Best Of 2008: The Heroines.

Posted January 3, 2009 by Rowena in Features | 4 Comments

Every good man needs a woman, right? Heck yes, so we’re here to list our favorite heroines that we came to know in the year 2008. It shouldn’t be that hard, right? Let’s hope not. =)

Here’s my (Rowena’s) list:

1. Grace Eversleigh from The Lost Duke of Wyndham by Julia Quinn.
2. Sophie Alton from Unlawful Contact by Pamela Clare.
3. Adele Harris from Not Another Bad Date by Rachel Gibson.
4. Taylor Donovan from Just the Sexiest Man Alive by Julie James.
5. Mia Summerton from Frisco’s Kid by Suzanne Brockmann.

Some honorable mentions go out to: Carlisle Cushing from The Ex-Debutante by Linda Francis Lee, Marcee Robbens from One Night Stand by Cindy Kirk and Abby Foote from Love You To Death by Melissa Senate.

I liked the wide variety of different kind of heroines these ladies are, so different and yet the one thing they all had in common was they were strong, emotionally and they cared and loved deeply. It was great getting to know these different women through their books.

Holly’s List:

You know, this is probably the hardest list I have to do each year. The truth is, I don’t like many heroines. Sure there are some I don’t hate, but I’m much harder on them than I am on heroes. And let’s be honest, there aren’t many kickass heroines out there that don’t do stupid shit, right?

1. Allie Daniels from Twisted Creek by Jodi Thomas
2. Sera Ayers from Undercover by Lauren Dane
3. Alice Grey from Demon Bound by Meljean Brook
4. Heather Montgomery from Tall Tales and Wedding Veils by Jane Graves
5. Winnifred Hathaway from Seduce Me At Sunrise by Lisa Kleypas

Honorable Mentions: Eve Dallas from J.D. Robb’s In Death Series (Is there a more kickass heroine out there?), Francesca Bonnard from Your Scandalous Ways by Loretta Chase, Leah Daniels from Nightkeepers by Jessica Andersen and Madeleine Greenway from The Perils of Pleasure by Julie Ann Long

Casee’s List:

Heroines are so much harder to pick than heroes.

1. Ashaya Aleine from Hostage to Pleasure by Nalini Singh
2. Lucy Sharpe from Now You Die by Roxanne St. Claire
3. Holly Ashwin from Dark Desires After Dusk by Kresley Cole
4. Minerva Dobbs from Bet Me by Jennifer Cruise
5. Hannah Drake from Turbulent Sea by Christine Feehan

Alright, so you guys know the drill by now…who are YOUR favorite heroines of 2008? Let’s see your lists.

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Tagged: Best Heroines, Best of 2008, Best of Lists, Casee Says, Holly Says, Wena Says

Best of 2008: The Heroes.

Posted January 2, 2009 by Rowena in Features | 10 Comments

We all know that we’re hero obsessed here at Book Binge (hence the Hero of the Month posts). Because we’ve done a heck of a lot of reading this year, we’ve met a whole lot of new heroes and we’re not ashamed to tell you just who some of our favorites were (because truth be told, I’m slutty enough to say that I’d take them all! =P).

So I’ll start off, here’s Rowena’s list:

1. Acheron Parthenopaeous from Acheron by Sherrilyn Kenyon.
2. Marc Hunter from Unlawful Contact by Pamela Clare.
3. Jack Audley from The Lost Duke of Wyndham by Julia Quinn.
4. Jason Andrews from Just the Sexiest Man Alive by Julie James.
5. Chaz Pendergrass from Queen of Babble series by Meg Cabot.

Holly’s List:

1. Jake Hawkins from Demon Bound by Meljean Brook
2. Nick Romeo from Romeo, Romeo by Robin Kaye
3. Jax Graham from SEALed with a Kiss by Mary Margret Daughtridge
4. Kevin Vaccaro from Baby, I’m Yours by Karen Templeton
5. Ilya Prakenskii from Turbulent Sea by Christine Feehan

Honorable Mentions go to: Ethan McCabe (Drifter) from Meljean Brook’s Guardian Series, Roarke from J.D. Robb’s In Death series, Zach Quinn from Stroke of Enticement by Nalini Singh (in the Magical Christmas Cat antho) and Valek from Maria V. Snyder’s Study series.

Casee’s List:

1. Acheron from Acheron by Sherrilyn Kenyon
2. Dorian Christensen from Hostage to Pleasure by Nalini Singh
3. Jake Macgregor from Dark Magic by Cheyenne McCray
4. Gabriel Jones from Show No Mercy by Cindy Gerard
5. Kev Merripen from Seduce Me at Sunrise by Lisa Kleypas

Now you’ve seen ours who are yours?

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Tagged: Best Heroes, Best of 2008, Best of Lists, Best Reads, Casee Says, Holly Says, Wena Says

Best of 2008: The Series

Posted January 1, 2009 by Casee in Features | 9 Comments

Series in romance is becoming more and more popular. Though we’ve lamented over the lack of single title contemporaries, we still love our series books. These are our some of our favorite series of the year.

Casee’s List:

These are my top five series of 2008:

1. Immortals After Dark (Krelsey Cole)
2. Lords of the Underworld (Gena Showalter)
3. The Dennehy Sisters (Jo Goodman)
4. The Princes Trilogy (Elizabeth Hoyt)
5. The Bullet Catchers (Roxanne St. Claire)
Rowena’s List:

First off, I’d have to agree with Casee and say that she is probably the biggest fan of series between the three of us since me and Holly have been itching for a regular stand alone (and were gifted with some this year, thank goodness!) books but I do love a good series every now and again (and again).

My top 5 favorite series of 2008 are:

1. The Tall, Dark and Deadly series by Suzanne Brockmann.
2. The Lost Dukes of Wyndham by Julia Quinn.
3. The Queen of Babble series by Meg Cabot.
4. The Dark Hunter series by Sherrilyn Kenyon.
5. The Troubleshooters series by Suzanne Brockmann.

Holly’s List:

I’ve been whining about there being too many series out there for ages. I really wish there were more stand-alones. Of course I say that, but I’d probably whine and complain if I didn’t get a story for each and every character I love. I’m fickle like that.

1. The Hearts of the South series by Linda Winfree
2. The For Me series by Karen Rose
3. The Guys and Daughters series by Karen Templeton(the Vaccaro’s)
4. The Guardians series by Meljean Brook
5. The American Heroes: The Firefighters series by Jill Shalvis

Series I’m keeping my eye on for 2009:

The Domestic Gods series by Robin Kaye
The Hathaways series by Lisa Kleypas
Celta’s Heartmates by Robin D. Owens
Sisterhood Diaries Trilogy by Susan Andersen
Extraordinary Girl series by Gena Showalter

Honorable mentions go to: The Drake Sisters Series by Feehan (only one left to go), The Wedding Veil Wishes series by Lori Wilde and The In Death Series by J.D. Robb

Says the girl who doesn’t like series. 😛

What about the rest of you? What are your favorite series?

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Tagged: Best of 2008, Best of Lists, Best Series, Casee Says, Holly Says, Wena Says

Worst of 2008: The Books

Posted December 31, 2008 by Casee in Features | 13 Comments

Since we’ve already brought you the Best of 2008: The Books, it’s only fair that we bring you the worst. These could be books that were so awful that they were DNF or books that were a disappointment to us.

Casee’s List:

My biggest disappointment was Promises Revealed. I’ve loved this series from the beginning and waited for the Rev’s book forever. It just didn’t do it for me.

Holly’s List:

I think of all of them I listed Breaking Dawn is my biggest disappointment. Not because it was an awful book – it really wasn’t. But because it was an awful end to what potentially could have been an amazing series.

Wena’s List:

I’m not sure if I’m going to be able to find five books that I would label worst of 2008 but let’s see what I find, shall we?

Hmmm, that’s all that I’ve got. Alright, alright (Sybil! haha), I added the books that I was looking forward to and was disappointed in, I had such high hopes for these books and they fell flat for me. Oh well, it is what it is…happy now, KB and Sybil?

Now…show us yours! =P

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Tagged: Best of 2008, Best of Lists, Casee Says, Holly Says, Holly's Books, Holly's Reads, Rowena Says, Rowena's Books, Rowena's Reads, Worst Books, Worst of 2008, Worst Of Lists, Worst Reads

Best of 2008: The Authors

Posted December 30, 2008 by Holly in Features | 15 Comments

Day two of our “Best of 2008” brings us to authors. Some are new to us and others are favorites who released new books this year (or maybe not?).

Holly’s List:

1. Jill Shalvis
2. Meljean Brook
3. Karen Templeton
4. Karen Rose
5. Linda Winfree

There were several others I read this year that I was very impressed with but didn’t list, mostly because I only read one or two books by them. I’m going to list them here as authors to keep my eye on in 2009. It’s possible they’ll end up on next years list:

Jessica Andersen
Lori Wilde
Jane Graves
Mary Margret Daughtrigdge
Robin Kaye

Rowena’s List:

1. Jill Shalvis
2. Julie James
3. Sherrilyn Kenyon (she wrote Acheron)
4. Julia Quinn (am still in love with Jack Audley)
5. Pamela Clare.

Casee’s List:

1. Sherrilyn Kenyon (only for Acheron)
2. Karen Rose
3. Nalini Singh
4. Maya Banks
5. Elizabeth Hoyt

Who are your favorite authors of 2008 (new or old favorites)?