Best of 2016 – All About Romance

AAR picks the very best of 2016

We thought we’d republish this–we’re about to release our top picks for 2017. Did you read any of these? Think we picked well? (originally published on January 4, 2017)

Each year we ask our staff to share the romance, the one romance, they read this year they’d pick as their favorite. This year, as in the past, they’ve picked a variety–there are contemporaries, historicals, paranormals and mysteries on our Best of 2016 list. Where we reviewed a book, we’ve linked to the review and, as usual, clicking on the book cover will take you to Amazon. Enjoy! And, in the comments, let us know what you’d pick!

Janet Boatman:

Penny Reid’s Beard Science is wonderfully weird, and my humble skills with adjectives will never be able to adequately describe exactly why it is such an amazing book. The story […]

By Dabney Grinnan|2018-02-10T12:14:28-05:00February 9th, 2018|Categories: Best of 2016|41 Comments

Good News and Bad about Polls

It’s clear to us we don’t have the manpower to do our usual reader’s pick the Best of Poll for 2016. We’re bummed about that but it is what it is. (Clichéd but true.) We plan to get a jump on it this fall and it will return for 2017.

We are also hoping to, in 2017 or early 2018, do another AAR’s Top 100 Romances poll. We last did this in 2013–we’ve done this six times since 1998. You can see all the polls here.

In the meantime, we’re curious. What do you think the best romances ever written are? Do you think the 2013 list holds up?

Let us know in the comments!

Thanks!

By Dabney Grinnan|2017-06-23T09:44:28-04:00June 18th, 2017|Categories: Best of 2016, Polls, Romance reading|Tags: AAR Top 100 Romances|41 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:

By Caz Owens|2017-06-23T08:30:00-04:00February 20th, 2017|Categories: Alexandra AAR, Best of 2016, Best of List|6 Comments

The Best of 2016: Dabney’s List

2016 was the year I wrote more and read less. I’d have thought reading fewer books would make me easier to please but the opposite proved true. Not many books knocked my socks off in 2016. The ten on this list did.

The Trespasser by Tana French

I’ve been a devotee of Ms. French’s complex, character-driven mysteries since I read her first, In the Woods, almost ten years ago. While my favorite is still Faithful Place, The Trespasser is next on that list. […]

By Dabney Grinnan|2017-06-23T08:30:02-04:00January 22nd, 2017|Categories: Best of 2016, Best of List, Dabney AAR|Tags: Amanda Weaver, Anthony Doerr, Clare Mackintosh, Jill Sorenson, Lee Smith, Lisa Kleypas, Megan Crane, Mercy Brown, Sally Thorne, tana french|30 Comments

The Best of 2016: Keira’s List

Every time I sit down to write one of these lists, I have to pull up my detailed book spreadsheet that’s my pride and joy, search for my reviews on AAR, and open up my blog where I comment on every book and poem I’ve read. Thus, with all this data on hand, putting this Best Books list together was fun, and I got to look back into exactly why I loved the books that I did.

Belgravia by Julian Fellowes

I delighted in the gossipy tone of Belgravia by Julian Fellowes. Set in early Victorian times, the book is written with the soaring arc of a saga and the delicacy of shifting emotions. At its core are two intense love stories spanning two generations and class boundaries, and the women in this story, through their love for their […]

By Keira Soleore|2017-06-23T08:30:02-04:00January 20th, 2017|Categories: Best of 2016, Best of List, Keira Soleore|10 Comments

The Best of 2016: Lisa’s List

I’m closing out my first full year as a reviewer at AAR with a list of my top ten favorite books of 2016!

Twenty Five Mystery Science Theater 3000 Films That Changed My Life In No Way Whatsoever by Frank Conniff

I’m a long-time MiSTie who has devoured Kevin Murphy and Mike Nelson’s books, and Conniff – a natural storyteller – surpasses both of his colleagues with this tome. Conniff’s contribution to the MST3K canon is a stroll through the ten movie he screened (It was one of Conniff’s main jobs during the Sci Fi era run to screen potential movies for the show to tear apart) while working for MST3K. A delight.

A/BN/iB/K

The Princess Diarist by […]

By Lisa Fernandes|2017-06-23T08:30:02-04:00January 16th, 2017|Categories: Best of 2016, Best of List, Lisa F|9 Comments

The Best of 2016: Lynn’s List

2016 has been a heck of a year. I have to say that reading has been a bright spot, though. I think I’ve had more DIK and B+ reads this year than I have for a while. In trying to narrow it down to a top 10, I’ve had all kinds of fun looking back over my books – and I think I’ll have to reread some.

The Hating Game by Sally Thorne

Definitely my favorite read of the year. I forget which of my friends at AAR first started pushing this book (our review is here) but I’m thrilled that this one popped up on my radar. It’s a smart, funny and refreshing read. I’ve never worked in publishing, but I’ve worked in highly competitive offices so I could relate to the heroine’s adventures as she tries to […]

By Lynn Spencer|2017-06-23T08:30:02-04:00January 12th, 2017|Categories: Best of 2016, Best of List, Lynn AAR|15 Comments

The Best of 2016: Maria Rose’s List

I had big plans for 2016. I was going to equal or better my number of books read in 2015, my goal for which was 500 books (which I surpassed). As it turns out, I just made it to 400 books read this year. I was going to get back to my first love – historical romances – and read a ton of them. That didn’t happen, as I’ll be lucky to get to fifteen of them by the end of the December. I joined a reviewer challenge in January, committing to reading at least one book in different romance genres than my norm, specifically Urban Fantasy, Young Adult and Steampunk. As of mid December I’ve yet to read any in those genres. What kept me from these goals? Well, I joined AAR as a reviewer, which is a decision with which I’m very happy but requires more time spent to write thoughtful and comprehensive reviews. And, in a […]

By Maria Rose|2017-06-23T08:30:02-04:00January 10th, 2017|Categories: Best of 2016, Best of List, Maria Rose|12 Comments

The Best of 2016: B.J.’s List

I hope my favourite books of 2016 show that queer novels don’t just mean contemporary m/m romance. My list includes historical, humour, paranormal, alpha males, older main characters; characters of colour, European, American; bisexual, gay, trans and genderqueer characters. No matter who is involved, love is love and everyone deserves romance. […]

By BJ Jansen|2017-06-23T08:30:02-04:00January 8th, 2017|Categories: Best of 2016, Best of List, BJ Jansen, Queer romance|23 Comments

The Best of 2016: Haley’s List

2016 felt like a year in which I didn’t do a lot of reading. I hit my Goodreads goal of 80 books, and passed it by some, but that pales in comparison to the 150 books I read in 2013, for example. I was also a total slacker in the reviewing game, so you may not have seen my name around a lot. As it turns out, working full time and trying to finish my second Master’s Degree ate up all of the time that I used to spend on leisure and review reading. However, I like to think that having to be choosier with my reading time meant that I made stronger choices in 2016, although I think it limited my variety. I could have filled this list with far more than ten books, especially if I had included titles that were published outside of this year. However, I managed to prune it down to to the best […]

By Haley Kral|2017-06-23T08:30:02-04:00January 7th, 2017|Categories: Best of 2016, Best of List, Haley AAR|5 Comments

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