First, there are a ton of historicals from Avon, with a few romantic suspense novels mixed in, that are on sale for $3.99. You can see the complete collection at Amazon if you'd like.
The Shadow and the Star by Laura Kinsale is $3.99 right now. This is one of the more emotional Kinsale novels, though that's already a high bar to clear given her romance backlist as a whole. Kinsale takes a lot of unique elements – virgin hero, warrior ninja, orphans finding one another – and mixes them up like whoa. Some readers adore it, and others struggle to unite all the plot elements. Have you read this book?
THE SHADOW
Wealthy, powerful and majestically handsome, he is a man of dark secrets–a master of the ancient martial arts of an exotic distant land. Scarred by a childhood of shocking degradation, he has sworn to love chastely… but burns with the fires of unfulfilled passion.
THE STAR
Lovely, innocent and nearly destitute, she is drawn to him by a fevered yearning she could never deny — following her enigmatic “shadow warrior” into a dangerous world of desire and righteous retribution.
Goodreads | Amazon | BN | Sony | Kobo
The Paris Affair by Teresa Grant is $2.51/2.99. This is book six in the Charles and Melanie Fraser series about a husband and wife sleuth team in France after the Napoleonic wars. It's a mix of historical fiction, mystery and light romance – and it has a 3.89 average on GR.
From the ashes of war rise the secrets of its darkest hearts…
In the wake of the Battle of Waterloo, Paris is a house divided. The triumphant Bourbons flaunt their victory with lavish parties, while Bonapartists seek revenge only to be captured and executed. Amid the turmoil, British attaché and Intelligence Agent Malcolm Rannoch and his wife, Suzanne, discover that his murdered half-sister, Princess Tatiana Kirsanova, may have borne a child—a secret she took to the grave. And Malcolm suspects there was more than mere impropriety behind her silence…
As Malcolm and Suzanne begin searching for answers, they learn that the child was just one of many secrets Tatiana had been keeping. The princess was the toast of Paris when she arrived in the glamorous city, flirting her way into the arms of more than a few men—perhaps even those of Napoleon himself—and the father must be among them.
But in the melee of the Napoleonic Wars, she was caught up in a deadly game, and now Malcolm and Suzanne must race against time to save the child from a similar fate…
Goodreads | Amazon | BN | Sony | Kobo
Steam & Sorcery by Cindy Spencer Pape is .99c today as a Kindle Daily Deal (hey, price match fairies, come on down!). This is book 1 of the Gaslight Chronicles. Carrie has revewied the second and third books, Kilts & Kraken and Moonlight & Mechanicals, and liked them a good bit, though she struggled with the writing. If you've been curious about this series, you can try the first one for a dollar – not bad!
Sir Merrick Hadrian hunts monsters, both human and supernatural. A Knight of the Order of the Round Table, his use of magick and the technologies of steam power have made him both respected and feared. But his considerable skills are useless in the face of his greatest challenge, guardianship of five unusual children. At a loss, Merrick enlists the aid of a governess.
Miss Caroline Bristol is reluctant to work for a bachelor but she needs a position, and these former street children touch her heart. While she tends to break any mechanical device she touches, it never occurs to her that she might be something more than human. All she knows is that Merrick is the most dangerously attractive man she's ever met—and out of reach for a mere governess.
When conspiracy threatens to blur the distinction between humans and monsters, Caroline and Merrick must join forces, and the fate of humanity hinges upon their combined skills of steam and sorcery…
Heirloom Baking with the Brass Sisters is $2.51/2.99 digitally. This cookbook is all about comfort foods, specifically the recipes for baked goods that have been passed down for multiple generations. The cookbook description sounds like it would be as interesting to read as it would be to useful for re-creating the recipes. Also I love the term 'heirloom recipe.'
We all have fond memories of a favorite dessert our grandmother or mother used to bake. It’s these dishes that give us comfort in times of stress, help us celebrate special occasions, and remind us of the person who used to bake for us those many years ago.
In Heirloom Baking, Marilynn Brass and Sheila Brass preserve and update 150 of these beloved desserts. The recipes are taken from their vast collection of antique manuscript cookbooks, handwritten recipes passed down through the generations that they’ve amassed over twenty years. The recipes range from the late 1800s to today, and come from a variety of ethnicities and regions. The book features such down-home and delicious recipes as Brandied Raisin Teacakes, Cuban Flan, Cranberry-Orange Cream Scones, Chattanooga Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars, and many more. Accompanying the recipes are stories from the lives of the families from which they came.
The Brass Sisters have taken care to update every recipe for today’s modern kitchens. More than 150 photographs showcase the scrumptious food in full-color detail. Finally, the Brass sisters encourage each reader to begin collecting his or her own family recipes in the lined pages and envelope at the back of the book.
I like the Charles and Melanie books and always thought it was really weird that the names were changed to Malcolm and Suzanne. I bought Vienna Waltz, thinking it was a whole different series and spent the first 3rd of the book wondering wtf was going on.
Still, I like the plots of these and will get Paris Affair.
Heirloom Baking is terrific! I got a copy at our local Death of Borders sale, and I haven’t hit a clinker recipe in it yet. Best sweet potato pie recipe ever!
Of you get The Shadow and the Star you can add the audio for $3.49. Nicholas Boulton does an amazing job narrating it.
I really enjoyed the Gaslight Chronicles……and thanks, I just ordered the Heirloom Baking and one for my daughter who is an amazing baker.
@Celine. The Shadow and the Star narrated by Nicholas Boulton is amazing!, highly recommended. If you have the kindle ebook, Flowers From The Storm has whispersync for voice too and the audiobook is also at $3.49. The best 2013 listen IMHO. Boulton is a brilliant British actor with one of the sexiest male voices ever, he sets pretty high standards.
@Miranda: according to her website, Grant got a new publisher part-way into the series and they wanted the name change, for both her and the characters. The first few I read, I did a mental Find and Replace.
Although I had some issues with JD Robb’s new release this week (does anyone else wonder if someone else wrote part of it?), I was happy to see that Nora’s The Next Always dropped to 3.99 today.
I bought the Kinsale! I just read “Seize the Fire”, which was part and awesome and part awesomely insane (so many plot twists), so I look forward this one.