Archive for the ‘LinnieGayl AAR’ Category
Friday, December 28th, 2012
I became addicted to audiobooks about seven years ago and haven’t looked back. Before I had a membership at audible (thank you Lea, for the recommendation) I listened to audiobooks on CDs. Because CDs were quite costly, I primarily stuck with audiobooks by my favorite authors such as Jayne Ann Krentz, Susan Elizabeth Phillips, Nora Roberts, and Linda Howard. I was unwilling to take a chance on newer authors. However, sometimes even with those favorites, the audio version was a risk in the hands of a less-than-desirable narrator.
Thanks to my audible membership I’m able to sample books before I download them, to make certain that I actually like the narrator. And thanks to Lea’s wonderful Speaking of Audiobooks columns, I’m now alerted to new-to-me narrators. As Lea wrote in her very first Speaking of Audiobooks column back in June of 2009, it’s all about the narrator. Over the last seven years I’ve discovered such wonderful narrators as Tanya Eby, Kate Reading, Xe Sands, Justine, Eyre, Susan Ericksen, and Anna Fields. (more…)
Tags: Alan Bradley, All About Romance, Audiobooks, Jayne Entwistle, Sophie Kinsella
Posted in LinnieGayl AAR | 25 Comments »
Tuesday, December 18th, 2012
We’ve just posted the revised versions of three special title lists, including the Christmas Romances list. This seemed to be the perfect time to open up the Christmas list, and we’re glad we did. The revised list includes four full anthologies in which all of the stories were submitted, 23 full-length romances, and another 23 short stories. The new entries are in a variety of genres, from historical, to contemporary, to paranormal. No matter what your reading preference, if you’re in the mood for some Christmas reading suggestions, we think the new additions to the list will give you something to read. (more…)
Tags: All About Romance, Christmas romances, Special Title Lists
Posted in All About Romance, Cindy AAR, LinnieGayl AAR, Romance reading | 3 Comments »
Tuesday, December 4th, 2012
It hardly seems possible, but in just over a month the AAR Annual Reader Poll for romances published in 2012 will be here. Yes, once again, we’ll be polling for your favorite romances published during the past year. The poll will start on Monday, January 7, 2013, and run for two weeks until midnight U.S. Eastern Standard Time on Sunday, January 20, 2013.
If you’re new to AAR, or have never voted in one of the Annual Reader Polls, you may want to check out the results from last year, as well as our write-up of the results, including comments from some of the winning authors. We plan to retain all of the categories in last year’s poll, listed below: (more…)
Tags: All About Romance, Annual Reader Poll
Posted in All About Romance, Cindy AAR, LinnieGayl AAR, Polls | 27 Comments »
Thursday, November 29th, 2012
Nearly three years ago Lynn asked, “Is the 20th Century “Historical” Enough Yet?” I’ve written here about my love of Post-World War I and World War II era mysteries and have indicated I would like to read more romances set in those eras. But until recently I would have said I’m not ready for a romance set in the late 1960s or early 1970s. In fact, just last month in a post I wrote here about whether contemporaries could become historicals, I commented, “I’m not sure if I’m ready for a romance — written today — set much before 1990. I know too much about the time period and the limitations many women faced. On the other hand, I won’t reject it outright.” (more…)
Tags: All About Romance, P.M. Carlson
Posted in LinnieGayl AAR, Settings | 27 Comments »
Monday, November 19th, 2012
My favorite of all the Special Title Lists is the Special Settings List. I can’t begin to say how many times I’ve scoured through that list looking for books to read in different exotic locales, paying particular attention to the Europe and the Middle East and Africa sections of the list.
I’ve written here before about my fondness for romances set in Greece. But in reality, I’m a sucker for romances set in any exotic or unusual location. Sure, like many of you, I love romances set in the U.K. But as a travel lover — both armchair and in real life — I long for variety in settings. (more…)
Tags: All About Romance, connie brockway, Deanna Raybourn, Lauren Willig, loretta chase, romance settings, susan elizabeth phillips
Posted in LinnieGayl AAR | 10 Comments »
Monday, November 12th, 2012
In the spirit of keeping the momentum up we’re going to open five more categories on the Special Title Listings page. We have been getting such a great response(thank you all!) and we know how important these lists are to you, our readers, that we wanted to get one more update in before the end of the year. So we are pleased to open up the following categories for submissions: (1) Across the Tracks, (2) Christmas Romances, (3) Inter-Ethnic Romances, (4) Special Settings and (5) Luscious Love Stories. These categories will be open for submissions starting today Monday November 12th and ending Sunday November 25th at midnight. Four of the five categories are ones our readers asked to be updated first while the last one, Christmas Romances, seemed like the perfect addition since it’s about that time of the year. Once again, we are looking for the best of the best in these categories and we’ve included the definitions below. We’ve also included links so you can look over the titles currently on each of the lists. (more…)
Tags: All About Romance, Christmas romances, class differences, iInter-Ethnic romance, Interracial romance, Special Title Lists, unusual settings
Posted in All About Romance, Cindy AAR, LinnieGayl AAR, Rike AAR | 1 Comment »
Thursday, November 8th, 2012
Time to add to those TBR piles! Today we’re happy to announce the completed updates for five Special Title Lists: Arranged Marriages, Cabin and Road Romances, Reunited, Shotgun Weddings, and Tortured Heroes.
As regular readers may know from what we’ve described previously to determine if a title should be added to a particular list. Any additions to the list have to be: (1) the best of the best, (2) stand the test of time, and (3) actually fit the list for which they were submitted. (more…)
Tags: All About Romance, Arranged Marriages, Cabin Romances, Reunions, Road Romances, Shotgun Weddings, Special Title Lists, Tortured Heroes
Posted in All About Romance, Cindy AAR, LinnieGayl AAR, Rike AAR | 8 Comments »
Wednesday, November 7th, 2012
Nearly two years ago I wrote here about my fondness for two post-World War I mystery series, Rhys Bowen’s Royal Spyness series and Jacqueline Winspear’s Maisie Dobbs series. This past year I’ve moved a bit further ahead in history and have enjoyed two new World War II-era mystery series.
Now of course many classic mystery series were written during the 1940s, and I’ve read and enjoyed a large number of them. Agatha Christie’s mysteries featuring Miss Marple (The Body in the Library and The Moving Finger, etc…) and Hercule Poirot (Evil Under the Sun and Five Little Pigs, among others) are some of my favorites written in the 1940s.But mysteries written today, and set in World War II, have gotten to be a new thing for me.
(more…)
Tags: All About Romance, Kathryn Miller Haines, mysteries, Susan Elia MacNeal, World War II
Posted in Books, LinnieGayl AAR, Reading | 8 Comments »
Monday, October 29th, 2012
Lately I’ve been thinking about the boundary between contemporary and historical romances as I try to place new submissions for the Special Title Lists appropriately. Although not a romance, my reading of the Flavia de Luce mysteries also has me thinking of this boundary.
The Flavia de Luce mysteries, set in post-World War II England, are considered historical mysteries. But what if they were romances? According to Wikipedia and numerous other Web sites, contemporary romances are set after World War II, while historical romances are set before or during World War II; by that criterion if Flavia grows older and falls in love her book might be considered a contemporary romance. I say “might,” because Wikipedia also notes that contemporary romances are generally “set in the time when they were written, and usually reflect the mores of their time.”
(more…)
Tags: All About Romance, D.E. Stevenson, Mary Stewart, postwar romance
Posted in LinnieGayl AAR, Settings | 24 Comments »
Monday, October 22nd, 2012
I’ve been a big fan of Tasha Alexander’s Lady Emily series since the first book – And Only to Deceive – was published in 2005. In fact, I was so enthusiastic about the series that I volunteered to write a DIK review of the first book in 2009. So I was delighted to attend an event promoting the latest entry in the series, Death in the Floating City. Even better, the event also featured Ms. Alexander’s fellow mystery author, and husband, Andrew Grant. I haven’t read any of Mr. Grant’s books, but several audience members had and seem to enjoy his series featuring David Trevellyan, the most recent of which is More Harm Than Good.
Both authors talked a bit about their latest books and then took questions from the audience. The crowd was very animated and had a lot of questions for each of them. Among the highlights are:
(more…)
Tags: All About Romance, Andrew Grant, book signings, Tasha Alexander
Posted in Book Signing News, LinnieGayl AAR | 7 Comments »
I became addicted to audiobooks about seven years ago and haven’t looked back. Before I had a membership at audible (thank you Lea, for the recommendation) I listened to audiobooks on CDs. Because CDs were quite costly, I primarily stuck with audiobooks by my favorite authors such as Jayne Ann Krentz, Susan Elizabeth Phillips, Nora Roberts, and Linda Howard. I was unwilling to take a chance on newer authors. However, sometimes even with those favorites, the audio version was a risk in the hands of a less-than-desirable narrator.
