And the most reviewed authors at AAR are….
One of the features I love most about AAR is the extensive, easily searchable review database. There are literally thousands of romance reviews at my fingertips and anytime I need a book recommendation, that’s where I turn.
If you’re new here (Hi!!), you’ll see we frequently use the term DIK or Desert Isle Keeper. These are our books receiving A grades, the ones we would want with us on a desert island where resources may be scarce and space limited. With a few clicks, you can access solid recommendations in a variety of subgenres.
The AAR staffers started wondering, “Who are our most reviewed authors? And how do their grades stack up?” A lively discussion followed as we tried to guess which authors would have a number of reviews and recommendations. Of course we felt there would be those who would be near the top based on how prolific and popular they are, as well as those who are known favorites around here. AAR has been online since 1996 and seen a number of changes as the publishing industry has evolved. In the early days the pool of books to review and number of authors producing those books was far smaller than it is today. Hence our results skew somewhat toward those authors writing during the late ’90s/2000s.
As you may imagine, Nora Roberts is near the top of the list with 97 reviews, 30 of which are DIKs. With an extensive backlist and titles in print, ebook and audio formats, La Nora is a perennial favorite for our reviewers. And she’s still going strong! The Obsession came out on April 12. If romantic suspense isn’t your thing, you might enjoy one of her much beloved trilogies/series such as the Chesapeake series beginning with Sea Swept or one of her series set in Ireland such as the Irish Born series beginning with Born in Fire. But if you’re not in the mood for contemporary romance, you might like her futuristic/scifi In Death series written as J.D. Robb (50 reviews, 16 DIKs.) You’ll want to read this one in order, so start with the first book, Naked in Death.
Carla Kelly is another author who is a favorite among reviewers here. Her historical novels depicting the lives of the non-aristocracy in Regency England as well as her American frontier romances have garnered praise from many of our reviewers. Her most recent release, Doing No Harm, received a DIK from Mary. With 20 DIK reviews out of 34 reviews overall, it’s clear that Carla Kelly writes books that resonate with many of us. My personal favorite is One Good Turn, followed closely by Marriage of Mercy.
Also among authors who consistently produce books that are much beloved by readers and reviewers here is Mary Balogh. Only a Kiss won Favorite Tear Jerker and Best Historical Romance Set In the UK in our 2015 Annual Poll. With 62 reviews, including 25 DIKs, her books are connecting with readers in a big way. Only Enchanting won the 2014 Best Historical Romance Set in the UK and Slightly Dangerous came in at #7 on our most recent Top 100 Romances Poll. Other favorite Balogh titles from the Top 100 Romances Poll (2013) include More Than a Mistress at #54, The Secret Pearl at #82, and Simply Love at #92.
What discussion of prolific, favorite romance authors would be complete without mentioning Linda Howard? Certainly not this one. We’ve logged 51 reviews of her books, including 13 DIKs. Her new release Troublemaker comes out on May 10. And there’s good news for those of us who are ebook hoarders collectors. Many of Howard’s backlist titles are being released in ebook format, which means I can replace my falling apart copy of Midnight Rainbow.
Other authors we love include Mary Jo Putney (38 reviews, 14 DIKs), Lisa Kleypas (37 reviews, 13 DIKs), Anne Stuart (37 reviews, 9 DIKs), Julia Quinn (34 reviews, 9 DIKs), and Nalini Singh (33 reviews, 10 DIKs.)
Are you surprised by our favorites? Which titles written by the authors mentioned here would you recommend? If a reader wants to try a Mary Balogh book, where should they start? Do you have to begin at the beginning with J. D. Robb’s books? What’s your favorite Carla Kelly? Let us know in the comments!
AAR’s Heather
[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]
I love your website and have found so many great books from your reviews. Jo Beverley, Mary Jo Putney and Loretta Chase are all auto-buys for me. But you forgot to mention my very favorite author – Joanna Bourne!
So thrilled that I found this website. Thanks for the hard work everybody at AAR! Loved this post. I especially like it when I can read a discussion between a few reviewers about an author/ new book.
Mary Balogh and Anne Stuart are auto buys for me (and many would be on my desert island) and I used to love Linda Howard but agree that recent books have not appealed as much.
Also agree with Meredith Duran and Courtney Milan , but what about Loretta Chase, Grace Burrowes, Elizabeth Hoyt and Jo Beverley?
So many good books and not enough time!
I am surprised your reviews don’t reflect Ellen O’Connell She doesn’t publish many books but the ones she has published are amazing!
I love this post & wish you could go one better.
For authors represented multiple times – what proportion of their work earned the DIK/A? I realize Sherry Thomas and Meredith Duran (off the top of my head) haven’t written nearly as many novels as Nora Roberts or Mary Balogh… but how many of those they’ve written and you’ve reviewed are A’s?
I find that number a more compelling reason to try a new author (new to me).
Excellent idea! I’ll try to do a follow-up post in the next couple of weeks with this sort of information. It may take me a bit since there isn’t a simple way to pull it out of the database at this point, but check back with us. Thanks for taking the time to read and comment!
That is a great suggestion! Thanks!
Agree with Emily about Meredith Duran (4/8), Sherry Thomas (6/11) and would like to also mention Courtney Milan (6/13).
I read Nora Roberts’ novels when I was young but haven’t read anything of hers in years. Mary Balogh is the one author who has staying power for me. One could begin with any of her books but my DIKs are (in no particular order) More Than A Mistress, The Secret Pearl, A Summer to Remember, Simply Perfect, Beyond the Sunrise, and A Christmas Promise.
I liked Linda Howard’s MacKenzie’s Mountain, MacKenzie’s Pleasure, Son of the Morning, The Touch of Fire, and (yes, I know it got mediocre reviews here) Up Close and Dangerous.
The novels of Mary Jo Putney that I enjoyed most were Angel Rogue and Never Less Than A Lady — also panned.
As for Lisa Kleypas, just about anything published between 2004 Again the Magic and 2010 Love in the Afternoon is on my keeper list.
I’d also like to echo the thanks of the other commenters for the terrific search engine this site has — probably one of the best of any site. Thank you.
You ladies are the best! One of the many things I enjoy her at AAR is the Power Search feature. As I was reading this post I thought how very helpful that feature is when looking at a single authors backlog…Thanks so much.
Mary Balogh:
You must read “”Slightly Dangerous”” , Wulfric is the Duke all dukes should be based upon and Christine is darn near perfect!
“”More Than A Mistress”” another gem..a just about perfect romance novel.
The Survivor series is also wonderful, and all of the entries are above standard romance fare. I am anxiously awaiting the final book due out tomorrow. The Huxtable series is also pretty good, with my favorite being “”Then Comes Seduction””. Then Mary took a break and wrote the 190 page novella “”A Matter of Class””. Start there with Mary and you’ll be hooked.
Do yourself a favor and read the J.D. Robb ‘In Death”” series in order. All of them are not created equal, but they are all good
And last but never least,Carla Kelly…WOW!!! My faves, in no particular order
Mrs. Drew Plays Her Hand
Libby’s London Merchant and One Good Turn
The Wedding Journey, all her Christmas Stories and I’m going to stop now before I have them all listed here.
As some posters have noted, a lot of the authors are indeed “”old school”” writers. But a good book is a good book no matter when it was published. These authors do their homework. There no no “”sidewalks”” or other modern(isms) in these books, titled people are addressed with the correct form of address, and the characters all act within the boundaries of their time.
I too am glad to see some of the older books coming out in e-book form. I love that I’ll have them all at my fingertips on my Kindle. Good post, thanks Ladies!
Balogh’s _A Matter of Class_ is on my short list. It’s been a long time since I’ve read a Balogh book, but I do want to read this one.
Thanks for the recommendations! You are absolutely correct: A good book is timeless.
I, too, love that so many authors are digitizing their backlist titles. A couple of years ago I went on a Barbara Samuel/Ruth Wind buying spree. I was not at all disappointed. Wonderful books!
So true. Some books are ageless and I also love your comment about authers who do their homework. Can’t tell you how many books I have started only to throw them down in disgust / stab the home button because of factual inaccuracies relaring especially to modernisms etc. Just can’t make myself read them.
Love it
Brilliant post
Brilliant post
I started reading Nora Roberts with her Irish Born Trilogy – Born in Fire, Born in Ice, Born in Shame. I completely fell in love with her writing in that series. I would also strongly recommend her Chesapeake Bay saga – Sea Swept, Inner Harbor, Rising Tides, Chesapeake Blue. Her Bride Quartet is good too. I lost interest in her most recent stuff but those older novels are pure gold.
I am still reading J.D. Robb and you do need to read at least the first several books in order, starting with Naked in Death.
There were quite a few Mary Balogh trad regencies I read and didn’t enjoy. The novel of hers that made me fall in love with her as an author is A Summer to Remember. I still do re-reads of that novel and strongly recommend it.
I adored both of those trilogies as well. I also remember really liking the Dreaming trilogy, plus a few of her paranormals like the Sign of Seven and the Circle (?) ones that begin with Morrigan’s Cross. I didn’t love the ones that began with Jewels of the Sun, but that could be because I read them on a very long trip to Georgia with the ex to visit his family. Even Nora Roberts couldn’t save me from that mess.
I’ll have to add A Summer to Remember. I also recall enjoying Irresistible and One Night for Love. Though I read some heavy criticism of that one somewhere, but I don’t remember where or what specifically irked the reviewer. Apparently it didn’t bother me as I thought the book was quite good. But you may want to take my recommendation of it with a grain of salt.
I was not at all surprised by the list of DIK authors listed here in this blog, having been a regular reader of this site for a number of years.
Of the authors listed, I still read and enjoy Anne Stuart regularly, but she’s probably the only one. Mary Balogh has been very much hit or miss for me, though I loved _More Than a Mistress_. Nothing before or since has ever come close to that one for me. I used to read Nora Roberts years ago and occasionally I’ll pick up a new one. For instance, I’m mildly interested in reading _The Obsession_. Overall though, I grew disenchanted as too many seemed the same. I’ve read Carla Kelly but her books have not really excited me. I’ve truly loved some of Linda Howard’s older books but in recent years, I haven’t liked her new releases much. I’m hearing good things about her upcoming new release, _Troublemaker_ though and am hoping it harkens back to some of her earlier works. I’ve grown disenchanted with Kleypas too in the past five years, though I have not completely given up on her books.
I guess ultimately the list feels a little dated for me. Many of the authors that are interesting to me right now are newer to the romance writing world.
I got The Obsession from the library and was glued to the beginning, but then I stalled out around the 30% mark. I’ll go back to it eventually, but the pacing sort of fell off for me. The last book I really liked by her was The Witness. I listened to the audio and the narrator did a great job.
More Than a Mistress was my first Balogh and I loved it. Linda Howard is hit or miss for me, though I keep trying her new stuff hoping to recapture the magic.
You’re so right about the list being dated. So many of the reviews in our database are from an era when fewer authors were being published. With the rise of digital and self publishing, we have a wider variety of authors and books from which to choose. I’d say the dispersion the past few years appears radically different with more new authors and subgenres. Hopefully we can help you discover some new favorites!
I love this kind of post! As a matter of fact, I’ve always thought that your power search is the best I’ve seen in any Romance webpage.
I’m not surprised by your favourites, only Carla Kelly, as she is an author I haven’t read yet. I have several of her books in my TBR pile, but it seems I cannot find the moment to start reading her. That’s why I cannot answer your last question, and I’ll be looking forward to other comments to know where to begin.
Which titles would I recommend? I don’t read Nora Roberts anymore, but I remember I really enjoyed the Chesapeake series and Naked in Death was a good read, too, for those that like futuristic suspense.
The Mary Balogh novels that are included in your 2013 Top 100 (BTW, when’s the next one?) were also charming reads. I’d recommend The Secret Pearl and Simply Love. I gave them 4 stars, it looks like I’m attracted to darker stories.
So, answering your next question, where to begin with Mary Balogh, I’d say ‘the beginning’ –The Secret Pearl. And the same goes with J. D. Robb’s books –Naked in Death.
Thank you! I do hope you like Ms. Kelly’s books. She has a unique voice and paints a vivid picture of what life was like for the non aristocracy. Thanks to AAR, I was able to turn my mom and my aunt on to Carla Kelly and Mary Balogh. They are now completely addicted. :)