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A Curious Beginning
RECOMMENDED: A Curious Beginning by Deanna Raybourn is $2.99! The latest book out now and it’s a good time to start this series., especially since many of the books are also on sale. This is a historical mystery and Sarah really enjoyed it. Here’s what she said:
I read A Curious Beginning with an I-cannot-put-this-down enthusiasm and devoured it very quickly. I relished both the characters and the mystery. The Veronica Speedwell series is excellent and intelligent fun, and while the second isn’t quite as satisfying as the first, I heartily recommend them both.
In her thrilling new series, the New York Times bestselling author of the Lady Julia Grey mysteries, returns once more to Victorian England…and introduces intrepid adventuress Veronica Speedwell.
London, 1887. As the city prepares to celebrate Queen Victoria’s golden jubilee, Veronica Speedwell is marking a milestone of her own. After burying her spinster aunt, the orphaned Veronica is free to resume her world travels in pursuit of scientific inquiry—and the occasional romantic dalliance. As familiar with hunting butterflies as she is fending off admirers, Veronica wields her butterfly net and a sharpened hatpin with equal aplomb, and with her last connection to England now gone, she intends to embark upon the journey of a lifetime.
But fate has other plans, as Veronica discovers when she thwarts her own abduction with the help of an enigmatic German baron with ties to her mysterious past. Promising to reveal in time what he knows of the plot against her, the baron offers her temporary sanctuary in the care of his friend Stoker—a reclusive natural historian as intriguing as he is bad-tempered. But before the baron can deliver on his tantalizing vow to reveal the secrets he has concealed for decades, he is found murdered. Suddenly Veronica and Stoker are forced to go on the run from an elusive assailant, wary partners in search of the villainous truth.
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The Chocolate Kiss
RECOMMENDED: The Chocolate Kiss by Laura Florand is $1.99! This is what Sarah had to say:
I love this book. When I talk about traveling through the books I read, this is a title that comes to mind first. It’s a contemporary romance set in Paris, and it’s the second in a series though I didn’t read the first and was just fine here.
The Heart of Paris
Welcome to La Maison des Sorcières. Where the window display is an enchanted forest of sweets, a collection of conical hats delights the eye and the habitués nibble chocolate witches from fanciful mismatched china. While in their tiny blue kitchen, Magalie Chaudron and her two aunts stir wishes into bubbling pots of heavenly chocolat chau.
But no amount of wishing will rid them of interloper Philippe Lyonnais, who has the gall to open one of his world famous pastry shops right down the street. Philippe’s creations seem to hold a magic of their own, drawing crowds of beautiful women to their little isle amidst the Seine, and tempting even Magalie to venture out of her ivory tower and take a chance, a taste. . .a kiss.
Parisian princesses, chocolate witches, pâtissier princes and sweet wishes–an enchanting tale of amour et chocolat.
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The Priory of the Orange Tree
The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon is $2.99! This was one of the most sought after ARCs at Book Expo America in 2018. It’s also over 800 pages, so a digital copy might be beneficial, though many readers felt a couple hundred pages could have been chopped. I’ve seen reviews call this one an “epic feminist fantasy” novel.
From the internationally bestselling author of The Bone Season, a trailblazing, epic high fantasy about a world on the brink of war with dragons–and the women who must lead the fight to save it.
A world divided.
A queendom without an heir.
An ancient enemy awakens.
The House of Berethnet has ruled Inys for a thousand years. Still unwed, Queen Sabran the Ninth must conceive a daughter to protect her realm from destruction–but assassins are getting closer to her door.Ead Duryan is an outsider at court. Though she has risen to the position of lady-in-waiting, she is loyal to a hidden society of mages. Ead keeps a watchful eye on Sabran, secretly protecting her with forbidden magic.
Across the dark sea, Tané has trained all her life to be a dragonrider, but is forced to make a choice that could see her life unravel.
Meanwhile, the divided East and West refuse to parley, and forces of chaos are rising from their sleep.
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My Sister, the Serial Killer
RECOMMENDED: My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite is $2.99! Carrie reviewed this one and gave it an A-:
My Sister, the Serial Killer is NOT a romance novel, but it might appeal to those of our readers with an interest in female rage and very dark humor.
Satire meets slasher in this short, darkly funny hand grenade of a novel about a Nigerian woman whose younger sister has a very inconvenient habit of killing her boyfriends.
“Femi makes three, you know. Three and they label you a serial killer.”
Korede is bitter. How could she not be? Her sister, Ayoola, is many things: the favorite child, the beautiful one, possibly sociopathic. And now Ayoola’s third boyfriend in a row is dead. Korede’s practicality is the sisters’ saving grace. She knows the best solutions for cleaning blood, the trunk of her car is big enough for a body, and she keeps Ayoola from posting pictures of her dinner to Instagram when she should be mourning her “missing” boyfriend. Not that she gets any credit.
A kind, handsome doctor at the hospital where Korede works, is the bright spot in her life. She dreams of the day when he will realize they’re perfect for each other. But one day Ayoola shows up to the hospital uninvited and he takes notice. When he asks Korede for Ayoola’s phone number, she must reckon with what her sister has become and what she will do about it.
Sharp as nails and full of deadpan wit, Oyinkan Braithwaite has written a deliciously deadly debut that’s as fun as it is frightening.
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A collection of three Barbara Pym novels (A GLASS OF BLESSINGS, SOME TAME GAZELLE, and JANE AND PRUDENCE) is a KDD for $3.99 today. If you’re unfamiliar with Pym—probably the best and most underrated British writer of the mid-20th century—this is a wonderful opportunity to enter her universe of post-WWII middle-class women, mostly unmarried, whose lives often revolve around performing church work and yearning for men who are usually unavailable, unobtainable, or just plain clueless. Pym’s work is beautifully written, gently humorous, compassionate, and highly recommended.
I felt MY SISTER, THE SERIAL KILLER deep in my The Responsible Sibling™ bones.
I quite liked My Sister, the Serial Killer. In addition to being engaging and satisfying, it is the only book I’ve read recently from Nigeria. She does a great job of providing context around customs while making it seem like part of the narrative and I wondered if that had to be added for the US/international editions of the book.
Oooh, I love A CURIOUS BEGINNING—it’s all my catnip: competence porn, curmudgeonly hero, snappy dialogue, intriguing plot. I own the entire series and happily recommend it to people left and right.
Another vote for MY SISTER, THE SERIAL KILLER! It’s a quick, entertaining read and I very much enjoyed the Nigerian setting.
Another vote on the pile for My Sister, The Serial Killer. It’s so good, I have an eye out for Braithwaite’s next book.
The Priory of the Orange Tree is very good, though.
I’d like a chocolate dragon, please.
Both The Ivy Tree by Mary Stewart and Half Soul by Olivia Atwater are 0.99$ on Amazon. I spoke of Half Soul just last WAYR, after seeing it recommended here. It’s an enjoyable read set in a magicful Victorian England. I loved how the curmudgeon hero kept being taken aback by the heroine, and I appreciated the resolution.
Veronica Speedwell #5 is also on sale for 1.99 at Amazon is case anyone is missing that from their collection. It’s a kdd though so may only be on sale today.
I really enjoyed The Chocolate Kiss. Does anyone know if Laura Florand plans to return to writing romances?
I also enjoyed (although in entirely different way) My Sister, The Serial Killer.
Another vote for My Sister, The Serial Killer!
I found The Priory of the Orange Tree to be a bit of a mixed bag. On the one hand, I got to a point where I physically couldn’t stop reading it until I finished; on the other, I felt like the final conflict didn’t match up with the conflicts and themes that came before it. I don’t know if it needed to be shorter, but I’d have liked it to focus more on aspects of the world-building (and the magic system in particular) that were significant, but didn’t get much time spent on them.
@Redling, I think I felt kinda the same about The Priory of the Orange Tree: the ending, to me, felt sort of ho-hum predictable–but then maybe that’s b/c I knew it was a standalone and things would work out okay? (People get really excited to rec a standalone and I feel that, but at the same time it does show off why most fantasy isn’t standalone, lol.) But I think your feeling that it didn’t match up makes a lot of sense…
I don’t really think it needed to be shorter, either, though I did tire a bit of the POV male character and just wanted to spend time with allll the women…
But I gotta note that I read this book while my dad was recovering from a heart attack. I went super slowly and I really appreciated having this one stable thing to go to now and then during that time. (He’s doing fine now, and while the book being a reminder of that time isn’t exactly *happy* I do appreciate it for being there.)
@Kathryn: I don’t remember if it was here or at another site, but there was a recent discussion in the comments about writers who were no longer writing (at least, no longer publishing what they were writing) and Florand was one of the writers mentioned. I don’t think anyone knew what she was currently doing or if she planned to publish anything in the future. She wrote one of my favorite and most melancholy romances, SNOW-KISSED, which is a beautiful second-chance story, but keep the Kleenex close by.
I loved The Ivy Tree by Mary Stewart. I still read it now and again. Love the setting. And the fake identity. Thanks, @arijo, for mentioning that it’s on sale.