Mina asked this question on Facebook the other day, and while I answered with three of my favorite books, new ones that I really enjoyed kept popping in my head. Lest I spam her thread, I\’m doing this blog post instead!
Now for me when I really love a romance book I immediately re-read it. Like, right when I finish it, I stew around in a puddle of feels, and then I go back to the start and experience it all over again. These were the books that did that for me this year, in no particular order:
1. Submission Moves by Camilla Sisco. A feminist and an MMA fighter walk into a bar right after his match. Sounds like the recipe for a joke, but instead it delivers a lot of steam and lots of food for thought for subscribers to Jezebel and Bustle and The Mary Sue but also love romance.
2. When A Scot Ties The Knot by Tessa Dare. Because Scotland, and Jamie Fraser, and drawing, and hilarity, and so hot.
3. The Year We Fell Down by Sarina Bowen. The Ivy Years series, you guys. (Because I had to restrain my self from putting up The Year We Hid Away and Blonde Date up here too.) They don\’t shy away from difficult topics, but Sarina writes them with such honesty and heart, they just grab you by the chest. The Year We Fell Down\’s Corey Callahan, a former hockey star disabled by a terrible accident, is tough and vulnerable in all the best ways, and Adam Hartley, her next-door neighbor? Sweet and complex.
4. Songs Of Our Breakup by Jay E. Tria. This one brought me back to high school: Bands, and hanging out with boys all day, and trying to get over your ex when he\’s always there. Plus cute Japanese actor friend to help (that part not in high school experience but a girl can always dream!)
5. Off Base by Tessa Bailey and Sophie Jordan. HOO BOY. The sizzle in this one is off the charts. May I present to you two sample sentences?
\”You\’re worth shaking hands over. Worth the time it takes to be read the riot act.\” (Beck & Kenna)
\”You\’re not going to run out of here and pretend you didn\’t just back that ass into me.\” (Cullen & Huntley)
6. The Duke Takes A Bride by Suzette de Borja. An aristocrat called The Delicious Duke and the childhood friend he tries to marry for convenience. Add a bug-eyed goldfish that happens to be black. This one had me laughing, squirming and clutching my heart for feeeeeelllssss.
7. Choco Chip Hips by Agay Llanera. A YA book in a sea of contemporary romances? Yes please. This had me in tears in the best way possible. The story of shy, overweight Jessie discovering herself is just too wonderful.
8. Learning to Fall by Mina V. Esguerra. Team Stayson! Hunky rugby player and quirky book blogger, with an interesting \’Live Like Fiction\’ challenge in the end and proof that awesome alpha males need not be jerks.
And that\’s for my 2015! I wish I could\’ve read more (she said, looking guiltily at her towering TBR pile) but it\’s been an awesome book year so far! What\’s on your list? 😀
Bianca Mori 