TBR Challenge 2023 – Freebie

By |2023-05-16T16:17:48-04:00May 17th, 2023|Categories: Romance reading, TBR Challenge|Tags: |

When I saw the prompt “Freebie” for TBR Challenge, I have to admit that my first thought was of the big book conferences of my earlier blogging days, where freebies abounded. In the post-COVID landscape, many of these have vanished or changed considerably (and then there’s the history of RWA – but that could be many blog posts in itself.) However, ARCs, ebook freebies and gifts from friends are still very much around, and we had no trouble finding prospects this month. Lynn found a winner in her old conference stash, and Caz has an ebook to share that she originally picked up as a freebie.

The Short and Fascinating Tale of Angelina Whitcombe by Sabrina Darby

While I have a huge TBR, it’s been a little while since I picked up much by way of freebies. For […]

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Celebrating AAPI Month 2023

By |2023-05-15T03:36:22-04:00May 15th, 2023|Categories: Romance reading|Tags: |

In the USA, May is Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month (sometimes now expanded to Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. AAR annually takes this chance to uplift books we have loved by authors of AAPI heritage, wherever they live.

Please enjoy these DIKs!

And check out our previous AAPI Heritage Month top lists here: 

Celebrating AAPI month, 2022

Celebrating AAPI Month, 2021

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Coming Soon – The Books We’re Most Looking Forward to Reading in May 2023

By |2023-04-23T08:39:22-04:00April 24th, 2023|Categories: Eagerly Awaiting, Romance reading|Tags: , |

It’s time to take a look through the lists of forthcoming releases for the next month! These are the the titles AAR thinks are the best bets for the best reads of May 2023.  As always, we love to hear from YOU about what you’re looking forward to – so do drop by for a chat in the comments!

Releasing week of 1st May 2023

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TBR Challenge April 2023 – Unusual Historical

By |2023-05-19T16:55:18-04:00April 19th, 2023|Categories: Romance reading|Tags: , , , , , , |

It’s undeniable that the historical market has for years been flooded with plenty of choices for those who love Regency or Victorian England settings. And we’ve both certainly read (and enjoyed) plenty. However, there’s a LOT of history to be explored outside of 19th century England and having “unusual historicals” for a TBR prompt gave us the chance to explore. Thankfully, both of our picks were mostly successful. Caz went for a m/m alternate world based on Ancient Greece, and Lynn decided to pick up a Viking novel after going several years without one. What are some of your favorite historical settings?

Sword Dance by A.J. Demas

A.J. Demas’ Sword Dance is the first book in a trilogy set in an imaginary/alternate ancient world that reads rather like Ancient Greece, so I thought it would be a […]

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The Perennial Question of the Bad Boy Hero

By |2023-04-16T16:26:54-04:00April 17th, 2023|Categories: Romance reading|Tags: |

Over the years, we’ve published many a piece about Bad Boys. I wrote one nine years ago about being over bad boys (this proved to be a lie), there’s one inspired by Chris Brown, one in which we swoon over Don Draper, and more. Their appeal and the problems they pose continue to inspire and irk readers.

One of the best columns I found about bad boys was written by Rachel Potter. In it she discusses a book I love–Nancy Werlin’s Impossible–as well as Companions of the Night by Vivian Vande Velde. Rachel ponders what it means to prefer the bad boy over the good. (As someone who finds Angelus more interesting than Angel, I so get that.) She also shares her theory for why love we men that seem invulnerable.

I’ve been floating the notion for awhile that the […]

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Chatting with Maya Rodale about Dangerous Books for Girls v.2

By |2023-04-07T09:38:44-04:00April 10th, 2023|Categories: Authors, Romance reading|Tags: |

In 2015, I interviewed Maya Rodale about her fabulous book, Dangerous Books for Girls. (You can read the interview here.) Maya has updated the book and we sat down (via email) to discuss the changes. Here’s our discussion.

Dabney: You’ve updated this wonderful book. Why?

Maya: So much has happened in the world and in Romancelandia since I published this book in 2015. It feels like a completely different world and I wanted to acknowledge some of those changes and conversations—like #metoo for example. But I didn’t want to update the whole book :) . I felt like it was important to keep it as is, as a record of that moment in time.

Dabney: What have you added?

Maya: I added two new essays. The first is a foreword Are Romance Novels still Dangerous Books? Because in a world of Bridgerton on Netflix and romance novels reviewed in The New York Times and elsewhere, it’s a question worth […]

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Time Travel Careers

By |2023-04-02T15:42:11-04:00April 3rd, 2023|Categories: Romance reading, Travel|Tags: , |

Due to (gestures widely), it’s been a long time since I saw one of my childhood best friends, who is now a dentist. When we recently got together, we somehow started talking about time travel romances, because obviously that’s what you do. I told her I had read a whole lot of romances with time-traveling doctors or nurses or “herbalists,” but never a dentist. (Dentist romance novels are generally thin on the ground – in crafting this tag, I found almost as many dentist villains and exes – and even a serial killer – as I did dentist heroes and heroines. Romancelandia, are you working through some issues??). If she time-traveled, I asked, would she be able to do better than the dentists of yore?

To my surprise, she told me no. Too much of what she could do to help people was dependent on technology. She wouldn’t have x-rays for diagnostics, anesthetics for […]

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Coming Soon – The Books We’re Most Looking Forward to Reading in April 2023

By |2023-03-21T17:10:32-04:00March 22nd, 2023|Categories: Caz AAR, Eagerly Awaiting, Romance reading|Tags: , |

Hopefully the advent of April will bring with it some more Spring-like weather – in my part of the world, at least! – but even if it doesn’t, it DOES bring lots of great books for your consideration!  Below is just a small selection of the new books coming out in April – click on the covers to find more details and remember, purchasing from our Amazon links generates a small amount of commission that goes towards helping AAR stay online.

We’d love to hear from you – which books are you dying to get your hands on, whether on our list or not – so do drop by and join the conversation in the comments.

Releasing week of 4th Apr 2023

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Thinking about Barbara Cartland….

By |2023-03-19T11:44:15-04:00March 20th, 2023|Categories: Romance reading|Tags: |

I was going to write a column today asking what was the first romance you ever read. I, however, have no idea what, specifically, the answer to that question is personally but I’m sure whatever it was, it was written by Barbara Cartland. So I searched for Barbara Cartland on the site and this wonderful piece came up. So, I’m asking today instead about your experience, if any, with Dame Cartland. Did you read her? Love her? Hate her? Think her work is seminal to romance?

 

 

I always brag about reading Georgette Heyer and Laura London at age 13 – and it’s true.  Early on I developed a taste for the good stuff.  What I mention far less often is my undeniable huge (as in gigantic, oversized, and extra large) appetite at that age for Barbara Cartland.

During my teenage years I devoured Dame Barbara.  And, considering her huge backlist, that amounted to one major league crap-load of […]

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TBR Challenge March 2023 – Baggage

By |2023-04-16T15:18:51-04:00March 15th, 2023|Categories: Caz AAR, Lynn Spencer, Romance reading, TBR Challenge|Tags: , , |

When the month’s TBR prompt is “baggage”, you know that you’ll be dealing with emotional stories. While Lynn’s pick is much lighter than Caz’s, both feature characters that need to deal with their pasts in order to have a future together. So, when you think of “baggage,” do you need a real tearjerker of a story or do you think it’s something inherent in most romance conflicts?

Sweet as Pie by Alicia Hunter Pace

Ever have one of those months where the TBR prompt doesn’t match your mood?  Normally  a prompt like “baggage” would have me hauling out quite the angst fest. I’m sure you know what I’m talking about. Deeply emotional stories, often with leads who have to really work for that HEA. Maybe it’s the winter blahs or maybe it’s my dumpster fire of a […]

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