The Best Romances of 2019…. so far!
The Best of the Best – Our Favorite Books of 2018!
And, here it is, the AAR staff’s picks for the very best books of 2018. We ask each reviewer to pick her favorite book of the year and then we share the compiled list with you. This list isn’t one we all agree on nor is it one that we’d argue is definitive. Our Best Lists is idiosyncratic. Each pick is a reflection of a reviewer’s druthers, experiences and expectations, and is limited by what she personally read in the past year. These are, quite simply, books we individually loved.
We’d like to know what you loved too and hope you’ll share your picks with us in the comments.
Here’s to us all reading well in 2019!
Alex A:
As I’m sure other people have said, pretty much any book on my Best Of list could qualify […]
The Best of 2018: Dabney’s List
2018 was not my favorite year. The world, including Romancelandia, was full of anger and sadness, and most of the time I felt as if I had no idea how to do my job well. I’d pick up a romance, try to read it, and, again and again, be resistant to its draw. By midyear, I despaired of finding books I loved enough to want readers to experience their magic. But I underestimated the strength of our world, and by the end of December, I found myself with a list of books I genuinely loved, all of which brought me joy. Here, in no particular order, is my list of the best of 2018.
Caz and others on staff who read primarily historical romance are on record as saying that 2018 was a […]
The Best of 2018: Haley’s List
Every year when I’m ready to compile my best of the year list, I feel like I haven’t read anything for a year. That isn’t the case for 2018. I read a ton this year…it just wasn’t published in 2018. My reading habits took a shift from consuming almost entirely Contemporary Romance (with some Young Adult) to suddenly powering through the backlists of several Regency Romance bestsellers. I don’t know what happened! It did mean that my list for what I’d read that was actually published this year was shorter, but I have a handful I loved and want to share.
I know both […]
Round Two of the Top 100 Romance Poll closes on Monday….
Below you’ll find the top 250 books from all the write-ins from Round One. Choose AS MANY of these as you’d like.
Please pick your personal favorites, as well as any you feel should be on the list on principle.This round will be open until May 7th at 8pm EST and you will only have the opportunity to vote once in this round. So please be sure of your choices before you hit “done”!
In the next round, we’ll combine the top vote getters from this round and the top ones from our original 50 list. You’ll have 150 books to choose from in that round, before we narrow it down to the top 100! The final round will be the Top Ten Shootout, where we’ll give you the top ten from round 3 and you choose your overall winner.
Please note: each book is using its proper title, so check the “A” “The”, etc. options […]
Last Chance to Vote!
Hundreds of you have voted and we are slowly sorting through thousands of write-ins. (Big thanks to our staff!)
Round One will close on Sunday at midnight EST. If you’ve not yet voted, please do. Remember to do the whole poll including the write-in section.
Here again are the rules:
Round 1: Select as many books as you want from the list provided. It is meant to just be a starting point. There are fifty books on it–the list will ultimately have 100 books. Then, in the write-in section, enter up to ten books that are NOT on the current list you think must be. All book choices will be given one vote so a write-in has just as much weight as one on the list.
Round 2: The nominations from you, our faithful community, will be provided to be voted on.
Round 3: The ranking begins…
Round 4: Once the Top 100 is established, we’ll give you a final chance to rank the Top […]
AAR’s Top Picks for 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, they’ve picked more contemporary romance than anything else although other sub-genres are represented as well. Where we reviewed a book, we’ve linked to the review and, as usual, clicking on the book cover will take you to Amazon.
What do you think? If there’s a book we missed, please let us know below! Thanks!
I will choose Something Like Happy by Eva Woods. Even though it was a tearjerker, it was funny and sweet, had great characters and was a real surprise to me. I will definitely be checking out future books by the author.
Buy it at Amazon/iBooks/Barnes and Noble/Kobo
Em:The Best of 2017: Dabney’s List
I enjoyed reading in 2017. I read widely and much of what I read was good. So that’s a win.
Of the couple hundred books I read last year, these are the ones, in no particular order, that stood out.
Edge of Obsession, Crane’s first book in this series, was my pick for best book of 2016. The series came to a conclusion with Edge of Power, book four, and Crane ends it well. Wulf, King of the Raiders, is one of the series’ most interesting characters and the woman Crane pairs him with, Princess Kathlyn is his match. Their story would have been rewarding in and of itself. Edge of Power, however, also offers a compelling resolution to the political conflict between the Raiders and the truly […]
Scenes that make us swoon…. (Part Two)
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….
In Again, by Kathleen Gilles Seidel, the heroine Jenny Cotton, showrunner of a Regency-set soap opera, has been with her boyfriend Brian (an actor on the soap) for over a decade when Brian commits a terrible betrayal. Meanwhile, Alec Cameron, another actor, has fallen in love with Jenny, and his Grand Romantic Gesture is of the most delightfully practical and empathetic type.
Everyone in the production goes into hysterics over Brian’s misdeed, which doesn’t help Jenny in the slightest. An actress doesn’t want to work with Brian, but Jenny’s show will be ruined if the actors don’t act. A producer offers to fire anybody to help Jenny, but Jenny’s professional […]
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.