The Wayback on Wednesday: All About Romance Celebrates PRIDE 2018

By |2021-06-01T17:53:55-04:00June 2nd, 2021|Categories: Anne Marble, BJ Jansen, Caroline AAR, Caz AAR, EmAAR, Kristen D, Lisa F, Maria Rose, Queer romance, Romance, Romance reading, Shannon AAR|Tags: , , |

LBGTQ+ PRIDE is celebrated in many countries throughout the world in June, and here at AAR, we’re doing our bit to celebrate the idea that Love is Love is Love and that romance is for everyone by choosing our favourite queer fiction and queer romances. We could all have chosen more than one (or two!), but these are the ones that have stuck with us over time and to which we return again and again.

What are your favourites? We’re always ready to be switched onto new books and new authors, so jump into the comments and let us know!

Anne:

The Last Herald-Mage trilogy by Mercedes Lackey

This wasn’t the first time I encountered a gay protagonist, but I’m including it because many readers have admitted it changed their lives. LGBTQ+ […]

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Coming Soon – The Romances We’re Looking Forward to Reading in September 2019

By |2019-08-23T20:21:45-04:00August 24th, 2019|Categories: BJ Jansen, Books with Buzz, Caroline AAR, Caz AAR, Eagerly Awaiting, Keira Soleore, Maggie AAR, Maria Rose, Romance, Romance reading, Shannon AAR, Upcoming releases|Tags: , |

Difficult to believe as it is, we’re heading into tbe back-end of the year now, as Autumn/Fall will shortly be upon us and we’ll be looking ahead to the books we want to curl up with on those long winter evenings! Before that, though, we’ve got the final days and weeks of summer to look forward to, and here are AAR staffers’ picks for the new releases we’re planning on spending that time with.  […]

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Coming Soon – The Romances We’re Most Looking Forward to Reading in May 2019

By |2019-06-23T11:59:53-04:00April 19th, 2019|Categories: Alexandra AAR, BJ Jansen, Caroline AAR, Caz AAR, Eagerly Awaiting, EmAAR, Haley AAR, Keira Soleore, Kristen D, Lisa F, Maggie AAR, Maria Rose, Romance reading, Shannon AAR|Tags: , , |

There are a lot of romances we’re eager to read coming out in May, but there’s one real stand-out that’s sure to make a big splash, Helen Hoang’s follow-up to her hugely successful 2018 début, The Kiss Quotient. In The Bride Test, she takes the arranged marriage trope out for a spin and we’re sure it’s going to be another hit from this incredibly talented author.  […]

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Coming in 2019 – The Books We’re Most Looking Forward to Reading This Year!

By |2019-02-04T08:45:39-05:00February 4th, 2019|Categories: Anne Marble, BJ Jansen, Books with Buzz, Caroline AAR, Caz AAR, Eagerly Awaiting, EmAAR, Haley AAR, Keira Soleore, Kristen D, Lisa F, Maggie AAR, Maria Rose, Romance reading, Shannon AAR, Upcoming releases|Tags: , |

Well, we’ve already chosen the books we’re most looking forward to reading in January and February 2019, and we’ll continue to update you with our regular monthly look at what’s Coming Soon… but what about what’s Coming Not So Soon?  AAR staffers have looked through the new release lists for the next few months and have picked the books we’re most eagerly anticipating in 2019.  […]

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Can we be BFFs? Or, ah, can I be you? (the TV version)

By |2018-09-01T19:09:59-04:00September 2nd, 2018|Categories: Anne Marble, BJ Jansen, Caroline AAR, Characters, Dabney AAR, Heroines, Lisa F, Maggie AAR, Pop Culture, Romance reading, Shannon AAR, Television|

Jenna’s recent Laminate Freebie List post started a fair bit of discussion on the site and behind the scenes at AAR, and we began to discuss the possibility of making some other lists, and talking about what we’d do if we did.  In the end, we’ve rolled two of our most popular suggestions into one, and have nominated the female characters we’d either most like to be or most like to be friends with.

Kristen Donnelly:

Who I’d like to be:

CJ Cregg, The West Wing. When the series started, CJ was the press secretary and was eventually promoted to Chief of Staff. Poised, sarcastic, and powerful, CJ navigates a world designed by men with aplomb. I never fully bought that she was a disaster in her private life the way Sorkin wanted me too, more like she understood there were seasons of life and this season was about public service and that […]

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AAR Celebrates Pride 2018 – Part Two

By |2018-06-30T07:46:55-04:00June 30th, 2018|Categories: AAR Jenna, BJ Jansen, Caz AAR, EmAAR, Haley AAR, Heather AAR, Keira Soleore, Maria Rose, Queer romance, Romance reading, Shannon AAR|Tags: |

We’re rounding out Pride Month with another selection of our favourite queer love stories, all of them celebrating the truth that Love is Love is Love. And as ever, we’d love to hear from you about your favourites, so please drop by and tell us about the awesome queer romances YOU love.

BJ:

Glitterland by Alexis Hall

I love Glitterland. The ultimate romance of opposites.

The Essex vernacular is most often commented on in this novel, but it is a vital component, and one I found very entertaining.

However, Alexis Hall’s accurate portrayal of depression is inspired especially juxtaposed with characters who are fizzy and full of life. The innocent wisdom of Darian is so adorable and undercuts any sense of Ash’s intellectual fustiness.

For me, the Essex accent heightens Darian’s vulnerability and innocence. […]

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“I couldn’t put it down…” What was YOUR last unputdownable read?

By |2018-06-04T05:43:13-04:00June 4th, 2018|Categories: AAR Shannon, Anne Marble, audio books, BJ Jansen, Caz AAR, Dabney AAR, EmAAR, graphic novels, Keira Soleore, Kristen D, Lisa F, Lynn Spencer, Maggie AAR, Re-reading, Reading, Romance reading|Tags: |

The unputdownable read…  it’s kind of the holy grail of books, isn’t it? That book that hooks you in on the first page and doesn’t let you go until the last; the book you enjoy so much that you can’t stop turning the pages even as you wish you could read more slowly because you don’t want it to end, and the book you immediately have to shout about to all your friends – whether in person or on Social Media.  We’re all lucky enough to come across THAT BOOK from time to time, and the AAR team got together to talk about the book we read most recently that we simply couldn’t put down.

Anne

I Joined a Teen-age Sex Club (Yes, that was an actual title from a story published in 1951!)

This is a compilation of essential romance […]

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Fond First Times… Our first experiences with romance novels, part two

By |2018-05-26T22:08:09-04:00May 26th, 2018|Categories: Alexandra AAR, Anne Marble, BJ Jansen, Caz AAR, Haley AAR, Keira Soleore, Reading, Real Life, Romance, Romance reading|

In part two of our reminiscences about our first experiences with romance novels, AAR staffers are here to share more of our stories about our first romances, when we read them, who we read them with and what, ultimately, made us fall in love with the genre. […]

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Congratulations to the 2018 RITA and Golden Heart Finalists!

By |2018-03-31T16:42:39-04:00March 28th, 2018|Categories: BJ Jansen, Caz AAR, Keira Soleore, Kristen D, Lynn Spencer, Maria Rose, Mary Dube, Romance reading, Romancelandia, RWA|Tags: , |

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 […]

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