Five Books Everyone Should Read: Author HelenKay Dimon

Five Books Everyone Should Read is a feature we’re running in 2015. We’ve asked some of our favorite authors, readers and bloggers to share five books that touched them or have stayed with them throughout the years.

We have a first today. Author HelenKay Dimon is here to share her list of Five Books Everyone Should Read, and she’s first guest since we began this mad journey who didn’t cheat at all! No sneaky inserts of other titles, no series, no trilogies. I don’t know how she did it, but she stuck to five. And they’re good ones, too.

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It’s almost mean to let me choose only five. Like any good reader I recoil in horror at the thought of narrowing down all those books I love, across so many genres, through all those years, to just five. Curse you! To prevent hours of frustration (and more than a little profanity use) I went with the five romance novels I return to over and over again. These are a few of my ultimate favorite reads.

The Bride by Julie Garwood

By edict of the king, the mighty Scottish laird Alec Kincaid must take an English bride. His choice was Jamie, youngest daughter of Baron Jamison…a feisty, violet-eyed beauty. Alec ached to touch her, to tame her, to possess her…forever. But Jamie vowed never to surrender to this highland barbarian.
He was everything her heart warned against—an arrogant scoundrel whose rough good looks spoke of savage pleasures. And thought Kincaid’s scorching kisses fired her blood, she brazenly resisted him…until one rapturous moment quelled their clash of wills, and something far more dangerous than desire threatened to conquer her senses…

I made it to the ripe old age of 30 before ever reading a romance. This was my first. Reading this book literally changed my life. I fell in love with the genre and eventually decided to try to write romance. Alec and Jamie – him all gruff and alpha and “I’m not going to fall in love” and her all feisty and “yes, you will!” Some parts made me laugh and others made me sigh. Loved it back then and still do.

Kiss An Angel by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

How did pretty, flighty Daisy Devreaux find herself in this fix? She can either go to jail or marry the mystery man her father has chosen for her. Alex Markov, however, has no intention of playing the loving bridegroom to a spoiled little featherhead with champagne tastes. As humorless as he is deadly handsome, he drags the irrepressible Daisy away from her uptown life and sets out to tame her.

Except it won’t be as easy as he thinks. This man without a soul has met a woman who’s nothing but heart. Will vows spoken in haste shatter . . . or offer the promise of love everlasting?

This romance has a virgin heroine, Russian royalty and a circus. A circus. No one except Susan Elizabeth Phillips could pull that mix off. And if that doesn’t convince you, let me try this…there is a scene near the end where the unbending hero hits his knees that is sure to please any romance reader looking for a good grovel scene.

Lucky’s Lady by Tami Hoag 

As wild and mysterious as the Louisiana swamp he called home, Lucky Doucet was a dangerously attractive Cajun no woman could handle.  His solitary life left no room for the likes of elegant Serena Sheridan, but Lucky couldn’t deny her desperate need to find her missing grandfather.  He would help her, but nothing more—yet once he felt the lure of the flaxen-haired beauty, an adventurer like Lucky couldn’t help playing with fire.

Serena felt unnerved, aroused, and excited by the ruggedly sensual renegade whose gaze burned her with its heat, but she did not dare tangle with a rebel whose intensity was overwhelming, who claimed his heart was off limits?  Deeper and deeper they traveled into the steamy bayou, until with one electrifying kiss her resistance melted into liquid desire.  And the devilish rogue found he’d do anything to make Serena Lucky’s Lady.

Maybe it’s the loner alpha hero with the sexy Cajun accent and habit of engaging in dirty talk. Not sure, but this book is super hot. Also, if you ever wanted a sister and you’re mad at your parents because you don’t have one, read this and you’ll forgive them.

After The Night by Linda Howard 

FAITH DEVLIN: A poor, outcast child in Prescott, Louisiana, she’d always adored the town’s golden boy from afar. But he called her white trash that sultry Southern night when his rich, respected father disappeared, along with her pretty Mom. Now Faith wanted to hate Gray Rouillard…not to feel a powerful surge of desire. But she couldn’t quench her passion, any more than she could hide the truth about the past she had waited so long to unravel.
GRAY ROUILLARD: Even when he raised hell, he did it with style. Reckless, charming, and backed by Rouillard money, Gray controlled the town of Prescott — and Devlin was a name he never wanted to hear again. But when he gazed at Faith Devlin, all he saw was a swirl of tangled sheets and her silken flesh beneath him. To care for her was impossible, unthinkable…because Gray Rouillard planned to use all his power to ruin her.

Two words: Gray Rouillard. He’s the grumbly hero. This book shouldn’t work. The open scene is rough but you’ll get sucked in. Really, almost any old school Linda Howard is pure gold. She writes swoony tough heroes and heroines you’ll wish you knew in real life. Buy any of them.

Ravished by Amanda Quick

From the cozy confines of a tiny seaside village to the glittering crush of the a fashionable London soiree comes an enthralling tale of a thoroughly mismatched couple . . . poised to discover the rapture of love.

There was no doubt about it. What Miss Harriet Pomeroy needed was a man. Someone powerful and clever who could help her rout the unscrupulous thieves who were using her beloved caves to hide their loot. But when Harriet summoned Gideon Westbrook, Viscount St. Justin, to her aid, she could not know that she was summoning the devil himself. . . .

Dubbed the Beast of Blackthorne Hall for his scarred face and lecherous past, Gideon was strong and fierce and notoriously menacing. Yet Harriet could not find it in her heart to fear him. For in his tawny gaze she sensed a savage pain she longed to soothe . . . and a searing passion she yearned to answer. Now, caught up in the Beast’s clutches, Harriet must find a way to win his heart–and evade the deadly trap of a scheming villain who would see them parted for all time.

The hero’s nickname is the Beast of Blackthorne Hall and the heroine is basically a Regency archeology nerd. Do I need to say more?

About HelenKay:

HelenKay Dimon spent the years before becoming a romance author as a…divorce attorney. Not the usual transition, she knows. Good news is she now writes full time and is much happier. She has sold over thirty novels and novellas to numerous publishers, including HarperCollins, Bantam, Kensington, Harlequin, Penguin, Samhain, Carina Press and Riptide. Her nationally bestselling and award-winning books have been showcased in numerous venues and her books have twice been named “Red-Hot Reads” and excerpted in Cosmopolitan magazine. She is on the Board of Directors of the Romance Writers of America and teaches fiction writing at UC San Diego and MiraCosta College. You can learn more at her website: www.helenkaydimon.com

Check out her latest releases:

 

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