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Ice Cream Lover
Ice Cream Lover by Jackie Lau is $3.99! Holy abs, Batman! This is the second book in the Baldwin Village series, which can be read out of order. This series has a lot of foodie elements and is relatively low angst, which a lot of us are in the mood for right now.
I hate ice cream. Ever since my fiancée left me at the altar and skewered me in her bestseller “Embrace Your Inner Ice Cream Sandwich: Finding the Positive You in a World of Negativity,” I haven’t been able to stomach the stuff.
Unfortunately, my five-year-old niece is a budding foodie and her favorite place in the world is Ginger Scoops, a cutesy Asian ice cream shop. Since I’ve been looking after my niece a lot lately, I’ve spent too much time there, sipping black coffee, refusing to eat ice cream, and trying not to look at the owner, Chloe Jenkins. Chloe is obnoxiously cheerful, and I can’t stand her.
Naturally, I end up kissing her.
But I’ve sworn off women after the fiasco with my ex-fiancée, and I’m convinced I’m no good at relationships. Still, with Chloe I’m tempted to do the impossible: give love and ice cream another chance…
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A Lady’s Guide to Etiquette and Murder
A Lady’s Guide to Etiquette and Murder by Dianne Freeman is $2.99! This is book in the A Countess of Harleigh Mystery series. If you’ve exhausted all of your historical mystery with romantic subplot options, try this one. It was also mentioned in the comments of The Rec League: Mysteries with Romance Crossover Appeal.
In this exciting historical mystery debut set in Victorian England, a wealthy young widow encounters the pleasures—and scandalous pitfalls—of a London social season . . .
Frances Wynn, the American-born Countess of Harleigh, enjoys more freedom as a widow than she did as a wife. After an obligatory year spent mourning her philandering husband, Reggie, she puts aside her drab black gowns, leaving the countryside and her money-grubbing in-laws behind. With her young daughter in tow, Frances rents a home in Belgravia and prepares to welcome her sister, Lily, arriving from New York—for her first London season.No sooner has Frances begun her new life than the ghosts of her old one make an unwelcome appearance. The Metropolitan police receive an anonymous letter implicating Frances in her husband’s death. Frances assures Inspector Delaney of her innocence, but she’s also keen to keep him from learning the scandalous circumstances of Reggie’s demise. As fate would have it, her dashing new neighbor, George Hazelton, is one of only two other people aware of the full story.
While busy with social engagements on Lily’s behalf, and worrying if Reggie really was murdered, Frances learns of mysterious burglaries plaguing London’s elite. The investigation brings death to her doorstep, and Frances rallies her wits, a circle of gossips, and the ever-chivalrous Mr. Hazelton to uncover the truth. A killer is in their midst, perhaps even among her sister’s suitors. And Frances must unmask the villain before Lily’s season—and their lives—come to a most unseemly end . . .
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Accidentally Compromising the Duke
Accidentally Compromising the Duke by Stacy Reid is $3.99! This book is first in the Wedded by Scandal series. Readers loved the hero and heroine, while others felt there wasn’t enough plot and intrigue, and that it had too much sex. It has a 4-star rating on Goodreads.
England, 1817.
Miss Adeline Hays is out of options. Determined to escape marriage to a repugnant earl, Adeline plans to deliberately allow herself to be caught in a compromising position at a house party with the much kinder man she’d hoped to marry. Instead, Adeline accidentally enters the wrong chamber and tumbles into the bed of the mad duke.
Edmond Rochester, the duke of Wolverton, is seeking a wife to care for his two daughters. A young lady of sensibilities, accomplishment, and most importantly, one who he is not attracted to—a complete opposite of the bewitching beauty who traps him into marriage. But despite the lust he feels for his new duchess, Edmond is resolved to never allow them intimacy, refusing to ever again suffer the tormenting loss of a loved one.
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Crashed Out
Crashed Out by Tessa Bailey is $2.99! This is the first book in the Made in Jersey series. Book two is also on sale and book three features a plus-size, husky hero. This one seems to reverse some common tropes, with the hero being the younger brother of the heroine’s best friend. The heroine is a blue collar worker and seven years older than the hero.
Jasmine Taveras is the reason Sarge Purcell grabbed his six-string and bailed the hell out of New Jersey four years ago. She’s the fuel for every song he’s ever written-each one laced with bitter, hard-edged, hungry lust. Now, with his hugely successful band on temporary hiatus, Sarge is determined to prove to Jasmine that this “kid” turned into every inch the man she’s always needed…
Men are slim pickings for a single factory girl in Hook, New Jersey…until tall, broad-shouldered hotness walks-or rather storms-into Jasmine’s life. Sarge’s return shouldn’t affect her this way. He’s her best friend’s much younger kid brother, and the kind of rough, gritty, sexiness Jasmine has no right to taste for herself. Even if he lets her.
But lust is a blinding, insatiable force. And when it crashes, it will take both Sarge and Jasmine down with it…
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I liked the writing in Ice Cream Lover, and the characters were great…but it was a DNF for me. Chloe kept trying to get Drew to try ice cream, even after he’d said he doesn’t like it. The first time, okay, it was a cute misunderstanding–the third time, I put the book down and wondered why I was so mad.
Casual boundary overriding is not cute.
@Varian Ross, I finished the Ice Cream Lover and liked certain things about it, but it didn’t work for me overall. One problem was the one you mentioned- why was it such a big deal that he didn’t like ice cream? He is described as grumpy, but the only “grumpy” thing about him is his dislike of ice cream and that’s so not a big deal! I’m finding a lot of contemporary books aren’t working for me because authors frequently use meddling friends and family members, and my brain just keeps screaming “Boundaries, people! Stay on your side!”
Another problem with the book for me is a personal taste issue. It’s written in first person present which I find awkward. It’s almost impossible not to tell instead of show in 1st person present, and it feels like I’m listening to someone narrate their (often boring) life. But it’s very popular with writers so I must be in the minority on that.
@Carrie G. 1st person present is one of my least favorite choices for narration as well. Sometimes I can overcome it if other thing about the book really grabs me, but to me it feels like the author is almost doing something to purposefully draw attention to the narration, which is not ideal.
@Jill Q, yes, I agree. In addition, 1st person present feels shallow, because you not only don’t get anyone else’s perspective, you don’t get any retrospective on what happened, either. In other words you don’t get any insight that a past tense perspective can give you, whether that perspective is 1st or 3rd person. From the distance of past tense, the narrator can analyze motives, and the why’s and how of what happened. That soul-searching is largely absent in 1st person present tense, where you are watching things unfold in the moment. I think that’s why I feel like I rarely get to really know the characters well in books written in 1st person present tense.
I think it’s popular in contemporary and young adult romances in part because the authors are looking for the live-in-the-moment feel it gives. Perhaps to highlight coming of age stories and “growing up” stores about people in their teens and early twenties. That’s not the only reason, of course, because it it used outside those genres.
I’m going to add that in the above post, by “shallow” I do not mean vapid or trite. I mean as opposed to in-depth in terms of revealing the situation/story. I think the appeal is often just that, it can feel fresh or unpredictable, which can work in some stories.
I’m so glad I’m not the only one who doesn’t like first person narratives. Sure, it was great as a teen because I wanted to feel like I was the main character in the book (and probably why so many YA books are written in first person POV), but as a adult I want to feel like a spectator to the events.
Historicals don’t seem to go for the first person POV very often, but it’s very common in contemporaries, and it makes the whole story feel lopsided to me.
I’m another one who doesn’t like first person narratives, at least in romance! There are a few books with that style that I’ve liked, but they’re the exception and they have a much higher bar for me to clear. I do like first person POV for mysteries – maybe because you feel like you’re finding things out along with the narrator?
Okay, I’m in absolute agreement about the first person narrative EXCEPT for the Murderbot Diaries. There, because the voice was so unique and so internal, it had to be a first person narrative — and also a-gendered — to understand all the changes going on in its (Murderbot’s) head. The internal snark there was so, so good, even though I have hitherto *always* hated it in 1p narrative.
A Lady’s Guide to Etiquette and Murder is also one of the offerings in Audible’s current 2-for-1 sale. Can anyone tell me if it’s better than the Amory Ames series? I really wanted to like that one, and it fell very flat on the romance side (I either need significant pre-forgiveness groveling from the male lead or I need the female lead to grow a backbone and leave his ass).
I enjoyed Ice Cream Lover. Gave it 3.5 / 5 stars. Agree about the annoying boundary pushing but it wasn’t a deal breaker for me.
I read it for the bi heroine and I really liked how she was portrayed. I also liked how different immigrant experiences and families were shown.
@ulrike
I didn’t care for Lady’s Guide, but if I recall correctly, that’s because it just wasn’t particularly compelling. I found it a little boring. Do not recall much about the romance subplot one way or another. I love the Amory Ames series, though it did take a book or two. Milo never does a great job of groveling, but he does eventually get his shit together. If you want something similar in which I feel like the hero does do a better grovel, Anna Lee Huber’s Verity Kent series is really good.
@ulrike I agree with Ellie’s assessment of A Lady’s Guide. It was fine, but not great. I also feel like it will be very light on romance as a series.
I’ve only read the first book in the Verity Kent series, but it give a pretty realistic portrayal of hurt and, looking ahead to the first part of the second book, all the problems behind the need for forgiveness don’t magically go away. So I’m looking forward to how that all plays out as much as I’m looking forward to the mysteries.
@Cleo, I also liked that the heroine was bisexual and biracial in Ice Cream Lover. The storylines with her family was my favorite part of the book.