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Fool Me Twice
Fool Me Twice by Meredith Duran is $1.99! This historical romance is book two in the Rules for the Reckless series. We featured another Duran title on sale recently and the comments were filled with praise and hopes that Duran will return to writing. For fans of Duran, how did you feel about this one?
Sensible and lonely, Olivia Mather survives by her wits—and her strict policy of avoiding trouble. But when she realizes that the Duke of Marwick might hold the secrets of her family’s past, she does the unthinkable, infiltrating his household as a maid. She’ll clean his study and rifle through his papers looking for information.
Alastair de Grey has a single reason to live: vengeance. More beautiful than Lucifer, twice as feared, and thrice as cunning, he’ll use any weapon to punish those who fooled and betrayed him—even an impertinent maid who doesn’t know her place. But the more fascinated he becomes with the uppity redhead, the more dangerous his carefully designed plot becomes. For the one contingency he forgot to plan for was falling in love…and he cannot survive being fooled again.
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Ruinsong
Ruinsong by Julia Ember is $2.99! This was a previous Hide Your Wallet selection. Ellen said they picked it because the author had described it as a queer Phantom of the Opera retelling. Love this cover!
Her voice was her prison…
Now it’s her weapon.In a world where magic is sung, a powerful mage named Cadence must choose between the two. For years, she has been forced to torture her country’s disgraced nobility at her ruthless queen’s bidding.
But when she is reunited with her childhood friend, a noblewoman with ties to the underground rebellion, she must finally make a choice: Take a stand to free their country from oppression, or follow in the queen’s footsteps and become a monster herself.
In this dark and lush LGBTQ+ romantic fantasy, two young women from rival factions must work together to reunite their country, as they wrestle with their feelings for each other.
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First Time in Forever
First Time in Forever by Sarah Morgan is $2.99! This is the first book in the Puffin Island series. Fans of Morgan’s romance say this one lacks some oomph, but is still a lovely and sweet ride to an HEA. It has a 4-star average on Goodreads
Windswept, isolated and ruggedly beautiful, Puffin Island is a haven for day-trippers and daydreamers alike. But this charming community has a way of bringing people together in the most unexpected ways…
It’s been a summer of firsts for Emily Donovan. From becoming a stand-in mom to her niece, Lizzy, to arriving on Puffin Island, her life has become virtually unrecognizable. Between desperately safeguarding Lizzy and her overwhelming fear of the ocean—which surrounds her everywhere she goes!—Emily has lost count of the number of “just breathe” pep talks she’s given herself. And that’s before charismatic local yacht club owner Ryan Cooper kisses her…
Ryan knows all about secrets. And it’s clear that newcomer Emily—with her haunted eyes and the little girl she won’t let out of her sight—is hiding from something besides the crazy chemistry between them. So Ryan decides he’s going to make it his personal mission to help her unwind and enjoy the sparks! But can Puffin Island work its magic on Emily and get her to take the biggest leap of trust of all—putting her heart in someone else’s hands?
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Our Stop
Our Stop by Laura Jane Williams is $99c!. Some readers felt it was more of a novel with strong romantic elements rather than a contemporary romance, so keep that in mind. The romance might be background to whatever the main character is going through. Have you read it?
What if you almost missed the love of your life?
Nadia gets the 7.30 train every morning without fail. Well, except if she oversleeps or wakes up at her friend Emma’s after too much wine.
Daniel really does get the 7.30 train every morning, which is easy because he hasn’t been able to sleep properly since his Dad died.
One morning, Nadia’s eye catches sight of a post in the daily paper:
To the cute girl with the coffee stains on her dress. I’m the guy who’s always standing near the doors… Drink sometime?
So begins a not-quite-romance of near-misses, true love, and the power of the written word.
A fabulous feel-good romance for fans of Holly Bourne and Dolly Alderton.
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I’m intrigued by Ruinsong. I liked Julia Ember’s Seafarer’s Kiss – a dark, queer retelling of the Little Mermaid from Ursula’s point of view.
I have no issue with labeling “Our Stop” a contemporary romance. I absolutely loved it and thought it was quite cute and romantic even with all the near misses.
I LOVED Seafarer’s Kiss. I plan on reading the sequel soon, and just rented out Ruinsong from the library!
Storybundle’s 2021 Pride bundle https://storybundle.com/pride includes Queens of Noise by Leigh Harlen, which got a Squee rating here from Carrie S.
Sixteen books for $20 is a stellar deal!
I really enjoyed the premise of Our Stop but skim read certain parts in the second half (library paperback was due back). I think it skirts the line of contemporary romance and fiction with romantic elements as, if I remember correctly, there was an intermediate love interest.
Ohhhhhhhhhh, Fool Me Twice is a complete dream of a book. It’s another one of MD’s books whose plot will pop in my head at random moments and make me want to reread. Again.
I have fond memories of First Time in Forever as my first Sarah Morgan book. Of the three in Puffin Island series it’s not my very fave. But it is the perfect book if you need a nice, sweet romance.
Fool Me Twice is a stellar read! Meredith Duran is an incredible storyteller and I really hope she returns to writing. I have loved every single one of her books. Her Duke of Shadows is probably one of my all time favorite HR. I’ve read it multiple times and loved it each and every time.
I like Sarah Morgan books. Sure its a formula but the formula works for me. First Time in Forever was sweet and I enjoyed it.
Fool Me Twice and Ruinsong are excellent; I haven’t read Our Stop but I’m intrigued.
I just read Fool Me Twice but found it a little Old Skool in how the hero tended to force kisses etc on the heroine — jeeeest up to the line of nonconsensual.
So sad so many great authors seemed to have tagged out of writing lately: Meredith Duran, Laura Florand, Kresley Cole, Julie James, and Cara McKenna. Here’s me selfishly hoping that they will return!
Agreed with @HeatherT that Fool Me Twice felt a bit Old Skool and was questionable with the consent. I think it might be the only Meredith Duran book I didn’t like. Could not like or approve of the hero (for many reasons).
@Bronte: and Joanna Bourne, which leaves me bereft . <:-(
@Bronte & @Dorothea: I think Cara McKenna said she didn’t find writing fun anymore and went into a whole different career field. She was one of my favorites and is sorely missed. Ditto Ruthie Knox (took a job in publishing); Eve Dangerfield (left romance and is writing in another genre—possibly fantasy—under a different name); Jill Sorenson (stopped publishing under the Jill Sorenson name; I read somewhere that she now publishes under the name Susan Cliff, but I can’t independently verify that); Charlotte Stein (still publishing sporadically, but admits to having encountered severe writer’s block). The writer I’d really like to hear from is Anne Calhoun: not long after her last published book, TURN ME LOOSE in 2017, she abruptly shut down all of her social media and, as far as I know, hasn’t been heard from publicly since then. I loved her writing style—and she was amazingly prolific in the few short years she was publishing—and would love to read the romance she seemed to be introducing at the end of TURN ME LOOSE, but more than anything else, I’d just like to know that’s she’s doing ok.
@DiscoDollyDeb & @Bronte: I’m bereft to learn that some of my yearned for authors’ returns are unlikely ever to happen. Another I kept hoping for is Mary Ann Rivers, who sometimes collaborated with Ruthie Knox. I hold out hope that Sandra Antonelli will publish again.
@MzCue: In addition to missing the authors who are no longer writing, there’s also missing the stories they left hanging. As I said, it seemed as if Anne Calhoun was setting up a future romance (between a male defense attorney and a female cop) at the end of TURN ME LOOSE. There were two secondary characters (a stripper and an undercover agent infiltrating a motorcycle gang) in Sorenson’s SHOOTING DIRTY who appeared headed for a future romance. And Eve Dangerfield made her decision to walk away from romance when she had published two books of a projected trilogy called Silver Daughters, about three sisters who run their father’s tattoo studio in his absence. We got the first two sisters’ stories, but I suppose we’ll never get the youngest sister’s book. Plus the second book ended on a cliffhanger in terms of the whereabouts of the sisters’ father…and I guess that will never be resolved either. I realize that writers have every right to stop writing if it no longer gives them satisfaction or joy, but I can’t help but mourn the stories we were anticipating but will likely never read now. Sigh.
My two biggest missed authors/mourned books that will likely never happen are the last books of YA writer L.J Smith’s Night World series and Anna Richland’s Immortal Viking series started with First to Burn, which was my favourite book in 2018.
Immortal Vikings series only had two books but they were brilliant with great characters and premises – gutted that it looks like the projected series following the rest of the Viking adventurers who were cursed after fighting the Grendel won’t happen.