Jennie’s Best of 2014
I wasn’t able to come up with ten titles (unless I wanted to dip down to the B minuses, which seemed a little grasping), but let’s focus on the positive. My top seven:
The Suffragette Scandal by Courtney Milan
I enjoyed this a bit more than Willaful (her review is here), giving it an A-. I thought it very clever and enjoyable, if a bit of a wish-fulfillment fantasy for those readers looking for feminist heroes in historical romance. Milan has become one of my bulwarks against the dreaded historical malaise, for which I am grateful.
HQNHe’s Come Undone by Theresa Weir
This one was reviewed by Jayne, and again I liked it a bit better than she did; this was another A- for me. It’s a bit of a strange little novella, unusual in some places and rote in others, but compelling and kind of romantic for all that, with interesting leads.
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Live For Me by Erin McCarthy
I reviewed this and gave it a a B+. It was super-compelling in parts, and I kind of loved the heroine (because I love Jane from Jane Eyre), but the insistence on following the plot of the source material made for some inconsistencies that really killed the dramatic tension in the last quarter of the book or so.
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Fool Me Twice by Meredith Duran
I also reviewed this one; it was another B+ for me. I found it well-written and affecting (the latter being almost the most important criteria I can judge a book by). It wasn’t terribly original, but if it tread over familiar ground it did it very well.
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My Beautiful Enemy by Sherry Thomas
My review is here; I had given it a B+ in my book log but an A- here, so I think it must have straddled the two, but I do think it deserves the higher grade. It was a bit uneven in spots, but really compelling and it made me cry (see what I said above about books that I find affecting). It was also reminiscent of The Dream Hunter, one of my favorite Laura Kinsale books. That’s probably the highest compliment I can give a book.
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Sweet Disorder by Rose Lerner
Reviewed by both Janine and Kaetrin who gave it an A- and a B+, respectively. It was only a B for me, but a high B. I thought it was very good (and different) but it sort of dragged for me anyway; I really can’t help but blame historical malaise here because I’m almost sure I would’ve given it an A (an A-, at least) if I’d read it earlier in my reading career, even a few years ago.
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The Nekkid Truth by Nicole Camden
Reviewed by Jane, who gave it an A-; I gave it a B. This was another one that was entertaining and a bit different, but had some rough edges that could’ve used smoothing out. I also wonder if the depiction of the heroine’s condition was accurate. I was surprised that the people in her life hadn’t developed systems to accommodate her disability (why wouldn’t everyone who knows her just identify themselves by name when they first see her?), but I tried not to focus on the improbable aspects too much, because it really was a unique story with a very appealing heroine and a yummy hero.
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I have the Theresa Weir and the Nicole Camden in the TBR pile. It’s good to know you liked them.
I couldn’t find ten either, and had to stretch it a bit to make nine.
This might be just me, but I prefer to know that a top X list is *truly* top and not “filler to make up some arbitrary number”.
I know I got “The Nekkid Truth” in one of the Daily Deals. Off to read that
Re: The Nekkid Truth, face blindness can in fact be that severe, but that’s very rare. I have, compared to the heroine, a very mild “case” of face blindness. I’ve found that while people want to be sympathetic, it’s hard for most to understand-how can you not recognize people you see all the time? I think the author did a good job of explaining how the heroine relied on other things, such as voice, to help her identify those she routinely interacted with. Agree with you on the yummy hero. :)
@Laura: I agree — my son is mildly face blind and we don’t do nearly enough to help him with it. It’s such a hard to understand and invisible disability that I constantly have to remind myself he needs help.
After reading what the heroine’s disability is, I vaguely remembered reading a book with the same one. Then I dug through my reading notes and realized that this is the same novella I read way back in 2005 when it was part of the anthology “Big Guns Out of Uniform” (which Jane reviewed here). Now I wonder if she’s changed/expanded it any.