Which is how he finds himself betrothed to Eleanor, the Duke of Montague’s daughter and really the only proper match for him. Eleanor is chaste and respectable. Or is she?
Lisette, the daughter of a different duke, is completely unlike any other woman in the society where Leopold spends his days. He thinks she’s nutty. He thinks she’s many things. He can’t, in fact, stop thinking about her … even though she is also betrothed to someone else.
Which woman will capture Leopold’s heart?
23
Emma
JANE AUSTEN
CONTEMPORARY AT THE TIME BUT HISTORICAL TO US! / 1815
“Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition, seemed to unite some of the best blessings of existence; and had lived nearly twenty-one years in the world with very little to distress or vex her.”
With Emma, Jane Austen proved the power of love stories—a good romance can even make the most unlikable of characters become likable!
Before writing Emma, Jane Austen said she was going to write a heroine “whom no one but myself will much like.” And she stuck to her word—Emma Woodhouse is spoiled, self-aggrandizing, oftentimes rude, and ignorant of how damaging her penchant for interfering with other people’s lives can be. But even so, by the end of the book, thanks to Austen’s brilliant writing, readers can’t help but fall in love with her.
The 1995 film Clueless, starring Alicia Silverstone, is a modern-day adaptation of Emma, set in Beverly Hills.
Emma Woodhouse has been portrayed on film by Gwyneth Paltrow and Kate Beckinsale. Don’t even get us started on the “who played the role better” argument—we might be here a while.
Emma Woodhouse is a beautiful, smart, and privileged young woman who lives with her hypochondriac father. Her only friend is the handsome George Knightley—who also happens to be the only person who seems to think her newfound interest in matchmaking couples is a bad idea.
Emma gets it into her head that her new friend Harriet Smith is meant to be with Mr. Elton, the town vicar. When Harriet is presented with an offer of marriage by Mr. Martin, a farmer, Emma convinces her to refuse him, stating that he’s not good enough for her. Emma tells Harriet to direct her sights toward Mr. Elton instead, and Harriet complies. But when Mr. Elton proposes to Emma instead of Harriet, Emma’s plan falls apart. Harriet is heartbroken, and, after being refused by Emma, Mr. Elton runs off and marries someone else.
Over time, Harriet falls for a new man—and Emma is astonished when she learns who it is: Mr. Knightley! She instantly objects to the match, and comes to realize that it’s because she’s jealous. She’d been spending so much time meddling into other people’s love lives that she never took the time to tend to her own. And now it may be too late—if Mr. Knightley returns Harriet’s affections, Emma may never get a happily ever after of her own.
24
Faking It
JENNIFER CRUSIE
CONTEMPORARY / 2003
“Matilda Goodnight stepped back from her latest mural and realized that of all the crimes she’d committed in her thirty-four years, painting the floor-to-ceiling reproduction of van Gogh’s sunflowers on Clarissa Donnelly’s dining room wall was the one that was going to send her to hell.”
No one does romantic comedy quite like Crusie!
Faking It is connected to (and comes after) Crusie’s delightful Welcome to Temptation.
Crusie is a former art teacher—a background she puts to good use in this novel.
Matilda Goodnight has a secret. In fact, she has a lot of secrets. Davy Dempsey does, too. In fact, practically the entire cast of characters is hiding something with the possible exception of the dog.
Matilda comes from a long line of art forgers, but she is determined to make sure the reputation of her family’s art gallery remains squeaky clean. No one has ever connected the Goodnights with their forgeries, and their forgeries hang in some hallowed halls.
To protect that reputation, Matilda has to steal back a painting from the conniving Clea Lewis (who may or may not have killed all of her previous husbands). But Matilda’s a better forger than she is a thief and in her attempt to get the painting, she falls in with Davy, a reformed (sort of) con man who is himself trying to steal something—the fortune that was embezzled from him by Clea’s lover, who is (or make that was) Davy’s financial advisor. Davy and Clea also have a past: He stole the money from her in the first place.
Whee! And that’s just for starters. The plot snowballs from there, but Crusie runs the show with her usual skill, blending in subplots and backstories, crazy relatives, FBI agents, and hit men, not to mention muffins, doughnuts, piña coladas, paper umbrellas, and Double Crostics. Her larger-than-life characters (like Michael, Davy’s impossible, unrepentant thief of a father) will charm you even as they pick your pocket. You’ll be cheering when Davy finally figures out the truth, frees Matilda from her self-imposed goodness, and—with the good-natured aplomb of all Crusie’s heroes—shows her how to solve all of her problems.
25
Fat Tuesday
SANDRA BROWN
ROMANTIC SUSPENSE / 1998
“‘He’ll walk.’ Burke Basile extended the fingers of his right hand, then formed a tight fist. This flexing motion had recently become an involuntary habit. ‘There’s not a chance in hell they’ll convict.’”
Emotionally charged, this page-turner hauntingly evokes all the tangled complexities of life in the Big Easy.
Brown has written sixty New York Times bestsellers.
She is also a recipient of the Romance Writers of America’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
She’s also written under three pen names: Laura Jordan, Rachel Ryan, and Erin St. Claire.
New Orleans detective Burke Basile is a pretty good cop until the day he mistakenly kills his own partner during a raid. When the man ultimately responsible for the death is acquitted and Basile comes home to find his wife cheating on him, Basile can’t take anymore and sets in motion a series of events that will change his life—and the lives of many others.
Frustrated with a criminal justice system that doesn’t seem to work and angered by the corruption he sees all around him, Basile resigns from the police force and seeks his own kind of justice.
Pinkie Duvall, one of the creepiest villains ever written, is the man Basile blames for his partner’s death. Basile will do just about anything to see his nemesis suffer—including kidnapping Duvall’s beautiful wife, Remy. What Basile doesn’t realize is that Remy is suffering, too: Her husband is abusive and domineering; she is only with him because he holds her sister’s life in his hands; and she doesn’t believe she can trust anyone.
As they come to know each other, these two broken souls find hope for the future and determine to bring Duvall down together.
26
The Flame and the Flower
KATHLEEN E. WOODIWISS
HISTORICAL / 1972
“Somewhere in the world, time no doubt whistled by on taut and widespread wings, but here in the English countryside it plodded slowly, painfully, as if it trod the rutted road that stretched across the moors on blistered feet.”
The Flame and the Flower launched the modern romance, as women delighted in both a rollicking tale and satisfying sex—a refreshing change from the kiss-and-a-smoldering-stare approach of older romances.
The book was the first single-title romance novel to be published as an original paperback.
Woodiwiss settled for 4 percent of the royalties after an Avon editor pulled it out of the slush pile.
Raised by her mother and many sisters, Woodiwiss attributes her own plucky and determined heroines to the strong females surrounding her as a child.
As one of the first steamy romance writers, Kathleen E. Woodiwiss changed the romance genre forever. We have her to thank for many of the spicy books on this list!
Heather Simmons is on the run for killing a man who tried to rape her, and ends up on the London do
cks, where she’s captured by men who think they’re providing a prostitute for the captain of the Fleetwood. Heather goes aboard the ship on the misunderstanding that she’s been arrested for murder, and Captain Brandon Birmingham ends up bedding her as the hooker he thought was on offering.
When she ends up pregnant, the magistrate forces them to marry, and two unhappy strangers set sail for his home in America. Brandon’s former fiancée and a pack of mean girls who had an eye on the handsome captain are also unhappy at the news when they land.
Heather withstands cutting jealousy from Charlestonian belles, and then blackmail when someone from her past threatens to spill her murderous secret. Brandon himself ends up accused of murdering his ex-betrothed. Through these trials, she finds her self-confidence, and he allows love to soften his rougher always-in-control edges.
The couple discovers love in the transformation, and the reader immerses herself in the rich details of two worlds—the well-ordered England of 1799 and the brawling newness of America.
27
Flowers from the Storm
LAURA KINSALE
HISTORICAL / 1992
“He liked radical politics and had a fondness for chocolate.”
It’s rare to mix religious devotion and sex, but Kinsale found a way to respect both, converting readers who considered romances a guilty pleasure.
Kinsale spent six years as a geologist before writing her first romance novel, putting her at the forefront of a wave of professional women who weren’t afraid to say they loved this genre.
Christian Langland, Duke of Jerveaux, is a combination of a genius mathematician and a complete rake whose initials (D of J) are found often in the London newspaper gossip columns. Then a stroke seizes him just before he engages in a duel, which leaves him permanently unable to speak. His embarrassed family declares him insane and ships him off to a sanitarium, giving out the story the duke was killed on the field of honor. Meanwhile, he is trapped in a hell of understanding his circumstances but is unable to communicate his plight.
Along comes Maddy, a righteous Quaker and do-gooder, who is well aware of Christian’s profligate past, as he once tried to flirt with her while working on an academic paper with her father. But when the two recognize each other during one of her charity rounds, she adheres to her Christian duty to care for the sick and becomes his caretaker and often protector from the guards.
Through her gentle patience and understanding, she is able to live with Christian’s intense anger and frustration, and eventually ferrets out what others overlooked: This man is sane, and merely mute. She becomes his champion and coach to help him improve to the point where he can pass a competency hearing and prevent greedy relatives from stripping his title and worldly possessions.
Maddy’s struggle to reconcile her love for this man and her faith is genuine, and the author is careful not to ridicule or pooh-pooh the young Quaker’s devotion. Meanwhile, Christian’s experience is a classic tale of a proud man being stripped of everything to learn his lesson, but his refusal to quit fighting and despair at the roadblocks will soften the strongest cynic’s heart.
28
Forever and a Day
JILL SHALVIS
CONTEMPORARY / 2012
“Tired, edgy, and scared that she was never going to get her life on the happy track, Grace Brooks dropped into the back booth of the diner and sagged against the red vinyl seat. ‘I could really use a drink.’”
In this sweet and sexy romance, Shalvis combines a delightful contemporary sensibility with an old-fashioned, heartfelt embrace of community and family.
This is the sixth (and most recent) book in Shalvis’s Lucky Harbor series.
Shalvis has written more than fifty romances.
Like a lot of romance heroines, Grace Brooks has lost everything and is starting over again. Which is how she ends up in the small town of Lucky Harbor, working as a dog walker for Josh Scott, the ER doctor. Before she knows it, she’s helping to take care of Josh’s son, too. The dog, the son, and the doctor all capture Grace’s heart, but she’s not ready for a commitment and Josh hasn’t got the time for love.
As their relationship grows, Grace rebuilds her life and discovers what she was meant to do. And Josh learns that sharing the burden means … more time for love!
Lighthearted and humorous, this is the epitome of the summer beach read.
29
Forsaking All Others
LAVYRLE SPENCER
CONTEMPORARY / 1982
“‘North Star Agency,’ answered the voice on the phone.”
Spencer’s romances focus on the family as much as on the couple in the relationship, making her novels the precursors of today’s women’s fiction.
Spencer has won five RITA awards from the Romance Writers of America.
Kathleen E. Woodiwiss was instrumental in getting Spencer’s first novel published—she sent it to her editor at Avon.
Much to the regret of romance readers—and the writers she inspired—Spencer retired from writing in 1997.
In this novel, one of Spencer’s earliest, Allison Scott is a photographer who is deeply wounded when her model-turned-lover abandons her. She finds herself heading down the same road with Rick Lang, her new model who, in addition to being gorgeous, is also kind. But can she trust her heart with him?
Though an early 1980s book, don’t mistake this for the typical bodice-ripper of the time. Spencer’s characters feel like real people in your neighborhood, coping with the same problems everyone else has, yet always able to find hope and love.
30
The Grand Sophy
GEORGETTE HEYER
HISTORICAL / 1950
“The butler, recognizing her ladyship’s only surviving brother at a glance, as he afterward informed his less percipient subordinates, favored Sir Horace with a low bow, and took it upon himself to say that my lady, although not at home to less nearly connected persons, would be happy to see him.”
One of Heyer’s best Regencies, with a playful sense of humor and a meticulously rendered historical setting.
Heyer is considered the mother of historical romance.
Sophia Stanton-Lacy has traveled around the world with her father, a diplomat, for many years, but when he receives a posting to South America, he sends Sophy to live with his sister—it being time for Sophy to find a husband and settle down in England.
Sophy’s cousin, Charles Rivenhall, who is responsible for the household, does not view Sophy’s arrival with favor. Sophy, tall, confident, and brash, is not one who is easily overlooked. Charles’s fiancée, Eugenia, does not care for Sophy’s presence in the household, either, and does her best to make Sophy miserable.
But Sophy is not so easily subdued, and thus the dueling of wits begins. Sophy takes the household in hand, dispatching one problem after the other, and ultimately Charles realizes that she is, indeed, the one for him.
31
Guilty
KAREN ROBARDS
ROMANTIC SUSPENSE / 2008
“Where the sweet hell do you think you’re going?”
No one does “past-coming-back-to-haunt-you” as well as Robards.
“I read, I write, I chauffeur children. That’s my life,” Robards says on her website, describing her daily life. Most of us can probably relate!
Prosecutor Kate White, the single mother of an eight-year-old son whom she adores, has a secret: When she was a teenager, she and a group of friends robbed a store—and one of them killed an off-duty police officer.
Now, years later, she’s in a courtroom when chaos erupts and someone starts shooting. Kate is grabbed as a hostage—and then to her surprise, one of her friends from that night, who is in a jail holding cell, kills her captor—and expects Kate to protect him. If she doesn’t? Well, no one has ever been convicted of killing that cop, and maybe it was Kate who did it….
The case is being investigated by Tom Braga, a homicide detective she’s had plenty of run-ins with before as prosecu
tor, and he thinks she’s got a secret she isn’t telling—which she does.
The stakes are upped when Kate and her son are threatened. Someone is trying to kill them. She’s going to have to trust someone with the truth about her past—but how can she do that without destroying the life she has built?
The fast-paced suspense does not overshadow the emotionally satisfying relationship that develops between the two as they learn to love each other.
32
High Country Bride
LINDA LAEL MILLER
HISTORICAL / 2002
“Angus McKettrick hated every thorn and cactus, every sprig of sagebrush, every juniper tree and jackrabbit and hunk of red rock for fifty miles in all directions, and if he could have scorched the land bare as a pig’s hide at rendering time, he’d have done it, yes, sir.”
Miller’s Western-flavored romances have enormous appeal to romance readers—and this is one of her best.
Miller is the daughter of a town marshal.
Miller has written more than 100 novels.
High Country Bride is the first book in the McKettrick Cowboys trilogy; there are also any number of related McKettrick novels.
Angus McKettrick has one ranch and three sons. He’ll give the ranch to whichever son marries and produces an heir first. Thus, the McKettrick Cowboys core trilogy is set up.
The 100 Best Romance Novels Page 4
