Although I’ve read romance off and on throughout my life, it was only this year that I began truly reading romance in earnest. Shortly after Covid-19 restrictions set in this past spring, I reached out to a few friends from college and learned, to my surprise, that we’d all been coping with, well, everything by reading romance novels. Like, a lot of romance novels. At a certain point, I was consuming, on average, more than one novel a day. Thank god for my local library’s ebook collection.
At any rate, this group of friends and I formed a book club that has met (read: Zoomed) weekly for the past howevermany months to talk about that week’s selected novel. In the days between meetings, we also have an ongoing group text where we update each other about everything else we’ve been reading, not to mention interesting Wikipedia articles we run across (“Where is THIS romance?” is a not uncommon comment attached to these articles), pictures of 19th century evening dresses, and our own takes on the latest drama in Romancelandia. Texting and talking with these amazing, smart, funny women has been the highlight of my year.
For our most recent meeting, we challenged each other to come up with lists of our Top 10 of 2020 — not books published this year (because, truth be told, we didn’t read that many published this year), but our favorite books we read for the first time this year, which for most of us was hundreds of books. We also limited ourselves to one book per author. In the end, our lists had some marked differences (one of us reads considerably more paranormal romance than everyone else) and not a few similarities (spoiler alert: all four of us LOVED Band Sinister, because, duh, it’s incredible).
Without further ado, I will share my list (in no particular order) of my favorite romance reads of 2020 and a few comments about why each book blew me away:
Band Sinister by K. J. Charles
This m/m historical romance is everything. Every character sparkles. The dialogue is fresh and engaging. The romance is lovely, nuanced, and realistic without being cynical. As I said above, this was the ONE book that made it onto all four of our Best Of lists. It’s something special.
An Unconditional Freedom by Alyssa Cole
I love the entirety of Cole’s Loyal League series — actually, I love the entirety of Cole’s oeuvre, and her Duke By Default contemporary romance nearly made it onto this list — but to my mind, this book, the third (and final?) in the series, is the pinnacle of what Cole can do, what really good romance can do, what historical fiction can do. Daniel’s story feels devastatingly relevant right now, and the complicated, lovely romance that blossoms in this book just went straight to my heart.
Daring and the Duke by Sarah MacLean
Look, Sarah MacLean knows how to end a series. Pick any series she’s written and it is a GUARANTEE that the last book is an absolute banger. I chose Daring and the Duke for this list, however, because in addition to actually being released in 2020, it is such an ambitious, steamy, patriarchy-smashing kick in the ass of a book, and it completely turns the entire subgenre of “duke books” on its head.
When He Was Wicked by Julia Quinn
I enjoy the Bridgertons series, and I am waiting on tenterhooks for Bridgerton to be released on Netflix, but it is this book, which is in many ways the least Bridgerton book of them all, that truly wormed its way into my soul. Full of wrenching grief, delicious longing, and just about all the angst a girl can wish for, When He Was Wicked hit all of my buttons and then some. There is nothing I love more than pining and this book practically overflows with it.
Anything you pick up by Beverly Jenkins is going to be good, but Indigo is a classic for a reason. It’s beautiful and grand, with an extremely memorable heroine, a delightfully rakish hero, and palpable sexual tension. Also, for what it’s worth, I think Jenkins is among the best writers in terms of historical research and scene-setting. (Her westerns are extremely interesting too, for this very reason.)
Marrying Winterborne by Lisa Kleypas
Basically I love this book because I love Rhys Winterborne. Don’t get me wrong, I love the heroine, Helen; I love her whole family, whom the series follows; and I think the plot in this one is really strong, with excellent pacing and a great twist. All of that is true. I just also love Rhys Winterborne a hell of a lot — he’s my absolute favorite of the rags-to-riches hero archetype, and I will never forget him encouraging his workers to unionize! Labor solidarity is sexy.
The Duke of Shadows by Meredith Duran
I was torn between three different books by Meredith Duran for this slot — Fool Me Twice (because the writing and characterization is almost absurdly good), Luck Be a Lady (because it’s my favorite romance of her books, with some of my favorite tropes all coming together in one delicious love story), and the one I ultimately chose, Duke of Shadows. In the end, I decided on this one because I can’t help but be awed by what a sprawling, ambitious, epic book it is, spanning years, with huge amounts of character growth, as well as equal amounts of trauma. Not to mention that Duran’s prose, while always incredible, really shines here.
Thief of Shadows by Elizabeth Hoyt
I’m obsessed with this book in large part because I’ve never read anything else like it. The hero and heroine, and their dynamic, are so unique and so satisfying. If you’re bored of smirking rakes and wide-eyed debutantes, read this. I cannot recommend it enough. (This one also made the list of one of my book club friends, and any time either of us mentions it we basically just have to yell about how good it is.)
The Viscount and the Vixen by Lorraine Heath
Two of the members of my book club chose the book that precedes this one in the series, and I can understand why. That book, The Earl Takes All, is ambitious and tricky and the fact that Heath pulls it off is a remarkable feat. But to me, The Viscount and the Vixen is a more satisfying read, with a romance that I found genuinely moving and a consideration of grief and loss that hurt in the best way. Long after I’d finished, I still couldn’t stop thinking about it.
I don’t know how it happened, exactly, that I read ten of the Immortals After Dark books in less than two weeks, but something about that bizarre, immersive process led me to come out of Lothaire thinking, wait, this was kind of incredible. I’m not sure I would’ve gotten there if I’d just jumped right in with this one, but as part of a long, long series, it is the sweetest payoff, complicated and dramatic and funny and weird in a way I can’t even describe. There’s a vampire 69 at one point. At another point, I teared up with real emotion. Lothaire contains multitudes.
Honorable Mentions:
The Chasing of Eleanor Vane by Sierra Simone
This novella, found in the recently-published Duke I’d Like to F… anthology, features some of the most beautiful prose I’ve read in romance. I’ve had trouble with Simone’s work in the past (due to content not quality) but I’ve got nothing but praise for this one.
The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang
This contemporary features some of the most honest, thoughtful portrayals of sexual discomfort and uncertainty that I’ve ever encountered, and painfully real depictions of awkward social situations (the scene where she comes over for dinner with his family!) … and, at the same time, it’s sexy and funny and exciting and I basically had to race through to the end because I was so invested. Plus I think Michael, the hero, is a perfect man.
Born to be Wilde by Eloisa James
Eloisa James does historical detail so well in literally every book I’ve ever read by her, so while that’s definitely one of the highlights from this one, it’s not the main thing I’ll praise. Instead, I’ll say that this book has one of the most satisfying relationships in romance. It’s the mutual respect! It builds slowly, and they take a while to get there, but when they do so, it’s so believable and so rewarding. A lovely portrayal of not just a romance but a partnership.
My Lord and Spymaster by Joanna Bourne
Bourne is an excellent prose stylist whose use of free indirect discourse is maybe unparalleled. This is my favorite that I’ve read by her (so far), and I really am not exaggerating when I say she makes reading a complete pleasure. Her books are smart and unusual, and I come away every time extremely impressed by her craft.
The Duke Who Didn’t by Courtney Milan
As far as I can tell, Courtney Milan can’t write a bad novel. This one, which is extra sweet and frothy, isn’t my favorite thing she’s ever written. What can I say? I like angst. That said, it’s still a delightful book, with sharply-drawn characters and a buoyant, optimistic mood, and I don’t know that anyone could read it and have a bad day.