I love "best of" lists, but I often get overwhelmed by the sheer number that get published. So I decided to do a meta-analysis of all the existing year-end romance book lists to see which books appeared on the most lists—basically consolidating all the lists into one "best of the best" romance book ranking.
Given that there are numerous ties on the lists, the books are ranked alphabetically by title within each tied group for the sake of simplicity.
Click below to learn more about the lists I've created, including a link to a detailed spreadsheet.
Note: These rankings have been compiled based on research and should not be considered my own personal recommendations or endorsements.
BIPOC representation: At least one of the main characters is identified as BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, Person of Colour) on the page.
LGBTQ+ representation: At least one of the main characters is identified as LGBTQ+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer or Questioning, Intersex, or Asexual, or another diverse gender identity) on the page.
Ideally, I would like to identify whether books are Own Voices (about characters from underrepresented/marginalized groups in which the author shares the same identity), but I don't currently have the resources to verify how authors identify.
Spice level: Based on the Steam Rating Guide created and reported by romance.io :
🔥 = Glimpses and kisses
🔥🔥 = Behind closed doors
🔥🔥🔥 = Open door
🔥🔥🔥🔥 = Explicit open door
🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 = Explicit and plentiful
See the romance.io Steam Rating Guide for more details.
Published January 28, 2025
I conducted a meta-analysis of the AAR Top 100 Romances lists to see which books appeared on the most lists and endured over time. To date, 7 AAR Top 100 Romances lists have been published over a 20-year span: 1998, 2000, 2004, 2007, 2010, 2013 and 2018.
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.
Note: 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.
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.
Published January 8, 2025
I conducted a meta-analysis of 38 "Best of 2024" romance book lists to determine which books appeared on the most lists and can be named the best of the best. The final list includes 40 books that appeared on 4 or more of the lists.
To be included in the analysis, the lists had to be:
1. Focused on romance books at large and not a specific type or subgenre.
2. Free from obvious bias (for example, lists from specific publishers were not included).
The 38 lists used in the meta-analysis:
Published November 13, 2024
Since Christmas dominates this subgenre, I searched for lists that referenced either holiday or Christmas romance books described as the best, favourites or top recommendations.
I debated including lists of Hanukkah romance books as well, but since it's a much smaller pool of books and Hanukkah romances also appear on some of the broader holiday romance lists, I chose to include only one Hanukkah-specific list.
I ended up with a whopping 53 lists—more than double the amount of lists found in my last meta-analysis (26 for the Best of the Best Romance Books of All Time)! This translated to 1,011 rows of data and 471 books nominated (i.e., appeared on at least 1 list).
To be included in the analysis, the lists had to be:
1. Focused on winter holiday or Christmas romance books at large and not a specific type or genre like spicy/erotic, clean, historical, young adult, etc. (except for the one Hanukkah romance list included).
2. An all-time list and not specific to books published in a certain year.
3. Relatively recent (published in 2020 or later). I've previously used a cutoff of 2022 or later, but because of the obvious recency bias I've observed in best-of book lists I expanded the timeframe.
4. Free from obvious bias (for example, lists from specific publishers were not included).
Here are the 53 best holiday romance book lists used in the meta-analysis:
Published October 8, 2024
To be included in the analysis, the lists had to be: 1) relatively recent (published in 2022 or later) and 2) free from obvious bias (for example, lists from specific publishers were not used).
Here are the 26 best romance book lists used in the meta-analysis:
Published September 7, 2024
Meta-analysis of 20 "Best of 2023" romance book lists to determine which books appeared on the most lists and can be named the best of the best. The final list includes 12 books that appeared on 4 or more of the lists.
To be included in the analysis, the lists had to be free from obvious bias (for example, lists from specific publishers were not used).
Here are the 20 lists used in the meta-analysis:
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