Heads up that today there are over 60 Kindle Daily Deals with some great romance selections included. Check them out!
Jane Doe
RECOMMENDED: Jane Doe by Victoria Helen Stone is $2.49 at Amazon as part of today’s huge Kindle Daily Deal sale. Content warning for this book. If you’re unsure if it’s for you, read Elyse and Sarah’s joint review (it earned a B+) and, as a bonus, check out Sarah’s podcast episode with the author. Not that I’m biased, but it’s one of my favorites.
A double life with a single purpose: revenge.
Jane’s days at a Midwest insurance company are perfectly ordinary. She blends in well, unremarkably pretty in her floral-print dresses and extra efficient at her low-level job. She’s just the kind of woman middle manager Steven Hepsworth likes—meek, insecure, and willing to defer to a man. No one has any idea who Jane really is. Least of all Steven.
But plain Jane is hiding something. And Steven’s bringing out the worst in her.
Nothing can distract Jane from going straight for his heart: allowing herself to be seduced into Steven’s bed, to insinuate herself into his career and his family, and to expose all his dirty secrets. It’s time for Jane to dig out everything that matters to Steven. So she can take it all away.
Just as he did to her.
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RECOMMENDED: Let’s Talk About Love by Claire Kann is $2.99! This is a Kindle Daily Deal today and Carrie read this one earlier this year. It has an asexual heroine and Carrie gave the book a B+:
This book does a great job of discussing asexuality and different forms it can take, as well as other common problems that students have. There is an appropriate amount of ramen. The romance is very sweet.
Striking a perfect balance between heartfelt emotions and spot-on humor, this debut features a pop-culture enthusiast protagonist with an unforgettable voice sure to resonate with readers.
Alice had her whole summer planned. Nonstop all-you-can-eat buffets while marathoning her favorite TV shows (best friends totally included) with the smallest dash of adulting—working at the library to pay her share of the rent. The only thing missing from her perfect plan? Her girlfriend (who ended things when Alice confessed she’s asexual). Alice is done with dating—no thank you, do not pass go, stick a fork in her, done.
But then Alice meets Takumi and she can’t stop thinking about him or the rom com-grade romance feels she did not ask for (uncertainty, butterflies, and swoons, oh my!).
When her blissful summer takes an unexpected turn and Takumi becomes her knight with a shiny library-employee badge (close enough), Alice has to decide if she’s willing to risk their friendship for a love that might not be reciprocated—or understood.
Claire Kann’s debut novel Let’s Talk About Love, chosen by readers like you for Macmillan’s young adult imprint Swoon Reads, gracefully explores the struggle with emerging adulthood and the complicated line between friendship and what it might mean to be something more.
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As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
We also may use affiliate links in our posts, as well. Thanks!The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue
READER RECOMMENDED: The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee is $1.99 as a Kindle Daily Deal! I’ve lost count of the number of people who have enjoyed this book. We even ran a great guest review of it, where it earned an A- grade:
This book is touching, sexy, witty, and a fun adventure story. It would be an awesome beachside or poolside read. It takes its history seriously, but also lightly.
An unforgettable tale of two friends on their Grand Tour of 18th-century Europe who stumble upon a magical artifact that leads them from Paris to Venice in a dangerous manhunt, fighting pirates, highwaymen, and their feelings for each other along the way.
Henry “Monty” Montague was born and bred to be a gentleman, but he was never one to be tamed. The finest boarding schools in England and the constant disapproval of his father haven’t been able to curb any of his roguish passions—not for gambling halls, late nights spent with a bottle of spirits, or waking up in the arms of women or men.
But as Monty embarks on his grand tour of Europe, his quest for a life filled with pleasure and vice is in danger of coming to an end. Not only does his father expect him to take over the family’s estate upon his return, but Monty is also nursing an impossible crush on his best friend and traveling companion, Percy.
Still it isn’t in Monty’s nature to give up. Even with his younger sister, Felicity, in tow, he vows to make this yearlong escapade one last hedonistic hurrah and flirt with Percy from Paris to Rome. But when one of Monty’s reckless decisions turns their trip abroad into a harrowing manhunt that spans across Europe, it calls into question everything he knows, including his relationship with the boy he adores.
Witty, romantic, and intriguing at every turn, The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue is a sumptuous romp that explores the undeniably fine lines between friendship and love.
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This book is on sale at:
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
We also may use affiliate links in our posts, as well. Thanks!Brown-Eyed Girl
Brown-Eyed Girl by Lisa Kleypas is $2.99 and part of today’s Deals! This was Kleypas return to her contemporary Travises series and was the inspiration for one of my very first Covers and Cocktails. For me, Kleypas contemporary romances aren’t my preferred Kleypas. I’m definitely in the historical camp, but I know many readers were excited to return to the Travis family. Did you read this one?
Wedding planner Avery Crosslin may be a rising star in Houston society, but she doesn’t believe in love–at least not for herself. When she meets wealthy bachelor Joe Travis and mistakes him for a wedding photographer, she has no intention of letting him sweep her off her feet. But Joe is a man who goes after what he wants, and Avery can’t resist the temptation of a sexy southern charmer and a hot summer evening.
After a one night stand, however, Avery is determined to keep it from happening again. A man like Joe can only mean trouble for a woman like her, and she can’t afford distractions. She’s been hired to plan the wedding of the year–a make-or-break event.
But complications start piling up fast, putting the wedding in jeopardy, especially when shocking secrets of the bride come to light. And as Joe makes it clear that he’s not going to give up easily, Avery is forced to confront the insecurities and beliefs that stem from a past she would do anything to forget.
The situation reaches a breaking point, and Avery faces the toughest choice of her life. Only by putting her career on the line and risking everything–including her well-guarded heart–will she find out what matters most.
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Every book in the Travis series is part of the KDD sale if anyone is looking to score the whole set. I remember really liking the first book, which was closer to women’s fiction than a romance.
Yes! Came here to say that entire Travis series on sale – some of my favorites! 4th one wasn’t as great as other three.
I really enjoyed JANE DOE, although it ended up being a little less grimdark than I’d expected.
Am I the only person who, when reading Jane Doe, finds Jane more comprehensible than most of the other social interactions described there? I mean, I had no patience for Steven’s brand of bullshit when I was fifteen. Actually, I was pretty brutal when dealing with asshole men when I was fifteen, but all things considered, considering the circumstances in which a fifteen year old is having to deal with asshole men, it’s not something I feel particularly bad about in retrospect.
(FWIW, no, I’m not a sociopath and yes, I’m sure. But I’ve only made it about half way through the book – I was just reading it last night – and it’s left me pretty twitchy.)
The Accidentals by Sarina Bowen is $1.49 (possibly only at Amazon? I haven’t checked anywhere else). This is a YA title, which I haven’t read yet, but I love Bowen’s voice.
All three of Susan Ee’s books in her ‘Penryn & the End of Days’ series are on sale at Amazon US, .99, 1.99 and .99 respectively. These are dark YA urban sci-fi/fantasy books and Penryn is a strong, engaging character.
The Accidentals is one of the best books I’ve read this year, IMHO, and I don’t even normally like YA.
Love Susan Ee. Recommend.
The Accidentals is not price matched at B&N
“Blue eyed devil” was my first Lisa Kleypas and remains my favorite. But I find that is often the case–the first book I read by a new author stays my favorite.
@Lepiota
Yes, I think my feelings correspond, roughly.
Coming at it from a different angle, though. Being an acon, I thought: isn’t much of Jane Doe’s thinking normal psychology for someone with complex PTSD, and/or the Scapegoat child of narcissists (Rebellious subtype)? I’m concerned that calling it ‘sociopathy’ is pathologising.
OTOH I understand the temptation to cling to the Never My Fault stance, which would be a wellspring of toxic masculinity among other forms of evil.
(I was, after all, originally sometimes the Golden Child, and my narcissist parent regularly did post mortems with me when we got home after visits pointing out all the flaws of his friends and relatives. I thought that was normal family life.)
I still struggled to grasp how boys and men could cling like grim death to Never My Fault, in the face of mounting evidence to the contrary. Hence why I was reading Shere Hite at 15/16.
(In which there was a woman of normal psychology who didn’t get ground down by a psychefile / skilled offender like Steven in “Jane Doe”. She suddenly hit on the idea of making baseless accusations of her own, and stuck to it. She told her asshole boyfriend he was bad in bed – even though he wasn’t. But she ended the relationship anyway because it was toxic, and she didn’t like the way it was bringing out her dark side.)
The second Innkeeper book by Ilona Andrews (Sweep In Peace) is on sale for $1.49 on Kindle.
I absolutely LOVED Brown Eyed Girl! I borrowed it through Overdrive and been waiting for it to go on sale so I can own it.
@Zyva I’m kind of chronically suspicious of much of the diagnostic terminology, but what do you do? (In that sense, I kind of like the DSM-V approach of casting most personality disorders in spectra… but I haven’t looked into it in depth. Even though it’s only a few fields removed from my current one, I have to be in the right headspace to deal with the psychological literature… and this probably has more to do with the clinical literature than the primary research journals which are really more my thing. And I really can’t read much popular psych without starting to break out in hives – it was my mother’s favorite way to try to control us, and irritating as heck even if not very effective.)
The book depends in part on the dating rituals that Steven is trying to enact striking an emotional chord. I can see how it’s effective that way? But I never internalized any of the dating norms where ritual submission was part of the package, nor did I ever have any interest in enacting them for other reasons. I think a lot of what makes it delightful for many people just leaves me a little sad and creeped out? (This thought did lead to a conversation with my sister and a good friend, and a slightly different way of looking at our very screwed up – and different – upbringings. So there’s that.)
@Lepiota
I get my keywords from acon forums, social work manuals, true crime and TV Tropes, so I’m in hopes that the material from pop psychology sources that they draw on will have been tried and tested and developed by now.
(Like, behind this, I try not to care whether I’m ‘right’, as I was unhealthily taught to, but I don’t venture an opinion on weighty topics without a basis for believing info or practical measures would be beneficial to myself and others – or could be in some cases, allowing for variations in taste and circumstances.)
So… Sorry, I really would not recommend anyone trust to the DSM-V on narcissism. It places too much importance on non-essential indicators like grandiosity. That can totally set you on the wrong path if the narcissist in your family is the ‘collapsed’ variety, as mine was. (The ‘yes, I openly admit I’m dysfunctional when I think about it – but I rarely do because I keep busy being hypercritical of other people’ type.)
Also, the ‘spectrum’ view opens the concept of narcissism to misuse, eg to Keith Campbell’s simplifications. …Research partner Jean Twenge is more nuanced. Like she points out that many people in the younger generations are situationally isolated – eg by having to commute between divorced parents and spread themselves too thin across timewise and socially (can confirm); they concretely have less opportunities to connect with other people, they’re not simply getting more selfish and up themselves because they have the ability to post boastful selfies on Facebook, unlike their parents at their age.
(Anne Manne wrote a chapter or two on that in “The Life of I”. Very enlightening.)
For now, I’m going to stick with Scott Peck’s ‘wrong road’ concept of degrees of / descent into narcissism (“People of the Lie”) – even though it’s religiously-influenced and I’m not religious.
Still, for reasons beyond manipulators twisting the psychological canon to serve them (in my life, via misquotes; or ‘if you don’t do my bidding, it’s abuse’; ugh), I don’t universally recommend the very early texts on acons / narcissistic family dynamics. They can be kind of rough… and contain glaring errors (such as Susan Forward’s insistence on confrontation in “Toxic Parents”).
I can’t forget though that the frontline psychologists (Donaldson-Pressman; Eleanor Payson) were the ones who questioned why they had clients suffering similar sequelae to the children of alcoholics, batterers and paedophiles and deep-dived to find out.
Establishment entities were late adopters and they are trying to please everyone. Hence, a forest of details where you can get lost. Listing examples, risk factors and strategies / tactics would be one thing – at worst, an embarrassment of riches. It is quite another thing to have diagnostic criteria that go on and on – and signally fail to centre the narcissist’s stance of ‘the moral of this story is that my needs come first, and to strive for an egalitarian relationship is immoral.’
My quip in response to that is: I’d rather have a divorce in/from the family than a divorce from reality. Reality and I are very happy together.
Well, that’s my bravado-fuelled boast. I suspect the reason the resonance of Steven’s degrading demands was muted for me because what I have internalised is the fear of being selfish and taking people for granted. (The standard false accusation made against acons; but for many of us, you flounder around horribly in your youth trying to work out when there would be a basis to that, not having much of a / any grounding from parental guidance). That Steven is going way further than I do before I catch myself doesn’t seem to help me relax. The principle is the same.
Though come to think of it, I really liked in Richard Glover’s “Sleeping With Jocasta” how it backfired on Richard whenever he would veer towards the narcissist path of his parents, which could overlap with wider-society toxic masculinity: eg being condescending in navigation disputes on the roads; not cleaning, then overkill cleaning and redefining that as the minimum standard in response to ridicule.
He was willing to course-correct, which was uplifting, but I still grin with delight over his lead-in line: “With the benefit of considerable time by myself for reflection, I now realise this [minor misdeed] was a mistake.”
So, just a little less hardcore and I love it.