Coming Soon… August 2017

AAR staffers have taken a good look at the wealth of new books being published in August and decided which ones are most likely to make the biggest dents in our bank balances! Joanna Bourne is at the top of several of our lists, closely followed by Tessa Dare, Shana Galen, Layla Reyne and K.J Charles, among others. Here are the books we’re most looking forward to reading next month. How about you? Do you agree with our choices or think we’ve missed out on something really good? Jump into the discussion in the comments.

Beauty Like the Night by Joanna Bourne (1 Aug)

Um. It’s a new book in the Spymasters series by Joanna Bourne.  Surely I don’t need to say anything else?! – Caz

Joanna Bourne. That is all. If there’s a stronger series than her Spymasters, I […]

By | 2017-07-20T15:42:09+00:00 July 20th, 2017|Categories: Anne Marble, Caz AAR, Dabney AAR, E-books, Eagerly Awaiting, EmAAR, Keira Soleore, Kristen D, Lee AAR, Lisa F, Maggie AAR, Maria Rose, Romance reading, Sara AAR, Shannon AAR, Upcoming releases|Tags: , |4 Comments
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The Book Blind Taste Test – Pick a book… any book…

I have always loved libraries, but I admit I had fallen out of the habit of using my local one recently. One of my dear friends is a middle school librarian and she (appropriately) shamed me a bit for it, telling me the best way to make sure libraries stay around and keep their funding is to use them. So, a few months back, I started building weekly trips to my local temple of knowledge into my schedule and added a particular challenge to myself. I would walk directly to the New Releases section and pick up the first book by an author I didn’t recognize.

This has led to some real gems (Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinsborough was one) and some duds (which I will leave out for politeness). I told the AAR Staff about my new project and several of them jumped on board, saying it sounded like a great challenge. So many other staffers joined me, in fact, that we’ve decided to make it a regular blog.

The […]

By | 2017-07-16T13:08:37+00:00 July 14th, 2017|Categories: AAR Shannon, Books, Historicals, Kristen D, Lisa F, Mini reviews, Reading, Romance reading, Shannon AAR|8 Comments
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Coming Soon : July 2017

Heading into July, it’s time to take a look at what’s looking good in the next batch of upcoming releases.  Staffers have selected a couple of historicals as the most highly anticipated releases of the month, closely followed by the conclusion to Ilona Andrews’ Hidden Legacy series and the latest from Jennifer Probst.  We’ve got our normal, fairly eclectic mix of the various sub-genres in our list of what we’re looking forward to next month; are any of these on your Wish List?  Or have we missed out on something awesome that you’re just dying to tell us about?

Scandalous Ever After by Theresa Romain (4 July)

I’m a big fan of Theresa Romain’s and despite knowing absolutely nothing about horse racing have thoroughly enjoyed the books in the Romance of the Turf series so far.  The plotline of this sounds intriguing – a mysterious death, a handsome […]

By | 2017-06-23T18:29:55+00:00 June 23rd, 2017|Categories: AAR Shannon, Caz AAR, Eagerly Awaiting, Keira Soleore, Kristen D, Lisa F, Maggie AAR, Maria Rose, Mary Dube, Romance, Romance reading, Sara AAR, Upcoming releases|Tags: |17 Comments
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The Girl with the Make-Believe Husband: A Pandora’s Box

In The Girl With the Make-Believe Husband, Cecilia Harcourt has found herself on an unexpected adventure. After receiving a letter that her brother, Thomas – who had been in the colonies fighting Washington’s rebels – has gone missing, she summons all her gumption, spends all her cash, and boards a ship to New York. Her brother proves elusive, but she finds his best friend, Edward Rokesby, convalescing in an officer’s hospital. While she’s never met Edward, they’ve been corresponding through Thomas and Cecilia shifts her focus to making sure that Edward’s battle wounds are well cared for. In order to do that, however, she lies to his officers that they are married, and when Edward wakes with amnesia, the lie snowballs. As Cecilia and Edward navigated their way to happily ever after, AAR staffers Kristen and Emily were pleased to be along for the ride.

KD: So, Emily – […]

By | 2017-06-23T08:29:59+00:00 May 31st, 2017|Categories: Books with Buzz, EmAAR, Kristen D|Tags: , |9 Comments
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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​ in the Sins of the Cities series) and ​I ​was intrigued by the characters​ […]

By | 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
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So you like romance novels. Have you considered video games?

I see your eyebrow cocked at me, I do. But hear me out?

Once upon a time (namely five years ago) I was a video game skeptic. I did not play them, was intimidated by them, and had no interest in playing them. Then I met this boy who was adorable and lovely and wonderful and I was falling in love with him and he made a request: could I try to play? You see, he had spent much of his professional life working on testing video games and they were a love of his. He wanted me to experience this thing he loved that he was sure I would love and since I kept dragging him to musicals, I really couldn’t deny him.

And reader, the boy was right. I do love them. Not all of them (I can’t be doing with the ones where you have to play with others, like Destiny), but the ones I love, I love hard and usually […]

By | 2017-06-23T08:30:00+00:00 May 8th, 2017|Categories: Kristen D, Romance|9 Comments
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Midweek Minis

Here’s another in our occasional series of mini-reviews.  This time round, Kristen, Lisa and Maria Rose share their thoughts – good and bad – on some of their recent reads.

Kristen:

Playing By Her Rules by Amy Andrews

Y’all, I love me some Amy Andrews books. I especially love her books that involve rugby. This one, the first in her Sydney Smoke series, is about Matilda and Tanner. Once high school sweethearts, the two suffered a traumatic break up when it was time for Matilda to head off to college. Now both back in Australia, Matilda’s been assigned to do a profile on Tanner for her magazine. She’d basically rather perform her own appendectomy with a rusty swiss army knife, but duty calls.

Tanner is a rising star on the Smoke and is a bit of a lad about town. The order to participate in the feature comes from the club’s ownership, and […]

By | 2017-06-23T08:30:00+00:00 April 12th, 2017|Categories: Kristen D, Lisa F, Maria Rose, Mini reviews, Romance reading|Tags: , |5 Comments
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Midweek Minis

Here’s another in our occasional series of mini reviews in which AAR staffers talk about what they’ve read lately.  Not all these books are romances (although most of them are), and some were obviously more well-received than others. Here’s what Kristen, Lisa, Maggie, Maria Rose, Melanie have to say about their recent reads.

Kristen:

We Were On A Break by Lindsey Kelk

This one is perfect for fans of Sophie Kinsella – the humor and cultural settings are very similar. Liv and Adam’s Mexican holiday is sure to end in an engagement, or so Liv thinks. They’ve been dating for an age and surely, SURELY, he wouldn’t take her from England to Mexico without a real purpose, right? Well, imagine her shock when instead of giving her a ring, he asks for a pause. Dejected, confused, and heartbroken, they head back to the UK and to their separated lives.

One of this book’s strength […]

By | 2017-05-24T17:34:00+00:00 March 22nd, 2017|Categories: Kristen D, Maggie AAR, Maria Rose, Melanie AAR, Mini reviews, Reading, Romance reading|Tags: |5 Comments
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Long May She Reign: A Roundtable Discussion

Freya might be in the line of succession to the throne, but being in the double-digits in that line doesn’t inspire dreams of ruling. She’s dedicated herself to a life of science and logic, not of leadership and diplomacy. When a state dinner becomes the location of a massacre, leaving the king and everyone else between #2 and #22 dead, Freya has no choice but to step up.

As you can imagine, almost no one is happy about this turn of events – least of all Freya – but she is determined to do her best. This means looking at old allies with new eyes and learning other lessons along the way Rhiannon Thomas’ Long May She Reign is a rarity in the world of YA Fantasy – a stand-alone novel – and AAR Staffers Melanie, Shannon, and Kristen are here to share their thoughts about it.

SD: Let’s start out talking about the […]

By | 2017-06-23T08:30:00+00:00 March 11th, 2017|Categories: AAR Shannon, Kristen D, Melanie AAR, Reading, Roundtable|2 Comments
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Yes We Can! Our favorite Activist Heroines

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 media spotlight. Our review of the book is here.

A/BN/iB/K

By | 2017-06-23T08:30:01+00:00 February 3rd, 2017|Categories: AAR Shannon, Caroline AAR, Dabney AAR, Heroines, Keira Soleore, Kristen D, Maggie AAR, Romance reading|16 Comments
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