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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And the next AAR Good Time Book Club pick is….

You have voted and picked…

The Raven Prince by Elizabeth Hoyt. AAR reviewed it when it came out in 2007–we gave it an A-. In our review, we wrote:

The Raven Prince is classic romance. It is the type of book that reminds me why I love this genre. Elizabeth Hoyt’s debut novel brings emotion, sensuality, and wit to the forefront, blending it all together with a deft hand. The characters are not new to us: A nobleman with a heart-hardening past and a country widow as poor as a churchmouse. Edward and Anna might not be ground breaking in their roles, but they more than make up for it in personality. A more real cast of characters is hard to find….

It all comes together in a beautiful and sensual story.

[…]

By |2021-03-28T19:07:15-04:00March 29th, 2021|Categories: Romance reading|Tags: , |10 Comments
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UPDATED: Pick the next book club book!

Here’s the final round. Pick one of the four and we’ll read it the first week in May!

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/FinalRoundMay

 

Let’s read together.

Pick your top choices from this list. The book with the most votes will be our shared read. We’ll discuss it the first week in May!

Here’s the link to the survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/GoodTimeBookClub

By |2021-03-27T06:58:42-04:00March 24th, 2021|Categories: AAR book club, Romance reading|Tags: |6 Comments
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Coming Soon – The Romances We’re Most Looking Forward to Reading in April 2021

Looking ahead to April, here’s a selection of the new releases we think are likely to contribute to your reading pleasure over the next few weeks.  Please drop by to tell us what YOU’RE looking forward to reading in April!

Click on the images to find out more!

Releasing 1st Apr

Releasing week of 5th Apr

By |2021-03-21T10:02:18-04:00March 22nd, 2021|Categories: Eagerly Awaiting, Romance reading, Upcoming releases|Tags: , |37 Comments
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March TBR Challenge – Book by a Favourite Author

This month’s TBR prompt was a fun one – “a book by a favorite author.” Sometimes the challenge pulls me outside my comfort zone, but this month we just got to work our way through backlists we’ve already been enjoying. Lynn caught up on a high-action romantic suspense series, while Caz read a lovely contemporary m/m romance. Whose backlist do you want to explore next? […]

By |2021-03-16T16:21:08-04:00March 17th, 2021|Categories: Caz AAR, Lynn Spencer, Romance reading, TBR Challenge|Tags: , , , , |2 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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AAR’s Coverage of Queer Romance is on a roll!

Over the last decade or so, one of the fastest growing sub-genres in the romance market has been queer romance – mostly male/male romance, which is by far the largest and most popular part of that particular sector.  Apart from Harlequin’s Carina Press,  LGBTQ+ romance has mostly been the province of smaller independent publishers such as Riptide, Nine Star, Bold Strokes and the now-defunct Samhain, and of an ever increasing number of authors who self-publish. […]

By |2021-03-02T16:03:15-05:00March 1st, 2021|Categories: Caz AAR, Queer romance, Romance reading|63 Comments
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Coming Soon – The Romances We’re Most Looking Forward to Reading in March 2021

Dare I hope we’re shortly about to head into Spring?  In my part of the world anyway, the weather is, if not precisely warm, then not so cold, and a few early daffodils and primroses are starting to poke their heads above the soil.  That’s not to say winter is over – the British weather is well known for its unpredictability, so now I’ve written that, I’ve probably jinxed it and we’ll be deluged!  But then, sitting here in Lockdown for another few weeks at least, I suppose it doesn’t matter; I can’t go anywhere, so I might as well pick up some new books to read! […]

By |2021-02-21T07:53:41-05:00February 22nd, 2021|Categories: Eagerly Awaiting, Romance reading|Tags: , |34 Comments
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February 2021 TBR Challenge – New-To-You Author

I think folks sometimes underestimate just how huge the romance genre is. I’ve been reviewing romance since I was in my 20s, and I’ve been reading longer than that. Even so, there are still PLENTY of new-to-me authors. Caz tried a new historical, and after several false starts, I made it through a new-to-me romantic suspense novel from 2013. My TBR Challenge pick didn’t knock my socks off, but Caz fared better. What new-to-you authors have you tried lately? […]

By |2021-02-16T18:49:53-05:00February 17th, 2021|Categories: Caz AAR, Lynn Spencer, Romance reading, TBR Challenge|Tags: , , , , , |18 Comments
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