Top Ten Tuesday - Top Six Discoveries of 2019 - Adult Romance Special

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Artsy Reader Girl - huge thanks to her for hosting.

As I think I mentioned previously on here (or maybe just tweeted about?) last year’s reading slump wasn’t quite year-long, with a few books here and there dragging me out of it. Virtually every book that DID manage to do that was an adult romance, so I figured I’d spend today’s Top Ten Tuesday talking about six awesome romance authors I discovered last year/early this year. (I couldn’t get up to ten because it was a BAD reading slump, but wanted to celebrate these six awesome authors!)

Emily Larkin – Emily Larkin’s Baleful Godmother series, about a family where women are granted a gift by a strange (and less than trustworthy) godmother on a particular birthday, was one which I devoured quickly. The first book, Unmasking Miss Appleby, was one I picked up just because it was free on Kindle, but I hadn’t expected to be drawn in so completely to the series by it. In this series starter, Charlotte Appleby – an orphan ill-treated by her aunt and uncle – takes the gift to change shape so that she can earn a living as a male secretary to an MP working to abolish the slave trade, only to fall in love with him. Really strong main pairing here and I loved seeing them pop up again in the later books in the series, all of which were fantastic reads as well.

Suleikha Snyder – Tikka Chance On Me was a definite favourite of mine, an awesome romance between a bad boy biker and the good girl whose family’s Indian restaurant he frequents. This is a short but super-fun novella showing two people who’ve known each other for years finding out each other’s secrets. Incredibly hot and awesome characterisation.

Tessa Bailey – Getaway Girl was another massively fun read, featuring a woman returning to Charleston after a six-year absence to gatecrash her cousin’s wedding – only for her cousin to disappear, leaving Addison playing getaway driver to the jilted groom. The two fall for each other in a relationship filled with tons of sparks, despite the disapproval of some people around them. Companion novel Runaway Girl, about the cousin who left, is high on my TBR.

Alisha Rai – Cabin Fever, about a reclusive modern-day witch who heals the stranger she finds bleeding out on her porch, then has to care for him as a snowstorm rages outside, is one of the steamiest books I’ve read and definitely has one of my favourite couples. The relationship here feels utterly realistic while the magic part is well-handled. This builds to an incredibly exciting climax, as well. I'm excited to read more of Alisha Rai's extensive back catalogue!

Olivia Wilde - I fell super hard for both characters in The Lady's Guide To Celestial Mechanics, a beautiful historical romance which sees Lucy Muchelney - mourning both the death of the father she worked with on astronomy, and the marriage of her long-time best friend and lover to a man - take a job translating a groundbreaking French scientific text for the Countess of Moth, only to find that her and the countess both want more than a professional relationship. Sizzling chemistry and wonderful character arcs for both MCs make this an outstanding read.

Farrah Rochon - Huddle With Me Tonight, my first Farrah Rochon - and the first in her New York Sabers series of sports romances - was a brilliant read with a fabulous central pairing of a snarky review blogger and a family man football player who grows frustrated when she slams his cookbook, as he's worried it'll affect the success of the restaurant he's launching with his beloved sister. The misunderstanding here is cleared up fairly quickly, but with New York intrigued by the argument, they keep up a friendly rivalry as they compete in a charity cook-off, while privately getting to be significantly more friends than rivals! Super-excited for the rest of this series, and for Farrah Rochon's other books, which I've heard tons of great things about.

(Tragically, Farrah's sister Tamara Roybiskie passed away just a few weeks ago. She was trying to raise money for a new organ for her church at the time of her death; Farrah has set up a GoFundMe to continue Tamara's fundraising. There's a wonderful $26,000+ donated so far, but the cost of the organ is $32,000, so if anyone has any money to spare for a good cause, please consider donating.)