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The Bourbon Kings
The Bourbon Kings by J.R. Ward is $1.99! This book is more of a dysfunctional family saga than a romance, and it was also the inspiration for my first Covers & Cocktails post! Redheadedgirl gave this book a B:
As a novel where there’s a bunch of crazysauce, I appreciated it. I do think the current trend in romance is lacking in crazysauce. There’s a lot that happens!
For generations, the Bradford family has worn the mantle of kings of the bourbon capital of the world. Their sustained wealth has afforded them prestige and privilege—as well as a hard-won division of class on their sprawling estate, Easterly. Upstairs, a dynasty that by all appearances plays by the rules of good fortune and good taste. Downstairs, the staff who work tirelessly to maintain the impeccable Bradford facade. And never the twain shall meet.
For Lizzie King, Easterly’s head gardener, crossing that divide nearly ruined her life. Falling in love with Tulane, the prodigal son of the bourbon dynasty, was nothing that she intended or wanted—and their bitter breakup only served to prove her instincts were right. Now, after two years of staying away, Tulane is finally coming home again, and he is bringing the past with him. No one will be left unmarked: not Tulane’s beautiful and ruthless wife; not his older brother, whose bitterness and bad blood know no bounds; and especially not the ironfisted Bradford patriarch, a man with few morals, fewer scruples, and many, many terrible secrets.
As family tensions—professional and intimately private—ignite, Easterly and all its inhabitants are thrown into the grips of an irrevocable transformation, and only the cunning will survive.
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Make Me
Make Me by Tessa Bailey is 99c! This contemporary romance has come up in a couple Rec Leagues: He’s Not Worthy and He’s Always Loved Her. Reader Katie C. and I talked about this book in line while at RT17. She loved it! (Maybe she can pop into the comments and share her thoughts.) Meanwhile, I was really anticipating this book and felt disappointed by the pacing.
Construction worker Russell Hart has been head-over-work boots for Abby Sullivan since the moment he laid eyes on her. But he knows a classy, uptown virgin like her could never be truly happy with a rough, blue-collar guy like him. If only she’d stop treating him like her personal hero—a role he craves more than oxygen—maybe he could accept it.
With the future of her family’s hedge fund on her shoulders, Abby barely has time to sleep, let alone find love. And her best friend Russell acting like a sexy, overprotective hulk any time their Super Group goes out in public definitely isn’t helping her single status. But after a near-tragedy lands Russell in her bed for the night, Abby’s suddenly fantasizing about what he looks like shirtless. Chest hair and tattoos—who knew?
As Russell struggles to keep Abby at a safe distance, she begins to see through his tough-talking exterior—and acknowledge her own feelings. Now she’s ready to turn the friend-zone into foreplay…and make him lose control.
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Luke
Luke by Barbara Freethy is 99c at Amazon! This is the first book in the 7 Brides for 7 Brothers series, which caught my eye because the movie (of the same name) was part of my childhood. This is a second chance romance. Some readers warn there’s an annoying plot moppet in the romance, but others recommend the book for fans of sweet, second chance stories. Some of the other books in the series are also available for 99c!
Meet the Brannigan brothers—seven sexy brothers who bring the heart and the heat! From bestselling authors Barbara Freethy, Ruth Cardello, Melody Anne, Christie Ridgway, Lynn Raye Harris, Roxanne St. Claire and JoAnn Ross comes a brand new contemporary romance family series: 7 Brides for 7 Brothers. You won’t want to miss a single one!
LUKE – Barbara Freethy
Luke Brannigan lives for the adrenaline rush, which makes his job as a filmmaker of extreme sporting adventures the perfect career choice. He loves to travel the world, risking life and limb to capture the most amazing shot. Some might say he’s running away from something…or someone.
When Luke’s billionaire father Colin Brannigan dies unexpectedly, Luke is shocked to receive title to the mountain lodge where his parents first met. Having been estranged from his father for years, Luke has no idea why his dad picked him to inherit this very personal piece of property…until he realizes the pretty blonde manager is Lizzie Parker, his former college girlfriend.
Luke and Lizzie have an emotional and heartbreaking past, but will they have a future? Will love be Luke’s greatest adventure yet?
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Bikers and Pearls
Bikers and Pearls by Vicki Wilkerson is 99c! This is a small town contemporary romance with an opposites attract element. Some readers expressed difficulty sympathizing with the heroine, while others loved how the relationship progressed between the hero and heroine. Reviews also mentioned that this is a romance without any explicit sex scenes.
Who said tempting a sweet Southern belle would be easy?
When rebel biker Bullworth Clayton gets tangled up with pastel-and-pearls-clad April Church, sparks fly. Sure, April would clearly rather work with anyone else, but if teaming up with Bull means a successful charity event for a sick little boy they both care about, then so be it.
April is baffled at how drawn she is to the leather-wearing, tattooed Bull—he just doesn’t fit with her simple, safe, country-club life. And as much as the handsomely rugged man tempts her, she still can’t shake the images of the tragic motorcycle accident from her past, which left her scarred and her father broken.
Bull tempts her to don a pair of leather pants and go for a ride with him, while April desperately tries to resist her attraction to the wild side and keep her exploits hidden from her small town. Will they be able to navigate their differences and find a middle road to love?
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I’m sorry, but “classy, uptown virgin” is just cracking me up right now.
Bikers and Pearls is definitely not up my alley, but makes me want to reread The Peach Keeper because Paxton was a privileged perfect blonde with family drama out the wazoo and a bad crush on her maybe-gay best friend. Hmm…I think I’ll go reread that one.
The classy, uptown virgin likes the rough, blue-collar guy enough to consider him her BEST FRIEND, but the idea of a romantic relationship is just absurd? Sounds like one of those problems that could be resolved with a 5-minute conversation.
I also envision him introducing her as “my friend Abby, the virgin,” since the description uses its limited word count to call attention to her zero body count. Everybody’s born with virginity. It’s not an achievement or indication of character. Get over it, creep.
I really liked “Make Me”. I have known several proud, stubborn and somewhat damaged men who declined to discuss their issues to a ridiculous degree. This was my favorite book in the series and really sweet.
@Ren Benton – oh, maybe Make Me would work for the “everything could be resolved with one conversation” square in the Ripped Bodice bingo.
Of course, I already have the square.
Make Me looks so good! I can’t wait to read it!
I have one question re: Make Me — why does he have his last name tattooed across his chest? Is that in the book?
@June: If I recall, yes. He runs his family’s construction business.
The cover for make me exemplifies a trend I’ve noticed lately. The description mentions chest hair, but the model is bare chested. Could they either look at the cover before writing the summary or choose the cover based on the summary? It’s distracting when you are reading the book and you realize these things, but it’s worse when you are still deciding if you want to buy it. If they can’t get those to match, how many off details in the book are there going to make me crazy?
@Ren Benton said, “The classy, uptown virgin likes the rough, blue-collar guy enough to consider him her BEST FRIEND, but the idea of a romantic relationship is just absurd?”
I hate this trope so much. Maybe I’m just oversensitive because I come from a different socioeconomic background than my husband, and now I do white collar work while he does blue collar, but I just hate the idea that socioeconomic differences are OMG SO INSURMOUNTABLE. It’s not like we’re different species, FFS.
@Dread Pirate Rachel: I can understand if one person jets to Milan every weekend while the other is pulling overtime at a factory in Nowheresville, it might be hard to arrange an introduction. (Then again, there are an awful lot of billionaire/celebrity romances that manage to find a way to drop Moneybags in Nowheresville, so even that’s not much of an excuse, unless you’re being a stickler about probability.)
But when they know each other? And hang out together? And she refers to him as her BFF? Under those circumstances, if she won’t date him, the color of his collar isn’t the reason.
@Everyone: Regarding Make Me, I think the description doesn’t convey the romance accurately. The hero hasn’t really tried to romance the heroine. Instead, he has this insecurity that she wouldn’t want to date “a guy like him,” as in someone not in her class bracket.
So I wouldn’t say the heroine thinks it’s absurd to date him. He’s hung up on how different they are and she’s kind of oblivious to any sort of flirtations in genera.
I’m loving the comment discussion of Make Me, because it sounds like my jam on toast and I’m dying to read it. Although I, like @June, am having a giggle over the heroine’s description.
♫ uptown virgin…she’s been living with her uptown hymen…bet she never went horseback ridin’…bet her mama never told her why
numerous worldwide cultures historically attached disproportionate significance to virginity and the nonsensical stigma of “lost” purity somehow continues to this day♫@June: “why does he have his last name photoshopped across his chest?” Fixed that for you.
Damn tags, never work like I want ’em to.
Hmmmm, I’ve never read JR Ward because paranormal isn’t my thing. But I love crazysauce. Any other commenters recommend Bourbon Kings?
@Antipodean Shenanigans
I tried the audio version of Bourbon Kings but it didn’t work for me. (DNF) I just couldn’t connect with the characters at all. And at the time I had a large list of library books to get to so I decided to spend my time on those instead. YMMV
Thanks @Chelle. After checking reviews on Goodreads, I’m gonna pass.
I enjoyed Make Me most out of the trilogy (I really disliked the second one). IIRC, the hero here has a shaved head and everyone is surprised he has chest hair.
@Antipodean Shenanigans – I am stupidly addicted to the JR Ward paranormals, but could not stand The Bourbon Kings. I finished it because I wanted to see who else died, was disappointed that most of them lived, and that was that.
I LOVED LOVED LOVED Make Me – it was amazing and I reread it a lot. As Amanda said the heroine is oblivious to how much the hero likes at her first (although all the rest of their friends can tell) and their class differences are not a problem to her – he is insecure. And I really enjoy modern day class difference stories – I think a skilled author can make them work. I was listening to an episode of On Point (from WBUR and NPR) the other day where an author was presenting his idea that the true problem in America is not between the 1% and the 99%, but the top 20% and the 80%. Whatever you think about his argument, class differences are still alive and well in the United States and a lot of well-off people only hang out with, work with, etc. other well off people. This author was especially interesting because he is British and finds America to be more class-based which goes against what we might traditionally think. Agree or not, it still gives you a lot to think about.
Anyway, back to Make Me – I appreciated that this was a friends to lovers story and that they were truly friends first before any romance developed. Also the sexytimes are hot, hot, hot – which holds true for the other two books in the series as well. One of my favorite tropes is when a hero thinks the heroine walks on water or just worships her and this book has a ton of that. But by the end of the book he sees her as a whole flawed person, BUT still worships her – total swoon.
Just thought of one more thing! Another book were modern class differences were handled really really well is One Hot December by Tiffany Reisz – heroine welder falls for wealthy-ish construction firm president hero. Also has hot sexytimes. Highly highly recommend !