Books I Really, Really Want (and Yet I Cannot Have)

I know that I went to my library book sale, but this time my No Book Buying is for reals, y'all. I cannot buy anymore books until after RWA Nationals, otherwise my TBR pile will eat me. That doesn't mean I can't start making a list now about what books I might want to consider reading and getting once my TBR pile is down to, oh, a healthy twenty-thirty books?

First off, I'm not going to mention older books by authors I love - because it goes without saying how much I want to raid Laura Kinsale's, Jo Goodman's, Mary Balogh's, Julia Quinn's, Judith McNaught's backlists. No, I'm going to post the newer books coming out that I want now but cannot have or else my room will collapse under the weight and destroy my parents' living room.

First on the docket:

I got turned on to this book by The Book Smugglers' review. Yes, it has a spy plot (a story that generally turns me off thanks to a DNF by Jane Feather), but everything else seems to recommend it. We have a heroine who knows how to behave in society - and actually enjoys it! We have an ordinary-looking and not-titled beta hero! We have splendid, splendid writing! How novel! MUST HAVE!


Oh c'mon, who didn't see this coming? Do I even have to explain it? I'm snatching her books up wherever I can find them, regardless of how they've been reviewed (including her "Web" series, which some critics have warned is her weak link). It's Mary Balogh. It's a new series. It involves arrogant aristocrats and class distinctions! If the magical forces that be grant my wish, Balogh will be at the Literacy Booksigning at RWA Nationals and I'll be able to buy this series and have her sign it!

Thirdly,

Big props to Kristie J from Ramblings on Romance for this heads-up. True, this is the first book in a series based on the "wickedest bad no-good scandalous family" in England (like that's never happened in a romance novel before), but in this case we have a hero (Lord Ian Mackenzie) with Asperger's Syndrome (mild autism). The story is endlessly intriguing - the excerpt is divine, and the early reviews are very positive. Could this be The Curious Incident of the Sexy Lord in the Night-Time? Oooh, me want! Me want NOW!

And, last but not least:

Again, thank you Kristie J! I've read exactly one Jo Goodman novel and it blew me away, and since a great deal of her backlist is already out of print, you can bet that once my self-imposed bookban is over I'll be picking up everything of hers I can find. Yes, it's a Western, but I've never read Western romances before. And where better to try a new subgenre of romance than with an author I already adore? Count me in!