In a comment she wrote on my recent review of Sarina Bowen’s Good As Gold, Caroline wrote:
Similar Posts
the ask@AAR: What were your favorite films of the year?
Pre-Covid, I loved going to the movies. Post, not so much. In fact, not only am I not munching on popcorn and watching the credits roll on the big screen, I’m not watching very many movies period. I’ve turned into a TV watcher instead–the fabulous app, TVTIME, confirms that, yes, I enjoyed lots of mysteries…
the ask@AAR: Who’s your favorite romantic suspense author?
I’ve always loved romantic suspense. Done well, it offers the joys of a thriller wrapped around a love story that complements rather than distracts from the danger. Linda Howard, for instance, made her name with books like Dream Man and Mr. Perfect that still stand for many as benchmarks for a sexy blend of romance…
the ask@AAR: What was THE BEST in 2019?
AAR no longer has the manpower to run our annual reader poll but we still want to know what you think! So, give us your 2019 choices for: Best romance novel Best hero Best heroine Best secondary romance Hottest read Best debut romance novel These are from books published in 2019. OK? Go!
the ask@AAR: What is your favorite trope?
A trope, according to Merriam-Webster, is a common or overused theme or device : CLICHÉ. I’m going to ignore the overused part of this today and focus on common themes in, of course, romance. Masterclass, in its earnest article on how to write a romance novel, offers nine common tropes: 1. Love Triangle (Court of Thorns and Roses,…
the ask@AAR: What’s the greatest sports romance/series in romance?
It 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 If You Can (2005), Natural Born Charmer (2001), Nobody’s Baby But Mine (1997), Heaven, Texas (1995), and It Had To Be You (1994). The other…
the ask@AAR: Another side in the endless kerfuffle about accuracy in historical romance.
This week on Twitter, a famous historical romance author made the point that there are good reasons authors of historical romance break with convention. She argued authors do so not because they’re lazy or stupid but because they are deliberately making choices they feel better serve the stories they tell. I think she’s right. Authors…

This comment resonated with me. In writing, like most everything else, there’s a place where the rapid pace of production begins to pull down products’ quality. There are categories like, perhaps, category romances where that may not be true. And I’m sure there are prolific authors whose output remains stellar. I just can’t think of any….
What’s your take? Do you feel like there are authors out there who write several really good books a year? Are many authors publishing more books in shorter time frames than they used to? Or am I utterly off base? Let me know!