The Best of 2018: Alex A.’s List

Well, it’s that time of year again. The time when I have to distil all sorts of pleasurable reading into a list of the books I enjoyed the most. Such a difficult task! I started out thinking there were only a few, then I would talk to someone or look back through my ebook library and notice something else, and next thing I knew I had enough favorites to fill two blog posts. After much debating, here is my pared down list.

As I looked over my favorites, a bit of a common theme popped out at me. For whatever reason, many of the books this year involved main characters who had some sort of history together. As friends, lovers, or enemies, these first five books all have that in common.

The Sins of Lord Lockwood by Meredith Duran

This […]

By |2019-01-09T11:06:10+00:00December 27th, 2018|Categories: Alexandra AAR, Best of List, Romance reading|Tags: |12 Comments
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Coming Soon… November 2018

Here we are with another selection of books we’re most looking forward to reading over the coming weeks. A couple of historical romance powerhouses have new titles out in November; Mary Balogh continues her Westcott series with Someone to Trust and Julia Quinn introduces readers to a member of an off-shoot of the Bridgerton family in The Other Miss Bridgerton, while the fabulous Ilona Andrews brings us Diamond Fire a novella that wraps up one part of the Hidden Legacy series and kick-starts another.  […]

By |2018-10-23T20:00:35+00:00October 23rd, 2018|Categories: Alexandra AAR, Books with Buzz, Caz AAR, Eagerly Awaiting, EmAAR, Maggie AAR, Maria Rose, Romance, Romance reading, Shannon AAR, Upcoming releases|Tags: , |18 Comments
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Coming Soon… October 2018

Here we are, heading into the back end of the year with our regular monthly look at the books we’re most excited about reading over the coming weeks.  As usual, this is just a small selection of the books released every month – we can’t include them all, so please drop by and let us know if you’re looking forward to something you think we should know about! […]

By |2018-09-22T05:15:59+00:00September 22nd, 2018|Categories: Alexandra AAR, Anne Marble, Books with Buzz, Caroline AAR, Caz AAR, Eagerly Awaiting, EmAAR, Haley AAR, Keira Soleore, Kristen D, Lisa F, Maggie AAR, Maria Rose, Romance reading, Shannon AAR, Upcoming releases|Tags: , |8 Comments
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Fond First Times… Our first experiences with romance novels, part two

In part two of our reminiscences about our first experiences with romance novels, AAR staffers are here to share more of our stories about our first romances, when we read them, who we read them with and what, ultimately, made us fall in love with the genre. […]

By |2018-05-26T22:08:09+00:00May 26th, 2018|Categories: Alexandra AAR, Anne Marble, BJ Jansen, Caz AAR, Haley AAR, Keira Soleore, Reading, Real Life, Romance, Romance reading|Tags: |4 Comments
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The Best of 2017 – Alexandra’s List

2017 was an unusual reading year for me. Outside of the plethora of romance novels that have fallen into my hands, most of my ‘new books’ have been classics that I’m finally taking out of the TBR pile. While Wuthering Heights and Frankenstein were highlights of my reading year, they don’t exactly qualify as ‘Best of 2017’. In terms of newly published books, everything I could think of was a romance. Among those, I’ve realized my choices invariably involve either a favorite trope, or characters dealing with more serious, thought-provoking issues. I guess that’s what it takes for a book to still be on my mind months later.

The Sea King by C.L. Wilson

I think I could write my own novel just explaining things I liked about this […]

By |2018-01-13T22:06:50+00:00January 14th, 2018|Categories: Alexandra AAR, Best of List, Romance reading|Tags: |4 Comments
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Coming Soon… November 2017

It’s not all that often that there’s a hands-down favourite when it comes to a post like this, but a new book from Loretta Chase is a red-letter day on any romance reader’s calendar and many of us here have put a big red circle around 28th November, which is when her latest release, A Duke in Shining Armor is hitting the shelves and our e-readers. Also coming in November is the next in Mary Balogh’s Westcott series, Someone to Wed, along with Loreth Anne White’s next Angie Pallorino novel and the next instalment – Undercover Attraction – in another favourite series, Katee Robert’s The O’Malleys.

Whatever your preference, there’s a lot to look forward to in November, ready to curl up with on those long, cold winter evenings.

What are you most looking forward to reading in the weeks ahead? Drop by and let us know in the comments.

By |2017-10-18T21:24:06+00:00October 16th, 2017|Categories: AAR Shannon, Alexandra AAR, Anne Marble, Books with Buzz, Caz AAR, Dabney AAR, Eagerly Awaiting, EmAAR, Keira Soleore, Lee AAR, Lisa F, Maggie AAR, Maria Rose, Mary Dube, Romance, Romance reading, Upcoming releases|3 Comments
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The Best of 2016: Alex’s (belated!) List

If I had to sum up 2016 in a sentence, I’d say it was the year I overestimated myself. It wasn’t a bad year, but as my life got busier, I kept thinking I could still juggle work, reading, and writing as easily as I used to. When I started to get this list together, my thoughts for every entry went something like, “This book! Oh, it was so good! I loved it when I read it back in… back in… huh. I don’t even remember when I read it.” Usually I can tell you exactly when I read my favorite books for the first time, but this year was too crazy for me to keep track of. Between a new job to preparing for graduate school, it’s a wonder I had time to read at all! But I did, and here’s what I loved:

By |2017-06-23T08:30:00+00:00February 20th, 2017|Categories: Alexandra AAR, Best of 2016, Best of List|6 Comments
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Scenes that make us swoon…. (Part One)

I asked the AAR staff to share the scenes from novels they found the most romantic. And, boy, did they come up with some exquisite scenes. Be prepared to swoon….

Keira:

This scene is from the novella Paris for One from Jojo Moyes’ Paris for One. Nell and Fabien sit on the ledge. A half-drunk bottle of wine sits beside them. He is reading to her, his voice halting as he translates into English. Her head rests on his shoulder.

Because she knew already that this would be the thing that would end them. And that in the deepest part of her, she had known it from the beginning, like someone stubbornly ignoring a weed growing until it blocked out the light.’”

“You can’t stop,” says Nell when he does.

“The other pages are missing. Anyway — like […]

By |2017-06-23T08:30:01+00:00February 14th, 2017|Categories: Alexandra AAR, Best of Romance, BJ Jansen, Caz AAR, Janet Boatman, Keira Soleore, Maggie AAR, Maria Rose, Romance reading|Tags: , , , , , |17 Comments
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Midweek Minis

Our team of avid readers continues to work tirelessly to point you towards the good, the bad and the… indifferent… when it comes to romance!  Here’s another group of mini reviews from Alex, Caroline, Emily, Janet, Kristen, Maria Rose and Ulysses to give you some ideas as to what you might want to read next!

Alex’s Read:

Night Study by Maria Snyder
I discovered Maria Snyder’s Study series about a year ago, and was instantly hooked. The mix of magic, political intrigue, and adventure found in these books was enticing enough that I read the first three back-to-back —an entire week of my life was abruptly taken over by Ms. Snyder’s work. When I found out there was going to be a second trilogy to follow the first Study books, I naturally jumped on them.

Night Study is the second book of […]

By |2017-06-23T08:30:06+00:00October 4th, 2016|Categories: Alexandra AAR, Caroline AAR, EmAAR, Janet AAR, Kristen D, Maria Rose, Mini reviews|Tags: , |Comments Off on Midweek Minis
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