Are people ruder?

March 7, 2022

I’ve had two friends in the past week say they think people are becoming “more self-absorbed,” “ruder,” and “less empathetic.” A close family member said she feels like she needs…

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the ask@AAR: What’s your favorite love story?

March 4, 2022

Have you seen Spielberg’s West Side Story? It’s good–a fairly faithful remake of the 1961 film–with gorgeous song and dance scenes and a heartbreaking finish.  I grew up with the…

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An apology for today’s the ask@AAR

February 25, 2022

I am so sorry for the phenomenal insensitivity and stupidity of today’s Ask.  I had written it earlier in the week in a poorly thought out effort to connect romance to…

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the ask@AAR: How are you doing?

February 18, 2022

Today I had one of those days that everything seemed harder than it should have. Home Depot, for the third time, didn’t show up to deliver my dishwasher so I…

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Happy Valentine’s Day!

February 14, 2022

It’s Valentine’s Day and tonight Dr. Feelgood and I plan to do…. nothing special. I didn’t get him a card and I bought flowers on Saturday at the Farmer’s Market…

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the ask@AAR: What was your favorite romance published in 2021?

February 11, 2022

We want to hear from you. We’ve shared our top picks for 2021–now it’s your turn. If you’re looking for inspiration, we have two sources for you. Using our new…

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Has anyone watched any of the films nominated for Best Picture?

February 9, 2022

The Oscar 2022 Nominations for Best Picture are: Belfast CODA Don’t Look Up Drive My Car Dune King Richard Licorice Pizza Nightmare Alley The Power of the Dog West Side…

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the ask@AAR: Have you seen our new Power Search?

February 4, 2022

We have a new Power Search. Have you tried it? It’s–in my opinion–amazing. You can find it under the Reviews tab.     For starters, you can now search by…

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the ask@AAR: Should we do the AAR Top 100 in 2023?

January 28, 2022

We’ve done the AAR Top 100 poll regularly since 1998. The last one we did, in 2018, garnered so much fury that I swore we were done. And yet… I’m…

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The Best of 2021 – Dabney’s List

January 26, 2022

According to Goodreads, I read eighty-two books (for the first time – my rereads would have put that number closer to 165) in 2021. I read across genres and glommed…

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the ask@AAR: Is there anything worse than when grownups ghost?

January 21, 2022

I’ll be honest with you–I’m, months later, still pissed at the 32 year old highly decorated military hero in his second year of law school who, after three months of…

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the ask@AAR: What romance does everyone else love that you can’t stand?

January 14, 2022

Hey Dabney, what’s your favorite contemporary romance written in the past five or so years?  Oh, no question, it’s Sally Thorne’s The Hating Game. I ADORE that book. So you…

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