Best Of 2011: The Authors.

Holly: As I was going through my reads for the year I realized I didn’t read many new-to-me authors in 2011. I feel like I need to work on that in 2012.

1. Thea Harrison – She’s sweeping my Best Of lists this year. I can’t help it, I’m in love.
2. Lauren Dane – 2011 was kind of The Year of Lauren Dane for me. I read her entire backlist. If you haven’t read her yet, DO IT.
3. Julie Anne Long – 100% because of What I Did For a Duke. Her other novels are great, but WIDFAD was over the top awesome.
4. Meljean Brook – I love how well she balances romance and adventure.
5. Sarah Mayberry – Smart characters and witty dialogue. I’ve only read a handful of Mayberry’s novels, but she’s someone I plan to keep an eye on in 2012.

Honorable mention goes to Jill Shalvis. It’s no secret that I adore her novels. For fun, emotionally charged contemps, she’s your girl.

Rowena: I read a lot of new to me authors of YA books but not very many of romance novels. That’s something that I’d like to change in 2012. Wish me luck with that. Here’s my list of favorite authors from 2011.

1. Jill Shalvis. One of my favorite authors who wrote a bunch of stories that I read last year and have absolutely loved. I’m always looking forward to new stuff (borderline greedy for new stuff) from this author because she writes my favorite kind of romances. The funny contemporaries with heroes that are swoonworthy. As long as she keeps writing those stories, she’ll still keep showing up on my best of lists. =)
2. Courtney Milan. I read a couple of books by Courtney Milan last year that have seriously rocked my socks. She writes historical romances with characters that reach out and grab you by the throat. Her characters are always refreshing and her storylines always keep me wanting to turn the pages. She writes wonderfully romantic stories and I absolutely love them. I adored Unlocked and Unclaimed and I can’t wait to read Smite’s story.
3. Julia Quinn. Funny stories with fabulous characters, that’s what I like. Julia Quinn always delivers with those and she always impresses me with the world that she built for us readers. She writes faulous historical novels with characters that are linked to other books and instead of making her characters unbelievably cheesy, she always makes them charming and keeps me coming back for more. Love her books!
4. Loretta Chase. Loretta Chase wrote Silk is for Seduction and I thought it was fabulous. She gripped me within the pages of that book and she wrote a book that stayed with me long after I finished reading it. I re-read it twice over last year and will definitely be reading it again. I’m looking forward to the next book in the series and my anxiousness for that book is only a small part of the reason that Loretta Chase is one of my favorite authors from last year.
5. Sarah MacLean. Sarah MacLean is another author that hasn’t written a book that I haven’t liked in one way or another. She writes engaging stories with characters that leap right off the pages. I’m always left thirsty for more when I finish one of her books and that’s why she’s one of my top authors from last year.

Casee: It wasn’t until I was going over this post and read Holly and Wena’s list that I realized that I didn’t have many new-to-me authors either. Maybe less than a handful. Which is quite depressing considering how much I love discovering new authors to love. I think I’m more wary than I used to be. I blame it on the recession.

My favorite 2011 authors were:

1. Nalini Singh (She has made my list the last few years and I expect she’ll make it this year as well)
2. Thea Harrison (A new-to-me author) [H: Now we just need to talk Rowena into trying her…]
3. Christy Reece
4. Kresley Cole
5. Gena Showalter

Now that you know our favorite authors from last year, share with us what authors made it to your top list of 2011.

Related Posts