Every year the number of my top favorite books increases and I struggle to keep it to ten. This year I devised a plan. I'm splitting the audiobooks away from the ebooks. The ebooks I'm splitting between romance and poly romance. I'm also going to do a top 10 favorite authors.
So this post is going to be all about the polyamorous romance. With the exception of Joely Skye Burkhart and Megan Derr, these authors are new to me and I considered them great finds. I'm pretty hard on poly romances because I need a balance in the relationships, even if there is no sex between some members of the relationship. I guess I look for a genuine family feel to the story. The ones with a slow burn are sometimes harder for me to judge whether it will have that family-feel. These had me coming back for more.
Their Vampire Queen series by Joely Skye Burkhart still remains on my favorites list. This year she released Queen Takes Queen, Queen Takes Rook, and Queen Takes Checkmate. The story follows Shara Isador as she learns what it means to be a vampire queen and how to protect those she loves from the pit of vipers/other queens. It is action packed, has smexy times, and loaded with intrigue. I love the different ways she kicks ass. I have reread this series time and again, I even bought the audiobooks as they came out. Queen Takes Checkmate was supposed to be the last book of the series. I was pretty sure she couldn't wrap up both the Triune and Ra plotlines in one book. I was happy to hear there were would be more, not only for Shara and her men but for other queens in this world who I really liked. I'm not sure that I will ever get tired of this world.
A Life of Shadows is a slow burn poly romance with M/M sexual situations... eventually. This is the first book in The Redemption Saga trilogy. Sawyer is a hard, kickass woman. She struggles to trust, with good reason. She lives off the grid with two sides to her personality. One is the woman who takes in troubled kids and teaches them how to stand against adversity. The other is an assassin and thief. She gets caught and to protect what she holds dear, she agrees to their terms, which on the outside looks like a good deal but I had my doubts. There is action packed with loads of secrets and a very slow burn romance.
Four Psychos is the first book in the Dark Side series. It is labeled as a dark romance because this series deals the realm of Hell. The second book in the series had a trial where the characters had to make it through an underworld obstacle course and it wasn't for the squeamish. I didn't mind it at all though. This first book, Keyla is a ghost trying to become a real person again. I don't usually like stories with ghosts, but this one drew me in and I was hooked. There is a lot going on and at times it is funny. The twist was great.
I waffled about putting Hyena Queen on my favorites list. The story telling isn't perfect, but the author created this Hyena culture and lore that incorporates transgender and intersex characters with the hyena shifters that are interesting and I would really like to see where it goes. There are other types of shifters in this world and there is treachery and danger. I liked that they were portrayed as dangerous rather than simply humans who could change shape. I'm hoping that the series continues.
Technically, I wouldn't call the Dragos War Chronicles a 'romance'. There is a poly relationship (and many sex scenes to go with it) but there is also a slow burn romance between Danica and another dragon. What that means for her and her lovers is uncertain. Danica is essentially the last female dragon and she has been in hiding because male dragons are alpha-asses. She has built a network of support and has a small clan of her own comprised of different shifters (there is a whole lore about the creation of the shifters and their purpose and how the dragons have just forgotten/misused them). There are more secrets than the ones Danica carries. Oh, and be wary, there is a huge cliffhanger at the end of this that left me screaming at midnight. The next book was out so I stayed up reading just so that I could get to a place that didn't give me a heart-attack.
This was unexpectedly good. I have a fondness for alien romances. I love the difference between humans and other species, not only physically but mentally and culturally. If there is a good plot as well, then I am all in.
Unleashed by Tiffany Roberts fits the bill perfectly. When I started this, I didn't know that this was part of a shared universe between several authors. I will definitely be checking out more by Tiffany and looking into the other books set on this planet. In Unleashed, Nina is born with psychic abilities which causes fear in people. She was adopted by a loving couple and grew up hiding away from people until one day she decides to go to one of the nearby cities and find a mate. She gets trapped in an underground maze, incidentally freeing Aduun, Vortok, and Balir from a thousand years of captivity. Though they suspect she is working for the enemy, they must learn to rely on her and each other in order to live through the trials the maze throws at them. In the end, she was stronger than even she knew.
Dragon Magic by Megan Derr was fantastic! There are four main characters who crossed paths briefly years before and when the city is attacked, are the ones who drive the monster away. Now they are bound by an ancient oath. They have secrets not only from each other but from the world at large. There is political intrigue, assassination attempts, and... I'm struggling to describe this without giving away spoilers. I loved the in-depth look we get of each character as they grow to care about each other. It's not a quick read. I bought the paperback, too.
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That's all that I have for the poly reads. If you have any suggestions, I would be more than happy to hear them. I'm always looking for new favorites.
Thank you for stopping by and reading!!
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