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The Spinster’s Guide to Scandalous Behavior
RECOMMENDED: The Spinster’s Guide to Scandalous Behavior by Jennifer McQuiston is $1.99! Thanks to Reader El El about the head’s up! Elyse reviewed this book and gave it a B:
It took me awhile to really get into The Spinster’s Guide to Scandalous Behavior by Jennifer McQuiston. I’m not sure if that was totally the fault of the book or the fact that my brain is exhausted from my day job and I’m slowly crawling out of a reading slump. The book is brimming with awesome feminism and a beta-hero I loved, but it felt a little like the beginning dragged.
In New York Times bestselling author Jennifer McQuiston’s enticing new Seduction Diaries entry, a mysterious journal may provide a potential spinster with instruction—or lead her to her heart’s desire
Free-spirited Lucy Westmore isn’t yet a spinster, although she fully intends to be. Fortunately, an eccentric aunt has left her both a diary detailing the secrets to spinsterhood and a cottage in Cornwall. Unfortunately, an insufferable marquess is angling for her prize! Turning Lord Thomas Branston down flat should be easy. So why does this man who won’t take no for an answer make Lucy’s body and soul sigh yes?
Thomas knows the real value of Heathmore Cottage, and he has no intention of letting some silly Society miss get her hands on it. He’ll simply have to charm Lucy into selling. But the clever young woman he encounters, first in London, then en route to Cornwall, stands stubbornly on her own two (quite lovely) feet. And now, Thomas can think only of sweeping her off them.
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Landline
Landline by Rainbow Rowell is $2.99! While Carrie loves Rowell’s writing, she gave this book a B-:
Rainbow Rowell is one of those authors who always seems to attack my emotions directly, when I’m not looking. I love her use of unconventional characters, and I love that even though the character’s lives are imperfect, they get to find love anyway. Landline is not Rainbow Rowell’s best book. But through a combination of skill and serendipity the book managed to turn me into a gibbering mess. I’m not sure I’d call it “good” but I’d certainly call it “effective”.
Georgie McCool knows her marriage is in trouble. That it’s been in trouble for a long time. She still loves her husband, Neal, and Neal still loves her, deeply — but that almost seems besides the point now.
Maybe that was always besides the point.
Two days before they’re supposed to visit Neal’s family in Omaha for Christmas, Georgie tells Neal that she can’t go. She’s a TV writer, and something’s come up on her show; she has to stay in Los Angeles. She knows that Neal will be upset with her — Neal is always a little upset with Georgie — but she doesn’t expect to him to pack up the kids and go home without her.
When her husband and the kids leave for the airport, Georgie wonders if she’s finally done it. If she’s ruined everything.
That night, Georgie discovers a way to communicate with Neal in the past. It’s not time travel, not exactly, but she feels like she’s been given an opportunity to fix her marriage before it starts . . .
Is that what she’s supposed to do?
Or would Georgie and Neal be better off if their marriage never happened?
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Silent in the Grave
RECOMMENDED: Silent in the Grave by Deanna Raybourn is $1.99! This book and series has been mentioned quite a bit on the site. Elyse recommended it if you like historical mysteries. Reader StacieH4 mentioned it for those who prefer their romance light on sex, and Reader Tina Chaney said on a podcast that the book has one of her favorite opening lines. Have you read it?
“Let the wicked be ashamed, and let them be silent in the grave.”
These ominous words, slashed from the pages of a book of Psalms, are the last threat that the darling of London society, Sir Edward Grey, receives from his killer. Before he can show them to Nicholas Brisbane, the private inquiry agent he has retained for his protection, Sir Edward collapses and dies at his London home, in the presence of his wife, Julia, and a roomful of dinner guests.
Prepared to accept that Edward’s death was due to a long-standing physical infirmity, Julia is outraged when Brisbane visits and suggests that Sir Edward has been murdered. It is a reaction she comes to regret when she discovers the damning paper for herself, and realizes the truth.
Determined to bring her husband’s murderer to justice, Julia engages the enigmatic Brisbane to help her investigate Edward’s demise. Dismissing his warnings that the investigation will be difficult, if not impossible, Julia presses forward, following a trail of clues that lead her to even more unpleasant truths, and ever closer to a killer who waits expectantly for her arrival.
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A History of Glitter and Blood
RECOMMENDED: A History of Glitter and Blood by Hannah Moskowitz is $2.99! Real talk, this book is weird and though it’s YA, it can get pretty dark in terms of what happens in this fantasy fictional world. It has a bit of a speculative fiction vibe, but it’s definitely a book that will stick with you, even though I know it’s not for everyone. I will also warn that it takes a while to get going.
Sixteen-year-old Beckan and her friends are the only fairies brave enough to stay in Ferrum when war breaks out. Now there is tension between the immortal fairies, the subterranean gnomes, and the mysterious tightropers who arrived to liberate the fairies.
But when Beckan’s clan is forced to venture into the gnome underworld to survive, they find themselves tentatively forming unlikely friendships and making sacrifices they couldn’t have imagined. As danger mounts, Beckan finds herself caught between her loyalty to her friends, her desire for peace, and a love she never expected.
This stunning, lyrical fantasy is a powerful exploration of what makes a family, what justifies a war, and what it means to truly love.
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I feel like Landline is Rowell’s weakest novel. It just couldn’t keep my attention. There was too much manufactured drama, and while I guess that’s sort of the point (who doesn’t find themselves spinning mountains out of molehills from time to time?), it wasn’t a sufficient basis for a romantic character conflict to hook my interest, especially given how unreasonable I felt the hero was. (Which is sort of a theme in Rowell’s novels… that of one person bending over backwards for another to often ridiculous degrees. Still love her stories, don’t always agree with the themes.)
I liked LANDLINE a little better perhaps, particularly Georgie looking back to examine/experience the way they used to be and to understand her part in things going wrong. It wasn’t just one event, IIRC, which is true of relationships in general, and I felt satisfied with the end.
I already own the Lady Julia book as part of a bundle, but I bought it again as a single title on sale here just so I could get the reduced rate on the audiobook. (I’m such a sucker.)
I DNF’d Landline. I love Eleanor and Park so hard that when I read it, I immediately started it over and read it again just to bask in all the beauty and the feels. Fangirl was really fun and also powerful. Attachments was harder to get into but I still really liked it and admired the way she structured the novel and her elegant characterizations. I couldn’t get into Landline.
Eloisa James’ new novella, “A Gentleman Never Tells” is .99 on Kindle. Her recent newsletter said her publisher is repricing her novellas (novellae?) to 2.99 in the fall — most are currently 1.99.