The Best of 2019 – Alex’s List
It’s always difficult to put together a ‘Best of’ list, and as usual I’m sure I forgot a few. But after much thought, here are the books which stood out for me this year. […]
Coming Soon – The Romances We’re Most Looking Forward to Reading in May 2019
There are a lot of romances we’re eager to read coming out in May, but there’s one real stand-out that’s sure to make a big splash, Helen Hoang’s follow-up to her hugely successful 2018 début, The Kiss Quotient. In The Bride Test, she takes the arranged marriage trope out for a spin and we’re sure it’s going to be another hit from this incredibly talented author. […]
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.
This […]
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. […]
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! […]
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. […]
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.
I think I could write my own novel just explaining things I liked about this […]
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.
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:
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….
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.