Our latest installment of the Three Favorites feature is from Tarah DeWitt, an author whose contemporary romance books are funny, authentic and big-hearted. Her latest novel and book three in the Spunes, Lost and Found, is out now.
Today, she’s sharing her three favorite books on her Id list. If you’ve never encountered an author’s Id list (originated from Jennifer Lynn Barnes), we highly recommend you look it up. So what’s Tarah DeWitt’s three favorite books on her id list?
The term “id list” comes from the Freudian concept of the id; the unconscious drive for pleasure in all forms. If I had to come up with a holy trinity of books that have helped me define this for myself as a reader as well as a writer, these are what I would pick.
Hello Stranger by Lisa Kleypas
I will forever spread the gospel that is Lisa Kleypas, as well as historical romance by extension, but Dr. Garret Gibson in particular is one of the best female main characters I have ever met. Highly capable and determined, and undeterred by those who oppose her pursuing what she wants and deserves. This book taught me that a brilliant woman who has always protected herself deserves to feel safe and cherished by a love interest. Also, that I love when a man is brought low… perhaps to the brink of death.
Seven Days in June by Tia Williams
I have been drawn to the concept of second chance love stories ever since I started writing; have now written some form of second/missed chance/pined for each other for years for 4 out of 6 of my novels; and this is the book to thank for that. I love characters who have let the villain that is Life keep them apart and watch them abandon self-preservation to choose each other. The vulnerability mined out of these stories, and especially this one, is incomparable.
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
Oh no, I’m realizing that I have a theme here … another highly skilled and capable woman and another multiple-chance, fighting to work back to each other book (series)? Where the man is brought low physically as well as emotionally time and time again? Oh well, consistency and all that.
This series, on audio, got me through the most mind-numbing data entry job I have ever had in my life, and I have never stopped thinking about them.
Brianna Robinson is a book publicist and Sarah Lawrence College alum. She lives in New York with too many books and two enthusiastic dachshunds. You can find her on twitter @blrobins2.
