Classic Romances: Which One First? Teresa Medeiros Recommendations

Which Teresa Medeiros titles are among the Bitchery's most recommended? Let's have a look! Time to compile the recommendation list – and this time we had a landslide recommendation. So many people love this book, it's kind of amazing. 

Yours Until Dawn

First, this book's digital edition is on sale currently, and is anywhere from $3.79US to $3.99US right now, depending on the retailer. And with coupons at retailers like Kobo, such as “Bargainmoose40” you can get 40% off that price now that HarperCollins is no longer using agency pricing.

Y'all love this book a LOT. TaraR says she still re-reads this book from time to time. RJ says this is the book that made her glom all of Medeiros' historicals. Steph, Jules, and Mojostables also commented that this is their favorite.

MKthor says, “the one that's stuck with me the most is Yours Until Dawn. I loved the redemption and healing aspects of the story. The Hero pulled me right into the drama. Once I returned the book to the library, I immediately went out and bought myself a copy so I could read it over and over again.” Reesai now owns two copies of it: “Yours Until Dawn is a book I really wanted to reread a few months ago and I couldn't find my print copy so I bought a copy for my kindle!” And Susan says, “It has melodrama and angst aplenty, but it also has loads of humor.”

The cover copy: Gabriel Fairchild's valor during battle earns him the reputation of hero, but costs him both his sight and his hope for the future. Abandoned by the fiancée he adored, the man who once walked like a prince among London's elite secludes himself in his family's mansion, cursing his way through dark days and darker nights.

Prim nurse Samantha Wickersham arrives at Fairchild Park to find her new charge behaving more like a beast than a man. Determined to do her duty, she engages the arrogant earl in a battle of both wit and wills. Although he claims she doesn't possess an ounce of womanly softness, she can feel his heart racing at her slightest touch. As Samantha begins to let the light back into Gabriel's life and his heart, they both discover that some secrets — and some pleasures — are best explored in the dark …

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Charming the Prince

I confess, this and Yours Until Dawn are two of my favorites, too. Krista says, “Charming the Prince is the only book by TM that I've kept. I read it at least once a year.” Ladyv00 wrote, “Charming the Prince has so far been my favorite. I normally don't care for kids as an active part of romance novels, but in this book they made me LOL repeatedly.”

Crystal agrees about the humor – she really liked it. Melissandre loves this book, too: “It's nice that the children aren't just plot moppets, but are a significant aspect of the conflict between the hero and heroine. And they're funny.”

The cover copy is one of those letters to the reader from one of the characters – remember those? 

Dear Reader,

My enemies know me as Lord Bannor the Bold, Pride of the English and Terror of the French. Never in my life have I backed down from any challenge or betrayed so much as a hint of fear–until the war ended and I found myself a reluctant papa to a dozen unruly children.

Realizing that I couldn't lop their little heads off or throw them in the dungeon, I sent my steward out to find them a mother and me a bride–an attractive, meek, maternal creature too plain to tempt me to get her with child. You can imagine my horror when he returned with Lady Willow of Bedlington, a spirited beauty who made me think of nothing else!

With her cloud of dark curls and the sparkle of passion in her eyes, Willow was everything I'd sworn to resist. I never dreamed she would join forces with those mischievous imps of mine to teach this cynical warrior just how sweet surrender can be.

Bannor the Bold,
Lord of Elsinore

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Nobody's Darling

Given the comments from multiple readers, even if you're not a fan of western romances, you'll probably like this one. Amanda Garlock says, “I re-read Nobody's Darling all the time. And I HATE Westerns. I hate all the cliches of Westerns. I HATE COWBOYS. But every time “ND” is in at the library, I pick it up to read it again, I love it that much.”

And CutMyTeethonKleypas says, “Nobody's Darling is EXCELLENT. (I have only TWO favorite Westerns – and that's one of them!)”

The cover copy – another “Dear Reader” letter! 

Dear Reader,

I never enjoyed being a wanted man until the day Miss Esmerelda Fine marched into the Tumbleweed Saloon and pointed her derringer straight at my heart.  Who would have guessed some duke's granddaughter–an awfully pretty one at that–would come gunning for the likes of me, a notorious bounty hunter with a taste for whiskey and a fondness for peach pie? Lucky for me, she was a mighty poor shot.  Instead of killing me, she hired me to find her runaway brother.  Little did she know she was about to make the acquaintance of a flea-bitten basset hound named Sadie, the infamous Darling Gang, and my shotgun-toting kinfolk.  And little did I know she was about to lead me on a merry chase that would take us from a bungled bank robbery to the very first Wild West show to tour London, England. 

I should have turned down her offer.  I should have resisted her charms.  But I didn't. 

Because there comes a time in every man's life when he's got nothing left to lose…but his heart.

Yours,
Billy Darling

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A Kiss to Remember

Alison says: “I love A Kiss to Remember so, so much. A [duke] (a rake, of course) loses his memory and is convinced he's a rector's daughter's fiance? It's better than that Goldie Hawn movie. And it's very funny.”

(Best part of this recommendation: Alison's original text had an excellent autocorrect so that it read, “a duck (a rake, of course) loses his memory and is convinced he's a rector's daughter's fiance.” HELL YEAH DUCK ROMANCE.

The cover copy: Laura Fairleigh needs a husband. If she is to keep a roof over her siblings' heads, the prim rector's daughter must wed by her twenty-first birthday. When she finds a mysterious stranger with the face of an angel and the body of Adonis unconscious in the forest and with no memory of his name or his past, she decides to claim him for her own. Little does she know that her fallen angel is really the devil in disguise. Sterling Harlow, the notorious rakehell known as the “Devil of Devonbrooke,” awakens to the enchanting kiss of a lovely young woman who informs him he is her long-lost betrothed.

With her sun-kissed cheeks and smattering of freckles, she looks every inch the innocent, but her curves possess a woman's allure. When she assures him he is the perfect gentleman, he wonders if he's lost his wits as well as his memory. He would have sworn he was not a man to be satisfied with mere kisses–especially from lips as sweet and luscious as Laura's.As he attempts to uncover the truth before their wedding night, A Kiss To Remember ignites a passion neither of them will ever be able to forget….

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The Bride and the Beast

Many readers mentioned this book as their favorite – and Beccah W said, “I've been remembering The Bride and The Beast but couldn't remember the title or author! Yay, I'm so happy right now.” SURPRISE HABO!

The cover copy: Gwendolyn Wilder did not believe in dragons.  But the superstitious villagers of Ballybliss did, and so Gwendolyn found herself bound to a post as a sacrificial offering to the Dragon who haunted the ruins of Castle Weyrcraig. Fifteen years earlier, someone had betrayed the Laird of Weyrcraig and his handsome young heir to the English for a thousand pounds in gold. Now the Dragon was demanding that very amount. The frightened Highlanders hoped that instead of gold, the fair virgin would satisfy the beast's insatiable appetite. As for Gwendolyn, she never doubted that the so-called Dragon was a fraud. She knew there was a perfectly good explanation for the mysterious lights seen flickering in the crumbling castle and the unsettling sound of bagpipes drifting through the glens. But as she waited for whoever-or whatever-to claim his prize, she could not help trembling as a furious storm lashed about her…and she saw what appeared to be dark wings and a stream of silver smoke emerge from the shadows.  Rumor had it that the Dragon could take the form of a man, and so he did with Gwendolyn-a man who would not show her his face. He carried her into his lair and made her his prisoner, his pampered pet. And while she didn't expect to be eaten by the fire-breathing Dragon of Weyrcraig, neither did she expect to be warmed by his sensuous caresses or devoured by his passionate kisses.

The Dragon had demanded gold and the fools had given him this golden-haired maiden. She was the very last thing he expected-and now there was no way he could let her go. She could never know that he was no monster but a flesh-and-blood man who had just laid eyes on the one woman who could slay him. Still, this supremely handsome man of devastating virility was more dangerous than any dragon. He would take it upon himself to enchant the practical Gwendolyn as she had enchanted him. He would weave a spell of sensuous magic around her that would defy all her commonsense notions and tempt her to believe in something even more unlikely than dragons and more powerful than the past that threatened them both-true love.

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Thanks to everyone for their recommendations. It can be intimidating to figure out which book to read first when an author has a considerable backlist, but knowing which books readers adore makes buying one or two a lot easier. Which Medeiros books are your favorites?