Can You Recommend Boston-Based Romance Authors?

I have a soft spot for the ‘old school’ digital pioneers. I’m thinking of people like Lora Leigh whose Breeds series (paranormal) used to be everywhere in the early 2000s. Or Shayla Black whose Wicked Lovers series is some of the best modern erotic romantic suspense out there. The smut in these books can feel a bit dated at times. The alpha males can be rather dominating in a somewhat less aware way to present days and the language can be rather more clinical and/or use more euphemisms but these authors are true foundations of the genre. Reading them is like watching a genre grow up. You can see the beginnings of modern consent discussions and of female agency as well. And yes, there is plenty of steamy sex in them too – often in creative and unusual scenarios. When I read these authors, I can see where contemporary romantic fiction is coming from. I can even see the seeds of contemporary discussions of consent, and women’s agency, and all of that – but mostly I am reading them for the steam, which is creative and very enjoyable. If you’re a completist, or you just want to read some historical fiction that helps to explain how we got from there to here – that is, from clandestine distribution of hardcover books to this amazing open smut market that we have today – reading some of the earlier specialists in this field is kind of fascinating.

While modern takes on the academic patron are fairly run of the mill, their fantasy or historical counterparts can be rather fun to read. The Ancient Magus’ Bride comes to mind – Chise is very young, but her academic patron has the air of a mentor and is extremely caring. Kakuriyo: Bed and Breakfast for Spirits is another good example where the female lead is quite pragmatic for her age and thus older in spirit. Reading how the core aspects of this trope translate to non-modern settings is quite interesting, particularly how the power dynamics are intensified and thus often even add to the story’s political or social intrigue.

Author Julie Garwood deserves a monument for her historical romances written in the 1990s. In that decade, she wrote such popular historical romances as “The Bride”, “The Prize” and “The Secret”. These books were written in a warm and humorous manner and set in medieval and Regency times. Their relationships were well developed with much witty repartee, while the growing affection between the hero and heroine was as important as the external plot. Her heroines are typically clever and strong, but by no means difficult to read as 20th century women transplanted to another time. Her stories also nearly always contain a found family of sorts for the heroine, which is so sweet. I read a lot of historical romances, and I think Garwood is the best for people looking for Historicals that are a warm read with lots of plot. The 1990s backlist is perpetually in print, for good reason.

I just adore Closed-door romances. They're one of my favorite genres to read within, which provide a sweet and emotional read. I just love Denise Hunter who has written not only The Convenient Groom but also Sweetbriar Cottage. Both of these novels are very emotional, real and additionally end up exposing the real emotional connection between two main characters. Rachel Hauck is another favorite of mine. In The Wedding Dress, Hauck expertly weaves together several past love stories and one present day story, all done so delicately. Her novels are uplifting and, so often, include a strong dose of faith which complements a romantic story perfectly. Another really good book for a contemporary setting is Bethany Turner’s The Secret Life of Sarah Hollenbeck. It was very funny and sweet as Sarah got a second chance at love. The dialogue was witty and the character growth was very satisfying. This is a great example of how clean a romance can be and still be really good and engaging.

Everyone in these comments gets my taste way too well lol. I swear I could sit here and talk books with you guys all night.

From my experience, some authors are simply better with audio than others and manage to consistently produce high-quality audio versions of their works. Even authors I “love” in printed form can be a total letdown in audio format, while others who I didn’t consider to be as great can really blow me away. That’s partly because for audio-first readers, the experience of “reading” a romance can be so much more intense with audio, because you can actually HEAR the yearning in the other person’s voice, etc. Some authors are just better served in audiobook format than others. Many of the big-name authors in romance get fantastic production on their books. (Of course, I always recommend the author AND the audiobook narrator separately. For the audio-first reader, author/narrator is huge. An amazing book ruined by a flat reading is far worse than a very good book that gets wonderful reading.)

I am also referring to Julia Quinn’s pre-Netflix Bridgerton books. While these have been made gorgeously visual for the series, the books are primarily dialogue-driven. So, for example, the pall-mall scene in The Viscount Who Loved Me is a fantastic scene of competitive flirtatiousness and witty repartee, far more accessible than Georgette Heyer’s terrifically-witty repartee but equally consistently charming and character-revealing. Another author with very clever dialogue is Mary Balogh. Often her dialogue is even more subtle than Quinn’s and is used to reveal deep emotions. Balogh’s dialogue is quiet and witty and often used to observe others or to slowly reveal to the reader the hero/heroine’s growth as they slowly break down their walls to each other. A wonderful example of this is ‘Slightly Married’ from her Bedwyn series.

After some consideration, I’d like to nominate John Green for this list. While his books are categorized as YA contemporary, especially The Fault in Our Stars, they are ultimately monumental love stories. The book has captured the hearts of a generation of readers and has made many people cry and swoon in equal measure. He’s one of the top male authors writing stories with love and relationships at their core. While much of his work is published in YA channels, his collaborative works with other authors are often deeply romantic in nature. So, while he may not be considered a “romance novelist” according to RWA guidelines, in many cultural contexts he is regarded as one of the top authors of romantic fiction. This distinction is significant, as the definition we use for the list changes dramatically. Are we talking about authors of bestselling books about love? Then there are many more authors who could be included on this list. Are we talking about authors whose primary career is writing category romance? Then the list shrinks dramatically.

You'd want to start with classic big names like Linda Lael Miller for her McKettrick and Creed series, and Jodi Thomas for her heartfelt, character-driven stories set in places like Harmony, Texas. For something with a grittier, more possessive edge that still uses that frontier setting as a backdrop for intense relationships, I recently read 'Sinful Alphas: A Dark Romance Collection', which bundles shorter works where the lawless atmosphere fuels really dominant, morally gray characters clashing with equally strong wills.

Yes! While many readers wish to devour the huge on-going series (also available on Kindle Unlimited), there are so many delightful, independent published and even smaller pub authors who nail the hockey world so beautifully as well. The romance authors such as Cathryn Fox, Teagan Hunter and Sara Ney publish huge hockey-themed romance series with lots of fake-dating, all centered around the hockey team of one of the main male heroes in each book of the series. While there can be some slight variations in how outlandish the premise of the fake-dating can get (ie: pretend to get engaged to help the heroine get her hands on an inheritance; pretend to be the heroine’s wife in order to help her get a visa to live in the hero’s country), the real meat of these wonderful books centers around the heartwarming, as well as many times humorous, hockey world. There are tons of books, with many 3+ book series about the individual heroes on the same team. So, while there can be many degrees of hotness in the many published hockey-themed romance books, as well as tons of sports-romance cliche’s galore (ie: why we love them in the first place), it’s so wonderful to be able to devour hundreds of pages of hockey-romance bliss for every season of the year.