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The Ten Thousand Doors of January
RECOMMENDED: The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow is $3.99! This is a price-matched Kindle Daily Deal, which features some romance and cookbooks. I read this one and gave it a B+:
If you’re in the mood for a lovely, tender fantasy novel about belonging and one that feels more like a long, relaxing bath than a hot, intense shower will all of the fancy pressure and pulsating settings you can imagine, you’ll love this one. It’s a soothing pick for when you hope to take comfort in a book
In the early 1900s, a young woman searches for her place in the world after finding a mysterious book in this captivating and lyrical debut.
In a sprawling mansion filled with peculiar treasures, January Scaller is a curiosity herself. As the ward of the wealthy Mr. Locke, she feels little different from the artifacts that decorate the halls: carefully maintained, largely ignored, and utterly out of place.
Then she finds a strange book. A book that carries the scent of other worlds, and tells a tale of secret doors, of love, adventure and danger. Each page turn reveals impossible truths about the world and January discovers a story increasingly entwined with her own.
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The Bachelor
The Bachelor by Sabrina Jeffries is 99c! This was mentioned in a previous Hide Your Wallet and I think Jeffries is a historical romance author that either works for you or doesn’t. I always get a Mary Balogh feel from her books: slower, more character driven, etc. Do you agree or disagree?
New York Times bestselling author Sabrina Jeffries features an irresistible family in a series to savor, as the grown children of a thrice-married dowager duchess piece together the stories of their fathers–while pursuing passions of their own . . .
Lady Gwyn Drake has long protected her family’s reputation by hiding an imprudent affair from her youth. But when her former suitor appears at Armitage Hall, manhandling the heiress and threatening to go public with her secrets, it’s Gwyn who needs protecting. Her twin brother, Thorn, hires Joshua Wolfe, the estate’s gamekeeper, to keep her safe in London during her debut. As a war hero, Joshua feels obligated to fulfill the assignment he has accepted. But as a man, it’s torment to be so very close to the beauty he’s fought to ignore . . .
With handsome Joshua monitoring her every move, Gwyn would prefer to forget both the past and the parade of money-seeking bachelors at her coming out. But Joshua is unmoved by her attempts at flirtation, and the threat of blackmail still hangs over her. With danger closing in, Gwyn must decide which is the greater risk: deflecting a scoundrel’s attempts to sabotage her–or revealing her whole heart to the rugged bodyguard she can’t resist . . .
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Playing with Fire
Playing with Fire by R.J. Blain is 99c at Amazon! This is described as a “magical romantic comedy” and yes, that appears to be a unicorn on the cover. And I believe that unicorn is also a shifter of sorts. I have a Kindle credit and I think I might spend it on this. Some readers found this to be more on the bizarre side, which…fair point. While others found themselves laughing out loud.
Warning: This novel contains excessive humor, action, excitement, adventure, magic, romance, and bodies. Proceed with caution.
What do you get when you mix gorgons, an incubus, and the Calamity Queen? Trouble, and lots of it.
Working as the only human barista at a coffee shop catering to the magical is a tough gig on a good day. Bailey Gardener has few options. She can either keep spiking drinks with pixie dust to keep the locals happy, or spend the rest of her life cleaning up the world’s nastiest magical substances.
Unfortunately for her, Faery Fortunes is located in the heart of Manhattan Island, not far from where Police Chief Samuel Quinn works. If she’d been smart, she never would have agreed to help the man find his wife.
Bailey found her, all right—in the absolutely worst way possible.
One divorce and several years later, Bailey is once again entangled in Chief Quinn’s personal affairs, and he has good reason to hate her. Without her, he wouldn’t be Manhattan’s Most Wanted Bachelor, something he loathes. Without her, he’d still be married.
If only she’d said no when he asked her help, she might have had a chance with him. While her magic worked well, it came with a price: misfortune. Hers.
When Quinn’s former brother-in-law comes to her for help, he leaves her with a cell phone and seventy-five thousand reasons to put her magic to the test. However, when she discovers Quinn’s ex-wife is angling for revenge, Bailey’s tossed in the deep end along with her sexiest enemy.
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Frisk Me
RECOMMENDED: Frisk Me by Lauren Layne is $2.99! I reviewed this book and enjoyed it. It was a nice departure, seeing the heroine needed to grovel. But I also totally get why you’re not into law enforcement characters right now. I gave it an A grade:
This is a slow romance, too. And admittedly, I spent a good portion of the book grinning like an idiot on the subway. I’ll give it to Layne; she can write some great dialogue.
Officer Luc Moretti had no idea that his dive into the East River would have him drowning in a media frenzy. No matter how many times he tells reporters he was just doing his job, they’re determined to make him into NYC’s newest hero. Coming from a long line of NYPD’s finest, Luc knows that being a cop has nothing to do with headlines and viral videos, and he’s more than ready to get back to life away from the cameras-until he meets the gorgeous but jaded journalist assigned to film a TV special on him . . .
Ava Sims may be the only woman in NYC who isn’t in love with Officer Moretti. That’s why she’s going after the real story-to find out about the man behind the badge. Ava’s determined to keep things strictly professional, but the more time she spends around Luc, even she has to admit there’s something about a man in uniform . . . and she can’t wait to get him out of his.
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FYI, my notes from the Blain book:
Starts weird and explodes from there. Too many species to keep track of but still fun.
“A magical romantic comedy (with a body count)”
Don’t forget the body count!
I highly recommend Playing with Fire as delightfully ridiculous and ridiculously delightful… just the sort of thing one’s brain needs for a break in the quarantimes.
I take strong issue with the comment “ I totally get why you’re not into law enforcement characters right now.” Really! The vast majority of law enforcement are hard working, brave human beings doing their best in a job that has been made nearly impossible. My husband is retired NYPD and my son is a lieutenant in the county PD. This comment is a slap in the face to all law enforcement and their families, shame on you
@CarolM: I never insulted law enforcement in my comments and I also gave the book an A grade, but to willfully ignore communities and Black people, especially, who are victims of police brutality on a regular basis is also a “slap in the face” to those readers who come here looking for respite and solace in their reading.
CarolM and Amanda , Can you all just stop?! This isn’t the place for this crap. It’s a book blog for c#$%& sakes !!
@Geralynn Ross: You must be new here. If you can’t see the intersection of reading books as a political statement and how yes, even romance can uphold ideals of white supremacy and privilege that are harmful to readers of color, well, boy howdy, I don’t know what to tell you.
Which also means a book blog IS THE PERFECT PLACE to discuss such things.
I’m sorry, but anyone who thinks politics and fiction books are unrelated is… very, very wrong? Amanda is absolutely right, she didn’t insult anyone and as a POC I appreciate that *all* readers are taken into account as audiences for book reviews. Less Karen vibes, more reality checks please.
@Amanda- I found your response considerate and understanding to multiple points of view, thank you! I also appreciate that all reviewers on the blog have been great about providing content warnings, and might I remind other readers that the notes about content are nothing new. Neither is The Bitchery’s obvious concern for readers mental
Well being at all times, but especially right now.
This may be a book blog but it’s also a place for women to feel safe, something many Black women, Black men and frankly men and women of all colors and races don’t feel in our country right now.
As the owner and operator of this here book site, I can verify that this is indeed the location in which we address White supremacy, work to undo our culpability in upholding or benefitting from it, and engage with the idea that happiness is a fundamental right and privilege that needs to be equally and fairly applied to everyone. That’s what we do here.
The best word for R.J. Blaine’s books is ‘confusing’. You never really get what’s going on. I got the starter set bundle and all the books are the same confusing mess (although the 2nd one, ‘Hoofin’ It’, is a bit better than the others, mainly because of the secondary characters).
As for ‘Playing with Fire’, there were some fun moments in a zany way, but overall, not that interesting a book. The heroine is already in love with the hero at the beginning (and we wonder why as he first comes off as an grudge-holding egotist), while he’s also secretly into her, so there’s no build-up or discovering each other. The reader is mostly left with the unlikeable image of him that was first established.
I found Ten Thousand Doors a gorgeous, magical story but I also wound up sobbing a couple of times so I’m not sure I would describe it as soothing!
My 2 cents as the sister of an officer who died in the line of duty: my baby brotherR was for sure one of the good ones, but he wa totally aware that there were bad ones and that conscious and unconscious bias were big problems on the force. It has to be acknowledged bdore it can be addressed.
Me, when someone thinks SBTB isn’t the place to discuss systemic racism, anti-Blackness, white supremacy, and police brutality: “You must be new here.”
Now I wanna go find that great post from a while back on being tired of book covers with white guys holding guns.
I picked up the RJ Blain Starter pack when it was on sale a while ago.
It was like potato chips.
I enjoyed them while I was reading them. They were fun. Most of the stories mostly worked, and even the ones that didn’t work still had their moments. However, I barely remembered the plots the second the books were over.
If you want a quick, mindless read, this works.
Lane: I am so sorry for your loss. Much love, and thank you for commenting.
I really enjoy the Blain books but I can’t think about plot, motivation, or story too hard or nothing will make sense. There is a surprising amount of realness in some of the books, though. I recommended this first book to a group and completely forgot about the CDC, quarantine, and hospitilization of one of the characters. Ventilators are even mentioned, so not a complete escape during this pandemic.
I’m not a fan of people blaming the person not responsible for the bad things that happen, so despite all the other catnip I think I’ll give Playing With Fire a miss. Unless someone can reassure me that the blurb is wrong on that point.
Sabrina Jeffries is one of my favourite authors. She’s good at showing the feelings – and the reasons for the feelings – of the heroine and the hero.
@Venetia thanks for chiming in about 10,000 Doors, I have limited trust in Amazon reviews and your review here sold me. Plus, I’m finding weeping over a book feels more restorative than weeping over things I can’t control these days. I squealed when I saw it was on sale at Amazon and double sqee’d that I hadn’t missed the sale.
@BellaInAus: no, the guy doesn’t blame the heroine, au contraire. But she’s the POV character, she blames herself and is persuaded he does too.
The Blain was so chaotically bananapants, and nothing makes any sense, which normally isn’t my thing at all, but somehow I finished it in two sittings! It was like the author took every idea they’d ever had about a fantasy comedy and just…put it all in one book.
Also, I appreciate SBTB and the Bitchery so much. I heard a good metaphor the other day – the police are like coal miners. There are probably some great police/coal miners. But what they’re doing is by and large bad for society/the planet, and we better figure out alternatives before more people die.
@egged
There’s definitely something about the Blain books that appeal to me. I’ve been blazing through the series. They are a good palate cleanser after reading/listening to some angstier stories. Trigger warning on the Cheetah one, though. The body count aspect is very prevalent and women and children are harmed.
I disagree with the metaphor presented but agree that something must be done. One biased view I have is that officers are pressured to enforce some laws and ignore others. If politicians want things done a certain way, do it officially and get laws changed.
This is not ignoring there are bad people in law enforcement. There seems to be a certain edge needed in order to go into that career (like with a fighter pilot or salesperson) but too little or too much of that edge is bad.
Okay, end of that from me. Back to the nonsense.
In regard to the Sabrina Jeffries book, I did not finish the Bachelor, but did enjoy Project Duchess, the first book. I wanted to like Bachelor, but I found the heroine to be a little too self-absorbed and I didn’t feel the chemistry between her and the hero.
@Amanda and @SBSarah, thank you for what you do with this site, it’s much appreciated.