We asked our authors what their favorite romance and/or erotics reads were in 2018.
Here are their responses…
Pumpkin Spice
(Author of “My Midnight Cowboy” in Rough Edges)
“I’ve kind of been in a romantic suspense mood and Burton serves it up just right!”
Renee Dominick
(Author of “Through Glass a Stranger” in kINKED)
“A Girl Like Her, by Talia Hibbert. The main female character is neuroatypical, which is not a trait we see in romance very often. Talia handles it with aplomb, and so does the hero.”
My favorite short work of the year was The Skin of Someone Else by Charlotte Stein, from editor Rachel Kramer Bussel’s Best Women’s Erotica of the Year, Vol. 3. A superb example of literary erotica, it took my breath away.
The Obsession, by Liliana Lee. A trope-turning erotic tale set in Ancient China. Princess Shanyin violates societal norms and takes what she wants, but her dissipation masks a dark past. I loved how this story drew me into a world that felt recognizable, but managed to upend my expectations.
Anna Kyle
(Author of “Coming Up Roses” in Rough Edges)
Trying to narrow down my favorite book in 2018 is crazy hard so I’m going with the series that surprised me. In Death by J.D. Robb. My friend has been talking about it for years. While at the library one day returning Year One by Nora Roberts I decided to check out books 1 and 2.
Of course, that’s all it took. I asked my friend to borrow some of her books (she has them all, because of course and thank goodness) to continue the series. Set in the future, each book has a death to be solved (so it’s a mystery) but I’ve fallen in love with the relationship between homicide detective Lieutenant Eve Dallas and billionaire Roarke (so it’s a romance). She’s flawed and complicated and makes mistakes. Most of all, she’s driven to find the murderer. Roarke is a reformed, mostly, criminal turned billionaire who’s head over heels for his lieutenant. They both have compelling, tragic backstories that we learn about little by little as they both struggle to learn how to be a couple.
Eve Dallas and Roarke are the heroine and hero but man, this couldn’t be done without the supporting cast. I especially love the quiet snark of Peabody, Eve’s partner of sorts in solving the case.
I’m up to book 15 and getting my next batch today at lunch. Hooray! Happy reading, everyone!! This series combines my strange fascination with Investigative Discovery channel television shows (Homicide Hunter, anyone? Go for Kenda) and my lifelong love of romance novels. Both have satisfying endings – the bad guy gets caught and punished (usually) in the former and the HEA or HFN keeps me wanting to next book. It’s an all-is-right-with-the-world-justice-is-served feeling. How perfect is that? Well, I’ll tell you. Very.
