In 2018, I wrote one novella (New York Engagement) and three short stories, published three of them, and started on a novel. In doing so, I had to curtail my reading by a lot compared to previous years (465 in 2016, 208 in 2017).
One hundred twenty-one is still decent. I’ve actually accomplished the goal I set out at the beginning of the year of reading ten books a month. For the most part, those books were excellent with only a couple of duds among them. So good that I rated 55 novels five-stars in Goodreads, Amazon, NetGalley, BookBub, Edelweiss, etc. That’s nearly half of them, that’s why it’s so hard for me to choose the traditional Top 10. The bare minimum I could do is eighteen. These books made me laugh, cry, feel, and love. Here they are in no particular order:
- A Distant Heart by Sonali Dev
- The Ones Who Got Away and The One You Can’t Forget by Roni Loren
- Dark in Death by J.D. Robb
- Hurts to Love You by Alisha Rai
- Making Up by Lucy Parker
- Undone by You and Hooked on You by Kate Meader
- Breathless by Celeste Bradley and Susan Donovan
- The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang
- The Woman Left Behind by Linda Howard
- When a Duke Loves a Woman by Lorraine Heath
- The Duke With the Dragon Tattoo by Kerrigan Byrne
- The Governess Game by Tessa Dare
- Josh & Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating by Christina Lauren
- For the Duke’s Eyes Only by Lenora Bell
- Rebel Hard by Nalini Singh
- The Christmas Sisters by Sarah Morgan
- Beautiful Sinner by Sophie Jordan
- Fierce, Funny, and Female by Marti MacGibbon
Looking forward to 2019 and more five-star reads. Happy reading!
Maida Malby 