Polaris Rising
RECOMMENDED: Polaris Rising by Jessie Mihalik is $1.99! This is a sci-fi romance that released earlier this year and I absolutely loved it. You can read my A- here:
I am so incredibly happy that this book is in the world, especially after feeling like I’ve exhausted all my sci-fi romance options. Polaris Rising is exciting. It’s funny. It’s fan-fucking-tastic. My quibbles are minor in comparison to the joyful Good Book Noises I made while reading this.
As the seventh of nine children, Ada von Hasenberg knows that her only value to House von Hasenberg is as a political pawn in an arranged marriage. But after watching two of her older sisters get auctioned off to horrible men, Ada refuses to play her part. She flees off-planet and disappears for two years.
Ada’s father, fed up with her rebellion, offers a bounty for her safe return. The universe is a big place, but mercs are everywhere, and Ada is caught. With the merc ship full, she’s forced to share a cell with Marcus Loch, the Devil of Fornax Zero. Rumor has it he murdered every commanding officer who issued orders during the Fornax Rebellion. All anyone knows for sure is that the Royal Consortium wants his head.
Ada has no trouble believing the muscled man chained in the back of her cell is a killer. But when their ship is attacked by forces from rival House Rockhurst, Ada must decide whether to trust him—because once you release the devil, you can’t put him back. And when the attack heralds the opening salvo of a much bigger war, Ada must determine where her loyalties truly lie.
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Hot and Badgered by Shelly Laurenston is $2.51 at Amazon and 2.99 elsewhere! This is the first book in the Honey Badger Chronicles. Sarah read this one and gave it a B grade:
Among my favorite things about Laurenston’s writing is how very affirming and inspiring and a whole lot of fun it is, because angry, fearless women make room for themselves, they get shit done, and they’re the heroines. More honey badgers, please.
It’s not every day that a beautiful naked woman falls out of the sky and lands face-first on grizzly shifter Berg Dunn’s hotel balcony. Definitely they don’t usually hop up and demand his best gun. Berg gives the lady a grizzly-sized t-shirt and his cell phone, too, just on style points. And then she’s gone, taking his XXXL heart with her. By the time he figures out she’s a honey badger shifter, it’s too late.
Honey badgers are survivors. Brutal, vicious, ill-tempered survivors. Or maybe Charlie Taylor-MacKilligan is just pissed that her useless father is trying to get them all killed again, and won’t even tell her how. Protecting her little sisters has always been her job, and she’s not about to let some pesky giant grizzly protection specialist with a network of every shifter in Manhattan get in her way. Wait. He’s trying to help? Why would he want to do that? He’s cute enough that she just might let him tag along—that is, if he can keep up . . .
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An Earl Like You by Caroline Linden is $1.99! This historical romance is the second book in The Wagers of Sin series. Elyse read this one and, while she loved the heroine, she couldn’t forgive the hero for his actions and behavior. Have you read this one?
When you gamble at love…
When Hugh Deveraux discovers his newly inherited earldom is bankrupt, he sets about rebuilding the family fortune—in the gaming hells of London. But the most daring wager he takes isn’t at cards. A wealthy tradesman makes a tantalizing offer: marry the man’s spinster daughter, and Hugh’s debts will be paid and his fortune made. The only catch is that she must never know about their agreement.
You risk losing your heart…
Heiress Eliza Cross has given up hope of marriage until she meets the impossibly handsome Earl of Hastings, her father’s new business partner. The earl is everything a gentleman should be, and is boldly attentive to her. It doesn’t take long for Eliza to lose her heart and marry him.
But when Eliza discovers that there is more to the man she loves—and to her marriage—her trust is shattered. And it will take all of Hugh’s power to prove that now his words of love are real.
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Roar by Cora Carmack is $2.99! This is a YA fantasy with romance, royalty, and magic. I think there’s a bit of a cliffhanger, though I’m not 100% positive. Despite Carmack’s new adult romance backlist, readers say this one is firmly in a YA camp and it appears to have a love triangle.
New York Times bestselling author Cora Carmack’s young adult debut: Roar.
In a land ruled and shaped by violent magical storms, power lies with those who control them.
Aurora Pavan comes from one of the oldest Stormling families in existence. Long ago, the ungifted pledged fealty and service to her family in exchange for safe haven, and a kingdom was carved out from the wildlands and sustained by magic capable of repelling the world’s deadliest foes. As the sole heir of Pavan, Aurora’s been groomed to be the perfect queen. She’s intelligent and brave and honorable. But she’s yet to show any trace of the magic she’ll need to protect her people.To keep her secret and save her crown, Aurora’s mother arranges for her to marry a dark and brooding Stormling prince from another kingdom. At first, the prince seems like the perfect solution to all her problems. He’ll guarantee her spot as the next queen and be the champion her people need to remain safe. But the more secrets Aurora uncovers about him, the more a future with him frightens her. When she dons a disguise and sneaks out of the palace one night to spy on him, she stumbles upon a black market dealing in the very thing she lacks—storm magic. And the people selling it? They’re not Stormlings. They’re storm hunters.
Legend says that her ancestors first gained their magic by facing a storm and stealing part of its essence. And when a handsome young storm hunter reveals he was born without magic, but possesses it now, Aurora realizes there’s a third option for her future besides ruin or marriage.
She might not have magic now, but she can steal it if she’s brave enough.
Challenge a tempest. Survive it. And you become its master.
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“Breakaway” by Avon Gale is $0.99 on Kindle today. Hockey sports m/m romance with bisexual rep. First book in a series.
I was also coming to recommend Breakaway. I really liked that series, especially the third book.
ROAR deserves a nod for a great, great cover, but my YA and love triangle ennui is stronger. I read a deleted excerpt somewhere for HOT AND BADGERED and it was instalove for the dialog and characters. Now I have the first two books and they’ve moved way up in the pile.
When I clicked on the amazon link for Hot and Badgered, it took me to the amazon page for
An Earl Like You: The Wagers of Sin Kindle Edition by Caroline Linden
and I almost click-bought it!
Or, I just clicked on the wrong link – sorry, my fault, false alarm! I got too excited…
Polaris Rising was very good, I read it from library recently. Looking forward to the sequel.
I dnf’d Polaris Rising at the first chapter, even coming in off of the SBTB review, because I am tired of “romances” with the heroine 1st person POV and a mysterious hero we never hear from. I really need to get both partners’ POVs with equal-ish weight on emotional and character growth, otherwise it just doesn’t come across as a romance to me, and that exploration of two people’s (I know there can be more, I just don’t typically read menage or poly) mutual growth is a main reason I read fiction. Maybe it’s also that I’m nosy and I like getting inside everyone’s heads haha!
TL;DR I’m over 1st person single POVs and got cranky about it when I tried to read a book that I was prepared to enjoy
@cat c – YES! I couldn’t finish Polaris Rising either because I feel the same way about POV. I think it’s a terrible way to world-build in sci-fi. You never knew what was going on when the main character wasn’t on the scene!
I’ve been profoundly uninterested in the male perspective since October or thereabouts, so I’ll move Polaris Rising up in my queue. Thanks for that detail, Cat C and Nico.
I really enjoyed Hot and Badgered, in fact, I like all of Laurenston’s books with honey-badger women. They are laugh-out-loud funny, and the women are definitely the action-heroes, with their guys generally being chill and supportive rather than taking center stage in the action. I can’t say I remember much of the plot of any of these, but they have plenty of memorable scenes and characters.
City of Bones by Martha Wells is 2.99 at Amazon. It doesn’t have any romance despite there being the faint possibility for it. I really liked it anyway, in fact, I’d have been a little disappointed if the characters had gotten together. The hero is an outsider and there’s a found family aspect. I’ve liked everything I’ve read by Wells.
Carmack is super hit or miss for me. Faking It! was kinda fun. I DNF’ed Roar around the 16% mark (audiobook). I wrote a longer review on Goodreads, but the important part:
“[R]omance novels in generally require a significant willingness to suspend disbelief, but this book took that willingness and beat it to death. The princess and heir has no idea how royal marriages/engagements work (she is shocked to learn that a royal engagement is “dissolved” only by the death of one of the relevant parties). She wears a dress that makes it nearly impossible to walk and a headdress that she couldn’t remove alone, but there are no servants or ladies in waiting? How the actual fuck did she get DRESSED!? Did I mention the corset? I bet those are easy to put on alone. Oh, and she doesn’t have any friends because one of them might find out her secret. Never mind that without friends, Her Royal Highness would lack ALLIES, which might be helpful in a situation like that.”
I loved the heroine in Polaris Rising and the relationships with her sisters. Had no idea why the hero was the hero other than that he was hot and super strong/tough? it’s partly due to the first person POV as folks mentioned above but I’ve read that POV before and the hero has been better fleshed out, so it’s even worse here than usual. So if you’re a reader who is more hero-centric, it may be worth a library read but maybe not a purchase.