I Heart Contemporaries!

I spent a couple of hours last week catching up on my reading journal, and I was dismayed to realize that of the twenty-three books published May-July that I was adding to my keeper shelves, only four were contemporaries. I used to read more contemporaries than historicals. When did that change?

I still get as excited as ever about a new book from Susan Elizabeth Phillips, Robyn Carr, Toni Blake, or Rachel Gibson. I was wildly vocal about my delight when Nora Roberts returned to the straight contemporary with her new Wedding Quartet, and I’ll probably lead my own marching band if Jenny Crusie ever joins her. I think Lisa Kleypas’ contemporaries are just as wonderful as her historicals, and I’ve added Kristan Higgins and Julie James to my autobuy list. I drove all over town looking for a copy of Liz Bevarly’s Neck & Neck. So it’s not as if I’ve forsaken contemporaries.

But I can’t deny that I am reading fewer, and even fewer are joining my keepers. I think of five friends who have joined/will soon join the ranks of published authors, and I realize that all of them write historicals. I’m concerned. I not only read contemporaries, but I also write them. I’d like to think my dream of publication has some chance of being realized.

Sarah from Smart Bitches and Jane from Dear Author are promoting an ongoing Save the Contemporary movement. It sounds like an endangered species protection act to me, so this blog is my contribution to the action. Here’s my list of all-time favorite contemporary romances—single-title only. With Harlequin’s sales, I don’t think categories are endangered, so I’ll save favorite categories for another blog.

Till the Stars Fall, Kathleen Gilles Seidel

Lovers reunited is my favorite theme, so it’s not surprising that TTSF is one of my most beloved books. Seidel has the gift of creating characters so real the reader feels she might run into them at the supermarket or a neighborhood party. Krissa and Quinn are mature, intelligent, and flawed characters whose past is part of their present. I love the way Seidel weaves strands from the larger culture into their story. I’ve long since lost count of how many times I’ve read this book, but every time I do I sigh “Perfect” as I turn the last page.

In the Midnight Rain, Ruth Wind

This book by Barbara Samuel writing as Ruth Wind is an extraordinary book in every way. More than their professions make Ellie Connor, who writes about musicians, and Blue Reynard, who raises orchids, atypical as heroine and hero. They are wounded people whose strengths are hard-earned and whose pasts persist in intruding on the present. The same could be said of the town, Pine Bend, Texas, which becomes another character in the book.

A Place to Call Home, Deborah Smith

Claire Maloney, the daughter of a prominent family in Dunderry, Georgia, and Roan Sullivan, son of the town drunk, meet at a St. Patrick’s Day parade when she is five and he is ten. The bond they form as children cannot be destroyed by other people or by life’s vicissitudes. Twenty years after they are separated, they meet again. I’m beginning to see a pattern here. In APTCH too, the past proves its power in the present, but Claire and Roan share a love that overcome the obstacles of once-was and the now-is.

Sea Swept, Nora Roberts

I could easily write about my top ten Nora Roberts contemporaries. She has her own double-rowed keeper shelf in my house. But Sea Swept is my favorite. I love the premise of the Chesapeake Bay series: the childless couple who adopt three lost boys and the fourth lost boy who becomes the youngest brother, a last gift from their father. But Cameron Quinn, the baddest boy of the group, and the fiery Anna Spinelli—two people determined to remain unattached who are conquered by love--are my favorites.

Virgin River, Robyn Carr

I have a deep affection for community-based stories, and Robyn Carr’s Virgin Rover series is among the best. I particularly love Virgin River, the first book, because it shows a woman almost felled by an unbearable loss who is healed by a combination of her own resilience, a community’s acceptance, and the love of a man who won’t give up. Even in the other books in the series, I look for Mel and Jack. Theirs is an HEA to keep cherishing.

Dream a Little Dream, Susan Elizabeth Phillips

I’d hate to give up any of my SEP keepers, and choosing between DALD and First Lady as a top favorite was a difficult task. But DALD won out because it offers an angst-ridden love story between two wounded creatures, Rachel and Gabe, and a lighter, sweeter secondary love story between Kristy and Gabe’s minister-brother, Ethan. DALD is also rare in non-inspirational romance in that religious faith is part of the book. I appreciate Phillips’ giving a balanced portrait. Rachel’s former televangelist husband who perverted the faith he preached is offset by Ethan who struggles to reconcile a faith based on mercy and love with his all-too-human anger and thirst for revenge.

Smooth Talking Stranger, Lisa Kleypas

Kleypas brings the same mix of heat and heart to her contemporaries that have made her historical favorites. Sugar Daddy and Blue-Eyed Devil are both keepers for me too, but I will admit to my shallowness here. I chose Smooth Talking Stranger over the other two because I love Jack Travis. His combination of good-ole-boyness and tender nurturer just melts my heart. Ella evokes my sympathy, but it’s Jack that makes this book a winner.

Welcome to Temptation, Jennifer Crusie

Crusie’s description of her hero might have been enough on its on to make this book a favorite: Phineas Tucker "looked like every glossy frat boy in every nerd movie ever made, like every popular town boy who'd ever looked right through her in high school, like every rotten rich kid who'd ever belonged where she hadn't." But to that she adds the best lust-turns-to-love story I’ve ever read, a cast of memorable secondary characters, and the hilarity I look for in a Crusie. I love Bet Me and Fast Women, but WTT is the Crusie I return to most often.

My Man Pendleton, Elizabeth Bevarly

I’m a long-time Bevarly fan. She has written some of my favorite categories, but MMP is Bevarly at her best. Kit is just this side of ditzy, but if you are a fan of classic screwball comedies, as I am, you will love her. And Pendleton—ah, Pendleton! He’s smart, confident, and hot. His way with language alone captures my heart. I still laugh when I read his business advice: "In my opinion, sir, the implementation of such a visionary objective does seem to impact our mission statement, but I wonder if it won't be more productive in segmenting our quality group."

Just the Sexiest Man Alive, Julie James

Julie James is romantic comedy’s best hope. Her first book was such fun to read. The exchanges between successful lawyer Taylor Donovan and Jason Andrews, People's "Sexiest Man Alive” reminded me of a modernized Hepburn-Tracy verbal duel. Even more remarkable is than in an age of insert-sex-scene-here romances, James creates a book with irresistible appeal that has a ton of sexual tension but little sex.

Do you read contemporaries? What are your favorites? Do your part to save the contemporary and share.