Swept Away

These are the books that sweep us away, the books we couldn't pick down.

MACY

• Lover Awakened by J.R. Ward
• Twilight by Stephanie Meyer
• Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow by Orson Scott Card (I liked others, but not the way I like these)
• A Great and Terrible Beauty and Rebel Angels by Libba Bray
• The Admiral's Bride by Suzanne Brockmann
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling
• The Golden Compass by Phillip Pullman
• Bloody Bones by Laurell K. Hamilton (actually any of the first 5 or 6 Anita Blake books)
• The Immortal Highlander by Karen Marie Moning
• Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton

SAMANTHA --

• The Hundred Secret Senses by Amy Tan
• The Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler (especially loved the relationship between the man and his girlfriend's son)
• Morning Glory by LaVyrle Spencer -- showed me how good romance could really be
• Flowers from the Storm by Laura Kinsale -- ditto
• Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone -- I loved the first book most because of the mystery -- why can Harry talk to snakes?, etc -- and his escape from the Dursleys (or whatever their name was). But after that I didn't love it so much until the next-to-the last one that started pulling things back together.
• The Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon, my favorite in the series being Voyager
• The Rake by Mary Jo Putney
• The Firm by John Grisham -- I read this, Grisham's first hit, for the first time just a few months ago and immediately saw why he became such a sensation. The only other by him that I've enjoyed as much is The Rainmaker.
• The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe -- I don't think I've ever been so swept away by a book as this one. I was visiting a friend, it was on the end table, I picked it up and read the first page, and that was it. I couldn't be social again until I'd finished it and then mainly only wanted to talk about the book.
• A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. LeGuin
• Breakfast of Champions and Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut
• The Shining by Stephen King
• Hawaii by James Michener

KATRINA--

• Dreaming of You by Lisa Kleypas
• Bet Me by Jennifer Crusie
• Natural Born Charmer by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
• Touch Me by Susan Lyons (I think this is mild erotica. Is there a mild category? haha)
• Harry Potter (1st, 4th, 7th once I got to the second half)...(funny that I threw this in after the erotica one.)
• Private Arrangements by Sherry Thomas (Although I wanted to live it all in the present, not back and forth from past to present.)
• Romancing Mr. Bridgerton by Julia Quinn
• The Unfortunate Miss Fortunes by Jennifer Crusie, Anne Stuart and Eileen Dreyer
• The Immortal Highlander by Karen Marie Moning

JACQUELINE--

• I Thee Wed by Amanda Quick- I have kept this book through move after move!
• The Undomestic Goddess by Sophie Kinsella - very very funny
• Private Arrangements by Sherry Thomas - by far the best romance I have ever read.
• Who Will Take this Man - Jacquie D'Alessandro - so Passionate and fun
• The Perfect Rake -Anne Gracie - outstanding regency writer, very witty
• Thirty Nights with a Highland Husband by Melissa Mayhue- you positively can not put this book down!
• My Only Love by Katherine Sutcliffe - will reduce you to a puddle many times over
• Highland Warrior (actually all her highland books) by Hanna Howell - verra verra steamy, with lots of family love
• Miss Darby's Duenna by Sherri Cobb South - unparalleled regency - gives Heyer and Austin a steely run!
• Stealing Heaven by Madeline Hunter - smart, historically accurate, and passionate
• All seven Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowling - I know it's not romance, but these are the greatest stories I have ever read.

C. ALYSON--

• Outlander, Dragonfly in Amber and Voyager by Diana Gabaldon, which are the first three books in the Outlander series, but especially Outlander
• Guilty Pleasures and the first seven books in the Anita Blake series by Laurell Hamilton,
• Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
• Sloppy Firsts and the rest of the Jessica Darling series by Megan McCafferty
• Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
• Golden Compass by Phillip Pullman
• HP & Prisoner of Azkaban and HP & Goblet of Fire by JK Rowling
• Match Me if You Can and Natural Born Charmer by SEP
• One for the Money and the first ten books in the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich
• Rachel's Holiday by Marian Keyes (this book started my chick lit phase before Bridget Jones hit the popular imagination)
• Dreaming of You by Lisa Kleypas
• Lord of the Scoundrels and Mr. Impossible by Loretta Chase
• Private Arrangements by Sherry Thomas
• Romancing Mr. Bridgerton and The Viscount Who Loved Me by Julia Quinn
  
• The Clan of the Cave Bear, The Valley of the Horses and The Mammoth Hunters by Jean M. Auel
• The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown
• The Shining by Stephen King
• Flowers in the Attic by VC Andrews

I admit it kills me that I can't put on Gone With the Wind, Emma, Pride & Prejudice, Wuthering Heights and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest because we're sticking to contemporary-ish commercial fiction. Slays me!! (says Alyson).

ROXY--
The authors whose books I buy hard cover when they first come out because I can't wait a year for the paperback or months for the library. And I never buy those expensive hard cover books.
Except for certain authors.

Suzanne Brockman.
Thrillers for women. Lots of suspense, action, real relationships and
emotions.

Maeve Binchy.
Takes me into another world (Ireland) with people I really care about. I
always want to know what's going on in their world, what will happen next.
Very low key compared to the excitement of Brockman but just as engaging.
It's about the people in her books, who are like real people, not the heroes
of Brockman, and who I really like.

Amy Tan
Always interesting stories, combining modern day USA and old and new China, and especially how those stories affect the people in her books and their relationships with each other.

Elizabeth George
Detective stories set in England, but they're about the people dealing with the crimes as much, or more than, the crimes themselves, or how they solve the crime. Not sure if "detective stories" is a good description, I'm not sure of the category for her. She gets right into the people's heads and that's what I like. And I like the people too.

Okay, so that's what sweeps us away. How about you? What books sweep you away, leave you breathless and wanting more?

(I'll be back to finish the links . .. that's a lot of links!!)