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In search of some new recommendations for reading material? These are just a few of my favorite authors and books. Most are romance novels, although a couple are literary fiction. These are my keeper books that I read over and over. Even though everyone has their own perspective on what makes a great book, these authors are well worth the time if you're not yet familiar with their work. Enjoy!
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Match Me If You Can by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
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I've read all of Susan Elizabeth Phillips' novels. They're all unique and sweet and funny, but Match Me If You Can is probably my favorite. I can never resist a quirky heroine with bad hair and the arrogant hero who falls for her. A great contemporary romance read!
Just One of the Guys by Kristan Higgins
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Every Kristan Higgins novel is my favorite at the time that I'm reading it, but if forced to pick just one, Just One of the Guys would have to be it. This is one of her earlier books when she wrote her novels in the first person from the heroine's perspective. Later novels switched over to the third person and gave a little more insight into the hero's perspective, but Higgins manages to make both styles resonate with the reader. She writes hilarious stories about everyday women and the good-hearted men who love them. Oh, and there's always a great cast of secondary characters that get you snort-laughing!
A Dog's Purpose by W. Bruce Cameron
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As a dog lover, and especially as an avid adorer of Golden Retrievers (my first dog was a Golden), A Dog's Purpose has to be the loveliest tale ever told of the bond between a dog and its human. Highly recommended. Be prepared to cry copiously and laugh uproariously!
These is My Words: The Diary of Sarah Agnes Prine 1881-1901 by Nancy E. Turner
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Full disclosure, folks: This is not a romance novel but historical fiction. Translation? Be prepared to cry at the end, and not those cleansing, happy tears that result from a HEA. There's a lot of death and tragedy in this book, and the death of one of the main characters in particular punches its way through my brain every time I glance at the cover. And yet any book that has such a strong emotional impact a decade and a half after reading it is an amazing tale, tragedies and all. More than anything, this is a tale of one woman's resilience and her quest for self-improvement in the harsh Arizona frontier. Be prepared to have your guts scooped out and served on a platter.
Love in the Afternoon by Lisa Kleypas
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You'll never go wrong with a Lisa Kleypas novel. Her historicals are always filled with unique characters, and the Hathaway siblings are some of the best. Love in the Afternoon is about the quirkiest Hathaway, Beatrix, devotee of sick animals and Mother Nature. Christopher is the hero, a formerly superficial man turned inside-out from his experiences in the Crimean War. An exchange of love letters in the beginning paired with a case of mistaken identity make for a wonderful read. They misunderstand each other, support each other, and love each other, flaws and all, and not necessarily in that order. Highly recommended!
The Wall of Winnipeg and Me by Mariana Zapata
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This is a fantastic contemporary romance about a football hero with unapologetically wretched social skills and the personal assistant who bends over backward for him until she's finally had enough one day and walks out. Thereafter is one of the greatest stories of friendship and slow-igniting romance that I've read in a very long time. And yes, this book is truly 675 pages. Plan on committing an entire weekend to Vanessa and Aiden's story. Watch out for the great elevator scene that will make you wish we all had our very own Aiden's lap to crawl into whenever life gets scary.
The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden
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Like all good fairytales, this is a novel both lovely and scary, sad and beautiful, and with just the right amount of magic and folklore to convince us all that wood sprites and house spirits really do exist. This tale is the beginning of a trilogy that takes place in Medieval Russia before it was called Russia and centers around a girl who sees pagan creatures and has received the attention of an enigmatic winter-lord, who is also Death. Seeking a true escape from the modern world? Take a journey with a young woman who refuses to let the confines of her Medieval world and its limited expectations for women clip her wings.
The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang
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Delightful! Stella is on the autism spectrum and desperate to tackle her intimacy issues regarding sex, but since she equates French kissing to cleaner fish picking leftover foodie bits out of a shark's teeth, she's already at a disadvantage in the learning process. Who better to give her a tutorial than a male escort? Michael is a goodhearted hottie who's patient with Stella's eccentricities, including her very practical to-do list bullet-pointing various and sundry sexual positions. Since Michael has entered into his unconventional career in order to pay off his mother's medical bills, he's a sympathetic character and ultimately a perfect match for Ms. Hoang's sweet, earnest heroine. This is a touching, humorous love story with lots of social awkwardness and lots of emotionally satisfying moments. You will wince, laugh, swoon, and shed a few tears. Highly recommended!
The Hating Game by Sally Thorne
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This fun, hilarious, and sexy contemporary romance will grip you from start to finish. Lucy and Joshua are excellent examples of main characters in an enemies-to-lovers romance novel whose interactions are utterly delightful instead of exhausting and questionably mean-spirited. Some authors struggle to find that perfect balance of verbal sparring and sexual tension, but author Sally Thorne has found that literary sweet spot. This is written in Lucy's point of view and perfectly conveys her loneliness and desire for Joshua's friendship. Our hero's rigid personality hides a surprising level of loneliness, too, and your heart will go all soft and squishy once you realize the depths of his self-despair. The movie is absolutely adorable, although it doesn't fully actualize the complexities of our main characters' motivations and private sorrows. Still, the chemistry between the actors is wonderful and makes an enjoyable companion piece to the book. You'll love this romance and read it over and over!