Setting Smackdown: Georgian Vs. Victorian

By |2022-08-15T17:49:21-04:00August 15th, 2022|Categories: Caroline AAR, Historicals, Polls, Romance reading|Tags: , , , |

If you’ve been in Romancelandia for longer than twenty minutes, you have probably noticed that the Regency reigns supreme when it comes to historicals. (Yes, for the purposes of romance settings, we’ll consider “long Regency” books to be Regency – that is, books set from around 1795 to the coronation of Victoria in 1837, despite the actual Regency-regency only lasting from 1811-1820). It’s the go-to era for a historical setting, giving us the Ton, Almack’s, the empire waisted gown, the Napoleonic wars, Gunter’s frozen ices licked in slow motion by Regé-Jean Page in Bridgerton…

Bridgerton Rege Jean Page GIF

Where was I, again?

Right. The Regency rules. But what is our SECOND favorite UK historical setting?

Time for a SETTING SMACKDOWN!

Don’t let the pastels fool you – these Neoclassical legends are gladiators through and through! IN THE BLUE CORNER, wearing powdered wigs and panniers, weighing […]

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Avon Wants a Piece of Your Mind…

By |2017-05-24T17:30:32-04:00January 17th, 2012|Categories: AAR Blythe, Polls, Publishing, Reading, Romance reading|Tags: , |

Have you ever wanted to give a publisher a piece of your mind? Well, Avon is asking for one. They have a fairly extensive survey for romance readers on facebook. They want to know how you read, how much you read, whether you listen to audiobooks, where you get your book recommendations, which websites you like (you know, like ours)…

There is a place to comment at the end with any other feedback you’d like to give. Since they really want to know what you think, you might as well tell them! You can find the survey here.

– Blythe Barnhill

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Favorite Romance Audiobooks Poll

By |2017-06-23T08:31:28-04:00June 14th, 2011|Categories: audio books, Lea Hensley, Polls|Tags: , , , |

Polling stationThe time has finally come for our first annual Favorite Romance Audiobooks Poll and it’s one I’ve been waiting for with great anticipation.  When I first envisioned this poll two years ago in the first days of our Speaking of Audiobooks column, I merely thought of it as a comprehensive list of our favorite romance audiobooks, narrators, and audio authors for our own reference as listeners.  Now I believe it has a second purpose as well.  As a group we can proclaim to the audiobook industry the types of romance audiobooks we prefer and what we want to see in the future.

The poll is much more than simply voting for your favorite audiobook (a difficult task for most) and, staying true to AAR’s style of polling, we have multiple favorite categories.  And since we know narrators “make or break an audiobook,” seven of […]

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Announcing….the 2010 Top 100 Romances Poll Results!

By |2017-06-23T08:31:41-04:00December 6th, 2010|Categories: All About Romance, Polls|Tags: , |

drumrollThe weekend may be over, but today is a special Monday. After many hours of reviewing ballots, tabulating results, and coding, drumroll please…

The Top 100 Poll results are up! Since our pollsters receive hundreds of ballots and have to rank many, many books, this is a huge undertaking and I’ve been excited to see what the top books will be. We last did the poll in 2007, and not only are there new romance readers out there, but there have been a lot of new books since then! So, did Lord of Scoundrels stay in the top spot or did you readers vote something else into #1? And which post-2007 release not only made the list, but made it into the top 10? Go check it out!

Many thanks to our polling team – LinnieGayl Kimmel, Lee Brewer, and Cindy Smith – for their hours of work reviewing […]

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What About Settings?

By |2017-05-24T17:20:14-04:00September 2nd, 2010|Categories: Lynn AAR|Tags: , , |

Okay, I’ll admit to being guilty of this, too. Like many readers I know, I tend to talk about settings in terms of what I don’t want to see or what I am tired of seeing. However, I’m curious now to see what people DO want to read. From time to time, we talk historical settings and some folks defend their love of the Regency while some of us wish we could have opportunities to see a little more of the world.

The little poll below is by no means a giant comprehensive list of settings, but there are some ideas to get you started. Just vote and tell us what settings interest you most, and if what you most want to read isn’t on there, comment and tell us what it is. Chances are someone else out there wants to read it, too!

[…]

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Correcting Author Mistakes

By |2017-06-23T08:31:49-04:00July 8th, 2010|Categories: Authors, Katie AAR, Reading|Tags: , |

A few days ago I was trolling the interwebs looking for any tidbits about Rachel Gibson’s next book. (Yes, I know her last book only came out 2 months ago, but I’m impatient. Sue me.) So anyway, I visited her blog and happened upon a post where she defends herself, in general terms, against reader criticism of so-called mistakes she’s made in her hockey romances. Apparently she’s received a number of reader letters/emails regarding the subject.

Now, throughout the years I’ve read comments by readers in two camps: those who love her books because she gets the sport “right,” and those who’ve sworn off her books because she gets it “wrong.” I myself am in neither camp because although I love reading hockey romances, I haven’t the first clue about the sport itself. But her article got me wondering about how often readers write to an author to correct a real or perceived mistake.

Personally, I can recall […]

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The AAR Top 100 Poll: October Is Just Around the Corner

By |2017-06-23T08:31:53-04:00May 12th, 2010|Categories: All About Romance, LinnieGayl AAR, Polls, Reading, Romance reading|Tags: , , |

voting_m-300x225Get ready…it’s coming!  Yes, we’re going to be updating the All About Romance Top 100 Romances Poll this coming October.  To refresh your memory, here are the reigning Top 100.

It’s been three years since we last polled for your top 100 romances in October  2007, and it’s time for an update. So, from October 1 through October 31, 2010, we’ll be polling for your favorite romances.

Why are we giving you so much warning? Well honestly, it takes most people a fair amount of time to prepare their ballots. While we had a number of ballots on the first few days of voting back in 2007, we were literally swamped with ballots in the last few days.

[…]

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Who's Your Favorite Vampire?

By |2017-06-23T08:32:04-04:00November 19th, 2009|Categories: Lynn AAR, Polls|Tags: , , |

vampirekiss With the premiere of New Moon looming, suddenly everyone’s talking about vampires. The diehard Twilight fans I know never entirely stop talking about it, but the chatter grows ever louder. I’ve read all the books and I suspect I’ll end up seeing all the movies, but there is so much more to read once you’ve run through Bella and Edward (and Jacob)’s story. If you’re hooked on vampires, there are a ton of good books out there.

[…]

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A Pollster’s Dilemma

By |2017-06-23T08:32:06-04:00October 20th, 2009|Categories: Heroines, LinnieGayl AAR, Polls|Tags: |

0808-0712-3117-5831Let me start by saying I love being an AAR pollster. From a personal standpoint, I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know, and become friends with, Lee and Cindy, my wonderful fellow pollsters. From a romance-reading perspective, I get to see the characters and books that AAR’s readers like. After all, I don’t see just the results posted on AAR, I know which books land in 20th, 50th, and 100th place in top ten polls. Sadly, I also know which characters will receive no votes other than my own; ah, there’s my dilemma.

When I first volunteered to be a pollster, I made certain that we would be allowed to vote since the polls were one of my favorite parts of AAR from the beginning. Once assured that I could still vote, I hopped onboard.

As a pollster, I know weeks in advance what our polling schedule looks like. Initially, […]

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Vote for the Next AAR Book Club Selection (Poll Closed)

By |2017-06-23T08:32:07-04:00October 2nd, 2009|Categories: Polls|Tags: , |

First of all, the easy part:  Thanks to everyone who suggested books to be considered.  Now, it gets a bit more complicated.

I wanted to stick with in print contemporaries and romantic suspense.  I also wanted to hold over three titles from the last poll.  It also seemed to be fair to limit the selection to just one choice on the list from each author.

Another note: Books by Nora Roberts were suggested multiple times, but there was no consistency in titles put forward.  So, I’m going to table the author for now and see what happens in our next book club poll.  Hey, I know, there’s an impressive backlist there and choosing just one isn’t easy.

So, with the understanding that creating this poll is as much art as it is hard math, here are the books up for your consideration for the next AAR Book Club.  I think we’ve got a nice variety of choices here so I hope you’ll […]

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