The Best of the Best Romance Novels of the Twentieth Century
Top 10 The Best of the Best Romance Novels of the Twentieth Century
: Redeeming Love, Whitney, My Love, Paradise, A Knight in Shining Armor, The Thorn Birds, Almost Heaven, The Grand Sophy, Morning Glory, The Duke and I, Ransom
| Author | Francine Rivers |
| ISBN | 1590525132 |
California’s gold country, 1850. A time when men sold their souls for a bag of gold and women sold their bodies for a place to sleep. Angel expects nothing from men but betrayal. Sold into prostitution as a child, she survives by keeping her hatred alive. And what she hates most are the men who use her,...
| Author | Judith McNaught |
| ISBN | 1416530711 |
This review contains spoilers -
Reading Whitney, My Love took me on such a roller coaster ride of emotions that I’ve been struggling with exactly how to review it and how to rate it. When I was upset and sobbing I wanted to give it a 1 star rating. When I was laughing, smiling and sighing, I...
| Author | Judith McNaught |
| ISBN | 0743474163 |
Corporate raider Matthew Farrell had come a long way from the poor, scruffy kid of Indiana's steel mills. A long way from the country club where, feeling like an outsider, he had dared to fall in love with a beautiful blonde named Meredith Bancroft, and known a once-in-a-lifetime passion and betrayal...
A Knight in Shining Armor
| Author | Jude Deveraux |
| ISBN | 0743457269 |
Once upon a time... as a fair maiden lay weeping upon a cold tombstone, her heartfelt desire was suddenly made real before her: tall, broad of shoulder, attired in gleaming silver and gold, her knight in shining armor had come to rescue his damsel in distress...
Abandoned by a cruel fate, lovely...
Alternate Cover Edition ISBN 0380018179 (ISBN13: 9780380018178)
The Thorn Birds is a robust, romantic saga of a singular family, the Clearys. It begins in the early part of this century, when Paddy Cleary moves his wife, Fiona, and their seven children to Drogheda, the vast Australian sheep station...
| Author | Judith McNaught |
| ISBN | 0671011332 |
In this classic novel of two willful lovers caught in a breathless adventure of deception and betrayal, #1 New York Times bestselling author Judith McNaught has created a powerful and unforgettable masterpiece.
ELIZABETH CAMERON
The Countess of Havenhurst possessed a rare gentleness...
| Author | Georgette Heyer |
| ISBN | 0099465639 |
When the redoubtable Sir Horace Stanton-Lacy is ordered to South America on business, he leaves his only daughter Sophia with his sister, Elizabeth Rivenhall, in Berkeley Square. Newly arrived from her tour of the Continent, Sophy invites herself into the circle of her relatives. When Lady Ombersley...
| Author | LaVyrle Spencer |
| ISBN | 0586210415 |
LOVE IN A STRANGER'S EYES...
ELLY
In town, they called her "Crazy Widow Dinsmore." But Elly was no stranger to their ridicule--she had been an outsider all her life, growing up in a boarded-up old house under the strict eye of her eccentric grandparents. Now she was all alone, with two little...
| Author | Julia Quinn |
| ISBN | 0380800829 |
Can there be any greater challenge to London’s Ambitious Mamas than an unmarried duke?
—Lady Whistledown’s Society Papers, April 1813
By all accounts, Simon Basset is on the verge of proposing to his best friend’s sister, the lovely—and almost-on-the-shelf—Daphne...
Overflowing with all of the majesty and intrigue of medieval glory days, this magnificent New York Times bestseller is a page-turner of passion and loyalty, justice and honor. Beloved storyteller Julie Garwood steps back to the silver-shrouded Highlands of her classic tale The Secret--and hails...
| Author | Julie Garwood |
| ISBN | 0671702513 |
Librarian's Note: Alternate cover for this ISBN can be found here.
In the resplendence of William the Conqueror's London court, the lovely Saxon captive Lady Nicholaa was forced to choose a husband from the assembled Norman nobles. She chose Royce, a baron warrior whose fierce demeanor could...
| Author | Kathleen E. Woodiwiss |
| ISBN | 0380007789 |
The WolfNoble Aislinn grieves as the Iron Wolf and his minions storm through her beloved Darkenwald. And she burns with malice for the handsome Norman savage who would enslave her. . .even as she aches to know the rapture of the conqueror's kiss. The DoveFor the first time ever, mighty Wulfgar has been...
| Author | Georgette Heyer |
| ISBN | 0099465647 |
Rich and handsome, darling of the ton, the hope of ambitious mothers and despair of his sisters, the Marquis of Alverstoke at seven-and-thirty sees no reason to put himself out for anyone. Until a distant connection, ignorant of his selfishness, applies to him for help. When Frederica Merriville brings...
| Author | Kathleen E. Woodiwiss |
| ISBN | 0380005255 |
Doomed to a life of unending toil, Heather Simmons fears for her innocence—until a shocking, desperate act forces her to flee . . . and to seek refuge in the arms of a virile and dangerous stranger.
A lusty adventurer married to the sea, Captain Brandon Birmingham courts scorn and peril when...
| Author | Laura Esquivel |
| ISBN | 0552995878 |
Earthy, magical, and utterly charming, this tale of family life in turn-of-the-century Mexico became a best-selling phenomenon with its winning blend of poignant romance and bittersweet wit.
The number one bestseller in Mexico and America for almost two years, and subsequently a bestseller...
| Author | Francine Rivers |
| ISBN | 0842339523 |
This best-selling trilogy chronicles a tale of persecution and perseverance of 1st-century Christians in hedonistic Rome.
#1 A Voice in the Wind: Torn by her love for a handsome aristocrat, a young slave girl clings to her faith in the living God for deliverance from the forces of decadent...
| Author | Kathleen E. Woodiwiss |
| ISBN | 0380385880 |
an alternate cover edition can be found here
Behind the foreboding walls of Newgate Prison, a pact is sealed in secret -- as a dashing and doomed criminal consents to wed a beautiful heiress . . . in return for one night of unparalleled pleasure.In the fading echoes of hollow wedding vows, a promise...
Meet Bridget Jones—a 30-something Singleton who is certain she would have all the answers if she could:
a. lose 7 pounds
b. stop smoking
c. develop Inner Poise
"123 lbs. (how is it possible to put on 4 pounds in the middle of the night? Could flesh have somehow solidified becoming denser...
The Bridges of Madison County
| Author | Robert James Waller |
| ISBN | 0446364495 |
The story of Robert Kincaid, the photographer and free spirit searching for the covered bridges of Madison County, and Francesca Johnson, the farm wife waiting for the fulfillment of a girlhood dream, THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY gives voice to the longings of men and women everywhere-and shows us...
| Author | William Goldman |
| ISBN | 0345418263 |
What happens when the most beautiful girl in the world marries the handsomest prince of all time and he turns out to be...well...a lot less than the man of her dreams?
As a boy, William Goldman claims, he loved to hear his father read the S. Morgenstern classic, The Princess Bride. But as a grown-up...
| Author | Dodie Smith |
| ISBN | 0312181108 |
Through six turbulent months of 1934, 17-year-old Cassandra Mortmain keeps a journal, filling three notebooks with sharply funny yet poignant entries about her home, a ruined Suffolk castle, and her eccentric and penniless family. By the time the last diary shuts, there have been great changes in...
| Author | Nicholas Sparks |
| ISBN | 0446676071 |
Shimmering with suspense and emotional intensity - takes readers on a hunt for the truth about a man and his memories, and about both the heartbreaking fragility and enormous strength of love.
Nicholas Sparks is our very best chronicler of the human heart. His stunning first novel, The Notebook,...
Artist's daughter Penelope Keeling can look back on a full and varied life: a Bohemian childhood in London and Cornwall, an unhappy wartime marriage, and the one man she truly loved. She has brought up three children - and learned to accept them as they are. Yet she is far too energetic and independent...
| Author | Kathleen E. Woodiwiss |
| ISBN | 0380844001 |
A HEART TORMENTED
Erienne's father had given her hand to the richest suitor. She was now Lady Saxton, mistress of a great manor all but ruined by fire, wife to a man whose mysteriously shrouded form aroused fear and pity. Yet even as she fell in love with her adoring husband, Erienne despaired...
| Author | Georgette Heyer |
| ISBN | 0373836082 |
When the news went out that Sylvester Rayne, the elegant, impeccable Duke of Salford, was seeking a wife, all England was aflutter! Lord Sylvester is a polished bachelor who has stringent requirements for his future wife -- she must be well-born, intelligent, elegant and attractive. And of course...
| Author | Georgette Heyer |
| ISBN | 0099474387 |
ETA: Upping my rating to a solid 4 stars on reread. The things that bothered me most the first time I read this bothered me less this time around. I was able to be more amused by Tiffany the spoiled brat, not just annoyed. It’s pretty funny to see how Sir Waldo and Miss Trent manage her.
I don't always...
Lovely Sorcha is the seventh child and only daughter of Lord Colum of Sevenwaters. Bereft of a mother, she is comforted by her six brothers who love and protect her. Sorcha is the light in their lives, they are determined that she know only contentment.
But Sorcha's joy is shattered when her father...
Also see: Alternate Cover Editions for this ISBN [ACE]
ACE #1
Heartsick and desperate to return home to America, Georgina Anderson boards the Maiden Anne disguised as a cabin boy, never dreaming she'll be forced into intimate servitude at the whim of the ship's irrepressible captain,...
| Author | Amanda Quick |
| ISBN | 0553588699 |
The New York Times bestselling author of Rendezvous presents a spellbinding new Regency historical destined to be a hot beach read this summer. Moving from the cozy confines of a tiny seaside village named Upper Biddleton to the glittering crush of a fashionable London soiree, Quick offers an enthralling...
| Author | Sara Donati |
| ISBN | 0553578529 |
Weaving a tapestry of fact and fiction, Sara Donati's epic novel sweeps us into another time and place...and into the heart of a forbidden affair between an unconventional Englishwoman and an American frontiersman.
It is December of 1792. Elizabeth Middleton leaves her comfortable English...
| Author | Georgette Heyer |
| ISBN | 0099474360 |
Miles from anywhere, Darracott Place is presided over by elderly Lord Darracott. Irascible Lord Darracott rules his barony with a firm hand. The tragic accident that killed his eldest son by drowning has done nothing to improve his temper. For now, he must send for the next heir apparent--the unknown...
| Author | Pat Conroy |
| ISBN | 0553381547 |
PAT CONROY has created a huge, brash thunderstorm of a novel, stinging with honesty and resounding with drama. Spanning forty years, this is the story of turbulent Tom Wingo, his gifted and troubled twin sister Savannah, and their struggle to triumph over the dark and tragic legacy of the extraordinary...
When Jerusha Abbott, an eighteen-year-old girl living in an orphan asylum, was told that a mysterious millionaire had agreed to pay for her education, it was like a dream come true. For the first time in her life, she had someone she could pretend was "family." But everything was not perfect, for he chose...
| Author | Eva Ibbotson |
| ISBN | 0142409111 |
After reading the above blurb about the book, I was excited to dive in. Oh yes, this seemed to fit neatly into my preferred genre! I couldn’t tell if it was going to be more romance-ish or historical-fiction-y, but I figured either way I was set.
Imagine my surprise, then, when I really found...
| Author | Boris Pasternak |
| ISBN | 0679774386 |
This epic tale about the effects of the Russian Revolution and its aftermath on a bourgeois family was not published in the Soviet Union until 1987. One of the results of its publication in the West was Pasternak's complete rejection by Soviet authorities; when he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature...
| Author | Johanna Lindsey |
| ISBN | 0743456300 |
THE MALORYS ARE BACK!
Johanna Lindsey brings to glorious life her beloved aristocratic family of adventurous rogues and spirited ladies as the Malorys confront the shocking news that Jeremy, the rakehell son of gentleman pirate James Malory, has fallen in love.
When Jeremy Malory hires...
