For Mental Health Awareness Month (May), Shepherd.com asked me for a list of my top five romances featuring characters with mental illness, and an explanation of why I chose these books.

Picking only five was next to impossible, but the link below includes some of my standouts. Technically Bryn Greenwood’s The Reckless Oath We Made isn’t a romance, but it’s one of my all-time favorite love stories, so I snuck it in. If you haven’t read The Prince by Katharine Ashe, or The Charm Offensive by Alison Cochrun, do it. Do it now.

Why did they ask me to put together this list? Because of my beloved James Nealy from The Unfinished Garden. TUG, as I call it, is classic women’s fiction, but has also been marketed as romance. And James? That sexy, successful, compassionate dude with severe OCD has a special place in my heart. I’m quite attached to his vintage Alfa Romeo, too. *Sigh*

Click here for my list