Meet Reviewer Jenna Harper Jenna’s Top 10 Romance List
About Me Personal Reading Tastes

I started reading romance novels when I was in my early teens. I would haunt the bookstore waiting for the newest Silhouette First Love titles to be released every month, and then devour them over the course of a couple of days. I moved on to the ‘old-skool’ bodice rippers until I went away to college and found I had less time to devote to pleasure reading. These days, as the mother of two teenagers, I have a lot more time to read again. I love Young Adult stories and kick-butt heroines and read everything but Inspirationals or Erotica (opposite ends of the spectrum!). In any genre, it’s a protective, confident hero who will make my heart melt.

I live in a suburb of Chicago with my husband, two kids, dog, two cats and a lizard named Cricket. When I’m not reading, I’m writing with the goal of being published. I love to watch movies and TV shows that feature bad-boy heroes (Justified is my current favourite). Lately I’ve been thinking I may like to go back to school to get a masters degree in American History.

What I’m a sucker for in a book: Rescue stories, protective heroes, bad boys with a heart of gold, heroines who help themselves, realistic dialogue, friends who become more, forbidden love, confident heroes and heroines.

What I don’t particularly care for in a book: Secret babies, single parent stories (I always want to know whose looking after the kid(s) when the hero and heroine are engaged in romance), heroes whose main attribute is being a billionaire/business tycoon/sheik, multiple partner situations, world building with an abundance of made up words that I can’t mentally pronounce, I-hate-you-I-hate-you-I-love-you transformations, May/December romances and big age gaps between hero and heroine.

What drives me absolutely nuts in a book: Misunderstandings that could be cleared up easily with a simple conversation, TSTL heroines, characters who use “I’m not good enough” thinking as the only reason for holding back from a relationship, relatives who hide/keep things from the hero/heroine which causes misunderstandings, anachronistic names in an historical setting, single moms who refuse to accept assistance from their baby daddies because they are trying to prove something.

Favorite Romance Novels

Absolute Favorite

Lover Awakened by J.R. Ward

Favorite Classic

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Romance Authors Favorite Characters

All-Time Favorite Romance Authors

Rachel Gibson
Suzanne Brockmann
Linda Howard
Loretta Chase

My Biggest Glom

Suzanne Brockmann

Author I Have Given Up On

J.R. Ward
Julie Garwood

Authors Others Love That I Don’t

Susan Elizabeth Phillips
Nora Roberts/J.D. Robb

Favorite Hero

Mr. Darcy, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Favorite Heroine

Elizabeth Bennet, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Most Tortured Hero

Zsadist, Lover Awakened by J.R. Ward

Strongest Heroine

Katsa, Graceling by Kristin Cashore

Favorite Couple

Katsa and Po, Graceling by Kristin Cashore
Lucy Tait and Blue McCoy, Forever Blue by Kristin Cashore Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Best Villain

King Leck of Monsea, from Kristin Cashore’s Graceling

Favorites by Plot Type Favorites by Mood

Suspense:

Black Ice by Anne Stuart

Cabin or Road:

Out of Control by Suzanne Brockmann

Funny:

One of the Guys by Kristan Higgins

Comfort Read Author(s):

The Admiral’s Bride by Suzanne Brockmann
Honor’s Splendour by Julie Garwood

Most-Hanky Reads:

The Fault In Our Stars by John Green
Quinn by Sally Mandel

Guilty Pleasure:

Prisoner of My Desire by Johanna Lindsey

Favorites by Sub-Genre

Medieval:

A Kingdom of Dreams by Judith McNaught
The Bride by Julie Garwood

Traditional Regency:

The Secret Pearl by Mary Balogh

European Historical:

Flowers Under Ice by Jean Ewing
To Have and To Hold by Patricia Gaffney

American Historical:

These Happy Golden Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder

 

Contemporary:

McKenzie’s Mountain by Linda Howard
Chase the Moon by Catherine Nicolson

Paranormal Romance:

Lover Awakened J.R. Ward

Category:

The Admiral’s Bride by Suzanne Brockmann
Forever Blue by Suzanne Brockmann

Least Favorites

Most Disappointing Book

Lover Unbound by J.R. Ward

Worst Book

Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer

Most Annoying Lead Character

Meg Moore, The Defiant Hero by Suzanne Brockmann

Non-Romance Favorites

Favorite Author

Jane Austen
J.K. Rowling
Laura Ingalls Wilder

Favorite Book

The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton

Favorite Classic Novel

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Favorite SF/Fantasy/Horro

The Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy by R. R. Tolkein
The Game of Throne Series by George RR Martin

Favorite Women’s Fiction

Where the Heart Is by Billie Letts
The Red Tent by Anita Diamant

Favorite YA Book

Sloppy Firsts by Megan McCafferty
Just Listen by Sarah Dessen

Book Most Often Reread

The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton

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