Anne's End of Year Lists

When I sat down to make my best reads of the year list (I'll put them in a separate post) I ended up making a WHOLE BUNCH of lists.  So here you go.  My list of lists:

A. Best Authors I haven't read (yet)  This was determined by how much Kay has nagged me.

1. Tessa Bailey
2. Kristen Ashely

B. Books I read this year that were really new or innovative

1. Wallflower by Heidi Belleau - a romance about a young man coming to terms with his desire to cross dress and understanding what that means and doesn't mean about his sexuality.  Really well done.
2. Choose Your Shot: An Interative Erotic Adventure by Christine d'Abo - a choose your own adventure in a BDSM club where you make choices along the way that direct your encounters.  Kate and I really enjoyed this one.  I'd definitely read another!
3. Never Deal with Dragons by Lorenda Christensen - I like dragon shifter books.  This one stuck out (in a good way) for me because of the interesting world building - a present day where dragons had been created as weapons to fight a world war, but came out to be stronger than any humans could control.  Now these very intelligent beings live all around us and society struggles to adjust.  I felt like the book felt a little flat in the second half, but I'll watch for another in this series because I overall enjoyed it!
4. Caged Warrior by Lindsey Piper - another innovative set up.  Think non-shifting dragons mixed with a gladiator type set up.  Really riveting!
5. Stone Guardian by Danielle Monsch - gargoyles!  There's other supernatural beings in this world, bu she had me at gargoyles!
6. Painted Faces by L.H. Cosway - another cross dressing romance.  This time the cross dressing character is very comfortable with himself and his (hetero) sexuality.  The author has a great voice and it was funny and sweet.

C.  Books that pissed me off or disappointed me this year;

1. Love Overdue by Pamela Morsi  (Worst ending ever)
2. Fearless by Tawny Weber (Gettin' It was just too much for me!)
3. All I Want is You by Elizabeth Anthony (waaay too much drama, and a horrible ending!)
4. Demon Lovers novella series by Kate Douglas (I have enjoyed her books in the past, but this one was disappointing and just got worse with each novella!)

D. New To Me Authors this year:(most with a backlist I still want to read)

1. Delphine Dryden - her Science of Temptation series is Nerd-mance with BDSM and I love it!  I've read a couple novellas on her backlist, too, and really enjoyed them.
2. Cara McKenna - another author with an extensive backlist who is only new to me.  So far Willing Victim is my favorite, but Curio, Unbound, and Brazen were all really good, and they are very different books.  At this point I'll follow McKenna whatever she writes!
3. Mary Ann Rivers - I think she's pretty new to the writing scene, but wow is she incredible!  The Story Guy and her Christmas novella Snowfall (in the Heating Up the Holidays anthology)  She's got a unique voice and writing style that I love.  Goodreads shows she's got more stuff coming next year and I can't wait!
4. Anne Tenino - Again, she has a pretty big backlist, but I just found her this year.  I've read a couple books in her Theta Alpha Gamma series and really enjoyed them.  She writes m/m and does it really well!
5. Heidi Cullinan - A m/m author, I'd heard good things about her, so I can't believe I waited so long to read Heidi Cullinan.  Family Man (written with Marie Sexton) was incredibly good.  It's a book I'd recommend to someone who hasn't read m/m before as an example of how great it can be.  Her entries in the Tucker Springs series are awesome, too!
6. Marie Sexton - Another m/m author.  So far I've only read her entries in the Tucker Springs Series, along with Family Man, but they've been really good!
7. L.A. Witt - Yet another m/m author I met through the Tucker Springs series.  Goodreads shows an extensive backlist, which is really exciting!
8. Daisy Harris - Ok, I'll admit that in 2011 I read a book by Harris called Studenstein.  This sentient robot romance was good, but a little wacky for my taste, so I didn't go back for more.  But then I heard about College Boys, and there was talking through a wall, and it sounded cool, and it was contemporary m/m, which i know I like, so what the heck?  This is the start of my review:

   "I just finished reading this book, and I almost feel like I shouldn't write a review now because I'm too giddy to be coherent."  I'm looking forward to reading more!

9. Ruthie Knox - a contemporary romance author who writes great stories in both full length and novella formats!  She's an author I'll try anything with - bike ride across the country (Ride With Me)?  I'm in.  Marriage imploding (Making It Last)?  I'm in.  (For the record, both were incredible reads!)  And there's more to read!