Best of 2009

[jmc_bks]

How did it get to be 20 December? Beyond being unprepared for the holidays, I'm not ready for the end of the year! Which books stood out this year? Let's see what Library Thing says.

Best of 2009

• Tigers and Devils by Sean Kennedy. RRRJessica wrote about this book recently, and I wrote about it when I first read the book back in March. Kennedy's collaboration with Catt Ford, Dash and Dingo is pretty good, too, but T&D thrilled me as I read it.

• Charlie Cochrane's Cambridge Fellows Mysteries. Although a couple of the books were published earlier, they were edited a bit and re-issued by Samhain this year. My favorites of the series so far are books #3 and #5, Lessons in Discovery and Lessons in Temptation. Part of what I love about the series is not just the mystery or the relationship between Jonty and Orlando, but how Orlando is growing as a human being, changing from the closed off creature readers first met in Lessons in Love.

• Lois McMaster Bujold wrapped up her Sharing Knife series with volume four, leaving Fawn, Dag and their assorted hangers-on in a good way. The end of the series would sadden me more, except more Miles is on the distant horizon (Cryoburn is scheduled for late 2010 release) and Bujold has mentioned she may revisit this world at some point.

• Ariana Franklin's medieval forensic mystery series was a great discovery during my beach vacation. The most recent installment, Grave Goods was a 2009 release.

•  ePistols at Dawn by Z.A. Maxfield is a sweet, hot, uncomplicated romance.

• Carla Kelly does not have it in her to write a bad book, I think. While The Surgeon's Lady isn't *quite* as good as Marrying the Captain, I enjoyed them both immensely.

• Almost Like Falling in Love by Steve Kluger is quirky and charming and almost too sweet. Love the presentation of the narrative, told via alternating POV through letters, lists, emails, and transcripts.

The year's honorable mentions are:

False Colors by Alex Beecroft
Bone Crossed by Patricia Briggs
Inland Empire by James Buchanan
Blue Diablo by Ann Aguirre
Magic Strikes by Ilona Andrews
Death Wish by Rob Thurman
Made to Be Broken by Kelley Armstrong

 

There are two striking things about this list. The first being that although my favorite book of the year falls into the genre romance definition, many more books on the list have only romance threads and would be cataloged as urban fantasy. The second striking thing is how much m/m or gay romance is on the list compared to traditional (het) genre romance.

I'm probably forgetting some amazing book that I read and loved and squeed about...but if I don't remember it now, how good was it?

Comments

[sarahf.livejournal.com]

Rereading ePistols for review. God, it's FUNNY!

[jmc-bks.livejournal.com]

Yes! Loved the humor and the play on words.

Am reading Maxfield's Family Unit now, noticing a similar thing, although to a lesser extent since the tone of the book is slightly more sober than ePistols.

[eroticjames.livejournal.com]

ZAM is BTW a totally darling person. And pretty funny in real life.

I want her to be my mom....exept it'd be weird b/c she's a little younger than me...

[sarahf.livejournal.com]

She's SUCH a brilliant writer!

And yes, I'll email you tomorrow about PCA! Thanks for update.

[eroticjames.livejournal.com]

Cool. Yeah, computer crash issues have set back a few things...Grumble...

At least SG recovered everything.

[oracne.livejournal.com]

Oh, good. I've been saving THE SURGEON'S LADY for a special occasion.

I'm looking forward to TIGERS AND DEVILS, which I recently ordered.