looking at the sunset

Today is the birth­day of late author, Kath­leen Win­sor. Fel­low reader Maili had an idea along with other read­ers, in that read­ers should honor Kath­leen Winsor’s mem­ory with doing a list of their favorite romances. A top “16” list as a mat­ter of fact. Jes­sica from Racy­Ro­manceRe­views will have a list of all par­tic­i­pants. Any­way, I didn’t think I would get to num­ber 16 but, I’m happy to say “mis­sion accom­plished.” Sort of. I did throw in there a cou­ple of books that fea­ture a strong roman­tic subplot.

Kath­leen Win­sor, For­ever Amber

Kath­leen Win­sor was born on Oct 16, 1919 and she died on May 26, 2003. One of the goals she listed for her­self was to write a “best­selling novel” and she did just that with For­ever, Amber, a book that was pub­lished in 1940 and was con­sid­ered to be “the first real his­tor­i­cal romance.” The book was panned for its bla­tant sex­u­al­ity. I’ve never read For­ever, Amber and while writ­ing up this post, I did do a quick read of her biog­ra­phy. Her obit you can read here.

The List of “16”

In no par­tic­u­lar order, here is my list of “16” romances in honor of Kath­leen Win­sor, the woman who started it all.

Heart of the West by Pene­lope Williamson (west­ern saga, fea­tures a love tri­an­gle)
Rea­son To Believe by Kath­leen Eagle (con­tem­po­rary romance feat. mar­riage in trou­ble)
This Time For­ever by Kath­leen Eagle (con­tem­po­rary romance)
Flow­ers From The Storm by Laura Kin­sale (his­tor­i­cal romance)

The Shadow and the Star by Laura Kin­sale (his­tor­i­cal romance)
The Prince of Mid­night by Laura Kin­sale (his­tor­i­cal romance)
Bliss by Judy Cuevas (also known as Judith Ivory) (his­tor­i­cal romance)
Dance by Judy Cuevas (also known as Judith Ivory) (his­tor­i­cal romance)

Morn­ing Glory by LaVyrle Spencer (his­tor­i­cal romance)
My Dear­est Enemy by Con­nie Brock­way (his­tor­i­cal romance)
Almost Heaven by Judith McNaught (his­tor­i­cal romance)
Out­lander Series (Jamie & Claire rock) (TT, his­tor­i­cal, con­tem­po­rary, fiction)

Mis­tress of Mel­lyn by Vic­to­ria Holt (his­tor­i­cal roman­tic sus­pense)
Julia Spencer-Fleming’s Rev. Clare Fer­gus­son series (In the Bleak Mid­win­ter, etc)
The Bronze Horse­man by Paul­lina Simons (Russ­ian Love Story set around WWII)
Nine Coaches Wait­ing by Mary Stew­art (his­tor­i­cal roman­tic suspense)

Edited add: Seems the gen­e­sis of this post for the 16 Favorite Romances in honor of Kath­leen Win­sor was among three peo­ple so my apolo­gies for not giv­ing the cor­rect attri­bu­tion (because clearly I was miss­ing from Twit­ter when this dis­cus­sion took place.)