Essays & Musings
What We’ve Been Thinking About
Thoughts on books, reading, culture, and the literary life.
the ask@AAR: What’s your favorite Marriage of Convenience romance?
July 7, 2023One of my very favorite tropes is the marriage of convenience love story. It’s a common one in romance, perhaps more so in historicals–we have 85 books tagged as such…
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the ask@AAR: What are the best romances set in Ireland and Scotland?
June 30, 2023This September, I will be traveling for the first time to Ireland and Scotland. And while I am extremely anxious about having to drive there–it’s the wrong side of the…
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the ask@AAR: What love stories do fertility, abortion, and adoption well?
June 23, 2023Babies and the decision to have or not to have them are part of every human’s life in some way. But in romance, the way having children or not having…
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What are you excited about watching this summer?
June 19, 2023It’s summertime and the watching is… what? It used to be that there was nothing on in the summer. Streaming has changed all that. (Although, as far as I’m concerned,…
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the ask@AAR: Does anyone write multiple books a year well?
June 16, 2023In a comment she wrote on my recent review of Sarina Bowen’s Good As Gold, Caroline wrote: When I look at Bowen’s output, it doesn’t surprise me that the quality…
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the ask@AAR: Read any glorious books lately?
June 9, 2023I have been on a truly splendiferous reading run lately. In the past three months, I have read eight books I’ve given flat out As to–or five stars on Goodreads–and…
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Kristan Higgins talks about adoption, family, and why romance and women’s fiction aren’t that different
June 6, 2023Dabney: Kristan, thank you so much for talking to me. I’ve loved so many of your books–thank you for all the joy you put into the world! One of your…
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the ask@AAR: If you could pick five romance novels could change haters’ minds about romance, what would they be?
June 2, 2023I’ve been asked, by friend who runs a few newspapers, to write a column about what are five romances that would change haters’ opinions about the genre. Whew. Tough gig….
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An interview with Erin Langston
May 29, 2023I loved Langston’s novel, Forever Your Rogue. After reading it, I really wanted to know HOW she’d written this superb historical novel. I’m thrilled she agreed to answer my questions….
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the ask@AAR: What’s the point of an honest book review?
May 26, 2023I had a disheartening experience this week. There’s an author AAR has reviewed 13 times in the past six years. In that time, we’ve given her work three As, three…
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the ask@AAR: What are some of your favorite romances featuring artists?
May 19, 2023It feels to me as though I’ve read many a romance where the lead or leads are writers or musicians but nowhere nearly as many featuring heroes and heroines who…
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the ask@AAR: What are your stories about the kindness of others?
May 12, 2023When I think of Tennessee Williams, I think of A Streetcar Named Desire (the movie) and, in my head, I hear Vivian Leigh saying, “I have always depended on the…
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