JD Robb/Nora Roberts 

Lynn Cahoon

Susan Elia MacNeal

Shelly Laurenston

Edgar Allen Poe

Victor LaValle

I'm going to start with other - WITCHES! I love them in every flavor - the old wise crone, the maiden that just discovered she is a witch, the kitchen witch that adds a little magic in each thing she bakes, the forest nymph/guardian (#TeamMaleficent), the storm witch, the water witch - even Disney's Pixies was fun for me to watch for the kids over and over again.

The other that I loved is Vikings with magical powers - aka the Call of Crows series by Shelly Laurenston.

I have an issue with stories about vampires - basically consent and the lack thereof. There is only one series I enjoyed that involved vampires and the premise of the world building pretty much flipped the script on vampire lore. I may do a re-reading of one of the books in the series Midnight Breeds by Lara Adrian for the bingo. I like my vampire stories that take place only at night because it adds atmosphere and no sparkling vamps.

Werewolves and Other Shifters - these are more my speed than vamps. And I really like the fact that other animal shifters are being added to the subgenre. I have Shelly Laurenston's Hot and Badgered waiting to be read for bingo - honey badger shifter, OH HELL YES. If interested in other shifters, Eve Langlais has different series that goes wild with animal shifters.

I may get into zombies a bit more since a lot of BL'ers dig the White Trash Zombie books. There is a movie adaption of the book Warm Bodies that is a fun twist on the zombie lore, along with seasonal favorite movie Shaun of the Dead. I read the first book in Mira Grant's Parasitology trilogy and that had a future/sci-fi element to the zombie storyline.

Romance

1. Call of Crows trilogy by Shelly Laurenston (The Undoing, The Undoing, The Unleashing) - paranormal that takes on modern women's rage and Norse mythology. It's messy and fun and cathartic.

2. The Donovan Legacy by Nora Roberts (Charmed, Enchanted, Captivated, Entranced) - there is paranormal romance and then there is ParaNora romances. I think this is where Roberts first started in the paranormal genre.

Graphic Novels

3. Saga series by Brian Vaughn and Fiona Staples - the only sci-fi story I can stick with.

4. The Complete Maus by Art Spiegelman - the story of the Holocaust as told by mice.

5. The Complete Persepolis - the coming of age of an Iranian girl as the US backed government fell and the Islamists took power. A story of an immigrant, even when she went back to living in Iran.

6. The March trilogy by Rep. John Lewis, Nate Powell, and John Robert Lewis - not just the story of the march on Washington, Lewis tells of the early days of the civil rights movement interspersed with the first inauguration of President Obama.

Non-Fiction - Corporations Are People and Sometimes People Are Corrupt

7. Bad Blood: Secret and Lies in a Silicon Valley Start-Up  by John Carreyrou - a train-wreck that you can't keep your eyes off. 

8. Conspiracy of Fools: A True Story by Kurt Eichenwald - the story of the rise and fall of Enron, written as a suspense novel. 

Non-Fiction - US Politics

9. All the President's Men by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward - the Watergate scandal. Back when US politicians put country before party...a simpler time.

10. Truth and Consequences: Special Comments on the Bush Administration's War on American Values by Keith Olbermann - the written version of the comments Olbermann made on his MSNBC show with a bit more context and fleshed out.

Non-Fiction - History

11. To End All Wars by Adam Hochschild - I think this is the definitive history of the Great War, ensuring even coverage of both the Axis and Allies side of the story and placing the war among the other events happening in the respective countries (such as the women's suffrage movement).

12. Polio: An American Story by David Oshinsky - how science and vaccines conquered a disease that affected everyone - including a US president. Timely given the shit going on now.

13. The Girls Who Went Away: The Hidden History of Women Who Surrendered Their Children for Adoption in the Decades Before Roe v. Wade by Ann Fessler - just timely given the shit going on now.

Biography/Memoir

14. Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates - I think this would make a great companion to the memoir by James Yates which was on my original list.

Non-Fiction

15. AIDS in America by Susan Hunter - although in my lifetime AIDS went from a straight death sentence to a chronic if manageable disease, the rise of new cases in America and the policies of certain politicians (looking at you Pence!) means this is still a public health issue and needs to be addressed. A little dated as the book was published 2006, but addresses a lot of the root causes that continue today.

16. Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company that Addicted America by Beth Macy - a bonus pick because I couldn't leave it off a second time.

I could add a whole bunch more, but some of the titles have already been picked by other BL-ers (well done everyone! we have wonderful taste in books, lol).

The biggest issue I have with these is the writing is as chaotic as the characters. I guess it makes sense. In some ways, it's like the dragon books only with a lot of feathers...and set in contemporary Malibu.

The h is an introvert, former cultist's wife (he killed her), multilingual berserker Crow. She hates small talk, hates being touched, loses her mind if injured, and doesn't stop until the offender is a greasy spot. Half the Crow seem to be wary of her. So is everyone else.

The H is a Protector - one of a clan given owl qualities. Owls are...smart but dumb. They can earn small fortunes, but forget to pay the bills.

He offers her a job translating some old books. She accepts only after the Crow leader decides to get her a job.

Somewhere along the line, she discovers that she enjoys talking to him...among other things.

And all this happens around the chaos of the cult leader tracking her down, the partying of her friends (which always seems to end in a brawl of some sort), and banishing a goddess to another realm.

5 Books I Appreciated this Year....and yeah I kinda cheated, lol:

1. With Every Letter (Wings of the Nightingale #1) by Sarah Sundin

     Finally a book that features a military heroine! I really loved this story of Tom and Mellie falling for each other in both letters and in person. Can't wait to read the other two books in the series.

2. Call of Crows series by Shelly Laurenston

     Got to love female rage mixed with Norse mythology and lots of humor. This trilogy is a great read for paranormal romance fans who want actual strong female characters. I refuse to name my favorite, they are all good in their own way. A very cathartic way of dealing with real life news.

3. A Lady for Lord Randall by Sarah Mallory/A Mistress for Major Bartlett by Annie Burrows

      These were the first two books in the Waterloo Brides trilogy (the last book stank). I loved that Regency romance left the ballroom and went onto the battlefield - such a departure from the normal Regency romance.

4. The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

     The artwork was stark and evoked such feelings as Satrapi told her life story, along with giving readers a history and cultural lesson on Iran. I would recommend reading both books to understand her fresh approach to the immigrant story.

5. Allie Pleiter

    Not a book, but an author of historical romance. This was the Summer of Allie Pleiter - from contemporary bull rider returning home, to 1906 San Francisco just months after the earthquake, to World War I knitters who get the Spanish flu and finally to an post-WWI orphange. There wasn't a moment of reading Pleiter's works that I did not enjoy.