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Graceling
RECOMMENDED: Graceling by Kristin Cashore is $1.99 at select vendors! This is also a Kindle Daily Deal. This is a YA fantasy novel with romantic elements and I LOVED it. The entire series is pretty great, to be honest. The heroine is strong and all sorts of badass, but she’s also trying to cope with being a hired killer for the king. Also check out the other KDDs for today, which include more romance and Wolf Hall.
Katsa has been able to kill a man with her bare hands since she was eight – she’s a Graceling, one of the rare people in her land born with an extreme skill. As niece of the king, she should be able to live a life of privilege, but Graced as she is with killing, she is forced to work as the king’s thug.
When she first meets Prince Po, Graced with combat skills, Katsa has no hint of how her life is about to change.
She never expects to become Po’s friend.
She never expects to learn a new truth about her own Grace – or about a terrible secret that lies hidden far away.
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Lady Bridget’s Diary
Lady Bridget’s Diary by Maya Rodale is 99c at Amazon! I’m not sure if this is a sale that’s on it’s way out or not, so grab it while you can. This is the first book in the Keeping Up with the Cavendishes series, and Carrie gave it a B-:
Lady Bridget’s Diary is, structurally speaking, a total mess, and I didn’t believe a single thing that happened in it. However, the characters are delightful. I read this when I was down with the same cold that was afflicting everyone in America that particular week, and it was great for my humble purposes at the time: it was solidly entertaining and enjoyable, and I didn’t have to think a lot.
In the first novel of Maya Rodale’s stunning new series, an American heiress must learn to navigate London society and an infuriatingly irresistible rake . . .
Lord Darcy is the quintessential Englishman: wealthy, titled, impossibly proper, and horrified that a pack of Americans has inherited one of England’s most respected dukedoms. But his manners, his infamous self-restraint, and his better judgment fly out the window when he finds himself with the maddening American girl next door.
Lady Bridget Cavendish has grand—but thwarted—plans to become a Perfect Lady and take the haute ton by storm. In her diary, Bridget records her disastrous attempts to assimilate into London high society, her adoration of the handsome rogue next door, her disdain for the Dreadful Lord Darcy, and some truly scandalous secrets that could ruin them all.
It was loathing at first sight for Lady Bridget and Lord Darcy. But their paths keep crossing . . . and somehow involve kissing. When Lady Bridget’s diary goes missing, both Darcy and Bridget must decide what matters most of all—a sterling reputation or a perfectly imperfect love.
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Nova
Nova by Rebecca Yarros is 99c! This (seems) like a second chance romance with a snowboarder hero. It’s also the second book in The Renegades series and can be read as a standalone. Some readers said it’s a bit slow to start, but others described it more of a slow burn that’s worth the wait.
The only heart he wants is the one he already broke…
He’s Landon Rhodes.
The Renegade they call Nova.
Sinfully gorgeous, broody, tatted-up, professional snowboarder.
Four-time X Games medalist—
Full-time heartbreaker.They say a girl broke him once—
That’s why he’s so reckless, so driven, so careless with his conquests.
But I’m that girl.
They can call me his curse all they want.
He and I both know the truth—
He’s the one who destroyed me,
And I’m not the sucker who will let that happen again.Add to Goodreads To-Read List →
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The Girl With All the Gifts
The Girl With All the Gifts by M.R. Carey is $2.99! This horror, science fiction novel comes highly recommended, though I believe trigger warnings need to be issued. I can’t find the comment previously on the site, but I know a reader mentioned there’s animal abuse within the book. Have you read this one? Did you love it or hate it?
Melanie is a very special girl. Dr. Caldwell calls her “our little genius.”
Every morning, Melanie waits in her cell to be collected for class. When they come for her, Sergeant Parks keeps his gun pointing at her while two of his people strap her into the wheelchair. She thinks they don’t like her. She jokes that she won’t bite, but they don’t laugh.
Melanie loves school. She loves learning about spelling and sums and the world outside the classroom and the children’s cells. She tells her favorite teacher all the things she’ll do when she grows up. Melanie doesn’t know why this makes Miss Justineau look sad.
The Girl with All the Gifts is a sensational thriller, perfect for fans of Stephen King, Justin Cronin, and Neil Gaiman.
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I love Kristen Cashore and highly recommend the whole series set in Graceling-verse. Fire is actually my favorite. Trigger warning for violence and sexual abuse in that series, though.
I loved The Girl With All the Gifts*. I can’t say I recall animal abuse, but it’s not one of those things that tends to stick with me from books.
Arguable, but probably not a good choice if you’re looking for a happy ending though.
*Typoed that as Gits initially.
In “Girl With All The Gifts” there is a very unpleasant cat death. On the other hand, there are quite a number of unpleasant human deaths. Your mileage may vary.
Nova looks delightful, but when I see blurbs written as stanzas of sentence fragments strung together, I always read them in my head as Beat poetry with a jazzy beat and clinking martinis in the background.
I LOVE GRACELING
I got no further than “This is the first book…” in Amanda’s head (header? heading?) note before I one-clicked. Guess that means Maya Rodale is an auto-buy for me.
THE GIRL WITH ALL THE GIFTS has a fantastic premise and I loved the first half because it’s so intriguing: who are these children? Why are they eating bugs? Why are they strapped in their chairs? I thought the book lost steam in the second half–once we learn the answers to the questions. There are a lot of detailed description of rather unpleasant scientific examinations–and the ending is not a happy one at all.
The second Elizabeth Bonesteel sf book Remnants of Trust is on sale for $1.99.
@Rose: I’m with you. I feel like those sorts of descriptions don’t explain the plot very well. That said, I still bought the book today. 😛
TBH, I’d forgotten about the death of the cat in TGWATG. So many terrible things happened that it just blurred in with the rest. It’s also true that there’s no happy, feel-good ending, even though there is sense of future possibilities in a very altered reality. Despite the grimness and horror, I thought it was a great book and recommend it–it just helps a bit if you know what you’re getting into up front.
TGWATG is even cheaper ($1.99) when I clicked. I’m getting it based on your reviews, but getting DH to read it first as I’m a wimp when it comes to non-HEA/HFN books. Which is why I have yet to read Fifteen Dogs, even with all the great comments about that book…
I absolutely adored TGWATG, it was probably the best book I read last year, and I recommend it to everyone. I recommended it with the suggestion that they go into it knowing absolutely nothing, so everything is a revelation. I forgot about the cat death, too, but given the context of the story, I don’t think it’s particularly gratuitous or unthinkable. And the end isn’t an HEA, but I appreciate that a big pink bow didn’t fall out of the sky and magically fix everything in lieu of a reasonable resolution. (I read the follow up, “The Boy on the Bridge,” earlier this year, and thought it was dreadful, but anyone looking for a “HEA” for TGWATG, might enjoy the epilogue of that book.)
Several interesting books are Free right now – at least on Amazon
Michelle Diener – Sky Raiders (book 2 comes out tomorrow, SF)
Eve Silver – Hidden (a Northern Waste novel, so SF)
Patricia Rice – Wicked Wyckerly (Regency historical)
@Julia aka mizzelle: Did you read the first Elizabeth Bonesteel book? I have it in the never-ending TBR pile, but hesitate to buy a second book when I don’t know if I’ll like the first. Nuts, I’ll get it anyway. Feel free to share opinions on the first.
@Amanda oh, I would absolutely go for this book regardless of the blurb–snowboarding hero? feisty heroine? tattooed cover model with bleached tips? be still, my never-grew-past-1998-heart–but I am always amused by the idea of a romance novel’s back cover as written by Ginsberg.
Tor’s free ebook of the month is Kushiel’s Dart, which I have yet to read myself but my friends who have read the series adore it. It’s a (dark?) fantasy that’s very centered on love, sex (with bdsm, I believe), sex work, and court intrigue/politics. I thought some readers here might be interested- the download will be available through the 19th.
http://ebookclub.tor.com/
You have to sign up for Tor’s newsletter to get it, but you can unsubscribe (and if you’re interested in sff their newsletter is actually really good- among other things they’ve been putting up a lot of short stories by diverse authors).
Another free book for Kindle readers ~ Hold by Claire Kent. (I haven’t read this but I’ve heard favorable remarks.)
An FYI on Kushiel’s Dart.
Per the Tor.com email:
Kushiel’s Dart will be available from July 13th-19th. Download before 11:59 PM ET July 19th, 2017.
YA gay romance “Draw the Line” by Laurent Linn is down to $4.99: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01675AAGA/
It got a B+ from Carrie S. on SBTB here: http://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/reviews/draw-line-laurent-linn/
So many tempting books on sale today! I see there’s also THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY which is classic humor/SF, MURDER AT THE VICARAGE the first Miss Marple, and three books from the REDWALL series which is charming talking animal fantasy.
I absolutely adore Graceling. I picked up on a whim at Target because my now husband and I got snowed into one town thanks to 13 inches of snow while attempting to drive to a Catholic marriage prep class 200 miles away. Ah the joys of life in Wyoming.
But, I totally glommed Graceling while hanging out in our hotel room. Katsa is an amazing heroine and I like her relationship with her love interest. She’s really set on nit marrying or having children and I appreciated seeing that treated with respect in a YA. So good.
@Darlynne: I’m not the person you asked, but I thought the first Bonesteel book was good.
@Elspeth – oh HELL yes, Kushiel’s Dart certainly has BDSM! (The heroine is a spy/courtesan trained from a young age who’s a super hardcore submissive.) Plenty of potentially squicky stuff, but I really enjoyed the series – intrigue, action, twisty plots, mythology, and lovely prose.
Nthing all the recommendations for Kushiel’s Dart. It’s complicated and twisty and the worldbuilding is outstanding. I also loved it because the heroine is both tough and a non-combatant. I love me my ass kicking women, but it’s refreshing to find one who knows her strengths and uses them to great effect, but also knows damn well that she’s not a sword swinger and never will be one.
So often fantasy shorthand for “strong woman” is “amazing battle prowess” and the heroine of this book really helps to demonstrate ways what characters can be amazing without necessarily being warriors. It really expands the genre, imho.