Great post! It would be interesting to know how many of these books not only appeared on the lists but also received awards. I’m curious whether there’s a correlation or if the connection is stronger with sales performance.
Goodreads does list awards on each book page, but I didn’t track that info. I checked a few books on the list and it seemed like many of them have received some type of award. Unfortunately, there aren’t that many romance book awards anymore, plus some books qualify for certain award programs that others don’t (for example, there are YA-specific awards). And awards like the Goodreads Choice Awards are essentially popularity based vs quality/merit based. Merit-based awards judged by experts are rarer these days and often plagued by controversy—case in point, RWA’s RITAs and Vivian Awards.
That makes sense, and I totally get why you didn’t track that info—it can be a bit of a rabbit hole. I’ve noticed the same thing about romance awards; there just aren’t that many reputable ones left, and the ones that do exist often come with their own baggage. And yeah, Goodreads Choice is more of a popularity contest than a measure of quality. It’s a shame, because romance deserves more serious recognition.
Yes, these do take me a fair bit of time to compile, but I do enjoy the process! This one was really helpful for me, as fantasy romance is a huge blind spot for me. So I have some reading to do!!
I ran a large romance database website for over 20 years called Eye On Romance. We had romances broken down by themes. At the time, fantasy romance was the least popular. And now…🔥
This is fascinating! It leads me to ask whether they are the "best-of" or just the "bestselling"? Obviously, "best" is a relative term. I see a lot of books on this that I absolutely adore, and a lot of other ones that make me scoff, but that is just the way of things isn't it? Anyways, wonderful job! So much data! Love it!
Thank you!! None of the lists indicate that they are based on sales or bestselling status, but there is no standard definition of how “best” is defined. Some of the lists use slightly different language as well, like ‘must read’ or ‘get you hooked on the genre’. I generally lean towards trying to include as many lists as possible, unless there is a really clear bias.
Great post! It would be interesting to know how many of these books not only appeared on the lists but also received awards. I’m curious whether there’s a correlation or if the connection is stronger with sales performance.
Goodreads does list awards on each book page, but I didn’t track that info. I checked a few books on the list and it seemed like many of them have received some type of award. Unfortunately, there aren’t that many romance book awards anymore, plus some books qualify for certain award programs that others don’t (for example, there are YA-specific awards). And awards like the Goodreads Choice Awards are essentially popularity based vs quality/merit based. Merit-based awards judged by experts are rarer these days and often plagued by controversy—case in point, RWA’s RITAs and Vivian Awards.
That makes sense, and I totally get why you didn’t track that info—it can be a bit of a rabbit hole. I’ve noticed the same thing about romance awards; there just aren’t that many reputable ones left, and the ones that do exist often come with their own baggage. And yeah, Goodreads Choice is more of a popularity contest than a measure of quality. It’s a shame, because romance deserves more serious recognition.
Great list! I am sure this took you ages to compile.
Yes, these do take me a fair bit of time to compile, but I do enjoy the process! This one was really helpful for me, as fantasy romance is a huge blind spot for me. So I have some reading to do!!
I ran a large romance database website for over 20 years called Eye On Romance. We had romances broken down by themes. At the time, fantasy romance was the least popular. And now…🔥
Nice!! Is the database still around?
No, I shut it down a few years ago. Here is a Wayback machine snapshot: https://web.archive.org/web/20110202083453/http://eyeonromance.com/
Nice!! Looks like it was a great resource, but I’m sure very time consuming to manage!!
This is fascinating! It leads me to ask whether they are the "best-of" or just the "bestselling"? Obviously, "best" is a relative term. I see a lot of books on this that I absolutely adore, and a lot of other ones that make me scoff, but that is just the way of things isn't it? Anyways, wonderful job! So much data! Love it!
Thank you!! None of the lists indicate that they are based on sales or bestselling status, but there is no standard definition of how “best” is defined. Some of the lists use slightly different language as well, like ‘must read’ or ‘get you hooked on the genre’. I generally lean towards trying to include as many lists as possible, unless there is a really clear bias.