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Potent Pleasures
Potent Pleasures by Eloisa James is 99c! This is James’ debut historical romance, if you’re looking to round out your James collection. Many readers really seem to dislike the hero, while others said this was an emotional rollercoaster that left them a bit misty-eyed. Have you read this one?
Eloisa James breathes new life into one of the most popular fiction genres with her highly original debut novel Potent Pleasures, a charming, vividly peopled Regency romance. With an uncanny wit and an eye for the whimsical, she unravels a complex–and often hilarious–chain of events inadvertently set in motion by a young woman’s first taste of forbidden pleasure.
About to make her debut in London society, Charlotte Calverstill, beneath the lavish gowns and manners of a well-brought-up young lady, yearns for a taste of freedom. Pushing propriety aside, one evening she sneaks out with a friend to attend a masked ball, and there meets a devastatingly handsome stranger who relieves her–not against her wishes–of her virtue, then vanishes.
Years later, when they meet again, the rogue does not remember Charlotte. But she certainly remembers him; she has since learned not only his identity, but also a titillating piece of gossip about him that is sure to set society abuzz. The intricate web that a now-wiser Charlotte weaves to exact her due ensures justice for some and great merriment for all.
Taking the Regency historical to fresh new places, with artful smoothness and irrepressible humor, Eloisa James delivers a winsome tale of first love and life’s unexpected surprises.
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The Virgin and the Viscount
The Virgin and the Viscount by Charis Michaels is $1.99! This is a second chance romance between a heroine and a hero who rescued her at a young age. Some people thought the hero was a bit of an ass and since many loved the heroine, they desperately wished he was more deserving of her. It has a 4-star rating on Goodreads.
The Virgin
Lady Elisabeth Hamilton-Baythes has a painful secret. At fifteen, she was abducted by highwaymen and sold to a brothel. But two days later, she was rescued by a young lord, a man she’s never forgotten. Now, she’s devoted herself to save other innocents from a similar fate.
The Viscount
Bryson Courtland, Viscount Rainsleigh never breaks the rules. Well, once, but that was a long time ago. He’s finally escaped his unhappy past to become one of the wealthiest nobleman in Britain. The last thing he needs to complete his ideal life? A perfectly proper wife.
The Unraveling
When Bryson and Elisabeth meet, he sees only a flawless candidate for his future wife. But a distant memory calls to him every time he’s with her. Elisabeth knows she’s not the wife Bryson needs, and he is the only person who has the power to reveal her secret. But neither can resist the devastating pull of attraction and as the truth comes to light, they must discover that an improper love is the truest of all.
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Playing It Cool
Playing It Cool by Amy Andrews is $1.99! This is the second book in the Sydney Smoke Rugby series and features a fake relationship! Some readers thought the chemistry between the hero and heroine was top-notch, but some felt the ending was a bit rushed. It has a 4-star rating on Goodreads.
Score one for the curvy girls!
Harper Nugent might have a little extra junk in her trunk, but her stepbrother calling her out on it is the last straw… When rugby hottie, Dexter Blake, witnesses the insult, he surprises Harper by asking her out. In front of her dumbass brother. Score! Of course, she knows it’s not for reals, but Dex won’t take no for an answer.
Dexter Blake’s life revolves around rugby with one hard and fast rule: no women. Sure, his left hand is getting a workout, but he’s focused on his career for now. Then he overhears an asshat reporter belittle the curvy chick he’d been secretly ogling. What’s a guy to do but ask her out? It’s just a little revenge against a poser, and then he’ll get his head back in the game.
But the date is better than either expected. So is the next one. And the next. And the heat between them…sizzles their clothes right off.
Suddenly, this fake relationship is feeling all too real…
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Kiss of Pride
Kiss of Pride by Sandra Hill is 99c! Now, hear me out – the hero is a viking, he’s a vampire, and he’s also an angel. I’m not sure how you combine all three, but maybe that’s explained in the book. Several reviewers weren’t really convinced on the romance between the hero and heroine, while others loved this heaping helping of crazysauce. Has anyone read this?
SOME MEN ARE TOO BAD TO BE TRUE…
Is he really a Viking with a vampire’s bite? An angel with the body of a thunder god? A lone wolf with love on his mind? Alexandra Kelly, his prey, thinks Vikar Sigurdsson is either flat-out crazy or he’s trying to maneuver her into his bed–which is hardly where a professional reporter should conduct an interview, tempting as that prospect might be.
SOME MEN ARE TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE…
Until Vikar does something a teensy bit unexpected, and Alex begins to wonder whether her mystery man could really be everything he says he is: a Viking Vampire Angel on a thousand-year-long mission with his pack of sinful brothers—and a man who’s finally found the woman of his dreams. By then, Vikar is already wrapping his chiseled arms around Alex’s body…and sinking his wicked fangs right into her neck. If this is sin, why does it feel so good?
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I can’t remember if I read Potent Pleasures or not – it sounds vaguely familiar. I know I hated one of the other books in the Pleasures series with the force of a thousand fiery suns. Her early books are not as smoothly written, so be aware of that.
The cover of The Virgin and the Viscount makes me really uncomfortable. The woman does not look excited to be there, and the way the man is clutching her arm and looming over her reads as very predatory to me. Her expression is more, “I wonder if I can vault over that balustrade without breaking a leg,” and less, “Oh yeah, restrain me some more.” Combined with the title, it’s giving me all kinds of squick. I’m probably reading too much into it.
Amy Andrews is an auto-buy for me. I’m LOVING the Sydney Smoke series!
@ Dread Pirate Rachel
I see it more like he is threatening to toss her off the balustrade. Maybe she ripped his shirt, lol.
She looks a little turned on by the idea to me.
I really disliked Potent Pleasures. In the first chapter, so not a real spoiler, the heroine sleeps with the hero at a masked dance in the country. The hero leaves for the continent months, maybe years, later the hero returns and meets the heroine. The heroine reminds the hero of this women whose virginity he took but her hair color is different (she powdered it heavily that night). The whole book he has no clue. Here’s the spoilers:
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Eventually they wed, he realizes she’s not a virgin. She tells him he’s the only man she’s ever slept with. Does the hero at this point realize that his wife, the one who reminds him of the women whose virginity he took at a party, is the same women? No. He decides she slept with his twin brother. He’s a jerk, leaves, eventually comes back and forgives her for sleeping with his brother. Not until I think their year anniversary does she take him back to the place where that party take place, powder her hair, and reveal that the women whose virginity he took and his wife are the same person.
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This was probably my least favorite James novel by far.
CelineB
Ditto. I didn’t just dislike the book, though. I HATED it.
I disliked potent pleasures too but her other books even the other pleasure book are awesome and I highly recommend!
Maybe it’s the fog of many years or of reading Potent Pleasures as an undergrad, but I remember really enjoying it. The hero does act like a jerk, but what I remember most of all was how different the story was from others I had previously read. I suspect it would not feel so different now, 16 years later, but at the time it felt like James was really breaking a lot of Regency tropes. And maybe I was just not reading the right books at the time…I don’t know. Still, I have a soft spot in my heart for this one.
The Air He Breathes by Brittainy C. Cherry is currently .99 cents on amazon. I personally loved it!
Eloisa James told me in an email a while ago that in her first historical, she wrote the hero as behaving how a real guy of the times would have behaved, based on her historical research. (I’d bet her research would have been excellent, as she’s an academic.)
All her subsequent books have been very different, thank goodness.