Essays & Musings
What We’ve Been Thinking About
Thoughts on books, reading, culture, and the literary life.
Jill Sorenson Interviews Victoria Dahl: A Guest Post
September 2, 2015Today we’ve got an author to author interview. Jill Sorenson interviews Victoria Dahl. Thanks, ladies! Sorenson: Hey Victoria! Or should I call you Vicki? Thanks so much for taking the…
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Jessica Trent: Winsome or Loathsome?
August 30, 2015Welcome back to Winsome or Loathsome, the column in which AAR staffers lobby for and against controversial heroines. Today’s heroine is the leading lady of Loretta Chase’s Lord of Scoundrels,…
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What Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander Taught Me About Writing Sex Scenes: A Guest Post by Heather Anastasiu
August 28, 2015I’m a romance reader (and writer) who loves books of all levels of heat. If it’s got a romance tag on it, I’ll read it, everything from Christian fiction to intense BDSM erotica….
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An Interview (and Giveaway) with Kathleen Gilles Seidel
August 25, 2015I’m a huge fan of Kathleen Gilles Seidel. Back when we did our reviewer Top Ten posts, I chose her Again as my top romance novel of all time, and…
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Writing Across Cultures: Right or Wrong?
August 23, 2015Earlier this month I was chided on Twitter for saying this: I’m 70% through A Bollywood Bride by @Sonali_Dev. I now feel bereft that I’ve never been to an Indian wedding….
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Julia Quinn: The #RWA15 Interview
August 21, 2015My final RWA interview was with Julia Quinn. Ms. Quinn was beyond lovely to take the time to talk to me. She’d just finished giving the Keynote address at the…
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Diversity in Romance: A Guest Post by Audra North
August 16, 2015I’m guest posting today about diversity in romance, with a focus on race and ethnicity, using the responses from a small, informal survey I conducted last month. The discussion about…
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Eva Leigh/Zoë Archer: The #RWA15 Interview
August 14, 2015I’m impressed by authors who write as more than one persona. To a non-writer like me, managing to come up with one distinctive fictional voice is cool. Creating multiple successful writing…
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Annual Poll Focus: Best Historical Romance NOT set in the U.K.
August 13, 2015Last month we published the first of a series of posts leading up to AAR’s Annual Reader Poll for the best of romance published for the first time in 2015….
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Queer Regency romance: a chat with Ava March and KJ Charles
August 11, 2015Today’s post is by queer Regency romance authors KJ Charles and Ava March. Ms. Charles’s latest book, A Fashionable Indulgence, is a DIK at AAR (review here). Ms. March’s The…
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Reflections on Reviewing Graphic Novels
August 6, 2015If I were more organized, I’d have written a graphic novel retrospective at the one-year anniversary. But I’m not, and I didn’t, so here it is now: reflections on nearly…
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Julie Anne Long: The #RWA15 Interview
August 5, 2015Do you know what you’ll be doing on September 29th come the fall? I do. I’ll be reading–finally–Julie Anne Long’s The Legend of Lyon Redmond. I, and historical romance readers…
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