Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. There is a new topic each week for bloggers to join in with their own top ten. If you’re looking for some new or different book blogs to read, hop on over to her site and check out some of the links.
Trying to come up with my 10 favorite books from my favorite genre for this week’s Top Ten Tuesday has proven to be quite difficult. How far back to do I go? Even if I figure out a reasonable time frame, how do I whittle it down to just ten? Since I listed some of my favorite romance authors in the TTT from 4/9/19, I couldn’t really spin it that way so soon without it being repetitive. I decided to take those 10 authors from that post and give you the best starting point, in my opinion, for reading their books.
I’m quite the stickler when it comes to reading order, it just bugs me to start a new-to-me author only to realize I’m reading the middle of a series. Or there are crossover characters from another of that author’s books. Usually they are written in such a way you don’t need to read the other books to enjoy the stories, but I’m quite the traditionalist that way and it’s my personal reading preference to start from the beginning.
I’m listing these in the same order I listed the authors in that post back in April…
Author: Nicole Edwards
Book: Conviction
Series: Club Destiny
This is in no way my favorite Nicole Edwards book, but it’s still quite good. This is an author who loves to have crossovers with her characters so I strongly suggest you read her books in the order they were published. I think all of her books are wonderful on their own, but you get so much more depth if you read them in order.
Author: Sara Richardson
Book: Hometown Cowboy
Series: Rocky Mountain Riders
This is a case of an author who is relatively new to me, I’ve only read 5 of her books so far. This is the first book I read from her and it made me an instant fan. So, even if someone who has read all of Sara Richardson’s books may start you at another point, my experience has me suggesting this as your jumping off point.
Author: Melissa Foster
Book: Sisters in Love
Series: Snow Sisters
Here’s another author who does an amazing job of crossing her characters over from story to story. While this is technically part of the Snow Sisters series, the name of the larger arcing series is Love in Bloom. Don’t let the number of books overwhelm you, they move fast and you’ll breeze right through them. If you’re not ready to dive into a bigger series, I’d strongly recommend the offshoot series The Whiskeys instead.
Author: Sawyer Bennett
Book: Alex
Series: Cold Fury Hockey
I love this author’s hockey gods! While this was not the first book I read by this author, and it’s not the first book she published, it’s the first of a long line of hockey gods that later cross over into her Arizona Vengeance series. If you like sexy athletes with huge hearts and sassy, strong women you will love these books.
Author: Lorelei James
Book: What You Need
Series: Need You
I had a hard time picking a starting point with this author. She’s one of my faves, but I have a rough history with pretty much all of her 1st in series stories. I ended up adoring her Rough Riders series after almost giving up on it. This series fits the contemporary romance description better so that’s why I’m listing this as a starting point. I didn’t give this book the greatest rating, but series got better and better.
Author: Maisey Yates
Book: Part Time Cowboy
Series: Copper Ridge
This is not this author’s first book. It’s also not technically the first in this series (there’s a 0.5 book). It is the first book I read by this author and, looking back, it’s a great place to start. I know, what about the 0.5 book? I actually like that I read it after this one and would, oddly enough, suggest you do the same.
Author: Gena Showalter
Book: The Darkest Night
Series: Lords of the Underworld
While this author has an extensive library, I will admit I have only read books associated with this series from her. But it’s an amazing series so I have no qualms on saying this is a great starting point for this author. Demons, angels, and gods…what’s not to like?
Author: Rebecca Zanetti
Book: Fated
Series: Dark Protector
I’m loving this series. I actually started reading this author with a totally different series in a very odd spot, but her writing hooked me. Now that I’ve read more of her work, I have to say this series is a wonderful place to start with her stories.
Author: Kristen Proby
Book: Loving Cara
Series: Love Under the Big Sky
While this is the first story I read by this author and I do believe it was a great place to start, I’m going to say it may not be the best place to start. I haven’t read many of her books yet and I hear her With Me in Seattle series is very good. I am hoping to get to that series soon, but since I haven’t yet I’m going to say starting with Loving Cara worked out for me. I couldn’t put it down.
Author: Jill Shalvis
Book: Sweet Little Lies
Series: Heartbreaker Bay
I believe the first series I read by this author was her Animal Magnetism series. And while I still love that series, there’s something that tells me this is a better introduction to this author. The Heartbreaker Bay series is a lot of quirky fun. Now, don’t let this stop you from reading her other series, they’re all great. Plus, she has a lot of standalone stories that I love. But this is where I’d suggest a person start if they’re new to this author.
I would love to hear from you, especially if you are also a fan of any of these authors and would suggest a different starting point than I did above. While the authors and books I chose are not, strictly speaking all the same genre, they are all romance. So even though I strayed from the prompt this week, I don’t think I strayed too terribly far.
All In Good Time 
This twist makes a lot of sense. Yeah, it can be hard to know how far back in your reading history to go.
My TTT.
I just recently discovered Lorelei James when I read an arc of I Want You Back. I really enjoyed it and can’t wait to read more from her!
Her Rough Riders series delves quite a bit more into Erotic Romance and I had a hard time with the first few, but really ended up loving that series. She’s great at giving heat while her characters also have tons of heart.
I read my first Gena Showalter book last week, although it was a YA Fantasy book (the Evil Queen), not romance. I agree that it’s best to start at the beginning of a series, which sometimes you need to do some research on Goodreads to figure out where that is.
I’m in middle of that one right now! I’m not loving it as much as the Lords of the Underworld series, but her writing is still wonderful. I think in this case it’s more of a personal preference thing.