My Top 10!

by Anna Campbell

If any of you read my review of BLACK SHEEP and ARABELLA by Georgette Heyer last month, you'll know that I'm hanging up my ballet slippers here on Christmas Eve and going off to seek new pastures!

Before I go, I want to do a round-up of some favorites that I've reviewed over the last five years - although basically anything I've talked about here, I've loved. That was part of the column's raison d'etre.

So these are the really special books that stuck in my memory. By the way, the order doesn't indicate anything except that there are 10 books on this list! They're all winners in my opinion!

I thought I'd start with some mystery/romance combos. This genre has become my reading of choice over the last few years, partly because of recommendations from readers here. Thank you!

The first is the Amelia Peabody series from the late, great Elizabeth Peters. I've been eking out this wonderful series for the last few years - I've got three to go.

These books are funny and quirky and full of information about Ancient Egypt. They also feature a string of fabulous romances, starting with the opinionated Amelia and her beloved Emerson, "the greatest Egyptologist of this or any age." There's a long and very passionate relationship spread across several books, featuring Amelia's dashing and enigmatic son, Ramses, who makes a wonderful romantic hero.

Next I'd like to mention the charming Daisy Dalrymple  mysteries by Carola Dunn. These are set in the 1920s and they're absolutely delightful. You'll so enjoy the impetuous Daisy's adventures and especially her romance with police Inspector Alec Fletcher.

Whatever you do, try this next recommendation if you haven't already. I discovered Julia Spencer-Fleming's fabulous Claire Fergusson and Russ Van Alstyne mysteries through this site, so thank you, thank you, thank you. I think they're just extraordinary. Romantic and suspenseful and atmospheric and beautifully written, I can't recommend these books featuring a vicar and the local police chief of a small town in upstate New York highly enough. Start with IN THE BLEAK MIDWINTER, and I bet you're ordering the rest straightaway! I've recommended these to friends high and low and everybody turns into a convert!

If you're regulars, you'll know that I've been on a bit of a Nora Roberts kick lately. I particularly like her stand-alone romantic suspense books and of those, my favorite is THE WITNESS. This features a geeky and very appealing heroine who witnesses a Russian mafia murder as a teenager and spends the rest of her life trying to stay alive. What happens when she falls in love, much against her better instincts, with the local police chief of the town she's chosen as her latest bolthole? If she stays, she risks discovery. If she leaves, she'll break her heart. Wonderful characters and writing and a nail-biting situation. NORTHERN LIGHTS was another favorite!

One of the things I wanted to do when I started here was talk about category romance. Some of the best stories out there are series books and I was keen to share some of my favorite writers with you. I've read some wonderful category romances in the last five years, but I thought I'd pick out three particularly memorable stories from authors who never fail me.

The first is A WEDDING AT LEOPARD TREE LODGE by Liz Fielding. Liz Fielding is an absolutely exquisite writer whose books always make me laugh and cry and then sigh with joy at the end. A WEDDING AT LEOPARD TREE LODGE is about finding love where you least expect it and gathering the courage to risk everything to gain happiness. Highly recommended.

The next book on my top 10 is Aussie author Sarah Mayberry's HOT ISLAND NIGHTS. Another one to make you laugh and cry - and man, is it sexy! There's a fantastic sequel called HER BEST WORST MISTAKE that I think might be even hotter. Well worth checking out. Sarah has such a wonderful understanding of the human heart, and her characters are so real, you expect them to pop around for a cup of tea after you've finished reading the book!

My final category recommendation is Sarah Morgan's RITA-Award winning DOUKAKIS'S APPRENTICE. This one's such fun. It takes the tried and true Harlequin premise of the heroine falling in love with the guy who makes a hostile takeover of her father's ailing business, and then turns it on its head. Full of surprises and laughs and lovely emotion. All of Sarah's books are good, but this one really lingers in my memory as a classic.

My list wouldn't be complete without a couple of historical romances - you knew they were coming up, didn't you?

The first one is among my all time faves ever - Loretta Chase's MR. IMPOSSIBLE. People regularly pick her wonderful LORD OF SCOUNDRELS (also reviewed on this site) as one of the best romances ever written, but for me, there's just a tad extra goodness in MR. IMPOSSIBLE. It's funny, it's sweet, it's steamy, it's clever, and I lay good money that you'll fall in love with Rupert Carsington, the hero.

The next writer on my list is Liz Carlyle who I think would currently be my favorite historical writer. Picking a book of hers to recommend was really difficult, so I thought I'd go with the first one of hers I read, the one that started the addiction. THE DEVIL TO PAY is another book full of unexpected takes on a tried and true formula, a feisty heroine making a rake account for his myriad sins. One of the many things I love about Liz's books is that they create such a rich world. It's wonderful revisitng characters from earlier stories and seeing how the various strands of the series plots intersect and enrich the current book.And don't you love that cover?

My last choice is one of the all-time great romances, historical or otherwise. Laura Kinsale's immortal FLOWERS FROM THE STORM. This is unlike any other book I've ever read and its intensity is amazing. Absolutely unforgettable! If anyone ever tries to tell you that romance is trivial and brainless, steer them in the direction of this book. Actually, don't - it's too good for the naysayers! It's a story of redemption and risk and forbidden love triumphing against impossible odds. A masterpiece.

So that's my top 10 of the books I've reviewed here on The Romance Dish. All are VERY highly recommended.

So what would your top 10 romance novels be? I'd love to see your lists!

Something Sweet

by Anna Campbell

As everyone who frequents this lovely blog is very sweet - I sure know I am (snerk!) - I thought today I'd talk about some sweet category romances that I've recently enjoyed.

I've got nothing against a bit of passion. I've got even less against a LOT of passion.

But now and again, I seem to want something a little gentler than rampant desire and wild rapture. Some of my favorite romances are sweet, often they don't even include a love scene, but still they manage to pack a huge emotional punch and they sizzle with sexual tension.

When I think of top-notch sweet romances, I think of wonderful stories like Eva Ibbotson's A COUNTESS BELOW STAIRS or Liz Fielding's A WEDDING AT LEOPARD TREE LODGE. Both unforgettable stories for all that kisses are about as hot and heavy as these characters get.

By the way, while these books aren't current releases, they're all available as e-reads (and some still in print). And I've read other books by the authors so even if you check out another story by one of these writers, you won't be disappointed.

LAST-MINUTE PROPOSAL (2008) by Jessica Hart is a real charmer. When cuddly wedding cake designer Tilly is paired with hard-jawed, hard-eyed, hard-bodied tycoon Campbell in a reality show to raise money for charity, they're both convinced that they have nothing in common. And they'd both be wrong!

I love stories of opposites attracting and finding rich depths in their own characters as a result. Definitely worth picking up.

THE LONER'S GUARDED HEART (2008) by Michelle Douglas is another charmer. Oh, no, I think that particular version of the 'c' word might be getting a workout in this review. It's another opposites attract story and features another hard-jawed, hard-eyed, hard-bodied hero in 'loner' Kent. When winsome Josie moves into a cabin on Kent's remote property in Australia's Hunter Valley, his days as a loner are numbered! It's a case of when an irresistible force meets an old immovable object, and something's gotta give! This one just gets better and better as you read it and the ending brought a happy tear to my eye. Again, well worth a look. 

THE CORPORATE BRIDEGROOM (2002) by Liz Fielding is the oldest book I'm reviewing today but it's still available digitally and it's a great read, with one of the most perfect, heartbreaking ends to a love scene EVER.

The plot is a staple of category romance - the hero's hostile takeover of the heroine's family business. But once Liz Fielding focuses her wit, wisdom and warmth on these wonderful characters, she turns this into an unforgettable story. The Claibournes and the Farradays have feuded for years over control of London's most glamorous department store Claibourne and Farraday. So Niall Farraday Macaulay definitely counts as the enemy for Romana Claibourne, the store's public relations whizz. But sometimes it can be fun sleeping with the enemy! Love enemy into lovers stories and this one is a great one.

My last in this roundup of excellent sweeter romances only came out in February this year so it's still very much available. THE SUMMER THEY NEVER FORGOT by Kandy Shepherd is an absolutely lovely story about reunited childhood sweethearts, Ben and Sandy. But will they be able to make a go of it as adults dealing with tragedy, the demands of career, and the years apart? It has a beautiful ending which will leave you misty eyed and smiling. This book also offers the added bonus of lovingly observed descriptions of the gorgeous seaside setting of Dolphin Bay on the New South Wales South Coast in Australia. I was all keen to move to Dolphin Bay, and then realized it was fiction. Sob! Great disappointments in modern fiction! LOL!

So do you like sweet romances or it is steamy all the way for you? Do you have any favorite authors who write on the sweeter side? Have you read any of these authors? What did you think?

Harlequin Round-up! Yee-ha!

by Anna Campbell

Hello, everyone! It's been quite a while since I've done a Harlequin roundup (checked and seems to be way back in June last year). So I thought I'd do a quick swing around some short contemporaries that I've recently really enjoyed, and either share some favorites of yours or introduce you to some new authors and lines you may not have previously considered. All of these books are still available from online retailers and as e-books so they shouldn't be too hard to find.

So buckle your seatbelts!

First up is one of the best Harlequins I can remember reading for ages. I grew up reading the equivalent of Harlequin Presents. Oh, how my heart would beat faster at the thought of a new Anne Mather or Violet Winspear. Sarah Morgan's books have that same classic feeling of alpha male meeting his match in the strong, clever woman he falls in love with. In DOUKAKIS'S APPRENTICE, mega-millionaire and all round bossy boots, Damon Doukakis, thinks he's inherited an absolute airhead assistant in Polly Prince with her new age ideas of staff creativity and plants and pets in the office. But Polly is a woman of hidden depths and Damon finds himself completely at sea with this brilliant, unconventional dynamo who teaches him a breathtaking lesson in love. Seriously, even if you generally don't like Harlequin Presents because of the occasionally overbearing heroes, you'll love this book. It's a real hoot and the chemistry between Damon and Polly sizzles like a goldfish in a frypan. I can't recommend this one highly enough!

While I'm on the subject of Presents, have you read Annie West's books? Annie and I work together as critique partners, but when a book's as good as GIRL IN THE BEDOUIN TENT (isn't that a gorgeous cover?), I don't feel I'm doing any special pleading for a friend. Innocent Australian traveler Cassie Denison and dashing Prince Amir find themselves trapped in dangerous proximity in the wild desert. Annie does some of the best Sheikh books around and this is one of my favorites of hers. There's the thrill of forbidden love about the relationship between these two proud, wary people, and the sexual tension when they're trapped in a tent together with no escape on the horizon is heart-stopping. Really great stuff! GIRL IN THE BEDOUIN TENT is out in America in March.

While I'm on the subject of great Aussie writers, do you know Bronwyn Jameson's work? A couple of years ago, three of Bronwyn's exquisitely crafted Silhouette Desires were up together for the RITA. Now that's some serious kudos. Bronwyn writes so beautifully, I find myself just stopping to re-read her sentences and glory in her prose. And nobody does that delicate advance and retreat of sexual tension better than she does. It's wonderful watching her characters fall in love, usually against their better judgment. But they just can't help it! In MAGNATE'S MAKE-BELIEVE MISTRESS, Isabelle Brown works as a freelance housekeeper to the rich and famous, but finds herself entangled in a dangerous game of mistaken identities when she takes a job for intriguing, sexy Argentinean playboy Cristo Veron. You'll have great fun with this one. Cristo and Isabelle are great characters who will linger in your mind.

Sarah Mayberry is one of my favorite authors and her latest SuperRomance ALL THEY NEED is one of her best, I think. There's such depth of emotion in this story. Melanie Porter was once a vivid, vibrant woman but years with a bullying husband have sapped her spirit. She decides to abandon the high society where she's never felt at home and set up a bed and breakfast on the beautiful Mornington Peninsula near Melbourne. Rich boy Flynn Randall belongs to that luxurious world Melanie has fought so hard to escape and his arrival in her life threatens all her dreams of independence and finding herself again. Or does it? Perhaps Flynn is deeper and more worthy than she believes. Perhaps he offers Melanie the chance of personal fulfilment that she came so close to losing. A beautiful story of two people who have to take dangerous emotional risks to achieve their happiness.

Liz Fielding is another of my favorite authors and she's never let me down yet. But even a favorite author occasionally writes a book that slams that ball out of the park and into the next suburb. TEMPTED BY TROUBLE is longer than most Harlequin Romances as it was originally written to launch the new Riva line in the U.K. There's a definite Cinderella touch to this story of Elle Amery who has put her life on hold to raise her sisters. But what's nice about this story is that it never quite goes where you think it's going to - for example, Elle's sisters really aren't ugly either inside or out, and in fact emerge as wonderful characters in their own right. Into Elle's life rides Prince Charming Sean McElroy. And seriously, girls, he is CHARMING with a capital 'ch'! One of the nicest heroes I've ever read - I wish he lived next door to me! Sean's gallant steed isn't a white charger but a pink ice-cream van called Rosie who also becomes a character in her own right. This book is such a charmer. You won't be able to resist it! It's as delicious as Rosie's ice-cream!

I don't read a lot of Mills and Boon Medical Romances and I know they can be difficult to find in America, but there are a couple of authors who are auto-buys for me. Strangely they're all Aussies! Don't know what it is about Australians and sexy doctors!

Sharon Archer writes heartfelt romances set in Australian country towns. A large part of the pleasure of reading one of her books is getting to know the bush community where the story is set. One of my favorites of hers is BACHELOR DAD, GIRL NEXT DOOR which is a story about second chances and forgiveness and finding your place in the world. After his wife's death, Dr. Luke Daniels brings his young daughter back to the beautiful seaside town of Port Cavil while he wonders how to rebuild his life. He doesn't count on meeting the girl who enchanted him as a young man. Even more troubling, he finds himself still attracted to her. Terri Mitchell is now an A&E doctor and she's far from sure she wants to risk her heart again with her teenage crush, Luke. Especially as it's perfectly clear that Luke never wants to fall in love again after losing his wife so tragically. You'll close this one with a happy sigh and a smile.

Amy Andrews, another Aussie, is a practicing nurse who writes dramatic and very sexy books that buck the stereotype of Medicals being all sweetness and light. So please don't be fooled by the rather corny title of this book (seriously, Harlequin, this has to be one of the WORST titles ever!). ALESSANDRO AND THE CHEERY NANNY is the first in a two-parter with VALENTINO'S PREGNANCY BOMBSHELL (which isn't much better as a title, frankly!). It's another story about a father bringing up his child, in this case a four-year-old son, after the death of his wife. When brooding Italian A&E doctor Alessandro Lombardi encounters vibrant nurse Natalie Davies, he doesn't realize just how profoundly Nat will change his life and that of his withdrawn son Julian. Another one you'll close with a smile and a sigh of pleasure.

So do you read Harlequins? What are your favorite lines? Why? Have you read any good category romances lately?

Liz is the Biz!

by Anna Campbell

First of all, do Americans use that phrase that something is 'the business'? Meaning it's the bee's knees, the cat's miaow, the cream in my cawfee, the salt in my stew? Anyway, just in case you're wondering, it's an expression of the highest approval!

Liz Fielding is one of the best writers in romance today. Two RITA Awards don't lie!

Liz is a British writer who, as far as I know, has written exclusively for Harlequin Mills and Boon's Sweet/Romance line. But if you're not familiar with her books, don't be fooled that there's anything sugary about these stories, nor that they're anything less than passionate. I find the sexual tension in a Liz Fielding keeps me turning the pages with the best.

I first discovered Liz's work in 2004 when I went to the Romance Novelists Association conference in Leicester (it's the British equivalent of RWA Nationals - lots more tea involved!). A couple of people recommended her books and when I came home after my lovely four months of wandering around the U.K., I took their advice.

Wow!

Liz has since become one of my favorite writers. There's a stack of stuff I love about her books. They're absolutely perfectly pitched when it comes to the emotion (and there's LOTS of emotion in a Liz Fielding, I regularly shed several tears, sometimes more, she just gets it so right!). They're intelligent and they feature intelligent, realistic characters. You absolutely fall in love with the people in a Liz Fielding. They're flawed and they're real and usually they really have to struggle to get their happy ending - by which stage, you've stopped crying (well, mostly) and you're cheering.

I find myself in awe of what Liz can pack into a measly 180 pages. She gives you a whole world of love and desire and romance and closes with a sigh-worthy finish.

My most recent Liz Fielding read is probably my favorite. It's called A WEDDING AT LEOPARD TREE LODGE. On the surface, it's a terrifically simple story. Wedding planner Josie Fowler hides her vulnerability and the scars of her difficult past under a cocky attitude and thick punk makeup. When she finds herself responsible for the society wedding of the year at the luxurious Leopard Tree Lodge in Botswana, she expects problems. What she doesn't expect is that she'll fall in love with the owner of the resort, Gideon McGrath. Gideon has tragedy of his own to overcome and it's heart-wrenching to watch these two wounded souls edge towards trust and love. It's a bit like trying to coax a leopard to eat from your hand, if you'll pardon the obvious simile!

There's a couple of scenes in this that are just so perfectly written and so deeply true to the emotions, I dare you not to get misty eyed. And the ending just takes my breath away, it's so beautiful.

As you can gather, this month's second helping is highly recommended! I haven't read a book of Liz's that I haven't liked, but this is one of the best romances I've ever read. Just gorgeous.

So do you like a book that brings a tear to the eye (even if the characters get their happy ending!)? What was the last book you read that made you cry?