Just in case you haven't read Naomi Novik's Temeraire series yet, I'm going to tell you why you should. And the chief reason to do so is not "because you don't have enough books already."
Temeraire is a dragon. With his captain, William Laurence, and a vast number of other dragons, he serves the king of England in fighting Napoleon. The prose and style and tone are very Jane Austen, and there are all sorts of nifty extrapolations of what society would be like in Napoleonic-era Europe if there were dragon airforces. The best part to me, though, is the romance. Well, it isn't really a romance - it's more of a bromance - anyway, the loving relationship between Laurence and Temeraire is golden. Golden, I tell you. His Majesty's Dragon
is the first in the series. Excerpt.One of the things I love best about this series is that it can be read on several different levels. There are the adventure plots, in which the heroes defend their country against invaders, or journey to faraway lands (China in Book 2, Throne of Jade
, The Ottoman Empire in Book 3, Black Powder War
, and Africa in Book 4, Empire of Ivory
.) The novels explore moral and philosophical issues resulting from a culture of humans who enslaves non-human intelligent beings and uses them for political ends, and what happens when the dragons begin to become aware of this. For instance, "...it was no conscious malice: only the common unthinking assumption by which men treated dragons as inconvenient if elevated livestock, to be managed and herded without consideration for their own sentiments; an assumption so engrained that Laurence had recognized it as outrageous only when forced to do so by the marked contrast with the conditions he had observed in China, where dragons were received as full members of society, (Empire of Ivory)."
Temeraire's point of view is beautifully imagined--vastly intelligent but often naive, and also alien, because a dragon's goals are not a human's goals. Laurence's point of view is perhaps more familiar; he's strongly honorable and emotionally constrained, and doing his best to maneuver a life worlds different than the naval career he'd expected. And did I mention the man/dragon bromance?
This series just keeps getting better and better, each one more complex than the last. You should go read them now. When I finished the most recent one, I closed the book and, involuntarily, caressed the cover. (Our relationship is Pure, though. Pure!)
Original Temeraire Trilogy
in a set.Book 4, Empire of Ivory
.Book 5, Victory of Eagles
.Naomi Novik's website.
victoria janssen
, and it remains one of my favorite romances ever. It was one of the first I'd ever read in which the heroine is older than the hero, a plot I love, and it remains my favorite Crusie novel, despite her later achievements. I think it's the simple plot that appeals to me, and the realistic characters. The heroine is recently divorced and, like many Crusie heroines, gets herself a dog. Because of the dog, she meets her neighbor in her new apartment building, a young man whom she assumes is a slacker, but in fact in an emergency-room physician whose family (all of them also doctors) look down upon because he doesn't "specialize." The heroine works in publishing, and though there's a bit of a fairytale aspect to her sucess there, I don't mind at all, because the neighbors she meets through that aspect of her life are all so interesting. I love watching the sweet relationship between hero and heroine develop over chatting and watching old movies. The book seems a lot longer than it really is; I've already re-read it four or five times, which for me is unusual, given how many new books clamor for my attention.
by Kathleen Korbel features a nurse heroine who's suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder after serving in Vietnam. The hero also has PTSD, and that forms one of the connections between them. The edition I linked to is a current reprinting, but it's also still available used in its original edition, Silhouette Intimate Moments 602. The book was reprinted, I believe, because the plot of this story is still relevant in today's world. The best thing about it is that PTSD is not romanticized or made magically easier to live with. It's one of the best categories I've ever read.
(Silhouette Intimate Moments 587) is one of the first Ruth Wind books I ever read, and remains one of my top favorites. Notice its number is close to that of the Korbel book above; I think they were on a roll at the time, especially for matching my taste! The plot isn't that different from many more modern romantic suspense novels. The heroine is in hiding from her ex-fiance, who turned out to be a criminal, and at first she's terrified of the hero, who is rough-looking, but soon she sees his compassion and they become friends. Then, of course, the heroine's pursuers appear, and the hero must help keep her safe. It's a very satisfying afternoon's read, particularly since the hero is not the overbearing super-competent type so common in suspense.
by Cheryl Reavis is also about an ex-soldier and a nurse, though the tone is much different from the Korbel book; overall it's lighter, with some humor, even though the hero is recovering from awful injuries. I especially love romances between "ordinary" people getting to know each other through hardship, and this is the best example I could find. It reminds me a little of Carla Kelly's Regency historicals, also category length.
, which had just come out, and in short order I hunted up all the rest through used book websites. Most of them have now been reprinted at least once, and will likely be reprinted again someday. My favorite of that series is 
, which features a Navy SEAL who's been injured badly enough that he has to find a new career. (Are we sensing a theme here, in what I like?) My second favorite is a tie between 
, which has a realistic subplot about women in combat as well as African-American protagonists, and the first in the series, 
, a story with class conflict and a hint of 
. The whole series rewards re-reading.
introduced me to Janice Kay Johnson, a prolific author for Harlequin Superromance. This is the second book in my favorite trilogy by her, which follows three siblings who were separated as children and reunited as adults (Lost...but Not Forgotten). The plots involve searching for, finding, and forming new relationships with their missing siblings as well as finding romantic love (not with their siblings!). The hero of this book is the brother, who was the youngest of the siblings when they were separated, had the most unfortunate experiences with his adoptive family, and is not sure he wishes to meet sisters he doesn't remember. There's involving, realistic conflict throughout.
by Lilian Darcy is another sort of category I love: the kind that includes Cool Things. Usually this means the author either has a specialty (like when Susan Grant writes about airplane pilots) or has done research that teaches me something. In this case, I learned about how one raises sheep in Australia. I cared as much about the fate of the sheep and the sheepdog as I did about the primary romance. And I immediately wanted to read more about sheep-ranching. To me, that's a sign of successful use of research.
by Kathryn Shay (HSR 877, 12/99) – I know it seems odd now, but at one point books about firefighters were pretty uncommon. Shay helped change that with her America’s Bravest series, which takes place in upstate New York and gasp, features female firefighters! This is book two in the series, and one of my personal favorites. The heroine lost her husband and young daughter around Christmas, so the holiday only holds sad memories. She’s an instructor at the Fire Academy where she preaches caution and safety, immediately butting heads with the hero, a firefighter turned instructor who’s a bit of a maverick and every bit a risk taker.
by Betsy Eliot (SR 1605, 7/02) – Every reader has a “one hit wonder” author and mine is Betsy Eliot. I loved this story for the now defunct Silhouette Romance line and the author hasn’t published a book since. If anyone out there knows Eliot personally, tell her that I hope she’s still writing and if publishers are rejecting her they’re obviously idiots. The heroine in this story is in a bind. She’s a blue collar, single mother who barely graduated high school trying to raise her son, who has an IQ off the charts. The problem is that she can’t find a school willing to work with him. The smarty pants school says he’s too young, and the regular schools say he’s too advanced and they can’t meet his needs. So out of desperation she turns to the reclusive hero, himself a genius, who, until tragedy struck, used to run a school for gifted youngsters.
by Cheryl Reavis (SSE 1245, 5/99) – Another book that’s part of a series, but I guarantee you it stands alone well. The heroine is a bit of a villain in one of the previous books (see 
) but oh man, what a heroine she is in this story! When her dreams of being a Vegas showgirl go bust, she comes crawling home hoping to reconnect with her young daughter. She also starts visiting her best friend in the hospital, where she quickly runs up against our hero, an Army officer recovering from wounds sustained in the line of duty. He’s ornery as hell, and she’s a straight-shooting, brassy gal. Needless to say, sparks immediately start to fly.
by Elizabeth Bevarly (SD 1363, 5/01) - Before the Desire line morphed into Harlequin Presents II: The Revenge it was my absolute favorite of all the Harlequin lines. Oh, those were the days! This is part of Bevarly’s series about the Monahan family, and honestly the best book of the bunch (says me). The heroine is a librarian (gee, wonder why Wendy likes this book?) who gets a complaint from someone about the Cosmo-like magazine in the library’s periodicals section. So she takes it home to read, and decides, what the heck? Why not try out some of this sex kitten advice? That’s when the shy, bookish hero starts to take notice. When did the local librarian get so...sexy? Were her lips always that pouty? Her legs always so long? A must read for fans of the Beta hero and any reader curious as to why some of us whine about the transformation of the Silhouette Desire line.
.
by Ruth Wind.
by Carla Kelly.
by Judith Arnold.
by Christine Merrill.
by Julie Cohen.
by Janice Kay Johnson.
by Lilian Darcy.
