The Admiral's Penniless Bride by Carla Kelly is $2.99 right now – along with many other Carla Kelly books. Kelly's books are a unique kind of historical, and they're wonderfully immersive. SLURP into the book you go.
Some readers on GR really liked the older hero/younger heroine pairing, and the consideration of the hero in particular. If you like old-style Regency, you might like this, or one of Kelly's other books. There are MANY. Like the number of exclamation points in a relatively short cover blurb.
After I first posted this book, a few of y'all contacted me to say how much they enjoyed this – and that a Kelly glom had begun. So if you're glomming, you're not alone!
Sally Paul is down to her last penny.
As she spends it on a cup of tea–to stave off being at the mercy of the workhouse–the last thing she expects is an offer of marriage…from a complete stranger!
Admiral Sir Charles Bright's seafaring days are over–and according to society, that must mean he's in need of a wife!
Discovering Sally's in need of a home, he offers a solution…. They marry in haste–but will they enjoy their wedding night at leisure?
Goodreads | Amazon | BN | Kobo
Marry Me by Susan Kay Law is .99c. This is book 2 in the Marrying Miss Bright series, and it has a 3.6-star average on GR. This is another fish-out-of-water story, with an emotionally wounded hero in frontier Montana forced to cohabitate with a young woman because of reasons.
(Catnip alert! Catnip alert! Report to the nearest retailer! )
The rugged loner Jake Sullivan has finally returned home — to find a brazen, beautiful trespasser in his bed.
Emily Bright intends to stay. But has Jake been saddled with an unwanted intruder… or blessed with a bride?
Goodreads | Amazon | BN | Kobo
RECOMMENDED: It Takes Two to Tangle by Theresa Romain is $2.99. This is a historical romance from a writer whose books I really like. RedHeadedGirl and Elyse, too – Elyse reviewed this book (Grade: B) and liked the heroine a lot:
For all my bitching about Henry, I quite liked this It Takes Two to Tangle. It captured me emotionally, and I loved, loved, love the heroine. I also really, really wanted Henry and Frances to get together. It elicited the same reaction in me as my favorite Jane Austen books do “Jesus you two! Can’t you just FIGURE IT OUT AND GET TOGETHER!?” Even though I knew this book came with a HEA guaranteed, I was afraid somehow Henry and Frances would wind up apart. Romain’s ability to draw me into the story that deeply is impressive.
If you’re a Regency fan who likes unconventional heroines, pick this book up for sure. If you like the Tragically Wounded Hero, like I do, pick it up. If you need your hero to really have his shit together, you may want to avoid it. Henry gave me heartburn sometimes, but the great conflict, and a kick ass heroine, kept me reading.
Wooing the Wrong Woman…
Henry Middlebrook is back from fighting Napoleon, ready to re-enter London society where he left it. Wounded and battle weary, he decides that the right wife is all he needs. Selecting the most desirable lady in the ton, Henry turns to her best friend and companion to help him with his suit…
Is a Terrible Mistake…
Young and beautiful, war widow Frances Whittier is no stranger to social intrigue. She finds Henry Middlebrook courageous and manly, unlike the foppish aristocrats she is used to, and is inspired to exercise her considerable wit on his behalf. But she may be too clever for her own good, and Frances discovers that she has set in motion a complicated train of events that’s only going to break her own heart…
Goodreads | Amazon | BN | Kobo
The Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale is still $1.99 at Amazon.
This is a YA fairy tale/fantasy novel about a young maid, Dashti, who is sent into a tower for seven years with her mistress, Lady Saren, after said mistress refuses to marry a rather evil dude. The story is told through Dashti's journal entries through their imprisonment, and the book is described as for grades 5-9. The reviews are very, very good (it has a 3.9 average) with many saying that the story and the writing were incredible – there's a lot of Good Book Noise in those reviews, is what I'm saying.
Imprisoned in a remote tower after Lady Saren refuses to marry the man her father has chosen, the maid and the lady have almost nothing in common.
But the loyalty that grows between the two, the man they love in different ways for different reasons, and the lies they tell because of and in spite of each other, combine to evoke the deepest bonds, transcend the loneliest landscapes, and erupt in a conclusion so romantic, so clever, and so right that no reader will be left dry-eyed.
Interestingly the newest StoryBundle (one of the pay what you want to bundle systems, but for fiction), is all romance novels this time out. http://storybundle.com/
Thanks for the link to StoryBundle – bookmarked to peruse at my leisure when it’s not lunch hour.
And, if you are one of the very few people on earth who have not heard me declare my love for The Book of a Thousand Days, here you go. I love it. It is well worth whatever you might spend for it.
Does The Book of a Thousand Days ever look good—love these sales alerts!
Such good sales! Book of a Thousand Days is one I re-read every so often—it’s aimed a little younger than YA it feels, but it’s fantastic no matter what age. Definitely something I give as a gift to folks with kids.
I just discovered Carla Kelly (well I had read Marriage of Mercy and loved it, but somehow didn’t look for more books in her name) and am glomming them up as fast as I can buy them. The Admiral’s Penniless Bride was stellar, and Miss Grimsley’s Oxford Career was adorable. I can’t get enough of these!
For the Humble Bundle, I’ve never tried anything by these authors—it’s a great price and a great charity (I buy games from them a lot, too), but I’m not a huge contemporary fan so I don’t know if any of these will catch me, and my TBR is threatening to fall on me.
So sad, I just went to Amazon to get the Book of a Thousand Days and it is back to $6.15. Oh well. Next time.
Does anyone else think the dress on this cover is the same as the one on the cover of The Admiral’s Penniless Bride?? http://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-media/product-gallery/0373288581
Book of a Thousand Days is the next book my preteen daughter and I are reading together. I can’t wait! The last one, Shiver, was a werewolf catastrophe.
@Erin Well spotted! Totally the same dress.