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Lady Helena Investigates
Lady Helena Investigates by Jane Steen is 99c! This is the first book in a historical mystery series, which is perfect timing if you’ve exhausted all the current historical mystery series recommendations. Some readers feel like there’s been a glut of releases in that subgenre, but others are always happy to have more options. It has a 4.1-star rating on Goodreads.
A reluctant lady sleuth finds she’s investigating her own family.
Step into Lady Helena Whitcombe’s world with the first novel in a series that will blend family saga and mystery-driven action with a slow-burn romance in seven unputdownable investigations.
1881, Sussex. Lady Helena Scott-De Quincy’s marriage to Sir Justin Whitcombe, three years before, gave new purpose to a life almost destroyed by the death of Lady Helena’s first love. After all, shouldn’t the preoccupations of a wife and hostess be sufficient to fulfill any aristocratic female’s dreams? Such a shame their union wasn’t blessed by children . . . but Lady Helena is content with her quiet country life until Sir Justin is found dead in the river overlooked by their grand baroque mansion.
The intrusion of attractive, mysterious French physician Armand Fortier, with his meddling theory of murder, into Lady Helena’s first weeks of mourning is bad enough. But with her initial ineffective efforts at investigation and her attempts to revive her long-abandoned interest in herbalism comes the realization that she may have been mistaken about her own family’s past. Every family has its secrets—but as this absorbing series will reveal, the Scott-De Quincy family has more than most.
Can Lady Helena survive bereavement the second time around? Can she stand up to her six siblings’ assumption of the right to control her new life as a widow? And what role will Fortier—who, as a physician, is a most unsuitable companion for an earl’s daughter—play in her investigations?
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A Merciful Death
A Merciful Death by Kendra Elliot is $1.99 at Amazon! This is the first book in the Mercy Kilpatrick series and it’s a romantic suspense. I’m really interested in this series because the heroine is trying to hide the fact that she grew up in a family of severe doomsday preppers. Apparently this has been optioned for a TV series, which is kind of exciting.
FBI special agent Mercy Kilpatrick has been waiting her whole life for disaster to strike. A prepper since childhood, Mercy grew up living off the land—and off the grid—in rural Eagle’s Nest, Oregon. Until a shocking tragedy tore her family apart and forced her to leave home. Now a predator known as the cave man is targeting the survivalists in her hometown, murdering them in their homes, stealing huge numbers of weapons, and creating federal suspicion of a possible domestic terrorism event. But the crime scene details are eerily familiar to an unsolved mystery from Mercy’s past.
Sent by the FBI to assist local law enforcement, Mercy returns to Eagle’s Nest to face the family who shunned her while maintaining the facade of a law-abiding citizen. There, she meets police chief Truman Daly, whose uncle was the cave man’s latest victim. He sees the survivalist side of her that she desperately tries to hide, but if she lets him get close enough to learn her secret, she might not survive the fallout…
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Our Stop
Our Stop by Laura Jane Williams is $1.99! This was released in June and I’ve literally heard nothing about it. Some readers felt it straddled the line between contemporary romance and chick lit, so keep that in mind. To me, that reads as the romance might be background to whatever the main character is going through.
What if you almost missed the love of your life?
Nadia gets the 7.30 train every morning without fail. Well, except if she oversleeps or wakes up at her friend Emma’s after too much wine.
Daniel really does get the 7.30 train every morning, which is easy because he hasn’t been able to sleep properly since his Dad died.
One morning, Nadia’s eye catches sight of a post in the daily paper:
To the cute girl with the coffee stains on her dress. I’m the guy who’s always standing near the doors… Drink sometime?
So begins a not-quite-romance of near-misses, true love, and the power of the written word.
A fabulous feel-good romance for fans of Holly Bourne and Dolly Alderton.
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Mythos Academy Bundle
The Mythos Academy Bundle by Jennifer Estep is $2.99! This is a set with a novella and first three books in the Mythos Academy YA series. Readers say the series is fast-paced and they’re quick, enjoyable reads. But some felt like how many crappy things can happen to this poor heroine. Any fans of the series here?
First Frost
I am Gwen Frost, and I have a Gypsy gift. It’s called psychometry – that’s a fancy way of saying that I see images in my head and get flashes of other people’s memories off almost everything I touch, even guys.
My gift makes me kind of nosy. Okay, okay, maybe a lot nosy–to the point of obsession sometimes. I want to know everything about everyone around me. But even I don’t want to know the secrets my friend Paige is hiding or the terrible loss that will send me to a new school – Mythos Academy, where the teachers aren’t preparing us for the SATs, but to battle Reapers of Chaos. Now I have no friends and no idea how my gift fits in with all these warrior whiz kids. The only thing I do know is that my life is never, ever going to be the same. . .
Touch of Frost
My name is Gwen Frost, and I go to Mythos Academy — a school of myths, magic and warrior whiz kids, where even the lowliest geek knows how to chop off somebody’s head with a sword and Logan Quinn, the hottest Spartan guy in school, also happens to be the deadliest.
But lately, things have been weird, even for Mythos. First, mean girl Jasmine Ashton was murdered in the Library of Antiquities. Then, someone stole the Bowl of Tears, a magical artifact that can be used to bring about the second Chaos War. You know, death, destruction and lots of other bad, bad things. Freaky stuff like this goes on all the time at Mythos, but I’m determined to find out who killed Jasmine and why – especially since I should have been the one who died…
Kiss of Frost
Logan Quinn was trying to kill me.
My Spartan classmate relentlessly pursued me, swinging his sword at me over and over again, the shining silver blade inching closer to my throat every time. A smile tugged up his lips, and his ice-blue eyes practially glowed with the thrill of battle. . .
I’m Gwen Frost, a second-year warrior-in-training at Mythos Academy, and I have no idea how I’m going to survive the rest of the semester. One day, I’m getting schooled in swordplay by the guy who broke my heart–the drop-dead gorgeous Logan who slays me every time. Then, an invisible archer in the Library of Antiquities decides to use me for target practice. And now, I find out that someone at the academy is really a Reaper bad guy who wants me dead. I’m afraid if I don’t learn how to live by the sword–with Logan’s help–I just might die by the sword. . .
Dark Frost
I’ve seen so many freaky things since I started attending Mythos Academy last fall. I know I’m supposed to be a fearless warrior, but most of the time, I feel like I’m just waiting for the next Bad, Bad Thing to happen. Like someone trying to kill me–again.
Everyone at Mythos Academy knows me as Gwen Frost, the Gypsy girl who uses her psychometry magic to find lost objects–and who just may be dating Logan Quinn, the hottest guy in school. But I’m also the girl the Reapers of Chaos want dead in the worst way. The Reapers are the baddest of the bad, the people who murdered my mom. So why do they have it in for me? It turns out my mom hid a powerful artifact called the Helheim Dagger before she died. Now, the Reapers will do anything to get it back. They think I know where the dagger is hidden, but this is one thing I can’t use my magic to find. All I do know is that the Reapers are coming for me–and I’m in for the fight of my life.
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I won a Goodreads copy of Lady Helena and it instantly converted me into a Jane Steen fan. From my review:
“I could not put this book down; it was utterly engrossing. Lady Helena, recently widowed, is a wonderful narrator who undergoes such growth as she learns to navigate the world independent of parents or a husband – you can’t help but root for her. I mostly read romance fiction, and thought the romantic interest was wonderful, but even then my dearest wish was for Lady Helena to continue developing a greater sense of self and independence before she inevitably marries again. More than the whodunit aspect, this book is really about Helena’s personal journey, which blossoms in such a compelling way.”
It takes a really great character to get me to root for her not to find a HEA yet, haha! Highly recommend y’all check this out.
I hope this sale on Lady Helena Investigates means that the next one is coming out soon! I read this last year and though it starts out slow with Helena disinclined to even consider the idea that her husband may have been murdered, I found it surprisingly fascinating. Some of the interpersonal dynamics of Lady Helena and her family of particular interest: she is the youngest of 6 daughters and quietly resents that she is referred to by her siblings as baby in spite of the fact that the actual baby of the family happens to be her brother Michael, who is almost certainly autistic but the head of the family by virtue of penis and who is trying to reassert control of Helena and the estate she inherited from her husband now that she is widowed. She is also deeply concerned about her mother who was a brilliant herbalist with a particular expertise in poisonous plants who is now suffering with dementia and quite possible a guilty conscience. And that doesn’t even cover the murder, or her friendship/romance in waiting with the French Doctor.
take the giddy formlessness of the above sentence or whatever it is as indicative of how much I loved this book!
Gwen Frost is one of the great heroines of all time; think Veronica Mars with mythical creatures (Spartans, wolves, valkyrie, G-ds). But she’s not a modern-day Candide, going from tsuris to crisis and back evermore improbably; every step follows from the previous one, where things done (and, often as importantly, not done) lead to the next event.
Gin Blanco is fun; Gwen Frost is brilliant.
Getting serious Lady Julia Grey vibes from Lady Helena so instant buy for me! And I was sent Our Stop by the published earlier this year and ADORED it. Funny, feminist dual POV story about two people perfect for each other who keep almost meeting. Super cute and extremely British.
OUR STOP sounds interesting but I’m wary. The blurb describes it as “a not-quite-romance” and as “a fabulous feel-good romance for fans of” authors I’ve never heard of.
I’ll be glad when this trend of trying to lure cross genre readers is over. All it’s doing is making what I look for hard to find.
@Holly – I was hoping someone who’d read OUR STOP would comment. I have questions! 🙂 Does it have an HEA? Is it mostly about their relationship or is it more about the trials of their separate lives?
@MaryK: Expect that trend to get worse (for 7-10 years) before it gets better. Given what’s being said in private already, I’d expect a lot of grim news about the future of the industry to come out of the upcoming RWA conference.
Change of Heart by Mary Calms is 99c. A Kindle Daily Deal. M/M panther shifters. The first book of hers I read and a favorite. Now making my way through her backlist.
I found A Merciful Death pretty meh. And like D plot spoiler, it sorta ends with an, “Everyone should be an Apocalypse Prepper.” I would’ve rather everyone go to therapy instead.
Merciful Death was OK for me (not prepper family but apocalyptic religion so felt some kinship) but I had no urge to read the next book. I did enjoy the First Frost, etc., series. YA and fun.
@MaryK: It does have a HEA and I do count it as a romance but it definitely doesn’t conform to the usual beats I normally want from my romances. There’s no on page sex (something I find severely lacking in British romances for some reason) and the heroine does date someone else partway through the book so if you’re not a fan of the main characters seeing other people then it’s probably not for you. The book also makes a big point of the two characters sorting themselves and their own issues out before being ready to finally meet but I didn’t feel shortchanged by that.
I’d say it’s like reading a feel-good, feminist romcom movie.
I hope that answered your questions!
Friday, BLOODY ROSE by Nicholas Eames is $2.99. Darlynne-with-the-Good-Recs hooked me on this fantasy series with rockstar-like monster-slaying mercenaries, and I can’t shove them into enough hands. They’re fun to read, but they’re also *brilliantly* crafted—the characterization of even minor characters you’ll never see again is amazing, the plot reveals are twisty even when I see them coming well in advance, and they actually grapple with serious themes in the midst of rollicking adventure. There are some dads you might not fully appreciate if you haven’t read KINGS OF THE WYLD, but this followup takes place several years later with a different core group of characters and isn’t a direct continuation from the previous book, so I think it would stand alone pretty well if you’d rather start with a young lesbian main character than a bunch of grizzled middle-aged dudes (though they are pretty awesome for that demographic).
@Holly – Thanks! It does sound like it’s got a strong chick lit vibe, but it might work for me since it’s got both POVs. If I like the sample, I’ll see if my library has it.
Saturday, THE SMOKE THIEF by Shana Abé is $1.99. Dragon shifters, one of whom is a runaway master thief. I’m generally not a fan of shifters, but this one and THE DREAM THIEF survived The Great Paperback Purge of 2016 because yes, obviously, dragons would be exactly like this. The romance isn’t soft and fluffy—it’s scaly and fangy and rolling around on a mountain of sharply faceted jewels, and I was super into it.
I need more historical mysteries even though I’m critical of the ones I’ve read:
Lady Julia Grey: TSTL heroine, hero is emotionally distant for no good reason. Also he’s like Sherlock Holmes on steroids and it did not work me.
Lady Darby: she never does any of the forensic science for which she is uniquely qualified
A Lady’s Guide to Etiquette and Murder: meh
Lady Emily: meh
Gaslight: fun departure to 1890s NYC
Charlotte Holmes: good, but not great.
Mistress of the Art of Death: actually this one was pretty great
Veronica Speedwell: ok, this one is FANTASTIC