Essays & Musings
What We’ve Been Thinking About
Thoughts on books, reading, culture, and the literary life.
the ask@AAR: What percent of your romance reading is re-reading?
September 6, 2024I’m always slightly irked at the number of books Goodreads says I’ve read each year. In 2024, the app says, I’ve read 52 books but that’s incorrect. I’m sure I’ve…
Read Article
the ask@AAR: Do you need your characters to be likeable?
August 30, 2024I’ve read several book reviews lately praising the unlikable lead (which is not the same as flawed). The implication in these reviews is that the traits that make someone likeable…
Read Article
the ask@AAR: How have your reading habits changed over the past decade?
August 23, 2024Much to my amazement, I now regularly read non-fiction. (I blame Barbara Tuchman.) After decades of struggling to finish fat, detailed non-fictional works, I find, at my nightly reading, I’m…
Read Article
the ask@AAR: Is 2024 the year for romance at the movies?
August 16, 2024Love is everywhere this year… at least at the movies, both theatrical and streamed. Everyone is making them, watching them, and showing them! I, of course, think this is the…
Read Article
the ask@AAR: How do you feel about angst in romance?
August 9, 2024I confess I struggle to find a balance of angst in my romance reading. Though I adore Meredith Duran, I did not enjoy her last published romance, The Sins of…
Read Article
the ask@AAR: What do you think is sexy in a hero?
August 2, 2024I just watched the Netflix romcom The Family Affair. If you haven’t seen it, it’s fun. But I found myself distracted in the movie by Nicole Kidman’s weird face and,…
Read Article
the ask@AAR: What genre do you read the most?
July 26, 2024Romantasy is everywhere these days. It is the genre in romance that, currently, dominates much of the best-seller list and the conversation around romance. (Honestly, the fact that Sarah Maas’…
Read Article
the ask@AAR: What’s the best romance of the year thus far?
July 19, 2024We’re more than halfway through 2024–where DOES the time go? Thus far, AAR reviewers have designated 59 books (out of 178 reviewed) as DIKs. Two have received the rare grade…
Read Article
the ask@AAR: What’s the greatest sports romance/series in romance?
July 12, 2024It may surprise you to learn there are eight sports romances on the current (2018) AAR Top 100 List. Five are from Susan Elizabeth Phillips’ Chicago Stars series: Match Me…
Read Article
the ask@AAR: Have conversations at AAR changed over time?
July 5, 2024Last week’s ask column irked many. One reader emailed me to tell me I was off base in my comments, another cancelled her financial support of AAR, and several others…
Read Article
the ask@AAR: Do authors owe readers a safe space?
June 28, 2024Right now, Dennis Lehane’s incredible Small Mercies is on sale. Set in Boston in the summer of 1974 and focused on the city’s violent response to the forced integration of…
Read Article
What have you been reading? Watching?
June 24, 2024I have, for the past two months, been reading Barbara Tuchman’s The Guns of August. This, dear readers, is astonishing. And I’m not talking about the book although it is…
Read Article
