What We’ve Been Thinking About

Essays & Musings

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

The Best of 2015: Lee’s List

January 25, 2016

I chose The Legend of Lyon Redmond by Julie Anne Long. (Our DIK review is here.) as my favorite book of the year. Here are the rest of my favorites…

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The Best of 2015: Alexandra’s List

January 22, 2016

When I chose Dark Horse by Michelle Diener as my favorite romance of 2015, I mentioned that I often have trouble thinking back to books I loved early in the year when…

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The Best of 2015: B.J.’s List

January 21, 2016

A DIK for me is a novel that captures me to the detriment of real life events. It will have characters I am intrigued by and like. The romance will be…

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The AAR Annual Readers’ Poll

January 18, 2016

The annual AAR Reader Poll is open! We’re pleased to announce, for the 20th year in a row, the AAR Annual Reader Poll is now open! We hope you will…

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Mercy Brown Talks about Boys, Bands, and Dreaming Big

January 14, 2016

Mercy 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, 2016

I 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, 2016

With 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, 2016

Cold 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, 2016

Haley’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, 2016

Today, 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, 2016

Last 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, 2016

One 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…