It’s not summer, so I’ll get a new icon for the bookclub, but it’s still Sizzling, so it’s time for the next pick in the Smart Bitches Sizzling Book Club for October! You ready?
I tweeted about it over the summer while I read it, painstakingly typing in each line that rocked me, and there were a LOT of them. Prepare yourself for good writing, really really GOOD writing, mayhem, diabolical plots and Romancing-the-Stone-esque adventure: the October book is Scoundrel by Zoe Archer.
The description:
The Blades of the Rose are sworn to protect the sources of magic in the world. But the work is dangerous—and they can’t always protect their own. . .
London Harcourt’s father is bent on subjugating the world’s magic to British rule. But since London is a mere female, he hasn’t bothered to tell her so. He’s said only that he’s leading a voyage to the Greek isles. No matter, after a smothering marriage and three years of straitlaced widowhood, London jumps at the opportunity—unfortunately, right into the arms of Bennett Day.
Bennett is a ladies’ man, when he’s not dodging lethal attacks to protect the powers of the ancients from men like London’s father. Sometimes, he’s a ladies’ man even when he is dodging them. But the minute he sees London he knows she will require his full attention. The woman is lovely, brilliant, and the only known speaker of a dialect of ancient Greek that holds the key to calling down the wrath of the gods. Bennett will be risking his life again—but around London, what really worries him is the danger to his heart. . .
The story is a mix of historical, adventure, and paranormal and the writing and the plot, I think, will give us a lot to talk about.
The story takes you everywhere you’ve rarely been in a romance, and if that cover copy isn’t really giving you the WANNAREADIT feeling, have a look at some of the #scoundrel lines I tweeted back in August (I apologize that I couldn’t find a better archive).
You can get a digital copy from the Smart Bitch Sizzling Book Club partner All Romance eBooks with a sexy 50% rebate – just use coupon code “SBTBARE” at checkout. You can also shop at Amazon or the bookstore of your choice. Who am I to stop you from buying books?
I’m going to schedule the book club chat for the final week in October, so stay tuned for that announcement – you’ll have plenty of time to read. I hope you enjoy this pick, as I cannot wait to discuss it with you. Happy reading!
But wait, there’s more! As a bonus Friday Video, here’s Zoe Archer’s video message about the book club.
I’m so excited to read this book! Sounds awesome!
I love the video!
spamword: thought52
Excellent! These books, like, Zoe herself, rock.
BTW…ask Zoe about what’s tattooed on her hip.
Ok, totally didn’t even read this post because I should be getting out the door instead of stopping by SB’s…I will come back and read it later, promise!
But I had to say, the dude on the cover looks like he mugged Brendan Fraser’s character from The Mummy and stole all his clothes.
*snort* Okay…I have to buy the book simply because I loved the video. Looking forward to the discussion.
Eugh! I lost interest when I saw the names of the heroes were London and Bennett…wtf!
I bought the book, but just wanted to say that there was no sign of any discount, I tried to enter the coupon code upon checkout, but had to pay full price. This happened last time as well, when I bought the Kristan Higgins book. Does the code not work for non-US residents?
LOVED the video! I can’t wait to read this one.
@Malin – You get a 50% rebate, not a 50% discount. If you go to your account and log in, you’ll like see a link that says Assign/Gift. Click on it and then assign the bucks to you account if you intend to use them yourself.
If you or anyone has continued issues or questions, please write and let us know. We’ll walk you through the process.
Good lord, this book sounds awesome. If the chat’s scheduled for a time I can make it, I’m totally in. 🙂 And I’m reading it anyway!
*runs off to check and see if the B&N store has it for the nook*
Anyone else notice that the cover model’s outfit is very Firefly-esque? He just needs a brown coat.
Dang! Beaten to the Brendan Fraser closet raider comment! But I’m all for O’Connell clones so . . .
This sounds like a fun story, but the cover has got to go. I snicker every time I look at it. Seriously.
@Rima –
Seriously? You don’t like the cover? I thought it rocked.
@Anna –
If you need instructions on how to transfer titles purchased from ARe to your Nook – we can walk you through it. Easy peasy. Send a request to service @ allromanceebooks.com
LOVE, LOVE this book!! It will take you away to the Greek Islands!
@Lori: I’m a techie, and I’m comfy with getting books from non-B&N sources onto the nook. Thanks for asking, though! I just yanked down samples of both this book and the first one in the series, to see if the writing delivers on the promise of Awesome.
I’ll tell you what’ll get me to jump over to buy from your site instead of B&N, though: if you have no or at least better DRM…? What’s your DRM situation?
Meanwhile, for the record, I’m joining the camp of yeah, this dude on the cover rocks. That kind of outfit on a hero on a cover is way, way sexier to me than an over-muscled shirtless guy with a sword and tattoos. 😉 That said? If this guy mugged Brendan Fraser (as a Firefly devotee, I must express my disbelief that he could have successfully robbed Malcolm Reynolds 😉 ), then the dude on the cover of Book 1 totally mugged Indiana Jones.
And I am QUITE all right with that!
I have to read this from her video alone. That was great!
@Anna
Is there such a thing as better DRM? Whether DRM is applied or not is really a decision that’s made by the publisher in most cases. Of course, there are some bookstores that wrap DRM around books – Amazon, B&N, Apple. We don’t apply any DRM to our titles. We’re very pro open format. That being said, we do understand that some publishers will absolutely not sell their works unless DRM is applied. So we do accept and sell books that have DRM. Scoundrel does because the publisher has it applied. The version we have is the standard Secure Adobe ePub. You can purchase it and transfer it onto your Nook.
Ack. Sarah! I’ve been waiting for your review of this since I first saw you tweeting about it! Your tweets also made me discover Zoe, and become totally psyched about the whole series. Really, those covers (Indiana Jones AND Firefly influences, how much more drooling can I get), those blurbs, that lovely British bloke talking as Gabriel on the trailer.
I really enjoyed Warrior – Thalia is one of the best romance heroines I’ve encountered in a long time, and Gabriel was gruff but very much swoon worthy. (I wrote a review as well).
And since I read all your funny quotes, I’m suspecting Scoundrel might even be better 🙂
So I’m really crossing my fingers that the chat will be on a time slot that is Europe friendly, because I soooo want to be there!
Just finished Zoe’s first book – Warrior – it was an awesome blend of genres and I felt like I was with her in Mongolia and the Gobi. I love love love camels ever since Mr. Richland and I went to see Lawrence on an early date. I’ve already hand-shopped Warrior to a friend, and I’m looking forward to Scoundrel. Nice to see her series here! I’m also, selfishly, hoping these are wildly successful and create a hunger in New York for many more globe-trotting romances …
Ack, I totally pressed the stop subscribing link instead of the go to comment link. So commenting to get subscribed again.
@Anna R. I really hope this becomes a whole new rage too.
Can’t wait! This one sounds like tons o’ fun!
Though FYI – the Amazon link above takes you to a completely different book…
@Jan: what time zone are you? I’m more than happy to be flexible on the time of the chat, if I can since I’m US East Coast, and I *think* Zoe is US West coast. Which time zone are you?
I’m CET, which is GMT +2. If it’s in the weekend, I’m totally willing to stay up late 🙂
I know #writechat has a nice enough timing for me, which is Every Sunday at 12:00 pm PST / 3:00 pm EST (and lasting approximately 3 hours);
because that’s 10 in the evening until midnight for me, but I can definitely handle 2 hours later.
I know UK is GMT+1 now, so that might work for those readers as well.
I hate timezones though, someone is always missing out.
Jan: I am going to have to ponder that – I would love to make it so you and other folks in Europe could tune in. Thank you!
@Lori: Fair point, well argued! Let’s say less “better DRM” and more “less annoying”. 😉 In my case this means, can I read it everywhere I may want to read it? Not only on my nook, but also on my iPhone, and sometimes even just on my computer.
By Adobe ePub do you mean Adobe Digital Editions? Last I checked they don’t play nicely with my iPhone. But I also saw that your mobile site talks to Stanza, which of course would play nicely with my iPhone. So can I buy one copy from you all that I could read on both of my devices AND on the computer? If so, I’ll poke around your site and see if you have enough other things I might want to buy that the offered rebate would be useful to me. 🙂
@lori – Nobody stands like that. Unless they’re Captain Morgan. He looks stiff, not real.
@Anna the Piper
True, that. Mal could definitely take him.
@Rima – OMG! You’re so right. That’s totally the Captain Morgan pose. I know want to play with the cover in photo shop. LOL! But that would be wrong. Right?
@Anna – You’re right – the Secure ePub won’t play nice with your mobile device. I keep begging Adobe to make a Mobile App. They aren’t listening to me. You can read secure eReader via Stanza, but not all publishers create that format. *sigh*
Mal could take anybody. Especially me 🙂
This looks like a lot of fun although I must admit, when I was skimming across the page I thought the cover guy was Ahh from the Evil Dead at first. He’s got the pose down! Boomstick just out of shot.
SB Sarah. Scoundel. (2nd para) smirk.
Maybe it’s b/c I’m a teacher but didn’t it bother anyone else that Bennett is basically a dog name? In lots of kids’ books, memorably in American Girls Molly series, Bennett is the dog.
Still want to read it and loved the spunky video.
Also appreciate all comment allusions to Brendan Fraser as he used to be yummy circa George of the Jungle.
Imagine the trauma when I popped Inkheart in the dvd player and he was THE DAD.
Yay! I just finished reading Scoundrel on my iphone Kindle app, on subways and trains, in airports and museums. Can’t wait to discuss it with everyone!
I had the pleasure of chatting with her once about writing on another blog and thought she rocked. The video proves it and now I need to read her books.
YAY! I’ve really been looking forward to this one! Between Sarah’s tweets over the summer, and having enjoyed Half Past Dead (another Blade of the Rose story) (and dude! zombies! can I just say how friggin awesome that was?!)… I am obviously PSYCHED! WOOHOO!!
@Lori: So, it sounds like my particular book-buying needs will be better suited on B&N then, since it sounds like with your site, I can either read on my nook, or on my iPhone, but not on both. Bugger! I really appreciate you hanging out on this thread to answer these questions though and I made an effort to look over your site’s FAQ to see if there was ANY way I could make this work, just because that was awesome of you. So thank you!
@ Anna
Thanks for giving us a try. We do have TONS of open format books that you can read on both the Nook and the iPhone – but alas not this book. Since Amazon purchased Stanza, I’ve stopped holding my breath for the release that will allow for the reading of Secure Adobe ePub and Secure Adobe files. A great disappointment.
I have heard Beta Testing is underway for Aldiko’s incorporation of Secure Adobe ePub and Secure Adobe. Great news for Android owners.
This looks like some prime one liners in this book 😉 nice choice Sarah I will have to procure me a copy tomorrow and let the goodtimes begin. I love this Book Chat 😉
Did you ever got the three wolf moon pick from the shirt winner two chats back?
I am on the West Coast
That video rocks hard! lulz
Already bought the book, but am especially excited to read it now.
Glad to see all the Mummy/Firefly lovin’ brethren on here! 😉
I’m hoping to remember the time difference for this month’s book club chat.
:facepalm:
Kinda forgot the 3 hour difference last month…
Sarah, you wrote, “It’s not summer,” but it is in Hawaii all year round! I know you can’t please everyone with the time (so I won’t even request you consider Hawaii time). But could you do a recap for those who miss the chat?
Been in Maui for the week with no Internet … amazing how many books I finished without distractions! Looking forward to reading Scoundrel on the North Shore!