Amazon has just announced their Best Books of the Year So Far list, an annual exercise conducted in the middle of each year highlighting the best books released between January and June of each year. The books on the list are hand-picked by Amazon editors, who come up with a Top 20 list, as well as the best books in thirteen of the most popular book categories, including romance, mystery and thrillers, science fiction and fantasy, as well as young adult books.
I was, of course, most interested in the list of top 10 romance books. There were no big surprises in the books chosen by the Amazon editors, which were mostly from well-established romance authors such as Nora Roberts, Julia Quinn, Robyn Carr, and Lara Adrian. The books ran the gamut from paranormal romances, contemporary romances, and historical romances. The only thing that gave me pause was the editors’ decision to place Sylvia Day’s Bared to You at the top of the list. Day is a relative newcomer, and Bared to You’s success has largely been on the back of its similarity to romance erotica phenomenon Fifty Shades of Grey.
Amazon’s Best Romance Books of the Year So Far are:
- Bared to You by Sylvia Day
- The Witness by Nora Roberts
- A Night Like This by Julia Quinn
- Midnight Promises by Sherryl Woods
- Redwood Bend by Robyn Carr
- Conquered by a Highlander by Paula Quinn
- Darker After Midnight by Lara Adrian
- Whispers in the Dark by Maya Banks
- Highland Avenger by Hannah Howell
- Born to Darkness by Suzanne Brockmann
I’m pleased to say that I’ve read more than 50% of these books and wouldn’t necessarily have chosen these ten as my ten best books of the year so far! Is your favorite book on this list, and would you agree that these are the best romances of the year so far?