Before we get to the books below, Sourcebooks Casablanca is doing 12 days of sales! Over the course of the sale, popular books will be priced at 99c! Day one features contemporary romances.
A Lady Awakened
RECOMMENDED: A Lady Awakened by Cecilia Grant is 99c! This book is often recommended in terms a sex-positive heroine and was mentioned on a previous podcast where Sarah and I discussed Tinder. However, other readers found the heroine’s view of sex to be rather unromantic. Have you read this one?
In Cecilia Grant’s emotionally rich and deeply passionate Regency romance debut, a deal with a rumored rogue turns a proper young woman into . . . A Lady Awakened.
Newly widowed and desperate to protect her estate and beloved servants from her malevolent brother-in-law, Martha Russell conceives a daring plan. Or rather, a daring plan to conceive. After all, if she has an heir on the way, her future will be secured. Forsaking all she knows of propriety, Martha approaches her neighbor, a London exile with a wicked reputation, and offers a strictly business proposition: a month of illicit interludes . . . for a fee.
Theophilus Mirkwood ought to be insulted. Should be appalled. But how can he resist this siren in widow’s weeds, whose offer is simply too outrageously tempting to decline? Determined she’ll get her money’s worth, Theo endeavors to awaken this shamefully neglected beauty to the pleasures of the flesh—only to find her dead set against taking any enjoyment in the scandalous bargain. Surely she can’t resist him forever. But could a lady’s sweet surrender open their hearts to the most unexpected arrival of all . . . love?
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This book is on sale at:
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
We also may use affiliate links in our posts, as well. Thanks!A Promise of Fire
RECOMMENDED: A Promise of Fire by Amanda Bouchet is 99c! This is a Kindle Daily Deal and is being price matched! I absolutely loved this book and it’s the best book I’ve read so far this year and I gave the book an A:
I can say, without a doubt, that A Promise of Fire is going on my keeper shelf. I want more of these characters and I want more of this world. I cannot remember the last time I wanted to both savor and devour a book, and Bouchet’s writing is so engaging and magical that I wish she had some sort of backlist I could dive into for the next few months. If you’re even slightly tempted by this review or from the chapter one excerpt, buy this book. Because I need more people to discuss it with, pronto!
KINGDOMS WILL RISE AND FALL FOR HER…
“Cat” Catalia Fisa lives disguised as a soothsayer in a traveling circus. She is perfectly content avoiding the danger and destiny the Gods—and her homicidal mother—have saddled her with. That is, until Griffin, an ambitious warlord from the magic-deprived south, fixes her with his steely gaze and upsets her illusion of safety forever.
BUT NOT IF SHE CAN HELP IT
Griffin knows Cat is the Kingmaker, the woman who divines the truth through lies. He wants her as a powerful weapon for his newly conquered realm—until he realizes he wants her for much more than her magic. Cat fights him at every turn, but Griffin’s fairness, loyalty, and smoldering advances make him increasingly hard to resist and leave her wondering if life really does have to be short, and lived alone.
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This book is on sale at:
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
We also may use affiliate links in our posts, as well. Thanks!A Sure Thing
A Sure Thing by Marie Harte is 99c! This is a contemporary romance and the first book in The Donnigans series. Some readers felt the book took too much time setting up the rest of the series, while others really loved the cast of characters. Anyone interested?
Meet the Donnigans
With the eldest Donnigan brothers adjusting to civilian life, their younger sister constantly in trouble, and their little brother clueless about life in general, falling in love is the last thing on anyone’s mind…
Can this Bossy Badass Marine…
The Marine Corps was everything Landon Donnigan ever wanted in life…until a bullet sent him home with a medical discharge. Teaching a self-defense class at the gym is old-hat for a marine, but when he meets sexy Ava Rosenthal, his combat skills are useless for protecting his heart.
Be her Mr. Right?
Ava can take care of herself and likes quiet, bookish men-not muscular warriors who think women need to be coddled. But Landon is more than he seems, and when they come together, the results are explosive.Add to Goodreads To-Read List →
This book is on sale at:
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
We also may use affiliate links in our posts, as well. Thanks!My Lady Jane
My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand, Jodi Meadows, and Brodi Ashton is $1.99! This book comes highly recommended and I keep bumping it up, higher and higher, on my TBR list. This is a YA fantasy novel that many readers find clever and really entertaining. However, others didn’t find it very memorable. It has a 4.1-star rating on Goodreads.
The comical, fantastical, romantical, (not) entirely true story of Lady Jane Grey. In My Lady Jane, coauthors Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows have created a one-of-a-kind fantasy in the tradition of The Princess Bride, featuring a reluctant king, an even more reluctant queen, a noble steed, and only a passing resemblance to actual history—because sometimes history needs a little help.
At sixteen, Lady Jane Grey is about to be married off to a stranger and caught up in a conspiracy to rob her cousin, King Edward, of his throne. But those trifling problems aren’t for Jane to worry about. Jane gets to be Queen of England.
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This book is on sale at:
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Are you trying to tell me that there’s only twelve days till Christmas? *suspicious* *counts* *PANICS AND FREAKS OUT*
This was a rough day on the wallet with the bazillion Kindle Daily Deals. I’m scared to look at how many books downloaded, but at least my wish list is 1% less burdensome now.
A Lady Awakened has sex in it of a sort that‘s rarely found in romance novels and for that reason it’s really valuable and fascinating. You have two people, Martha and Theo, whose sexualities are not in tune, and they have to have sex because she needs an heir, and it’s a really frustrating experience for both of them. At the same time, as they get to know each other they fall in love and so they keep negotiating in the bedroom until they find what works for both of them. Martha can get off just fine by herself, but men…? She‘s not all about the cock. She does eventually find that it delights her watching Theo enjoy himself though. And Theo is particularly frustrated because he rather based his identity on his ability to please women, since he thinks that’s the only thing he’s good at, and he feels undermined by the fact that he can’t, at first, please Martha (we readers suspect that he may not have been quite as great a lover with other women as he believes). So there’s a lot of discarding of assumptions about sex that has to happen before the two of them get on as well in the bedroom as they do out of it. (There’s a bit at the end where Theo is boasting about how big his cock is and privately Martha is like “so what?” but aloud she just smiles and congratulates him, and it’s funny and affectionate.) Anyhow, I think it is really valuable to have a book where sex is not just automatically great, where two people who are emotionally in tune may find their sexual needs out of synch, where there is a lot of exploring and rethinking going on.
Many times YES to A Lady Awakened and anything else by Cecelia Grant.
There are some EXCELLENT buys in this offering, especially A PROMISE OF FIRE (so GOOD!) and A LADY AWAKENED (a perpetual re-read for me).
I agree with everyone who’s defended the sex in A LADY AWAKENED, because it’s so natural and real to the situation–young widow from sheltered background whose deceased husband was older and not particularly interested at all in her pleasure. Enter the young aristocratic stud (literally) she enlists in her plan to keep her estate and staff from the hands of her asshole, rapist brother-in-law. Initially, Martha thinks of her encounters with Theo as a business transaction and nothing more while he’s all swooning over the beautiful widow and anxious to show her how he can shake that thang 😉 She’s like, “no thank you just make your deposit and go please.” Eventually it turns into sexy times but the way that unfolds is completely believable. Highly recommend this book. 🙂
I picked up A Promise of Fire, as well as Midnight Riot from a previous post this morning. Y’all convinced me… I’ll get on A Lady Awakened too.
Also rebel of the sands by alwyn Hamilton is $1.99 on Amazon. Young adult fantasy been on my tbr for a while and looking forward to reading it.
I read A Promise of Fire a couple of weeks ago. I enjoyed it while I was reading it, but admit that I nit-picked a bit at the time. But, after I was finished, I kept thinking about it and had a hard time starting something new. So, not just good book, but also a rare memorable one for me.
Love a book where it’s acknowledged that the first time isn’t always magic, perfectly blissful; alleluia chorus, the heavens open and Lo! I have found him!!!
If even after the first time they have to keep negotiating their way to a successful sexual relationship, I want to read this.
I loved A Lady Awakened ‘cus it’s a book where it’s almost as if H&h fall in love INSPITE of the sex! Which stands out in such contrast to so many stories where the falling-in-love almost happens as a RESULT of the sex.
A lady awakened is the first book of a trilogy (plus a novella) that’s just…awesome. Cecilia Grant when is your next book coming out?????
I love A Lady Awakened, and the other books in the series. There’s something about Martha being determined not to enjoy the sex and Theo trying to persuade her that it was okay that I found incredibly hot. Also, a lot of Theo’s plot revolves around the Enclosure Act; always love a historical that makes an effort to include historical events. I did find the ending a little too neat, like Grant was trying too hard to make sure everyone got a happy ending, but her later books are slightly better at reconciling a happy ending for the romance with the complexities of living with the consequences of an unconventional courtship.
You guys…Lady Awakened is my favorite book…the one that stayed with me the most for the last five years. I loved the humanity of the characters, the realness of the sex, and the writing is extraordinary. Buy this book! Grant’s other books are great too. She has published 3 books and a Christmas novella. I keep waiting for her to release something new, but her website hasn’t been updated in a year. I second Margarita’s question. Any one have any recommendations for books like A Lady Awakened?
Bought 1 but 2/3 sadly not on sale….yet. stocking up for happy solo Christmas time. Xxoocf
I adored A Lady Awakened, and after devouring also the other books in the series (the second best, IMHO, was the Christmas novella) I can’t wait for her next novel. Though I check Grant’s website regularly, I couldn’t find any updates on new releases. Do you have any more info? Is she writing under another pen name?
@Cecilia I keep checking too! It would be great if anyone has any news.
Truth or Beard by Penny Reid is free everywhere. I enjoyed it although not quite as much as the other books I’ve read by her.
I love Cecilia Grant’s writing. If you follow her on twitter, she also seems like a pretty great person, too. I think she’s mentioned a work in progress, but I know she has also talked about how her writing process is very slow. Anyway, give her a follow @Cecilia_Grant.
I also adore A Lady Awakened, as well as the subsequent books in the series. In all of them, the main characters are flawed but fundamentally good people who grow as the books progress. They’re beautiful stories.
From A Lady Awakened: ” Where her form was curved with logic and precision, not to mention breeding parts tucked neatly away, he looked rangy, haphazard, his male parts an ill-placed afterthought. Like the last leftover bits of clay scraped together, rolled into primitive forms and stuck onto the middle of him, the stones in their rough, red sack and that improbably appendage dangling to the fore.”
Not my thoughts when I encounter a naked man.
Our heroine has this sad attitude toward sex because her husband used her to make a baby which never happened, he took her when he wanted regardless of her desire and on their wedding night it was basically rape. She doesn’t know there is anything about sex to be enjoyed, merely endured for the sake of a baby and that’s why she endures it with the neighbor. She needs to be pregnant withing a month of her husband’s death to not only keep the estate but to provide for the tenants which the heir will not do.