combining the short-stories and the novella would only add another 1-2 novels to the list, which is why this is my lowest month in a very long time.

Despite the low quantity of words, however, it was a very good reading month on an enjoyment scale. Grade-wise, 3 of the titles are in the C-range, 1 of the anthology stories was in the D-range, but everything else was B-range or higher, so that's very good.

How was your November reading month?

Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Mo

Last year, I read every single book I checked out from the library. Every single one. This year, I'm lucky if I have the time to read any of them before the 3 week loan period is up. The problem is that I'm still checking out the same number of books, I'm just far busier now than I was a year ago.

Right this very minute I have seven books checked out from the library, all of which I want to read, but with a stack of review books and all of the books I own sitting in my TBR pile, the reality is that I'll probably only read one or two of these before I have to return them. (Most I can't renew because there's a waiting list.) So I need some help in choosing which of these seven books I should make the biggest effort for.

"A comedy of manners set in Victorian London: full of werewolves, vampires, dirigibles, and tea-drinking." I normally avoid paranormals, but the completely awesome cover of Gail Carriger's Soulless hooked me. Well, that and all the good reviews I read. When Blythe, who like me normally avoids vampires like the plague, told me that she really enjoyed this book, I thought that it might just be worth breaking my vampire ban for.

I heard about His Secret Agenda by Beth Andrews over on Wendy's blog, and it interested me for pretty much one reason only: the heroine is a former lawyer turned bar owner. This is so totally up my alley that I didn't even read the back cover blurb before borrowing it. Apparently the hero is some kind of undercover agent and he thinks the heroine is hiding something, which apparently, she is. Whatever. The heroine owns a bar. 'Nuff said.

Dirty by Megan Hart was also recommended by Wendy. I read Tempted by Hart a couple of weeks ago, and it was a nice change of pace from all the romances I've been reading. Wendy described the plot of Dirty as "a self-destructive heroine who wields sex like a weapon meets her match in the hero, a man determined to love her. Whether she wants him to or not...." Sounds great. Now, if only I can find the time to read it.

Stolen Heat by Elisabeth Naughton attracted my attention when fellow AAR reviewer Emma gave it a great review. I love Adventure Romances, plus my first few years of college were spent as an anthropology major, so an action-adventure romance featuring an Egyptologist heroine just screamed my name. I know this is part of a series, but I'm hoping it stands alone well.

I've read exactly one Mary Kay Andrews book before -- Savannah Blues -- and while I enjoyed it, I didn't love it. I'm not sure what prompted me to check out The Fixer Upper, other than seeing it on several people's Eagerly Awaiting lists. Of all the books on this list, this is the least likely to get read. But if I hear a great recommendation, maybe I'll bump it up on the priority scale.

I borrowed Never Love a Lawman by Jo Goodman because I've never read a Western (romance, that is), and I heard many good things about this one. Although it features a will-stipulation plot, I'm still interested. Who knows, maybe the author can sell it. Also, the hero is a sheriff named Wyatt, so that's got to be good, right?

Last, but not least, is Bad Moon Rising by Katherine Sutcliffe. This book also made Wendy's Top 16 list, which is what brought it to my attention. A romantic suspense set in New Orleans (+), featuring a disgraced recovering alcoholic hero (++), and a heroine who's a former prostitute (+++). How can I not read this book? It's got my name written all over it. At this point, this is the book that's leading the pack for my attention.

So tell me: Any books on this list that I absolutely, positively must make sure I read? Any I should just forget about, or save for another time?

The First Person Narrative Problem

I've known for a while now that I don't like first person narratives, I was just having trouble accepting it. Logically I can find no reason not to like them, so I tried to force my enjoyment. I thought if I just made myself read some FPNs, I'd get over my issue and would have even more books to love. So I gave it a go, bit back the inevitable groan upon discovering a book was an FPN, and put up a valiant fight.

I lost.

So in an effort to determine exactly what my dislike is stemming from, I've been pondering the issue of late. And, by golly, I think I've got it figured out.

This all came to a head recently when I happened to read three FPNs in a row. In the past, my FPN reads had big gaps between them filled with bunches of third person novels, so I'd never before noticed differences between my FPN reading experiences. It wasn't until I read these three stories back-to-back that I realized it wasn't as simple as disliking the FPN style across the board. In fact, I've discovered that I actually do enjoy FPNs depending on certain factors.

Tense: Present vs. Past

For me at least, present tense has a sense of immediacy to it -- this is happening right now -- whereas past tense reads more like storytelling -- this has all happened already, and the narrator is telling you the story. Logic tells me that I should enjoy present tense more because the narrative style should make for more compelling reading. But logic fails me in this case: I just don't like present tense. I prefer the storytelling feeling I get with past tense, and more often than not, present tense just irritates the hell out of me. I can't really explain it; I just don't like it.

Genre: Romance vs. Everything Else

But tense isn't the only problem I have with FPNs. A lot of it boils down to which genre the book is in. As I've been pondering my apparent dislike of all books first person, I realized that there are a number of books that I've really liked that are FPNs. Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series, Helen Fielding's Bridget Jones's Diary, and Megan Hart's Tempted are just a few of the books written in FPN (past tense) that I've really enjoyed. And they all have one thing in common: they're not romances.

Thinking back over the FPNs I've read, I realized that when I'm faced with an FPN in a genre other than romance, I don't care about the narrative style. It's only when it comes to romances that my dislike for FPN rears its ugly head. I finally recognized that my preference is all tied up in whose story is being told. For me, a romance is always the story of two people, and I want to know what's going on in both of their heads. I get enough of having just one person's POV (mine) in real life romance, so fiction romances provide a gratifying opportunity to know what both the main characters are thinking and feeling. I love that. When it comes to mysteries, women's fiction, or any other genre for that matter, I view it as one person's story, so FPN works for me.

Me: Present Me vs. Past Me

What about those few FPN present tense romances that I've read and enjoyed? What about Dancing Shoes and Honky-Tonk Blues by LuAnn McLane? Or Just One of the Guys by Kristan Higgins? I'll be honest: I liked them, but I didn't like them enough for it to make an impact on my dislike of the narrative style. I read them at a time when I was so hungry for romances of any kind that I was eating up any and every romance I could get my hands on. But I've yet to read another Kristan Higgins, even though so many people rave about her, and every time I pick up a LuAnn McLane my reading experience includes an internal battle over the narrative style.

Nowadays I have a monstrous TBR pile that continues to grow every week, and I also have less free time for reading. So basically I've become pickier about what I choose to spend that time reading. When I say "pickier" I don't mean to imply that FPN romances aren't as "good" as third-person romances. What I'm saying is that there are so many romances out there to choose from, and so little time with which to read them all, that I'm done trying to force myself to enjoy a narrative style that just doesn't work for me.

The positive side of all this is that I believe I've finally made peace with my dislike of the first person narrative style: I'm giving myself permission to not read them. I also think my future reading experiences will be all the more enjoyable for having a better understanding of when FPN can work for me. Does this mean I'll never again pick up a first person romance or first person narrative in the present tense? Not at all. (Although it remains unlikely.) It just means I'll stop forcing myself and let it come naturally.

What about you? Do you have a preference for first person or third person stories? Does past or present tense make a difference to you? Does genre impact your preference? Have your preferences changed over time?

Top 10 Favorite Comfort Reads

At All About Romance the pollsters are back with this month's theme poll: Favorite Hanky, Comfort, and Holiday Reads. I knew I would participate in the poll, but I'm a total procrastinator when it comes to actually sitting down and ranking my favorite books, so I probably wouldn't have bothered to prepare my ballot until the last minute -- which is November 15th, by the way. Then I read Janga's post about her favorite comfort reads, and I was inspired to not only come up with my list early, but also to explore just why I find certain books more comforting than others.

For me a favorite book is not necessarily a comfort read, although all my comfort reads are favorite books. Comfort reads are the books I go to when I need to feel uplifted, when I need to laugh, and when I need to smile. All three are a requirement. They're the books that, just by picking them up, I'm infused with positive feeling. When I begin to read, I feel a sense of peace wash over me -- all is right with my world when I'm in the world of this book. They're the books that, when I close the book after the last page, I'm filled with optimism, hope, and an overall sense of goodness. I don't know that I can fully describe the feeling I get from a comfort read, I just know that it's not the same feeling I get from a really good book. It's different somehow.

So, without further ado, here are my (as of right now) Top 10 Favorite Comfort Reads, in no particular order. (Which really means that I just haven't gotten around to ranking them yet.)

Bet Me by Jennifer Crusie comes in as a very close second behind Welcome to Temptation as my all-time favorite romance, but is the only one of the two to make this Top 10 list. Min Dobbs is one of my favorite romance heroines, in all her bitter, straight-forward, let's-cut-the-crap glory. The dialogue sparkles; the chemistry is outstanding. There's that scene in the park when Cal feeds Min a donut. Ho-ly smokes. Add in a fabulous cast of secondary characters and some mouth-watering food, and I'm a goner every time. I also suffer from Chicken Marsala cravings every damn time I read this book -- cravings which I always give in to.

Tall Tales and Wedding Veils by Jane Graves is similar to Bet Me in that it's also the story of a curvy plain-Jane who falls in love with one gorgeous hunk of a man. But from there the plots diverge. Tall Tales also features one of my favorite romance heroines in the form of Heather Montgomery. After I read a slew of romances featuring not-so-bright women, I often turn back to Tall Tales for a dose of Heather. She's smart, damn capable, and is killer when she's in crisis mode. In other words: she rocks. Of course I wouldn't love the book so much if I didn't also love hero Tony McCaffrey -- a man who at first glance is nothing more than a carefree playboy, but deep-down has a vulnerability and sweetness about him that melts your heart.

Anyone But You is the second of four Jennifer Crusie books to make this list, but surprisingly, while I love it, it's actually fairly far down on my overall Crusie ranking scale. For some reason though, it's an absolute favorite comfort read. Maybe it's the dialogue. Maybe it's the Hero in Pursuit aspect. Maybe it's the scenes between Nina and Alex when they're watching movies and are both too shy to make a move on the other. I don't really know. I just know that I laugh, I smile, and I just feel good every time I read this book.

The Trouble with Valentine's Day is one of two Rachel Gibson books to make this Top 10 list, but it's not my overall favorite Gibson book -- that honor belongs to Tangled Up In You. But Tangled isn't in my Top 10 comfort reads, and I think it's because of the heavy subject matter. Valentine's, on the other hand, is a Favorite Funny and has just a touch of that heavy emotional stuff. Both Kate and Rob have had to deal with some crap -- of their own making in both cases -- and their experiences have left them both gun-shy when it comes to trusting other people. But they find redemption in each other; learning to forgive themselves, learning to trust again, and ultimately find true love. Mostly though, this book just makes me laugh.

 

Getting Rid of Bradley and Manhunting are my two favorite category romances by Jennifer Crusie, and they're also both great comfort reads. In Bradley you have an Opposites Attract romance mixed with a touch of romantic suspense, and in Manhunting, Crusie delivers a funny friends-to-lovers story that makes me smile from start to finish. Both feature Crusie's trademark wit and charm, which I love falling back into during my re-reads.

Continuing with the category romance love is When He Was Bad by Jane Sullivan (aka Jane Graves). Bad is both a favorite comfort read and also a favorite holiday read, as it's set during the Christmas and New Year's season. This is another Opposites Attract story, featuring bad boy shock-jock Nick and good-girl pyschologist Sara. I can't quite explain why I love this book so much. I suspect one reason is the excitement of the secret affair these two carry on. But I also love that I'm able to totally buy into Nick being a reformed bad boy by the end, because he's mentally already started down that path before Sara even enters the picture. He would have made it there eventually; she just provides that extra incentive to do it faster. So this is one of those rare Good Girl/Bad Boy romances that I'm able to fully believe in at the end.

See Jane Score by Rachel Gibson. Perhaps my all-time favorite sports romance -- and man, do I love my sports romances -- Jane features a reporter determined to make her mark on the journalism scene while battling against sexism, and a bad boy hockey player who just makes you want to say "Mmmm." It's also a Best Enemies plot, which I'm a total sucker for, and I just love the feeling of authenticity that Gibson brings to her heroes. Luc is damn sexy, but he can also be crude and arrogant and obnoxious. But damn, he's sexy. And Jane is no wallflower, even though she dresses like one. She's a woman who knows herself, and is comfortable with who she is. Plus, she kicks ass at darts. Oh, and did I mention that Luc is damn sexy?

The Matchmaker's Mistake by Jane Sullivan (aka Jane Graves) was released as part of the now-defunct Harlequin Duets line. I've read the other story in the book, but it's Matchmaker's that I keep coming back to. Shy hero Mark is determined to win the woman of his dreams, but she won't give him the time of day. Enter gregarious bartender Liz, who takes pity on Mark and gives him a makeover sure to catch Dream Woman's attention. What she doesn't expect is to start falling for Mark. I just love stories like this. I tend to be a sucker for makeover type stories anyway, but I especially love those rare romances where the shy plain-John is getting the makeover instead of the other way around.

The last entry on my list is a comfort read just for the sheer nostalgia factor, if nothing else. I first read A Dangerous Game by Candace Schuler way back in junior high, and my adolescent self just absolutely loved it. Dangerous features a tough-as-nails ex-Marine who's a bit sick and tired of all the "I'm woman, hear me roar" attitude coming from modern career women. He meets his match in private investigator Natalie -- one of those pesky "hear me roar" feminists who's a bit sick and tired of all the alpha male chest-thumping she encounters in her line of work. This is definitely a comfort read for me, but I really don't know how much of my love is based on the actual story, and how much of it is being swamped with nostalgic memories over one of my first favorite romances. Either way, Dangerous will be staying on my keeper shelf for another 18 years at least.

So that wraps up my Top 10 Comfort Reads list. What books make your list? Feel free to share your favorites, along with what kinds of books make good comfort reads for you. I'll just sit back and enjoy my chicken marsala.