Essays & Musings
What We’ve Been Thinking About
Thoughts on books, reading, culture, and the literary life.
Casablanca: Play it again
June 25, 2025I recently watched Casablanca with my mother and my daughter—three generations of women. I’d seen it before, decades ago. It’s one of my mother’s favorites and my daughter–who picked it–had…
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the ask@AAR: Wanna know what I think?
June 20, 2025Thank you to everyone who filled out our survey. Sixty readers responded. That number represents a small portion of AAR’s audience, but the feedback was thoughtful, detailed, and deeply engaged….
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the ask@AAR: Do you believe in love at first sight?
June 13, 2025I think I do. It’s not the most common beginning to a love story, but I have seen it happen. And when it does, it deserves to be taken seriously….
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What have been your best reads thus far this year?
June 10, 2025So far, 2025 has delivered the kind of reading year that makes me grateful to be a reader. I’ve fallen for romances, gotten deliciously tangled in mysteries, and savored short…
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the ask@AAR: What did you tell us?
June 6, 2025We asked readers to take a short survey about what they read, what they want, and how they use All About Romance. Sixty people responded. The goal was simple: to…
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the ask@AAR: Is Romance Thriving in Kindle Unlimited—or Just Getting Used?
May 30, 2025Romance powers Kindle Unlimited. The genre fills the platform’s most-read lists and delivers the kind of constant engagement that makes KU financially viable. At a glance, that dominance looks like…
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The Narrowing of the HEA
May 27, 2025Last year, romance sold nearly 39 million print books in the U.S.—a 52% jump from the year before. The genre brought in $1.44 billion and made up almost a quarter…
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the ask@AAR: What can we do better?
May 23, 2025At All About Romance, we’ve built our reputation on honest, thoughtful engagement with the genre, but that only matters if we’re meeting the needs of the people who come here….
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the ask@AAR: The Ask@AAR: From Soft to Savage—What’s Hot in Heroes Now?
May 16, 2025Romance heroes used to smolder. Now, it feels as though half of them want to hold your purse while you process your feelings, and the other half want to handcuff…
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Maya Rodale talks about Dangerous Books for Girls
May 13, 2025This book is on sale right now to celebrate its tenth anniversary. (This piece was originally published on June 15, 2015.) I interviewed Maya again, in 2023, when she put…
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the ask@AAR: Are we done with fairy tales?
May 9, 2025Fairy tales, like myths, have always been used to teach us how to behave. Snow White is rewarded for her beauty and domesticity. Sleeping Beauty is punished for disobedience, then…
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the ask@AAR: What do we–currently–think about dual timeline novels?
May 2, 2025This week, my book club met to discuss The Lost Apothecary. Almost all found it deeply annoying. The past timeline—murder, poison, betrayal—had some narrative pull. But the present-day plot never…
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