TeeFury also has some great shirts today: a stack of books with a sleepy cat and another for Outlander fans!
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Under Her Skin
Under Her Skin by Adriana Anders is 99c! This is a Kindle Daily Deal and is being price-matched by a couple other places. Readers warn that this is a contemporary romance on the darker side, but many say this is a great debut by Anders. I know I’m picking this one up.
Battered by a life determined to tear him down, this quiet ex-con’s scarred hands may be the gentlest touch she’ll ever know.
…if only life were a fairy tale where Beauty was allowed to keep her Beast
Ivan thought the world was through giving him second chances. Who’d want a rough ex-con with a savior complex and a bad habit of bringing home helpless strays? Everyone in Blackwood, Virginia knew he wasn’t good enough for the fine things in life; they knew he was too damaged to save. He just needed to keep his head down, work himself to the bone, and pretend he was content with the lot he was given.
Until she came into his life. Until she changed everything.
Until he realized he would do anything, fight anyone, tear the world apart if it meant saving her.
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Royally Screwed
Royally Screwed by Emma Chase is 99c! I was really excited for this book in a previous Hide Your Wallet, but found that the hero’s grovel was insufficient. However, the sale price is in celebration of the movie rights being optioned and I’m pretty pumped to see it on-screen!
Nicholas Arthur Frederick Edward Pembrook, Crowned Prince of Wessco, aka His Royal Hotness, is wickedly charming, devastatingly handsome, and unabashedly arrogant; hard not to be when people are constantly bowing down to you.
Then, one snowy night in Manhattan, the prince meets a dark haired beauty who doesn’t bow down. Instead, she throws a pie in his face.
Nicholas wants to find out if she tastes as good as her pie, and this heir apparent is used to getting what he wants.
Dating a prince isn’t what waitress Olivia Hammond ever imagined it would be.
There’s a disapproving queen, a wildly inappropriate spare heir, relentless paparazzi, and brutal public scrutiny. While they’ve traded in horse drawn carriages for Rolls Royces, and haven’t chopped anyone’s head off lately, the royals are far from accepting of this commoner.
But to Olivia, Nicholas is worth it.
Nicholas grew up with the whole world watching, and now Marriage Watch is in full force. In the end, Nicholas has to decide who he is and, more importantly, who he wants to be: a King…or the man who gets to love Olivia forever.
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Perv
Perv by Dakota Gray is 99c! This is a contemporary erotic romance and comes highly recommended by several authors I follow on Twitter. In a recent podcast, Alyssa Cole said it was one of her favorite books of last year. But reviews on Goodreads say the book is high on sex and low on plot.
I’m honest about what I am. You want to screw until you can’t see straight? I’m your guy. You want to experience the best oral orgasm of your life, don’t pass go and collect two-hundred dollars. Eating you for dessert is my specialty. I live for that. Skinny, average or meat on your bones, I don’t care. Blonde, brunette…white, Asian, black…
Are you pink where it counts? Then you’re my type.
I’m your guy.
For the duration of our affair, I will call you Sugar because I can’t bother to retain your name.
That’s the kind of man I am, and you will know that going in. I make sure of it.
So it’s not my fault her friend loved me, but She is going to make me pay for that.
And I’m too addicted to her taste to walk away.
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Solid Soul
Solid Soul by Brenda Jackson is $1.99! This is the first book in the Forged of Steele series and it looks like the first three books are on sale. Readers loved the hero, but some wanted more sexytimes in the book. It has a 4.3-star rating on Goodreads.
In the real world there was no way flower shop owner Kylie Hagan would ever meet up with millionaire Chance Steele. But the world of single parents and teenage hormones brought them together the first time–and a simmering passion they both tried to deny wouldn’t keep them apart for long.
Chance made her think of hot, sultry Southern nights. Kylie had him imagining satin sheets and soul-stirring kisses. But in the cold light of day, they had to resist each other. There was no way they’d let uncontrollable desire ignite their carefully protected hearts.
But some things they couldn’t ignore….
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Alyssa Cole’s AN EXTRAORDINARY UNION is on sale for $2.99 at Amazon today.
Good thing there’s a different cover of Under Her Skin at Amazon. I might have bought another book with a stealth beard in it.
I need a trigger warning for facial hair.
OH MY FEELS!!!!! Under Her Skin sounds absolutely beautiful! That synopsis got my heart BLEEDING for the Mr Hero, AND MY ASS AIN’T EVEN MET THE MOFO YET!
Thank fluffy ducks you linked your review for Royally Scrweed because I went from OMG GET IN MUH FACE to meh. Bless the meh. It’s good on the finances.
Perv. HOLY DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMN!!!
The synopsis: Eating you for dessert is my specialty.
Me: *OVARIES SPONTANEOUSLY, INSTANTLY GO ‘SPLODEY!*
Out of curiosity, does anyone know if Perv has both the heroine’s POV and the hero’s?
Under her skin seems like my catnip but does it have an HEA or is it a cliffhanger book? I don’t generally like cliffhanger books.
Personally I find the synopsis of Perv completely off putting. Yuck. Particularly yucky to me is in one line stating you like all races and in the next saying “if you’re pink where it counts” as if all women must have perfectly pink nips and vagines which is absolutely not the case among the listed races and not even the case for all white women. This societal (porn driven) expectation of perfect pinkness is so alienating for so many women. 🙁 I’ll definitely take a hard pass on that book … not solely because of the pink thing, primarily because any man that thinks or talks like that is not a man I’d want to be in bed with.
@Jacqueline: I’m assuming it’s the hero’s POV, as there’s a companion book, Filth that is told by the heroine’s POV.
@qqemokitty: I’m pretty sure there’s no cliffhanger. The second book in the series seems to follow a different couple.
@qqemokitty I can TOTALLY understand your reasons for passing, because Hero Dude sounds like a potential Epic Douche Canoe x10000000000. I always have this weird faith I put in authors that they’ll show Mr Dick Bag isn’t actually a bag of dicks.
But just as often, I’m proven dumb for hoping and end up rage punching the book if not given enough HE’S TOTES NOT SATAN INCARNATE proof.
I think this is why I have such a hard time with motorcycle club romances. I’ve got an epic rant video on a Kristen Ashley book that will go live on my channel this month. The Asshat Hero is a big reason why.
I really love your commentary about how & why the pinkness line is SO DAMN PROBLEMATIC! All vaginas are NOT created aesthetically or pigmentedly equal. While it’s possible Gray didn’t intend that subtextual message, it’s still uncool regardless.
I was worried that like the blurb, PERV would be too much telling, not enough showing. The “pink where it counts” part was off-putting, too. But I read it anyway and I’m glad I did. Yes, the story is told from the hero’s POV, but in the end he was a good guy and his relationship with his mother was worth the price of admission alone. I really enjoyed PERV and ended up buying and reading the 2nd book in the series, HARDCORE. Enjoyed that one just as much if not more. I skipped FILTH because that book is the same story as PERV, only told from the heroine’s POV. But I’d buy more new stories from this author.
@Darlynne Thanks for the tip about An Extraordinary Union! I wanted to get it when it came out but the price had made me pause…
Now if the new Elizabeth Kingston book went on sale too… Someday!
Under Her Skin definitely does not have a cliffhanger. I loved it but there are dark moments (although overall it is hopeful) and if domestic abuse is a trigger for you, you should pass it up. Also, although the blurb makes it seem hero centric, it’s actually much more about the heroine reclaiming her life with the help of the hero, rather than the other way around.
I read the sample of PREV (I didn’t get very far) and the hero sounded even more like an Epic Bag Of Selfish Dicks than the blurb made him seem.
The writing was good but the hero really turned me off reading the book.
I spent the buck on “Perv,” and am once again reminded of how I need to stop buying contemporary erotica. It’s inevitably disappointing. The more graphic language does not make up for the repetitive sex and lack of character development. Give me the euphemisms and outright yearning of regency authors like Kleypas any day.
If anyone ever asked me whether I was “pink where it counts,” I would be too busy laughing to even consider having sex. I wonder if the graphic nature of erotica precludes some authors from the “read it out loud and see how it sounds” method. I say narrate it to your cat and if she disapproves, look for alternate wording! (Though cats are contractually obligated to disapprove, so maybe find a relaxed friend instead.)
Am I the only one who really doesn’t like first person or (even worse) double first person narration?
Hearing the story in the characters’ voices tends to make them much, much less likable than a third-person omniscient narrator does. If he were just being described, the hero in “Perv” would probably only come across as a Minor Dick rather than the Epic Bag of Dicks he sounds like when he describes himself.
@MsCellanie Hon you are sooooo not alone!
I’m the opposite, though, in that I HATE reading 1st person, but if it’s split 1st person I’m a little less grumpy. I want to be able to get inside both charcter’s heads, and being stuck inside one is my kill switch.
I really hate 1st person (hug yourself every time I say 1st person) because it is inherently limiting because the thoughts are all biased. It’s them thinking, so you’re not going to get objective reflections.
Yes I know they’re fictional characters and their every word is authored BUT DAMMIT I JUST DON’T LIKE 1ST PERSON OKAY? haha
Sold on “Under her Skin & “Perv”. I’m in a bit of a slump atm so I’m hoping these two will help nudge me out of it, fingers crossed!
I hate, hate, hate first person narration! I pretty much automatically pass on anything I see that is first person. It’s just so hard to do it with skill, especially if the author tries to include important clues that the character doesn’t understand. It’s just awful!
@Kit GOOD LUCK! May the Cupid smile down on you to break the crap out of your reading slump, LOL!
@Geneva HON SAAAAAME! I used to auto-pass everything that was in 1st person, but now I’ll at least try it if it has dual split POV. And I have a theory as to why.
Most romances that are in 1st person are written only from the heroine’s perspective. Romance readers get ALLLLLLLLLL the shit & one of the most common digs I hear is the, “Oh you’re just inserting yourself into the story because you’re a sad, lonely woman.” (Long diatribe rant about this inserted here.)
Now, even though I know that the “I” voice isn’t me, Jacqueline, I think there’s a part of me that’s automatically icked out by it BECAUSE of these criticisms. “I” is so strongly identified with our sense of self that my brain does insert itself as the heroine. AND I DON’T LIKE THAT BECAUSE THAT’S NOT WHY I READ ROMANCE!
I’m not shaming authors who use this style, nor am I shaming readers who do insert themselves solely as the heroine. But in 1st person, my brain is automatically inside the heroine. (Wow that sounds creepy/pervy.) I can’t do that without hearing all the asshole critics, pointing their fingers, at me screaming, “SEE! WE WERE RIGHT!”
But here’s the thing…
If the story is in third person narrative, or 1st person split POV, I DO put my brain into the heroine’s…AND the hero’s! In many ways, the insertion of the self into a character is the point of fiction; to experience a world outside our own. But when 1st person denies me the hero’s (or other heroine’s/other hero’s) point of view, I don’t feel trapped by those criticisms.
What’s more, I’m able to enjoy the story MORE. I enjoy that private channel into BOTH the character’s perspective. It’s what makes reading fun for me; to see what both characters are thinking, but not saying. I feel like having that is so crucial for the romance genre, because a lot of the fun, fascinating bits aren’t just in the external dialogue, but the internal dialogue as well.
DOES THIS MAKE THE SENSE?
I have no idea if any of this brain vomit is logical, but I hope so. I’m planning on filming a Talking About Romance video on my YouTube channel about this very topic. I’ve been working on the script FOREVER AND EVER so who knows when it’ll finally get filmed, though.
I read Royally Screwed over the weekend, and I loved it. It’s so funny how every reader has a different reaction to events that happen in a book. I get that Nicholas was totally selfish through most of the book, but at the same time, when you grow up in the position he was in, it’s pretty hard not to be. It’s almost like he was so perfect otherwise, that this flaw was what made him human for me so it didn’t bother me the way it normally would. Plus, not to get into spoiler territory, but I thought he saw the error of his ways, and redeemed himself pretty well.
YES! THANK YOU! I’ve had An Extraordinary Union on my list of books that are too expensive as ebooks and too pretty to not have on my bookshelf so I’ve been meaning to order the paper copy. TBH I still might but I have it in my kindle now too so YAY!!!
I’m also going to have to pass on Perv, but for a very different reason. In fact kind of the opposite reason because I don’t think I’d be okay with what the heroine does. I’m sure it’s all good-natured fun in the book but I’m especially sensitive to this so I really should pass. She’s mad because… her friend fell in love with the hero? Which, yeah it sucks but they both knew what they were doing, right? And then she wants to punish him? Like, I keep thinking if two guys would do this to a girl, that first of all they wouldn’t respect the “sex only” deal and then just because HE starts to have feelings then… suddenly she’s a horrible person if she doesn’t? And his friend goes after her to punish her?! Okay I’m sure it’s not like this in the book but, yeah, pet peeve.
First person seems to be the current fashion, is that right? I suspect one needs to be a very skilled author to pull it off, so if every Tom, Dick et al is trying it, there’s going to be a lot of clumsy writing around; even worse when it’s present tense/present continuous (shudder).
I wonder if first person means that characterisation has to be more careful- more carefully thought out and individuals more skilfully drawn? Otherwise, everybody sounds like they’e speaking with the same voice- an absolute no-no for me.
Speculation time! I think Hunger Games and Twilight (and Fifty Shades) may have partly triggered the current wave of “first person present tense” novels–I feel like I suddenly saw more in the same style after those were published, particularly in the paranormal/romance/fantasy world. Maybe the massive multi-demographic popularity of those books contributed to bringing that style into fashion.
It always seems to me a style better suited to a movie script than a book, and I wonder if the prevalence of movies being made from popular books has anything to do with it, too. Perhaps if an author is envisioning the film that might be made from her book, she could be writing her characters in ways that will work for both a novel and a script. (Which, to be fair, is awesome–I love the wave of female-driven blockbusters, and the support for female writers and directors that can go along with it.)
@Rose, you may be on to something. Comic books also generally are narrated in the present tense. I do think that first person is well suited to YA, since it’s a great way to portray an unreliable narrator, and having a single, narrow POV is kind of a hallmark of being a teen (least it was for me!).
That said, @Hazel you are right that it is a more difficult tool to wield properly than standard omniscient POV, and I think it frequently results in books that are less nuanced.
THAT said, two of my favorite books from last year were The Hating Game and Breath of Fire, both of which are first person present tense POV and both of which, IMO, are lovely.
Whenever I read a blurb like the one for Perv, all I can picture is the end of Swingers, where Vince Vaughn is in the restaurant thinking that girl is flirting with him only to realize she is waving at the baby in the booth behind him
@Teev I totally agree–first person present is perfect for YA novels, as it reflects the mental/emotional scope a typical teen would have. And it did work well for me in Hunger Games. Good point about comic books, I hadn’t thought of that.
I think when we’re supposed to be empathizing with adults, I just prefer a narration with a wider worldview–it makes the book richer when we can have stronger attachments to events outside the character’s immediate range of vision.
@Rose Oh I’m with you. Those books I mentioned I only read due to repeatedly seeing raves about them here and at CBR. I tend to be leery if I open a preview for a book and see FPPT POV.
Also, I feel like (and this I think has a lot to do with the skill of the writer) there are a lot of romance writers who use tropes that seem way weirder in first person. Like “dusky nipples.” Honestly it seems to me an odd way to describe nipples, but it is so much odder for someone to say “my dusky nipples.” Who talks like that?
@Teev AMEN. PREACH. I can get down with some seriously florid and fantastical descriptions (pink pearlescent buds? sun-kissed thighs of manly bronze? keep ’em coming) but the minute the phrasing is FPPT, I’m out. No one looks in the mirror and thinks like that! (Though if you do, you have towering self-confidence and I applaud you.)
I’m going to be a POV pedant for a minute (or ten).
Omniscient third is a godlike narrator who sees everything, down to the thoughts and motivations of every character at the same time. It’s like watching a movie but with thought bubbbles. It’s staggeringly difficult to do well at length. It’s sometimes used effectively (particularly in actiony genres) as sort of an establishing shot — a brief, top-down overview before zooming in on one character for tighter focus in limited third. It is too frequently used horribly in the form of head hopping.
Limited (or deep) third is more common — one character’s POV at a time, as recorded by a mental co-pilot to justify the third-person pronoun use instead of first. The reader is in the second co-pilot’s seat, monitoring all the gauges, not out in the audience. The reader senses only what that character senses, knows only what that character knows, etc., for the duration of that character’s shift (ideally divvied up in full scenes if there is more than one POV character, both to avoid the head hopping issue and to fulfill the purpose of a scene, which is another screed). The character in limited third has to guess what other characters are thinking and feeling and can be wrong, unlike the omniscient narrator who knows everything. If there are multiple POVs, the reader can acquire information from Character B that Character A lacks, a handy tool for escalating reader tension as Character A skips along toward unperceived danger.
Limited third is “easier” to write (and read) than omniscient because it’s more natural — we actually DON’T know everything, only what can be sensed and known to us individually at any given time. Limited third also provides opportunities for misdirection (character misjudges a situation or is in denial) that can occur in omniscient (all-knowing overseer) only if the narrator is purposely deceiving the reader, which (among other sins) is a fourth wall breach. There’s a lot of high-concept potential in omniscient, but few writers have the high-concept skill to see it through. Everything outsells badly executed high concept, so most writers who like to eat set their sights lower, on targets that can be seen through a character’s eyes in limited third or first.
/pedant hat off/
/double backflip to a different topic/
I don’t self-insert in first. It’s like reading somebody’s memoir. I just don’t want to read the memoir of a dickbag (“I woke up this morning, brushed my teeth, and got down to the business of being a dickbag”), so I won’t read first-person unless the protagonist is engaging from page one (not necessarily “likeable,” but amusing or interesting enough to offset his/her dislikeable qualities). I give alternating third a few more pages to win me over because I know another character will come along soon to try to convince me the dickbag isn’t so bad.
First person POV books were like nails on a chalkboard for me at first, and still can evoke that reaction when done poorly. There are few authors that I will chase if they write in first person (whether single or dual/alternating POV), but Molly O’Keefe is one who sets the bar high. She digs deep with her characterization; the vast majority of her cast members live in the gray area between admirable and douchey, and are so very believable.
I am so sick of first person narratives that I have cut down on my reading. I cling to my favorite authors because I know what I’m getting when I buy their books. I wish there was a way to get a list each month of new third person stories.
So much for my book buying budget. Royally Screwed sounds like exactly what I need to follow the latest in Royal Romances series until Molly Jameson has another book out. I love me some royal romcom.
@Scene Stealer I’m with you, hon! I wish reviews and places like Amazon and Goodreads would have some sort of entry spot to say what style of writing the book uses.
I don’t like reading excerpts of any kind before starting a book, so it hurts my damn soul when I crack the thing open and go from SUPER DUPER FANGIRL FLAILING to 🙁 in the span of 1 sentence.
@Jacqueline, I read the ending of most books first, so excerpts don’t bother me. There are so many books that have great blurbs that go right into the nope pile after reading a sample. I can tolerate a few authors that write in first person, but that list is short.