Always a dash of bright color and pure fun in any year-end list, romance novels in 2019 were a near-constant source of reading relief for me, and time and again I was struck by the intelligence and variety of the year’s offerings. I read more widely in the genre than I’ve ever done, and these are the best of what I encountered:

10 The Scoundrel in Her Bed by Lorraine Heath (Avon) - Lorraine Heath is a delightful write under any circumstances, but the highlight of this story of Finn, a nobleman’s bastard son, and Lavinia, a noblewoman dogged by her past, is their rapid-fire unlikely relationship. 

9 Mending Fences by Suzanne Woods Fisher (Revell) - This is the first book in “The Deacon’s Family,” the first in a new series of that most mysterious of all romance sub-genres, Amish fiction, and it achieves a place on this list (as opposed to some dark opposite list for romances) mainly on the strength of its refreshingly flawed hero Luke - and it’s disarmingly tender writing.

8 The Summer of Sunshine and Margot by Susan Mallery (HQN) - The always-reliable Susan Mallery here hits a solid home run with the story of the very different Baxter sisters and their hilarious (and ultimately touching) misadventures during one epic summer. 

7 Unleashed by Diana Palmer (HQN) - When you read romance novels, you quickly grow accustomed to books-in-series, but even so: seeing that Diana Palmer’s “Long, Tall Texans” series is at forty-nine volumes is fairly staggering - and should almost inevitably bar any entry from making this list. And yet, #49’s main character Clancey is winningly complicated.

6 Project Duchess by Sabrina Jeffries (Zebra Books) - This first book in the “Duke Dynasty” series treads on more absurd ground than normal for this author (the premise is that a woman who’s married well so many times she has three dukes for sons), but Jeffries does a masterful job of working her standard Regency plot into fine readability.

5 Met Her Match by Jude Devereux (MIRA) - This latest novel from Jude Devereux is set in the idyllic little summer town of Summer Hill, Virginia and features the multifaceted - and unexpectedly hilarious - deepening relationship between smart, independent Terri Rayburn and handsome, unassuming Nate Taggert. One of this prolific author’s best.

4 Highland Crown by May McGoldrick (St. Martin’s) - The first book in May McGoldrick’s “Royal Highlander” series is a taut and surprisingly dark story about a hunted, path-breaking woman and a wounded, guarded sea captain. McGoldrick carefully builds both their strong personalities, and it makes for fascinating reading.

3 The Rogue of Fifth Avenue by Joanna Shupe (Avon) - Gilded Age New York is once again Joanna Shupe’s wonderfully-drawn backdrop, this time as she tells the story of unlikely (and unconventional) philanthropist Mamie Greene and Shupe’s long-time supporting character, dashing lawyer Frank Tripp - and tells it with infectious enthusiasm.

2 A Touch of Forever by Jo Goodman (Berkley) - This author’s “The Cowboys of Colorado” series has always been fantastic, and the pattern very much holds true for “A Touch of Forever,” in which an embittered young woman meets a man unlike any of the manipulative brutes she’s encountered in her past. 

1 A Prince on Paper by Alyssa Cole (Avon) - Cynics in earlier years have quipped about how difficult it is for a contemporary romance to earn a spot on this list at all, and here’s one in the top spot as 2019’s best, the rambunctious story of two mismatched young people - shy Nya and brash Johan - slowly become different people as they slowly become attached to each other. Alyssa Cole became one of my favorite romance authors with this book.