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

****
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?

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.