Here’s a breakdown of my favorite romances that I read in 2017 (not necessarily that were published in 2017)…

Of course Sarina Bowen tops the list because she’s always my favorite. I read several of her books this year and loved them all. But I especially love the True North Series, from which I read the latest three. I especially adored Steadfast and Keepsake. These books have great depth where a lot more is going on than the central romance, but it never takes away from the romance. See the reviews here and here.

Pipe Dreams from Bowen’s Brooklyn Bruisers series also gets a mention because I really liked the  second chance story with all the unfair obstacles the two had to get past. I haven’t reviewed this one yet but plan to at some point.

A surprise for me was The Hating Game, a debut by Sally Thorne. It’s a friends-to-lovers story and I’m not generally a fan of that trope, but the tension in this book is fantastic. I reviewed it here.

I’m also a fan of Penny Reid, particularly for Grin and Beard It, a tale of a highly unlikely couple—a pop-culture-oblivious forest ranger and smart and feminist movie star. Click here for the review.

Finally, I’d like to mention one of Lisa Kleypas’s Friday Harbor books. I read these out of order and my first was my favorite—#3, Dream Lake. The hero in this one seems unredeemable at first, but he’s never so horrible that his behavior was unforgivable. See the review here.