When Carolyn asked me if I could do a post on my top 10 romance books I was like YESSS!… this romance junkie LOVES to talk romance! I looked through my nerdy list of my favourite romance books and then it hit me, I was going to have real issues getting this list to just ten! So, what I’ve decided to do is to pick some of my favourites across a few sub categories within the romance genre, it was the only way this was going to happen.
First up is Archer’s Voice by Mia Sheridan, which I’m placing in my ‘most unique’ romance category.
When Bree Prescott arrives in the sleepy, lakeside town of Pelion, Maine, she hopes against hope that this is the place where she will finally find the peace she so desperately seeks. On her first day there, her life collides with Archer Hale, an isolated man who holds a secret agony of his own. A man no one else sees.
Archer’s Voice is the story of a woman chained to the memory of one horrifying night and the man whose love is the key to her freedom. It is the story of a silent man who lives with an excruciating wound and the woman who helps him find his voice. It is the story of suffering, fate, and the transformative power of love.
This book has gorgeous story telling, beautiful imagery and I feel one of the most unique setups, and possibly the first of its kind. Archer’s Voice will warm the cockles of your heart!
Amazon UK || Amazon US
Next up is something a bit dark, a bit abusive, with elements of suspense thrown in and to be quite honest a complete mind fuck of a book! I LOVED every minute of Consequences by Aleatha Romib, so much so that I felt like I had been ringed out like a wet cloth at the end.
Waking in an unfamiliar bedroom in a luxurious mansion, Claire Nichols is terrified to discover that a chance encounter led her into the cruel hands of her abductor, Anthony Rawlings. Claire has no understanding of why she’s there, but it’s been made abundantly clear–she is now his acquisition and every action has consequences.
Facing incomprehensible circumstances, Claire must learn to survive her new reality–every aspect of her livelihood depends upon the tall, dark-eyed tycoon who is a true master of deception. Driven by unknown demons, he has no tolerance for imperfection, in any aspect of his life, including his recent acquisition. Anthony may appear to the world as a handsome, benevolent businessman, but in reality Claire knows firsthand that he’s a menacing, controlling captor with very strict rules: do as you’re told, public failure is not an option, and appearances are of the utmost importance.
To fit together the pieces of the puzzle, Claire must follow his rules. Will her plan work, or will Anthony become enthralled by Claire’s beauty, resilience, and determination, changing the game forever? If that happens, will either of them survive the consequences?
I went through so many emotions, I lost sleep, and at times I felt like I was loosing my mind LOL! There are some major trigger themes in this story including rape, abduction and abuse on several levels, this is dark romance at its best. If you haven’t read anything dark before I highly recommend you experience the bastard that is Tony Rawlings. A bastard that I grew to love!
Time for something a little funny now, and that’s Wallbanger by Alice Clayton. Wallbanger is brilliant, hilarious and very steamy!
The first night after Caroline moves into her fantastic new San Francisco apartment, she realizes she’s gaining an intimate knowledge of her new neighbor’s nocturnal adventures. Thanks to paper-thin walls and the guy’s athletic prowess, she can hear not just his bed banging against the wall but the ecstatic response of what seems (as loud night after loud night goes by) like an endless parade of women. And since Caroline is currently on a self-imposed dating hiatus, and her neighbor is clearly lethally attractive to women, she finds her fantasies keep her awake even longer than the noise.
So when the wallbanging threatens to literally bounce her out of bed, Caroline, clad in sexual frustration and a pink baby-doll nightie, confronts Simon Parker, her heard-but-never-seen neighbor. The tension between them is as thick as the walls are thin, and the results just as mixed. Suddenly, Caroline is finding she may have discovered a whole new definition of neighborly…
It’s a quick read and one that shouldn’t be read in public, unless you don’t mind people starring at you while you seemingly laugh and giggle to yourself. Simon Parker is one of my favourite book boyfriends, a manwhore with substance!
Who’s up for a little Bad Boy Romance? Colton Donovan fits the bad boy troupe perfectly! Driven by K. Bromberg is the first book in the Driven series. Colton is a race car driver, famous for his luck on the track and his womanising ways. Enter fun and feisty Rylee Thomas, complete opposite to Colton, she’s kind and caring and soon discovers there is more to this bad boy than it first seems.
I am the exception to the rule. In a world full of willing women, I’m a challenge to the roguish and achingly handsome Colton Donavan. A man used to getting exactly what he wants in all aspects of life. He’s the reckless bad boy constantly skating that razor thin edge toward out of control, on and off of the track. Colton crashes into my life like a tornado: sapping my control, testing my vulnerabilities beyond their limits, and unintentionally penetrating the protective wall around my healing heart. Tearing apart the world I rebuilt so carefully with structure, predictability, and discipline.
I can’t give him what he wants and he can’t give me what I need. But after a glimpse beneath his refined exterior into the dark secrets of his damaged soul, can I bring myself to walk away? Our sexual chemistry is undeniable. Our individual need for complete control is irrefutable. But when our worlds collide, is the chemistry enough to bring us together or will our untold secrets and battle of wills force us apart?
I love this series on the whole, but Driven did take me a few chapters to get into, but as I read on I soon became hooked on this bad boy and added him to my list of favourite book boyfriends.
Now for some Epic Love, this was tough as I had a few in this category but ultimately I had to go with Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. After hearing some pretty awesome things about the TV show, I hopped on board that train and started watching the show on Amazon. OMG!! I LOVE this show so hard! I’d wish away my Sundays so Monday morning would come round so I could catch up with Jamie, Claire and the other fabulous characters. I’d never read any of the books at that point, but I did have five of them gathering dust on my shelves, (they’d been there for almost six years). So I did what any other book lover would do, toss those out and buy gorgeous new copies!
1946, and Claire Randall goes to the Scottish Highlands with her husband Frank. It’s a second honeymoon, a chance to learn how war has changed them and to re-establish their loving marriage. But one afternoon, Claire walks through a circle of standing stones and vanishes into 1743, where the first person she meets is a British army officer – her husband’s six-times great-grandfather.
Unfortunately, Black Jack Randall is not the man his descendant is, and while trying to escape him, Claire falls into the hands of a gang of Scottish outlaws, and finds herself a Sassenach – an outlander – in danger from both Jacobites and Redcoats. Marooned amid danger, passion and violence, her only chance of safety lies in Jamie Fraser, a gallant young Scots warrior. What begins in compulsion becomes urgent need, and Claire finds herself torn between two very different men, in two irreconcilable lives.
So far, I’ve only finished reading the first book, Outlander (or previously known as Cross Stitch in the UK) but it is wonderfully, truly epic. Jamie and Claire ahhh *Le Sigh*. I LOVE history, and Outlander is pretty much an accurate representation of the time and I loved that so much! It is a romance book, but it’s also historical fiction at its best, in my opinion. If you’ve wanted to read Outlander but have been put off buy its beastly size, then I say just go for it! Or better still, start watching the show, I guarantee you’ll be sucked in!
Not so much a category, but more an author, and that is Kristen Ashley. I absolutely love her, everything she writes is just perfect, in my eyes she can do no wrong. She is one of the Queen’s of romance books, yes, I admit I am a complete fan girl but I can’t help it 
Kristen Ashley was born in Gary, Indiana, USA. She nearly killed her mother and herself making it into the world, seeing as she had the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck (already attempting to accessorise and she hadn’t taken her first breath!). Kristen grew up in Brownsburg, Indiana but has lived in Denver, Colorado and the West Country of England. Thus she has been blessed to have friends and family around the globe. Her posse is loopy (to say the least) but loopy is good when you want to write.
Kristen was raised in a house with a large and multi-generational family. They lived on a very small farm in a small town in the heartland and existed amongst the strains of Glenn Miller, The Everly Brothers, REO Speedwagon and Whitesnake (and the wardrobes that matched). Needless to say, growing up in a house full of music, clothes and love was a good way to grow up. And as she keeps growing up, it keeps getting better.
If you want a believable contemporary romance, with a little suspense and plenty of fuzzy warm feelings then go with the Colorado Mountain series. If you’re looking for the same awesome writing but something a little more funny, a little more sexy, then the Rock Chick series is for you. If you’re wanting some hot biker action then look no further than the Chaos series. The Dream Man series is equally hot and sexy but is packed full of alpha male hotness! The Unfinished Hero series is just as brilliant as the rest, I’d say it’s a bit more naughty in the sex department, but the guys in this are some of my favourites, totally hot men who do really shitty things, what’s not to love? I do love a flawed character On top of all this awesomeness is another seven series to get lost in. I am working my way through them, currently I’m reading The Burg series, it’s brilliant!
Now for some Military Romance. I love books with a hot military guy, I swoon every time! Some of my favourite authors write in this genre, including Maya Banks, Cindy Gerard and Lora Leigh. I wanted to go with something a little different though and maybe someone less well known. So I have to go with Worth the Fall by Claudia Connor.
They meet on a beach… Abby Davis isn’t wearing a skimpy bikini or sipping umbrella drinks, not when she’s busy chasing around four little ones. And Matt McKinney isn’t looking for fun—he’s a Navy SEAL, a grown man with a long list of missions… and fallen brothers.
They only have a week… Abby has brought her children to this beach to start over, to give them the enjoyable memories they deserve. Matt’s been sidelined by a combat injury, and haunted by the best friend he lost and the promise he made: to remain a SEAL—focused and dedicated. This leaves no time for what he’s always wanted: a family. But a week is all it takes… Matt opens her heart while Abby soothes his soul. And though they plan to say good-bye when the week is over, something magical happens on that beach, something neither can forget. Something utterly, completely worth falling for.
This is a beautiful book, with a gorgeous slow romance and a really hot, sweet alpha guy who I just swooned for big time! What swung this for me is how Matt Mckinney became a father to children that were not biologically his, he accepted them as his own and it just made an already beautiful story, exceptionally wonderful.
Next on my favourites list is Billionaire Romance. Sorry Mr Grey, you didn’t make the list (although I do love you too) but Mr Gideon Cross does. Oh lawdy, Mr Cross, *fans self* he is just a fucked up mess and I love him!
He was beautiful and brilliant, jagged and white-hot. I was drawn to him as I’d never been to anything or anyone in my life. I craved his touch like a drug, even knowing it would weaken me. I was flawed and damaged, and he opened those cracks in me so easily… Gideon knew. He had demons of his own. And we would become the mirrors that reflected each other’s most private wounds…and desires. The bonds of his love transformed me, even as I prayed that the torment of our pasts didn’t tear us apart…
The Crossfire series by Syliva Day is perfect for people who didn’t like how full on Fifty Shades of Grey was. Gideon is Christian light, he’s still intense and domineering but in a much softer way. I did love FSoG, but I feel that the Crossfire series is much better written and the characters are more developed.
Now for something forbidden. For this category I was a little stumped, I was stuck between two books. Forbidden by Tabatha Suzuma, a book that is pigeon hold as YA, as the characters are teens, but I feel it could equally be in the adult genre. Forbidden’s theme is incest between a brother and sister.
Seventeen-year-old Lochan and sixteen-year-old Maya have always felt more like friends than siblings. Together they have stepped in for their alcoholic, wayward mother to take care of their three younger siblings. As de facto parents to the little ones, Lochan and Maya have had to grow up fast. And the stress of their lives – and the way they understand each other so completely – has also brought them closer than two siblings would ordinarily be. So close, in fact, that they have fallen in love. Their clandestine romance quickly blooms into deep, desperate love. They know their relationship is wrong and cannot possibly continue. And yet, they cannot stop what feels so incredibly right. As the novel careens toward an explosive and shocking finale, only one thing is certain: A love this devastating has no happy ending.
I never thought I could read such a book and be sympathetic to that kind of situation, but the author wrote this book beautifully.
The second book that I recommend in the taboo area is On the Island by Tracey Garvis Graves.
When thirty-year-old English teacher Anna Emerson is offered a job tutoring T.J. Callahan at his family’s summer rental in the Maldives, she accepts without hesitation; a working vacation on a tropical island trumps the library any day. T.J. Callahan has no desire to leave town, not that anyone asked him. He’s almost seventeen and if having cancer wasn’t bad enough, now he has to spend his first summer in remission with his family – and a stack of overdue assignments — instead of his friends.
Anna and T.J. are en route to join T.J.’s family in the Maldives when the pilot of their seaplane suffers a fatal heart attack and crash-lands in the Indian Ocean. Adrift in shark-infested waters, their life jackets keep them afloat until they make it to the shore of an uninhabited island. Now Anna and T.J. just want to survive and they must work together to obtain water, food, fire, and shelter.
Their basic needs might be met but as the days turn to weeks, and then months, the castaways encounter plenty of other obstacles, including violent tropical storms, the many dangers lurking in the sea, and the possibility that T.J.’s cancer could return. As T.J. celebrates yet another birthday on the island, Anna begins to wonder if the biggest challenge of all might be living with a boy who is gradually becoming a man.
This is a student/teacher relationship and I thought this book was absolutely fabulous. Anna and TJ had lost everything in a plane crash and are left to survive on an island. These two characters were thrown together, fighting to survive and fighting for love. The writing is beautiful, and I completely forgot the age between the two characters, it just became a heart warming love story.
And there we have it, my Top 10 Adult Romance recommendations. Have you read any of these books? Let me know if you’ve added any of these to your TBR pile, and feel free to tell me your favourite romance book.
