It’s always a bit of a surprise to realize that an author you thought was just one person is actually a pair (or group) of authors writing together! It’s annoyingly hard to research this, however, since a search tends to just give me lists of authors who use pen names in general. This week’s prompt is not necessarily about authors who both write under one name together, but it reminded me of when I first realized that some of the authors I was reading were actually more than one person. In a way, I think I always have a little bit of a bias against books that have multiple authors since I always worry it will be obvious when it shifts from one person to the next. Unless all authors involved have writing styles that blend really seamlessly together or each author is clearly responsible for a different section or perspective, there’s a risk of books being a little jarring. I guess the main exception to this would be anthologies, where there isn’t necessarily the same kind of expectation for the stories to all flow into each other. I was so sure I had more authors duos on my list who share one name, but somehow I was only able to find two! The only other one I could think of was Nicci French, but I haven’t read any of their books yet and only know that they fit this theme because my mom happened to recently mention it. Instead, I also branched out to author pairs or groups where each person is named, but these are all authors high on my list to read and catch up on this year!
Top 5 Wednesday is a meme created by Gingerreadslainey on Youtube, and is now hosted by Sam at ThoughtsOnTomes. The official GoodReads group with the weekly topics can be found here.
1) Christina Lauren – This was one of the first author duos that I was surprised to discover was more than one person! Christina and Lauren are best friends who write together, and have written somewhere around 14 standalone books together plus a few series! I very badly need to catch up on their standalones, since I have only read 4 so far. I don’t have much interest in their series, but I definitely want to read the rest of their standalones. I’ve liked some much better than others of the ones I’ve read so far, but I’m still very curious to try the rest.
2) Liv Constantine – Liv Constantine consists of sisters Lynne and Valerie, who have written a total of 5 thrillers together so far! Despite their books being very high on my list to read for the past few years, I’ve fallen behind! I’ve only read The Last Mrs. Parrish and really enjoyed that one, but I’m hoping to catch up on the rest of their books this year. This is one case where if I hadn’t know the author was actually two people, I don’t think I ever would have guessed! I’m fairly certain I have another similar author duo on my TBR too, but somehow can’t think of who they are.
3) Emily Wibberley & Austin Siegmund-Broka – This author duo is a married couple who have written several YA romances and now a couple of adult romances together, although I’ve just seen on Goodreads that Emily has also written a fantasy series on her own. So far, I have read just one adult title and one YA title by this author duo, but I have many more on my TBR to pick up this year. I always end up adding their books to my TBR because they seem so fun, and with 6 unread books now waiting, it’s about time I catch up!
4) Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen – I wonder if this is the author duo I was thinking of when I was sure I had another pair similar to Liv Constantine, even though these are very clearly two different people. I read The Wife Between Us the same year as I read The Last Mrs. Parrish so I almost wonder if I’ve linked them somehow in my head. Sarah Pekkanen has several other books that she’s written on her own, but I’m most interested in reading the thrillers that these two have written together. So far, I’ve only read The Wife Between Us and The Anonymous Girl, but I’m planning to prioritize their remaining two books as soon as possible.
5) Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton and Jodi Meadows – I think this is the trio that I’m most worried about since I’ve always found it strange to have so many authors involved in one book. These three are the authors of the Lady Janies series and a new Mary series that I’m very interested in trying, although all three also have books that they have written on their own. Of the three, I’ve only tried other books by Cynthia Hand, which I liked but didn’t love. I’ve been a little hesitant to pick these up because three authors seemed a bit excessive to me somehow, but it’s also not really fair to judge without actually trying them! I’m still curious to give these a try, and I’ve heard some great things about the series which definitely helps.
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