I’ll admit it; I tend to shy away from new authors. Give me a choice between a comfort read and an unknown quantity and I’ll almost always choose the comfort read. This is particularly stupid when I look at the outstanding authors who have won in the Best Debut Romance Author category in recent years.

• 2014 Sonali Dev
• 2013 Emma Chase
• 2012 Cecilia Grant
• 2011 Jessica Scott
• 2010 Rose Lerner
• 2009 Tessa Dare
• 2008 Sherry Thomas
• 2007 Anna Campbell
• 2006 Elizabeth Hoyt
• 2005 Lisa Valdez

The best debut author category has frequently been a problem category for readers. By debut, we mean the author has not been published under any name or any genre prior to 2015. Each year we get a flurry of votes for authors who developed a new pen name in a given year. We also get votes for authors who switched romance genres. Sadly, we have to reject those votes.

So who are the genuine debut romance […]