The Best of 2019 – Charlotte’s List
When it comes to romance, my criteria for greatness – or “best-ness” – is whether the story lingers with me. There are scenes or quotes that are so romantic and/or sexy that I can’t shake them and they’ll make me shiver happily when I recall them standing on a street corner waiting for a light to change, and make me think “oh, gracious, that’s life goals right there.” The books on this list are ones that lingered with me in 2019.
Fix Her Up by Tessa Bailey
This was my pick for Best Romance of 2019. I’ve already read it twice and I’m contemplating a third round before the new year! Georgie Castle has always loved Travis Ford, her brother’s best friend. You know it’s true love, because even though he’s permanently injured and sidelined forever from the major-league baseball he dominated, she still thinks he’s the best thing since sliced bread. This is Deep-End-of-The-Pool romance – it’s so hot that you could put it in an emergency kit in place of a space heater – so don’t give it to any romance newbies who get uncomfortable in a PG-13 movie!
Buy it at: Amazon/Apple Books/Barnes & Noble/Kobo
99 Percent Mine by Sally Thorne
Aerosmith once sang about how they “Don’t Want To Miss a Thing”. When I read a Sally Thorne novel, I don’t want to miss a sentence. I think she’s the best wordsmith currently writing romance. I’m not even a fan of the heroine of 99 Percent Mine, Darcy Barrett, but the writing is so superb that it compels me to put it on this list. Darcy, a globe-trotting former photographer who is not TSTL but instead willfully refuses to make any good decisions to (literally) save her own life, reunites with Tom Valeska, her childhood friend, when he comes to renovate her dead grandmother’s house.
Buy it at: Amazon/Apple Books/Barnes & Noble/Kobo
Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston
I love a good romance inspired by the British royal family (The Royal We is a personal favorite). This book was one of my first m/m romance reads, and I ripped through it at racehorse speed. The son of the US president falls in love with the grandson of the Queen. It’s got opposites-attract and enemies-to-lovers tropes, and a romantic heart inside of it (no worries here that it’s going to serve you a HFN because of some nonsense about the heroes being too young or too modern to be tied down by great love).
I went into 99% Mine recently, with low expectations, it was a book I held off because of mixed reviews. But I ended up loving it. I remember thinking, this is such a different book to THG, which I will adore for life. From my Goodreads review: “ This book isn’t a cute Rom-Com. This one has no lingering “voice” of the other. It’s darker, edgier, and more mature. The sense of pining ran so deep, I could feel it as I breathed in the pages. I could feel Darcy’s “hungry skin,” pine for Tom’s Touch. I also felt her pining for her estranged twin brother Jamie, who initially comes off as a jerk, but I ended up loving him.”
It was refreshing to read a complex, prickly heroine; ball buster snuffling out toxic masculinity one moment; soft marshmallow the next.
I liked Fix Her Up too, and it was a lot hotter than the cover suggested!
Oh, I forgot that Sally Thorne’s 99 Percent Mine released this year! As a huge fan of The Hating Game, I do admit to feeling a little disappointed with this one and I had trouble reviewing it. The book felt a little off-kilter to me and was one of the more unusual books read. I’m kind of glad it made someone’s favorites list though and I want to revisit it. It looks as if Thorne is releasing a new book this upcoming year and I’m looking forward to it.
Red, White and Royal Blue was a great combination of fun and romantic. I’m looking forward to more books by Casey McQuiston. I loved your picks!
I guess my one-woman crusade against using cutesy chick-lit covers for books by Tessa “Queen of the Dirty-Talking Alpha Hero” Bailey simply did not gain any traction. Sigh.
At first, I liked the cover, but then when I read the book, I did find a weird disconnect between the cover and the actual content. I do actually like sketches for covers and I don’t even mind “cartoonish” covers. I loved it in Sally Thorne’s The Hating Game. But I agree, it didn’t work for me with Bailey’s book.
The cover of The Kiss Quotient didn’t give away how steamy the sex is inside either. You really can’t judge a book by its cover these days. .
When Tessa Bailey is on fire she is superb. I enjoyed this one a lot as well.