I’m not sure what’s going on and I’m certainly not going to question it, but there seems to be a ton of Carina titles on sale for 99c or $1.99 today. Amazon lets you search by publisher, so here’s a handy search of Carina Press books organized by price.
Some of the titles look like they’re being price-matched or at least discounted as well, so I’ve included links to other vendors. Most of them are affiliate linked with the exception of Google:Play. If you use them, awesome and thank you! If you’d prefer not to, no worries! We are always happy to have you at the site and hope you find some great books!
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Hidden Star
Hidden Star by Nora Roberts is $1.99! This is a contemporary romance with a touch of suspense. The heroine also has amnesia and a big bag full of jewels and cash. A few readers weren’t fans of the heroine and found her to be rather boring. However, many thought this was a fun read with lots of elements: action, romance, and suspense. Have you read this one?
She couldn’t remember a thing, not even who she was. But it was clear Bailey James was in trouble. Bit trouble! And she desperately needed Cade Parris to help her live long enough to find out just what kind.
The moment the coolheaded private eye laid eyes on the fragile beauty, she almost had him forgetting who he was. If Bailey was a criminal, Cade would eat his P.I. license. But what was she doing with a satchel full of cash and a diamond as big as a baby’s fist? And how could he unravel this mystery if he kept tripping over his heart?
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Exclusively Yours
RECOMMENDED: Exclusively Yours by Shannon Stacey is 99c! This is book 1 in the Kowalskis series, and it was a Sizzling Book Club selection as well. If you like contemporary comedy, this is a great deal. Sarah reviewed this book when it came out in 2010:
I had such a good old time reading this book. There were some flaws to the plot but while reading it, I was charmed and giggly and totally absorbed. This book made me happy. That’s probably the best way to put it: it made me smile. A lot. Books like this are why I read romance.
When Keri Daniels’ editor finds out she has previous carnal knowledge of reclusive bestselling author Joe Kowalski, she gives Keri a choice: get an interview or get a new job.
Joe’s never forgotten the first girl to break his heart, so he’s intrigued to hear Keri’s back in town and looking for him. Despite his intense need for privacy, he’ll grant Keri an interview if it means a chance to finish what they started in high school.
He proposes an outrageous plan – for every day she survives with his family on their annual camping and four-wheeling trip, Keri can ask one question. Keri agrees; she’s worked too hard to walk away from her career.
But the chemistry between them is still as potent as the bug spray, Joe’s sister is out to avenge his broken heart and Keri hasn’t ridden an ATV since she was ten. Who knew a little blackmail, a whole lot of family and some sizzling romantic interludes could make Keri reconsider the old dream of Keri & Joe 2gether 4ever.
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Pairing Off
Pairing Off by Elizabeth Harmon is $1.99 at Amazon and less than $4 elsewhere! I chose to include this book because it has figure skating. FIGURE SKATING! Which is really the only thing I watch during the Winter Olympics. Also, The Cutting Edge is one of my favorite movies ever. So if you’re just as obsessed as I am, maybe you’ll check this one out.
American figure skater Carrie Parker’s Winter Games dreams were dashed when her philandering partner caused one of the greatest scandals in skating history. Blacklisted from competing in the United States, her career is over…until she receives a mysterious invitation and is paired with the most infuriating, talented—and handsome—skater she’s ever met.
Russian champion Anton Belikov knows sacrifice. He gave up a normal life and any hope of a meaningful relationship to pursue his dream. And he’s come close—with a silver medal already under his belt, the next stop is the gold. All he needs is a partner. While he’s never forgotten the young American skater he seduced one long-ago night in Amsterdam, he never expected to be confronted with their past…never mind share the ice with her.
When what starts as a publicity stunt grows into something real, Carrie and Anton’s partnership will test their loyalties to family, country and each other. With only a few months to train for the competition of a lifetime, can they master technique and their emotions, or will they lose their footing and fall victim to the heartaches of their pasts?
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The Hostage
The Hostage by Susan Wiggs is $1.99! This is a historical romance and book one in the Great Chicago Fire Trilogy, so I’m sure you can take a guess at the book’s setting. I also believe there’s some kidnapping that happens. Readers have said that the romance is rather slow in the book, but others loved what Wiggs did with the setting. It has a 3.8-star rating on Goodreads. And, if you like Susan Wiggs, several of her other books are on sale, including At the King’s Command, which was my first review here at SBTB.
Deborah Sinclair is a beautiful, accomplished young heiress with a staggering dowry. But her fortune does her no good when, one horrible night, Chicago is engulfed in flames.
Tom Silver will walk through fire to avenge a terrible injustice—and he may have to. But when he makes Deborah a pawn in his revenge, the heat of the inferno fades next to the attraction he feels for his captive. And the further he takes her from everything she’s known, the stronger their passion grows, until it threatens to consume them both.
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This is not a sale, because it’s permanently free, but I must talk up a new novella by Heather Rose Jones (the author of the Alpennia series, as any fan of Ruritanian intrigue or f/f romance surely knows). The Mazarinette and the Musketeer is a seventeenth-century adventure starring several historical kick-ass women such as Aphra Behn and Julie d’Aubigny (with a historical appendix showing the verisimilitude). There are swordplay, disguises, plots, and f/f amorousness, and it is very, very fun.
Oh, I read and quite enjoyed all three Star books back when they came out and even re-read them a time or two. My only problem with the heroine of this book was that she seemed too young to have the professional reputation in the jewel biz that helps solve the mystery.
I love the movie Cutting Edge. “Toe… Pick” I also love the olympic figure skating though I admit to watching every sport, even curling. Figure skating is my favorite. A romance with figure skating? One click. Buy.
I really liked Dark and Disorderly by Bernita Harris back in the day. Unfortunately, that day was when I was still buying PDFs, so I’m totally 1-clicking the kindle edition. Thanks! Also, I got Hidden Star last week and am now contemplating the whispersynced audiobook.
@Vasha – thanks!
It could only be more perfect if they were ice dancers. CLICK!
Pairing Off is lovely.
@KellyM beat me to it-
“Toe-pick”
Holy cow I love The Cutting Edge too. One of my favorite movies ever. I can’t wait to read Pairing Off!
BTW, Roberts’s Stars of Mithra trilogy boxed set was on sale last fall, so make sure you didn’t buy it then before clicking on the first book here. (Thank goodness I checked because that’s something I would usually totally do.) 😉
And thanks for the heads up on the Carina sale.
Pairing Off is probably discounted because it’s championship season – US Nationals ended a few days ago and the European Championships are on at the moment. I know that Harmon did her homework on the skating side, and a friend who read it said it was fun.
I try to avoid sports romances if I’m familiar with the sport (too distracting) but I hope that others will enjoy it!
I see that one of the Carina books on sale is “The Stolen Luck” by Shawna Reppert: a m/m fantasy story that got a good review here & I liked it myself.
Also “Caught in Amber” by Cathy Pegau.
> American figure skater Carrie Parker’s Winter Games dreams were dashed when her philandering partner caused one of the greatest scandals in skating history. Blacklisted from competing in the United States, her career is over…
Ha-ha. Let’s be real, USFSA would never blacklist a pretty, eligible white girl. They’re scraping the bottom of the barrel for the next Great White Hope as it is.
I’m still bitter. Mirai Nagasu forever. (Not to mention how royally fucked over Surya Bonaly always was internationally.)
Okay my original comment was really sarcastic, but I was a figure skater (not professionally) for about ten years and the overwhelming undercurrent of racism in the sport just makes the thought of it taste like ashes in my mouth. Which isn’t really the fault of the author, who couldn’t have known since everyone’s in denial about the racism in professional figure skating, but god it hurts so much that thinking about it causes my hands to shake.
Always to Remember by Lorraine Heath is 1.99 st amazon. I think it’s a favorite here.
@jw: I’m really sorry about your pain and anger. I can’t offer much else except I heard you.
Loading up on m/m romances seems like a good antidote to today. You gals are the best.
Figure skating. Squeeeeee!!! In blatant self-promotion (hope I am not breaking any rules) I recently wrote a Christmas romance that was Ice Hockey Player vs Figure Skater. It’s called Candy for Christmas
Argh! I suck at HTML. Tried to put link in and it didn’t like me at all. It’s called Candy for Christmas.
“A Rake’s Guide to Seduction” by Caroline Linden is on sale for $0.99. It’s a second chance romance. I am reading it right now and enjoying it sooo much.
JW–I TOTALLY remember Surya Bonaly! If I remember correctly, the commentators always eschewed her more athletic, powerful style over the “elegant” Oksana Baiul. And the judges scored accordingly. I remember having a bad taste in my mouth just about ANY time there was narration about Bonaly as she invariable got comments like, “She’s REALLY talented, but she really should…” It seemed like people had it in for her. I didn’t realize that racism is a big thing in figure skating, but sadly, it doesn’t surprise me. 🙁
Thanks for bringing it up. The only way to change something is to shine a spotlight on it.
So nice to find a space where no one tries to embarrass you because you love The Cutting Edge.
JW, that is terribly frustrating.
@jw:
Ha-ha. Let’s be real, USFSA would never blacklist a pretty, eligible white girl. They’re scraping the bottom of the barrel for the next Great White Hope as it is.
That part of the premise rang false for me too – not because the heroine is white (um, Tonya Harding) but because what her partner did would not have gotten *her* blacklisted. Nonetheless, I don’t get the sense that the USFSA is looking for its next great white hope, so much as it is looking for its next Michelle Kwan. Kwan’s success will probably never be replicated. What they should have done is try to focus more attention on the enormously successful American ice dancers instead.
I’m still bitter. Mirai Nagasu forever. (Not to mention how royally fucked over Surya Bonaly always was internationally.)
Mirai Nagasu is lovely, but she underrotates too many of her jumps, and which is disastrous under the current scoring system. The case for Nagasu to go the the 2014 Olympics rests entirely on her finishing ahead of Ashley Wagner at that year’s US Nationals, which many inaccurately characterized as the Olympic trials. They’re not. I would have chosen Wagner, too – she was, and still is, much more successful internationally, and for once the USFSA did the right thing and paid attention to international results.
Asian and Asian-American skaters have been doing very well for some time. Kwan is an obvious example, and there’s also the newly crowned US dance champions, Maia and Alex Shibutani (check out their free dance!). The Shibutanis were on the 2014 US Olympic team, as were ice dancer Madison Chock and pairs skater Felicia Zhang, neither of whom is white. Nathan Chen qualified for the Worlds team this year, but he has been injured and will miss the rest of the season. Internationally, there are Yuzuru Hanyu, Patrick Chan, Denis Ten and Mao Asada, just to name a few, not to mention the Chinese pairs and recently retired skaters like Yuna Kim and Daisuke Takahashi.
I don’t know what’s going on at the lower levels in the US, but I don’t see any evidence that Asian skaters are having trouble in competitive skating. For me personally, it’s also great to see successful Jewish athletes (Max Aaron, Jason Brown), and recently, and in recent years, more out gay athletes doing well (Eric Radford, Adam Rippon). Meanwhile, black and Latino skaters are seriously underrepresented in figure skating. Too many potential skaters are lost because skating can be so expensive and inaccessible, or because they don’t see it as a relevant option for them. I know that there are initiatives like Figure Skating in Harlem, and I hope that this will be a model elsewhere.
Surya Bonaly had the jumps and was entertaining (the Nagano backflip is a great memory), but her skating skills and presentation were not on par with some of her competitors’. BTW, the current Team France is one of the sport’s most diverse, with skaters such as Vanessa James, Mae-Berenice Meite and Chafik Besseghier.
TL:DR version – the setup in Pairing Off is iffy, and unnecessarily so – competitive skaters team up with partners from other countries all the time. But I don’t think it’s iffy for quite the reason that you suggest.
With all that said, I am sorry that your own experiences as a skater were so frustrating and disheartening. I hope that you haven’t given up on skating recreationally.
@Vicki: No one would EVER try to embarrass you because you love The Cutting Edge here. So many of us LOVE that movie!
[…] excited to get a shout-out from Smart Bitches Trashy Books for my debut novel Pairing Off, Red Hot Russians #1, which is best described […]
“There’s only two things I do really well, sweetheart, and skating’s the other one.”
Thanks Heather S!
I have to agree with Rose as well. I’m an African American woman and while I’m sure racism is alive and well in the sport, I don’t see that as the main problem as much as how expensive the sport is to practice, as well as being a winter sport.
I never favored jumpers (as I call them) like Tonya Harding, Suraya Bonaly over more artistic skaters like Oskana Baiul, and like Rose said, Bonaly’s skating is very iffy in many areas. I don’t think it was racism, or just racism that made her lose to skaters like Chen Lu or Yuka Sato.
Also, while I had high hopes for Mirai Nagasu (and yes did feel she should have gone to Olympics instead of Wagner), she has show little consistency. It’s too bad, as she has lots of potential.
This book reminds me of Jessica Clare’s Ice Games. I enjoyed it, but the way they kept talking about the heroine popping off triple axels like they were nothing made me laugh. To figure skating enthusiasts, these books seem to show a rather shallow knowledge of the figure skating.