The Way Back on Wednesday: Alex Markov: Dreamboat or Douchebag?

(originally published on June 3, 2016) 

In another of our occasional series in which we discuss the merits – or lack thereof – of fictional heroes and heroines, AAR staffers turn their attention to Alex Markov of Kiss an Angel by Susan Elizabeth Phillips.

Kiss An Angel taps into the classic “arranged marriage” trope. The two protagonists, Daisy and Alex, are blackmailed into marriage by a third party: Daisy’s dad. Daisy agrees in order to avert legal trouble and avoid prison. For Alex Markov, this was his year for paying off big debts, first with his deathbed promise to Owen Quest to take the circus out for its last season under the Quest name, and then by agreeing to marry Max’s daughter. In all these years Max had never asked anything of him as repayment for having saved Alex’s life, but when he’d finally gotten around to it, he’d asked for a doozy. […]

By |2021-09-09T09:04:41-04:00September 8th, 2021|Categories: Anne AAR, Caroline AAR, Characters, Dabney AAR, Dreamboat or Douchebag, Haley AAR, Heroes, LinnieGayl AAR, Maggie AAR, Mary AAR|Tags: , , , |32 Comments
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Return to the Tropical Romance Book Club – an Interview with Hana Sheik

Due to.. uh… (gestures widely at everything), AAR’s Tropical Romance Book Club has been on hiatus for a long time. I’m very excited to bring it back with a conversation with Hana Sheik, the Somali-born, Canada-raised author whose debut for Harlequin – Second Chance To Wear His Ring – is set in Somaliland and Ethiopia. Welcome, Hana! […]

By |2021-08-24T14:49:38-04:00August 25th, 2021|Categories: Authors, Caroline AAR, Interviews, Reading, Romance reading|Tags: , |6 Comments
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Using Tags to Find Books You Love – Update

What’s going on in the wonderful world of book review tags at All About Romance? I’m so glad you asked!

Updating: Based on commenter feedback, I’ve revised my process for checking and/or updating the tags on new reviews.

For most categories, I don’t search for books which received a grade below B-. This is so that when you, the site users, click through on the tag, you can find books you might actually want to read without having to wade through the Cs, Ds, and Fs. I’m not saying you won’t find lower-scoring books in the tags, but I’m not going to extra effort to add/update them. […]

By |2021-07-01T10:01:24-04:00June 30th, 2021|Categories: Caroline AAR, Romance reading, tags|Tags: |31 Comments
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A Retro Write: Yes We Can! Our favorite Activist Heroines

originally published on February 3, 2017

Women have a long history of standing up for their beliefs, and there are great romance novels starring heroines doing just that. American and British suffragettes (or suffragists), Civil Rights activists, lawyers, writers, organizers, and military rebels – you’ll find all of them here, and more. Let these ladies inspire you to fight for your beliefs, whatever they happen to be.

Caroline Russomanno:

Erica Johnson – Unfinished Business by Karyn Langhorne

Erica, a teacher, is tired of seeing funding diverted away from the neediest and most vulnerable. She protests at the hero’s (a Southern Republican senator’s) press conference and is dragged out by police. This book is set during the W. Bush administration and Erica is a strong reminder that black activists have been working continuously, even when out of the […]

By |2021-06-19T10:14:33-04:00June 19th, 2021|Categories: AAR Shannon, Caroline AAR, Dabney AAR, Heroines, Keira Soleore, Kristen D, Maggie AAR, Romance reading|Tags: , , , , |19 Comments
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The Wayback on Wednesday: All About Romance Celebrates PRIDE 2018

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+ […]

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: , , |19 Comments
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She’s the Boss: CEO Heroines in Romance

When I was reading Bianca Mori’s One Night at the Penthouse Suite, one of the things that I loved was how unusual it is to read a billionaire romance where the billionaire is the heroine. And Cora Ciacho’s CEO position isn’t wallpaper: she spends the book actively making business decisions and fighting with her board to remain the executive, while trying to negotiate being a higher-earner and from a different class background to her boyfriend, Stephen Cruz. […]

By |2021-05-23T16:19:52-04:00May 24th, 2021|Categories: Caroline AAR, tags|Tags: |43 Comments
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Celebrating AAPI Month – Great reads by Asian & Pacific Islander authors

Back in February, we celebrated Black History Month by sharing recent DIKs from Black authors. May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month in the United States, so it’s time to celebrate AAPI Heritage with a new list!

As with Black authors, despite the fact that this month is observed in the US, we didn’t limit ourselves to American authors here. Also, these are just the DIKs of approximately the past year. There are more great finds in our database!

Please join us in celebrating great writing by members of the Asian and Pacific Islander diaspora, wherever they live! […]

By |2021-05-05T11:25:19-04:00May 5th, 2021|Categories: Caroline AAR, Romance reading|13 Comments
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Navigating Indies – How do you find good independent authors?

I often have no idea if I’m reading an indie (independently or self-published book) or not  – and you may not, either. Many of the old cues, like schlocky covers, aren’t giveaways anymore. Although a more expensive ebook (say, $7.99 USD and up) is usually traditionally published, the less expensive ones could go either way. […]

By |2021-04-27T17:55:06-04:00April 28th, 2021|Categories: Caroline AAR, Romance, Romance reading|25 Comments
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What Grades Mean to Me by Caroline Russomanno

As a reviewer, I try to be consistent with the rest of AAR’s team in terms of what an A, B, C, D, or F grade means. I know, however, that there will always be judgment calls – not just in terms of what grade we think the book deserves, but even in terms of what the grades are. I wrote this piece to talk about what, very generally, places a book for me at each grade level. If there are multiple descriptors, the book might have all or just one of them. […]

By |2021-04-05T18:34:41-04:00April 6th, 2021|Categories: Caroline AAR, Reading, Romance reading|Tags: , |41 Comments
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It’s been a good year for diversity at AAR

As Caz wrote in her post on AAR’s coverage of queer romance, AAR has been working, over the past few years, to diversify the romances we review.  Today we take a look at our reviews of romances by authors of color.

Whereas queer romance is generally measured by the content of the story (male/male romance, female/female romance, LGBTQ+ romance, etc), for ethnic and racial diversity, I looked at works by authors of color, rather than books featuring protagonists of color. […]

By |2021-03-03T09:08:10-05:00March 3rd, 2021|Categories: Caroline AAR, Romance reading|Tags: , , |7 Comments
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