I know many of you have subscriptions to services like Scribd, Kindle Unlimited, or the Audible Romance Package.
Library folks may also be using Hoopla Digital to access ebooks and audiobooks – and the Library Extension browser add-on allows folks browsing Amazon to see what books are available at their library, or via library subscriptions like Hoopla. (I use this extension constantly and I love it.)
But whatever subscription service you’re using, I want to know: what books, audiobooks, or other romance reading have you discovered recently in your subscription that you’d recommend to others?
What treasures have you discovered?
I love Rachel Higginson’s Opposites Attract series on Kindle Unlimited. The first book features a heroine opening a food truck. Her love interest is the man who owns the restaurant next door. Delicious in both senses of the word.
If you like slow burn I also recommend Mariana Zapata. My favorite is Wall of Winnipeg and Me; however, From Lukov with Love may be a better place to start with her to see if you like her style. Zapata only writes from the heroines pov. You get a lot of inner dialogue that may not be everyone’s cup of tea.
Most of Shelley Laurenston’s / GA Aiken’s series are on Hoopla in audiobook form. I think this is the “better” way to read them because the narration of the craziness she writes is laugh out loud funny.
Ooh! I’ll be checking later for Kindle Unlimited recs. I just re-upped last month because of the 99 cent deal. I really enjoyed:
Stocking Stuffers by Erin McLellan. All the characters in this book are sweethearts. Sasha and Perry are snowed in with a bag full of sex toys. And I just found that the next book, Candy Hearts, is out so now I have that to look forward to.
Wolf Gone Wild by Juliette Cross. A lighthearted and fun paranormal with a werewolf and a powerful witch. Again, two sweethearts who were easy to root for. I liked the worldbuilding. For instance, the werewolf curse comes with a gift for creativity and Mateo is a metal-working artist.
I Think I might Love You by Christina C. Jones. This one was hilarious, and I laughed out loud throughout.
The Midnight Bride by Katie Wilde. I liked this one, but I really loved the first book in this series, The Midwinter Mail-Order Bride. Both books feature big strong warrior men who wear their hearts on their sleeves. And their love interests are even more badass than they are.
And of course, it was really exciting to find that Strange Love by Ann Aguirre is on KU. I already can’t wait for the next book.
I’ve recently finished a binge read of KF Breene’s “Demon Days Vampire Nights” books on KU. There are 8 books so far – the main character changes every 3 books, but it’s all part of the same ongoing story. Urban Fantasy – pretty funny, nice action and other than the first 3 where I didn’t connect with the Hero, fun romantic pairings.
Most of Kate Canterbary’s books are on KU. Start with the wonderful eight-book Walsh Family series (must be read in order), then read her Talbott’s Cove series, especially FAR CRY.
I have only begun to delve into Audible Escape but here are a few I enjoyed:
The Bride Test by Helen Huang
Repeat by Kylie Scott (Lies is also there but I haven’t gotten to it yet)
Pamela Clare’s Blakewell/Kenleigh series. (Her I-Team series also there)
Nothing But Trouble by Amy Andrews
Hoopla is another gold mine. Always be sure to check there for new releases. If you can tolerate audiobooks they have a tremendous library. I really enjoyed The Right Swipe by Alisha Rai. Other books I haven’t gotten to yet but are new (Many $10 plus, so especially sweet):
Zoey Castille’s Happy Endings series
Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert
The Hating Game by Sally Thorne
How to Walk Away by Katherine Center
Love Lettering by Kate Clayborn
Mermaid Inn by Jenny Holiday
The Worst Best Man by Mia Sosa
They have a great deal from Sarah MacLean, Tessa Dare and Jill Mansell, if you enjoy those authors.
I will say what is annoying about Hoopla audiobooks is there are no chapters. Which makes it hard to toggle with an ebook. What is weird is they briefly had chapters and then it was taken away. I would be so happy if they added chapters! In the meantime I always bookmark where I left off.
Does Hoopla have the same content for everyone or does it vary depending on your local library?
I discovered a series of medieval mysteries in audio that I’ve enjoyed, Servant of the Crown by Denise Domning. The hero is one of the first coroners in England and is learning how to do the job as he goes. It’s got a lot of interesting historical detail. CW for background thread of a serial killer preying on children.
One for my UK based romance friends! Before Christmas I signed up to the romance subscription delivery service Words and Kisses book club (https://wordsandkisses.com/) they send out a new romance paperback every month with a lovely little note about the book and I loved it! As someone who has had so much difficulty finding ANY physical romance books over here (American or otherwise) in local bookshops and libraries I usually end up with Amazon as my only option (which I’m trying to stop going to for everything) so this was a lovely way to treat myself to nice surprise every month: )
@MaryK – Hoopla content is Library System dependent. The number of borrows allowed each month can be different between systems too.
I have a whole KU Shelf. I’ve discovered so many amazing Authors that I might not have read otherwise. My favourites being Kendra Elliot & Melinda Leigh, Cole McCade & Tal Bauer.
I haven’t had much of a chance to listen to them (because, well, life), but Scribd often has new releases in audiobook form even if they don’t have them in ebook form.
I have KU and was introduced to some authors I really enjoyed, ie: Kerrigan Byrne, Mariana Zapata and Jana Aston. I really like that some of the books in KU will offer the audio with the book, but not as much as I would like. Audible Escape has impressed me as well and found that some of the KU books are offered by Audible Escape. I don’t have a lot of time to read and enjoy listening to the book on the commute to work, AND being able to read it on my Kindle app before bed. Helps to diminish my TBR pile.
Here are some of the romance authors I really enjoyed in KU. Some are established, bestselling authors, and a few are newer, emerging authors. I love KU because I’ve tried out so many independent, lesser-known authors. Note: This is a list I’ve kept from over the past year, so some may have pulled out, or only have one or two books in the program.
(In alpha order, hopefully)
Brynne Asher
Tessa Bailey
Kate Canterbary
Ruby Dixon
Layla Frost
Kristen Granata
Hannah Harley
Melanie Harlow
Staci Hart
Claire Kingsley
Sara Ney
Kathryn Nolan
Lauren Rowe
Lucy Score
Mae Wood
Smartypants Romance books: esp Stella Weaver, Ellie Kay, and Cathy Yardley
Mystery: Anthony Horowitz – The Word Is Murder
I love Hoopla! (I use it through the Chicago Public Library)
I most recently have used it to read books published by Dreamspinner – since I wanted to read them but didn’t want to buy from Dreamspinner. One of those was Elyse Spriger’s World Turned Upside Down – sweet, low conflict mm contemporary set in Antarctica.
I also use Hoopla for books published by Riptide.
Some favorite discoveries:
Matthew J Metzger – mm author who writes snarky contemporaries set in Northern England with a lot of trans and bi characters. His work goes from sweet ya to hard core bdsm.
Full English and Love All by Rachel Spangler – ff contemporaries.
Martha Wells’ Raksura series – not a romance, this is an awesome and unusual high fantasy series about dragon like beings (the Raksura) in a complicated, dangerous world. I inhaled all five books and all the novellas in 3 months. They remind me of the fantasy adventures of my youth, minus a lot of the underlying sexism, homophobia and general weirdness about gender roles of some fantasy classics.
Also, Avon Gale’s mm hockey series Scoring Chances (although it’s not available through my library any more).
I subscribed to KU a couple of months ago, and have enjoyed reading books from some favorite authors (Anna Zabo and Joey W Hill, for example), as well as reading a number of books by Tara Crescent, a writer new to me whose books I have enjoyed.
On KU have recently enjoyed books by Mary Frame and JT Geissinger (particularly the 3 slow burners).
My library limits me to 5 Hoopla borrows a month, so I save it for graphic novels. Anything from boombox is good. These aren’t necessarily or man stories, though they all have at least a subtle queer romance: lumberjanes, the backstagers, misfit city, Goldie Vance, giant days. I also love the Phoebe and her unicorn series, and breaking cat news, for individual comics rather than more complex stories.
My husband is a huge fan of Kindle Unlimited – so we keep that subscription going. I’ve found some independent romance authors there that have been great, and some not-so-great. I use it mostly for paranormal or sci-fi romance choices. The most useful subscription I’ve found this past year is an out-of-state membership to the Brookyln Public Library. We are in the Massachusetts library system so have a lot at our fingertips, but if I can’t find it in Mass then Brooklyn usually has it. I’m on a free trial of Audible Escape, and in theory it looks great, but most of the titles that I want to listen to are also available through the library.(a wait period on some) They do have some unique options on Audible Escape, but I haven’t been able to justify the fees. Scribd has a lot, but I recently cancelled that as well since we have so much coverage through the library.
I second Rachel Higginson’s Opposites Attract series and Mariana Zapata.
Other authors I haven’t seen recommended yet on KU are:
Ellen O’ Connell
Alisha Rai (Only one of her books is on KU – The Right Swipe)
Lynn Messina’s Beatrice Hyde-Clare series (These are slow burn and no sex. Sort of a Georgette Heyer flavor to them.)
On the KU trial and enjoying books that my library doesn’t carry as well as just trying new authors:
Christi Caldwell
Vi Keeland
Kate Canterbary (will second that!)
Tess Bailey
Staci Hart
Stacy Reid
Sadly, our library no carries Hoopla audio books
I’m much more likely to try new authors and books on KU. In fact, last year 1/3 of my reading was via Kindle Unlimited.
Some of the new authors I’ve enjoyed:
Macy Blake (MM Paranormal Romance)
Hanna Dare (Sci-Fi MM romance)
Michelle Diener (Sci- Fi romance)
Eli Easton (MM Were-dogs)
Eileen Glass
C.W. Gray (Sci-Fi and Contemporary paranormal romance – with lots and lots of pets)
S.J. Himes (Especially the Beacon Hill Sorcerer series)
E.M. Lindsay (MM Series centered around a Tattoo shop)
Annette Marie (Urban Fantasy)
Cat Marsters (An old favorite from the Changeling Press Days)
Lily Morton (MM Contemporary)
Nora Phoenix (MM – all sorts!)
Non-Romance
Alma Boykin (Fantasy – especially her Familiar tales series)
Ginger Booth (Sci-Fi)
Mackay Chandler (Space Opera)
Nathan Lowell (Space opera)
Honor Raconteur (YA Fantasy)
Also, I find myself using Kindle Unlimited for travel books – especially for places I’m only going to be for a day or two.
My highlights of this go round with KU are:
LAYOVER- a novella with fully developed and interesting protagonists that’s also a love letter to Oakland
GRAND THEFT NYE- Heroine all about her job stealing from terrible rich men. Hero is very rich and into everything about her.
EVERY NEW YEAR- Hero and Heroine have been in love since college and hook up every NYE for 20 years but never got together because of *reasons*. The pacing is so good and some of the scenes are so emotionally resonant that the 20 year thing isn’t as annoying as it might be in the hands of a less capable author.
PRIVATE EYE- Uptight spy and the cam girl he had under surveillance for a job. The sex work positive book you’ve been waiting for.
My brain can’t contain the idea that all my new favs are from the same author so I keep thinking I’m forgetting someone. Nope. All KATRINA JACKSON all the time.
I want to thank you all for sharing your favorites. I’m sort of new to using ebooks — retired and my impaired mobility makes it difficult to physically access the library, so I am delighted to be able to read this way. In addition, I have been able to get acquainted with so many books this way that I never knew about when going to the library. But for me it can be overwhelming to sort through the huge amount of available material, so it’s great to find recommendations!