Meet Editor/Senior Reviewer Jennifer Keirans
About Me Personal Reading Tastes
My sister taught me to read when I was about three (Dr. Seuss’s The Lorax, as I recall), and I’ve been an insatiable reader ever since.
Although my longtime loves are science fiction and fantasy, I was a closet reader of romances for years, secretly glomming Jude Deveraux and Sandra Brown novels from the library.
I have a master’s degree in early modern English history (a sadly neglected period in romance fiction). I live with my husband in coastal Oregon, where I’m a professional glass blower.
Favorite Romance Authors
Absolute Favorites
Mary Jo Putney
Suzanne Brockmann
Kathleen Eagle
Best Discovery/Buried Treasure
Cheryl Reavis
Biggest Glom
Sandra Brown
Favorites by Mood
Comfort Reads
The Liaden Universe Series by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
Watership Down by Richard Adams
Most-Hanky Read
Sunrise Song by Kathleen Eagle
Guilty Pleasure
Any old category romance by Sandra Brown
Favorites by Plot Type
Suspense
Dream Man by Linda Howard
Cabin or Road
Out of Control by Suzanne Brockmann
One Perfect Rose by Mary Jo Putney
Funny
Welcome to Temptation by Jennifer Crusie
Outlaw in Paradise by Patricia Gaffney
Sexy
After the Night by Linda Howard
What I’m a sucker for in a book: original, complex, unusual characters, action/adventure stories, paranormal and futuristic romances, arranged marriages and marriages of convenience, inexperienced heroes, and any plot, situation, or character that turns a cliché upside down or otherwise takes a chance with the romance genre – even when it is unsuccessful.
What I don’t particularly care for in a book: little niggling historical errors like title mistakes, secret babies, babies and small children in general, and any romance that faithfully follows a formula without taking any chances at all.
What drives me absolutely nuts in a book: plots that do not make sense, huge, sweeping historical errors, patronizing heroes, fey heroines who are portrayed as obeying some alternate, feminine form of logic, family members who manipulate each other in their efforts to play matchmaker (this includes will stipulations), traumatized children who do not talk, reincarnation romances, head-hopping, and intrusive, phonetically spelled-out accents.
Favorite Romance Novels
Absolute Favorites
Silk & Secrets by Mary Jo Putney
The Defiant Hero by Suzanne Brockmann
This Time Forever by Kathleen Eagle
Favorite Characters
Favorite Hero
Jesse Best, Simple Jess by Pamela Morsi
Lucien Fairchild, Dancing on the Wind by Mary Jo Putney
Jamie Fraser, Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
Favorite Heroine
Claire Randall Fraser, Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
Meriel de Vere, Uncommon Vows by Mary Jo Putney
Most Tortured Hero
Jed Beaumont, Heartthrob by Suzanne Brockmann
Jamie Fraser, Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
Strongest Heroine
Claire Randall Fraser, Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
Amarinth, The Secret Swan by Shana Abé
Eve Dallas, In Death series by J.D. Robb
Favorite Couple
Kit Travers and Lucien, Lord Strathmore, Dancing on the Wind by Mary Jo Putney
Claire Randall and Jamie Fraser, Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
Best Villain
Jack Randall, Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
Shivaji, The Golden Leopard by Lynn Kerstan
Favorites by Sub-Genre
Medieval
The Secret Swan by Shana Abé
European Historical
Beast by Judith Ivory
Traditional Regency
The Grand Sophy by Georgette Heyer
American Historical
Simple Jess by Pamela Morsi
Contemporary
Heartthrob by Suzanne Brockmann
This Time Forever by Kathleen Eagle
Category
Forever Blue by Suzanne Brockmann
Alternate Reality
The Silver Metal Lover by Tanith Lee
The Outlander Series by Diana Gabaldon
Least-Favorites
Most Disappointing Book
All Smiles by Stella Cameron
Awaken, My Love by Robin Schone
Worst Book
Angel Face by Suzanne Forster
Purple Prose-iest
Rainbow’s End by Rebecca Brandewyne
Author I Have Given Up On
Jude Deveraux
Author Others Love That I Don’t
Julie Garwood
Stella Cameron
Most Annoying Lead Character
Maryellen Caswell, Out of the Blue by Katherine Deauxville
Non-Romance Favorites
Favorite Author
Jane Austen
Dorothy Dunnett
Dorothy L. Sayers
Favorite Book
Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers
Favorite Classic Novel
Paradise Lost by John Milton
Favorite Mystery
The Lord Peter Wimsey Mysteries by Dorothy L. Sayers
Favorite SF/Fantasy
The Riddlemaster Trilogy by Patricia McKillip
The Vorkosigan Series by Lois McMaster Bujold
The Doomsday Book by Connie Willis
Favorite Women’s Fiction
No Place Like Home by Barbara Samuel
Favorite YA Book
Dogsbody by Diana Wynne Jones
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
Beauty by Robin McKinley
Favorite Set of Connected Books
The Lymond Chronicles by Dorothy Dunnett
The Lord Peter Wimsey Mysteries by Dorothy L. Sayers
The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
Book Most Often Reread
The Ladies of Mandrigyn by Barbara Hambly
Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers
Watership Down by Richard Adams