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Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy
RECOMMENDED: Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy by Karen Abbott IS $2.99! This nonfiction book tells the history of four kickass women during the Civil War. Carrie reviewed the book and gave it an impressive A+:
The book is interesting and exciting and paints incredible pictures of very different women who, love them or hate them, lived unusual lives of great political and personal passion and daring.
Karen Abbott illuminates one of the most fascinating yet little known aspects of the Civil War: the stories of four courageous women—a socialite, a farmgirl, an abolitionist, and a widow—who were spies.
After shooting a Union soldier in her front hall with a pocket pistol, Belle Boyd became a courier and spy for the Confederate army, using her charms to seduce men on both sides. Emma Edmonds cut off her hair and assumed the identity of a man to enlist as a Union private, witnessing the bloodiest battles of the Civil War. The beautiful widow, Rose O’Neale Greenhow, engaged in affairs with powerful Northern politicians to gather intelligence for the Confederacy, and used her young daughter to send information to Southern generals. Elizabeth Van Lew, a wealthy Richmond abolitionist, hid behind her proper Southern manners as she orchestrated a far-reaching espionage ring, right under the noses of suspicious rebel detectives.
Using a wealth of primary source material and interviews with the spies’ descendants, Abbott seamlessly weaves the adventures of these four heroines throughout the tumultuous years of the war. With a cast of real-life characters including Walt Whitman, Nathaniel Hawthorne, General Stonewall Jackson, detective Allan Pinkerton, Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln, and Emperor Napoleon III, Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy draws the reader into the war as these daring women lived it.
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It’s in His Kiss
It’s In His Kiss by Jill Shalvis is $1.99! This is book 10, and the start of the last trilogy set in Lucky Harbor. This story, like the others, has a 4+ star average. Readers like Holly particularly liked that the hero is informally adopted into his best friend’s family, and they don’t let him forget that they are behind him.
Becca Thorpe has uprooted her life and escaped to the beach. Now’s her chance to get away from city living, throw caution to the ocean winds, and live in the moment. Especially if the moment includes the deliciously sexy surfer she meets shortly after arriving in Lucky Harbor. Something about the dark intensity of Sam’s eyes and the thrill she gets at his touch convinces her to stay awhile.
Boatbuilder and investment genius Sam Brody is a self-made man who knows how dangerous it can be to mix business and pleasure. But he can’t resist offering Becca a job just to hear her laugh and have her near. Yet when her brother comes to town asking for help, will he tempt her back to her glamorous life in the city? Or do Sam and little Lucky Harbor have a chance to win Becca’s heart?
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The Mistress
The Mistress by Maya Banks is 99c! If the book seems familiar, that’s because it used to be a category romance from Harlequin titled The Tycoon’s Pregnant Mistress. You can see it’s gotten a bit of a makeover. Be forewarned that this book has prenesia (pregnancy + amnesia) and kidnapping. The holy WTF trifecta! Depending on how much crazysauce you like, readers either loved it or hated it.
Mistress. It sounded so sordid, so impersonal, so far removed from the kind of relationship Marley Jameson had with Greek hotel magnate Chrysander Anetakis. Until it all came crashing down around them.
Three months later, Marley awakened in the hospital with no memory of what happened before she got there. She couldn’t remember her past, Chrysander…or the baby she carried. All she knew was that when Chrysander showed up and whisked her away to his private Greek island, being with him felt like home.
Until she remembered the truth…
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Branded
Branded by Laura Wright is $1.99! This is a contemporary western romance and is the first book in The Cavanaugh Brothers series. This is an enemies to lovers story set on a ranch. Some readers found the premise to be a bit farfetched, while others loved the tension between the hero and heroine. It has a 4.1-star rating on Goodreads.
In the small town of River Black, Texas, sits the Triple C—a working cattle ranch that sustains the town. But it also holds painful memories and shocking secrets for the Cavanaugh brothers…
When the Cavanaugh brothers return home for their father’s funeral, they discover unexpected evidence of the old man’s surprising double life—a son named Blue, who wants the Triple C Ranch as much as they do. The eldest son, Deacon, a wealthy businessman who couldn’t wait to leave the ranch and move on with his life, is looking to use his powerful connections to stop Blue at any cost. He never expected the ranch’s forewoman, Mackenzie Byrd, to get in his way.
Mac knows Deacon means to destroy the ranch and therefore destroy her livelihood. But as the two battle for control, their attraction builds. Now Deacon is faced with the choice of a lifetime: Take down the Triple C to feed his need for revenge, or embrace the love of the one person who has broken down every barrier to his heart.
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Touch & Go
Touch & Go by Mira Lyn Kelly is 99c! This is a friends to lovers contemporary romance and is the second in the Dare to Love series, though it seems the books can be read as standalones. The book has a 4.1-star rating on GR, and many readers mention the large amount of Good Book Noises they made while reading. However, some found the hero frustrating at times. Have you read this one?
Vivacious and successful, Ava Meyers is living her dream life, except for one thing: Ever since childhood, she’s been in love with her best friend . . . and she’s never admitted it. Back then, Sam Farrow was a damaged young man with a tough past. Now he’s supremely confident, super-sexy, and totally untouchable—until the night when Sam pretends to be Ava’s boyfriend to save her from some unwanted attention. In a moment of weakness, Ava finds out that a long friendship is no match for blistering sexual chemistry.
After years of denying his own feelings, Sam finds that one amazing night with Ava isn’t enough to chase away all the pent-up fantasies. So he proposes they spend a few weeks driving each other wild, exhausting their every desire, and then return to their perfect platonic relationship like nothing ever happened. But Sam’s plan has one fatal flaw: the part where they give each other up. Because the more they let go of their inhibitions, the more they’re tempted to never go back.
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Touch and Go is a plot I am so tired of. Get it out of their systems and go back to friendship? Oh, really? As if that ever happens. Anyone else tired of being manipulated? Now, don’t get me wrong, I love the secret crush that finally works out in the HEA. But this is romance, people, so we know going in that whenever Our Heroine and Our Hero are going to get it out of their systems that never works and it becomes permanent. So please. Have some respect for the reader.
“Get it out of their systems and go back to friendship? Oh, really? As if that ever happens…But this is romance, people, so we know going in that whenever Our Heroine and Our Hero are going to get it out of their systems that never works and it becomes permanent. So please. Have some respect for the reader.”
You probably don’t want to pull too hard on the strings of manipulative cliches in romance novels. To paraphrase Jason Segel about rom-coms, everybody knows the woman on the romance novel cover will wind up with the guy on the romance novel cover. The key isn’t how often we see the trope/cliche (a cliche is a trope you don’t mind) but how well the author makes it work.
I also would love to see a discussion of which tropes/cliches readers think are overdone, tiresome, or ridiculous. Childhood/teen sweethearts meeting again after a few years? A marriage “of strict convenience” that leads to deep feelings? A heroine and hero who can’t stand each other but can’t deny their attraction? Were-beings? Time travel? Inquiring redhead wants to know!
Well, yes, you’re correct, of course. The point of all of these romance novels is the HEA. One of my problems with the “get it out of their systems” trope is the idea that it is the physical component that makes All The Difference.
I have that same problem with the best friends turned into lovers trope. Best friends forever and the penis accidently somehow slides into the vagina and all of a sudden it is love.
I am just not convinced by the Magic Hoo Haw and Mighty Wang. I want a real relationship. Not two body parts that speak to each in a way that no such other similar body parts have ever spoken to these body parts before. The mere physical doesn’t make for a lasting relationship and I will never be convinced by it.
Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy looks fascinating, I ADORE Jill Shalvis and really liked Becca and Sam’s story. Not sure about the others though, may have to wait for the Bitchery’s reviews on them before committing.
Weres and time travel will never be overdone in my heart! Just sayin’.
But I do wish that there was better developed time travel romances. Weres, vampires, regency (natch), have some really outstanding books/series but time travel has a lot of pretty lackluster stuff. So – Ms. Milan? Ms. Singh? How about it – feel like taking a crack at some time travel?
Have you looked at the Lallybroch website? They have collected a bunch of time travel stories.
Just checked out the site, there were a few that I haven’t heard of before. Score! Thanks for the suggestion
Most welcome
Great list of books! Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy seems right up my alley 🙂 Thanks for sharing this with your readers. I wanted to recommend a book I think you might really enjoy (and feel inspired from) called “The Pedestriennes” by author Harry Hall (http://www.pedestriennes.com/). During the Industrial Revolution the sport of endurance walking was taking off (of course it was hugely dominated by men) until a group of women, calling themselves the Pedestriennes, took over. Endurance walking was a BEYOND difficult sport that required the competition to last for days and weeks. Madame “Ada” Anderson (top walker among men and women) walked 1,008 miles and it took her one week. Her feet were so swollen they had to wrap them in turpentine and raw beef! The book tells the story of many successful women endurance walkers and the controversy and difficulty that followed their career choices.. There was scandal, extortion, and controversy surrounding the pedestriennes and yet they kept going. One endurance walker claimed that people would lean over the rail and drop poison on the track! I cannot recommend this book enough. It is a fascinating look into a sport I had no idea existed! Hope you will give it a read