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A Phoenix First Must Burn
RECOMMENDED: A Phoenix First Must Burn edited by Patrice Caldwell is $2.99! Carrie and Maya did a joint review of this one and gave it an A:
Maya: I loved so many of the stories! One of the standouts for me was “When Life Hands You a Lemon Fruitbomb” by Amerie (yes, that Amerie), which opened up the anthology. It’s a science fiction story with aliens, wormhole travel, and a classic time travel paradox
Sixteen tales by bestselling and award-winning authors that explore the Black experience through fantasy, science fiction, and magic.
Evoking Beyoncé’s Lemonade for a teen audience, these authors who are truly Octavia Butler’s heirs, have woven worlds to create a stunning narrative that centers Black women and gender nonconforming individuals. A Phoenix First Must Burn will take you on a journey from folktales retold to futuristic societies and everything in between. Filled with stories of love and betrayal, strength and resistance, this collection contains an array of complex and true-to-life characters in which you cannot help but see yourself reflected. Witches and scientists, sisters and lovers, priestesses and rebels: the heroines of A Phoenix First Must Burn shine brightly. You will never forget them.
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Who’s That Earl
RECOMMENDED: Who’s That Earl? by Susanna Craig is 99c! Catherine wrote a Lightning Review for this and gave it a B:
In fact, Who’s That Earl manages the feat of being low-tension and low-conflict while still having plenty of story and heart to keep you reading. If you are looking for something to read that is charming and relaxing and fun and won’t stress you out too much, this is the book for you.
Miss Jane Quayle excels at invention. How else could the sheltered daughter of an English gentleman create lurid gothic novels so infamous someone wants their author silenced forever? Fortunately, Jane has taken steps to protect herself, first by assuming a pen name, and second, by taking up residence at remote Dunnock Castle, surrounded by rugged scenery that might have been ripped from the pages of one of her books. Her true identity remains a secret, until one dark and stormy night…
After years of spying for the British army, Thomas Sutherland doubts the Highlands will ever feel like home again. Nevertheless, thanks to a quirk of Scottish inheritance law, he’s now the Earl of Magnus, complete with a crumbling castle currently inhabited by a notorious novelist. When the writer turns out to be the woman Thomas once wooed, suspicions rise even as mutual sparks reignite. As danger closes in, can Jane and Thomas overcome their pasts to forge a future together?
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The Hating Game
RECOMMENDED: The Hating Game by Sally Thorne is 99c! Sarah really loved this one, though made a mention of some offensive language. However, I believe subsequent copies have the offending language changed. Correct me if I’m wrong.
If your reading catnip, like mine, includes a blend of dialogue that crackles with intensity and emotion, cranky, stoic heroes with hidden, squishy depths, and vivid, self-assured heroines who take exactly zero crap from said hero, you should find yourself a copy of this book.
Debut author Sally Thorne bursts on the scene with a hilarious and sexy workplace comedy all about that thin, fine line between hate and love.
Nemesis (n.) 1) An opponent or rival whom a person cannot best or overcome.
2) A person’s undoing
3) Joshua TemplemanLucy Hutton has always been certain that the nice girl can get the corner office. She’s charming and accommodating and prides herself on being loved by everyone at Bexley & Gamin. Everyone except for coldly efficient, impeccably attired, physically intimidating Joshua Templeman. And the feeling is mutual.
Trapped in a shared office together 40 (OK, 50 or 60) hours a week, they’ve become entrenched in an addictive, ridiculous never-ending game of one-upmanship. There’s the Staring Game. The Mirror Game. The HR Game. Lucy can’t let Joshua beat her at anything—especially when a huge new promotion goes up for the taking.
If Lucy wins this game, she’ll be Joshua’s boss. If she loses, she’ll resign. So why is she suddenly having steamy dreams about Joshua, and dressing for work like she’s got a hot date? After a perfectly innocent elevator ride ends with an earth shattering kiss, Lucy starts to wonder whether she’s got Joshua Templeman all wrong.
Maybe Lucy Hutton doesn’t hate Joshua Templeman. And maybe, he doesn’t hate her either. Or maybe this is just another game.
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Once Upon a Sunset
Once Upon a Sunset by Tif Marcelo is $1.99! This is women’s fiction with a focus on a mother/daughter relationship. Aarya picked this one for a previous Hide Your Wallet. It’s loosely connected to The Key to Happily Ever After, though this book works find as a stand alone.
The author of The Key to Happily Ever After—“a true gem filled with heart, laughs, and a cast of delightful characters” (Nina Bocci, USA TODAY bestselling author)—returns with a heartwarming and charming novel about a woman who travels to the Philippines to reconnect with her long-lost family…and manages to find herself along the way.
Diana Gallagher-Cary is at a tipping point. As a Washington, DC, OB/GYN at a prestigious hospital, she uses her career to distract herself from her grief over her granny’s death and her breakup from her long-term boyfriend after her free-spirited mother moves in with her. But when she makes a medical decision that disparages the hospital, she is forced to go on a short sabbatical.
Never one to wallow, Diana decides to use the break to put order in her life, when her mother, Margo, stumbles upon a box of letters from her grandfather, Antonio Cruz, to her grandmother from the 1940s. The two women always believed that Antonio died in World War II, but the letters reveal otherwise. When they learn that he lived through the war, and that they have surviving relatives in the Philippines, Diana becomes determined to connect with the family that she never knew existed, though Margo refuses to face her history. But Diana pushes on, and heads on a once-in-a-lifetime trip that challenges her identity, family history, and her idea of romantic love that could change her life forever.
Infused with Tif Marcelo’s signature “sexy, adorable, and heartfelt” (Kate Meader, USA TODAY bestselling author) voice, Once Upon a Sunset is a moving and lyrical celebration of love, family, and second chances.
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Ten Things I Hate About the Duke by Loretta Chase is $1.99 on Amazon. It was a wonderful read.
The Hating Game – the offensive language was still there in the UK Kindle version which I purchased and read mid-2020. Apart from that and a bit of physical appearance-shaming, I did enjoy it.
All excellent choices; A Phoenix Must First Burn is superlative, and I’d put Who’s that Earl in a close second place.
I kind of like the punny title of “Who’s that Earl.” But that is the wrong font for a regency.
I know there’s a saying about not judging a book by its cover – but that is just bonkers. Who thought it was ok? Did they make other decisions in the book, like the hero moped-ing around the continent? Does she check her handheld electric reading device for information on her book sales?
I know I’m in the minority here, but I didn’t care for THE HATING GAME. To me it read like an office romance written by someone who had never actually worked in an office. And the MCs came across as so young and immature—they seemed like eight-graders doing workplace cosplay for a class assignment. But in the spirit of director Jean Luc Goddard, who once said the best way to criticize a bad film is to make a better one, I recommend a far better office romance: Sarah Mayberry’s HER FAVORITE RIVAL.
You Deserve Each Other By Sarah Hogle is on sale for 1.99 on Amazon. This was one of my favorite 2020 reads!
Who’s That Earl was a fun read and between the mention of the island where my mother was raised and an actual, factual black family in Regency Scotland, it was the most seen I’ve ever felt reading a regency romance. I <3 the genre, but I recognise its limitations.
@Jill — You intrigued me enough that I’ve bought “Who’s That Earl?”. I had a priest who was Black who traced his family back to 18th century Scotland, with a long line of Anglican priests in the mix. He admitted to not being quite sure how the family ended up there, but when folks say “But there weren’t…” I can hold up my hand and say, “I know a family.”
@MsCellanie- at first glance I totally agreed with you on the font for Who’s That Earl (I actually think it looks like graffiti if you look quick, and that maybe she’s spray painted it? so then I headed to the internet to look for the movie poster for the 80s Madonna movie “Who’s That Girl?” to see if there was a connection. Nope totally different font but the song keeps playing in my mind when I see that cover nevertheless).
Anywho- I checked out the Amazon page and I see the second in series is out later this year with the same cover style, font, and a coordinating teal. Taken together it looks like the publisher is trying to capitalize on the of-the-moment trend in illustrated covers with the font and color schemes, while keeping the girl-in-gown photo more classic to the last 10 years of historical romance. And now it’s grown on me, and for .99 I’m sold.
@Caro – He’s a minor character, friend to the titular Earl, but it just made me grin. I think Susanna Craig must do some interesting research because while her other titles are quite up my alley (I looked after reading this one), she uses other West Indian locations that I know that people haven’t often heard about.
I picked up Ten Things I Hate About the Duke (1.99) and the first book, A Duke in Shining Armor is $3.99 on Amazon. A Duke in Shining Armor was a book where I was desperate to pick up the next book immediately and was incensed to find out it was a pre-order at the time. I’m excited to jump back into these books.
The Art of Theft (The Lady Sherlock Series Book 4) by Sherry Thomas is also $1.99 on Amazon. The rest of the series is not on sale, but a great price for this one.
I have an ebook copy of The Hating Game (it’s one of my favorite books) and the offensive wording has been removed. This is US version.
I am currently reading the newly released Shipped, which has Hating Game vibes. I am enjoying it but am only 40% through. We shall see how it holds up.
I also liked Who’s That Earl. A lot of the time Scottish-set historicals give me this vibe that the most research the author has done is watch a production of Brigadoon, but this was the opposite—the villagers all felt like real people, and I also loved that they included a Black family. It was a good pandemic read, very light and fun with likeable leads.
I’m generally not a fan of Scottish Romance because I get incredibly annoyed with the extreme overuse of the word Och (it’s a real problem – anytime I realize that a word is used a lot, I start counting the number of uses and soon it’s all I’m focused on. See also: Stephanie Laurens, evocative). But the review here made it look cute so I took a chance. Started it last night, and so far, so good – nary an och in sight.
Burn Zone by Annabeth Albert is $1.99. It’s the first in her hotshots series.
Here’s my GR review:
3.5/5 stars. Another entertaining, trope-y mm romance from Annabeth Albert.
I got impatient with the first half – way too much “I want you but I can never have you because reasons” nonsense. But I enjoyed it once they started sleeping together to “get it out of their systems.”
I one-clicked Ten Things I Hate About the Duke and Who’s that Earl!
I read what I’m sure is an early printing, but I left THE HATING GAME with the strong impression that the author was fatphobic. It was severe enough that I haven’t read her recent release. And it’s not something that could have had a few words switched out, because it manifested itself in one of the (more minor) characters and their portrayal. That said, I did love the rest of it. But if body image is even remotely a triggering subject for you–and particularly a larger body used on a character as a stand-in for sketchy morals–I’d skip this one.