the ask@AAR: What romances help you cope?
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 be honest, ...
the ask @AAR
the ask@AAR: Do you want to go back?
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 feeling that the past was better—love was ...
the ask@AAR: Can We Love Books and Still Be Honest?
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 just another genre of marketing. ...
the ask@AAR: Who’s the greatest romance author of this decade?
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 ...
the ask@AAR: As Fiction Changes, Does Our View of Men Change Too?
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 ...
the ask@AAR: What is the perfect comfort read when you’re grieving?
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 snuffed out by that cruel mistress of ...
the ask@AAR: What do we think about babies these days?
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 ...
the ask@AAR: What is your favorite of Madeline Hunter’s many works?
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 could be as layered and ...
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