Bitchery reader Gaelen asks, “I’m looking for what you think is the perfect Romance Novel.” Well, now, that’s a tall order.
But I’m curious – if you could only keep one romance off your keeper shelf, which one would it be?
I have a hard time answering this question myself, as there are a few books I love to go back and reread, and there are others that I’m comforted by having on the shelf, just in case I want to read them at any moment. From the tawdry Midsummer Magic and its creative use of cream, which I keep because it was the first romance I ever read, to A Knight in Shining Armor, which is my guilty pleasure read, I have a lot of books that I consider keepers because I just love to reread a scene or a chapter.
I’m going to have to give this a good hard think. What about you? Your absolute keeper?
Dreaming of You – Lisa Kleypas
That book was just about perfect. I loved that the hero was just a big Cockney thug and I loved that he didn’t turn out to be the illegitimate son of Lord Whoever. Derek and Sara were absolutely perfect together, and the way he fought against loving her was heart-wrenching. That novel is the reason I continue to buy her books. I can’t stop hoping she’ll hit that level of excellence again.
Flowers From The Storm – Laura Kinsale. I adore this book. A lot.
I have three books that I couldn’t part with:
“A London Season” by Joan Wolf. I once spent a semester in France with only this book for company and it held up very well.
“Bet Me” by Jennifer Crusie. I go back to this book repeatedly to console myself after reading some of the clunckers that pass for romantic comedy nowadays.
“Lord of Scoundrels” by Loretta Chace. The most perfect romance ever written, imo.
I can’t choose.
I refuse to choose.
Sorry….
(but I’ll read with interest and take notes of all the wonderful recommendations sure to follow)
Emdee, your pick would’ve been second on my list, if I hadn’t forced myself to select just one.
Out of Control, by Suzanne Brockmann. I completely fell in love with Wild Card. Perfect blend of geeky plus Alpha. Plus the scene in the lean to when they hook up again never fails to make me all warm and shivery.
Wow. Totally agree with you bungluna! Was trying to choose between those three and, actually, Dreaming of You which Ana mentioned. Just picked this up to re-read yesterday!
It’s impossible to pick just one. The moment you do, you just think of another one….like a Georgette Heyer, or The Windflower…Mackenzie’s Mountain…
This is really easy for me! Kinsale’s For My Lady’s Heart. It just worked for me on every conceivable level. It’s the perfect romance, IMO.
Only one? you drive a very hard bargain! Too hard to choose.
But if I must really pick only one then it would be Connie Brockway’s AS YOU DESIRE
I have to go with Dreaming of You – Just like Ana. I have a feeling we like the same books whatever genre it is.
There is one book that sticks in my mind – can’t remember names or title, but it is mainly at a historical Regency house party. And there is this scene on the homeowner’s desk when someone walks in (while they are investigating?). She is all half nekkid and they kick the guy out and proceed to finish on the desk? I remember the dialogue between the two was smooth and intimate enough to make me sigh.
If anyone remembers reading this, please tell me! This is one I believe would be at least top 5.
I don’t know that I’ve found my One, True Book yet in the Romance genre. I actually have a One, True Book, but there are sentimental reasons for that one, it’s not necessarily content-driven.
Actually, there are so many books I love for so many reasons, I’m not sure I could choose just one!
This is an easy one for me:
Black Silk by Judith Ivory
Outlander. It’s my alltime fave.
Halfway to Heaven by Susan Wiggs, which surprised me when I thought about the question seriously. I have other books that I liked btter at different points in my life (Happy Endings by Katherine Stone, Apache Legacy by Janis Reams Hudson, or more recently, Mr. Impossible by Loretta Chase), but the Wiggs novel had withstood multiple reads and the passage of years – thus ensuring that the useless sequel she wrote was all the more disappointing!
I guess I’m old fashioned, but… Jane Eyre!
oh, it’s hard to choose just one.
but it would have to be My Lady Notorious, by Jo Beverly. it was the first i ever read, and it’s still excellent every time i reread it.
great characters, great plot. the other books in the Malloran series are ok, and Rothgar’s story was frankly disappointing, but My Lady Notorious never fails me.
and i would have to sneak in Lord of Scoundrels (Loretta Chase) as an almost-tie. because it really is one of the best crafted romances i’ve ever read. so, so good…
Katie
One book? Almost impossible. But if I was going for one, I’d probably go with the book where the secondary characters leap off the page. All my top faves have memorable heroes and heroines, but The Windflower has Devon and Merry plus Rand, Raven, Cat, Lord Cathcart and more.
It also has some of the best lines. I’ll never forget Cat thinking that the only thing he had in common with his father was that they’d each spent a few moments between the thighs of the same woman, nine months apart.
Hey, while we’re doing “remember the one book where. . .” does anyone remember a book where the hero is from the 20’s and time travels somehow to the 90s? There’s a really great scene where he’s wondering where the hell the crank went on the heroine’s car. . .And for some reason I remember a house being on the cover of the book.
Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Without a doubt.
That would have to be Almost Heaven by Judith McNaught. With Judith Ivory’s “The Proposition a close second. (I guess I like Judiths.)
I’m halfway through Lord of Scoundrels and it totally rocks.
I don’t even have to think about it. Bet Me by Jennifer Crusie, without a doubt. It was the first romance I ever really liked, and I like how there’s more to discover every time I read it (what with all the fairy tale symbolism). Not to mention the sstory is just flat-out fantastic.
Id cheat a little (as always) I’d keep Jane Eyre as my 1-only-classic and probably Sieze the fire by Laura Kinsale as my 1-only-romance.
Then I’d have descretely smuggled else where about my baggage the shadow and the star (LK again) Lions Bride by Iris Johansen and three weddings and a kiss (Romanatic anthology with Lisa Kleypa, Lotretta Chase, Catherine anderson and Kathleen Woodiwiss!)
To Have and To Hold by Patricia Gaffney. This book never leaves my bedside – I can read selected passages everynight. I have also imagined the characters lives after the end of the book as a way to fall asleep (does anyone else do that? Sure hope I don’t sound psycho).
Like Aztexlady, I’ll be looking for recommendations off the comments.
Flowers from the Storm
Mr Impossible
Jane Eyre
P&P
Natural Law by Joey Hill
Faking It Jenny Crusie
Outlander
And the Battleaxe series from Sara Douglass
There is one book that sticks in my mind – can’t remember names or title, but it is mainly at a historical Regency house party. And there is this scene on the homeowner’s desk when someone walks in (while they are investigating?). She is all half nekkid and they kick the guy out and proceed to finish on the desk? I remember the dialogue between the two was smooth and intimate enough to make me sigh.
Was it one of the Stephanie Laurens Cynster books based in Newmarket?
The Born In trilogy by Nora Roberts. (If an all in one volume counts.)
Very close runner-up is Enchanted by Elizabeth Lowell.
Crap. Mentioning Elizabeth Lowell makes me want to change my answer: Fire and Rain by Ms Lowell. Sigh… Luke the impossibly idiotic, hard-headed, stubborn cowboy and all that shaggin’. Lovely.
If I were to accept the very strict RWA definition of a Romance, and limit myself to about a 15-year period, well, then, these are all about equal, in my mind:
To Have and to Hold, Patricia Gaffney
Bliss, Judith Ivory
Black Silk, Judith Ivory
Flowers From the Storm, Laura Kinsale
The Dream Hunter, Laura Kinsale
There are a lot of others clustered together in a bunch below that. Included are, just to name a few, works by Carla Kelly (“Mrs. Drew Plays Her Hand” and “Libby’s London Merchant”) and also, yes, I’d add Loretta Chase’s “Lord of Scoundrels,” though to me, in some moods, that one’s like a Regency novel turned into a TV special. (Sometimes I like that sort of aesthetic, but some days, I just don’t.) And as for Crusie, yes, I really liked “Bet Me,” but … I’m a picky bitch & I keep thinking that she hasn’t written her best one yet, that it’s still coming.
On further reflection, I can’t believe I haven’t put a Mary Balogh book in my top 5, even though I think, at her best, she’s one of the finest writers in the genre. “A Temporary Wife,” “A Precious Jewel” and “The Secret Pearl” are way up there, though, and I’ve often thought about “Dancing With Clara”—and the fact that a book has stayed with me is a very good sign.
Also, I’m not good at placing my passions in a very strict numerical order—like Casey Kasem counting ‘em down.
Venetia by Georgette Heyer. I could read that book every day for the next five years and not get sick of it . . .
if we’re talking guilty pleasure reads, i’d have to include the “Only…” books by Ms. Lowell. (only mine, only his, only you, only love). something about those big, mule-stubborn men and some truly moutwatering lurve scenes… i can pick any one of them up at any time and snuggle down for a good read.
Blood and Chocolate. Annette Curtis Klause. No question.
Keziah – I will look it up and check.
LorilieLong – Was the hero’s name Rafferty and he died in the Valentine’s Day Massacre? He comes back every year(s) to relive his death and has to find a true love to stay? If so, that was also a very hot book. I have that one somewhere, I’ll look if you’d like.
im having a hard time deciding if id come back into a burning house for ….Outlander or Knight in Shining Armor…
….i cant decide
Gaudy Night by Dorothy Sayers
First of all…Keziah! You liked the Battleaxe series too? Isn’t it wonderful. 🙂
This is always a hard question for me, but the first one that popped into my head was Years by LaVyrle Spencer. I don’t know why, but I LOVE this book. I’ve read it at least a dozen times and each time it just hits me. 🙂
Keziah: It was Demon’s story, A Rogue’s Proposal.
For me it would be Georgette Heyer’s These Old Shades. I also like Outlander (or Cross stitch as it’s known here), but being part of a series, I’d want the whole lot!
For YR, it would be one called Easy Connections by Liz Berry
I can’t choose just one…but I’ll try to narrow it down:
_The Oracle Glass_ by Judith Merkle Riley (ok, it’s a romantic historical, so what? it’s totally archetypal of my favorite kind of love story.)
_The Black Moth_ and _The Grand Sophy_ by Georgette Heyer (you can’t make me choose!)
_Lord of Scoundrels_ by Loretta Chase.
Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Without a doubt.
I’ll second that.
Welcome to Temptation, Jennifer Crusie.
Anything by Georgette Heyer eats the current scene for lunch!
Arabella
or how about the Scarlette Pimpernel
really the best ever…