It’s the Semi-Final Round at Goodreads and they’ve added books!
Today is the last day of the semi-final round in the Goodreads Choice Awards and they’ve added books nominated by readers.
In our survey, based on the choices in the first round, you picked Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall (15 votes) followed by A Rogue of One’s Own by Evie Dunmore (11 votes). (This is out of 70 votes.) So, let’s vote on the expanded choices!
Right now, The Switch and Boyfriend Material are neck and neck!
Ergh, that list irritates me! In Five Years was a terrific read, but it is in no way, shape or form a romance. It’s literally not even a love story! And I’m iffy about One to Watch as well. You can sorta justify it as a romance but it breaks a lotta rules/expectations.
You guys really like Ilona Andrews!
I’ve been voting for Beach Read, but I did enjoy Boyfriend Material as well.
I noticed they’d added Spoiler Alert – which meant I was torn between it and Boyfriend Material. But that was my original choice, so I stuck with that.
Voting for ‘Boyfriend Material’ again even though I have now read ‘Beach Read’ and liked it a lot. I will go back to ‘Beach Read’ for the being-a-writer stuff (which was great) more than for the romance (which employed a couple of tropes I’m not the biggest fan of). Whereas for me, ‘Boyfriend Material’ had only one flaw, namely, slightly abrupt ending. MOAR BOOK PLZ.
I have read so few books published this year that I still can’t vote for any of these. Even with this expanded list, I’ve not read any, although a couple are on my TBR list.
There really is no love for historical romance these days.
4 of my Top 11(!) romances published this year are historical, but they are ALL m/m and 2 are set in the 20th Century.
I pretty much ‘divorced’ from m/f Georgians at Christmas last year and have only read 3 or 4 new ones since then.
They’re probably the same as mine, then – 2 x KJ Charles, one Joanna Chambers, one Cat Sebastian? I think I’ve had four m/f DIK HRs this year – the upcoming Loretta Chase is great, an earlier-in-the-year Virginia Heath, the Mia VIncy and… oh well, maybe it’s three.
Yes to the Joanna Chambers, Cat Sebastian and The Sugared Game by KJC, but the fourth is Honeytrap by Aster Glenn Gray, which I don’t think has been reviewed here. It’s a really slow-burn romance between an American and a Russian spy, set over 3 time periods -70% in 1959, a short section in 1975, then a very short bit in 1992. It is sooo romantic and wonderful. Even though they are spies, it is much more focused on their relationship than the case that they are working on as they travel round the Midwest.
Oh yes – I’ve got Honeytrap waiting for me to get around to reading it!
I’ve read a few this year that I’ve liked including Julia Bennett’s, which I loved. It was better than last year for me historical romance wise.
I tend to pay less attention to surveys and contests that will attract readers that don’t specialize in romance. Goodreads is so big and covers all types of reading I think you probably get a lot of readers voting that may read one big publisher romance a year or so.
When I look at them at AAR or a romance specific site I feel like I am getting input from specialists who are really digging into the romance market. I’ve found so many “buried treasures” because people come here specifically for romance and often report on outside the mainstream stuff.
I do love historical romance, but the catchy-Duke-title trend annoys the crap out of me. Also the unbelievable-profession-for-the-heroine thing. My favorite historicals either work within the real-world frame (e.g. Mimi Matthews, Carla Kelly, KJ Charles’ Band Sinister) or have explicitly fantasy/alt-history settings (e.g. Eliot Grayson’s Goddess-blessed Regencies).
I just finished A Dangerous Kind of Lady by Mia Vincy on audio, and it was truly marvelous. I’ve enjoyed all the Longhope Abby series to date, but this was perhaps the best. Vincy maintains a tight level of tension throughout the book without sacrificing clever dialog or humor. Kate Reading’s reading is a master class in the art of narration–perfect.
Well, you know why I think that is! :P
I thought that if you had an award that people were voting for, the idea was to whittle down the original choices until there was a winner in the final round?!
But wait, it’s 2020 so nobody ‘in charge’ has to stick to any rules………………
I’ve voted for Boyfriend Material again anyway.
Goodreads changed to allow write ins and there was some year the writein won. I am kinda shocked looking over the winners in romance over the years that Colleen Hoover wins again and again. She must have a legion of devoted fans.
I noticd that about Hoover, too. What does it say about my perverse nature that that kind of rabid devotion makes me less likely to try an author?
LOL I resisted Laurie R. King’s Holmes/Russell books for a couple of years just because of that. Then I broke down and read one and went ‘D’oh!’
Was the d’oh good or bad? I’m not familiar with that author, either.
She is AMAZING!
Definitely read the first of King’s Holmes/Russell books. It was very good. Having read it kind of ruined the Sherry Thomas adaptations for me.
That age gap though….