Expert: Kivrin - 10/31/2003

Question
Hi there,
I am trying to improve my vocabulary by reading as many books as I can.  Since I enjoy reading romance novels the best, can you please list me some of your favorites? thanks tons..  

Answer
Ironic that you should ask that. I just came online to look for books on e-bay to complete the sets of my favorite authors, so I have them fresh in my mind. I'll list them by author with some of my favorites, but every book by these authors are GREAT! You should be able to find most of these at a used book store.

1. Judith McNaught - Great for vocabulary. Sometimes I think she's just showing off because even I have to break out the dictionary every so often (don't worry, it's not confusing, just irritates me when I don't know a word.) Her early books are regency period historicals. The best of those are "Whitney, My Love" and "Almost Heaven." Later, she got into present day books. The best of those are "Paradise" and "Perfect."

2. Maggie Shayne - She writes mostly paranormal romance and is one of my personal heros. Half her books are category romances (the thin ones with the numbers on the cover) and the other half are single-titles (the thicker books). The best of the single-titles are "Born in Twilight" and "Annie's Hero" (although that one's really  hard to find.) Also, they're on a kick right now of releasing her early category books in sets of 3. "Wings in the Night" and "The Texas Brand: In the Beginning" are both sets like that.

3. Laurell K. Hamilton - If you've ever seen and liked Buffy the Vampire Slayer, you'll love these books. Her Anita heroine is like a kick-ass Buffy with guns. Although these are not really romance novels, she's heavy on the romantic story lines and I've never seen a romance fan not like them. She writes in series, so you'll have to be careful to get them in order. Her first series is the Anita Blake books, the first of which is "Guilty Pleasures". There are now 11 books in that series. The second series is the Merry Gentry Series, the first of which is "Kiss of Shadows". The 3rd of that series is coming out soon. All of these books are still in new book stores if you can't find them at a used one. (Got to admire a print run that long. I'm jealous.)

4. Lynn Kurland - Time travel romance (my current addiction.) All of her books follow a family with a very conveluted (please don't learn from my spelling, there is no spell check on this site) family tree since the characters time travel all over the place. However, you won't get confused if you read them out of order with the exception of her latest one, "Garden in the Rain". This book was the first one in which she assumed the reader knew the backstory. The rest can all be taken alone. I'm online now to find the rest of her books, but the ones I've read and loved are "The Very Thought of You", "The More I See You", and "My Heart Stood Still."

5. Theresa Medeiros - Time travel and historical romances. My favorites are the time travel ones, which are "Breath of Magic" and "Touch of Enchantment" (read them in that order.) But I've read and loved her historicals as well.

6. Jude Devereaux - I have a love/hate relationship with this author. When I like one of her books, I really, really love it. When I dislike one, I hate it so much I end up throwing it across the room. She has a TON of books in print, but my favorites off the top of my head are "A Knight in Shining Armor", "Legend", "Remeberance", and "The Duchess".

Well, if I don't stop now, I'll have an e-mail so long you'll pass out from it, but let me make a quick honorable mention of Constance O'Day Flannery, Victoria Alexander, Ronda Thompson, Mary Jo Putney and Julie Garwood.

I hope this helps. I envy you being able to read all of my favorites for the first time. If you end up taking any of this advice, write me back and let me know what you think of the books. I love talking to people about my favorite novels.

Robin Evans

PS- I didn't mention myself, not out of humilty, but because my first book hasn't yet hit the shelves. In about a year, start looking for "Passionate Midnight". Although I can't guaruntee I use overly impressive vocabulary. LOL.