The books AAR loved best in 2016
This year the AAR staff posted 16 Best of 2016 Lists. We chose books from every genre and, in romance, from every sub-genre. And while it’s safe to say we don’t all share the same taste in books, there were some books that appeared on more than one list.
As will surprise no one who has been reading these lists, Sally Thorne’s debut novel The Hating Game is AAR’s Book of the Year. (Our DIK review is here.) Eight of us put it on our list. We call it: charming, witty, sexy, smart and refreshing. It gives the enemies to lovers trope new life and reveals paintball for the dangerous game it truly is. We loved it.
Duke of My Heart by Kelly Bowen was on four of our lists. (Our DIK review is here.) The first in Ms. Bowen’s A Season for Scandal series (the second in the series, A Duke to Remember, is a DIK as well) enchanted those among us who love historical romance. Ms. Bowen’s series features unconventional women partnered with intriguing and open-minded heroes. No other historical romance author wowed AAR this year as did Ms. Bowen.
The Soldier’s Scoundrel by Cat Sebastian was on three of our lists. (Our DIK review is here.) Readers of queer fiction were justifiably thrilled when Avon released this book in the same manner it does big selling hetero romances. Ms. Sebastian’s book manages to be both searing social commentary and a heart-pounding romance.
A Study in Scarlet Women by Sherry Thomas is the first in Ms. Thomas’ new series featuring Charlotte Holmes. (Our DIK review is here.) This book got fabulous reviews from many this year and three AAR reviewers put it on their Best of List. As Caz wrote:
The pacing is excellent, the characters are superbly drawn and the mystery is intriguing and suitably complex without being completely impenetrable; but the real highlight is the way Ms. Thomas so brilliantly introduces her main characters throughout the first half of the story without subjecting the reader to info-dumps and improbable coincidences. It’s a masterclass in How To Do It Right.
I Let You Go by Clare MacKintosh
Dabney and Kristen both rave about this thriller. It’s an intense read–be prepared to be unable to put this book down once you begin it. It’s been a long time since we gasped out loud while reading (OK, it was in Gone Girl)–there’s a scene part way through this book that shocked us so much we startled those around us. Ms. MacKintosh’s second book I See You comes out next month. We’ve already ordered it.
Unmasking Miss Appleby by Emily Larkin made two of our lists. (Here’s our DIK review.) Caz calls it an emotionally satisfying, quirky and sensual romance. The heroine cross-dresses but here it works. Ms. Larkin’s Baleful Godmother series gets high marks from all our reviewers here. We look forward to seeing what she writes next.
The Earl Takes All by Lorraine Heath is on Caz and Shannon’s lists. (Our DIK review is here.) Ms. Heath has been writing excellent books for so long and this one is no exception. In her review Caz wrote:
The Earl Takes All is an angsty, gorgeously sensual and beautifully developed romance, the chemistry between the leads is scorching hot and the emotions are real and leap off the page. It’s definitely going onto my keeper shelf.
The Earl by Katharine Ashe is on two lists. (Our DIK review is here.) This story features a heroine and a hero readers of Ms. Ashe’s Devil’s Duke series have been longing for. Colin and Emily begin the novel deeply estranged and by the story’s end are lovers whose HEA brought many to tears. It’s a lovely read–Ms. Ashe just keeps getting better and better. The next books in this series (a novella and a novel) don’t come out until this summer. We are counting the weeks.
Fovevermore by Kristen Callihan got nods from Sara and Emily. Readers called the book a phenomenal end to an exceptional series. (Our DIK review is here.) This is a story of two deeply troubled souls who’ve loved each other, fruitlessly, forever. The book shows a satisfying enough of the couples from the other books. Ms. Callihan is a brilliant world builder and many, including us, will miss her London.
Bitter Legacy, a debut novel, by Dal MacLean made two of our lists. (Our DIK review is here.) BJ wrote:
This is a superbly plotted crime novel where the romance is cleverly integrated rather than an obvious add-on and both elements have equal importance and are written with equal intensity. I could hardly put the book down; I was hooked by the murder mystery and totally absorbed by the romance.
Tana French’s The Trespasser, the sixth in her Dublin Murder Squad series, also made it on two of our Best of Lists. (Our DIK review is here.) Dabney–a devoted fan of Ms. French–wrote:
The prose is vivid and assured and Ms. French’s pacing and plotting expertly done. Her characters are among the realest I’ve read and oh how I hope to encounter all of them–Moran, Conway, Breslin, O’Kelly and the rest of the Murder Squad–again.
Beard Science by Penny Reid was Janet’s pick for Book of the Year and also landed on Maria Rose’s list. It’s a gem–had more of us read it, I suspect it would have been on more lists. (Our DIK review is here.) Cletus, the bearded, rather odd, sneakily brilliant hero in this very funny love story will steal your heart just as he does that of Banana Cake Queen Jennifer Sylvester. Ms. Reid’s books sell like hotcakes and this one shows why. It’s adorable without being saccharine, just sexy enough, and has leads worth reading about. We are all now eagerly awaiting Beard in Mind due out this year.
I’ve enjoyed the best of 2016 lists, but usually these are the lead up to the Annual Poll but I don’t see any announcements about it. Is AAR holding an Annual Poll this year or has it been discontinued?
Either way a notice in the Annual Poll section would be helpful.
We are working on it now.
I’ve taken the ‘life’s too short’ approach toward heavily hyped books that I’ve sampled but just don’t feel the love, especially when there are so many other books competing for my attention. I sampled The Hating Game online, then again at the bookstore, and decided that I’m just not interested. However, I appreciate all the best of lists everyone puts together every year and have noted some other books and authors I’ll probably try at some point. I think the only book from my favorites list that made AAR’s was Lords of Misrule from Caz’s list. But I tend to read mostly older books (80 percent) versus new (around 20 percent of my total reads).
I can see the benefits of reading older books. I read more new releases because I get caught up in the hype and so I have a long list of older books I never get around to reading.
Okay, since everyone seems to love The Hating Game so much I’m now giving it another try (and this is probably my 10th try). So far I haven’t made it past about the 5% mark, but this time I’m going to make myself read until around the 25% mark…..surely the love everyone feels for it will appear by that point.
I read the Clare MacKintosh book I Let You Go and enjoyed it. I want to read Tana French’s book and I have Beard Science on my TBR as well as The Hating Game. Looks like I have some really great books to look forward to.
My favorites are Once Upon a Dream Anthology (Balogh and Burrowes), Duke of Sin by Hoyt, Act Like It by Lucy Parker, The Game Series by Kresley Cole, Paper Princess and Broken Prince by Ella Watts, Anything but Minor by Kate Stewart (goofiest book cover), The Hating Game by Sally Thorne, Dressed to Kiss Anthology, Madeline Hunter, and The Bucket list to Mend a Broken Heart by Anna Bell. Anna Bell’s latest is fun too, The Good Girlfriend’s Guide to Getting Even.
I loved Paper Princess too! I wasn’t as fond of the second and third books in the trilogy but the series as a whole gets a definite thumbs up.
I’ve heard a lot about the new Anna Bell. Inclined to buy it, but maybe wait and see if it goes on sale…
I echo many of the comments above that this is an eclectic list of books across subgenres. I look forward to checking out some of these. Beard Science and The Hating Game definitely made my favorite 2016 books, and A Student in Scarlet Women is my next book in line to read.
This was a great list. I loved its diversity: historicals, contemporaries, queer romance, paranormals, and more. I haven’t read everything listed here, but I’ve gotten some great suggestions for future reads.
Five of these were in my top ten this year – and I enjoyed every single one of the other five that round out this list.
Best of lists are so subjective but I really think AAR got it right in 2016. I’ve been using the site to help me pick books long before I ever started reviewing for it, and some years felt a bit hit or miss. This year, for whatever reason (familiarity with reviewers, a more developed sense of what I like/don’t like, a desire to broaden my horizons), the DIKs I purchased really seem to mirror/align with my own opinions.
Again, much like my own reading this year, AAR liked a lot of very different kinds of books. I’m happy to see multiple historicals & even more glad to see queer books in our top 10. Romancelandia is so broad – and I’m glad our picks reflect that truth.
Unmasking Miss Appleby is free at Amazon right now (1-28-2017). Click!
Thanks for these recommendations, I’ve just put 5 on my list.
Thanks for this! Just got it :)
I’m reading the Larkin now and while I like it fine, I’m underwhelmed. The hero acclimated to the supernatural element way too easily, and I didn’t love the circumstances of him sleeping with the heroine.
As someone who reads historical romance almost exclusively, I’m delighted to see so many historicals on this list :) I do wonder why that is, though. It’s easy to say “the books were better”, but I suspect there might be more to it than that. Contemporary romance is so fragmented these days -we’ve got rock stars, hockey players, motorcycle gangs etc,, etc. and it seems that there are more CRs released each month than the other sub-genres put together. Maybe a bigger pool doesn’t necessarily lead to more good books; or, which is perhaps more likely, there are so many more for people like us to read that it just isn’t possible to get to all of them.
In any case, congratulations to all the authors who made this list :)