‘Tis the season coming up for awards and best-of lists. From Love Bytes’ best to the Rainbow Awards (for which the judging closes at the end of the month and the fun happens in December) to the Goodreads M/M Romance Group which is taking nominations in 40 categories now, we’ll see folks celebrating their favorite stories of the year. A lot of readers, including bloggers and authors, will be producing “best of the year” lists too. I always do one, in celebration of the books that made my year fun.

One of the things I appreciate is the chance to find those books that maybe didn’t hit the numbers of readers to bring them to my attention across the interwebs― the hidden gems that I spot as a favorite on some fellow booklover’s best-of.

As I rerelease Life Lessons from 2011, I’m a bit nostalgic for the days when I could read a big fraction of the M/M put out each year. And yet, I think we’re getting a more interesting array of good books, with more depth and breadth of tropes and characters, and more diverse voices. It’s wonderful how big the genre has become. And it’s also sometimes overwhelming.

So I encourage you to give a push to the hidden gems you enjoyed this year. Books like AR Pip’s Molly House were unexpected finds someone mentioned, that turned into a joy and a reread. One place you can give those stories a boost, if you’re a member, is the Goodreads M/M Romance Group‘s 2021 Members’ Choice Awards – there are a lot of categories and books can only be nominated once, so you can nominate a little-known work, and not neglect a big author favorite that’s probably already on the list. All the nominees go into the poll, so this is a chance to get more eyes on some of those titles, even if they’re not likely to win. (You can find the nomination threads here:  https://www.goodreads.com/topic/group_folder/440782?group_id=20149 )

(And for authors, remember your book has to be listed on their bookshelves to be nominated. I urge you to keep the group shelves current with your releases. This is where some of the most avid readers in the genre find their next book.)

I look forward to seeing what everyone has enjoyed over this (very long, in-need-of-good-books) year.

– Kaje Harper

Nov 2021