2015 in Review

Last year I read a grand total of 247 books. My goal this year was simple. Read less! And I’m happy to say that I succeeded in my goal by only reading 162 novels.

Overall, 2015 was a great year for “Romance Novels for the Beach”. Not only did I write my 200th post, but my little blog here also turned 1. Still such a young widdle baby. Below are some of my favorite posts and reviews from this last year. I invite you to click on the title if you want to read more!

1. What Do you Have Against Romance? Not only was this my most viewed post of the year, it was also my absolute favorite to write. As well as the most difficult. You can’t help but notice that there is a stigma against both romance novels, and the people who read them. For some reason, romance books are often considered to be a lesser genre when compared to others, and those who read them can be seen as sex maniacs, or doomed to be lonely cat people. In this post, I address that you shouldn’t be ashamed if you like reading romance, as you aren’t alone, and there are some awesome books contained within such a vast genre.

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2. Why I Could Never Date Christian Grey This post came in 2nd place for my most viewed of the year, but I sort of like to think of it as my funniest work to date. Let’s face it, there are a ton of reviews out there of the 50 Shades books and movie. I’ve featured them myself. But how many people out there will write a post using Grey’s lack of wardrobe color and named pencils as reasons to avoid dating him? That would be me.

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3. Stalker Theme: Male vs. Female Apparently you all enjoyed this one, as it was my 3rd most popular post of the year. Interesting, considering it isn’t exactly a very fun subject to discuss. In this post I mention the different kinds of stalking we might see in romance novels. Whereas male stalkers can be presented as either our male hero or villain, for some reason female stalkers are almost always written as psychotic cray crays.

4. E-Reader vs. Physical Book Which do you prefer? Personally, I have a rather unhealthy connection with my Kindle. Believe it or not, it’s actually one of the first things I take into account when I go purse shopping: will it fit my Kindle? It’s one of those things I can never leave the house without. Whether you prefer your e-reader or a physical book, just remember to keep reading!

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5. My Favorite Books of the Year The books below weren’t necessarily published in 2015, but they were some of my favorite reads of the year. I’ve reviewed some of them, but for others you’ll just have to stay tuned!