As Covid, more or less, recedes in its every day impact, people are socializing. All over the place. This makes me happy–as an utter extrovert I love get togethers. I’ve so missed gatherings and parties. I was recently at a soiree in my building and we started talking about great parties we’d attended. I confess, when asked what the best party I’d ever been to, I couldn’t come up with an answer.

However, now that I’ve thought about it, I’d say the best party I ever attended was my husband’s 60th birthday party. It had everything–surprise, great guests, a stellar musical performance, and superb libations. We still reminisce about that night.

How about you? What’s the funnest party you’ve ever attended? Why?

What’s the book you’ve read in the last six months that you simply couldn’t put down?

For me, it’s Ninth House. Smart, engrossing and entertaining as hell. What about for you?

I was struck by a recent article prizing, in mysteries, psychologically complex characters over novels that were essentially puzzles… with tricky plots. In suspense reading, I am the reader who enjoys the latter over the former–if I had to pick. I love dense, complex, brilliant plotting in any genre.

Anthony Doerr’s work astounds me–Cloud Cuckoo Land threads three wildly different set storylines, braiding them into a conclusion that seems as marvelous as it is inexorable. Leigh Bardugo’s Six of Crows has a plot both labyrinthian and beguiling–when I read her novels, I am humbled. I can’t imagine being able to pull off the immaculate finales she spins seemingly effortlessly–her talent bleeds off every page. Tana French, well, what is there to do but read and be grateful she writes?

I was talking about this distinction with Dr. Feelgood and he asked what romances have plots that wow. And, I am ashamed to say, I drew a blank. In romance, stories hew […]

I’m on my annual large family vacation–there are three generations here, ages 17 to 85. In a conversation about choices with a few of my nephews, I referenced The Gift of the Magi. They looked at me blankly. I explained–briefly–the plot which I have always found depressing and asked what short stories they liked. Again, they looked rather clueless. Apparently, short stories are not in vogue in American education any more.

This strikes me as a bad plan. Short stories can pack an incredible wallop. Anyone who has ever read The Lottery has 1) never forgotten it and 2) has ever since been more mistrustful of democratic decision making than they might have been. A Good Man is Hard to Find is as chilling a tale about random evil as one could encounter. (My middle son did have to read that in college freshman English and he still shakes his head in wonder when he mentions it.) […]

We’ve reviewed Ms. Higgins 22 times at AAR. She’s received eight DIK grades, twelve B grades, and two C+s. Her last seven books have been women’s fiction rather than straight romances, six of which (the women’s fiction) have gotten As. Higgins is famous in Romancelandia for being the nicest woman you’ve ever met (Jenny Holiday gives her a run for her money but Higgins has been around a lot longer.

Higgins sold her first book to Harlequin in 2005. She says she was trying to figure out a way to be both a stay at home mom and contribute to her family finances. So she thought she could write a romance novel and ended up publishing her first novel, Fools Rush In. It was a success and since then she’s sold millions of books.

Higgins was one of the first contemporary romance writers I read–my adult foray into romance was initially all historical. I loved The Next Best Thing, […]