IIRC, Tonight or Never, Joy's only(?) historical, is one of SB Candy's guilty pleasures.

Also, if you've read Atwood's Handmaid's Tale, you might be interested in Joy's Ritual of Proof, which is sort of like an inversion of Atwood's book (and it's the book she got in trouble with Dorchester for). High Energy and High Intensity are early screwball romantic suspense books.

Robin, thanks. I will check those out. I’m reading Megan Hart’s Pleasure and Purpose and it also reminds me of Handmaid’s Tale. Maybe I’ll do a post on the 3 books together.

Although it’s not in my Top 100, Sally Mandel’s Out of the Blue is fantastic. It’s worth reading.

It’s amusing to see Lisa Cach’s George and the Virgin listed. Who knew a wrestler would end up on a Top 100 some day? :D It’s a sweet and funny time travel romance if I remember right. And note to Robin, George is a blond.

Never heard of those:
Uneven by Anah Crow
Ember by Bettie Sharpe
Natural Law by Joey Hill
Lady Elizabeth's Comet by Sheila Simonson

Will have to give those a try.

@DS:

Then of course I do have some quirky little favorites which include The Silver Devil by Teresa Denys. Has anyone else heard of that one? Avon, early 80's.

That’s like asking if anyone heard of Vlad the Impaler. :D The Silver Devil is notorious. For wrong reasons, I think. Although I didn’t like it, I found it an interesting read because the hero isn’t a generic ass. He’s a unique ass with a capability to make anyone, even Vlad the Impaler, cry. He’s pretty much a tribute to Machiavelli’s The Prince. I wouldn’t re-read it, though. My blood pressure wouldn’t handle it this time if I tried. I do understand he’s testing the heroine, pushing her to see how far he can go before she’d break, for the sake of – it seems to me – intellectual curiosity (at first, anyway), but I couldn’t stand it.

Then of course I do have some quirky little favorites which include The Silver Devil by Teresa Denys. Has anyone else heard of that one? Avon, early 80′s.

Curtiss Ann Matlock

Wow – your lists and mine would never match up!

There are some really great titles on that list though.

MY RECKLESS HEART is also my favorite of the Thorne Brothers trilogy :)

For my list, I only allowed myself one book per author, and no non-genre books or there would have been a number of sfr’s on there. And, I re-read a number of them to see if I still thought they belonged. My list, not in any order except kind of alphabetical:

Shana Abe – The Dream Thief
Mary Balogh – Longing
Connie Brockway – As you Desire
Loretta Chase – Lord of Scoundrels
Lynne Connolly – Devonshire
Jennifer Crusie – Welcome to Temptation
Judy Cuevas – Dance
Meredith Duran – Duke of Shadows
Pat Gaffney – Wild at Heart
Layle Giusto – Silver Love
Georgette Heyer – These Old Shades
Linda Howard – Duncan’s Bride
Carla Kelly – Libby’s London Merchant
Lisa Kleypas – Dreaming of You
Jayne Ann Krentz – Wildest Hearts
Laura Kinsale – For My Lady’s Heart
Edith Layton – The Duke’s Wager
Laura Leone – Fallen from Grace
Judith McNaught – A Kingdom of Dreams
Mary Jo Putney – Dearly Beloved
Nora Roberts/JD Robb – Naked in Death
Sheri Cobb South – The Weaver takes a Wife
Mary Stewart – Nine Coaches Waiting
Anne Stuart – To Love a Dark Lord
LaVyrle Spencer – The Hellion
Dana Warren Smith – High Stakes
Deborah Smith – A Place to Call Home
Sherry Thomas – Private Arrangements
Susan Wiggs – Lord of the Night
Penelope Williamson – The Passions of Emma

@the person who mentioned Jo Beverley, I wanted to include her but couldn’t pick one book as best, so I ended up not including her. A cop out, but that’s why she’s not on my list.

Oh, Sarah and Robin, it was Whitney My Love. And that one got ripped up first, then burnt. I was seriously PMSing that day.

I tried to put together a list of my favorite romances, and man is it harder than I thought! I’m really rather picky. I seem to rarely like more than 1 or 2 books per author. Couldn’t even select 30 that I’d call keepers. And wow are these wildly divergent in subject matter and tone…

1. The Host by Stephanie Meyer
2. Sunshine by Robin McKinley *
3. The Mercy Thompson Series by Patricia Briggs
4. Drawing Blood by Poppy Z. Brite
5. Blood and Chocolate by Annette Curtis Klause
6. Federica by Georgette Heyer
7. Not Quite a Lady by Loretta Chase
8. Bergdorf Blondes by Plum Sykes
9. The Temporary Wife by Mary Balogh
10. Lady with a Black Umbrella by Mary Balogh
11. Bride Enchanted by Edith Layton
12. Angel with Attitude by Michelle Rowen
13. The Next Big Thing by Johanna Edwards
14. Miss Wonderful by Loretta Chase
15. Lord of the Scoundrels by Loretta Chase
16. Persuasion by Jane Austen
17. The Rebellious Ward by Joan Wolf
18. Collition by Georgette Heyer
19. Jemina J by Jane Green
20. The Hollows Series aka Rachel Morgan by Kim Harrision

*ends more UST than HEA, but I got really really attached to Sunshine&Con

**Rachel&Ivy are one of my favorite couples but I am not sure about including this one because they may not get a HEA in the series

Your comment intrigued me so that I dove into the TBR mountain range and came away victorious with a copy which I’ve now devoured.

I’d be really interested to hear more about why you hated that scene. I thought the bit with the fingers was odd and couldn’t quite see the why of it and also (again) anatomically incorrect natch. Was it the actually physical act, or the whole scene?

Overall, I really enjoyed the book and did not feel a noticeable decline in the tension from 1st to 2nd half, nor did I feel that Charles was self-pitying nor that Louise was as aggravating as some people felt. I actually was totally in her head about wanting to do her duty and absolutely being unable to consider letting this guy touch her. I thought she was very believable as a young woman completely out of her depth. And I had no problem understanding why Charles couldn’t get himself to tell her. Certainly neither is a flawless human being, but once you have got yourself into that kind of situation, normal rational thought takes a holiday.

I really, really liked this book. Not an A read, but a strong B+, which is a real surprise to me because the other Ivory I tried (the one with the courtesan) bored me silly so I abandoned it about 50 pages in.

I am, however, thrilled to see Meagan McKinney’s A Man to Slay Dragons. I know a book is memorable when I can remember–when I want to remember–details like the Chanel hair bow.