Time for the most evil recommendation feature we have: READY, SET, GO!
Here are the rules:
We pick a specific sub-genre, trope, or type of romance, and we have to make ONE recommendation for that type.
ONE. YES, ONE.
And no more than two sentences as to why. It’s a challenge! Which one book do you pick to fill that rec?
This month we have a guest request from Susan T:
“Since I don’t have to get up quite so early to take the kids to school, I thought that right now might be a great time to have a list of recommendations of books that are likely to re-up one’s membership in the Bad Decisions Book Club.
Are there any books that you can recommend that are un-putdownable?
Thanks!”
Any genre, but just one rec.
Ready, set, GO!
Sarah: Lately I’ve been deep diving into the Murderbot Diaries, which I’m having a hard time putting down because there’s sarcasm AND action and I’m here for both. BUT, and I’m breaking my own rule here, if I had to put one book as the VIP Elite Access Pass to Bad Decisions Book Club, hmmm.
The Unleashing by Shelly Laurenston, with the caveat that for some readers, Laurenston’s writing can be like cilantro: it might make the dish superb or taste like soap. For me, more cilantro, please. There’s action, sexytimes, pining, snarky characters, ass kicking, and women being reborn into powerful, unlimited lives where they can do whatever they want and enjoy their desires and their incredible strengths. Might have to re-read this series next.
Sneezy: *vibrates on spot* *implodes*
All right, the pokeball I’m throwing this time is the Daevabad Trilogy by S.A. Chakraborty AND I KNOW I’M CHEATING BUT I DON’T CARE AND NEITHER WILL YOU ONCE YOU START READING!!!!! It has djinn and magic and myths takes an incredibly deep, honest look at racism, justice, and what it means to work an entire society out of the cycle of violence and revenge. This magical Islamic world is built on a solid foundation of research and respect, Nahri is my baby, I want to knock Ali and Dara’s heads together, and somehow, no matter the terrible decisions they make, I still love them.
The final book will be out later next month, which is a curse and a blessing because you WILL want to read ALL THREE BOOKS AT ONCE!!!!
…but fine, I guess I like the last one best, because it’s answering my QUESTIONS!!!!!!
Sarah: So The Empire of Gold, then, huh? 😀
Catherine: Oh God, I’m renewing my membership pretty much nightly at present, how on earth do I single out just one thing?
I am just going to go with the most recent book to completely delight me, which was Paladin’s Grace, by T. Kingfisher. Marvellous characters, plenty of humour, enough suspense to make it hard to put down, and a very endearing romance. And so many people who are working really hard at being good and kind to the people around them, even when it’s hard. There are a number of severed heads/rotting golems populating this book, which may pose a problem for some people – but I’m a complete wuss who can’t cope with violence in books or with horror anything and they didn’t bother me because there was so much other good stuff, so I don’t think one’s tolerance for horror has to be all that high. I loved this book.
Amanda: Should I go comforting re-reading or marathon re-reading?
Sarah: Oooh, tough question.
Amanda: I feel like we just did comfort books, so I’m tempted to do the latter.
The Ones Who Got Away by Roni Loren. The whole series (4 books) is wonderful and each one is definitely a ticket to the front of the line of BDBC. Emotional slow burns that will leave you a weepy mess.
Sarah: Oh, that sounds cathartic, too.
Amanda: Big warning of course that the central characters survived a school shooting, but the trauma is handled very well.
Shana: I vote for Alyssa Cole’s Off the Grid series. Romances with a touch of suspense (or suspenseful stories with a bit of luv) are the most likely kind of book to send me into the BDBC. I adored the characters in this mini-apocalyptic series, about an intertwined group of friends and family trying to stay safe, and figure out why the world’s electricity turned off. The family connections are so warm and comforting, and keep the storylines from feeling too stressful.
The first book is great, but my favorite is probably the second, Signal Boost. The m/m romance is epic. Although, warning for off-page sexual assault.
Aarya: I’m trying to think of a rec that I haven’t discussed on the site before… hmm, I’ll go with Carla de Guzman’s How She Likes It, a boss-secretary romance set in Manila and Shanghai. My romance roots began in Harlequin Presents billionaire angst, and I’m a sucker for certain tropes like boss/secretary (even though they can be very problematic!).
What I loved about this book is the trope role-reversal: the CEO is the heroine Isabel and her new assistant is single dad Adam. It gave me all the happy tropey feels (hence the “un-putdownable”) but it also navigated the trope’s questionable aspects very neatly. I am always interested in reading books that subvert familiar tropes in a new setting. It’s like saying hi to an old friend (one that is cooler now than they were in the past).
Lara: For your consideration: The Soldier’s Scoundrel by Cat Sebastian ( A | BN | K | G | AB ). I burnt through it in a delicious afternoon/evening/night, with not a regret in sight.
OK, your turn! What about you?
Give us your one (ONE) recommendation for the Romance You Could Not Put Down.
Ready, Set, Go!
I just re-read Love Lettering by Kate Clayborn and once again read it straight through to morning. I wasn’t sure it would have the same power it did the first time, but it is such a perfect blend of found-family, passion, friendship, and tenderness that it will probably keep me up a few more nights!
It’s more of an author, not a book, but anything by KJ Charles
I’m going to hit up some of my older reads for this one, because it’s still memorable: How Not to Fall by Emily Foster.
It’s not mega- gripping, but it snuck up on me and by 70% there was no way I was going to sleep. A warning that it does end on a cliffhanger. Fortunately the next book in the duet is almost as good.
Lucy Parker’s The Austen Playbook is better each time I read it and perhaps her best yet. The main couple have a witty and snarky relationship but without losing any of the romance, and it’s a rare book where the hero and heroine are equally appealing.
Eek! So subjective, but Tessa Dare has put me in Bad Decisions Book Club many times. I find her characters and world so delightful. I would pick “A Week to be Wicked” b/c that’s the first one that had that affect on me.
Only one recommendation? I hate you.
But am going to cheat slightly by saying that yes, Paladin’s Grace is great so why not read T. Kingfisher’s Swordheart too? Just such a lovely read.
I think Jenny Crusie was my gateway to the club, with Fast Women (though Bet Me is my desert-island favorite).
The BDBC I specifically remember (because I was so tired at work the next day, I almost fell asleep in the break room—and it’s was totally worth it) was Sierra Simone’s PRIEST. I found it as a recommendation on Sarah McLean’s website—she described it as being “as close to inspirational romance as erotic romance can be,” and she was absolutely right. So good!
Back in 2009, when “Faith & Fidelity” by Tere Michaels was published by Loose Id, I found it on the shelf at my favorite Borders location (RIP, Borders). I read it from cover to cover and then started it over again immediately. LOVE that book. I was a happy camper when I looked in the fall of 2010 and found that they’d not only published a 2nd, but a 3rd book and it was a series. I took my copies to Atlanta in 2017 for RT and Tere signed them (and I fangirled all over her, which she took graciously). She was impressed that I had the OG books and that they looked new after having been read several times each.
I’m going to post more than one book, because they’re so good and we all just need books we can’t put down right now:
“Red, White & Royal Blue” by Casey McQuiston. I resented every moment that I wasn’t able to read this one undisturbed. I didn’t want it to end. Seriously hoping for a sequel to follow up with Alex and Henry, or maybe one that follows Nora, June, and Pez.
“Lord of Scoundrels” by Loretta Chase. Jessica is the best.
“The Winter Sea” by Susanna Kearsley. So good.
“The Queen of Blood” by Sarah Beth Durst. I stayed up WAY too late reading this one. I HAD to know what happened.
“The Queen of the Tearling” by Erika Johansen. Read it in a day.
“Things That Shatter” by Kaighla Um Dayo. Nonfiction about her journey back to faith after spiritual abuse by her “sheikh” (now ex-)husband. It’s not an easy book, but it is important.
I was actively annoyed to have to stop reading Eva Leigh’s “Temptations of a Wallflower” for things like work and sleep. You can’t pitch me a book as “Vicar who looks like Tom Hiddleston discovers unexpected talent for cunnilingus” and think that I won’t devour it.
I also made myself late to work last year doing the “just one more chapter” game with Tiffany Reisz’s “The Rose”.
Archer’s Voice by Mia Sheridan.
Emotionally satisfying read featuring a virgin hero and two people healing together from trauma.
Loved How Not to Fall, so might have to re-read that. I’ve been doing a ton of re-reading lately. For some reason, I find it easier to re-read really good books rather than trying to get into something new.
Fiona Walker’s early books like French Relations, Well Groomed and Kiss Chase are books I’ve read and re-read from start to finish without stopping in spite of them being really long! But they’re pretty old, and it’s been awhile since I last read them, so I can’t speak to whether they’ve aged well.
So. Many. Books. I’ve been known to call into work “sick” in order to finish a book, but these are the true “Oh my god I’ve got to finish this before I do anything else” ones:
If I’m only allowed ONE recommendation: Pippa Grant’s “Stud in the Stacks”. This is the book that got me re-hooked on romance after WAY too many years away from the genre, y’all. It’s sweet, zany & unputdownable. It is also my go-to book when I’m feeling blue.
And because I’m not good at following instructions, here are three more. I’ll stop there, I promise!
Sharon Lee & Steve Miller’s “Local Custom”. Beautifully done science fiction Regency romance – although trigger warning for familial dysfunction/abuse. The heroine is a genius mathematician – & the source of my World of Warcraft night elf hunter’s name!
Dee Ernst’s “Better Off Without Him”. Middle-aged, about-to-be-divorced heroine. Supportive friends. Hot plumber. Revenge is a dish best served with friends like these.
Hester Browne’s “Swept Off Her Feet”. I’m a sucker for contemporary Scottish romances. This one has a broody, non-kilt-wearing, very English heir to the castle, said castle in need of a big cash infusion, & our plucky, under-employed heroine.
Not a romance, but Such A Fun Age by Kiley Reid pulled me right in last weekend and I could not put it down from page one.
And before that I burned through Love Lettering by Kate Clayborn! It was just so incredibly good and a new perfect keeper shelf book.
A Week to Be Wicked by Tessa Dare. It’s my go-to and once I start reading it I don’t stop until I’m done.
Anything by Mariana Zapata- I stuff them in my eyeballs and can’t look away
@Deianira I think the title you’re referring to is Scout’s Progress (although Local Custom is great, too!)?
Oh dear! My membership in the bad-decisions book club was pretty much revoked when my first child was born almost . . . many years ago. I’m ashamed to admit that pretty much all that stands out vividly since then was one (after another) of the later Harry Potter books (one had to stay up after going to the midnight release parties, right?!) But I break rules, too, so I’d include any one of Sherry Thomas’ historical romances. Her Charlotte Holmes books are wonderful, but her old romances used to hold me completely spellbound.
A long-time member of the Bad decisions club, I want to second the shout outs to Scout’s Progress / Local Custom and Grace’s Paladin. The book that immediately came to mind, however, is “Play It Again” by Aidan Wayne. It is a slow burn contemporary M/M long distance romance between a You Tuber and a Gamer.
I didn’t discover Nalini Singh’s Psy/Changeling series until after… Book 6 – Branded by Fire was published. I started Slave to Sensation and I swear I did not stop til I caught up. I got so immersed in that world and so upset there wasn’t another one right after.
For your consideration:
It Happened One Wedding from Julie James.
Delightful in every possible way, and responsible for reupping my membership with in the BDBC© every time I read it.
Just one? Oh, unfair. But probably ACT LIKE IT by Lucy Parker. There was no way I was going to put it down and go to bed when Lainie showed up at Richard’s house after their fight, and certainly not when half the theater exploded. And when I finally went to bed much, much later with a goofy smile on my face, it was definitely worth it. Actually, it’s probably time for a re-read….
The Hating Game by Sally Thorne is my most memorable BDBC probably because I have read it five times now and it is still hilarious to me and I still want to read it all the way through in one sitting.
“Teach Me” by Olivia Dade. I loved both characters, but Martin is swoon-worthy. “Teach Me” is also the book I wish I could develop book amnesia for to recapture how I felt the very first time I read it. I absolutely loved it. (Although “Love Lettering” is a very close second, as stated in the first response above. And I’ve read every single one of Jackie Lau’s books in one sitting, and have enjoyed them all.)
Sod it, I’m going in again.
I do so love A Civil Contract by Genevieve McMaster Bujold
I was up until 4:24 am last night rereading the first four Pendric and Desdemona novellas by Lois McMaster Bujold (and starting book 5, Mira’s Last Dance) before calling it a night (just can’t pull an all-nighter like I used to). This time the relationships between Pendric and his demons, as well as the other women in his life, are striking at my heart. But I’m also enjoying the edge-of-your-seat fabulous adventures!
It’s pretty dark, but Asking for It by Lilah Pace was definitely a Bad Decisions Book Club choice for me. Trigger warning for fantasy role play of non-consensual sex and discussion of past sexual abuse.
The Heir, Grace Burrowes! Outlander, Diana Gabaldon (not technically a romance).
Okay, it’s technically science fiction, but if you read all three volumes in the series you’ll see a romance (slowly slowly) develop. This is one of my favorite discoveries of the past few years and has become a comfort read ~ Linesman by SK Dunstall.
Oh this is so hard. I’ve been having a lot of nights of staying up too late reading recently with a mix of new and old reads. But if I’m going to pick just one; Summer Campaign by Carla Kelly.
This is cheating because it’s a series, but Kate Canterbury’s Walsh Siblings series – I have stayed up late reading and rereading every single one of these. If I had to choose one as my favorite, I would say Preservation, but it’s the last in the series and you just won’t get as much out of it without the buildup of the others.
Stamped From the Beginning is an well written deep dive into racism that manages to be scholarly and accessible at the same time. Given the present situations, I consider it a must read.
There are lots of books that have kept me up late, but if I had to pick one, whenever I pick up Cordelia’s Honor(which is actually 2 books combined, Shards of Honor and Barrayar) I Can’t. Put It. Down.
I second both Emily Foster books How Not To Fall/How Not To Let Go (consecutive nights last week), and I’m on the re-read comfort books train, too. But my top pick is the audiobook version of Laura Kinsale’s Flowers from the Storm (I’m late to the audio party, I know, but better late, etc.). Nicholas Boulton’s narration is absolutely fabulous and kept me listening & reading along with my dusty Fabio-cover paperback. There’s nothing like a very sexy man’s voice in your ear in the night….
Been lurking here for several months (you bitches are awesome!!), and ready to pipe up and add my 2-cents. I just read Connie Brockway’s All Through the Night last week and I read it straight through, cover to cover…so freakin’ good!
My historical romance obsession is a recent development and SBTB, dear author and AAR have been a god-send. Thank you for all the recs and the laughs! BTW, the 2007 thread on What kind of food would a romance author be and 2014’s 10 things I hate about sex scenes are some of the funniest sh*t I ever read!! Thank you Bitches!
*takes deep breath*
*screams*
FOUNDRYSIDE BY ROBERT JACKSON BENNETT
Okay, seriously, this book has everything. Heists, budding sapphic romance, mad magicians, a completely unique and fascinating magic system, protagonists of color, a not-so-veiled critique on capitalism…I could go on. I am not a re-reader and I’ve reread this book and am thinking of doing it again. Plus, youve got the benefit of the second book in the series, Shorefall, just having been released so you do not have to anxiously await it like I did.
I have more books than I can count that have fallen into the BDBC pile!!!
Lately, I have mostly stuck to re-reads of favorite books since I need the “feels”
A re-read of Cordelia’s Honor (can’t wait each time to get to the “shopping” scene) and A Civil Campaign (“Do you know all those old folk tales where the Count tries to get rid of his only daughter’s unsuitable suitor by giving him three impossible tasks? … Don’t ever try that with Miles. Just don’t.”) both by Lois McMaster Bujold
A re-read of Agent of Change and Carpe Diem (love Val Con and Miri) by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
The newest Mercy Thompson novel, Smoke Bitten, by Patricia Briggs – actually any of the Mercy Thompson or Alpha and Omega books – actually, ANY books by Patricia
A re-read of The Queen’s Thief series by Megan Whalen Turner – once I get started on them I cannot stop
A re-read of The Austen Playbook by Lucy Parker
A re-read of Tempting Danger, the first book in the World of the Lupi series by Eileen Wilks
A re-read of A Stranger to Command (part of the Sartoria-deles series) by Sherwood Smith
@Lynn, oh yes, the shopping scene in Cordelia’s Honor is the big payoff. I was going to say the same thing in my comment above.
Just an fyi for those that missed the SPTB podcast episode, Emily Foster is Emily Nagoski of the Come As You Are and Burnout books.