Merry Christmas, everyone, and a joyous holiday season to all! Today we announce the winner in our first ever Reviews Parody Contest! First we’d like to thank all those brave and talented readers who participated in the contest. Every entry was incredibly creative and laugh-out-loudable! […]
What is AAR? It’s not a business–we don’t make any money and no one gets paid. It truly is a labor of love for all of us. (I do give the staff gift certificates at the end of the year to say thanks for all their hard work. The rest of the money we earn goes to keeping the site online.) […]
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!
Dabney: I’m not a big nonfiction reader but I am dying to read Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder by Caroline Fraser. This book was released less than a month ago and it’s gotten tons of buzz from NPR, the NYT, and more. In many ways, the Wilder books defined pioneer America for generations. Laura, Mary, Pa, Ma, Silver Lake, Alonzo–almost 50 […]
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.
We’re excited to read Only Beloved, the latest entry in Mary Balogh‘s Survivor’s Club series.