Debbie Haupt has a blog called The Reading Frenzy and today she posted her top 20 picks of 2016. I’m delighted and honored to have made her short list TWICE, once for Simply Irresistible and once for The Crusader’s Handfast. (Both of my writer brands are very happy this morning. LOL) Debbie also included her reviews in the post, but I’ll share them here too.

“Deb Cooke’s debut in her new Flatiron 5 contemporary series is a delight, and a bit naughty romantic comedy. In it she gives readers a fantastic fake date trope starring a closet reading e-rom, nerd girl with some rather wicked fantasies and matches her with a hot, too sexy for his Brooks Brother’s suit wearing vanilla-nice guy. Her dialogue is catchy and fast-paced, it’s full of poetry and great quotes and is a love letter to the Manhattan setting in this sexy and sweet with a lot of heat romance. So if you’re looking for something to keep you warm on a cold winter’s night you’ve come to the right place. I can’t wait to see what she has in store for us next but if you read book one you might get a hint!

Tyler McKay has a big problem: his little sister is getting married and if he shows up stag to the wedding he knows his big, noisy, interfering family, especially his fanatic for grandbabies mother will try to fix him up. He’s not opposed to marriage, he simply wants to choose his own partner in his own time. So his solution is proposing a fake dating scheme with the woman he’s been noticing in his building’s lunchroom, the buttoned-up, voracious reader he’s affectionately nicknamed, the librarian. When he finally meets her, he learns that she can also benefit from a fake wedding date, plus he’s pleased to learn she’s not as buttoned-up as he first thought. And he’s actually looking forward to making this fake date as fun as possible.

With a dead-end job, a house that’s falling apart and no funds for repairs, Amy Thornton’s only outlet was living vicariously through the characters in her erotic romance novels. Until the hot sexy guy she’s been secretly referring to as Mr. Yum approaches her with the most hare-brained proposition. She knows it won’t work, she knows no one will believe they’re dating but she also knows it will be sweet revenge bringing him to her Bridezilla cousin’s wedding. So her answer as implausible as it seems, is a resounding YES!”

“Like all the previous in her fabulous Champions of St. Euphemia tales, Claire Delacroix’s 5^th in the series, The Crusader’s Handfast is like stepping through time back to the era of the Knights Templar. Her masterful storytelling is informative and insightful and the magnificent pageantry and the infusion of interesting historical facts with her incredible fiction gives the read an honesty not readily found in the genre. Her suspenseful side stories and co-stars add depth but it’s the May-September romance between her feisty heroine and principled hero that really rock this medieval read. Stands well on its own but better read in order.

After two years of adventure with her lady Ysmaine and now her part in saving the sacred reliquary of St. Euphemia Radegunde knows her future will pale in comparison. So before she’s married off by either her lady or lord she decides to celebrate with a night of passion and she has the perfect warrior candidate in mind.
Duncan MacDonald longed to give this fiery, feisty lady’s maid her heart’s desire of a life filled with passion and adventure, but not only is he too old for her he also has other obligations and no right to take what can never be his. But resisting her may be impossible because her spirited soul speaks to his.”

Thank you, Debbie, and all the best to you for 2017!

You can read Debbie’s reviews for her complete list on her blog, right here.