Shades of Milk and Honey
Shades of Milk and Honey by Mary Robinette Kowal is $2.99! This is the first book in the Glamourist Histories series; the
thirdfourth book, Valour and Vanity, is nominated in the Novel with Strong Romantic Elements category for this year’s DABWAHA. This book was also a Nebula nominee and an nominee for the RT Reviewers’ Choice Award in the fantasy category. The book is often compared to Jane Austen, but with fantasy thrown in. Some readers agree with this assessment, while others are affronted by it. For those who have read it, what camp are you in?Shades of Milk and Honey is an intimate portrait of Jane Ellsworth, a woman ahead of her time in a world where the manipulation of glamour is considered an essential skill for a lady of quality. But despite the prevalence of magic in everyday life, other aspects of Dorchester’s society are not that different: Jane and her sister Melody’s lives still revolve around vying for the attentions of eligible men.
Jane resists this fate, and rightly so: while her skill with glamour is remarkable, it is her sister who is fair of face, and therefore wins the lion’s share of the attention. At the ripe old age of twenty-eight, Jane has resigned herself to being invisible forever. But when her family’s honor is threatened, she finds that she must push her skills to the limit in order to set things right–and, in the process, accidentally wanders into a love story of her own.
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Apples Should be Red by Penny Watson is a Thanksgiving-set novella, and it’s 99c. If the title looks familiar, that’s because it’s a nominee in the novella category for this year’s DABWAHA Tournament! This story has a 4+ star average on GoodReads, and I’ve seen a few people talking about how much they enjoyed it. It features a couple who are older than the protagonists we most often read about (62 and 59), and readers who reviewed it said they laughed themselves silly.
Recipe for Thanksgiving Dinner:
Start with 62-year old politically incorrect, chain-smoking, hard-cussing curmudgeon.
Add 59-year old sexually-repressed know-it-all in pearls.
Throw in a beer can-turkey, a battle for horticultural supremacy, and nudist next-door neighbor.
Serve on paper plates, garnished with garden gnome.
Tastes like happily ever after.
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Into the Shadows by Carolyn Crane is $3.99! This is the third book in The Associates series and it appears that the previous two books are also on sale at this price. Into the Shadows is nominated in the Contemporary category for this year’s DABWAHA and has some elements of romantic suspense. Readers assure that this can be read as a standalone without missing too much in the previous books. However, some felt the plot to be a little predictable in the long run. It has a 3.9 average on GoodReads.
HE’S WORKING FOR THE GOOD GUYS. THAT DOESN’T MEAN HE’S ONE OF THEM.
HE’S A KILLER.
Thorne McKelvey knows exactly how Nadia sees him—as a brute and a killer just kinky enough to play her sexy games. And that’s how it has to stay. Leaving her was the hardest thing he ever did, but his undercover mission could blow up at any second. No way will he drag Nadia down with him.SHE CAN’T RISK HER HEART.
Maybe it was foolish to fall in love with her late father’s deadliest henchman, but Nadia Volkov’s not sorry; without Thorne she wouldn’t have their beautiful little boy. There’s nothing she won’t do to protect Benny, which means she must hide his identity—especially from his father.Now Thorne has burst back into her home, searching for clues to a gangland mystery…and stirring a hunger Nadia hasn’t felt in two years. But Benny’s identity isn’t the only secret she’s keeping, and things are turning deadly. Can Thorne and Nadia trust each other long enough to stay alive and have a chance at happiness?
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The Secret Heart by Erin Satie is $2.99! This is the first book in the No Better Angels series and the second book, The Lover’s Knot, is currently a nominee in the Historical DABWAHA category. Many reviewers say that this isn’t your typical historical romance, which is something that they see as a pro rather than a con, though some thought the author did more telling than showing. It has a 4-star rating on GoodReads.
She’s a fortune-hunter. He’s nobody’s prey.
Adam, Earl of Bexley, lives to work. His only relief is the sordid savagery of bare-knuckle boxing. Not women, and definitely not a disreputable, scheming woman who dances in secret with such passion…
Caro Small is desperate to escape her selfish family. Her only chance is a good marriage, and she intends to marry Adam—whether he likes it or not. But the more she schemes to entrap him, the more she risks trapping her own heart.
Adam won’t be caught by a fortune-hunter’s ambitious schemes. But the vulnerable, passionate woman underneath the plots might just bring him to his knees.
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I went to the library Monday and checked out four nominees; going to spend the week binging on them. Currently reading Rogue Spy, and it’s not quite what I expected — more “Martini” than I thought from the description, what with disguises and derring-do and outsize villains and all the camaraderie among the colorful members of the Service.
After this, The Girls at the Kingfisher Club , Sweet Filthy Boy , and My Beautiful Enemy (more derring-do).
Er, Valour & Vanity is the *fourth* book in the Glamourist Histories book, not third.
Having read “Shades of Milk & Honey”, it’s very Austenesque in setup. The followup books are less-so, more exploring the world and time period. If I remember correctly Valour & Vanity is the one Kowal called Oceans 11 in Venice — capers and heists and so forth. It’s definitely historical fantasy — and it’s nice to see a married couple and how they navigate their relationship as it develops and changes and faces obstacles.
@Julia – oops! Thanks!
Amazon has most of the older Johanna Lindsey books on sale for $.99 – $1.99. Also, Pamela Palmer’s books are on sale for those same prices.
Classic Julia Quinn books are also on sale at Amazon. My poor credit card.
I agree with Julia aka Mizzelle that this fourth book in the Glamourist series is less Austenlike. If you like Austen then the first book in the series is your cup of tea. It is more the use of language and the delicacy of expression that seems like Austen.
Miranda Neville’s The Duke of Dark Desires and Lady Windermere’s Lover are on sale at Amazon for $1.99 and $0.99, respectively! These both got “A” reviews here!
I read Shades of Milk and Honey because of the comparison to Jane Austen’s novels. The language is certainly reminiscent of Austen, but I found myself liking the book’s style far more than its substance. The heroine was too perfect, her sister too selfish and mean for me to understand the heroine’s continuing devotion, and the romance was undermined by my inability to figure out which man was supposed to be the hero until almost the end. I am lukewarm about paranormal/fantasy fiction, so the world-building wasn’t a big draw for me. Those who enjoy fantasy worlds will probably enjoy this book much more than I did.
Thanks for the heads up on the sales. I just checked my Amazon wish list and 12 books were on sale: 10 for 99 cents and 2 for $1.99!! It’s like Christmas in March!
This post made me check, and A CHRISTMAS GONE PERFECTLY WRONG by Cecilia Grant (up against Rogue Spy in the DABWAHA) is FREE on Amazon right now. I didn’t check other sites though.
And I’ll add that I just checked Sweet Filthy Boy out of the library too – it was sitting right there by the checkout computers, calling my name and cackling “dabwahahahahaha”. My library just started having a romance row on top of the whole length of the room dividing bookshelves, right by the checkout. Finally! I don’t have to go to the back corner anymore. It’s so awesome. I really hope it’s not just a month-long experiment.
(And sorry I don’t have a magic wand to put HIS ROAD HOME on sale for the DABWAHA too, b/c I would love to.)
@Anna Richland, Cecilia Grant’s ACGPW is also free at the other vendors, and will be perma-free according to what she has tweeted. I hope it brings new readers to her other Blackshear novels.
ALL QUAIL BEFORE THE POWER OF DABWAHA! So many nominees (and older books by nominated authors) free or on mega-sale right now! I just picked up books by Cecilia Grant, Caroline Linden, Miranda Neville and Loretta Chase.
I am a dabbler and have only read 8 of the nominated books, but this tourney is SO GREAT at introducing me to new work I wouldn’t otherwise try. Last year I learned about Captive Prince — a book I NEVER EVER would have thought I’d like, since I am super-picky about fantasy and have personal issues with sexual assault (I dislike the term “dubcon”)…and I thought it was TERRIFIC. Clever and savvy and hot and I love me some political machinations. So yay, TEACH ME THE THINGS, fellow readers.
HarperCollins, in particular, appears to be having a mega-sale today with LOTS of popular Avon authors popping up on sale and sometimes whole backlists – I’ve picked up Miranda Neville’s Wild Quartet and some of Tessa Dare’s Spindle Cove. But also Jennifer McQuiston, Maya Rodale, Julie Ann Long, Liz Carlyle.
My poor TBR. My poor pocketbook.
Re: Into the Shadows – I normally don’t read romantic suspense, but I have a deep love for Carolyn Crane and I glommed all of these Associates books; this one and the one set in Thailand are my favorite. I think Crane is a great writer (characters, prose, dialog, the whole enchilada is present), and I really enjoyed this book. It’s over the top and melodramatic in a deeply enjoyable way. Her hero is so tortured and sexy! Her heroine is so steely but vulnerable! (I may go re-read after I leave this comment.)
Re: Shades of Milk and Honey – my experience was sort of like @ElinorAspen’s, above. The prose was very pleasant, which I enjoyed, and it had many lovely images to ponder. But as a narrative, it wasn’t my favorite. I found the characters inconsistent across the book, and the plot felt low-stakes and kind of muddled. I actually really liked the idea of “Austen with magic”, but didn’t feel that the book lived up to that at all. Like Elinor, I’d imagine that this book would work better for dedicated fans of paranormal-ish books.
Re: A Christmas Gone Perfectly Wrong – I loved it and I hope it brings many new readers to Cecilia Grant, who is a great, great prose stylist, has terrific insight into what makes characters feel and behave like real humans, real insight into the ways men and women dance around each other, and a fine ear for dialog. (Also writes very sexy, but somehow very period-accurate-feeling sex scenes, if that is your jam!)
The second Glamourist History book, Glamour in Glass, is not Jane Austenish at all. It’s about wartime and spying. In fact each of the 4 books has a different flavor to it. The 3rd one has more politics, the plot involves the Luddite riots. And the 4th, as Julia said, is about a scam.