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