January
Favorite: Marjorie M. Liu, Eye of Heaven – Dirk & Steele, need I say more?
Least Favorite: Jennifer Armintrout, The Turning – I didn’t hate it, and in fact, have bought the other books, but it was a slooow read for me, one I found very easy to put down.

February
Favorite: Susan Carroll, The Bride Finder – I really liked this series
Least Favorite: Lori Foster, Causing Havoc – this was the beginning of the end for me and LF

March
Favorite: Tie between Proven Guilty by Jim Butcher, Blood Bound by Patricia Briggs, and Blood Lines by Eileen Wilks
Least Favorite: JR Ward, Lover Revealed – the names, oh the sthupid names

April
Favorite: Carrie Vaughn, Kitty Takes a Holiday – actually, I glommed all 3 books this month, but the last was my favorite
Least Favorite: No least favorite this month. April was good to me.

May
Favorite: Tie between Kushiel’s Scion by Jacqueline Carey and The Demon You Know by Christine Warren
Least Favorite: Tie between Don’t Look Down by Crusie/Mayer and Beneath the Skin by Savannah Russe – both bitter disappointments

June
Favorite: Stephen Clarke, A Year in the Merde
Least Favorite: MJD, Undead and Unpopular – in which I finally wash my hands of MJD

July
Favorite: JK Rowling, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – what else?!
Least Favorite: Tie between The Rules of Seduction by Madeline Hunter (she’s capable of better) and Simon Says by Lori Foster (AKA the end for me and LF)

August
Favorite: Lara Adrian, Kiss of Midnight, with Witch Fire by Anya Bast running a close second
Least Favorite: Nalini Singh, Slave to Sensation – oh how I wanted to love this book, but I just couldn’t

September
Favorite: Lilith Saintcrow, The Devil’s Right Hand tied with Fairyville by Emma Holly
Least Favorite: Trish Jensen, Phi Beta Bimbo – it wasn’t bad; it just wasn’t memorable either

October
Favorite: Elizabeth Hoyt, The Raven Prince
Least Favorite: Natasha Rhodes, Dante’s Girl – did not finish

November
Favorite: Loretta Chase, Not Quite a Lady
Least Favorite: Stephen Cole, Doctor Who: The Art of Destruction – good, but probably the weakest of all the DW books I’ve read...too heavy on description that was too hard to picture

December
Favorite: Kim Harrison, For a Few Demons More – wow, wow, wow, waaah
Least Favorite: Anthology, A Very Merry Christmas – a very average to poor read; sucked in by LF nostalgia, dammit

Over on the Lunatic Cafe, we put up a poll every year. Here's my entry:

Favorite book of 2006? A tough choice, but if I HAD to pick just one, it would be Working for the Devil by Lilith Saintcrow. I thought that book was just phenomenal.

Favorite author of 2006? Lilith Saintcrow

Favorite new or “new to you” author of 2006? There were several new-to-me authors that joined my auto-buy list this year, including Lilith Saintcrow, Stephanie Rowe, Christine Warren, Rhyannon Byrd, and Lauren Willig

Most “reliable” author of 2006? Toss-up between Rachel Caine, Marjorie M. Liu, and Jim Butcher. These three wrote consistently, creatively, and imaginatively.

Favorite hero of 2006? Jake in Waiting for It by Rhyannon Byrd. Gotta love a guy who loves from afar, but then finally goes after what he wants.

Favorite heroine of 2006? Danny Valentine from the Saintcrow-verse

Favorite plot of 2006? Kresley Cole’s supernatural version of The Amazing Race in No Rest for the Wicked

Did you have any favorite secondary characters in 2006? Stoney in Suzanne Enoch’s contemporaries.

Most romantic moment in a 2006 book? Miles finally declaring to Hen that he wants her in Lauren Willig’s The Masque of the Black Tulip

Best villain of 2006? Ashan in Rachel Caine’s Firestorm, Lucifer in Saintcrow’s Working for the Devil

Worst book of 2006? There’s a multiple-way tie here for me! Be Mine Tonight by Kathryn Smith comes out slightly ahead b/c it was so clichéd as to be unreadable (and I didn’t finish it), followed closely by Moon’s Web by Adams & Clamp for being such a huge disappointment, and finally Heather’s Gift by Lora Leigh and Passionate Realities by Nicole Austin for being such poorly written pieces.

Author you stopped reading in 2006? I’m pretty sure I’m over MaryJanice Davidson.

Most annoying hero of 2006? Prince David in MJD’s The Royal Treatment, the whiny poor-me vampire in Smith’s Be Mine Tonight

Most irritating heroine of 2006? Christina in MJD’s The Royal Treatment, Mara in Flesh and Stone by Vickie Taylor

Secondary characters you could have done without in 2006? This may sound disloyal, but I’m a little tired of Mavis in the In Death books. And I haven’t even read Born in Death yet! But having re-read all the others in a short period of time this year led me to think how Mavis is basically a one-note character – loud clothes. Also, Rowe’s portrayal of Satan in her books both amused me and irked me.

Secondary characters that you liked more than the hero and heroine in 2006? I had characters I liked, but I don’t know that there were any I liked MORE than the main characters... but I’m dying to know more about Prince Pahndir from Emma Holly’s Prince of Ice. And I think I did like Mike True better than the sheriff in Holly’s All U Can Eat.

Most bothersome plot device of 2006? OMG, I’m so tired of the “forced mate bond” in all the paranormals. That’s one of the biggest elements that gave me Feehan-phobia years ago. Some authors are handling it better than others, though, to the degree that I don’t mind as much, other than a fleeting thought of “oh puhleeze, here we go again.” The one that really irked me was Kresley Cole’s first Immortals After Dark book, mainly b/c the hero spent most of his time being a dominant bully to the shy heroine. Though his behavior was psychologically justifiable, I wasn’t as happy with that book as I could have been. Cole redeemed herself in the second one, as the vampire hero was nowhere near as brutish as forceful as the lycan in the first book – and the heroine was a heck of a lot stronger as well. Christine Warren is skating the line a bit with this concept, but I like the rest of the elements of her stories enough that I’m not minding – yet.

Hottest moment in a 2006 book? I’m still having heart palpitations over a barely controlled David in a leather jacket in Firestorm by Rachel Caine. And pretty much everything I read by Rhyannon Byrd this year steamed my eyeballs. Not to mention Con showing up in Em’s tub in Lauren Dane’s A Touch of Fae.

Most over-hyped book of 2006? Any release from LKH. I’m sick of it all – both the raves from fangirls and the rants from former fangirls. I am closing my ears to all things LKH from now on.

Biggest disappointment of 2006? Lord Perfect by Loretta Chase – kids I wanted to strangle, a hero I wanted to hog-tie and throw to the wolves, and a heroine who annoyed me. Moon’s Web comes a close second b/c its predecessor had such a wonderful, tight concept, and Moon’s Web took that universe and blew it to incoherent bits.

Did any author redeem him/herself for you this year? I suppose you could say Cole did, since I was iffy on her first Immortals book, but loved the second b/c it didn’t have the problems of the first. Next year, we’ll see if Chase will redeem herself with me, b/c I’m still willing to give her a chance. Moon’s Web, on the other hand, was so awful that Adams and Clamp aren’t getting any more chances from me.

Do you think there were any trends in romance in 2006? If so, do you think they’re good or bad? I think I’ve reached my saturation point in vampires – especially chick lit vampires. I’ll still read some of them, but I’m going to be a lot more choosy.

Overall, would you rate 2006 as a good year for romance? 2006 was a good year for new author discoveries for me, but I don’t know that I’d call it a banner year for romance, per se. Many of my new discoveries were not in the genre, and most of my favorite books were more skewed towards urban fantasy, although as always, the most excellent Liz Carlyle and Sabrina Jeffries came through for me -- I liked all of their books this year.

Finally, what was your favorite NON-romance of 2006 and why? Toss-up between Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files, which I really glommed this year, and Linda Berdoll’s Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife. Dresden b/c Butcher always delivers in terms of plot, character complexity and development, and action, without over-complicating matters or getting lost. Darcy wins as well b/c I loved the idea of someone spicing up Darcy and Elizabeth, but keeping true to Austen’s voice at the same time.