We had well over 3,000 votes in the first two rounds of this poll – wow! We knew you all were passionate about romance, but wow! We’ve now taken the top 150 books from both rounds and presented them here. […]
OK, OK, It’s not just you we love. (Although we do love you.) But AAR staffers have other things on their holiday list and we thought we’d share them! (This would also be a great time to remind our readers that we are able to stay online by the money we make on our affiliate links and we are beyond grateful when you use them!) Happy holidays!
I admit that I love to read romance novels for pretty much one reason – the swoon-worthy heroes. Be they Navy SEALs, roguish pirates, Scottish warriors or powerful tycoons, their confidence and swagger and charm all draw me in and allow me to escape to a fantasy world where the good guy will always save the day.
Given all of the recent turmoil in our world, what with hurricanes and political tempests galore, it’s tempting to escape into those fantasies as much as possible. But every once in a while, I’m reminded that real heroes walk among us. These are the guys and gals who put their lives on the line every day to help a stranger. They go in when others are rushing out. They serve as real-life examples to our sons and daughters of the best that humanity has to offer.
Below are photos of these super folks in action. We tip our hats and thank them profusely for […]
Is there anything better to get in the mail than a box of goodies? Especially one that celebrates one of my favorite things? The Holiday Ever After Box, sent to me by the wonderful Jeannie Lin, has helped make this December a big more festive. (AAR and the Ever After Box are teaming up in 2017 for a fabulous collaboration but more on that later.)
When mine came, I sat down and opened it, aquiver with anticipation. I was not disappointed. Here’s what it looked like:
The Holiday Ever After Box turned out to be an advent calendar with a month’s worth of gifts from participating romance authors. How cool is that? I, of course, had to pull all the bags out and, whoa, at the bottom was Sarah Morgan’s lovely Miracle on 5th Avenue (a DIK here at AAR) complete with a note from […]
Ah…coasting into the holidays. For me personally, December tends to be a month where I binge-read holiday romances and sneak in portions of anthologies or short category romances during breaks in the holiday madness. While most of my holiday reads are oldies-but-goodies, I’ve scouted out a promising-sounding anthology and some category romance goodness that I can’t wait to read. This may be a busy time of year, but the reading lists turned in by my fellow AAR-ers show that we all want to make time to read.
Four Weddings and a Sixpence (anthology)
I love anthologies, and this one features authors I have enjoyed in the past. I’ll have to wait until after Christmas to get my hands on it, and I can’t wait! – Lynn
I love Julia Quinn. No scratch that – I adore Julia Quinn and her heroes and heroine and am excited for her latest. – […]
When I started reading romance, I stuck almost entirely to historicals and romantic suspense. When I saw this month’s TBR Challenge prompt, I knew I had no shortage of historical reading in my closet o’TBR. I decided to go with a new-to-me author and picked up Liana LeFey’s 2012 debut, Countess So Shameless. This Georgian historical, set in France and England during the reign of George II, has enough intelligence and unique characterization to keep me reading but also enough eyeroll-inducing plot twists to make it difficult for me to recommend.
The novel opens at Versailles where the teenaged Melisande Compton has come to court with her French mother and English father. We learn very quickly that this isn’t entirely a pleasure visit and while in France, Melisande learns a dangerous and devastating family secret. Overcome with emotion, she runs headlong into Lord Alessandro Orsini, a rakish diplomat for […]
In looking over the list of November releases (already?!), one thing stands out – HISTORICALS. Seriously, this looks like a big historical release month. Favorites such as Mary Balogh, Elizabeth Hoyt, Sabrina Jeffries and Meredith Duran all have new releases. There are still plenty of contemporaries and other subgenres to go around, but if you’re looking to curl up and go on a trip through time this Thanksgiving, you’ve got options.
Someone to Love by Mary Balogh
A new book from this perennially popular author is always an event worthy of a note in my diary, and I’m intrigued by the prospect of a hero who is a bit of a departure from the norm – Caz
The brilliant Ms. Balogh has a new book out in a new series! That’s all I need to know about it before I pick it up. – Keira
This is being described as ‘typical Balogh’ and […]
We’re already thinking ahead to May books here at AAR. We all looked over the list of upcoming releases and had quite a few to add to our to-buy lists.
This year’s Annual Poll results are finally here. We thank the many many readers who responded to our survey. The format of taking nominees and then creating a ballot with the top vote getters was a success. Our hard working pollsters–thanks LinneGayl and Lee–tabulated thousands of votes. We plan to run our poll similarly next year.
We will make a few changes, however. It’s clear that allowing books to nominated in multiple categories can create a situation where one author and/or book wins big time. Which is what happened this year. (This will make you happy if you love Nalini Singh which, clearly, many many of our readers do.)
Here, then, are the winners of the 2016 Annual Reader Poll.
NOTE: Honorable mentions have traditionally been given when a book receives at least 80% of the votes of the winner.
Winner:
You read us. You trust our reviews and comment on our blogs and message boards. You like that we’re independent, that we don’t answer to publishers, authors, or a media company. You appreciate that we are a grassroots organization–our reviewers are regular people who, just like you, love romance. We write about romance because we love the genre and its readers. It’s our passion and, if it’s your passion too, we’d like you to be part of our team.
We’d like you to be smart, witty, enthusiastic, and willing to write at least a review and/or a blog a month. We’re interested in covering all sorts of romance and women’s fiction and so if you feel passionate about it, we want you to write about it. For us.
What’s in it for you? Besides fame (did you know we have almost 17K Twitter followers?) and the ability to share your take on the books you love (or hate)? Well, we will supply […]
