Essays & Musings
What We’ve Been Thinking About
Thoughts on books, reading, culture, and the literary life.
Mercy Brown Talks about Boys, Bands, and Dreaming Big
January 14, 2016Mercy Brown’s debut novel Loud Is How I Love You comes out January 19th. It’s a New Adult romance set in the 1990’s New Jersey indie music scene. Dabney gave it a…
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The Best of 2015: Caz’s List
January 13, 2016I both love and hate these sorts of round-ups. On the one hand, I like to look back over my reading year and see what I’ve enjoyed (and try to…
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Labyrinth: A David Bowie Tribute by Carrie Lofty
January 11, 2016With David Bowie’s passing, I noticed on Facebook that many of my female contemporaries mourned the loss of The Goblin King. Bowie reinvented himself dozens of times, from Ziggy Stardust…
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The Best of 2015: Ulysses’s List
January 11, 2016Cold Fusion by Harper Fox Northanger Abbey meets Skyfall? If you don’t get the references, go look them up. Kier Mallory returns in deep disgrace to his isolated Scottish highland…
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The Best of 2015: Audiobooks We Loved
January 9, 2016Haley’s Top Listens in 2015 Why Not Me? By Mindy Kaling I’m a fan of Mindy Kaling and have been since she was on The Office. While I didn’t like…
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Michelle Diener’s Dark Deeds: A Pandora’s Box
January 8, 2016Today, Maggie and Alexandra tackle the second book in the Class 5 Series by Michelle Diener, Dark Deeds. The first book in the series, Dark Horse, made both of their Top Ten…
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The Best of 2015: Maggie’s List
January 6, 2016Last year I defined a DIK as “a book that delights me, with characters I at least like (but normally, I love them) and a romance that leaves my heart…
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Writing Communities: A Guest Post and a Giveaway from Jennifer Lohmann
January 4, 2016One of the things I like in a good contemporary romance is how real the characters feel. In a contemporary, the setting is familiar and the technology and manners and…
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A Guest Post and a Giveaway from Rose Lerner
January 1, 2016[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][trigger warning: discussion of sexual harassment/assault] Happy…
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AAR Picks the Best of 2015
December 30, 2015Each year, we ask the AAR staff to pick the best romances published this year. This year, we’ve included picks from some of our favorite guest reviewers as well. Here are the…
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Jane Ashford: Five Reasons to Love My Latest Hero (and a Giveaway!)
December 28, 2015He cares about other people. He goes out of his way to help his brothers when they turn to him for aid with dilemmas big and small. Nathaniel likes making…
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Lady Breakwynd’s Boxing Day Bulletin: A Truely Tropeful Holiday Missive
December 26, 2015‘Tis been quite a year for us here in our small town of Sandy Balls. And to think, a year ago, I despaired of my daughters Arabella and Lavinia finding…
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