Girl Least Likely to Marry by Amy Andrews comes out on 15 October, and right now it's free for preorder. Free! WOO! I met Amy Andrews in Australia when she and I were on a panel that was broadcast on ABC radio. The host had a lot of questions about her books (specifically the sexual content thereof) and Amy fielded each one with aplomb and a great deal of humor, showing so much confidence in her own writing – it was excellent. And it made me extra curious about her books, too. This one features a scientist heroine and a hero who is a former professional athlete.
Talk nerdy to me
Samuel Tucker is absolutely the last person scientist Cassie Barclay would ever date. Yes, he's gorgeous, but he's also far too cocky for his own good and thinks that Pi is a tasty afternoon treat. So when he asks her to dance at her friend Reese's non-wedding she's wondering why on earth she says yes!
Tuck is used to people assuming he's all brawn and no brain, and amuses himself by winding Cassie up. But when he finally takes her to bed, suddenly it's Tuck who can show Cassie a thing or two! Can he convince her that love and sex have nothing to do with logic and everything to do with chemistry?
Goodreads | Amazon | BN | Sony | Kobo | iBooks
Also of note: Most if not all the books in the Harlequin KISS line are $1.99 right now – and those that have been free previously are still available at the lovely price of $0.00. Do you have any that you recommend?
READER RECOMMENDED: Song of Achilles – Enhanced Kindle Edition, by Madeline Miller, is $1.99 right now at Amazon. The enhanced edition has audio and video additions to the text. This deal was sent to me by Heather S, who had many glowing things to say about this book. She wrote:
This book is a fantastic read – great for fans of historical fiction, fans of m/m romance (Miller more than gives the romance between Achilles and Patroclus the credit it deserves), and people who just love a great story. I loved this book so much that I read two chapters and bought it new… in hardcover… in the bookstore… the week after it came out. Madeline has been compared to Ancient Grecian fiction queen Mary Renault – and the praise is well-deserved.
Enter the world of Homer's ancient Greece with the enhanced e-book edition of The Song of Achilles. This edition lets you further engage with this compelling story through video interviews with Madeline Miller and Gregory Maguire, bestselling author of the Wicked series, clips from the audio book at the start of each chapter, an illustrated map, and a pop-up gallery featuring over 40 images and descriptions of the characters, armor, and ships found in the book.
The legend begins…
Greece in the age of heroes. Patroclus, an awkward young prince, has been exiled to the kingdom of Phthia to be raised in the shadow of King Peleus and his golden son, Achilles. “The best of all the Greeks”—strong, beautiful, and the child of a goddess—Achilles is everything the shamed Patroclus is not. Yet despite their differences, the boys become steadfast companions. Their bond deepens as they grow into young men and become skilled in the arts of war and medicine—much to the displeasure and the fury of Achilles' mother, Thetis, a cruel sea goddess with a hatred of mortals.
When word comes that Helen of Sparta has been kidnapped, the men of Greece, bound by blood and oath, must lay siege to Troy in her name. Seduced by the promise of a glorious destiny, Achilles joins their cause, and torn between love and fear for his friend, Patroclus follows. Little do they know that the Fates will test them both as never before and demand a terrible sacrifice.
Built on the groundwork of the Iliad, Madeline Miller's page-turning, profoundly moving, and blisteringly paced retelling of the epic Trojan War marks the launch of a dazzling career.
Please note that due to the large file size of these special features this enhanced e-book may take longer to download then a standard e-book.
The Memento Nora series by Angie Smibert is a Kindle Daily Deal today (14 October 2013)- all three books are $1.99. Memento Nora, book 1, is a dystopian science fiction YA, with a bit of romance, about a world where you can erase memories with a pill. Book 2, The Forgetting Curve, and book 3, The Meme Plague, are also $1.99 today.
On an otherwise glossy day, a blast goes off and a body thuds to the ground at Nora's feet. There are terrorist attacks in the city all the time, but Nora can't forget.
In Nora's world you don't have to put up with nightmares. Nora goes with her mother to TFC–a Therapeutic Forgetting Clinic. There, she can describe her horrible memory and take a pill to erase it so she can go on like nothing ever happened. But at TFC a chance encounter with a mysterious guy changes Nora's life. She doesn't take the pill. And when Nora learns the memory her mother has chosen to forget, she realizes that someone needs to remember.
With newfound friends Micah and Winter, Nora makes a comic book of their memories called Memento. Memento is an instant hit, but it sets off a dangerous chain of events. Will Nora, Micah, and Winter be forced to take the Big Pill that will erase their memories forever?
Angie Smibert's remarkable debut novel takes readers on a thrilling ride through a shadowy world where corporations secretly rule and consumerism is praised above all.
The Quarry, by the late Iain M. Banks, is $2.99 today. This is a Kindle Daily Deal but the price has been matched elsewhere. This was Banks' last book, published after he announced that he had terminal cancer in April, days before he died in June 2013. Reviewers have tagged this as “contemporary British literature,” and it's about a man who is dying of cancer.
Kit doesn’t know who his mother is. What he does know, however, is that his father, Guy, is dying of cancer.
Feeling his death is imminent, Guy gathers around him his oldest friends – or at least the friends with the most to lose by his death.
Paul – the rising star in the Labour party who dreads the day a tape they all made at university might come to light; Alison and Robbie, corporate bunnies whose relationship is daily more fractious; Pris and Haze, once an item, now estranged, and finally Hol – friend, mentor, former lover and the only one who seemed to care.
But what will happen to Kit when Guy is gone? And why isn’t Kit’s mother in the picture? As the friends reunite for Guy’s last days, old jealousies, affairs and lies come to light as Kit watches on.
Goodreads | Amazon | BN | Sony | Kobo | iBooks
The Marquess of Cake by Heather Hiestand is $1.99. This is a Victorian historical romance about a young woman who works in her father's shop, and – yes – a marquess who is smitten with her fine sugary skills.
Scotch trifle fit for Queen Victoria, scones with clotted cream…Alys Redcake knows the way to a man’s heart. Yet she is unaware that with each morsel—and flash of ankle—she is seducing the handsome marquess frequenting her father’s tea shop. Unmarried at twenty-six, Alys’s first love is the family business. But thoughts of the gentleman’s touch are driving her to distraction…
With his weakness for sugar, the Marquess of Hatbrook can imagine no more desirable woman than one scented with cake and spice. Mistaking Alys for a mere waitress, he has no doubt she would make a most delicious mistress. And when he finds himself in need of an heir, he plans to make her his convenient bride. Yet as they satisfy their craving for one another, business and pleasure suddenly collide. Will Hatbrook’s passion for sweets—and for Alys—be his heart’s undoing?
I enjoyed two Harlequin Kiss books by Kimberly Lang, The Downfall of a Good Girl and The Taming of a Wild Child. Both set in New Orleans, both really fun and sexy.
I picked Memento Nora up last time it was a kindle daily deal and it was a real disappointment for me. It has such a cool concept but reads like a middle grade book. It’s not bad but I’d recommend it more for people looking for reading material for their kids. Thanks for pointing out Song of Achilles! That’s been on my TBR list for a while.
I got an advanced copy of Girl Least Likely to Marry and YAY! It was sassy, sexy, laugh-out-loud fun. Amy spins a sexy yarn—that’s Aussie-speak for ‘she tells a good tale’ with, as Sarah said, ‘aplomb and humor.’
Yay for free books! I only got around to reading the first few books in the KISS line, but my favorite was “How To Get Over Your Ex” by Nikki Logan. The heroine, Georgia, is a botanist, if my memory serves correctly, and she describes herself at one point as a “cat lady of trailing ferns”. I loved Georgia because she’s open to trying new things and learns as she goes through her year of experiences that who she is is a good person, and that she loves and values herself – and that value doesn’t come only with being half of a couple.
Summary: “Being rejected is one thing. Being rejected live on radio takes it to a whole new level!
After her on-air proposal is turned down by her commitment-phobe boyfriend, Georgia Stone must learn to survive singledom. Unfortunately, thanks to a clause in her contract, she has to do it under the watchful gaze of brooding radio producer Zander Rush.
And so begins the Year of Georgia! Lurching from salsa classes to spy school, Georgia discovers a taste for adventure. Her biggest thrill so far? Flirting with danger—aka the enigmatic Zander. But admitting she’s ready for more than just a fling…? Definitely Georgia’s scariest challenge yet!”
I absolutely adored “The Song of Achilles”. Wonderful, wonderful book. I haven’t quite figured out why there are two Kindle versions, but the only one that goes on sale is the one with all the bells and whistles. I guess the regular version going on sale would make sense, which is why it doesn’t happen.
But seriously. If you love historical fiction and/or m/m romance, you HAVE to read this book. After that, you can borrow my copy of “The Persian Boy”, because you’re gonna be on an Ancient Greece historical glom.
The Song of Achilles is one of the best books I’ve read this year. Loved it.
I read “Girl Least Likely to Marry” last night even though the first couple of chapters pissed me off so badly that I almost didn’t finish it. The female scientist is written SO POORLY I was nearly speechless with the RAGE! I’m pretty sure this author doesn’t even know any female scientists or if she does, she hates them. I feel like it was a clumsy, stereotype laden cartoon of what she thought female scientist would be if the author came of age in the 50’s or 60’s.
The heroine is completely non-sexual until she meets the hero and his magic wang and so focused on her goals and objectives that she is actually hurtful to the people around her, plus a really crappy dresser who doesn’t even know how to put on lipstick (the horror) with a little Spock “but that would be illogical” thrown into the mix. Of course the minute she touches the hero she is consumed with a crazy attack of INSTALOVE. But it is so confusing…what is this strange feeling? What could it be? She doesn’t believe in love, of course, so it can’t be that. Argggggggh.
I am a nerd lady scientist who obtained a doctorate in a “hard” science and while I’ll give you the crappy dresser part, the rest was so far from my own experience or through my interactions with other female graduate students and post-docs that the book stupefied me. I had to finish it just so I could see how terrible it was. In a way it would have been better if it continued down it’s terrible path and made her give up her career aspirations for LUUUURVE. But no, so she gets to have orgasms and her PhD. I’m so relieved.
That last line of copy for Girl Least Likely to Marry (which is a great title) shows such promise! I would love to read a romance with scientists sweet-talking each other about the chemical basis of attraction. Clearly this won’t be it.