What We’ve Been Reading

The Collection

Explore our full library of honest reviews and literary recommendations.

The Good Liar

I love many of Denise Mina’s books, but The Good Liar is not one. It begins well. Doctor Claudia O’Sheil, famous forensic scientist, is preparing to speak at a glittering…

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Cowboy’s Last Stand

Longtime readers at AAR will be thrilled to hear that romantic suspense great Jill Sorenson has not only a new book out, but that it’s the start of a series….

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We Are All Guilty Here

Karin Slaughter’s We Are All Guilty Here opens with a disappearance. Two teenage girls vanish during a Fourth of July celebration in North Falls, Georgia—a town that prides itself on…

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The Art of the Lie

Set in the ruthless, chaotic heart of 1749 London, this historical thriller is a masterclass in deception, survival, and the art of the long con. Hannah Cole, newly widowed and…

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Wild Dark Shore

Emily Dickinson wrote that hope was the thing with feathers. After reading Charlotte McConaghy’s phenomenal Wild Dark Shore, it seems to me that hope is a seed. I confess that,…

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Scotch on the Rocks

I love this book. It’s sexy, very funny, moving, grounded in its sense of place, and just—well—yummy. It’s easily the best contemporary romance I’ve read this year. Callum Macabe met…

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All the Missing Pieces

All the Missing Pieces is an excellent book—smart, sexy, and a blast to read. Julianna Keyes, in a break from her sharp, emotionally rich romances, has written a taut, knife-edged…

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Don’t Let Him In

Every reader has encountered books that require a leap of faith. Could Claire really have bounced through the centuries? Wouldn’t shifters face endless wardrobe malfunctions? And surely someone would have…

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Someone Knows

Vi Keeland, a powerhouse in romance, turns to thriller with Someone Knows, a novel that is fast, engrossing, and, in the end, deeply frustrating. Elizabeth, a mid-forties English professor, has…

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The Listeners

JANUARY 1942. THE AVALLON HOTEL AND SPA offers elegance and sophistication in an increasingly ugly world. Run with precision by June Hudson, the hotel’s West Virginia born-and-bred general manager, the…

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Left of Forever

Do you feel you’ve missed out in life by not being a marriage counselor? Do you long to spend hours of time in the company of two 30 somethings with…

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Tell Me What You Did

Poe Webb built her podcast, Tell Me What You Did, on the premise that people want to confess. Every week, anonymous callers admit to crimes—some petty, some monstrous—and Poe listens….

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