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Fate & Fortune
Fate & Fortune by Fern Michaels is $1.99! This isn’t exactly a new romance, per se. Instead, it’s a collection of two of Michaels’ old school romances that were originally published in the late 70s. This duology collects Vixen in Velvet and Whitefire. Have you read either of these?
Dear Reader,
I’ve been lucky enough to share my stories with you for over forty years, and those first books occupy a special place in my heart. Vixen in Velvet and Whitefire are two of my earliest stories, and I am so happy to have this chance to introduce them to new readers.VIXEN IN VELVET
Beautiful, well-bred Victoria Rawlings sees only one way to avoid an arranged marriage—switching places with a tavern maid. Her daring scheme leads her to Marcus Chancelor, who, like Tori, is not what he seems. The handsome American secretly poses as a highwayman to support a besieged colony. Once their identities are unmasked, will Tori seize a chance at happiness, far beyond the safety she’s known?
WHITEFIRE
Katerina Vaschenko seeks vengeance against the marauders who destroyed her village and stole her priceless horses for the mad czar. But she never dreamed that her sworn enemy the Mongol prince would be the one to aid her quest. Or that together, they would forge a destiny as magnificent as the land that is their glorious heritage. . . .Add to Goodreads To-Read List →
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Never Sweeter
Never Sweeter by Charlotte Stein is 99c! On a previous podcast episode, author Molly O’Keefe mentioned that Stein is one of her writer heroes. The hero in this romance is the former bully of the heroine, so the redemption arc is really important. This is the second book in the Dark Obsession series.
Second chances are sweeter than ever in Charlotte Stein’s steamy Dark Obsession series—perfect for fans of Katy Evans—as a self-reliant college girl falls for a reformed bully who’s desperate to make up for lost time.
Letty Carmichael can’t believe her eyes when she catches a glimpse of her high school tormenter, wrestling champ Tate Sullivan, on campus. College was supposed to be her escape from Tate’s constant ridicule. Now he’s in her classes again, just waiting for his chance to make her life hell. But when Letty and Tate are partnered up for an assignment—on sex in cinema, of all things—she starts to see a kinder, gentler side of him. And when she realizes Tate knows more about sex than she could ever guess at, he soon starts making her blush in a whole new way.
Tate Sullivan is haunted by regret over his cruelty toward Letty. So when she agrees to work with him, he seizes his chance to make amends. He can’t blame her for not believing he’s for real, but soon Tate starts to break down her wall. She wants to know about passion, desire, lust—topics he is well versed in. And in return she offers the one thing he always wanted: the chance to be more than just a jock.
Letty is shocked by how sensitive Tate can be. Still, desiring him feels ludicrous. Loving him is impossible. Craving him is beyond all reason. So why can’t she stop?
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The Unsung Hero
The Unsung Hero by Suzanne Brockmann is $2.99! This is a romantic suspense novel, and is the first book in The Troubleshooters series. Sarah reviewed this one way back in 2005 and gave it a B:
The themes of the novel, and the characters themselves were enough to ensure that, unlike some of the books I brought with me, this book came back home with me, and was not donated to the resort library. Brockmann’s exploration of love, risk, choice, heroism and bravery in everyday and in exceptional circumstances was fascinating.
After a near-fatal head injury, navy SEAL lieutenant Tom Paoletti catches a terrifying glimpse of an international terrorist in his New England hometown. When he calls for help, the navy dismisses the danger as injury-induced imaginings. In a desperate, last-ditch effort to prevent disaster, Tom creates his own makeshift counterterrorist team, assembling his most loyal officers, two elderly war veterans, a couple of misfit teenagers, and Dr. Kelly Ashton-the sweet “girl next door” who has grown into a remarkable woman. The town’s infamous bad boy, Tom has always longed for Kelly. Now he has one final chance for happiness, one last chance to win her heart, and one desperate chance to save the day . . .
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Calico Palace
RECOMMENDED: Calico Palace by Gwen Bristow is $1.99! This is an American historical, which Carrie loved. She gave it an A grade:
Beautiful. I adore this book with a couple of caveats that are pretty standard for the time period it’s describing (1848 – 1850) and the time period it was published in (1970, when the author was almost 70 years old). It’s fun, it’s by turns tearjerking and hilarious, it’s feminist, it’s romantic, and it describes a crazy time in history with a lot of excitement, some glamour, and a great deal of grit.
This thrilling story of the California gold rush is not about the forty-niners, the prospectors who came rushing to the San Francisco area in 1849, but about the men and women who were there when it all began with the first discovery of gold in 1848, when San Francisco was a village of 900 people. These were the people who went up to the hills and came back staggering under the weight of the treasure they carried, and who began transforming San Francisco from a shantytown into one of the most brilliant cities in the world.
This novel tells the unforgettable story of how these people walked into one of the most spectacular adventures in the world’s history. They saw the first samples of gold brought to the quartermaster, who said they were flakes of yellow mica. They were there when the first people who saw the gold were laughed at and called “crackbrains.” And they laid the foundation of the golden empire before the first forty-niners got there. Some of them could not meet the demands of this strange new world; others grew stronger and shared the greatness of the country they had helped build. Calico Palace is their story brought to vivid life.
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Haven’t read either of those Fern Michaels books, but I did do some investigating after spotting that book in my local supermarket.
As far as I could tell from reviews, at least one of them is rather old school rapey near the beginning.
Thoughts about Never Sweeter – for some reason I found the writing prettyy compelling but towards the end it got kind of crazy sauce with the characters (especially the hero, I think) becoming quite creepy/weird. But, BUT it’s one of my most read books on my kindle. Why? Maybe this is TMI to share but the sex scenes are really hot and memorable – they’re literally burned into my brain. So imo 99c is not a bad price at all, especially if you skip over the last conflict if you get irritated like I did.
I really tried to like/love Never Sweeter, but it did not work for me at all. I DNF’d it. As someone who actually was bullied in school, it just didn’t ring true to me. Because of my history I was hesitant to try it, but so many people really love it, I thought I would give it a try. Your mileage may vary, but I wouldn’t recommend it.
I loved The Unsung Hero and have re-read it more than once. The secondary romance with Tom’s niece Mallory is adorable and I am in love with Joe. IN LOVE WITH. Brockmann does a good beta hero.
I’ve liked many Charlotte Stein books and NEVER SWEETER is beautifully written, BUT the heroine is bullied so badly she requires hospitalization (this isn’t a spoiler, it happens in the first few pages of the book), so why the heroine would voluntarily spend even a minute in the company of a man who assisted in the circumstances that put her in the hospital is a baffling mystery, never solved. Tread carefully, especially if you were bullied in school.
I’ve had a soft spot for Gwen Bristow since I first read Jubilee Trail when I was in middle school. The stories are good and the characters are memorable (ah, the Handsome Brute), but be prepared for the occasional intrusion of grotesquely racist attitudes, usually toward Native Americans.
For Kristan Higgins fans:
Blue Heron Complete Collection: The Best Man\The Perfect Match\Waiting On You\In Your Dreams\Anything for You (The Blue Heron Series) is
$2.99 at Amazon.
@Lostshadows, back in the day Fern Micheals was old skooliest of old skool writers. I adored her. YMMV.
I started but did not finish Never Sweeter; the bullying was too much for me.
Also loved Calico Palace as a teen and still enjoy it today though there are a few spots I have to slide over due to outdated and inappropriate attitudes.
The Never Sweeter cover looks like he is smelling his armpit and deciding that, yes, this new deodorant works because he’s never smelled sweeter.
Warning on “Never Sweeter” — this isn’t standard bullying. The hero with his friends at the start of the book deliberately runs the heroine off the side of the road and almost off a cliff while joy-riding in their truck. They target her. For no other reason but because it’s fun. Then, he comes to her college as a wrestling star and she’s put with him on “a sex in film project” and he decides to teach her sexy wrestling moves. Keep in mind, she almost died. Was in the hospital. Deeply traumatized with PTSD. And he and his friends were put on trial for it. And it’s not that long after this he comes to her school. She had a restraining order out against him and his friends.
My suspension of disbelief went out the window. And I could not feel an iota of sympathy for the hero. He ran her over with a truck.
I discovered “Calico Palace” from Carrie’s review. I didn’t want to buy the book, because I just don’t have that much time to devote to pleasure reading. But I **do** have endless time to listen to audiobooks, thanks to my endless commute. I made all kinds of happy noise when I found it on Audible.
I am loving listening to it. Yes, there are some ugly racial attitudes, which I am absolutely not going to excuse with a “but it was the norm back then.” But the great, vast majority of the story is amazingly beautiful, and the narrator is fabulous.
I adore Suzanne Brockmann’s series, and they are also a fun listen. I wish she would get back to them.
@christine: Wow. Just the idea of an abuser’s path to redemption being paved with sex with his victim was enough to get a nope from me, but holy hell. Boys will be boys who jokingly commit attempted murder, amirite?
@DiscoDollyDeb @christine What?????
So I was bullied in school until I convinced everyone that it wasn’t worth it, and my initial reaction to the synopsis of Never Sweeter was sort of an intellectual one: definitely that book would not work for me as stated, but would there be ways of constructing a book with a former bully as hero that I could accept? It was a really interesting thought experiment, and I spent like five minutes on it (conclusion: potentially yes, but it would have to be done very carefully). But then I scroll down to the comments and now I’m just somewhat viscerally offended.
I heard some rave reviews of Never Sweeter and almost bought it, reading these reviews I am so glad I didn’t. I like a hot sex scene, but they never work if the story’s ill conceived.
Falling in love with your Bully……
That’s a freakin terrible premise. And this is coming from someone who was bullied in school (by both classmates and teachers).