Caroline AAR Archives — All About Romance

Coming Soon… June 2018

Difficult as it is to believe, we’re heading into June and looking ahead to summer – and it’s time for AAR staffers to take a look at upcoming releases and choose the ones we’re most excited about reading over the next few weeks. Just a reminder that this isn’t meant to be an exhaustive list of what’s coming out next month; it’s just a selection, by the reviewing team, of the titles we’re eager to get our hands on and our noses stuck into! You might have some other ideas, and we’re only too happy to hear what those might be – so please do jump into the comments and let us know if you think we’ve missed something we really MUST read 🙂

Wicked and the Wallflower by Sarah MacLean (19 Jun)

A literal bastard persuades a […]

By Caz Owens| 2018-05-14T09:49:44+00:00 May 14th, 2018|Categories: AAR Shannon, Anne Marble, Books with Buzz, Caroline AAR, Caz AAR, Eagerly Awaiting, EmAAR, Lee AAR, Lisa F, Maggie AAR, Maria Rose, Romance reading, Upcoming releases|Tags: coming soon, new releases|12 Comments

Coming Soon… May 2018

When it comes to the books AAR staffers are most looking forward to reading in May, there’s a huge consensus of opinion; we can’t wait to read Lucy Parker’s Making Up, the third in her London Celebrities series, and Someone to Care, book four in Mary Balogh’s series of books about the Westcott family. Ms. Parker is a relatively new author – not only is Making Up the third book in a series, it’s her third published work, while Ms. Balogh is – I hope she won’t mind my saying this – a veteran of the genre with something over one hundred novels, novellas and short stories to her credit.

Other favourite authors appearing on this month’s list – Julie Anne Long with the next of her Hellcat Canyon books, Amanda Quick, Jenny Colgan, Sarah J. Mass and the follow-up to Sandhya Menon’s hugely enjoyable When Dimple Met Rishi, From Twinkle with Love.

By Caz Owens| 2018-04-29T08:27:48+00:00 April 29th, 2018|Categories: AAR Shannon, Caroline AAR, Caz AAR, Eagerly Awaiting, EmAAR, Keira Soleore, Lee AAR, Maggie AAR, Maria Rose, Mary Dube, Romance, Romance reading, Upcoming releases|Tags: coming soon|18 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

The Best of 2017 – Caroline’s List

Best-of lists are always hard for me because I don’t read tons of new books. This is actually the first year I’ve had enough reads of the year to have any kind of meaningful list of “best books of the year.”

The Love Experiment by Ainslie Paton

My top read of the year was a funny, realistic, honest, sexy, and deftly written contemp about two Chicago journalists falling in love while pursuing their careers. I’ve called it a hybrid of The Hating Game and a Julie James novel, and I hope that convinces more people to give this less well-known author and e-only release a try. I just loved it.

Buy Now: A/BN/iB/K

By Caroline Russomanno| 2018-01-18T21:57:33+00:00 January 20th, 2018|Categories: Best of List, Caroline AAR, Romance reading|Tags: Best of 2017|10 Comments

Reading Resolutions for 2018

AAR staff have been making plans to be their best reading selves in 2018. Here are some of our reading resolutions:

Caroline: My resolution is to reread books that have been on my keeper shelf without a reread for four years (that’s the easiest time for me to calculate since it’s when I moved). I find a lot of books I’ve had for that long aren’t holding up, and I need to get rid of them to free up space. I also resolve to get rid of my pile of Regency Christmas anthologies that I’m keeping just for the one Carla Kelly story and replace it with the Kelly collection that has all of those stories in it.

Keira: I resolve to continue my detailed Spreadsheet of Joy, wherein I maintain all kinds of data about every book I read. I have been spreadsheeting my reading since […]

By Caroline Russomanno| 2018-01-02T08:35:24+00:00 January 2nd, 2018|Categories: Anne Marble, Caroline AAR, Caz AAR, Dabney AAR, Keira Soleore, Kristen D, Maggie AAR, Melanie AAR, Re-reading, Reading, Romance reading|Tags: Reading resolutions|30 Comments

Romancing it Royally – Some of our favourite Royal Romances

With the recent engagement of Prince Harry to Meghan Markle, royal romance is on our minds. Here are some of AAR’s favorite royal stories, real and fictional, for anybody else in the mood.

Caz: One of the things that made the books that make up Lilah Pace’s His Royal Secret/His Royal Favorite duology such great reads is that the author chose to set her story in a Britain I was able to easily recognise as the one in which I live while at the same time creating a very believable ‘alternate’ Royal Family. (There’s none of that carving off bits of Scotland and giving them names that sound like supermarket chains or making the Isle of Man into a […]

By Caroline Russomanno| 2017-12-02T15:41:20+00:00 December 3rd, 2017|Categories: Anne Marble, Caroline AAR, Caz AAR, Dabney AAR, Keira Soleore, Kristen D, Lisa F, Romance reading, Shannon AAR|12 Comments

Maybe, Baby…

why yes that is red lipstick on me… and on the white carpet in our rented beach house….

Babies are often romanticized (so to speak) in romances, which tend to focus on pregnancy and only show us infants in glowing sunlit epilogues or cheerful cameos in sequels which focus on family and friends. It’s a rare book that throws you into the teeth of sleepless, unshowered, spit-up-encrusted life with a newborn – probably because, let’s be real, it’s hard to have enough energy for the relationships you have, let alone a new one.

Oddly enough, the most realistic portrayal of an infant I’ve read in a romance is in a young adult book,

By Caroline Russomanno| 2017-11-12T22:01:39+00:00 November 12th, 2017|Categories: Caroline AAR, Romance reading|16 Comments

Coming Soon… October 2017

It’s time once again to look ahead to the books we’re looking forward to getting stuck into next month, and as the nights are drawing in, I’m sure we’re all looking for reads to help us curl up and forget the encroaching cold. AAR staffers have chosen quite a diverse bunch of titles as those we’re most looking forward to in October – some big names and favourite authors (Jackie Ashenden, Karen Harper, Elizabeth Hoyt, Eloisa James) have new books out this month, and maybe our picks of some less familiar names might encourage you to give something new a try.

Duke of Desire by Elizabeth Hoyt (17 Oct)

I admit, I’m not quite convinced by the set up for this that we glimpsed at the end of Duke of Pleasure, but what the hell – this is […]

By Caz Owens| 2017-09-23T19:03:16+00:00 September 23rd, 2017|Categories: Anne AAR, Caroline AAR, Caz AAR, Eagerly Awaiting, Keira Soleore, Kristen D, Lee AAR, Maggie AAR, Maria Rose, Mary Dube, Romance reading, Shannon AAR|Tags: coming soon|5 Comments

My Summer of Singh

Summer 2017 will always be my Summer of Singh. I started a serious binge when I read Nalini Singh’s first Psy-Changeling book, Slave to Sensation, back in May, and just a week ago I finished Silver Silence, the latest release. That’s sixteen novels, not counting the short story collections, which I also read.

I’ve gone on binges before, but this one was different. I never burned out on Singh the way I’ve done before. In order to keep a series from feeling formulaic and predictable, I usually have to intersperse the books with reads by other authors and genres. In some cases, even that doesn’t help, as the authors themselves lose the spark that made their early books so engaging.

By Caroline Russomanno| 2017-09-18T03:39:57+00:00 September 18th, 2017|Categories: Authors, Books, Caroline AAR, Romance, Romance reading|Tags: Nalini Singh, Psy/Changeling series|14 Comments

Sam Heughan: A Romance Hero for the Ages

We’re excited for the premiere of Outlander tomorrow! Here’s a column we wrote about Sam Heughan, the lovely actor who plays Jamie Fraser.

I’ve been thinking about the Golden Globes, which followed the Emmys in failing to nominate Sam Heughan for Outlander (the show was nominated for Best Drama, and both Caitriona Balfe as Claire and Tobias Menzies as Black Jack scored acting nominations). In criticizing this omission, most people point to the last few episodes of the season which, without getting spoilery, contain emotional and violent scenes which are the classic route to awards attention.

I would also have liked to have seen Heughan nominated, but for a totally different reason. In fact, I haven’t even seen the last two episodes yet. I thought Heughan did something exceptional long before those episodes – and that was to satisfy female viewers with his depiction of a beloved romantic hero.