Steampunk is more than just a fashion statement in Meljean Brook's Iron Seas books, set in an alternate world where the Mongols conquered Europe with the aid of fantastical machinery. Dive in with the first book, The Iron Duke, about a military hero who falls for a police inspector when she comes to investigate a dead body dropped — via dirigible — at his doorstep. Human technological progress has triggered a magical apocalypse, and mercenary Kate Daniels lives in the wreckage. She relies on her skills with a sword to protect her from enemies who want the magic in her blood — enemies who kill her guardian and throw her into the path of shape-shifter Curran, Lord of the Free Beasts.
Poor Prince Charming is cursed: Every woman who looks at him is instantly enslaved by love. And poor Ember turns to the dark arts in order to resist the prince's pull — but can he resist her? Bettie Sharpe reworks the story of Cinderella with, as she puts it, "sex, violence and naughty words. Jemisin's tale of human women caught up in divine disputes is one of the best fantasy series of recent years, and also one of the most stirring romances: It's packed with gods and lovers whose bonds shape their world — and the worlds to come.
Often described as "a Regency romance in space," A Civil Campaign stars Lois McMaster Bujold's memorable hero Miles Vorkosigan and his clone brother Mark as they scheme for the hearts of the women they love and try to keep Mark's nonromantic scheme to engineer food-producing bugs from getting out of control. In the fallen utopia of Samaria, an angel and a slave girl are thrown together in a divinely arranged marriage that proves anything but divine.
Can Gabriel and Rachel overcome their differences in time to perform the holy rite that might save their planet? There are probably more sensible books by the great Johanna Lindsey — she's better known for the pirate yarn Gentle Rogue — but none so outlandishly fun as this tale of a space-faring security officer who lands on a planet of giant leather-trousered barbarian warriors and winds up claimed by the biggest brute of them all. Charley Davidson is a part-time private investigator and a full-time Grim Reaper, meaning she sees dead people and tries to guide them into the afterlife and occasionally hunt down the people who left them dead.
As if that weren't complicated enough, she gets caught up in a devilishly hot romance with the actual son of Satan — a relationship that only gets more intense as the series progresses. The Black Dagger Brotherhood is a band of entertainingly named Rhage, Phury, Tohrment and highly trained vampire warriors, brothers who protect their kind from vampire slayers when they're not falling for very special women.
Ward has extended the series to include relatives and friends of the original brothers, but we recommend starting at the beginning with Dark Lover, the tale of vampire king Wrath. In Kresley Cole's world, there are hundreds of paranormal races living secretly alongside humans. But every years, war breaks out — and that time is now. Vampires and Valkyries, demons and sorceresses spark and court against a backdrop of supernatural battle in these award-winning paranormal romances.
When MacKayla Lane's sister is murdered, a single clue leads her into the dangerous world of the Fae and an equally dangerous attraction to two men: Novelist Carrie McClelland hopes to turn an obscure historical battle into a best-seller. But when Carrie discovers a strange connection to the events she's writing about, her novel — about a young Scotswoman battling English spies while falling for a dashing soldier with a price on his head — turns out to be more truth than fiction.
Anna never knew werewolves existed until she became one herself, and not just any old werewolf. Anna is neither an Alpha nor a submissive but an Omega wolf, the rarest of weres, destined to bring peace to warring wolves and love to one of the country's most powerful packs.
Damali Richards is a popular spoken-word artist and producer. She's also the Neteru, a special human born once every thousand years to fight the dark threat of vampires with a jewel-encrusted sword that's 7, years old. Can she keep the world — and her vampire lover, Carlos — safe? We are the Rulers of the Night. And this is a very entertaining, long-running and hot series about immortal warriors dedicated to defending humanity. Immortality, it turns out, isn't so great without love.
Set in a version of Victorian England where magic is commonplace, this is the story of Lucien Vaudrey, who returns home to take up his title after the deaths of his father and brother. But he needs to fight the magic that's killing off his line, and for that he needs the help of quiet young magician Stephen Day — who bears no love for the Vaudreys. Four out of four panelists agree: You should read all of Radclyffe's books. Start with Fated Love, the story of trauma surgeon Quinn Maguire and the unexpected mutual attraction she feels with her boss, Honor Blake. The story really gets going when Honor begins to suspect Quinn is hiding something.
Ever since the Sept. But then Dante runs into money troubles and proposes that the two friends put on a show for a website that specializes in hunks in uniform. A killer is on the loose, and FBI Special Agent Ty Grady has been partnered with another agent, Zane Garrett, to crack the case — but it's hate at first sight between cocky, confident Grady and serious Garrett. They'll have to figure out how to stop bickering before the killer makes them his next victims.
Crick Francis found his true love at the age of 8: But Crick is sure he'll never be good enough for Deacon, and Deacon is too painfully shy to admit his own attraction. When they finally come together as adults, a misunderstanding leads Crick to make an impulsive decision that could tear them apart forever. Michael Warner has been dead inside ever since he lost his lover in a car crash. Their young daughter, too, is mourning her other father. But Michael begins to wake up when he meets Rebecca O'Neill, a former actress who's dealing with her own devastating losses.
But her dream job is jeopardized when she falls for rugged footman Mack Danvers — after all, the help mustn't get involved with each other. Francine Rivers retells the Biblical story of Hosea, setting it in Gold Rush California and turning the Old Testament prophet into a sympathetic rancher who heeds a divine calling to marry an abused prostitute. Alpha male homicide detective Mackenzie Nighthorse goes undercover in a bondage club in search of a murderess — and finds he's increasingly unable to keep his desires separate from his investigation.
Especially when he meets Violet Siemanski, a young dominatrix who seems to know just how to unlock his hidden self. Lacey Meyers is divorced after 15 years of boredom and bad sex. She just wants to have a little fun with studly young cop Hunter Anderson.
Similar Recommendations
Neither of them sees a future together Elizabeth Petre, the daughter of a prime minister, is a perfect Victorian wife, but her charms are lost on her cold, indifferent husband. Determined to win him over, she asks for lessons in seduction from the notorious Ramiel, who calls himself the Bastard Sheikh. At first enraged by her request, Ramiel eventually takes on the task, with the aid of The Perfumed Garden , a classic collection of Arabic erotica. Minerva Dobbs is an actuary whose wild side only peeps out in her choice of shoes plastic, kitten heels, cherries and goldfish.
Happy Ever After: 100 Swoon-Worthy Romances
Cal Morrissey is a serial dater who takes Min out to dinner on a bet — which, no spoilers here, she already knows about. It's a tasty tale of love, Elvis records and really good Italian food, and as a bonus, it comes packaged with another Crusie favorite, Welcome to Temptation. Oil company engineer Madelyn Taggart has broken a lot of boundaries as a young black woman in a very white, very male field. She hasn't yet found a love to match her career success, but her brother's buddy Daniel Falcon — rich, suave and oh-so-handsome — might just fit the bill.
We recommend you start at the beginning, with the story of Assistant U. Unwitting witness to a murder, she's thrown together with FBI agent Jack Pallas — who just happens to blame Lynde for a botched case three years ago. Paris chocolatier Magalie Chaudron and her aunts are sorceresses of the sweet, stirring wishes into their cauldron of chocolate. Magalie's cozy world is threatened when the famous pastry chef Philippe Lyonais decides to open a shop nearby, but eventually she can't resist the temptation to venture out for a taste.
Mili Rathod was promised to her husband at the age of 4 and hasn't seen him since.
100 Best Books
But as a married woman, she has the freedom to leave India for America and education. Hotshot Bollywood director Samir Rathod just wants to find the woman his brother was shackled to and get her consent for a quickie divorce — but Mili is far more than he expected. Kristen Ashley's word-of-mouth sensation series was a big favorite with our voters, and we recommend you start with Motorcycle Man. Tack and Tyra meet and hook up at a tequila-soaked barbecue, but sparks fly when Tyra realizes her big new job is managing the office at Tack's custom car garage.
Nora Roberts is a legend in the genre — so legendary, in fact, that she's the only author we let on this list twice. Many, many of her books were nominated, but our favorites are the Chesapeake Bay books, about the four adopted Quinn brothers — boat racer Cameron, boat builder Ethan, high-powered advertising executive Philip and artist Seth — and, of course, the women they love.
Lucky Harbor is one of those delightful towns you find so often in romance — chock-full of lonely men and women starting over, and centered around a ramshackle inn run by sisters Maddie, Tara and Chloe. There are more than a dozen Lucky Harbor books so far, so pick one and dive in.
Forget Da Bears — the Chicago Stars are the Windy City's hometown team in this series, and the focus of all kinds of romantic shenanigans from the moment New York hotshot and, unfortunately, sports ignoramus Phoebe Somerville inherits the team after her father's death. If you like your heroes and heroines superheroic, the Troubleshooters are for you.
Join Kobo & start eReading today
The California town of Virgin River sounds like a great place to start over or even just to take a vacation: A multigenerational family saga featuring Wolf and Mary Mackenzie and their adventurous children: Dating is tough in tiny Manningsport, N. Brother and sister restaurateurs Connor and Colleen O'Rourke add to the complications.
Brenda Jackson has written over a hundred books, so we're kind of spoiled for choice, but we recommend you start with her first series, about the soapily sensational Madaris family and their romantic adventures. There are more than 20 books in just this series, so dive in anywhere! Christina Lauren's Wild Seasons series was a favorite with voters; the debut volume, Sweet Filthy Boy, about an American woman who has a wild Vegas weekend with a sexy Frenchman and decides on impulse to follow him to France, was named a Romantic Times Book of the Year in There's one story investigative reporter Reese Delaware can't get to the bottom of: But when she takes an assignment to profile Maxwell Knight, a secretive tech magnate, she begins to uncover some dangerous secrets.
This was made into a movie for the BET network, but trust us — the book is better. Unflappably professional morning show host Madelyn Cornish any relation to our Audie? We wonder is hiding a broken heart. And then the man who broke it, bad-boy hockey star Billy Wilkins, comes crashing back into her life when her producers decide he needs an on-air makeover. A year-old painting is at the center of this emotionally gripping story, set partially in France during World War I and partially in the present day. Widowed Liv Halston treasures the portrait of an unknown young woman, a gift from her husband before his sudden death.
And then she falls for Paul McCafferty, who just happens to be tracking down a painting that meets that description, appropriated by the Germans during the war. A note about the often-overlooked and misunderstood subgenre of category romances: These quick reads are most closely associated with pioneering romance publisher Harlequin, and come in dozens of subgenres from historical to inspirational. For many years, categories made up most of the romance market. And while the publisher-generated titles can seem a little When Polly Prince's family business is taken over by the arrogant but sexy tycoon Damon Doukakis, she becomes his apprentice — and she's determined to be successful in her new job.
Before long, she finds herself at Damon's side as he negotiates an important deal in a dangerously romantic city — Paris. Part of Harlequin's steamy Blaze line, this is the story of a Sept. Set in , Her Hesitant Heart follows Susanna Hopkins, who has escaped an abusive husband for a new life on the frontier.
When she hits Cheyenne, she runs out of money — and into the arms of military surgeon Major Joseph Randolph. Accessibility links Skip to main content Keyboard shortcuts for audio player. The Best Romance Novels? And the results are in: Facebook Twitter Flipboard Email. July 29, 7: Amazon iBooks Independent Booksellers. The Far Pavilions by M. Kaye Your purchase helps support NPR programming. In Death series by J. Robb Your purchase helps support NPR programming. Science Fiction and Fantasy.
The Inheritance Trilogy by N. Jemisin Your purchase helps support NPR programming. The Black Dagger Brotherhood series by J. Ward Your purchase helps support NPR programming. Banks Your purchase helps support NPR programming. The Magpie Lord by K. Charles Your purchase helps support NPR programming. Natural Law by Joey W. Hill Your purchase helps support NPR programming.
- Femmes de dictateur - Lénine (French Edition).
- Beer Tasting Quick Reference Guide.
- DID PRESEIDENT RONALD REAGAN ENCOUNTER WITH ALIENS & UFO?!
His Wife for a While. The Dark Side of Innocence. Dragons of the Watch. Guardian of the Dead. Jennifer Scales and the Ancient Furnace. Jennifer Scales and the Messenger of Light. Zeus The God Chronicles 1.
- Lapps and Labyrinths: Saami Prehistory, Colonization, and Cultural Resilience.
- Reward Yourself.
- Get Your Bearings: And Happiness Will Follow.
- Account Options!
- Falling Upwards.
- Paranormal Romance?
Death in the Air: A Treasure Hunters Short Story. Princess Posey and the Monster Stew.
The Best Romance Novels? We Asked, You Answered : NPR
Notebook for Fantastical Observations. A Boon by Moonlight. Little Red Riding Hood: Another Grandma Chatterbox Fairy Tale. The Last First Day. Critters, Faeries, Farms and Other Tales. The Tale Of Emma Ott. Liminal Eyes and Other Unsettling Tales. The Honey Bunch Kids. The Things We Save. Alana and the Dragon.
Whispers from a Vanished Ocean. The Girl Who Wasn't Ordinary. How to write a great review. The review must be at least 50 characters long. The title should be at least 4 characters long. Your display name should be at least 2 characters long.