Publishers Weekly Announces Books of 2007
By Jane • Nov 6th, 2007 • Category: Publishing News • •
Publishers Weekly announced its list of top books of the year 2007 for various categories including fiction, science fiction/fantasy, and romance. To say I am out of step with the critical media is to put it mildly. I sometimes wonder why that is.
Weirdly all the genre suspense and thrillers were deemed fiction such as Laura Lippman’s, What the Dead Know, and Karin Slaughter’s, Beyond Reach.
In the romance genre, PW picked the following books:
Twice the Temptation by Suzanne Enoch a connected novella book which I thought wasn’t well stitched together and used worn out themes.
The Perfect Bride by Brenda Joyce which I started but couldn’t make past the first chapter.
Wired by Liz Maverick which I thought was a greatly conceived idea but failed in the execution.
One with the Shadows by Susan Squires which I never read.
The Winter Lodge by Susan Wiggs, another I never read.
Jane is a long time romance reader whose passion is, you guessed it, reading. Jane also does not like to talk about herself in the third person, but apparently this is the way that this biography thing works (although in a true biography, someone else would be writing this blurb). Anyway, currently Jane loves urban fantasy authors Patricia Briggs and Ilona Andrews. She's really excited about this year's crop of historicals including Joanna Bourne's The Spymaster's Lady and Sherry Thomas' Private Arrangements and the upcoming Loretta Chase Her Scandalous Ways.
She's looking for a good contemporary author. Email her with a recommendation!
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I’m reading The Perfect Bride Right now and I am not all that impressed with it.
Brenda Joyce is an auto buy author for me, and for me not to like it says something.
I think most average readers will just be a little out of step with the critical media, frankly.
I agree with your opinion on Wired; I loved the concept but the execution drove me insane. Glancing at the rest of the list, I definitely understand why Joe Hill’s Heart-Shaped Box is included and I’m very pleased to see MPD Psycho on the comics list. In terms of examples to show how manga isn’t just for kids, MPD Psycho is near the top of my list. Sadly, I haven’t read anything on the SF/F list but based on what I’ve heard, I’m not too surprised to see Acacia and The Name of the Wind on there.
The only book on PW’s whole list that I’ve read is The Reluctant Fundamentalist, which I would decline to list as a book of the year, however beautiful its prose is.
I’ve read good reviews of What the Dead Know, but have found that I prefer Lippman’s Tess Monaghan mysteries to her stand alones.
Huh, very interesting. I have only read Wired on this list. So far I like Shomi books’ line. Driven was my favorite, Wired was pretty good but some confusing bits for me with the time travel.
I’m generally not in agreement with these best of the year lists when it comes to romance, particularly Booklist’s. Of PW’s picks, I’ve read Wired, which I didn’t like (read Driven last night and liked it a lot, so I’m with Janice), and have been having a hard time getting into Twice the Temptation. I’ve picked it up a couple of times only to put it down a couple of minutes later. Haven’t read the other three.
That said, as usually happens, I’m more in agreement with their picks in other genres. Loved Lippman’s What the Dead Know and Ellen Emerson White’s Long May She Reign, and even if I didn’t love the Alexie book (which actually came close, but ultimately is a “really, really like” book) or Mistik Lake, there’s no way I can argue with their inclusion on the children’s list. Why, oh why, do they not split YA and middle grade?
Couldn’t finish Wired, the beginning was too rough going. I have Driven in my stacks here TBR this year. I also bought Long May She Reign by Emerson based on Trisha’s review.