Time for another round up. This time it is my favorite new authors of the year. These are authors I've discovered in 2015 and have loved. They are authors I want to read over and over again, and can't wait for more new books from them. I've ooh'ed and aah'ed over their work and written rave reviews about them. I'll recommend them to anyone who will listen.
Here are my top 5 (not in any particular order):
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Juliette Cross (Genre: Paranormal Romance)
I do not even remember how I discovered Juliette's books. I think I might have read a blurb for her first Morgon book but I don't remember where I found it. It's likely I read the blurb and saw "dragon human hybrid" and got sold. I'm a sucker for a good dragon story and let me tell you, her Morgon men are SEXY!! And oh man ... soulfire. You gotta read about the soulfire!!
Juliette's stories are intensely emotional and deeply, deeply satisfying reads. After reading one of her books, I find, first, I have a new book boyfriend I will fight anyone over and second, I feel she has satisfied some deep, undefined emotional hunger in me, but at the same time leaving me wanting more.
Her stories also hold great depth for those who are willing to look for it. Racial discrimination, prejudice, self discovery. She gives you naunces in her writing which has you thinking beyond the story itself, into the drives and motivations of her characters and into people in general.
I'm completely addicted to her Morgons but I will pretty much read anything Juliette writes. I still have her Vessel Trilogy to delve into as well as her soon to be released paranormal historical, The Deepest Well. I hear her hero is very captivating in The Deepest Well and it's an intensely emotional journey. I expect to have my heart ripped out and trampled on, then put back together. I can't wait!
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Victoria Davies (Genre: Paranormal Romance)
With Victoria Davies, I made the stupid mistake of agreeing to review her third book in the series The Alpha's Temporary Mate without checking if it was part of the series, because I'm an idiot. Then being a totally OCD reader who cannot jump into the middle of a series, I found myself reading the first book, Love At Stake and I was hooked.
In fact, I was so hooked with Love At Stake, I was chasing the ending. I did some very naughty things like read at the traffic lights, read while my Steve was driving and completely ignoring him, then continuing to read at home till I was done. I HAD to know how it ended and I didn't even skip to the end to find out (which is a terrible habit of mine!).
Victoria's books surprised me because they are set around a paranormal dating agency. I thought they would be cute. They are not. They are intensely emotional and breathtaking. Her stories make my heart ache. Quite a few times, I felt like my heart broke. In fact, I'm pretty sure it did when each couple got to a hitch in their relationship.
Victoria's writing made me feel. I felt every emotion her characters felt and I laughed with them. I cried with them. When they got together, their happiness was my happiness.
If you haven't read her books yet, you need to. Just remember, they are not cute. :-)
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Elaine Levine (Genre: Romantic Suspense)
I stumbled upon Elaine by accident. I was looking for an audiobook to listen to and found her. The first book in her series, The Edge of Courage was free (it still is!) and I could get the audiobook with Whispersync for Voice for $1.99. Bargain. Little did I know I would fall in love with her writing, her characters and her narrator, Eric G Dove (but that's a rave for another post!).
I won't go over it ad nauseum because I've already raved about her in my Favorite New Series for 2015. And you can read my 5 star review of her first book here.
Elaine's writing is well researched, hard hitting and causes my breath to catch in my throat. She stops my breathing. That's when I know I'm reading something great. When I have to stop to catch my breath. I recommended her to my friend, Bambi and she said Rocco's story made her ugly cry. I felt like I'd won the lottery when she said that. Job complete! Another successful recommendation.
She also writes engaging characters you will fall in love with and care about. You want to root for them, want them to win the battle against the bad guys and most of all, you want all her hunky heroes to get their lady loves.
Be warned though, while our heroes get the girls, the stories do not end where the book ends. You meet them over and over again, from book to book, where you learn more about them, care more about them, and they carve a place in your heart. The guys may get their happy ending at the end of the book, but it doesn't end there, and I love that about her stories.
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Julie Rowe (Genre: Romantic Suspense)
Julie Rowe was a complete surprise for me. I came across her second book, Lethal Game on NetGalley and was intrigued by her heroine. Her heroine, Sophia had cancer. She could be dying, and she had a use-by date. Her hero, Connor had a death wish, after being the only survivor in a terrorist attack. He also had a use-by date. I wanted to see how she handled their romance and happy ending. I was curious and from that curiosity, I discovered an incredile world filled with adrenalin, action and a very high body count.
I've said it before and I will say it again. Those who know me are probably sick of hearing me say it. Julie Rowe's books are like reading a Jerry Bruckheimer movie. She is the closest romance writer I've found who packs as much of an adrenalin rush into her stories as Matthew Reilly does in his. It's non stop action from start to finish, with some sexy thrown in.
Where Elaine's writing made my breath stop and I had to take a break from reading to reorient myself, Julie's is the opposite. She makes me want to read faster and faster to get to the end. Every scene is filled with heart pumping action, and this time instead of my heart stopping, I think my heart is going to explode from thumping too hard. The thud, thud, thud of my heart trying to keep pace with the writing and the story is quite a rush.
I don't often glom an author or a series but Julie did that to me. I could not stop reading her books and in the space of a week, I flew through all three books currently available for the series (book 3 is not out yet, releasing February 2016).
If you love action packed stories with a dash of romance and plenty of sexy, you don't want to miss the Biological Response Team series, and the men and women who are a part of it.
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Sofia Tate (Genre: Contemporary Erotic Romance)
I met Sofia earlier this year at a romance readers convention. She is the sweetest lady. We bonded over peanut butter Tim Tams.
The thing is, when you meet an author and she's super nice, but you haven't read her books, you never know if the writing is good, do you? I wanted to buy Sofia's books but the bookstore in the hotel had already shut. Then I tried to get hold of Sofia only to discover, Sofia Tate is a pen name. She was registered in the hotel under her real name, no clue what that was. Fortunately, we have Facebook and Twitter. I messaged her on both. Thankfully, Sofia is very attached to Twitter and saw my message. I gave her my room number, she came to my room (with books!!) and we chatted.
It took me a while to fit in reading her books but ya know ... the life of a book blogger ... more books than time!
Gotta say, Sofia's stories are sexy as heck but what stuck with me the most was the emotional roller coaster she put me on. I was gasping for breath, putting down the book, tweeting Sofia with tons of WTH???'s and carrying on. We pretty much had this weird reader/writer interaction with me tweeting her OMG! OMG! every other chapter.
If you read my reviews of her books you'll notice two things. (1) Her hero Davison, I want to bring him home to meet my mother, then I want to marry him. Seriously, all men should be like him, and (2) Sofia made me cry. She totally ruined my makeup. At one point, I had tears running down my face and raccoon eyes. Sofia, if you're reading this, you still owe me a tube of mascara and a box of tissues!!
Sofia's books are gut wrenching and emotional. You don't know while you are reading if she's going to break your heart, stomp all over it or put it back together again, or all of the above. It's a wonderful surprise to the very end. And because the series follows Allegra and Davison through three books, you never know how the earlier books are going to end when you read them. You cannot assume anything and that's a lovely thing to have with a book.
And finally, ... an honorable mention ....
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Marissa Clarke (Genre: Contemporary Romance)
I got sucked into reading Marissa Clarke's first book in the Anderson Brothers series, Sleeping with the Boss because I am a sucker for the boss / employee trope. Absolute sucker for it. Then I got to reading the books and I was delighted by how much fun they were.
I love the tone and feel of these books my Marissa. They are fun and lighthearted, and sometimes fun and lighthearted is exactly what a girl needs. Don't get me wrong, as you can see from the other authors I've mentioned above, I love deep and heavy too, but light and fun is good too.
I thoroughly enjoyed the sparkle in these stories. They delighted me and made me feel better when I got to the end.
If you ever need something that's going to make you feel good and happy, these stories are it. They don't take up a lot of time to read, they don't use up a lot of emotional energy. They are your ultimate feel good reads.
... So there you have it. Six new authors who have made an impact on my reading life in 2015. I hope to discover more in 2016 but I'll definitely be reading more from these five too.
Who are your top new authors for the year?
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