Essays & Musings

What We’ve Been Thinking About

Thoughts on books, reading, culture, and the literary life.

The Wayback on Wednesday: An Interview with Meredith Duran

The Wayback on Wednesday: An Interview with Meredith Duran

July 29, 2020

published on June 9th, 2009 Three of AAR’s publishers are buzzing – literally – about Bound by Your Touch, Meredith Duran’s new historical novel to be released at the end…

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What are you reading?

What are you reading?

July 27, 2020

Where I live, in North Carolina, it’s been HOT. Normally this time of year, we’d be headed to the mountains for a week of cooler vacation but–thank you COVID–not this…

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the ask @AAR: What’s your favorite poem?

the ask @AAR: What’s your favorite poem?

July 24, 2020

I’ve always loved poetry and since Covid hit, on my Facebook page, I’ve posted #APoemADay. I’ve shared poems from across the centuries, written by men and women from many nations,…

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Milla Vane talks gods, maps, and dragons! (Plus, a giveaway!)

Milla Vane talks gods, maps, and dragons! (Plus, a giveaway!)

July 20, 2020

We so enjoyed our interview with Milla Vane about A Heart of Blood and Ashes, Book One in her A Gathering of Dragons series, that we wanted to talk with…

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the ask@AAR: What’s the funniest romance you’ve ever read?

the ask@AAR: What’s the funniest romance you’ve ever read?

July 17, 2020

I’ve spent the past two weeks first moving and then unpacking and unpacking and unpacking. I have the bandwidth of a plinth and the patience of a nap-deprived toddler. I’d…

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Music Sets the Tone: A Guest Post by Kim Sakwa

Music Sets the Tone: A Guest Post by Kim Sakwa

July 13, 2020

Music is one of the most important elements in my writing process. And the music that inspires the stories of my characters differs vastly from one book to the next….

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the ask@AAR: What’s your favorite road trip/travel romance?

the ask@AAR: What’s your favorite road trip/travel romance?

July 10, 2020

My husband doesn’t want to fly until there’s a vaccine for COVID and so the trips we usually take in the summer are cancelled. We love our beautiful little town…

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The Wayback on Wednesday: Chatting with Sherry Thomas and Joanna Bourne

The Wayback on Wednesday: Chatting with Sherry Thomas and Joanna Bourne

July 8, 2020

Joanna Bourne & Sherry Thomas published on June 26, 2008   With The Spymaster’s Lady and Private Arrangements these new authors exploded (almost literally considering the volume of the online…

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WHY ROMANCE? A guest post by Alexandra Y. Caluen

WHY ROMANCE? A guest post by Alexandra Y. Caluen

July 6, 2020

Romance novels, and romance writers, still get a lot of no respect. Why would any self-respecting, trained historian with a fairly intellectual job choose to write romance, knowing that a lot…

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the ask@ARR: How do you feel about updated romances?

the ask@ARR: How do you feel about updated romances?

July 3, 2020

Lisa Kleypas has released a revised and updated audio edition of Mine Til Midnight originally published in 2007. The book is the first in her Hathaways series. Here is the…

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the Wayback on Wednesday: The Allure of the Medieval Romance by Shana Abe

the Wayback on Wednesday: The Allure of the Medieval Romance by Shana Abe

July 1, 2020

published sometime in 2003 I must confess that as a child I never really dreamed about being a princess, a damsel in distress, a beautiful medieval lady rescued by her…

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the ask@AAR: What should AAR’s sensuality ratings look like in 2020?

the ask@AAR: What should AAR’s sensuality ratings look like in 2020?

June 26, 2020

For as long as AAR’s been reviewing, we’ve rated romances for how spicy/sexy/hot or not a love story is. (Our current sensuality ratings may be found here.) Currently, our standards…

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What We’ve Been Thinking About

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