I keep a haphazard record of all the romance books I read. This is a separate list from all the other books I read. I don’t have a great system for differentiating what is romance and what isn’t. The lists overlap in places. Why even separate the lists, you ask?

Good question. I understand why I do it in my head but I can’t explain it.

I also keep a list of authors or books I want to try because of good reviews or friend recommendations. That list is down to three authors so I’m either on the ball or falling behind on the job.

I’m not the best resource for discovering new books because I’m always behind and reading books that I bought years ago.

According to my list, I read 32 romances. Of those I DNF 6. I’m not sure how accurate that is because I don’t always keep track of the DNFs. Also my rating system is wishy-washy so unless I’m doing backflips about the book or the book doesn’t work for me at all, they’re mushy in the middle.

After that long introduction, these are a few of my favorite books I read last year. If I had more energy I would link but I’ve got about 30 more things on today’s To Do list. You know how to find them.

Nalini Singh — Angel Blood I finally started the Guild Hunter series and loved the first one. I’m so happy that I have so many Nalini Singh books to look forward to.

Kristan Higgins — The Best Man I loved this one, too. I was upset about one scene that I thought was uncharacteristically mean-spirited, but I’m looking forward to reading more from KH, too.

Lisa Kleypas — Secrets of a Summer Night In my list I leave myself notes to help me remember what the story was about. This one I wrote “scene in the train foundry.” I like contemporary better than historical but I loved these characters.

Tessa Dare — A Night to Surrender Another historical but I fell in love with these characters, too, and I loved the humor.

Sarina Bowen — Understatement of the Year and The Fifteenth Minute I finally finished the Ivy Years series. Those were my most reliable books when I needed something I could disappear into quickly. I’m sorry I’m done with that series. She’s got plenty of new stuff so I expect I will read more in 2017.

I also haven’t managed to get to Courtney Milan — Hold Me yet. That’s high on my list, too.

My favorite non-romance books were The Expanse books by James S.A. Corey. I read the first 5 in 2016. I have #6 sitting here and then I have to wait for new ones with everyone else. I also loved The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold. Why haven’t I read her before? I’m thrilled to have a huge backlist from her to look forward to.

But first, my main job (besides my day job and keeping the house from falling apart) is to get Crooked Rock Books 2 and 3 out before the end of the year. I set some ambitious goals. We’ll see how I do.