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Jade City
Jade City by Fonda Lee is $2.99! This adult fantasy novel incredibly violent, according to reviews. But readers loved the world building and threads of mythology weaved into the story. To be honest, the book sounds intense and awesome. It has a 3.9-star rating on Goodreads.
JADE CITY is a gripping Godfather-esque saga of intergenerational blood feuds, vicious politics, magic, and kungfu.
The Kaul family is one of two crime syndicates that control the island of Kekon. It’s the only place in the world that produces rare magical jade, which grants those with the right training and heritage superhuman abilities.
The Green Bone clans of honorable jade-wearing warriors once protected the island from foreign invasion–but nowadays, in a bustling post-war metropolis full of fast cars and foreign money, Green Bone families like the Kauls are primarily involved in commerce, construction, and the everyday upkeep of the districts under their protection.
When the simmering tension between the Kauls and their greatest rivals erupts into open violence in the streets, the outcome of this clan war will determine the fate of all Green Bones and the future of Kekon itself.
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Not Another Family Wedding
Not Another Family Wedding by Jackie Lau is 99c! This is the first book in her Chin-Williams series. This is a friends to lovers romance with a “cranky professor” heroine. This one was recommended in our Childfree Rec League and leans towards rom com territory. However, others wished the book were longer to really explore the romance and scenes.
Natalie Chin-Williams might be a cranky professor of climatology who thinks the world is doomed, but she believes in lasting love…just not for herself. She has a long history of failed relationships, plus the men she dates inevitably want children and she doesn’t.
Now thirty-six and single, Natalie expects endless comments about her love life when she attends her baby sister’s wedding. Worse, weddings are always drama-filled disasters in her family. She needs emotional support to get through the weekend, so she enlists the help of her friend Connor Douglas, the dependable family doctor.
The wedding reception goes south when a drunk aunt announces a family secret that sends Natalie reeling and shakes her faith in love. Luckily, she has her long-time friend to lean on—a man she somehow ends up kissing. But there’s no way this could turn into anything lasting, is there? That’s impossible for her, especially now…
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How to Date a Douchebag: The Learning Hours
The Learning Hours by Sara Ney is 99c! This is part of the How to Date a Douchebag series and many are on sale, on KU, or are part of the Audible Romance Package. The heroine is the more sexually experienced one in this romance and while I’ve enjoyed the first book on audio, the heroes are indeed douchebags.
He’s not a douchebag; but that doesn’t stop his friends from turning him into one.
MY FRIENDS WANT ME TO GET LAID.
So much so that they plastered my ugly mug all over campus, in bold printed letters:
Are you the lucky lady who’s going to break our roommate’s cherry?
Him: socially awkward man with average-sized penis looking for willing sexual partner. You: must have a pulse. He will reciprakate with oral. Text him at: 555-254-5551The morons can’t even spell. And the texts I’ve been receiving are what wet dreams are made of. But I’m not like these douchebags, no matter how hard they try to turn me into one.
THIS ISN’T THE KIND OF ATTENTION I WANT.
One text stands out from hundreds. One number I can’t bring myself to block. She seems different. Hotter, even in black and white.
However, after seeing her in person, I know she’s not the girl for me. But my friends won’t let up–they just don’t get it. Douchebags or not, there’s one thing they’ll never understand:Â GIRLS DON’T WANT ME.Â
Especially her.
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Sorcery & Cecelia
RECOMMENDED: Sorcery and Cecelia, or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot, by Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer is $1.99! This was a Sizzling Book Club pick, too, in December 2012. This book blended a lot of my favorite things: clever women, epistolary storytelling, and a Regency setting. I know this is a reader favorite, too.
Two girls contend with sorcery in England’s Regency age.
Since they were children, cousins Kate and Cecelia have been inseparable. But in 1817, as they approach adulthood, their families force them to spend a summer apart. As Cecelia fights boredom in her small country town, Kate visits London to mingle with the brightest lights of English society.
At the initiation of a powerful magician into the Royal College of Wizards, Kate finds herself alone with a mysterious witch who offers her a sip from a chocolate pot. When Kate refuses the drink, the chocolate burns through her dress and the witch disappears. It seems that strange forces are convening to destroy a beloved wizard, and only Kate and Cecelia can stop the plot. But for two girls who have to contend with the pressures of choosing dresses and beaux for their debuts, deadly magic is only one of their concerns.
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I absolutely adore the Sorcery & Cecelia series. To me, they have a very similar reading-feel to the Howl’s Moving Castle books and also the Mairelon the Magician duology (well duh, because the latter was written by one of the S&C authors). They’re all on my comfort reading list.
I’ve read the first and third of the How to Date a Douchebag series, and while it’s true that in the first book, the guy really was a douchebag at least initially, in this one, the guy was a total sweetheart, kind, respectful, and a virgin (!), while the heroine, at least initially is a bit shallow, immature, and thoughtless. This story was more about her growth than his as she slowly matures and comes to see how her snap judgements were hurtful. Also, the hero in this book is described as somewhat “ugly” or at least, pretty average looking, but as the heroine comes to know him, she is more and more attracted to him and comes to see him as beautiful. Basically it’s filled with all kinds of catnip if you like virgin heroes, unsympathetic heroines, etc.
The first book in the series is currently free and books 2-4 are $0.99.
I didn’t like the first How to Date a Douchebag but kept reading the series because they’re in KU. The writing is definitely New Adult and not the most sophisticated, but the other books in the series were enjoyable. The second one had a bit of a beauty and the beast vibe. I’d for sure recommend if you have KU.
Wow, two books I love overwhelmingly are on this list!
Sorcery and Cecilia is so charming and so much fun. The epistolary form is so difficult to do well, and they did it incredibly well.
I also adored Not Another Family Wedding. Jackie Lau is an instabuy for me now. This book hit me where I live. Lau writes characters that feel realistic and live in a fully realized world.
Jade City creates a world with a lot of detail. In the end it was just too dark for me. I can see this being something that would speak to Game of Thrones fans because of the political aspects, families jockeying for position, and so forth.
Another Sorcery and Cecelia fan, from “way back”. Everyone should read it . IMO, the sequels are not quite as good, but they are still very good books. According to their notes, they wrote the book as a letter game with no pre-planning. I think that’s even more special.
I <3 Jade City, but it won't be for everyone. The "Godfather" comparison is apt– KJ Charles said she quit reading it because it was more crime novel than fantasy.
I also came into the comments to gush about Sorcery and Cecilia! Wonderful blend of things I love, magic, regency, capable women, cranky men, and as another commenter said, even the epistolary form is so well done. I personally love the first sequel even more for the little insights we get into the two relationships (and how different they are). The books are definitely young adult, very clean.
I would also recommend Patricia Wrede’s other books, notably Mairelon the magician (also regency magic plus thievery!), the Enchanted forest series (princess Cimorene was my hero as a child and the dragons are awesome) and Thirteenth child (magic in the wild west, very interesting world building).
BURN FOR ME by Ilona Andrews, AUDIOBOOK version is $3.99 at Libro.fm.
I can confirm the Libro version is DRM-free. 🙂
https://libro.fm/audiobooks/9780062359612-burn-for-me
(Canadians, you could save more by buying in CAD at googleplay or kobo).
I loved Jade City. It’s a game-changer for fantasy novels. It focuses on three sibkings. I found Shae’s character journey the most intriguing. She’s a smart and savvy young women how is struggling to make her own way outside her family’s influence and returns home after dealing with racism and sexisim and people seeking to use her because of her family’s influence. And she’s slowly drawn back into helping her brothers, which is a good thing because they need a smart savvy woman like her.
Not Another Family Wedding – the premise and the heroine sounded relatable, so I thought sure why not, it’s 99 cents… OMG it’s so good. I cried and I’m not even mad. Needed the emotional release. Also has enough humor to lighten up the feels. The 90 year old granny is hilarious and so sweet.
My sister and I read Sorcery and Cecilia together-I get to be Kate-when one of us needs a boost (kids are driving you crazy? Work has got you down? Etc). I record a letter and text it to her, she reads the next and texts it back… fun way to keep in touch when we live hundreds of miles apart.