Thoughts & Things

My Five Favourite Romance Novelists

In honour of it being Valentine's Day, I thought I'd share some of my favourite romance novelists through Thoughts & Things. Something about a decent romance novel has always brought some my to my heart, even when my head was in a bad state. I don't read as much of it as I used to, but it still brings me a great deal of happiness, and there are few things that help me unwind as well. This list isn't necessarily made up of the best writers I've ever read, it isn't meant to be a "best" list, but of authors that have stuck with me over the years. These are folks I have read at least five novels from a piece over the years, and would happily pick up another novel from any day. There are other authors within the genre that I love, but I thought it best to stick to a handful of the ones that I have the strongest connection with.

In no particular order...

Gena Showalter
I will always have a special place in my heart for Gena Showalter, as she is the writer that got me interested in romance novels in the first place. I ead her YA novel "Oh My Goth" when I was thirteen years old and loved it. I enjoyed it so much that I thought it would be best to find more of her work. At the time, she had significantly less YA options, although I was not fully aware of this. I grabbed the first thing I found at the library with a good cover blurb, which happened to be "Playing With Fire." This one is a very not for YA romance novel, and I fell in love with it right away. I have actually read well over thirty of her novels, and enjoyed most of them immensely. It was reading her novels that made me realise that romance novels were not completely silly like I had once thought, and that many of them had something to offer that I was interested in. As I first read her books a decade ago, both she and I have changed significantly in that time. Sadly this does mean that I read less of her books these days, partially because I am looking for other things in my romance novels, partially because her style has changed in a way that just doesn't engross me as much. That said, I still rank a number of her books among my favourites, and I wouldn't be opposed to picking up the occasional new release.

Would first recommend: Playing With Fire, Catch A Mate, The Darkest Night, Heart of the Dragon

Lynsay Sands
I first came to Lynsay Sands' books through the Argeneau series, although it was significantly smaller at the time. This was another early favourite for me when I was earlier on in my teens, although I first read her books a couple of years after I read Gena Showalter's works for the first time. I was enthralled by the modern day vampire romance stories she told, with an origin story that felt very fresh. That said, she has stayed in my heart for so long for an entirely different reason: She was the first author to introduce me to historical romance. Despite having realised romance wasn't as silly as I had once thought, I resisted coming to this are of it for a good couple of years. It was only because I had run out of Argeneau books to read (which is far from an issue one could run into easily today), and went seeking her other works. The local library had a couple of her historical works on hand, which I was curious about, simply because I liked her writing in general. I ended up falling in love with her historical stories, and even branched out to other historical romance authors fairly quickly. I did lose a bit of interest in her Argeneau series as it went on, but I still have a lot of a affection for the early books in the series, and I still happily read new releases of historical romance works from her.

Would first recommend: A Quick Bite, Devil of the Highlands, Love Is Blind, The Perfect Wife

Sherrilyn Kenyon
I have actually never read a book from Sherrilyn Kenyon that was not within the Dark-Hunter universe. I've always meant to. Maybe this will be the year. Regardless, this hasn't stopped me from reading over a dozen of her books. Sherrilyn Kenyon made me realise that some of those overly long series had a good deal of merit. While I don't think all of the books in the Dark-Hunter series are of equal quality, they're definitely still worth a read. I actually set it aside for a bit, but I fully plan on going back to it. I have gotten too much joy out of it to not see where else it has to go. This is the first lengthy series I ever got into as far as I can remember, and it actually inspired me to keep going with series from other authors on this list, as I knew that it could still be intriguing and enjoyable, and that there was a certain comfort staying in those familiar worlds. Kenyon is also one of the authors that made me more comfortable in admitting that I was a romance fan, as it was much less romance than some of the other romance things I enjoyed, despite it still having all the same romance characteristics. Sherrilyn Kenyon is an author who managed to keep me around for her works in general, but specifically for a long running series. I will always keep the Dark Hunter novels displayed on my shelf quite happily.

Would first recommend: Fantasy Lover, Night Pleasures

Lori Foster
Lori Foster actually makes this list for two reasons. The first reason is that she was one of the first authors to get me seriously interested in contemporary romances. The second reason is that she was one of the first authors to get me interested in romance anthologies. I actually initially found her work through anthologies, but they were anthologies that I read because I liked a particular writer in them. I ended up really enjoying her works, and read a ton of stand alone, series, and anthology works from her. I found other writers I enjoyed through the anthologies I read because of her, but I also ended up reading anthologies that I didn't recognise any of the writers in because she made me realise how much I could enjoy the format. When I picked up her full length novels, I realised how much I enjoyed her work in general, but also how much fun the contemporary romances out there could be. I hadn't taken many of them seriously before I read her works, but I found the stories just as good as I had in other subgenres of romance. I will still happily pick up any book of hers for a relaxing day of reading.

Would first recommend: Tempted, Too Much Temptation, Jude's Law

Lisa Kleypas
Lisa Kleypas is actually the newest to me of all the writers on this list. She is the only one I started reading in my twenties rather than as a teenager. While it has less nostalgia behind it, and I have read less of her work overall (still a fair few, but I haven't had a decade to read quite as many as for the other writers on the list), the love I have for her Wallflowers series is absolute. While the series only has four books, I still felt sad at the end of it because I knew that I wouldn't get to read about those characters anymore. I even ended up reading the Christmas novella because I wanted to connect with those characters again. I started the Hathaway series, and was overjoyed to find characters from the Wallflower series making an appearance. Lisa Kleypas had me in love with her characters, her stories, her humour, her research. Right away I knew this was an author I would stick with. It has been a couple of years, and that feeling has yet to fade. I have read many dozens of historical romance novels, and I truly believe the Wallflower series is among the best of what the genre has to offer.

Would first recommend: Secrets of a Summer Night