[image error]Okay, so I know I’m leaving books I liked off this list. I’m probably even forgetting to include books I LOVED on this list, but the cool kids are making lists of books they loved during the suckiest year of them all, 2016.

These are the books that have inspired me over the past years as I was getting ready to debut STROKE OF MIDNIGHT, which comes out on January 3, 2017. I should also be writing my own book right now, so it seems sensible to spend an hour doing this.

Here’s my list:

Best Dirty Talk (And Dirty Action TBH):

I don’t think I need to elaborate too much with these. Let me just say this: Tessa needs to write me a boyfriend who will actually come to life outside my head. And James, the hero in THE WEDDING PACT, is as close as I’ll get to experiencing one of those gifs of Charlie Hunnam banging someone on SoA as I’ll get in this lifetime.

TOO HOT TO HANDLE by Tessa Bailey

THE WEDDING PACT by Katee Robert

Best Slow Burn:

I’m not usually one for a slow-burn romance, but I picked up both of these books based on recommendations from Tessa Bailey, and I wasn’t sorry. Both of these books kept me up way too late. Why? It’s the voice and the heroes. Debut author, Sally Thorne, is so good that it makes me angry. Her POV is so close that you feel every iota of the heroine’s angst about loving to hate her annoying (but sexy) co-worker. And the hero is THE WALL OF WINNIPEG AND ME is a vegan football player with a protective streak as long as you have to wait until they get together.

THE HATING GAME by Sally Thorne

THE WALL OF WINNIPEG AND ME by Mariana Zapata

Best Virgin Hero

Charlotte Stein is one of the best writers out there. If you’re not reading her, I’m not sure that we can be friends. She made a former bully hero work for me, and I was bullied. She’s fucking magical. Read this book.

NEVER SWEETER by Charlotte Stein

Best Rockers and Bikers and Criminals (Oh my!)

I don’t know what it says about me that this year’s favorite books are dominated by an assortment of badass heroines, bikers, con artists, straight-up convicts, and rockers. But I would want all of these heroines on my side in a knife fight, and heroes who don’t give a fuck are really ringing my bell right now. And Molly “M.” O’Keefe could write about aliens doing butt stuff, and I would read it–the fact that she wrote about a biker kidnapped by a stripper is simply an up sell.

BURN DOWN THE NIGHT by M. O’Keefe

IDOL by Kristen Callihan

BEAUTIFUL CRAZY by Kasey Lane

(Note: Kasey and I share an agent, but I wouldn’t put her on this list if I didn’t LURVE this book.)

DEVIL’S HONOR by Megan Crane

THE PLAYER by Kresley Cole

ALL CHAINED UP by Sophie Jordan

 Books I Forgot But Can’t Not Mention

 UNBREAK MY HEART by Nicole Jaquelyn

I met Nicole at RT and she gave me an ARC of this book. I stayed in bed reading it the next day during the conference, pretty much sobbing the whole time.

THE SECOND CIRCLE TATTOO SERIES by Scarlett Cole

I can’t pick a favorite out of this series, so I’m including a link to the boxed set that comes out on January 3. Read all of them, no need to thank me. You’re welcome.