I read a lot of great books this year and it's very difficult to choose a favorite. In fact, I can't choose just one, it's impossible! I'm not even sure I could select only one from each genre that I read from. Seeing as I only read 74 books this year, then I could say that at least half of them are worth mentioning and worth reading, maybe more. I won't be a lamo though and include every single one in this post. I've selected a few of the most memorable starting with.......
My favorite newly published author/favorite regency romance,
Anya Wylde, and her book, The Wicked Wager
Anya Wylde, and her book, The Wicked Wager
This amazing little murder mystery, regency romance is only $.99 for Kindle on Amazon and only 240 pages. It's super delightful, laugh out loud funny and left me craving more from this amazing new author. She has a new book coming in 2013 but I don't know the details yet.
Amazon Book Description
The infamous rake, Lord Richard Hamilton, has finally chosen his bride—the very appropriate Miss Emma Grey.
The ton approves, Lord Grey is pleased, Lady Grey delighted, and Emma is over the moon, but her uncle, (the blasted) Duke of Arden opposes the match, and Emma is ordered to move to the duke’s estate to think things over.
Richard Hamilton refuses to take things lying down and concocts a plan. A plan that should have brought the lovers together and had them married within a month. It was a simple matter of masquerading as the duke’s gardener, compromising the lady, and then having the duke rush them off to Gretna Green.
Alas, he underestimates the duke’s intelligence and the tangled situation on the estate—never had he imagined that compromising a lady could be so difficult.
His endeavours lead to a comedy of errors, charades, and knotty love affairs. Yet he forges ahead in spite of pesky house guests, a flea bitten mattress, his lovesick best friend, and a blackmailer.
Just when things seem to be going well, someone is murdered (very inconvenient), and he happens to be one of the suspects (extremely inconvenient).
His simple plan for winning the wager suddenly becomes … a tad complicated.
My favorite novella, which happens to be a Victorian romantic Christmas story is:
Christmas Stockings
by Karen Hall
Only 37 pages and $.99, this novella, set in the late Victorian period, was an amazing little romance. I wish it had been a full length novel. I fell in love with the characters, it was very well written and original.
Holly Chamberlain can write love letters for others, but no decent young lady
would dare write one for herself. So when her secret beloved, Grayson Clark,
vicar at St. Martin in the Pines, arrives at her office with a request to write
love letters for a shy friend, she suspects he is actually the friend and the
letters are to the granddaughter of a baronet known to admire him. His request
for her to replace an injured cast member of St. Martin's production of A
Christmas Carol delights her, but the baronet's granddaughter is also in the
cast, dashing any hopes Holly has for her own Christmas love
story.
Grayson Clark can speak eloquently from the pulpit, but not to Holly Chamberlain, the woman he secretly loves. After all, he's just a vicar while she is the daughter of one of London's wealthiest merchants and known to be admired by an up and coming barrister. Dictating his own love letters to her may be folly but what else can he do? Having her join the cast of A Christmas Carol seemed like a miracle, but now his predecessor is insisting Grayson be attentive to a baronet's granddaughter in order to pay for St. Martin's new roof. Can't vicars have their own happily-ever afters?
After all, it's Christmas.
Grayson Clark can speak eloquently from the pulpit, but not to Holly Chamberlain, the woman he secretly loves. After all, he's just a vicar while she is the daughter of one of London's wealthiest merchants and known to be admired by an up and coming barrister. Dictating his own love letters to her may be folly but what else can he do? Having her join the cast of A Christmas Carol seemed like a miracle, but now his predecessor is insisting Grayson be attentive to a baronet's granddaughter in order to pay for St. Martin's new roof. Can't vicars have their own happily-ever afters?
After all, it's Christmas.
My favorite historical fiction:
A Murderous Procession
by Ariana Franklin
Book 4 in the Mistress of the Art of Death series
$12.99 /Kindle
$12.99 /Kindle
I loved all 4 books in this series. They kept me on the edge of my seat, with my palms sweaty and my heart racing. The plots were excellent, the characters exceptional and I'm sad to see the conclusion and worse yet, my heart breaks that this incredible author passed away. She truly captivated me and introduced me to Historical Fiction as genre with the Mistress of the Art of Death (book 1).
In 1176, King Henry II sends his daughter Joanna to Palermo to marry his cousin,
the king of Sicily. Henry chooses Adelia Aguilar to travel with the princess and
safeguard her health. But when people in the wedding procession are murdered,
Adelia and Rowley must discover the killer's identity, and whether he is
stalking the princess or Adelia herself.
My favorite Re-Read / Historical Romance:
London's Perfect Scoundrel
by Suzanne Enoch
book 2 (Lessons of Love)
I re-read novels but not many. I have a small stack of books that every so often I fall back on to read again, like watching a favorite movie. I find I love the characters and the adventure. The story is usually not super intense but light enough to take me away from the present and I don't feel bogged down by the intensity or length of the book.
I've read London's Perfect Scoundrel probably 3 times since I found it 3 or 4 years ago. The hero is "so bad he doesn't have to be good." The heroine is feisty and knows exactly what she's going to do with this naughty hero....yep, make him perfect. It's also currently $1.99 at the Kindle store.
A determined young lady vows to give one of London's infamous rakes his
comeuppance -- but when the rogue turns the tables, who truly learns a lesson in
love?
Beloved Saint -
The ton gossips call him "Saint" -- but the Marquis of St. Aubyn has well
earned his reputation as London's perfect scoundrel. Evelyn Ruddick knows she should avoid him at all costs -- but the strikingly beautiful lady wants to aid the children of the Heart of Hope Orphanage, and he heads the board of trustees. Evie is determined to teach the charming, arrogant man a lesson in compassion, but it won't be so easy -- especially since his touch is setting her desire aflame, making Evie yearn to submit to his passionate instruction ... The idea of joining in her "project" is unthinkable, but this enchantress refuses to give up! So what else is there for a self-respecting rake to do but seduce the lady? Yet soon it is he who is being seduced by Evie's tender heart and fiery blushes. Could the temptation of long, passionate nights in her arms bring about the impossible? Could the disreputable Saint at long last be reformed?
This year I also read for the first time, Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen. I fell in love with Elizabeth and Darcy and went on a year long reading spree of all things Pride and Prejudice. I came across 2 authors who, in my opinion, did justice to the characters of P&P :
Anna Elliott's
Georgiana Darcy's Diary
Volumn 1 free on Kindle
&
Charlotte ~ Pride and Prejudice Continued
by Karen Aminadra - $.99 on Kindle
All 3 of these novels were great, giving these two secondary characters from Pride and Prejudice the chance to shine. I think Jane Austen too would have enjoyed reading both of these novels.
"Mischief Manged" ~ Kelly
by Karen Aminadra - $.99 on Kindle
All 3 of these novels were great, giving these two secondary characters from Pride and Prejudice the chance to shine. I think Jane Austen too would have enjoyed reading both of these novels.
"Mischief Manged" ~ Kelly
Thanks for your list and descriptions. I will definitely check into some of these.
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