In the Single Title – Contemporary Romance  category, our own Kristan Higgins is a finalist for Too Good to be True – which ( I can tell you first hand) is a spectacular read — funny and touching. “To keep everyone from obsessing about her love life, Grace announces that she’s seeing someone. Someone wonderful. Someone handsome. Someone completely made up.”  It’s everything a great romance story should be.

Joy Nash’s A Little Light Magic is another Single Title finalist. This book is the story of two people – one with too much family, the other with none. The excerpts sound… magical!

Dirty Sexy Knitting is an intriguing title! Christie Ridgeway (who is a doll, by the way) is also a finalist in this category.  The beachside knitting shop Malibu & Ewe is SoCal’s newest hotspot–where strangers become friends and friends become family over good yarn and better gossip… This is Cassandra and Gabe’s story.

Julia Harper’s (aka Elizabeth Hoyt) contemporary single title, For the Love of Pete is a madcap tale of opposites - Zoey a free spirit who likes to break rules, Dante is an FBI agent who lives by them.

Talk Me Down, by Victoria Dahl, is about the successful (but closet) erotic fiction writer who comes home to her small town where she re-connects with the strait-laced cop who was the subject of all her girlish fantasies. There’s an element of suspense in this one, too.

Rachel Gibson’s True Love is about a trophy wife, er… widow who inherits a large chunk of change… and a hockey team. She despises the star player on sight, but can’t stop thinking about him. “Then a night of temptations ends with Faith in Ty’s bed, and she begins to see there’s more to him than sex appeal and slap shots.”

Susan Wiggs’s Fireside features pitcher Bo Crutcher, who is just about to get a shot at a major league team, but suddenly has to provide a home for his son. Kimberly van Dorn handles his press – assuming he’s a shallow sports-type. But she learns he’s a whole different kind of guy, one who puts love first.

Instant Attraction by Jill Shalvis is the story of accountant Katie Cramer, who leaves her sedate job for one with Wilder Adventures and Expeditions. She meets Cameron Wilder, who will “risk his body taking clients on adrenaline-drenched excursions, his heart is off limits.”

These are the contemporary romances that were judged by other published authors to be the best in their category for the year 2009. Try them – I’m sure you’ll love them!