The Black Lyon
The Black Lyon by Jude Deveraux is $3.99! This is one of the first romances Deveraux published. It came out in 1980 and has Old Skool qualities, but many readers say this is the book that turned them into Deveraux fans. I will also mention that if rape is a trigger for you, avoid this book or at least read cautiously. Any Bitchery members care to add their thoughts?
A Classic Love Story of a Fearless Lord and the Woman Who Tamed Him
Darkly handsome and rich beyond imagining, the bold English conqueror was called “the Black Lyon” for his lionlike ferocity. He had no match among enemies, or women…until he met Lyonene, the green-eyed beauty whose fiery spirit equaled his own.
Through a whirlwind romance and stormy marriage, she endured every peril to be by his side, until vicious lies and jealousy drove her into danger. Now only the fierce Black Lyon can save her—for he alone has the courage to destroy the ruthless plot threatening to shatter the bond of love the Lyon and his lady vowed would never be broken…
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If He’s Sinful by Hannah Howell is $1.99! This is the second book in the paranormal historical Wherlocke series. We had the first book, If He’s Wicked ( A | BN | K | G | AB | Au | Scribd ), featured a couple in the past and I know a few readers picked it up. Some reader mention the hero is kind of an asshat at first, though many found the heroine strong and feisty. It has a 4.1-star rating on Goodreads.
Secrecy and intrigue ignite dangerous passions in New York Times bestselling author Hannah Howell’s seductive new novel…
It is whispered throughout London that the members of the Wherlocke family are possessed of certain unexplainable gifts. But Lord Ashton Radmoor is skeptical—until he finds an innocent beauty lying drugged and helpless in the bedroom of a brothel.
The mystery woman is Penelope Wherlocke, and her special gift of sight is leading her deep into a dangerous world of treachery and betrayal. Ashton knows he should forget her, yet he’s drawn deeper into the vortex of her life, determined to keep her safe. But Penelope is no ordinary woman, and she’s never met the man strong enough to contend with her unusual abilities.
Until now…
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We also may use affiliate links in our posts, as well. Thanks!The Lotus Palace
The Lotus Palace by Jeannie Lin is 99c! Thanks to Reader Peg E. for the head’s up about the sale! This is a historical romance/mystery with class differences. Some readers mentioned it was hard to get into at first, but once they did, they couldn’t put it down. It has a 3.8-star rating on Goodreads.
It is a time of celebration in the Pingkang Li, where imperial scholars and bureaucrats mingle with beautiful courtesans. At the center is the Lotus Palace, home of the most exquisite courtesans in China…
Maidservant Yue-ying is not one of those beauties. Street-smart and practical, she’s content to live in the shadow of her infamous mistress—until she meets the aristocratic playboy Bai Huang.
Bai Huang lives in a privileged world Yue-ying can barely imagine, yet alone share, but as they are thrown together in an attempt to solve a deadly mystery, they both start to dream of a different life. Yet Bai Huang’s position means that all she could ever be to him is his concubine—will she sacrifice her pride to follow her heart?
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We also may use affiliate links in our posts, as well. Thanks!At the King’s Command
At the King’s Command by Susan Wiggs is $1.99! This is the first book in the Tudor Rose trilogy, though I will warn you that the book isn’t quite historically accurate. However, it will always hold a special place in my heart since it’s the first book I reviewed for Smart Bitches and I gave it a C+:
I will say that I commend Ms. Wiggs on not rushing into intimacy. All too often, there’s that need to consummate or legitimize a fake marriage when the characters haven’t been developed enough to warrant a meaningful exchange. In fact, the first intimate scene is completely one-sided. Hooray for a man tending to his lady’s needs, even if he is an insufferable ass afterwards.
The book was originally published in the mid-nineties under the title Circle in the Water. You can grab the entire trilogy for less than $7!
Frustrated by his own failures at matrimony, King Henry VIII punishes an insolent nobleman by commanding him to marry the vagabond woman caught stealing his horse. Stephen de Lacey is a cold and bitter widower, long accustomed to the sovereign’s capricious and malicious whims. He regards his new bride as utterly inconvenient though undeniably fetching.
But Juliana Romanov is no ordinary thief she is a Russian princess forced into hiding by the traitorous cabal who slaughtered her family. One day she hopes to return to Muscovy to seek vengeance.
What begins as a mockery of a marriage ultimately blossoms into deepest love.
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I enjoyed The Lotus Palace and would recommend getting it, especially on sale. I enjoyed the historical aspect, looking at a time and place that is not commonly used. The H/h seemed real as did the conflict and the mystery.
I want these all!!! There is not a book in this post that I wasn’t instantly intrigued by!!! I’m off to finish off Amazon giftcard and I guess I’ll see my husband next week! ☆♡☆
I can’t praise The Lotus Palace enough. I enjoyed it so much that I immediately bought the rest of Jeannie Lin’s back catalog.
Another Yes! For The Lotus Palace. Unusual setting, characters I loved.
I loved “The Lotus Palace,” and need to pick up the sequel at some point….
One-clicked The Lotus Palace this morning based on the previous novella “Capturing the Silken Thief” and the unrelated “Gunpowder Alchemy” and just finished reading it in one sitting, even though I had other plans for this Sunday. Thank you, Ms. Lin!
I would recommend staying far away from The Black Lyon, not just because of the rapiness. I read it many years ago, as one of the first romances I picked up, thinking “cool, medieval!” and thought BOTH main characters were TSTL. Plus the multiple rapes. By the hero. Which he himself calls “rape” which actually bugged my inner medievalist because what he does wouldn’t be called that under medieval law (since the Latin “raptus” really has more to do with kidnapping, or alienation of chattel – same root as “rapture” or “rapt” – literally “taken away”). So the “hero” has enough of a totally anachronistic sensibility to be AWARE that he’s being an alphahole….and he is anyway. Repeatedly. There are ACTUAL medieval characters written in the 14th C who are less obnoxious than that, which is saying something.
“But Juliana Romanov is no ordinary thief she is a Russian princess forced into hiding by the traitorous cabal who slaughtered her family.”
I wouldn’t read this book if it was given to me for free. It literally takes 30 seconds to google both Russian names of that era and whether or not 15 century Russia had princesses, which it did not. It would take less than that to find out when the Romanov dynasty came to power (her being a “princess” and all), which was almost a FULL century later. You would think a Harvard educated author would do at least that much research when writing a historical. I realize that a certain suspension of disbelief is a requirement when reading romance, but she managed to make me actually angry with that one sentence. I don’t require 100% historical accuracy to enjoy a book, but I require at least an attempt at an accurate portrayal of an entire culture (two actually, since “Julianna” is disguised as a gypsy) and the absolute minimum of research.
/rant over. I’m going to go get a calming cup of coffee and continue rereading the In Death series before I break my computer to pieces.
I rarely remember a specific line from any book, but “You’re the Black Lyon all over!” has stuck with me for 36 years.
Love the “Lotus Palace”! Nice break from western historicals.
I absolutely love Jeannie Lin’s books and I urge anyone who hasn’t read them to start immediately!
I am going to be the dissenter and say I had problems with The Lotus Palace. It was nice to get a look at an unfamiliar setting (although I seem to recall that people who know the history have criticized Lin’s portrayal) and I enjoyed the mystery plot. But the ending pissed me off. I go into detail why in comment 7 of this thread.
@Vasha – I think your link is broken. Can you repost it? I can see why the ending would be implausible, but overall the mystery aspect and the characters and setting made the book worthwhile for me. Still, I’d be interested in knowledgeable criticism.
@Rebecca: Here’s the relevant part of my comment
. At one point the H saves the h from the bad guys, and afterward they have sex, and it’s different from when they did before (which I had liked because he was gentle and not completely overbearing). I quote:
There was a quiet urgency in him she’d never experienced before…. Beneath his expensive clothing, Bai Huang wasn’t dissolute and sheltered. He was fierce when pushed to it. Protective. When he eased himself into her, it was as if he belonged there, his body fitting inside her until there was no room in her heart or mind for anything else…. There were no preliminaries, no soft caresses or whispered words. Though sensation built within her, the act wasn’t as much about pleasure as it was about possession. Even when he took her breast into his mouth as her pleasure rose, it was an attempt to claim her further. His tongue rasped against her nipple until she wept and moaned. With each thrust of his hips, he was willing her climax, her surrender to him. And she did surrender, her muscles taut and straining until she thought she would break.
In other words, he has now matured and earned full hero status, and marks it by dominating and possessing the heroine fully for the first time (an idea repeated during the rest of the book). Which is clearly the author’s point of view not merely a historically-appropriate one. To which I say, yuck. This idea that a fully-worthy hero, by virtue of being protective, owns his woman and obtains her utter surrender—no, no, no; especially when lots of ink was spilled earlier about her desire not to be owned by anyone. That one page was almost enough to kill my respect for the book entirely.
@Vasha – Thanks. Totally fair point, and I’ll admit I was skimming at that point because I wanted to find out what happened.
FWIW, I thought the first sex scene was heartrending (and emotionally realistic) because the hero WAS trying to be sensitive and not overbearing, and yet so TOTALLY misread the heroine. A tragedy of two well intentioned people who try to communicate and be considerate, and end up missing the mark in various ways. (Even the attempt at birth control – and ten hurrays for that – makes the heroine feel cheap and used, which is totally not the intention.)
I read the scene you had problems with (and again, I was reading in a hurry, not looking at specific word choice) as being a deliberate contrast to that scene, both in that it’s one where the H/h are physically in sync in terms of desire, and also that Huang is less controlled. It’s great that he carefully woos someone who is essentially the victim of repeated rapes with very careful physical contact before that scene – but he always has ALL the power, and at a certain point watching him stop being careful in his physical interactions with Yue-ying seemed to me to signal his vulnerability as much as his possessiveness. The perfect seducer always places his lover’s needs first, because it’s a game. Being needy, clingy, and possessive are traits of children – and while we strive to outgrow them, they are also signs that we’re not putting on a mask around people we need and trust.
But I can see how your mileage might vary on that.
The Lotus Palace was floating around on my kindle app from February 2014 when it appeared here as a recommended sale book. Last month a clumsy finger selected it, and since it was opened, I peeked inside. And that was The End of all other plans for the afternoon. I purchased the sequel that evening and read it the next day and found both books to be deeply satisfying.
Ooh, Jeannie Lin! The Lotus Place was okay (though the protagonist is a bit of an asshat) but the sequel is really really good!