Best reviewed books in January 2009

Although we're likely to see more reviews for January releases, we can already note the ones that were favored by the reviews sites.

Contemporaries (with Romantic Suspence)

We're glad to see that, despite sparking the controversy on the boards, Suzanne Brockmann's Dark of Night still scored well with the reviewers (A- from All About Romance, B from Dear Author, 4 1/2 from Romantic Times). Speaking of romantic suspense, critics' and readers' favorite Karen Rose's new release - Scream for Me didn't disappoint again (Dear Author: A, AAR: B+).

Other (generally) well received contemporaries were Catherine Anderon's Star Bright, Susan Donovan's The Girl Most Likely To..., Cindy Gerard's Whisper No Lies, Janice Maynard's Hot Mail, Kathryn Shay's A Man She Couldn't Forget and Debra Webb's Find Me.

Victoria Dahl's Talk Me Down polarized the reviewers: it was liked by Dear Author, Smart Birtches and Romance Novel TV (B+, B+ and 4.5 out of 5, respectively) while disliked by All About Romance (D) and Romantic Times (2 stars - a rare case indeed).

Historicals

In the realm of historical romance, Tempt the Devil by Anna Campbell received a bunch of good and great reviews from almost everyone except All About Romance.

Other favorites were Between the Devil and Desire by Lorraine Heath and Carla Kelly's Marrying the Captain (no surprise here).

Jackie D'Alessandro's Seduced by Midnight was probably the most controversial (C- from AAR, 4.5 from Romance Novel TV).

Paranormal Romance

For all its popularity, the paranormal subgenre of the romance seems to be the less noticed by reviewers. The most notable releases were Veil of Midnight by Laura Adrian, Murder Game by Christine Feehan, Running Hot by Jayne Ann Krentz, Heart of the Dragon by Gena Showalter.

See the full list of January 2009 releases with links to reviews.