Best of AAR Top 100 Romances
I reviewed the AAR (All About Romance) Top 100 Romances lists published between 1998 and 2018 to find out which romance books endured over the 20-year period.
After analyzing the Best of the Best Romance Books of All Time list I published last year, it was clear that there was a definite recency bias in the results. It turned out 76% of the books on the list were published in the 2000s, even though the modern romance genre started in the early 1970s.
I also received a few comments about the lack of older romance books on the list and curiosity about which new books would stand the test of time.
This got me thinking about how to analyze changes in romance book lists over time and one list came to mind: AAR Top 100 Romances.
All About Romance
Created in 1996, All About Romance (AAR) is a popular website that provides romance readers with book reviews, author interviews, industry commentary, message boards and more. In 1998, the site published its first Top 100 Romances list after polling readers about their favourite books in the genre.
To date, 7 AAR Top 100 Romances lists have been published over a 20-year span: 1998, 2000, 2004, 2007, 2010, 2013 and 2018.
Analysis
I decided to apply my meta-analysis methodology to the 7 AAR Top 100 Romances lists to see which books appeared on the most lists and endured over time.
Since many books appeared on the same number of lists (i.e., 15 books appeared on all 7 lists), I further ranked the books in each group by adding up their numerical rankings on each list to create a cumulative rank score—the lower the score, the better the rank. For example, Lord of Scoundrels was ranked #1 on 4 lists, #2 on 1 list and #5 on 1 list, for a cumulative rank score of 11 (1+1+1+1+2+5), earning it the top spot.1
This analysis and ranking method favours older books, as they have more opportunity to appear on more lists. For example, books published after 2010 could only appear on a maximum of 2 lists. However, in this case, that is the point! The majority of all-time best-of lists favour more recent books, so I specifically wanted to create a list that would highlight older romance books.
Note: This list has been compiled based on research and should not be considered my own personal recommendations or endorsements.
Best of AAR Top 100 Romances
In total, 15 books appear on all 7 of the AAR Top 100 Romances lists—enduring over a 20-year period—and another 16 appear on 6 of the 7 lists.
Here are the top 31 books:
Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase (1995)
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon (1991)
Flowers from the Storm by Laura Kinsale (1992)
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (1813)
It Had to Be You by Susan Elizabeth Phillips (1994)
The Bride by Julie Garwood (1989)
Nobody's Baby But Mine by Susan Elizabeth Phillips (1997)
Dreaming of You by Lisa Kleypas (1994)
MacKenzie's Mountain by Linda Howard (1989)
Heaven, Texas by Susan Elizabeth Phillips (1995)
Naked in Death by J.D. Robb (1995)
Ravished by Amanda Quick (1992)
The Secret by Julie Garwood (1992)
Dream a Little Dream by Susan Elizabeth Phillips (1998)
The Rake by Mary Jo Putney (1989)
The Duke and I by Julia Quinn (2000)
Paradise by Judith McNaught (1991)
Welcome to Temptation by Jennifer Crusie (2000)
Devil’s Bride by Stephanie Laurens (1998)
Dream Man by Linda Howard (1995)
A Knight in Shining Armour by Jude Deveraux (1989)
Almost Heaven by Judith McNaught (1989)
Mr. Perfect by Linda Howard (2000)
Sea Swept by Nora Roberts (1998)
Whitney, My Love by Judith McNaught (1985)
Kiss an Angel by Susan Elizabeth Phillips (1996)
Devil’s Cub by Georgette Heyer (1932)
After the Night by Linda Howard (1995)
The Shadow and the Star by Laura Kinsale (1991)
Perfect by Judith McNaught (1993)
Honor’s Splendour by Julie Garwood (1987)
Lists Dominated By Popular Authors
You will notice a number of duplicate authors in the above list. The top 31 includes:
5 books by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
4 books by Linda Howard
4 books by Judith McNaught
3 books by Julie Garwood
2 books by Laura Kinsale
The biggest trend I noticed is how many books by the same authors appear on the lists, especially the earlier ones. For example, 15 Lisa Kleypas books appear on the 2010 list, 9 Julie Garwood books appear on the 2008 list and 9 Susan Elizabeth Phillips books appear on the 2010 list.
This trend did decrease over time—you can see the percentage of unique authors increase in the later lists:
1998 list: 36% unique authors (38 authors of 105 books)
2000 list: 35% unique authors (35 authors of 100 books)
2003 list: 41% unique authors (41 authors of 100 books)
2007 list: 34% unique authors (34 authors of 100 books)
2010 list: 36% unique authors (36 authors of 100 books)
2013 list: 48% unique authors (48 authors of 100 books)
2018 list: 47% unique authors (47 authors of 100 books)
For the sake of comparison, the Best of the Best Romance Books of All Time list that I published last year (October 8, 2024) had 89% unique authors (62 authors of 70 books).
Only 6 books appear on both my previously-published Best of the Best Romance Books of All Time list and the Best of AAR Top 100 Romances list—not too surprising given that the former favours newer romance books and the latter favours older ones. The books that appear on both lists are:
Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
The Bride by Julie Garwood
The Duke and I by Julia Quinn
A Knight in Shining Armour by Jude Deveraux
Whitney, My Love by Judith McNaught
Conclusion
Overall, I think the Best of AAR Top 100 Romances list complements the previous Best of the Best Romances of All Time list well by representing more romance books published in the 20th century—essentially balancing the previous recency bias with a primacy bias.
I’m thinking about creating a consolidated Top 100 list, combining the rankings from all 7 of the AAR Top 100 Romances lists into one overall list of the 100 highest-ranking books. Would this be of interest? Let me know in the comments!
Happy reading!
Books were not ranked on the 2007 list, so all books received a numerical rank of 0. Only the top 10 were ranked on the 2018 list, so all books not in the top 10 received a numerical rank of 11.
Interesting that Nora Roberts only has one book on this list 🤔 And I expected more Jane Austen 😂