BJ Jansen Archives — All About Romance

Congratulations to the 2018 RITA and Golden Heart Finalists!

March is an exciting month for romance writers, as it’s when the Romance Writers of America announces their finalists in the RITA and Golden Heart contests for published books and unpublished manuscripts, respectively, submitted in the fall of the previous year. Excitement builds up over the day of the announcement as writers get calls from the RWA board and readers eagerly watch the RWA site to see if their favorite books made the cut. This year, the finalists were announced on March 21. Award winners will be announced on July 19 at the 2018 RWA National Conference in Denver, Colorado.

Here are the finalists that AAR’s staff read last year:

Spectred Isle by K.J. Charles (Paranormal)

The title is a play on words from Shakespeare’s Richard II and is the first book in a new series based […]

By Keira Soleore| 2018-03-31T16:42:39+00:00 March 28th, 2018|Categories: BJ Jansen, Caz AAR, Keira Soleore, Kristen D, Lynn Spencer, Maria Rose, Mary Dube, Romance reading, Romancelandia, RWA|Tags: RITA awards, RITAS|32 Comments

The “Better Late Than Never” list for 2018

2018 has already started, but there is a whole year of great books ahead of us. I asked my fellow AAR staffers what books they are most looking forward to for the rest of the year and got back a big variety of books. However, several titles were mentioned over and over. Check out what our staff had to say about their most anticipated reads for 2018, and be sure to let us know in the comments if you’re looking forward to these as well, or if we missed something you can’t wait to get your hands on.

~ Haley Kral

Links to bookstores for pre-ordering are given where currently available.

Our Most Anticipated

The Sins of Lord Lockwood by Meredith Duran (Feb 27)

I am an unabashed Meredith Duran fangirl and have loved everything of hers I’ve read. Her writing […]

By Caz Owens| 2018-04-15T13:44:52+00:00 March 2nd, 2018|Categories: Anne AAR, BJ Jansen, Caroline AAR, Caz AAR, Dabney AAR, EmAAR, Haley AAR, Heather AAR, Keira Soleore, Lee AAR, Lisa F, Maggie AAR, Maria Rose, Romance reading, Upcoming releases|Tags: Eagerly Awaiting|9 Comments

All About Romance Celebrates PRIDE 2017

LGBTQ+ PRIDE is celebrated in June in many countries around the world. In the UK we celebrate PRIDE across June / July / August with London Pride Parade being held on 8^th July this year. However, there is a good reason why PRIDE events and parades start being commemorated in June – so here’s a little history…

As the gay community blossomed in New York City in the 1960s, they had few places to gather publicly. At the time, it was still illegal to serve gay patrons alcohol, to display homosexuality in public or for two gay people to dance together. Under the guise of New York State’s liquor laws that barred ‘disorderly’ premises, the New York Police Department regularly raided bars that catered to gay patrons and arrested them.

In the early hours of the 28^th June 1969, The Stonewall Inn, Greenwich Village, Lower Manhattan, NYC was raided by police. One of […]

By BJ Jansen| 2017-06-27T19:06:40+00:00 June 27th, 2017|Categories: BJ Jansen|14 Comments

Coming Soon… in June

It’s time to look ahead to see what books we’re most excited about reading in June. As usual, we’ve a wide variety of choices, although it seems there’s a bit of a consensus about our most looked-forward-to new releases, K.J. Charles’ An Unnatural Vice and Sarah MacLean’s The Day of the Duchess. What are YOU looking forward to reading next month?

An Unnatural Vice by K.J. Charles (June 6)

As a big fan of both K.J. Charles and the Victorian Sensation Fiction which has inspired this series, I can’t wait to read this story of the battle of wits between a former-lawyer-turned-journalist and the man he suspects of being a sham spiritualist. The author’s ability to imbue her stories with a strong sense of time and space is superb, and I do love a good enemies-to-lovers romance. – Caz

I loved An Unseen Attraction (book one […]

By Caz Owens| 2017-05-22T08:53:19+00:00 May 22nd, 2017|Categories: AAR Shannon, Anne AAR, BJ Jansen, Caz AAR, Dabney AAR, Eagerly Awaiting, EmAAR, Keira Soleore, Kristen D, Lisa F, Maggie AAR, Maria Rose, Mary Dube, Sara AAR|13 Comments

Midweek Minis

In another of our series of mini-reviews, AAR staffers BJ, Em, Lisa, Maggie and Sara share their thoughts on some of their recent reads.

BJ:

Oren’s Right by Blaine D’Arden

This is a beautifully gentle, caring story in the Tales of the Forest series. The world author Blaine D Arden has created is sublime – I could just wish the stories were longer, but this edition has an extra scene at the end, which completes this tale perfectly and is very sexy.

Scarification may not be to everyone’s taste, but the author writes about it so sensitively, you can see how this might be part of a BDSM Master/slave style of loving relationship.

Blaine D’Arden introduces Veld a dark elf from another tribe, and details the prejudice he first encounters on reaching the village around which these stories are […]

By Caz Owens| 2017-06-23T16:58:21+00:00 May 10th, 2017|Categories: BJ Jansen, EmAAR, Lisa F, Maggie AAR, Mini reviews, Romance reading, Sara AAR|Tags: Midweek Minis, mini reviews|3 Comments

Tale as Old as Time… Our Favourite Beauty and the Beast Stories

When I heard that there was going to be a live-action version of Beauty and the Beast starring Emma Watson I was incredibly excited. Disney’s cartoon version was a childhood favorite of mine and, even though I was disappointed with the live-action take on Cinderella, I hoped that the the choice to keep the film a musical would help retain some of the original magic.

I saw Beauty and the Beast on opening weekend and I have to say, I loved it. Watson was perfectly cast as the modern Belle, who is just a beautiful as the original, but more strong-willed and inventive. Hearing new takes on the familiar songs brought out the child in me, but I also enjoyed some of the new numbers, particularly the Beast’s heart wrenching song “Evermore”.

Leaving the theater, my first thought (after wanting to download “Evermore” to listen to again) was that I wanted to read something Beauty and the Beast! There are so […]

By Haley Kral| 2017-03-31T08:34:12+00:00 March 31st, 2017|Categories: AAR Jenna, Anne AAR, BJ Jansen, Books, Caroline AAR, EmAAR, Haley AAR, Keira Soleore, Maria Rose, Reading, Romance reading, Sara AAR|17 Comments

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….

Keira:

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.

Because she knew already that this would be the thing that would end them. And that in the deepest part of her, she had known it from the beginning, like someone stubbornly ignoring a weed growing until it blocked out the light.’”

“You can’t stop,” says Nell when he does.

“The other pages are missing. Anyway — like […]

By Dabney Grinnan| 2017-06-23T08:30:01+00:00 February 14th, 2017|Categories: Alexandra AAR, Best of Romance, BJ Jansen, Caz AAR, Janet Boatman, Keira Soleore, Maggie AAR, Maria Rose, Romance reading|Tags: Jojo Moyes, Katharine Ashe, Laura Florand, loretta chase, susan elizabeth phillips, Valentine's Day|17 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+00:00 January 8th, 2017|Categories: Best of 2016, Best of List, BJ Jansen, Queer romance|23 Comments

Midweek Minis: RITA nominees Part Two

tmkcpfqv-600x323 In advance of RWA2016, AAR staffers have been taking a look at some of the books nominated for RITA awards. In our post yesterday, you’ll find a number of mini reviews of some of the titles featured in the various Contemporary Romance categories. Today, BJ, Caz, Maria Rose, Sara and Shannon review some of the other nominated books.

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By Caz Owens| 2017-06-23T08:30:08+00:00 July 7th, 2016|Categories: BJ Jansen, Caz AAR, Maria Rose, Mini reviews, RWA, Sara AAR, Shannon AAR|Tags: mini reviews, RITA2016|8 Comments

Midweek Minis – RITA nominees Part One

tmkcpfqv In advance of RWA 2016 next week and the announcement of the winners of the RITAs, the AAR team has taken a look at some of this year’s nominees. The full list of nominated titles can be found here. Have you read many on this year’s list? And if you’ve read the same listed books as we have, what did you think?

Our mini reviews cover titles listed in the contemporary, erotic, historical, paranormal and romantic suspense categories, and are spread across two posts. Today, Maria Rose, Sara, Heather, BJ and LinnieGayl take a look at the various contemporary romance nominees; the others will be covered in our second post tomorrow. […]