This is a hard column to write. So I’ll just say it: AAR is retiring.
All About Romance launched in 1996. It was created by the incredible Laurie Gold, and shaped over the past thirty years by a remarkable group of reviewers, writers, and devoted readers. Their work and support have built an extraordinary legacy.
The challenge is that the world AAR was built for no longer exists. Google has made it far less likely that new romance readers will stumble onto sites like ours. Search for a book title now and you’re more likely to see an AI-generated blurb, a retailer page, or a quick influencer video than thoughtful criticism. Authors and publishers increasingly court influencers, not reviewers. The books this team tends to champion—historicals, ambitious women’s fiction, indie m/m—make up a smaller share of the mainstream romance market than they once did. And because we rely on Amazon affiliate revenue, the rise of Kindle Unlimited has made our model steadily more fragile: when readers borrow instead of buy, there’s no commission to keep the site running.
Maintaining AAR requires real time and money, and as traffic has declined (although we still receive about half a million visits a year), so have affiliate clicks and ad revenue. The good news is that AAR has the resources to keep the site online for many years, which has been my priority throughout this process. The archive matters. Our reviews, blogs, polls, essays, and comment threads are part of the history of romance, and I believe readers, scholars, librarians, and longtime community members will continue to use it.
Here’s what the transition will look like. Soon, we will run our last 100 Best Romances survey, and we will publish new reviews through the end of March. After that, the site will shift into archive mode. Everything that has been published will remain available, but no new content will be added.*
We do have a Goodreads group, and we encourage anyone who would like to keep the conversation going to meet us there. I will be writing reviews at my own website, thepassionatereader.com (coming soon), and will be starting a Substack newsletter as well. Many of our reviewers will continue to post on Goodreads.
Thank you to everyone who has given so much to this site, and to the fabulous world of romance novels. It’s been an incredible run—thirty years—and I’m grateful to every reviewer, reader, and supporter who made it possible. I am so so proud of what we have done here. You guys are the best.
With gratitude,
Dabney
*I have been reposting older reviews, starting from the beginning, and will continue to do that for the foreseeable future.
I am sad. I understand, yet I am sad. Thank you!
My feelings exactly.
This is sad news. I definitely would love everyone’s details (like GoodReads, etc) because I still prefer to read book reviews. It is beginning to feel like the internet is over. This week we have also seen the destruction of the excellent book section of the Washington Post. Someone wrote a piece about how everything online is turning into television. The problem is I only want professionally made television and prefer to read text when surfing online. That’s not the norm anymore. Thanks to everyone for all the great reviews and your Amazon page highlighting romance ebooks on sale (is that also ending?) That’s really good that the archive will stay up.
First of all, thank you for your amazing job all these years.
Secondly, because the site will still be there, as an archive with all your amazing reviews and articles.
I can’t begin to imagine the work and the hours this site requires so thank you for giving a huge part of your time and yourselves to this project.
Having said that, it hurts to read that, but I cannot say it surprises me.
I’ve been reading Romance webpages for nearly three decades, as I didn’t have the possibility of talking about this genre in the real world. I know nobody around me who reads Romance novels. I have seen many disappearances, both in English and in my own language. So, it is not surprising, but it makes me so sad.
I’ll try to follow in those other places you mention (Goodreads, your own blog).
Lots of love and take care of yourselves.
We are primarily a US audience (not entirely but primarily) and Americans are reading significantly less. https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/americans-reading-less-experts-hurts-140700937.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall
This is so sad. I understand but am heartbroken at this news. There are so many books and authors that I never would have known about if not for this website.
I will follow the places you mention and continue to use your site (I love your Power Search).
Take care and thank you for 30 wonderful years.
I feel like crying.
I have checked AAR every day for about 25 years. Now that book stores are pretty much anachronisms and it seems to be that our country–and maybe the world–have decided that reading and thinking are useless clutter–the ending of AAR is just one more block knocked out of our society.
How do I say thank you adequately for all the new authors that you all have introduced me to? For the hours and hours and hours of pleasure, enabled by you?
When romances are the Cinderella of the book world, it is lovely to read intelligent, articulate book reviews.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for all your effort on behalf of the genre and for people like me.
We will miss you so much.
Oh, no! This is upsetting. AAR has been part of my romance reading life for at least 10 years – the reviews have introduced me to never-before-read authors and books, I’ve even gone back to re-read books I dnf the first time around, because a review made me see things differently and I’ve read and re-read many a review just for the fun of it. The blog posts, polls and comments have been intriguing and interesting and have often given me lots to ponder over. I’m glad though that the site will be archived, there are so many reviews and blog posts I’ve yet to get through.
I will be definitely be joining the Goodreads group and hope to be able to find the reviewers on there as well. Thank you to all you lovely reviewers, fellow readers and commenters, and especially Dabney for navigating the site with humour, grace and kindness.
I’m taking a lot of solace in this quote, “don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened”.
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you.
Sorry to hear about the closing. I am assuming your Substack newsletter will be a subscription based?
Yes–but likely free.
Great! I will see you there then!
I will also cross post on my FB page:
https://www.facebook.com/thePassionateReader
Not on FB anymore but will definitely follow your blog and Substack.
I understand. I truly regret that you are ending but I understand the situation. Thank you for the many years of pleasure and assistance you have given me and many others.
Thank you all for your great work and insight. I have read many great books because of this site!
I’m so sorry it has come to this—and I know how hard you’ve tried to avoid having to discontinue the site—but I certainly understand why you’re doing it. Thank you for years of thoughtful book reviews and engaging conversations. Best wishes in your new endeavors.
Thank you for doing this for so long, and deciding to keep the site here, even though it will no longer be getting new material. I will look for your new site.
Thank you, thank you, thank you. I never got around to commenting much, but I can’t tell you how much this community has lifted me up over the years while recommending wonderful books.
Gutting news for romance, though fully understandable. Thanks for all your support for romance over the years!
Thank you for all you’ve done!
(maybe choose any site but the Nazi platformer though?)
I do understand how you’ve come to this decision, but what terrible news to wake up to on a Friday. It’s hard to express to younger romance readers these days how foundational AAR was for many a romance reader’s journey and the archives here are really amazing. I’m glad you’ll be able to keep the site up, and I know y’all are being archived in other places to (University of Michigan for one).
This coupled with what Maggie has already shared – that reading is declining overall (at least here in the States) makes me weep for the future.
I’ve always appreciated the thoughtful reviews my books have received here. (2 DIKs! Still thrilled!) Thank you all, and best of luck on future projects.
Devastating. Understandable, definitely, but still a gut punch. I will miss coming here to read about m/m, finding new-to-me authors, and knowing there are readers out there who have their noses in romance as much—and sometimes more!—than I do.
If other reviewers have personal websites or Goodreads pages, it would be great to list them here (if they’re open to public follows).
I put some links to mine upthread – I’m sure other reviewers will do the same.
This has been a horrible week for book lovers and readers. First the Washington Post killed Book World (along with about 1/3 of their other staff, including journalists covering sports, local, and foreign news) and now AAR. I have followed AAR since the mid1990s when it was Laurie Likes Books. I was so happy to have found you guys. We’ve all seen many other romance review sites fall by the wayside and close. But I was hoping AAR could hold on. I will definitely follow on Substack. Ron Charles, the editor of the Post’s Book World, also has started a weekly newletter through Substack, so that’s probably going to be the new home for reviewers and readers. I understand the world is changing rapidly, but I cannot help but feel sad about what is being lost.
Thank you guys for holding on as long as you have. I will miss you.
This is terrible news! I’m so sad to see you go. AAR has been an absolute institution, and I know I’ve rarely commented, but am a regular reader of the blog. Thank you for all of the thoughtful, considered reviews over the years, and for shining a spotlight on the romance genre. You will be greatly missed.
Thank you for all you did. This was one of my daily spots to get recommendations and often picked up books from your reviews.
AAR has been part of my daily routine since the end of the 1990s (after I found the site while searching for info about romances with humor). I will miss the community.
Sad to see this end of an era. This site definitely inspired me to write my own reviews and I always enjoyed reading and chatting on here. Thank you all for the good times.
What sad news! AAR has been such an institution in the romance community, and it’s such a shame that circumstances have changed so much that it no longer makes sense to continue running the platform. However, I am glad that the site won’t completely vanish.
Thank you for what you did for the romance community, and also thank you for all you’ve done for me as an author. I still remember how thrilled I was when you gave my debut novel a really lovely review 26 years ago. 🙂
I am sad to hear you are closing shop, Dabney and other AAR contributors, but I do understand. The internet has changed so much over the past three decades. When I found AAR, in the late 1990s, it was like a revelation. A place where readers of romance could gather and have in depth discussions of the books, without being shamed for liking the genre!
The old, BBS style boards were like trees that kept sprouting branches. You’d see only a link with the title of the post and have to click to read the whole thing. But you’d have an overview of all the ways the conversation branched and spun off, spontaneously, and often the tangential offshoots were just as lively and interesting as the original topic.
I remember discussions not just of characters and plot, but also of themes and recurring motifs. More people read, and, for good or ill, read the same books, and so those kinds of discussions could more easily be had. A blockbuster book like Whitney, My Love or A Knight in Shining Armor would have been read by half the people, so it was like having a book club party that could go on forever, one that was lively and that new people could join at any time.
I met so many great, smart people on this site, some who I’m still friends with. One lives fifteen minutes from me and we get together sometimes.
I met my critique partners through AAR – Meredith (Duran) when she mentioned that my favorite book (back then) was also hers, and Sherry (Thomas) because she wrote a great guest review of Judith Ivory’s book Beast and I emailed her to find out if she was published (she hadn’t been yet, but her voice was that good, even back in 2003). I was just on the phone with her last night. That whole friendship wouldn’t exist without AAR.
I met a lot of the people who went on to review for Dear Author through AAR, and Candy Tan, who later asked Sarah Wendell to start a site called Smart Bitches Read Trashy Books with her. In a way, AAR is responsible for the existence of those blogs.
I met people I haven’t talked to in years but still remember and miss.
So yes, the end of an era, and of a huge contribution to the romance community. And I hope that your — all of yours — reading and writing
That got cut off – I hope that your reading and writing continues to thrive, even after the site goes dormant.
I too remember those old BBS style boards – they were wonderful! And there were people who never came back after they went, sherryfair, pwnnn, and many many more – I miss them.
Yes! I remember them, especially sherryfair. Such an incisive mind — she was a poet IRL. And also ellejir, and msaggie, and others (I was LFL on there, back then)… Such good times. New readers came and replaced the ones who left, but those discussions were hard to beat. They were in depth in a way that today’s apps and sites don’t allow for as much.
They suddenly vanished when we rebooted the site and we couldn’t get them back. I tried for weeks. Now that I have more time, I’m going to comb through our server and see if I can recover them. Probably not, but I’m going to try.
It would be wonderful if you could resurrect them – there were some amazing recommendations in those conversations – but LibraryThing’s “Talk” and “Groups” support those types of posts/conversations. Anyone can post a topic and anyone can respond.
Goodreads groups have that feature too, but bulletin board systems gave overviews that made it easy to jump in to whichever tangent you wanted to read or talk about. Also, reading was bigger thing then. There were more readers and more knowledge of books. I’m on Goodreads and the groups are good, but don’t have the same energy.
I find Goodreads overwhelming, like fb etc. where you loose a lot of time on slop, so I never really engaged there. I guess there is a learning curve, like everywhere, but I just got overwhelmed by the gushy one liners, and similar time wasters.
You can just bookmark our group and just go there.
Oh that would be so great! The discussions were so good. Thanks in advance for trying, whether it works out or not.
Oh wow, I read “The Left Hand of Darkness” on an “LFL” recc! And “Captive Prince”. Thank-you so much 🙂
I never knew sherryfair was a poet – makes total sense.
LOL, thank you! I’m so glad you loved those books. Can you email me at janineballard at gmail? I would love to trade more recommendations but I don’t want to hijack this thread.
I didn’t/don’t recognize the LFL handle but I remember those two recs as well. Read and enjoyed both books. Thank you!
Thanks, that is good to hear. I reviewed Captive Prince for Dear Author too, so you may have seen the recommendation there also.
Oh, we even had a separate place for a while, IIR, and I still remember all those discussions fondly, and I think we had a few great debates, LFL! Though I cannot remember if I was Lieselotte then, or had some other name… good times! Nice to read you again, 🙂
Oh, I could be wrong, but I don’t think you were Liesolotte then… If you want to chat about that more, email me (see my last post to Yuri for the address). I don’t want to hijack this discussion.
OMG! I remember pwnnn too . . . they recommended some of *the* best mm of the time! I’ve often wondered where they ended up – if for no other reason than to say thank you for the recs 😉
Yes, I still haven’t managed to track down all their reccs, but I keep trying! I’d like to say thank-you too.
I just skimmed the Guardian headlines, decided not to read any further since it was all depressing news, and came here to be cheered up…! For so many of us, romance novels are an escape from the stress of world events and this site has made an enormous contribution to people’s lives in that regard.
I too remember the Laurie Likes Books days. My romance reading tastes have changed over the years but I’ve always loved being part of a community of readers who think deeply about the genre. Thanks and congratulations to everyone who has administered, reviewed and commented here over the years. I will miss it.
This is so sad. I can’t say it is a surprise but it’s still such a gut punch to see it happening. LIke others here, I remember the original “LaurieLikesBooks” in my dial-up days of the 90s, although I didn’t become a regular reader until about 2005. Still, that’s 20 years of almost daily logging on.
Can I make a last-ditch pitch for joining LibraryThing.com and posting reviews/talking about romances there? It’s a bookish community created and run by a bunch of former and current librarians. It isn’t as pretty or intuitive to use as GoodReads, but it also hasn’t been taken over by Amazon – the organization that has done much to destroy AAR’s viability – and it lacks a core of romance readers. (You/we AAR readers could “own” the romance space there.) I’ll look for you at GoodReads (and Substack, etc.) but I’ll feel far more comfortable contributing and conversing with everyone on a site that is operated for the express purpose of supporting readers and reading.
HI there, thanks for this suggestion – I’ve just had a look at LibraryThing and it seems nice. Nothing will be quite the same though.
You are correct, it won’t be the anywhere near the same . . . but at least LT has message threads (not unlike the ones at AAR’s The Agora) for chatting.
I am willing to give it a try. So, I have registered on LT. As LieselotteEU. So, if there is a romance group or something, I am willing to engage there, and see. Can you direct me how to find that?
There is an existing “group” at LT for romance readers. It has not been very active. Mostly people posting asking for help to identify or find a book title. But we could give it a try . . .
Romance – from historical to contemporary | LibraryThing
There are several groups at LT for romance readers but the link I copied for one of them doesn’t seem to be getting through here. Search “Groups” for “romance” and Romance – from historical to contemporary is one of the options presented. That seems to be the most general group for romance topics.
Interesting. I’ve been in LibraryThing for years as a way of organising the thousand of books at home, but I’ve never reviewed books overthere. Do you think it’s worth the effort of trying to build a romance community overthere?
I considered creating a brand new group but if you are willing, we can try using the existing romance group and see how that goes. I’m there as nblibgirl.
Dear Bona! I read Spanish – would you share your blog/ webpage about romance?
I would like to read you. Thx!
For anyone here who hasn’t already found me elsewhere, I post reviews regularly at Goodreads and my Caz’s Reading Room blog. It would be great to chat about books some more there!
ETA – I have a substack, too, although I haven’t really been using it for anything book-related – maybe now is the time to change that! https://cazsizz.substack.com
Is there a way to sign up for your blog to receive posts via e-mail? I am not interested in joining Goodreads.
Yes, absolutely – there’s a “subscribe by email” box on the right hand side of the page (you might have to scroll down a bit to find it!).
All these years and I never knew I could subscribe! Done!
me neither, LOL! I also subscribed now 🙂
Done.
I already subscribe to your blog ( which is where I discovered AAR) and I think I follow you on Goodreads. I have discovered many new authors as a result of your reviews so I am glad that I will still be able to get your recommendations.
Thank you! I certainly plan to keep reviewing new books there – and maybe some older ones if I get a bit more time!
I’m sorry that you’ve been dealing with this. I respect the work you and the team have put into AAR – something like this takes a huge amount of effort and thank-you for that. Thank-you also for letting us know what’s happening. I remember other sites that just stopped like Heroes & Heartbreakers and Wonk-o-mance and we never knew why.
AAR introduced me to a lot of new authors and books and while it’s sad that it will no longer be posting new reviews or blogs, I’m grateful the archive will still be available. Thank-you for all your work.
This breaks my heart. I still seek out your reviews, but I know discoverability is a stacked deck these days. As a reader and a writer, I thank you for all you have done for the romance community over the years.
When I wake up will this all turn out to have been a dream? No more Kennedy Center, only a skeleton Washington Post (why they think providing even less news/sports/book reviews will attract and keep readers is a mystery to me), and now no more All About Books. What makes this site so attractive is not simply the reviews but the fact that it is an interactive community. I can comment on a review and people can comment on my comment. I’ve learned so much from the community of AAR reviewers and readers. As just one example, I’ve said before that DiscoDollyDeb and I have very different reading tastes but her comments are often so perceptive that I learn from them even if I have no intention of going anywhere near the book she is discussing. Where else can I find conversations about alpha vs beta heroes, favorite/least favorite tropes (after all the hateful comments about women from the men in the released Epstein files I’m more than ever confirmed in my dislike of older heroes and much younger heroines – not that any of the men in the files are hero material), and all the other myriad conversations at AAR?
Wishing all the best to Dabney and the others who’ve worked so hard to keep AAR up and running, and with much sadness that it has now come to an end.
It’s the end of an era I wish had lasted longer. Thank you Dabney for keeping AAR archived. The wealth of reviews within this website / database is priceless.
I used to come here to read romance reviews more than once a week, But I confess I haven’t visited as often in recent years due to Goodreads. What a sad coincidence I was directed to this fondly remembered site on the very day you make this announcement. You gave me so many hours of fun, enjoyable and enlightening reading. I will be back more often to visit your archives.
I’m still working on my website but my first substack post is up!
https://thepassionatereader.substack.com/p/author-book-blurbs-are-im-sorry-the
I first started visiting this site in 1997, back in the days when I had to use a dial-up modem to access the Internet. I started reading romance about age 14 but it wasn’t until my late 20s that I finally found my people. Over the years, AAR has been invaluable to me for the reviews, which have been interesting, insightful and most importantly, critical. They have helped me know which books I should spend my money upon and I have discovered countless new authors thanks to the reviewers. I was a lurker for many years but started posting in early 2020, partly due to the loneliness triggered by the COVID pandemic. I have greatly enjoyed interacting with both reviewers and other readers and being part of this fabulous romance novel-loving community.
However, it is true that the milieu has changed. I used to subscribe to a number of magazines and many have stopped print editions, especially those that pertain to entertainment such as Total Film in the UK and Entertainment Weekly in the U.S. Publishing has changed a lot with the arrival of e-books followed by the rise of indie authors and Kindle Unlimited. In the past I avowed always to read print books but in the past few years, I have read e-books almost exclusively, partly due to aging eyes (!) but partly due to authors who do not publish in print. Social media has also significantly changed our environment, although that is something I continue to resist.
So, although I am full of sorrow that my almost 30 years connection with AAR is going to be over, I do understand the reasons. Dabney, thank you for keeping this site going for so long, promoting openness and inclusivity, and keeping it as a historical site. I think it is so important to have a record of what the romance genre has contributed to society. Thanks to all the reviewers over the years for their opinions and recommendations. And thanks to all the other readers for their thoughts and support.
I have about 2 thousand books in my TBR pile (e- and print) and subscribe to about 15-20 author newsletters so I think I will be OK for a while. I do plan to follow Caz’ blog for M/M book recommendations. I am working my way through the archives of the Fated Mates podcast and I am on Goodreads. If anyone else has a recommendation for another romance novel website or romance reader blog that they enjoy, I would love to hear it.
I will miss this site so much.
https://thepassionatereader.substack.com/
Thanks!
Me too!
And knowing people and their tastes and who gave good recs for what… I have registered at LT and will try, realistically, this site going is not replaceable- for me, and for many here who prefer reading something to podcasts and films, and for whom this content & form was perfect, there is no comparison. I realise that I am becoming slowly a dinosaur, but this site managed to pull me quite far from classics of m/f romance- who will pull me further??
Sniff! Sigh!
Dear Dabney, dear AAR reviewers and contributors, reading this news has broken my heart. I’m so incredibly sorry it has come to this. I also feel a little guilty for not being able to support AAR and your work enough to help prevent this, although I’m not arrogant enough to think that my contribution alone could have changed the situation. As others have said, I fully understand why this was necessary, although I hate that it’s happening.
I just wanted to say I can’t thank you enough for… everything; everything you’ve achieved, everything AAR stands for. I’m so very grateful. Your reviews have always been excellent and one of the key resources for me in my search of new books. I’m so thankful for this community and the huge role it’s played over the years in the romance reading community. Thank you. I’ll miss AAR terribly. It’s been an incredible time.
That is why I’m so grateful that you decided to continue writing and to share your voice, your views and insights with us (on Goodreads, Substack, etc – I’ve already subscribed everywhere). Please know that your voices, your reviews are not only (still) incredibly relevant, they are needed more than ever before. Thank you for not giving up. I’m looking forward to meeting you (and to continue reading your work) on those other platforms. See you soon! Love, Aoeife
That is so lovely.
Someday I’ll write about where romance blogging went wrong but today is not that day!
With Audiogals shutting down, and now AAR, the biggest loss to me is the sense of community, the shared space. I generally read all the reviews, blog posts and comments even if they are books I won’t read or shows/movies I won’t watch, etc. Like I said, community. That can’t be replaced by Goodreads or other review sites. I’ve been a part of Goodreads for 25 years, and it’s serves an important purpose for me, but there are few real conversations happening. Perhaps if you’re part of a groups, but even then it’s difficult to really engage, at least for me.
I understand the reasons, but I’m so sad. I hope the reviewers besides you and Caz will post their own review sites, or their Goodreads handles if they want that. There are commenters here I’d love to follow on GR or elsewhere, if anyone wants to share that info, too.
I’ll have a website up soon–so many reviews and blogs over the years–but I think I’ll be easiest to find on my Substack. Love to see you there, Carrie.
https://thepassionatereader.substack.com/
Here’s me on Goodreads. I read/review mainly m/m as most of you are aware, with a smattering of m/f and mysteries.
https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1478411-carrie
So many people are writing so eloquently and passionately that I feel I have nothing to useful to say other than I will greatly miss this site. I am like many here a long-timer from the LaurieLikesBooks days. I have been introduced to so many great writers from this site. Thank you for keeping this site going for so long.
Thank you for your service. Even though you don’t know it, you are an old friend I check in on daily. Very sorry to see you go but grateful for all you have done and that you will still be available as a resource. I will look for your website and substack Dabney. Once again: Thank you!
Even though AAR will stop, will I still be able to pretend it’s still there? At some point, will you all disappear the site or will your fans still be able to access the reviews, etc.?
It is my hope that I can keep it on line indefinitely!
oh so sorry to see you go – can’t believe it has been 30 years! I think I have been here from the start. I hope you have an abfab 2nd act!!!!
Dabney, thank you for all you have done to keep AAR going as long as you could. And thank you to the AAR team who have given us years of well-written, thoughtful reviews and discussions. I honor your decision to “retire” the site, and truly appreciate that it will be maintained as an archive. Plus one last Best 100 Romances survey is a lovely parting gift. I wish you all well as you go through this transition, which is a loss for you and so many of us romance readers who have found AAR to be an invaluable resource. Sad news.
It’s lovely to see all these tributes for what AAR has accomplished. I’m so glad I’ve been a part of the last decade. I review regularly on Goodreads (my link is https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/29334580-maria-rose) and I’m on social media sites (Bluesky, Threads, IG) as cmhrose (except for FB where it’s Maria Rose). Happy to connect on any of these sites! I don’t have the energy to start a blog like Caz and Dabney but I know like all of you that I will also continue to look for my fellow reviewers wherever they end up.
I’m so sad still but it’s wonderful to read all the comments and see just how much the AAR is appreciated and the long history it has.
I’ve been reviewing here for a couple of years and it’s been such a highlight. I’m on Goodreads, and Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/laura_black_reads/ and I have a website that links to my reviews as well. I hope to see you all in other places in the future.
I am lucky to have been able to write reviews here and will miss AAR. I also post short reviews at Goodreads, Instagram, and TikTok.
I am generally going to be reviewing for Smart Bitches, Trashy Books. Still considering a GR account.
please do, I’d love to meet all you reviewers in the same place and be able to follow your reviews. Those of you Tracked on goodreads I already follow.
Thank you, Dabney, for being the heart and soul of AAR for so long. I came here first in 1999 and have enjoyed both reading (and occasionally writing) reviews and the always stimulating conversations. You have managed to maintain a civilised, caring, confidential and safe place for us to talk openly about not just romance but many things close to our hearts. Such a lovely and lively international community here. I will miss AAR but understand your reasons for the last act and finale. Congratulations and, from me, a jolly well done!!
It’s been such a pleasure to have this resource. I will miss it very much!
I reviewed for AAR for a number of years and loved the sense of community so much. (Side note: I do miss those somewhat more innocent online days). I’d been a romance reader from a young age and loved having people to talk to about the genre – something I hadn’t had before. I haven’t been a daily visitor in recent years, but have checked in on the reviews and discussions regularly.
As someone who used to be behind the scenes, I understand fully the amount of care, attention, and work that goes into running this endeavor. Thank you for taking it on and keeping it running as successfully as you have.
I will miss it for its role as a part of my own online life and history, the wonderful community that has existed and evolved here, and for all the book news and recs over the years.
Although understandable this is so sad. I visited almost every day and read all the reviews, even those in genres which I did not tend to read such as fantasy. I certainly expanded my range of reading having initially been drawn to the site because of the HR reviews which was my main interest at first. I also loved the blog posts and the discussions they generated and will miss them going forward. I have signed up to your sub stack and had already subscribed to Caz’s blog. In fact I think it was Caz who introduced me to AAR. I will try to follow those other reviewers who provide links to their websites, blogs etc. Re Goodreads I am not entirely sure how you ensure access to reviews by a particular reviewer as you are asked to type in an author or book title rather than being able to enter a reviewers name.
You should be able to find individual reviewers by clicking on their name in one of their reviews – it will take you to their profile page and you can look through their review pages. Mine is here: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/4368838-caz Under my profile picture (which is the same as the one I use here) it shows (good grief!) that I’ve written 3286 reviews – click on that for whoever’s profile you’re looking at and you’ll get a list of their reviews.
Thank you so much to everyone at AAR. Because of AAR and its wonderful reviewers, I rediscovered my love for romance, a genre I had largely abandoned for many years. You’ve introduced me to fantastic writers I never knew before, specially in the historical romance subgenre.
I’ll be requesting entry into your GR group, which I am extremely grateful exists. It makes it a little easier to lose AAR. To many more years in your company no matter the place!
Thank you. Thank you so much. I enjoyed this site for so many years. Good luck in this, dare I make the pun, the next chapter in your life. I will miss you.
Really disappointed to hear this news, but I do understand that the effort and difficulties have become too much. I started visiting this site post-college in the 2010s when I had just discovered romance novels and was reading for fun again. AAR was so helpful in guiding me towards quality romances and a bunch of amazing authors, especially the top 100 lists when I was starting out. I loved that the reviews were detailed and thoughtful, articulating what led to the grade instead of squealing incomprehensibly. While everyone’s reading preferences are subjective I knew I could trust AAR and I found a number of reviewers whose tastes aligned with mine.
Thank you Dabney and all the reviewers and commentors who made AAR such an amazing resource!
P.S. This doesn’t solve the community space replacement, but if you want to avoid Goodreads, I love using The Storygraph to track my reading and there are functions for buddy readalongs and challenges too. You can import all your data/reviews from GR over to it. While I don’t find all the reviews to be as helpful as AAR, you can follow specific users and Storygraph focuses a lot on mood reading to make recommendations.
I do have a StoryGraph, but haven’t done much with it, tbh, other than import my GR data. I need time to play around with it which I just don’t have at the moment. Someday, maybe…
I’m so sorry! Y’all have worked so hard on this site and we’ve all benefited from it. but yes, I can understand why keeping the site going wasn’t rewarding anymore.
Thank you for keeping the archives up — I have my favorite reviews and I’m glad they’re not disappearing.
Kudos on the time and effort to facilitate discourse on romance and nurture community. AAR has created real conversations and highlighted so many authors and books. Congratulations on all that you have accomplished!
I’m no longer posting blogs here but if you want my latest hot take, here it is.
https://open.substack.com/pub/thepassionatereader/p/on-leaving-and-staying?r=2vpgi&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
I’m so sad to read that you’re putting an end to this fabulous website. It has been quite an era. But I understand. The world has become so competitive in every way, even in the books department. You’ve been my golden source for many many years and throughout your thoughful reviews, I’ve discovered many great authors and found marvellous gem books. So a BIG THANK YOU for all those years and for your work. I hope you’ll find a way to keep “it” going somewhere, somehow… Good luck for your future, whatever it is.
I don’t have the words to adequately express my gratitude to everyone who has contributed and made AAR such a wonderful place to read about books and authors. I have found so many new authors and great books through your reviews and comments made by other readers. I have been regularly visiting this website since it was Laurie Likes Books. It has always been my happy place and I will really miss it. Many thanks for all the joy you brought into my life through book recommendations. Thank you for your willingness to keep the archives available.
Thank you. All of the lovely words our readers are writing here are the best. <3
I’m incredibly grateful that the site is now archived. I don’t know what I’d do if I lost the records and book reviews. Since finding this site, I’ve come here because it has reviews of older books that aren’t included on newer sites like romance.io.
I’ve already lost blogs I used to follow, their records disappearing forever.
I’m grateful that won’t be the case here.
What a shame that you are stopping, I just found you! Have you thought of revamping as a podcast? You have such a wealth of romance knowledge here. Thank you for keeping it going as a resource site with reviews of older books. It is way better than romance.io
We have not. We have had reviewers leave AAR and start their own podcasts but it is a completely different medium than writing. I’m not sure what we do would translate well to that. Plus, it feels like a lot of work!