I’ve just finished my annual re-read of Meredith Duran’s debut The Duke of Shadows. The first part is set in India during the ill-fated rebellion of 1857. The rebellion began in Delhi where Emma, the book’s damaged heroine, and Julian, the equally damaged hero, are. Duran shows us Delhi through Emma’s eyes and her descriptions of it are vivid, violent, and, appropriately, that of a stranger trying and failing to understand the real Jewel in the Crown. Duran is, for me, an author whose settings are transportive. Sherry Thomas does that too–it’s one of the reasons I read my favorite of their books again and again. […]

I just finished reading two books, Maria Vale’s Season of the Wolf and Carl Hiaasen’s Squeeze Me. Both made me think about the role of politics in fiction.

In Vale’s The Legend of All Wolves series, the reader sees human incursion into nature and man’s love of sport hunting from the perspective of wolves. Vale doesn’t use phrases like climate change and habitat loss, but her point is inescapable: Humanity is wreaking havoc on the wild. […]

Yesterday was my–gasp–32nd anniversary and to celebrate Dr. Feelgood and I ordered takeout pizza from a place that specializes in Roman inspired thin, crunchy crust pizza. I made us each a ginger martini, and we sat on our patio and talked about A Place to Call Home. It was lovely–any meal I don’t have to make is a good one–but not especially romantic. Which was fine. […]

Earlier this week, we asked you what you’d read and loved this year. Over 50 of you filled out our survey–thank you!–and the results were varied. And while it’s a little early yet to declare the Best of 2020, there are several books that are clearly in contention. […]

When I became the publisher at AAR, the site supported itself by the affiliate dollars it made from Amazon. Back then, Amazon gave us 10% of whatever books our readers bought via click-thrus from the site. Books, mostly paperback, cost somewhere in between seven to twelve dollars on average, so if a reader bought at ten dollar book, we got a dollar. It was glorious. […]

Wednesday’s column featured a 2009 interview with historical romance author Meredith Duran.  Several of you commented how much you miss her work and shared your hopes that she’ll return to writing romance. Duran is not the only beloved romance writer who stopped–at least for now–penning love stories. […]