the ask@AAR: What’s your reading goal(s) for 2022?

Happy New Year!

Given that I’ve never been able to keep a New Year’s resolution going for a whole year, I’ve given them up. Instead, I’ve become goal oriented. It’s a lot easier.

In 2022, my biggest goal is to care less about politics–believe me, in my case that’s a good thing–and to do more to create community in my neighborhood. My reading goal is to read every novel each AAR staff member picks as her best book of 2021. I always love this list. (And this one too–it’s all the books we chose as Best of 2021 picks!) […]

By Dabney Grinnan|2021-12-31T08:30:04-05:00December 31st, 2021|Categories: the ask @AAR|Tags: Best of, Best of 2020, Best of 2021, the ask@AAR|37 Comments

Here are the books you picked as the Best of 2020!

Here are the books readers picked as the ten best books of 2020. Ms. Ryan’s Queen Move came in at the top–the rest of the list is in no particular order. All but one of the nominated romances received a DIK at AAR and the one that didn’t got a B+.

Thank you to all who voted. And a big congratulations to these authors! […]

By Dabney Grinnan|2022-01-20T12:26:33-05:00February 8th, 2021|Categories: Best of 2020|Tags: Best of, Best of 2020|12 Comments

And the Winner of the AAR Best Book of 2020 Poll Is….

After three rounds and thousands of votes, the winner (by a landslide) is:

Queen Move by Kennedy Ryan

We are not surprised. The book got a glowing review here and our readers have raved about on the site. Congratulations, Ms. Ryan!

Tomorrow we will share the list of the other nine books that round out the top ten. It’s fabulous.

By Dabney Grinnan|2021-02-07T11:47:25-05:00February 7th, 2021|Categories: Best of 2020, Best of List, Best of Romance|Tags: AoC, Best of 2020, Kennedy Ryan, PoC|15 Comments

Have you read these books? Here are some Black authored romances we loved in 2020.

It’s Black History Month and we thought we’d celebrate by publishing some of the best books by Black authors we read last year. All of these received DIK grades from AAR and all are worth your time.

Enjoy! […]

By Dabney Grinnan|2021-02-02T12:13:41-05:00February 2nd, 2021|Categories: Best of 2020|Tags: AoC, Best of 2020, black authors, Black History Month|15 Comments

AAR Readers Pick the Best Book of 2020

Over 1100 votes later, AAR readers have picked eleven books to compete for the Best Book of 2020. (I’d hoped for ten, but two garnered the same number of votes.) It’s a great list. All but one of the nominated romances received a DIK at AAR and the one that didn’t got a B+. This list pulls from several genres and represents authors new and old.

Now it’s time to pick just one. […]

By Dabney Grinnan|2021-01-28T16:09:06-05:00January 27th, 2021|Categories: Best of 2020, Best of List, Best of Romance, Romance reading|Tags: Best of 2020|8 Comments

The Best Book of 2020? The readers decide!

Over the past year, we’ve reviewed and discussed hundreds of books published this year, some of which we loved. We’ve shared with you our reviewers’ Best of 2020 lists–the AAR staff picked 76 books they thought deserved that moniker. (You can find them all here.) […]

By Dabney Grinnan|2021-01-16T08:40:23-05:00January 13th, 2021|Categories: Best of 2020, Polls|Tags: aar annual poll, Best of 2020|19 Comments

The Best Book of 2020: AAR Staff Picks

While the AAR staff each shares a list of books published last year they love, every year they are asked to come up with their FAVORITE read. This year, after being informed that “No, you cannot pick an author or a series,” most of our reviewers did indeed pick just one. Here are their choices. Enjoy! […]

By Caz Owens|2021-01-11T05:34:40-05:00January 11th, 2021|Categories: Best of 2020, Best of List, Romance reading|Tags: Best of 2020|19 Comments

The Best of 2020 – Dabney’s list

Here, in no particular order, are the books I enjoyed the most this year.

The Searcher by Tana French

I’ve been stanning Tana French since reading her first book, In the Woods, although her last, The Witch Elm, wasn’t to my taste. I was worried that I might not love The Searcher either given that it too is apart from her wildly brilliant Dublin Murder Squad books. My fear was for naught. The Searcher is a meditative tale about Cal Hooper, an American cop who impulsively retires to a small Irish village and becomes entangled in a missing person case. French’s writing has never been better–even the rooks who haunt Cal’s yard have more personality than the leads of many a lesser book. The plot is a slow burn tour de force and you’ll ponder this story’s resolution […]

By Dabney Grinnan|2021-01-08T16:10:35-05:00January 7th, 2021|Categories: Best of 2020, Best of List, Dabney AAR|Tags: Best of 2020|20 Comments

The Best of 2020 – Lisa’s List

This has been a Year to Read, and spending a lot of time stuck in the house, making minimal contact with the outside world, has resulted in a bumper crop of Good Books popping into my hand. Here, in no particular order, are my favorite reads of 2020. […]

By Caz Owens|2021-01-05T07:24:01-05:00January 5th, 2021|Categories: Best of 2020, Best of List, Lisa F|Tags: Best of 2020|13 Comments

The Best of 2020 – Shannon’s List

2020 was a strange year for so many of us, and I’m beyond grateful for all the phenomenal books that helped me make it through the chaos. Below, I’m highlighting a few of my favorites in no particular order.

The Boyfriend Project by Farrah Rochon

This was an utter delight from start to finish. I honestly don’t know if I loved the romance or the strong female friendships more. It was one of those books I just sort of fell into, and I would have read it in a single sitting if I could have.

Buy it at: Amazon, Audible, or your local independent bookstore

By Shannon Dyer|2020-12-31T10:04:15-05:00January 3rd, 2021|Categories: Best of 2020, Best of List, Romance reading, Shannon AAR|Tags: Best of 2020|5 Comments