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Shadow and Bone
Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo is $2.99 at Amazon and Barnes & Noble! A YA fantasy romance filled with Russian elements, Elyse just mentioned this on our 200th podcast episode. It’s the first book in Bardugo’s Grisha trilogy. While readers loved the engaging characters and interesting storyline, most felt the author was in the habit of telling rather than showing. It has a 4-star rating on GR. Has anyone read this?
Surrounded by enemies, the once-great nation of Ravka has been torn in two by the Shadow Fold, a swath of near impenetrable darkness crawling with monsters who feast on human flesh. Now its fate may rest on the shoulders of one lonely refugee.
Alina Starkov has never been good at anything. But when her regiment is attacked on the Fold and her best friend is brutally injured, Alina reveals a dormant power that saves his life—a power that could be the key to setting her war-ravaged country free. Wrenched from everything she knows, Alina is whisked away to the royal court to be trained as a member of the Grisha, the magical elite led by the mysterious Darkling.
Yet nothing in this lavish world is what it seems. With darkness looming and an entire kingdom depending on her untamed power, Alina will have to confront the secrets of the Grisha . . . and the secrets of her heart.
Shadow and Bone is the first installment in Leigh Bardugo’s Grisha Trilogy.
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Beyond Temptation
Beyond Temptation by Brenda Jackson is $2.99! This is the third book in the Forged of Steele contemporary romance series and many other titles are also on sale. Readers loved the hero in this book, but wished the heroine had a stronger personality.
Sexy millionaire Morgan Steele will settle for nothing less than the perfect woman. And when he lays his arrogant eyes on sultry Lena Spears, he believes he’s found her. There’s only one problem, the lady in question seems totally immune to his charm.
Morgan is determined to convince the sassy career woman that he’s Mr. Right. He wines and dines her. He promises her the baby she desperately wants and the financial security she craves. And given time, Morgan is certain that once he gets Lena into his bed, she’ll never want to leave….
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The Wicked Wallflower
The Wicked Wallflower by Maya Rodale is $2.24! This is a historical romance that’s part of Rodale’s Bad Boys & Wallflowers series. The hero and heroine have a pretend engagement, and you know those always work out the way the characters intend. Elyse reviewed the book and wound up giving it a C-, though Goodreads reviews says this is a series that gets better with each book:
I liked how Blake and Emma finally come together in the end, but getting there was a little rocky. The Wicked Wallflower wasn’t a bad book by any means, but with so many Regencies out there, it failed to stand out from the rest of the pack.
Lady Emma Avery has accidentally announced her engagement—to the most eligible man in England. As soon as it’s discovered that Emma has never actually met the infamously attractive Duke of Ashbrooke, she’ll no longer be a wallflower; she’ll be a laughingstock. And then Ashbrooke does something Emma never expected. He plays along with her charade.
A temporary betrothal to the irreproachable Lady Avery could be just the thing to repair Ashbrooke’s tattered reputation. Seducing her is simply a bonus. And then Emma does what he never expected: she refuses his advances. It’s unprecedented. Inconceivable. Quite damnably alluring.
London’s Least Likely to Misbehave has aroused the curiosity—among other things—of London’s most notorious rogue. Now nothing will suffice but to uncover Emma’s wanton side and prove there’s nothing so satisfying as two perfect strangers…being perfectly scandalous together.
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Lovely
Lovely by Elizabeth SaFleur is 99c! This is book on in the Elite Doms of Washington erotic romance series. I’m getting a hint of an age difference if this one, if that’s your catnip. Many readers felt this book was a lovely surprise (see what I did there?). However, others say that it’s rather BDSM-lite.
Can you have love and power at the same time?
Congressman Jonathan Brond has mastered his work, his reputation and the art of sexual domination while keeping his family’s political legacy intact. But a chance encounter with college student Christiana Snow promises something he didn’t think was possible–meeting someone honest.
When the charismatic man proposes a summer of sensual, sexual submission, Christiana leaps into his world—the antidote to her bland life. But Washington, D.C. is an unforgiving place; soon gossip and scandal threatens their relationship.
Yet, in a town of players, sometimes introducing a new game is the only way out. Who knew love would be the winning plan?
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I really enjoyed Shadow and Bone and the rest of the Grisha trilogy. I’ve also read the first book of the companion duology (Six of Crows). I think Bardugo does a great job of world-building and weaving in Russian influences. It’s a little bit lighter on romance but there are still ships to be had. 🙂
And I really didn’t like Shadow and bones. I didn’t care for the narrative, foundation the heroine irritating and the “russian” influences is all wrong. I’m not russian myself but my husband is, so I reacted at the names wich doesn’t add up (feminine names for males, male and female surnames mixed up) and we loled at kvas (you have to drink A LOT of kvas to get drink). Too much worked against it imo.
Haven’t read Shadow and Bone yet, but I loved her duology set in the same universe. (Ran out and bought the hardcovers, level loved.) I’ve also heard good things about it over the years.
I’m with Moa – I read Six of Crows and just got annoyed. If you actually have experience with Russian & Slavic culture, “Grisha” is a nickname for Grigory. How would you take a fantasy setting where all the magical people are referred to as Johnnies or Billies? And maybe I’m just too old and cranky at this point to read stories populated entirely by hyper-accomplished seventeen year olds…
The Painted Queen by Elizabeth Peters is on sale for 2.99 at Amazon. I do not know if it is price matched. This is the last Amelia Peabody book and was a WIP at the time that Elizabeth Peters (aka Barbara Michaels) died. It is my understanding that it was finished by Joan Hess in accordance with instructions that Peters left with regard to unfinished books. I know that this is not a romance, but I have seen others recommend the Amelia Peabody books in other threads, so I thought I should pass it along.
Also, for those like me, who enjoy mysteries written by women with heroines in the leading role, Sara Paretsky’s latest V.I. Warshawski book is also on sale. Again, not a romance.
Oh look. A “sassy” black heroine. What an original idea. You never see those in pop culture.
I’ve read the Grisha trilogy and the companion pair, which I like much more. Naming the mutants Grisha is a little weird, although it apparently refers to a specific type of angel (more here ). There are more jarring problems, though, such as a matron character being named, essentially, ‘wtf,’ and then the more fundamental issues of internal consistency in worldbuilding (‘how would this vocabulary develop in a world without Julius Caesar, Indo-European, etc.), which are further addressed here.
For me, though– and I am a Russian speaker– the bigger issue of the trilogy is that it’s predictable and trite. The companion set is much more enjoyable, and if you don’t mind being dropped into an entirely new world, I recommend those two.
I liked the Grisha trilogy a lot. (I am in the minority in not liking Six of Crows, which felt interminable to me.) But I can see how actual Russian people would feel it is trivializing their culture. Bardugo calls what she does Tsarpunk — like steampunk grounded in 19th-century Russia’s culture and visuals instead of Victorian England’s. I thought the universe she created was fascinating and dark and fun, and I liked the romantic triangle very much. It is, however, slow going. I don’t understand how everyone except me loved Six of Crows so much when it was freaking GLACIAL!
For whatever it’s worth, I suspect Bardugo is Russian-Jewish. (As I am.) A lot of us fled anti-Semitism in the early 20th century and settled in Israel (where Bardugo was born) and the USA (where I was). I may be wrong about the author’s heritage. But fwiw, I identify as Eastern-European Jewish, not as Russian. Jewishness tends to trump ethnic identities…especially in places where Jews were persecuted for being Jewish. Which is not an excuse for cultural appropriation, but it is a data point; even if she is mining her grandparents’ or great-grandparents’ country of origin, she’s certainly twisted and re-imagined it.
Oh, and Ms. M, thank you for the link to Rose Lemberg’s piece, which was fascinating and thought-provoking.
I didn’t like Six of Crows, either, but my problem with the pacing was more that the ebook ended at 76%, so where I expected the third act to get going (for lack of a signpost to that effect earlier), I got The End and a ton of filler. An even bigger problem was the “Brutalize the Girl to Give the Boy Motivational Man-Pain” trope. And the unnatural keeping the reader uninformed when multiple characters knew a plan and every single one of them had POV scenes but not a single one thought about the plan until it was explained after the fact. It started okay for me but fell to pieces fast in the last half? third? (Hard to say when it’s 100% over at 76%!)
I didn’t care for the Shadow and Bone trilogy—though it is popular among the teens with whom I work and I love The Language of Thorns—but adore the Six of Crows duology, not least for its incredible depiction of a dyslexic (I am dyslexic) and its characters coping with chronic pain (as I do) and with mental health issues, ranging from depression to PTSD. Also I love the action.
YMMV, obviously.
@Another Anne: The Peters is also on sale at BN. Which is a great deal, because all the rest of them are $9.99.
Mary Stewart’s e-books are on Amazon and Kobo, and are slowly starting to show up at BN, priced from $.99 – $2.99. You can get almost all of her oeuvre for less than $30.
@marjorie– you’re welcome! I came across it on a Goodreads thread that Leigh Bardugo was frequenting. She was very gracious in her discussion and may even have posted the link herself. Language issues aside, I liked the worldbuilding for the Grishaverse. I’m not Russian, but as far as I can tell, cultural appropriation is not something most Russian speakers would find offensive. Like you, I suspected LB may have had family from Russia, but if so, I’ve never seen her mention it.
@Caitlin– yes! I loved basically EVERYTHING about Jesper’s characterization: the gambling as a sign of depression, which is a nonphysical version of illness; being cheerfully gay; being a POC– I loved all of it
DD liked but didn’t love the Grisha trilogy; however the Six of Crows duology is probably her favorite/most re-read books.
I’m suggesting a much higher rating for Maya Rodale’s Wicked Wallflower book. I’ve been burning through the author’s library by listening to the audio books on Overdrive. They are FABULOUS. I have listened to the Writing Girls series, American Cavendishes series, and am now in the middle of the Wallflower books. Carolyn Morris’ British voice for Writing Girls and Wallflower books is so fun to listen to. Give it a second try!
I’m also in the camp of those who loved the Shadow and Bone trilogy and couldn’t get into Six of Crows. Although I will say I’m tired of YA novels being titled Noun and Other Noun because I can never remember the titles and always mix them up! Also too many titles with Shadow or Bone in them! (Not that regencies are much better with all the Dukes LOL)