-
Jade City
Jade City by Fonda Lee is $2.99! This is part of today’s Kindle Daily Deals and it’s being price-matched. I originally thought this was YA fantasy, but I think I’m wrong and it’s adult fantasy instead. It’s also incredibly violent, according to reviews. But readers loved the worldbuilding and threads of mythology weaved into the story. To be honest, the book sounds intense and awesome. It has a 4-star rating on Goodreads.
JADE CITY is a gripping Godfather-esque saga of intergenerational blood feuds, vicious politics, magic, and kungfu.
The Kaul family is one of two crime syndicates that control the island of Kekon. It’s the only place in the world that produces rare magical jade, which grants those with the right training and heritage superhuman abilities.
The Green Bone clans of honorable jade-wearing warriors once protected the island from foreign invasion–but nowadays, in a bustling post-war metropolis full of fast cars and foreign money, Green Bone families like the Kauls are primarily involved in commerce, construction, and the everyday upkeep of the districts under their protection.
When the simmering tension between the Kauls and their greatest rivals erupts into open violence in the streets, the outcome of this clan war will determine the fate of all Green Bones and the future of Kekon itself.
Add to Goodreads To-Read List →
This book is on sale at:
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
We also may use affiliate links in our posts, as well. Thanks! -
Starling
Starling by Virginia Taylor is 99c! This is a fake relationship romance set in Australia in 1866. It’s the first book in the South Landers series and readers liked the seamstress heroine. However, other readers wanted more dynamism in the plot and its characters.
An aspiring dressmaker, orphaned Starling Smith is accustomed to fighting for her own survival. But when she’s offered a year’s wages to temporarily pose as a wealthy man’s bride, she suspects ulterior motives. She can’t lose the chance to open her own shop, but she won’t be any man’s lover, not even handsome, infuriating Alisdair Seymour’s…
To prevent his visiting sister from parading potential brides in front of him, Alisdair has decided to present a fake wife. He lost his heart once, and had it broken—he doesn’t intend to do it again. But stubborn, spirited Starling is more alluring than he bargained for, and Alisdair will risk everything he has to prove his love is true…
Set against the sweeping backdrop of 1866 South Australia, Starling is a novel of cherished dreams and powerful desires, and the young woman bold enough to claim them both…
Add to Goodreads To-Read List →
This book is on sale at:
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
We also may use affiliate links in our posts, as well. Thanks! -
Royally Deep
Royally Deep by Virna DePaul is 99c! This is the second book in the Going Deep series, though it can be read on its own. It features a princess hiding her identity and a professional football player, which seems like a heck of a lot of catnip. Readers compared this to a gender-swapped Cinderella story, but that getting through it requires some suspension of disbelief.
Take one sexy quarterback,
Mix in one adventurous princess,
Add some serious sexual tension,
And you get the royal romance of a lifetime.Kyle Young—all-star quarterback and lady-killer—thought he knew what he wanted out of life: freedom, football and fun. Then he meets Bella. She seems like the perfect woman: gorgeous, funny, and a huge football fan. But what he doesn’t know? Bella also happens to be Princess Arabella of Salasia.
Yearning for adventure and romance before she devotes herself to her country and marries a man she doesn’t love, Arabella can’t believe her luck when she meets Kyle. Sparks fly between the football player and the princess, and they begin an affair neither of them could’ve imagined.
Soon, however, duty and self-doubt cause Kyle and Arabella to separate. Can he become the prince she needs? And can Arabella overcome her family’s disapproval? Or will their love transform back into a pumpkin at midnight, leaving them both without a happily ever after?
Add to Goodreads To-Read List →
This book is on sale at:
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
We also may use affiliate links in our posts, as well. Thanks! -
Rock Rhapsody
Rock Rhapsody by Rachel Cross is 99c at Amazon and Kobo! This set features four rockstar romances, though they are on the shorter side. According to Goodreads and Amazon, the page count is a little over 750 pages. But of course, it’s still a decent bargain for less than $1!
Love marches to its own passionate beat in these four sexy stories of rock ‘n’ roll icons and the independent women who fall for them. Discover the true heroes behind the spotlights in these steamy contemporary romances.
Rock Her: Small-town nurse Kate Gibson rescues rock music’s most infamous guitarist, Alec Sawyer, in more ways than one. A 2013 finalist in the Chicago RWA Fire and Ice contest.
Rock Him: Front man Asher Lowe turns to college student Maddy Anderson to help him cope with fame and a dysfunctional family. Winner of the 2014 RomCon Readers’ Crown for single title contemporary.
Spiraling: Amy Astor, America’s ice princess, shows boy-band-heartthrob-turned-Hollywood-leading-man Shane Marx that love is stronger than addiction.
Bloom: L.A.’s charity fundraising maven Ava Bennett discovers Nathaniel Robinson is more than a surly organic farmer, but can she trust him with her heart?
Add to Goodreads To-Read List →
This book is on sale at:
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
We also may use affiliate links in our posts, as well. Thanks!
Don't want to miss an ebook sale? Sign up for our newsletter, and you'll get the week's available deals each Friday.
I skidded to a halt at this description:
Amy Astor, America’s ice princess, shows boy-band-heartthrob-turned-Hollywood-leading-man Shane Marx that love is stronger than addiction.
I don’t read rockstar romances, as they’re my anti-nip, but I imagine the addiction storyline is probably prominent in a lot of them. I lost someone I loved to heroin–and I’m sure most of the readership here has a similar story of their own–but there’s a pervasive myth that if you really love someone and they really love you, they can overcome their addiction on the strength of that love alone. That’s not how it works, and feeding into that myth reinforces a lot of horribly destructive behaviors.
Without reading the book, I don’t know what the story is–maybe the ice princess coaches him through rehab and behavioral and cognitive therapy and finds him a sponsor and a support group. That would be lovely. But the synopsis makes it sound like she loves him so hard he stops shooting up, and that’s a scary fantasy to idealize.
Yeah, that description sounds strange. Like on one hand, it’s one thing to spoil a book, but it’s another thing to come across as love curing everything in a book description. Or some character having strong mind control like a Mary Sue.
How would I rephrase this if I was an editor? I would choose something like, “That on the rock and roll road, there’s hope.” Or “With love.”
but I don’t know if that’s appropriate to the book’s contents or to it as a rock & Roll Romance since I haven’t read many of them.
Two thumbs up for Jade City. It’s The Godfather if everyone involved was a magic user. Plus it’s really refreshing to see a non medieval fantasy world.
Here’s the whole description from the solo book, which doesn’t overtly reference addiction at all:
Blue-blooded Amelia “Amy” Astor was a champion, America’s sweetheart, and on track to give the US Olympic medal glory before she gave it all up to join skating’s equivalent of the circus. Now she’s a professional princess, the lead in Enchanted Ice. But in an industry that values young, cheap, and healthy, her age, salary, and injuries are a liability.
So when she’s offered a job teaching Hollywood heartthrob Shane Marx to skate for a role in a hockey film, she leaps at the opportunity. Maybe with the right kind of exposure, she can survive one more season and put off decisions about her future a little longer. If she invites the wrong kind of exposure . . . well, there’s that pesky morals clause waiting in the wings.
Shane Marx traded his boy band dance moves in TruAchord for acting lessons years ago. His blonde, blue-eyed gorgeousness makes him the most sought after romantic comedy lead in the movie industry. But lately his clean-cut image has been tarnished by one sex scandal after another.
When America’s ice princess meets Hollywood’s hottest leading man, what could go wrong? Inside that sequined costume is a woman of steely determination who has conquered many of her demons. And beneath his sinfully attractive exterior, Shane Marx is a man still battling his.
Maybe it’s a sex “addiction” that can be “cured” with lots of boinking?
@Ren Benton — I live for your comments. If she cures him of a sex addiction with sex, I got nothin’.
@ Rose
I cannot like your comment enough.
Anne Bishop’s Marked in Flesh is 1.99 today. I believe this is the 4 book in The Others series.
***SPOILERS RE SPIRALING***
***
***
I read Spiraling and the addiction issue was actually treated with more depth then I expected. The hero has some unhealthy attitudes about sex and women which come out during the course of their relationship and leads to a breakup. He ultimately acknowledges that while he loves her, it doesn’t magically fix his problems. He ends up going to therapy and the heroine agrees to give him a second chance, but they both seem to acknowledge it’s a long road to recovery.
@Kim — that’s wonderful! Thank you for the report. The fact that it’s addressed with therapy and practicality gives me hope. <3
The first book in the Going Deep series is currently free on Amazon.