Mockingbird by Chuck Wendig is $1.99 today, as is The Cormorant. Both are Kindle Daily Deals but I haven't seen any price matching kick in. Mockingbird is book 2 in the Miriam Black series, and The Cormorant is book 3. (Book 1, Blackbirds, is $4.89.) This is a very dark urban fantasy/thriller series with a morally abiguous heroine, and it has a 4+ star average.
Miriam is trying. Really, she is.
But this whole “settling down thing” that Louis has going for her just isn't working out. She lives on Long Beach Island all year around. Her home is a run-down double-wide trailer. She works at a grocery store as a check-out girl. And her relationship with Louis–who's on the road half the time in his truck–is subject to the piss and vinegar Miriam brings to everything she does.
It just isn't going well. Still, she's keeping her psychic ability–to see when and how someone is going to die just by touching them–in check. But even that feels wrong somehow. Like she's keeping a tornado stoppered up in a tiny bottle.
Then comes one bad day that turns it all on her ear.
Parallel by Lauren Miller is $1.99. This is a YA sci-fi novel about a girl who discovers her choices are affecting a parallel version of herself in an alternate reality. It's a mix of fantasy, sci-fi and romance, and it has a 3.85-star review average on GR.
Abby Barnes had a plan. The Plan. She'd go to Northwestern, major in journalism, and land a job at a national newspaper, all before she turned twenty-two. But one tiny choice—taking a drama class her senior year of high school—changed all that. Now, on the eve of her eighteenth birthday, Abby is stuck on a Hollywood movie set, miles from where she wants to be, wishing she could rewind her life. The next morning, she's in a dorm room at Yale, with no memory of how she got there. Overnight, it's as if her past has been rewritten.
With the help of Caitlin, her science-savvy BFF, Abby discovers that this new reality is the result of a cosmic collision of parallel universes that has Abby living an alternate version of her life. And not only that: Abby's life changes every time her parallel self makes a new choice. Meanwhile, her parallel is living out Abby's senior year of high school and falling for someone Abby's never even met.
As she struggles to navigate her ever-shifting existence, forced to live out the consequences of a path she didn't choose, Abby must let go of the Plan and learn to focus on the present, without losing sight of who she is, the boy who might just be her soul mate, and the destiny that's finally within reach.
Goodreads | Amazon | BN | Kobo
Chasing the Star Garden is .99c at Amazon. This is a steampunk romance adventure story that is tagged as YA at GR, but is about a racing pilot heroine who is Lord Byron's lover and who has a problem with opium and absinthe. It has a fair amount of sexual content, according to the reviews. This is book 1 of a series, and book 2, Chasing the Green Fairy, is out now, priced at $2.99
An opium-addicted beauty.
An infamous poet living in self-imposed exile.
An ancient treasure about to fall into the wrong hands.
Melanie Karsak's Chasing the Star Garden takes readers on a thrilling adventure from the gritty opium dens of gaslamp London to the gem-colored waters of the ancient world. Lily Stargazer, a loveable but reckless airship racer with a famous lover and shattered past, reluctantly plunges into a centuries-old mystery in a romantic adventure best described as Dan Brown meets Mary Shelley.
It all begins on one of the worst days of Lily’s life. She just lost the London leg of the 1823 Airship Grand Prix. To top it off, a harlequin fleeing from constables shoved a kaleidoscope down her pants, told her to fly to Venice, then threw himself from her airship tower. What’s a girl to do? For Lily, the answer is easy: drink absinthe and smoke opium.
Lily’s lover, Lord Byron, encourages her to make the trip to Venice. Lily soon finds herself at the heart of an ancient mystery which has her running from her past and chasing true love and the stars along the way.
*Due to steamy scenes and depictions of drug use, this novel is intended for mature readers.
The Sweetest Dark by Shana Abe is $1.99. This is YA historical fantasy with dragons, magic, and OF COURSE an ethereal prom dress on the cover. Some readers really liked the story and the writing, while others did not like the increasing focus on the romance and the way that plotline becomes dominant midway through. Have you read this book?
“With every fiber of my being, I yearned to be normal. To glide through my days at Iverson without incident. But I’d have to face the fact that my life was about to unfold in a very, very different way than I’d ever envisioned. Normal would become forever out of reach.”
Lora Jones has always known that she’s different. On the outside, she appears to be an ordinary sixteen-year-old girl. Yet Lora’s been keeping a heartful of secrets: She hears songs that no one else can hear, dreams vividly of smoke and flight, and lives with a mysterious voice inside her that insists she’s far more than what she seems.
England, 1915. Raised in an orphanage in a rough corner of London, Lora quickly learns to hide her unique abilities and avoid attention. Then, much to her surprise, she is selected as the new charity student at Iverson, an elite boarding school on England’s southern coast. Iverson’s eerie, gothic castle is like nothing Lora has ever seen. And the two boys she meets there will open her eyes and forever change her destiny.
Jesse is the school’s groundskeeper—a beautiful boy who recognizes Lora for who and what she truly is. Armand is a darkly handsome and arrogant aristocrat who harbors a few closely guarded secrets of his own. Both hold the answers to her past. One is the key to her future. And both will aim to win her heart. As danger descends upon Iverson, Lora must harness the powers she’s only just begun to understand, or else lose everything she dearly loves.
Filled with lush atmosphere, thrilling romance, and ancient magic, The Sweetest Dark brilliantly captures a rich historical era while unfolding an enchanting love story that defies time.
I haven’t read Blckbird or Mockingbird but I have a word of warning and a word of encouragement. Warning – they are said to be very, very gritty, dark, and violent. Encouragement – they are also said to be very, very good.
I wanted to comment on Eloisa James review, but comments are closed?
Would second the comments on the Blackbirds series. They’re urban fantasy by way of Quentin Tarentino. Be aware of that, set your expectations accordingly, and they can be a lot of fun.
@Emily – my fault. I fixed!
@Rain & Carrie:
Thank you for those comment/warnings!
I liked Blackbird though very dark and I am not sure I’m going to read the rest of the series. Lots of violence. But engrossing.