AAR published its first pages in 1996, started by the brilliant Laurie Gold. Many of the early pages–although not the reviews–are lost due to incompatible software, cost, and error.
We can still, however, see some of those pages at the Wayback Machine. The earliest pages they have there of AAR are from May 1998. Even then, especially then, AAR was awesome.
Take a look. The links, in general, work!
https://web.archive.org/web/19980529091225/http://www.likesbooks.com/
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Speaking of blasts from the past, one thing I miss is the annual Cover Cafe contest. I picked up at least two books I remember (Hazard and Black Ice) because their covers were featured there, and the comments for the worst cover always made me laugh.
I loved that feature too. AAR has always had a good sense of humor!
I remember those early days of the Internet! I would wait (impatiently) while my modem dialed in so I could read the latest posts on AAR/Laurie Likes Books. I didn’t have any friends back then who read romance novels so it was a thrill to find a whole romance novel-loving community. What I really appreciated was that the books were reviewed with a critical eye, unlike certain publications at the time which gushed equally about every book. I also liked the articles discussing various topics/themes in romance novels and that the site was willing to poke some gentle fun at the genre (such as the Purple Prose Parody). I actually never made a post myself over all the years that I followed the site until the coronavirus pandemic hit. I think the isolation that event caused prompted me to finally put myself out there and I am happy I did. Big props to creator Laurie Gold and thanks to everyone who has helped keep AAR going over the years!
Ditto, ditto, ditto! Exactly, Manjari. Oh, yes, the Purple Prose Parody – a lovely laugh during a lunch hour. I discovered AAR in 1999 and loved it straight away. Interesting to see that the PC debate was right there in the beginning.
I’m glad you decided to post comments! I enjoy reading your input.
Thanks for the support. I enjoy your posts too!
“What I really appreciated was that the books were reviewed with a critical eye, unlike certain publications at the time which gushed equally about every book.”
This is how I first started reading romances. I never picked one up before I discovered this site and went through all the F and D reviews here, because so many of them were hilarious. Then I didn’t have anything else here to read, so I started on the A reviews, and soon I was thinking that some of these DIK books sounded really good, so I read those books. The rest, as they say, was history.
I started reading romances in junior high in the 1980s and have loved them ever since but I never had the joy of being part of a romance reading community until AAR.
We love that you are here!
I found AAR around 2010, I think, and one of my favorite columns was Speaking of Audiobooks. I guess it makes sense since I’ve always enjoyed audiobooks and started reviewing for the SOA column and Audiogals around that time. In fact, I think I might have found AAR when Lea Hensley asked me to review for SOA. I wish we had a way to access some of those old SOA pages.
Like Manjari, I didn’t comment much on AAR until the pandemic lockdown when I was craving interaction. My very introverted family was mostly happy to sit at their computers all day. 🙂
We are very unprepared for the coming tide of vanished websites and info. The WayBack Machine is great but it just gives a snapshot of a site.
This article from the Atlantic blows my mind and worries me.
Look at all the e-mags and blogs whose work is just… gone.
I remember talking to Pamela Morsi about a wonderful essay she had written for her website that disappeared. Something happened that caused the site to crash, and not everything was able to be retrieved. She moved to a different platform, software, and server but the essay talking about what led her to write the kind of books she wrote was forever gone. 🙁 It is frightening to think about how that happens.
It’s more that whole websites vanish. Look at RT. All that content is gone.
Yes, Heroes and Heartbreakers and HEA are both completely gone, like they never existed. If I remember right, there was another site, The Romance Reader (?) and that one is gone too. But weirdly enough I think of that essay more than the sites. It was just really good 🙂
It’s something I worry about for AAR. There’s no such thing as a free site and I worry, down the road, about making sure AAR stays on line no matter who is in charge or what Amazon does.
I can understand that being a concern. It’s a shame that time (and lack of funding) can so easily take away the things we love.
Memories of lurking here in my late teens and early 20s!
Been a reader of Laurie Likes Books/likesbooks/Allaboutromance since the late 90s. It’s still my favorite place to talk books. I published my first review in April of 2010, although before that, I did a guest blog. Lots of memories with the old website 🙂
That’s impressive reviewer longevity!
Thanks, it’s been fun!