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This Earl of Mine
This Earl of Mine by Kate Bateman is $1.99 and a Kindle Daily Deal! This is the first book in a rather new historical romance series. I gave this one a B-, because while the leads were great together, there were a lot of other distracting plot threads. Elyse loved the second one and I would definitely recommend the series, despite my quibbles.
Introducing the Bow Street Bachelors—men who work undercover for London’s first official police force—and the women they serve to protect. . .and wed?
WILL A FALSE MARRIAGE
Shipping heiress Georgiana Caversteed is done with men who covet her purse more than her person. Even worse than the ton’s lecherous fortune hunters, however, is the cruel cousin determined to force Georgie into marriage. If only she could find a way to be . . . widowed? Georgie hatches a madcap scheme to wed a condemned criminal before he’s set to be executed. All she has to do is find an eligible bachelor in prison to marry her, and she’ll be free. What could possibly go wrong?
LEAD TO TRUE AND LASTING LOVE?
Benedict William Henry Wylde, scapegrace second son of the late Earl of Morcott and well-known rake, is in Newgate prison undercover, working for Bow Street. Georgie doesn’t realize who he is when she marries him—and she most certainly never expects to bump into her very-much-alive, and very handsome, husband of convenience at a society gathering weeks later. Soon Wylde finds himself courting his own wife, hoping to win her heart since he already has her hand. But how can this seductive rogue convince brazen, beautiful Georgie that he wants to be together…until actual death do they part?
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Huntress
RECOMMENDED: Huntress by Malinda Lo is $1.99! Carrie reviewed this one and gave it a B+, but wouldn’t recommend it for romance readers necessarily:
I recommend this for people looking for inclusive fantasy that feels at once fresh and traditional within multiple traditions.
Nature is out of balance in the human world. The sun hasn’t shone in years, and crops are failing. Worse yet, strange and hostile creatures have begun to appear. The people’s survival hangs in the balance.
To solve the crisis, the oracle stones are cast, and Kaede and Taisin, two seventeen-year-old girls, are picked to go on a dangerous and unheard-of journey to Tanlili, the city of the Fairy Queen. Taisin is a sage, thrumming with magic, and Kaede is of the earth, without a speck of the otherworldly. And yet the two girls’ destinies are drawn together during the mission. As members of their party succumb to unearthly attacks and fairy tricks, the two come to rely on each other and even begin to fall in love. But the Kingdom needs only one huntress to save it, and what it takes could tear Kaede and Taisin apart forever.
The exciting adventure prequel to Malinda Lo’s highly acclaimed novel Ash is overflowing with lush Chinese influences and details inspired by the I Ching, and is filled with action and romance.
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The Watchmaker of Filigree Street
The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley is $1.99! Another KDD here! This is historical fiction with a queer protagonist and some magical realism. Reviews on Goodreads say don’t expect to have all the book’s questions answered by the end of the book, though I think there’s a follow-up now.
1883. Thaniel Steepleton returns home to his tiny London apartment to find a gold pocket watch on his pillow. Six months later, the mysterious timepiece saves his life, drawing him away from a blast that destroys Scotland Yard. At last, he goes in search of its maker, Keita Mori, a kind, lonely immigrant from Japan. Although Mori seems harmless, a chain of unexplainable events soon suggests he must be hiding something. When Grace Carrow, an Oxford physicist, unwittingly interferes, Thaniel is torn between opposing loyalties.
The Watchmaker of Filigree Street is a sweeping, atmospheric narrative that takes the reader on an unexpected journey through Victorian London, Japan as its civil war crumbles long-standing traditions, and beyond. Blending historical events with dazzling flights of fancy, it opens doors to a strange and magical past.
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Her Royal Spyness
Her Royal Spyness by Rhys Bowen is $1.99! This is the first book in a series of the same name, and I know Sarah has been enjoying these books both on paper and audio. She gave this one a B-:
The allure of the story wasn’t the mystery so much as it was Georgie and her friends. I loved her ingenuity and her way of managing people and situations, her determination and her sense of humor, and especially her friendships.
London 1932. Narrator Lady Victoria Georgiana Charlotte Eugenie, 34th in line for the throne, is flat broke. She bolted from Scotland — and engagement to Fishface (Prince Stiegfriend) — for London, where she has:
a) built a fire in the hearth
b) fallen for an absolutely unsuitable Irish peer
c) made a few quid housekeeping incognita, and
d) been summoned by the Queen to spy on her playboy sonWhen an arrogant Frenchman trying to swipe our family estate winds up dead in my bathtub, how can I clear my very long family name?
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I really enjoyed This Earl of Mine. It’s a slow burn romance, both MC’s are very likable (IMO) and, despite the rather far-fetched plot, very low on angst or unneccessary drama. This was a fluffy blanket for my stressed out soul and I’m putting it on my “comfort read” shelf.
Natasha Pulley became an automatic I want it for me with The Watchmaker of Filigree Street. It has a mix of steam punk, historical plot with a dash of fantasy and romance and Guilbert and Sullivan music. The second book The lost futures of Pepperharrow is my favourite book of the year so far.
Seconding @Elva’s take on This Earl Of Mine. I was sold on it after the scene early on where after a bit of a rocky start, the hero and heroine try to figure out how to work together to solve both their problems, like adults! The batshit (in a good way) plot balanced by respect and teamwork between the hero and heroine made it a nice low-stress read.
Love the Rhys Bowen series! There is a good romantic subplot that carries throughout the series!
A plot that’s a little bit bonkers plus an undercover peer plus a “brazen” non-missish heroine and a marriage of convenience? I’m in…this is the perfect piece of fluff for my sheltered in place Thanksgiving! But OMG if Bateman manages to include a house party and mixed up bed chambers, I would swoon. LOL Happy Thanksgiving to all the US Smart Bitches reading “trashy” books.
My grade for “This Earl of Mine” wasn’t quite so high. I thought it was OK and has some good parts (liked that unlike many other historical romances it realistically portrays how difficult it was to get an annulment), but I’ve OD’d on books with so much mental lusting and find it actually works against the sexual tension. It should also be noted that there’s an early Mary Jo Putney, “The Would-be Widow”, which starts with the same plot point: a woman needs to be married but doesn’t actually want to be married so finds someone who she thinks is about to die. It’s been a long time since I read the Putney, but my memory is that I liked her execution of this trope more than Bateman’s.
My grade for “This Earl of Mine” wasn’t quite so high. I thought it was OK and has some good parts (liked that unlike many other historical romances it realistically portrays how difficult it was to get an annulment), but I’ve OD’d on books with so much mental lusting and find it actually works against the sexual tension. It should also be noted that there’s an early Mary Jo Putney, “The Would-be Widow”, which starts with the same plot point: a woman needs to be married but doesn’t actually want to be married so finds someone who she thinks is about to die. It’s been a long time since I read the Putney, but my memory is that I liked her execution of this trope more than Bateman’s. Per Elyse’s recommendation, however, I may try the second book in the Bateman series.
The plot device of a Newgate wedding to a man who isn’t executed after all and isn’t really a criminal goes back a fair ways.
I first hit it in Bride of Newgate by John Dickson Carr, and I think there’s a Bret Harte novel as well, though neither would count as romance in the modern sense.