Reading Rituals and the New Year

One of my New Year’s rituals is preparing a book calendar of the new books I plan to read in the coming year. I check authors’ websites and other sources to find out what is scheduled, and I fill in my calendar by hand. Since my appetite for books exceeds my book budget, I will use both the public library and my university library, but some books I must have for my own ASAP. I preorder these. Review copies are a boon to my budget, but sometimes I end up buying print copies of favorites that I received in digital format or ecopies of those I received in print.

Creating this calendar heightens my anticipation of the good reads ahead, and I’m convinced it helps me to meet my goal of reading all the books on my list. That last claim may sound like mere superstition, but science is on my side. Research on the efficacy of rituals reported in Scientific American last spring revealed that “Recently, a series of investigations by psychologists have revealed intriguing new results demonstrating that rituals can have a causal impact on people’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.” Each year when I post my list, some skeptic expresses doubts that I will really be able to read all the books, but so far each year, I have actually read not only the books on the calendar but also quite a few not on the list. I fully expect to repeat the feat in 2014.

The list below, more than 150 titles, includes only the books that will be published January through June. I’ll do a second post in late June when the publication schedule for the second half of the year is more complete. I repeat my usual caution that this is not a comprehensive list. It includes only the books I look forward to reading. Because I read primarily historical and contemporary romance, these are the subgenres that are most represented, along with a sprinkling of women’s fiction, mystery (the latter mostly cozies), and a couple of NA books. I do not include rereads on the list, even though of the ten books I’ve already read in 2014, four were rereads of Georgette Heyer books that I bought on sale recently. If you are interested in a comprehensive list, The Romance Dish, Heroes and Heartbreakers, and All About Romance all publish monthly lists of all genres of romance fiction and fiction with strong romantic elements.

Of course, even on a list of books I am eager to read, there are some that I anticipate with exceptional enthusiasm. I can’t wait to read Sarah Addison Allen’s Lost Lake and Manda Collins’s Why Earls Fall in Love later this month and Virginia Kantra’s Carolina Man in March. Late March and early April bring a bonanza of books that make me smile just to think about the wonders that await. More than twenty books are on my list for just that two-week period, including a dozen by autobuy authors. And in mid-April I’m going back to Anchor Island with Terri Osburn. In June, at long last, Loretta Chase will give us Vixen in Velvet.

These are some of the books I plan to read the first half of 2014. I’m sure that I will add to the list as more release dates are announced, as friends say “You can’t miss this one,” and as I make serendipitous discoveries.

JANUARY

January 1

From Ruin to Riches	Louise Allen
A Marriage of Notoriety	Diane Gaston
Everywhere She Goes	Janice Kay Johnson
Sweet Nothings	Kim Law
Marrying the Cowboy	Trish Milburn
A Man to Believe in	Kathleen Pickering
Unleashing Mr. Darcy	Teri Wilson

January 7

Douglas	Grace Burrowes
Scandalously Yours	Cara Elliott
How to Master Your Marquis                     Juliana Gray The Fireside Inn  (novella)	Lily Everett
The Invention of Wings	Sue Monk Kidd
Boots Under Her Bed	Goodman. Kent, Thomas, Warner
The Last Wicked Scoundrel (novella)	Lorraine Heath
Secrets for Seducing a Royal Bodyguard	Vanessa Kelly
Between a Rake and a Hard Place	Mia Marlowe
More Than a Touch	Alexis Morgan
The Last Man on Earth	Tracey Anne Warren

January 14

An Anniversary Feast (novella)	Michael Baron
The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches	Alan Bradley
Bonfire Beach  (novella)	Lily Everett
The Invention of Wings	Sue Monk Kidd
River Road	Jayne Ann Krentz
Island Promises	Thayne, Ferrarella, Banks
Return to Tradd Street	Karen White

January 20

Runaway Groom

Fiona Lowe

January 21

Lost Lake	Sarah Addison Allen
Be Mine Forever	Marina Adair
Happy Medium	Meg Benjamin
Love on Mimosa Lane	Anna DeStefano
Lantern Lake (novella)	Lily Everett
When the Rogue Returns	Sabrina Jeffries

January 28

The Cowboy of Valentine Valley	Emma Cane
Why Earls Fall in Love	Manda Collins
Texas Hold 'Em	Christie Craig
Romancing the Duke	Tessa Dare
Shoreline Drive	Lily Everett
The Silence of the Library	Miranda James
The Bride Says No	Cathy Maxwell
Cider Brook	Carla Neggers
At the River's Edge	Mariah Stewart
Wildwood Creek	Lisa Wingate
Home to Seaview Key	Sherryl Woods

FEBRUARY

February 1

Mint Juleps and Justice	Nancy Naigle
Wife by Design	Tara Taylor Quinn
Whisper of Jasmine	Deanna Raybourne
A Family for Tyler	Angel Smits
His Forever Girl	Liz Talley
The Real Mr. Right	Karen Templeton

February 4

The MacGregor's Lady	Grace Burrowes
Sinfully Yours	Cara Elliott
All You Need Is Love	Marie Force
Princess Ever After	Rachel Hauck
Had to Be You	Robin Kaye
What the Groom Wants	Jade Lee
R Is for Royal	Megan Mulry
Confessions of a Secret Admirer	Ryan, Seasons, Terry
The Curl Up and Dye	Sharon Sala
The Valentine's Day Disaster (novella)	Lori Wilde

February 11

Once in a Lifetime	Jill Shalvis
February 18
The Jade Temptress	Jeannie Lin

February 25

A Wicked Pursuit	Isabella Bradford
A Promise at Bluebell Hill	Emma Cane
The Chance	Robyn Carr
The Scandalous Duke Takes a Bride	Tiffany Clare
A March Bride (novella)	Rachel Hauck
When the Duke Was Wicked	Lorraine Heath
The Trouble with Honor	Julia London
Evening Stars	Susan Mallery
The Bride Says Maybe	Cathy Maxwell
A Man to Hold on To	Marilyn Pappano
The Cottage at Juniper Ridge	Sheila Roberts

MARCH

March 1

Secrets at Court	Blyth Gifford
The Fall of a Saint	Christine Merrill

March 4

David	Grace Burrowes
Jonathan and Amy (novella)	Grace Burrowes
The Dark Affair	Maire Claremont
Passionately Yours	Cara Elliott
Why Kings Confess	C. S. Harris
Carolina Man	Virginia Kantra
Loving Lord Ashe	Sally MacKenzie

March 18

The Wedding Ring Quest	Carla Kelly
Beneath the Patchwork Moon	Alison Kent
Sweet Disorder	Rose Lerner
March 24
Fatal Jeopardy	Marie Force

March 25

A Beauty So Rare	Tamera Alexander
Four Friends	Robyn Carr
What a Reckless Rogue Needs	Vicky Dreiling
Fool Me Twice	Meredith Duran
After the Scandal	Elizabeth Essex
Waiting on You	Kristan Higgins
Three Weeks With Lady X	Eloisa James
Sweet Talk Me	Kieran Kramer
Between the Devil and Ian Eversea	Julie Anne Long
Moonlight on My Mind	Jennifer McQuiston
Come Home to Me	Brenda Novak
Taken with You	Shannon Stacey

APRIL

April 1

A Shocking Delight	Jo Beverley
The Winter Bride	Anne Gracie
Confessions of a Royal Bridegroom	Vanessa Kelly
Her Kind of Trouble	Sarah Mayberry
Wildflower Wedding	Luann McLane
The Husband Campaign	Regina Scott
The Wicked Widow Meets Her Match	Stefanie Sloane
The Day He Kissed Her	Juliana Stone

April 15

Home to Stay	Terri Osburn
The Collector	Nora Roberts
April 17
Aunt Dimity and the Wishing Well	Nancy Atherton
April 22
Otherwise Engaged	Amanda Quick

April 29

The Unexpected Duchess	Valerie Bowman
Never Entice an Earl	Lily Dalton
How to Lose a Duke in 10 Days	Laura Lee Guhrke
Dreams of Lilacs	Lynn Kurland
It Takes a Scandal	Caroline Linden
When We Met	Susan Mallery
Inn at Last Chance	Hope Ramsay
Shadow Spell	Nora Roberts

MAY

May 1

The Mistress Rebellion	Courtney Milan
May 6
In Want of a Wife	Jo Goodman
It Happened one Wedding	Julie James
Blue Notes	Carrie Lofty
A Reason to Love	Alexis Morgan
To Charm a Naughty Countess	Theresa Romain
Breakable	Tammara Webber
May 7
Decadent	Adrianne Lee
May 13
The Best Medicine	Tracy Brogan

May 27

All I Want Is You	Toni Blake
Baby, It's You	Jane Graves
The Scoundrel's Seduction	Jennifer Haymore
The Accidental Duchess	Madeline Hunter
Before We Kiss	Susan Mallery
Dreamweaver Trail	Emily March
Once Tasted	Laura Moore
The Once and Future Duchess	Sophia Nash
Take My Breath Away	Ridgway, Christie
A Dream of Desire	Nina Rowan
Barefoot in Lace	Roxanne St. Claire
Love with a Perfect Cowboy	Lori Wilde
The Secret Life of Violet Grant	Beatriz Williams

JUNE

June 3

My Fair Billionaire	Elizabeth Bevarly
I Want to Hold Your Hand	Marie Force
How to School Your Scoundrel	Juliana Gray
Mischief by Moonlight	Emily Greenwood
The Baron Next Door	Erin Knightley

June 10

Just One Thing

Holly Jacobs

June 24

The Promise	Robyn Carr
Vixen in Velvet	Loretta Chase
The Secrets of a Scoundrel	Gaelen Foley
Until We Touch	Susan Mallery
Suddenly Last Summer	Sarah Morgan
Lady Windermere's Lover	Miranda Neville
The Tea Shop on Lavendar Lane	Sheila Roberts
Something Sweeter	Candis Terry
Wild Iris Ridge	RaeAnne Thayne
The Beekeeper's Ball	Susan Wiggs

These are my reading plans for January-June.  What are yours? What books are you most looking forward to in 2014? What’s the best book you have read in the new year so far?