the ask@AAR: Are we done with fairy tales?

May 9, 2025

Fairy 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, 2025

This 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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Love Historical Romance? Write for AAR.

April 30, 2025

If you’ve ever finished a historical romance and found yourself thinking about it for days—the way the heroine claimed her power (for better or for worse), the way another time…

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the ask@AAR: Can We Love Books and Still Be Honest?

April 25, 2025

I review books for a living — which these days makes me something of an anachronism. Reviews, once a way to think out loud about art, are increasingly treated as…

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the ask@AAR: What is your favorite of Madeline Hunter’s many works?

April 18, 2025

With the death of Madeline Hunter, historical romance loses one of its sharpest minds and quietest radicals. Her books were among the first that made me feel like the genre…

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the ask@AAR: What do we think about babies these days?

April 11, 2025

Lately, I’ve been thinking about babies in romance novels. Not as plot twists or conveniently timed disruptions—though a surprise pregnancy can still complicate things in interesting ways—but as a future…

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the ask@AAR: What is the perfect comfort read when you’re grieving?

April 4, 2025

Grief is the price of love. This phrase, popularized by Queen Elizabeth II, is on my mind today. This week, the life of a close friend, an amazing woman, was…

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the ask@AAR: As Fiction Changes, Does Our View of Men Change Too?

March 28, 2025

For many years, one of the ways women encountered men—beyond family, school, and daily life—was through books. The novels most often assigned in schools treated male characters with complexity and…

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Selling Death as Depth

March 24, 2025

I’m watching Season Three of Reacher—my husband, who loves the books, is also suffering through it—and I am furious. Not just at the show, which is violently dull and predictably…

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the ask@AAR: Who’s the greatest romance author of this decade?

March 21, 2025

We’re nearly halfway through the 2020s, and romance has never been bigger—or harder to pin down. It dominates bestseller lists, fuels the publishing industry, and inspires endless debate over what…

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the ask@AAR: Do you want to go back?

March 14, 2025

Tell the truth: Do you wish we could go back? Because lately, it feels like many of us are looking to the past with longing. We pine for yesterday somehow…

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the ask@AAR: What romances help you cope?

March 7, 2025

Sometimes, a book is more than just a book. It’s a refuge.  Lately, almost everyone I know feels anxious and uncertain. Right now, life feels like a pressure cooker—though, let’s…

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