Full Blooded by Amanda Carlson is one of today's Kindle Daily Deals at $1.99. This is an urban fantasy romance, the first in Carlson's Jessica McClain series. You know it's an urban fantasy romance because it has Ewa da Cruz in leather on the cover (as opposed to a gown half falling off).
Born the only female in an all male race, Jessica McClain isn’t just different—she’s feared. After living under the radar for the last twenty-six years, Jessica is thrust unexpectedly into her first change, a full ten years late. She wakes up and finds she’s in the middle of a storm. Now that she’s become the only female full-blooded werewolf in town, the supernatural world is already clamoring to take a bite out of her and her new Pack must rise up and protect her.
But not everyone is on board. The werewolf Rights of Laws is missing text and the superstitious werewolves think that Jessica means an end to their race. It doesn’t help when Jessica begins to realize she’s more. She can change partway and hold her form, and speak directly to her wolf. But the biggest complication by far is that her alpha father can't control her like he can the rest of his wolves.
When a mercenary who’s been hired by the vampires shows up to extract information about the newly turned werewolf only days after her change, they find themselves smack in the middle of a war and there's no choice but to run together. When it’s up to Jessica to negotiate her release against her father’s direct orders, she chooses to take an offer for help instead. In exchange, Jessica must now swear an oath she may end up repaying with her life.
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The Color of Love by Sandra Kitt is also a daily deal which has also been price matched elsewhere. It's $1.99. This book was originally published in 1995, and has 400 reviews on GoodReads with a four-star average. It also has a fantastic awkward cheek-to-cheek Olan-Mills-style cover stock photo. (Do necks bend like that? Mine doesn't- not without hollering at me.)
Considered by many to be the foremost African American writer of romance, Kitt presents a sizzling romance that compares to The Bodyguard. Leah Downey is a talented black artist dealing with a loveless relationship.
Jason Horn is a white cop trying to get over the traumas of his past. When they meet, sparks fly–but can they keep it together?
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Todays Audible deal of the day is The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood, unabridged, for $3.95. This audiobook is read by Claire Danes, and many reviewers on Audible praise her performance as one of the best they've heard.
The Handmaid's Tale is not only a radical and brilliant departure for Margaret Atwood, it is a novel of such power that the reader will be unable to forget its images and its forecast. Set in the near future, it describes life in what was once the United States, now called the Republic of Gilead, a monotheocracy that has reacted to social unrest and a sharply declining birthrate by reverting to, and going beyond, the repressive intolerance of the original Puritans. The regime takes the Book of Genesis absolutely at its word, with bizarre consequences for the women and men of its population.
The story is told through the eyes of Offred, one of the unfortunate Handmaids under the new social order. In condensed but eloquent prose, by turns cool-eyed, tender, despairing, passionate, and wry, she reveals to us the dark corners behind the establishment's calm facade, as certain tendencies now in existence are carried to their logical conclusions.
The Handmaid's Tale is funny, unexpected, horrifying, and altogether convincing. It is at once scathing satire, dire warning, and tour de force. It is Margaret Atwood at her best.
The Handmaid's Tale: Audible Audiobook $3.95 Today Only | Goodreads
Fire From Heaven by Mary Renault is historical fiction about Alexander the Great, and is one of today's Kindle Daily Deals as well – also price-matched at many retailers at $1.99. Yay!
Alexander’s beauty, strength, and defiance were apparent from birth, but his boyhood honed those gifts into the makings of a king. His mother, Olympias, and his father, King Philip of Macedon, fought each other for their son’s loyalty, teaching Alexander politics and vengeance from the cradle.
His love for the youth Hephaistion taught him trust, while Aristotle’s tutoring provoked his mind and Homer’s Iliad fueled his aspirations.
Killing his first man in battle at the age of twelve, he became regent at sixteen and commander of Macedon’s cavalry at eighteen, so that by the time his father was murdered, Alexander’s skills had grown to match his fiery ambition.
If you haven’t read The Handmaid’s Tale you should do so immediately. Print form. E-book form. Audio book. I don’t care. JUST DO IT.
Seconding ohhellsyeah’s recommendation of The Handmaid’s tale. It’s not a comfortable read. but damnably well-written. And maybe it will make you sit up and take notice…
Third-ing recommendation of Handmaid to those who are not faint of heart. amazing, gripping, horrifying, and of course incredibly influential book
And fourth recommendation. I think about this book on a regular basis and it does inform some of my thoughts about current political situations.
I’m gonna chime in and say “READ IT” on “Fire From Heaven”. I love Mary Renault, and her Alexander trilogy is amazing – particularly “The Persian Boy”, the second book.
The Handmaid’s Tale is without a doubt one of the most frightening books I have ever read. And, now that we have that abomination called the Tea Party running around unchecked, the book is more relevant than ever. Read this book. You’ll be so glad you did.
@katieM – I agree. I just read Handmaid’s Tale for the first time recently and it haunted me every time I watched the news for a few weeks. Do you know what scene scared me the most? (Spoilers, I guess for those that haven’t read it)
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The scene where Offred comes across a group of tourists from Japan dressed normally. That was the point that hit me that this weird dystopia existed side by side with a world that had still allowed women rights and hadn’t gone careening out of control. That scene chilled me.
I hold The Handmaid’s Tale responsible for my resistance to things like automatic deposit & debit cards. It took forever for me to break down and sign up. I always tell people it is the scariest book ever written.
Just in case anyone has no idea what we’re talking about: Handmaid’s Tale is not a Romance Novel! Here be dragons! But not literally – I mean here be thought provoking, upsetting stuff! Very very good, must read stuff! But not romance novel! Just so we’re clear!