Maria, Marisa, and I love romance equally and yet consistently choose different books to blog – the number of times we’ve requested to review the same novel in the course of a year is exactly once. So not only do you readers get the benefit of a wide range of stories to read about, but I’m routinely turned on to new authors by my lovely co-bloggers. What a job perk!
So it’s no surprise that our best-of lists don’t contain many repeats. In fact, while Marisa crowed about many terrific paranormal reads – among other genres - yesterday, my list will be almost wholly comprised of historical romance fiction.
I just want you all to know that I do read paranormals, and will resolve to make 2012 the "Year Melanie Chooses a Paranormal" to add to her end of the year list.
But it’s 2011, folks, and I couldn’t choose among my favorites so I’m listing them all here.
I’m full of surprises, though, so my number one, ruin-the-curve, favorite book of the year was…
Not a historical. And those of you who frequent Romantic Reads already know how much I loved this book. On the surface, it’s the story of a woman, Harper James, whose sister decides to wed Harper’s ex-husband’s brother. What we are told up front is that Harper and Nick were marred very briefly in their early twenties and haven’t seen each other since their divorce. But as events unfold, the circumstances of their relationship and the reasons for its demise are revealed layer by layer, and in their unpeeling Kristan Higgins draws a moving and heart-breaking portrait of a woman completely emotionally scarred from her mother’s abandonment of her when she was a teenager. This book is so complex in its storytelling, so realistic in its depiction of the realities of marriage, and so uplifting in its message that a person can love you no matter what has come between you, that it still resonates with me months after I turned the last page. So, yeah: best book of 2011. Hands down.
I began this post promising historicals, though, and this was a banner year for them. Here’s a quick look at five of my favorites:
The Many Sins of Lord Cameron (Highland Pleasures Series #3)
Tomorrow Maria wraps up the Heart-to-Heart wrap-up with her list of the best romance fiction of 2011. Sorting through and remembering all my great reading experiences of the past twelve months has me excited to see what our favorites authors have in store for us in 2012.
And thanks to you wonderful readers who share our love of romance and keep us on our toes with your excellent posts.
Until next year, happy reading!
Melanie Murray is the moderator of Romantic Reads, BN.com's all-romance, all-the-time romance community.
you know who took top honors for me