Recommended historicals on sale – with more coming this week. Woo hoo! Cold weather is coming (for some of us anyway) so if you crave warm blankets and historical romance, today is a great day.
Romancing the Duke
RECOMMENDED: Romancing the Duke by Tessa Dare is $1.99. Dude. If you like historicals that are touching and funny and charming and clever, you’ll like this.
I reviewed this when it came out and gave it a B+, saying that despite what I thought was a very quick turnaround in the hero’s feelings, “this is a unique historical. It’s not super angsty, trying to rip my emotions out of my ears slowly. It’s not super sweet because both characters have real and sometimes painful problems – either physical, emotional or both. It’s not all sparkling comedy and effervescent fluff, either. Izzy is dealing with poverty and with maintaining a legacy for her deceased father that includes repeatedly lying about how her childhood really was, and the fact that she’s an adult while the rest of the fans surrounding her father’s stories views her as a child, the centerpiece of that fairy tale world. “
In the first in Tessa Dare’s captivating Castles Ever After series, a mysterious fortress is the setting for an unlikely love . . .
As the daughter of a famed author, Isolde Ophelia Goodnight grew up on tales of brave knights and fair maidens. She never doubted romance would be in her future, too. The storybooks offered endless possibilities.
And as she grew older, Izzy crossed them off. One by one by one.
Ugly duckling turned swan?
Abducted by handsome highwayman?
Rescued from drudgery by charming prince?No, no, and… Heh.
Now Izzy’s given up yearning for romance. She’ll settle for a roof over her head. What fairy tales are left over for an impoverished twenty-six year-old woman who’s never even been kissed?
This one.
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We also may use affiliate links in our posts, as well. Thanks!A Duke of Her Own
A Duke of Her Own by Eloisa James is $2.99 right now. This is the 6th book in the Desperate Duchesses series, but if I recall correctly, I read this series completely out of order and had no problems. This book has a 4+ star average, and readers who love it (and re-read it constantly, as they wrote on GR) love the heroine and her determination to speak up for herself.
A duke must choose wisely . . .
Leopold Dautry, the notorious Duke of Villiers, must wed quickly and nobly—and his choices, alas, are few. The Duke of Montague’s daughter, Eleanor, is exquisitely beautiful and fiercely intelligent. Villiers betroths himself to her without further ado.
After all, no other woman really qualifies. Lisette, the outspoken daughter of the Duke of Gilner, cares nothing for clothing or decorum. She’s engaged to another man, and doesn’t give a fig for status or title. Half the ton believes Lisette mad—and Villiers is inclined to agree.
Torn between logic and passion, between intelligence and imagination, Villiers finds himself drawn to the very edge of impropriety. But it is not until he’s in a duel to the death, fighting for the reputation of the woman he loves, that Villiers finally realizes that the greatest risk may not be in the dueling field . . .
But in the bedroom. And the heart.
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This book is on sale at:
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We also may use affiliate links in our posts, as well. Thanks!Mr. Cavendish, I Presume
Mr. Cavendish, I Presume by Julia Quinn is $2.99 right now. This is a book that pairs with The Lost Duke of Wyndham, and both books take place back to back, with each set of characters reliving the same experiences. In my joint review with Jane from DearAuthor, I called it the Twin of Ice/Twin of Fire treatment. We gave both books a B-, and we read in opposite order – but please note, our review is a bit spoilery. Have you read this book? Did you read Wyndham as well?
There went the bride…
Amelia Willoughby has been engaged to the Duke of Wyndham for as long as she can remember. Literally. A mere six months old when the contracts were signed, she has spent the rest of her life waiting. And waiting. And waiting… for Thomas Cavendish, the oh-so-lofty duke, to finally get around to marrying her. But as she watches him from afar, she has a sneaking suspicion that he never thinks about her at all…
It’s true. He doesn’t. Thomas rather likes having a fiancée—all the better to keep the husband-hunters at bay—and he does intend to marry her… eventually. But just when he begins to realize that his bride might be something more than convenient, Thomas’s world is rocked by the arrival of his long-lost cousin, who may or may not be the true Duke of Wyndham. And if Thomas is not the duke, then he’s not engaged to Amelia. Which is the cruelest joke of all, because this arrogant and illustrious duke has made the mistake of falling in love… with his own fiancée!
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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!The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever
The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever by Julia Quinn is $3.99 right now. This is the first book in the Bevelstoke series, and it has a 3.9 star average. Readers who liked it reported being completely charmed and absorbed by the story, while others disliked the hero, but still rooted for the heroine to end up with him because she loved him.
2 March 1810 . . . Today, I fell in love.
At the age of ten, Miranda Cheever showed no signs of Great Beauty. And even at ten, Miranda learned to accept the expectations society held for her—until the afternoon when Nigel Bevelstoke, the handsome and dashing Viscount Turner, solemnly kissed her hand and promised her that one day she would grow into herself, that one day she would be as beautiful as she already was smart. And even at ten, Miranda knew she would love him forever.
But the years that followed were as cruel to Turner as they were kind to Miranda. She is as intriguing as the viscount boldly predicted on that memorable day—while he is a lonely, bitter man, crushed by a devastating loss. But Miranda has never forgotten the truth she set down on paper all those years earlier—and she will not allow the love that is her destiny to slip lightly through her fingers . . .
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A Duke of Her Own is actually $2.99.
ACK! Typo- my bad. Sorry about that.
I don’t know if this is fair/allowed, but Jo Beverley on her blog said that two of her Rogue books (#1 and #2) are $.99 on Amazon. These are no where as engaging as her Malloren universe IMHO but I like getting familiar authors on my Kindle so that if I really want to chill, they’re there. Quite a number of her other books are also “low” priced but most of those are novellas, not full length books.
I am so hoping for a sale on Georgette Heyer. I always miss those, and I’m in the mood for something old and familiar. Of course, Kindle is trying to entice me into Kindle Unlimited where these are “free.”
Just want to mention that The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever is an early Julia Quinn, even though it was published later. But don’t expect the polish of her Bridgerton books. And I hated the hero with the force of a thousand fiery suns.
Quick note about A Duke of Her Own – which I think is one of those books readers either love or hate. The hero needs to marry a well born woman because he intends to raise his formerly abandoned illegitimate children and he needs someone above reproach to pull that off. He underwent a pretty intense redemption arc during the course of the series to get to this point, so I think it’s more satisfying if you read at least the first two in the series and then book 5 before this one.
Eek! I like those Jo Beverleys, although the second one has Issues (you know, the Hero is Upset Because the Heroine is Not a Virgin, But Wait! She Really Is!)
I do like the first one, though. And the third (the one with Miles?) too.
A Duke of Her Own is my favorite Eloisa James title BY FAR and I agree with Cleo on this. You could read the other books out of order (I start midway through the series) but Villiers’s arc really bumps your appreciation of the book up a notch.
Oh, good. Finally historicals on sale.
Sometimes you read about one person carrying a movie; I think that Miranda carried the book because truly, the kind young man she fell in love with at 10 did not mature into a man deserving of her regard.
@Shannon, I hadn’t read Jo Beverley until last weekend at which time I read the two on sale. Then promptly ordered and read the next three in the series. Six awaits me tonight. I am thrilled to hear from you that her other series is even better. What a treat to look forward to when I finish with the Rogues.
I love the Deperate Duchesses series. Love. The time line is sort of concurrent and overlapping – the Julia Quinn Mr. Cavendish/Lost Duke duo does that too, and those are also great. I wouldn’t think reading in order is important. Although I did, and since it really, like *really*, worked for me, I can certainly recommend that approach.
Romancing the Duke just came up as $1.79.
I had the joy of listening to “Romancing the Duke” on a long car trip. Loved it. It’s always tough to know if a book will “translate” well from listening to reading (truly, some can suffer or greatly improve), so I can’t decide whether I’ll be listening or reading the next installments. But one way or the other, I’ll find out how the next one ends. 🙂
The only book I haven’t read here is the Eloisa James one, and the most memorable one is the Secret Diaries. Had me sobbing by the end, and I love Miranda’s fortitude through the book.
I know a lot of people don’t like the Lost Duke/Mr. Cavendish books as much as Quinn’s Bridgerton series, but I found them very enjoyable, and the characters’ reactions to the identity mixup plausible.
And I’m OK with the hero’s desire to have a virgin bride in the Beverly book-it’s totally expected that a nobleman of that time would, especially since this is an arranged marriage, it’s not like he’s madly in love with her. Also consider that this series was originally published quite a few years ago. An Unwilling Bride won the RITA in 1993.
I just wanted to say that I think The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever is such a fabulous title. Who doesn’t want to know what kind of scandalous secrets a woman named Miranda Cheever hides? Love it and Ms. Quinn.
I love the Desperate Duchesses series, it may be one of my favorite. Nthing the sentiment that te Duke of Villiers arc is really, really worth reading. You can pick up from almost anywhere in the series, but I am not sure that is true of this book. (Also, I love the characters involved most closely in his arc So Much.)
@LML I am so excited/jealous that you are just discovering Jo Beverley. Her books are what got me to give historical romance a shot. (Come to think of it, I read only JoBev for years and years, until I discovered the Desperate Duchesses series.)
Oh, I should mention that I love the Rogues series quite a lot, maybe even more than te Mallorens. Wait, no, maybe not. Let’s say I love both of them. The Rogues series has a few books that I love less, but overall I highly recommend both. (She also has some books set centuries earlier, but I am less of a fan of that subgenre generally — enough so that I can’t recall it’s name right now)