2010 in reading

[jmc_bks]

In no particular order, these are my favorite books of 2010:

No Souvenirs by K.A. Mitchell — contemporary romance
Marrying the Royal Marine by Carla Kelly — Napoleonic-set romance
The Search by Nora Roberts — romantic suspense
Bayou Moon by Ilona Andrews — fantasy romance
The Iron Duke by Meljean Brook — steampunk romance
Fair Game by Josh Lanyon — romantic suspense
Not Knowing Jack by K.A. Mitchell — contemporary romance
Silver Borne by Patricia Briggs — urban fantasy
The Redbreast by Jo Nesbo — mystery
Hell Fire by Ann Aguirre — urban fantasy
Magic Bleeds by Ilona Andrews — urban fantasy
No Mercy by Lori Armstrong — mystery
Cryoburn by Lois McMaster Bujold — science fiction, the most recent installment of her Vorkosigan space opera series

If you made me narrow the list to three books:  No Souvenirs, Cryoburn, and The Iron Duke.

The new annotated edition of Persuasion gets an honorable mention, as does Critic's Choice by Josh Lanyon and Roadkill by Rob Thurman.

Looking at my best of list, it’s striking that few European historicals (the bedrock of genre romance) are on my list, and also how much my reading is veering away from standard genre romance to less mainstream areas and to science fiction and fantasy.

Biggest reading disappointments of the year:

Tongues of Serpents by Naomi Novik -- this wasn't a bad book, but it needed better editing through the middle, which was slow as molasses during a hard freeze in January. 

Infamous by Suzanne Brockmann -- it had all the usual elements to make a good Brockmann-style book, but somehow it just didn't work.  Reviewed here.

(Best of portion originally posted at Readers Gab last week.)

Comments

[kate rothwell (from livejournal.com)]

I actually got teary snuffles at the very end of Cryoburn and I almost never cry in real life. I'd vote for that and the KA Mitchells and the Kelly and the Briggs. Otherwise...hmmm.

This is the advantage of keeping good lists. I have no idea which books I loved best last year. At the moment it's the Robert Crais books, but that's only because I've got them right here.

Have you gotten around to our book yet?

[jmc-bks.livejournal.com]

I started after reading Not Knowing Jack, but wasn't in the mood for a historical. Set it aside to come back to when I'm in a historical-ish mood.

LibraryThing is the only reason I could put together this list :)

[kate rothwell (from livejournal.com)]

well . . . and that brings up something I wish we could put in the front of all of our books:
"Warning, you may not read this book just after finishing anything by KA Mitchell. That act is just too hard to follow. Don't make us sad by breaking this rule. May we suggest a palate cleanser of [title of some Harlequin Presents] instead"