It has been an eventful year around here. The year started with Mel and I getting involved in a new adventure, being judges for the Readers Crown. This lead to me inviting her to joining my review site Heather’s Books, only it was no longer Heather’s Books as Melanie was now a part of it. After months of talking about it we FINALLY decided on a new name, The Book Reading Gals. Then it was time to redesign the site which took us some more time. On September 1st we relaunched the site with a new address and name.
In between all this we attended the first ever RomCon Convention in Denver where we got to meet some of our favorite authors Nalini Singh, Melissa Mayhue, Christine Feehan and Carly Phillips to name a few. While we were getting ready for RomCon we discovered new authors, Erin Kellison, Lila DiPasqua and Jessa Slade are just a couple. We also decided to create a reading challenge that just about killed us, but was a lot of fun.
We read a TON of books as well, some of them got reviewed and some didn’t, not that it really mattered because we got to spend time doing what we loved to do, read books.
And since it is the end of the year we decided to spotlight what we thought were the best books we have read this year.
Heather: I read about 200 books, but most of those were re-reads of favorites, I reviewed 61 books, some of them new books, and some of them books that have been out for awhile but I read for the first time. Narrowing it down to my top 5 books took some effort but I finally did it. So here is my top 5 books of the year and why I loved them.
Heather’s Top 5 Books:
1. Something about You by Julie James – Of all the books that I read this year this one is my favorite book. There was just something about Jack and Cameron that I loved. This book is one of those great classic romance stories.
2. Just Listen by Sarah Dessen – I thought long and hard about this one, especially as I don’t like books written in the first person, it was a toss up between this one and Lock and Key by Sarah Dessen. The reason it made my list was because it is one of those books that you just don’t get, all throughout the book Annabel drove me nuts, I just didn’t get her, and then towards the end you find out why and it all falls into place. As a high school teacher my heart literally ached for her, but I ultimately cheered her final decision.
3. MacGowan’s Ghost by Cindy Miles – This book had it all, great characters, humor, a plot that made absolute complete sense. This is part of series, but can be read as a stand alone. I loved Gabe and Allie. She was the perfect match for Gabe, and called him on all crap. Gabe, well I think you need to discover Gabe for yourself.
4. Viking in Love by Sandra Hill – Okay this book is just flat out awesome. I spent most of the time I read it laughing out loud, in fact at one point I was laughing so hard I literally fell out of my chair. The antics that Cademon and Breanne get up to, not to mention all the secondary characters that make this book flat out hilarious.
5. Waterbound by Christine Feehan – Choosing this book as my number 5 was rather difficult, but I ultimately chose it because she choose to have a heroine that is Autistic. As an aunt of two that are autistic, I loved how she showed just what it is like to be autistic. Lev was also the perfect hero, as he knew exactly what he needed to do for.
Melanie: Heather is way more organized than me and she keeps much better track of what she has read. I usually read the book and most the time forget about it, this way I can reread it and enjoy it again. I have started keeping track in a program on the computer but I forget to enter the books half the time. So since I have only been blogging for a few months I decided to just look at the most favorite since I started this adventure.
Melanie’s Top 5 Books:
1. Shadow Bound by Erin Kellison – We had the opportunity to meet Erin at RomCon and she was such a fun person I just had to get her book, and even though I am more of a contemporary/historical fan, this had to rank as my #1 book.
2. Cold Sight by Leslie Parrish – and this one came in a close 2nd. I could not come up with any other two books that I could not praise enough and once I read them I was on a mission to get others to try them. I can’t remember the last book I read that I talked so much about to anyone who would listen.
3. When Harry Met Molly by Kieran Kramer – I just finished this book and enjoyed it so much I had to put it on my list. When you can get me to laugh from the moment I open the book you have me won over.
4. Married by Morning by Lisa Kleypas – this was one book I could not wait to get my hands on, I have loved the Hathaway series and was sad to say farewell, but the story was well worth the wait.
5. Bride Quartet series by Nora Roberts – yeah I cheated and listed the whole series, who does not love a good Nora book and I was thrilled to read these. I had started loosing faith in her with her last few books, same plot and story different jobs and characters basically predictable. Than I read these, classic Nora at her best.
Let’s hope this next year brings us many more good books to choose from, and feel free to comment whether you agree or disagree with us. Here’s to a new year of reading!
2010 was a year of changes, new discoveries and a lot fun. We can hardly wait to see what 2011 brings us.
Great lists ladies, and yeah, to know what I have read, I also read back my own blog. Too many great books to choose from for a list of only 5.