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The Soulmate Equation
The Soulmate Equation by Christina Lauren is $2.99! This is the duo’s latest romance and if you didn’t want to grab it in hardcover, this is a great price. I’m a huge fan of these authors, though I haven’t gotten around to starting this one yet. Have you read it?
Single mom Jess Davis is a data and statistics wizard, but no amount of number crunching can convince her to step back into the dating world. Raised by her grandparents—who now help raise her seven-year-old daughter, Juno—Jess has been left behind too often to feel comfortable letting anyone in. After all, her father’s never been around, her hard-partying mother disappeared when she was six, and her ex decided he wasn’t “father material” before Juno was even born. Jess holds her loved ones close, but working constantly to stay afloat is hard…and lonely.
But then Jess hears about GeneticAlly, a buzzy new DNA-based matchmaking company that’s predicted to change dating forever. Finding a soulmate through DNA? The reliability of numbers: This Jess understands.
At least she thought she did, until her test shows an unheard-of 98% compatibility with another subject in the database: GeneticAlly’s founder, Dr. River Pena. This is one number she can’t wrap her head around, because she already knows Dr. Pena. The stuck-up, stubborn man is without a doubt not her soulmate. But GeneticAlly has a proposition: Get to know him and we’ll pay you. Jess—who is barely making ends meet—is in no position to turn it down, despite her skepticism about the project and her dislike for River. As the pair are dragged from one event to the next as the “Diamond” pairing that could make GeneticAlly a mint in stock prices, Jess begins to realize that there might be more to the scientist—and the science behind a soulmate—than she thought.
Funny, warm, and full of heart, The Soulmate Equation proves that the delicate balance between fate and choice can never be calculated.
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Dearest Josephine
RECOMMENDED: Dearest Josephine by Caroline George is $1.99! Catherine squeed about this one:
Dearest Josephine really is a wonderful story. It is a story with a lot of heart, and a lot of atmosphere, but also a lot of humour. I love the way the theme of romantic love and the different ways it might be expressed is explored and affirmed throughout the book.
Caroline George sweeps readers up into two different time periods with an unexpected love story that prompts us to reimagine what it means to be present with the people we love.
2020: Chocolate and Earl Grey tea can’t fix Josie De Clare’s horrible year. She mourned the death of her father and suffered a teen-life crisis, which delayed her university plans. But when her father’s will reveals a family-owned property in Northern England, Josie leaves London to find clarity at the secluded manor house. While exploring the estate, she discovers two-hundred-year-old love letters written by an elusive novelist, all addressed to someone named Josephine. And then she discovers a novel in which it seems like she’s the heroine…
1820: Novelist Elias Roch loves a woman he can never be with. Born the bastard son to a nobleman and cast out from society, Elias seeks refuge in his mind with the quirky heroine who draws him into a fantasy world of scandal, betrayal, and unconditional love. Convinced she’s his soulmate, Elias writes letters to her, all of which divulge the tragedy and trials of his personal life.
As fiction blurs into reality, Josie and Elias must decide: How does one live if love can’t wait? Separated by two hundred years, they fight against time to find each other in a story of her, him, and the novel written by the man who loves her.
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Dark Currents
Dark Currents by Jacqueline Carey is $2.99! This is the first book in the Agent of Hel urban fantasy series. Some readers mentioned that it took a while for the main character to grow on them, but by the end of the book, they were definitely won over. Have you read this series? I know Carey has been mentioned before in our comments.
The Midwestern resort town of Pemkowet boasts a diverse population: eccentric locals, wealthy summer people, and tourists by the busload; not to mention fairies, sprites, vampires, naiads, ogres and a whole host of eldritch folk, presided over by Hel, a reclusive Norse goddess.
To Daisy Johanssen, fathered by an incubus and raised by a single mother, it’s home. And as Hel’s enforcer and the designated liaison to the Pemkowet Police Department, it’s up to her to ensure relations between the mundane and eldritch communities run smoothly. But when a young man from a nearby college drowns—and signs point to eldritch involvement—the town’s booming paranormal tourism trade is at stake. Teamed up with her childhood crush, Officer Cody Fairfax, a sexy werewolf on the down-low, Daisy must solve the crime—and keep a tight rein on the darker side of her nature. For if she’s ever tempted to invoke her demonic birthright, it could accidentally unleash nothing less than Armageddon.
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Stranded with a Billionaire
Stranded with a Billionaire by Jessica Clare is $1.99! This is the first book in an erotic contemporary series about billionaires, and I think Elyse read a few of these and liked them. This is definitely of the time where erotic romance marketing was influence by 50 Shades and used singular items on covers. (I did a grad school report on how 50 Shades changed how erotic romance was marketed. Bless my professors who gave me romance-focused course work!)
The Billionaire Boys Club is a secret society of six men who have vowed success – at any cost. Not all of them are old money, but all of them are incredibly wealthy. They’re just not always as successful when it comes to love…
Billionaire Logan Hawkings needs a vacation.
He’s had a rough time after the death of his father and the betrayal of his fiancée. But with a visit to a recent business acquisition—a private island resort in the Bahamas—he has a chance to mend his broken heart.
When a hurricane blows in, a misplaced passport and a stalled elevator bring Logan together with an unusual woman named Bronte. She’s unlike anyone he’s ever met—down to earth, incredibly sensual, and even quotes Plato.
She also has no clue that he’s rich…
Bronte Dawson, a waitress from the Midwest, is stranded with the hotel’s domineering yet sexy manager Logan. What’s the harm in a little fling when it’s just the two of them, alone in paradise? But after several steamy island nights in Logan’s arms, Bronte’s ready to give her heart—and her body—to the man in charge.
But she soon discovers there’s more to Logan than he’s told her…a billion times more. Now, Bronte’s caught in a whirlwind affair with one of the world’s most powerful men. But can their love endure their differences or will it all just blow over?
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Oooh, I haven’t read any of these – some good picks, bitchery!
Stranded with a Billionaire was a solid B read for me. I read it when it first came out, so it’s been a while, but I can’t remember anything that wouldn’t age well.
In looking at Amazon, I see that Jessica Clare’s Wicked Games is 99 cents. That was an A read for me. It’s about a Survivor-like TV show, and while I hate reality television, I loved this book. Go figure.
I liked the Billionaire Boys Club series, although I liked some of the other books better. I liked Wicked Games, too. I went through a phase where I read the whole Jessica Clare catalog. They have a really nice touch. And since 50 Shades was mentioned, I will note that while they are explicit, they are definitely not in the “me billionaire, you submissive” style, and none of the heroines are conventional.
I bought the Lauren. I thought it sounded like fun.
I’d give Agent of Hel a B to B-. It was ok, but no where near as fun as the Kushiel series.
The Paris Apartment by Kelly Bowen is 2.99
(I read the preview & am buying)
A bad day for sunshine by Darynda Jones is $1.99. One-clicked it.
DNA-based matchmaking? Did I miss the news that geneticists found the “Loves books and movies, embraces junk food, hates housework” genes? 2020 was more of a blur than I realized.
@Darlynne: I keep thinking, “Doesn’t a DNA match mean that person is related to you?”
@Darlynne and @DiscoDollyDeb, yeah in the book they do kind of get into an explanation of what they mean by DNA matchmaking and it is given a very hand-wavey genes, something, something explanation. I will say, it was a DNF for a twist I saw coming a mile off, (I’ll leave it vague for the sake of spoilers). It was a shame b/c I’ve liked their recent crop of books and liked some of the characters and set up for this one, but my suspension of disbelief couldn’t take all of it.
Am I the only romance reader that’s skeeved out by billionaires? Maybe I’m a dirty commie (yes) but I just can’t get into the hero being a wealth hoarding baddy. I can somehow sort of get past this issue with historical dukes, because let’s be real, regency romances are pure fantasy.
For me, the Soulmate Equation is too similar to a book I read a few years ago. That book was The One by John Marr.
It wasn’t a romance but I’d recommend it.
@Lizzy: I, too, am over billionaires to the point that I don’t even pick up free books about them unless it’s an author I already know. While I wouldn’t go so far as “dirty commie” (but to each his/her own), I’m definitely lean at least socialistic (probably due to my hippie youth). While I give a bit more leeway to historicals, I’m kind of tired of them all being dukes, of which there weren’t and aren’t that many. I’d be happy with an earl or a baron, even, for a change, not to mention someone who wasn’t an actual noble (after all, Mr. Darcy didn’t have a title).
@Lizzy and @Karen H I am also pretty much #teamnobillionaires (and almost, but not quiiiiiite #teamnodukes) just because of the suspension of disbelief required. I start raising my eyebrows at “attractive under-40 billionaire,” then they go pretty much all the way to my hairline once the author starts adding on “self-made” AND “treats all his workers well” or “runs the billion dollar company he inherited” AND “has boundless free time” or, frankly, just “non-sociopathic.” And then I get all the way out of the immersion when the unicorn hot under-40 billionaire with a soul is obsessed with the hapless protagonist, who, sure, has great qualities, but isn’t similarly a unicorn.
And there are definitely exceptions to the above (which I have read! And enjoyed!) but enough of the genre has me pretty much burnt out.
I could probably also go on extended rants about how a billion dollars is so SO much money, and no, owning a company with a popular app doesn’t mean you’re a billionaire or about Cinderella stories generally and the inherent problematic power imbalances thereof, especially through a modern feminist lens, but I’m going to stop myself.
@lizzy @karen @courtneyM #teamnobillionaires here too! However, I love my alternative Universe populated with millions of dukes.
@Courtney M I hear you about a billion dollars being a LOT of money. I’ve been known to DNF books where the author seems to have no concept of how much money that is. Most egregiously, one where the hero inherits $15 billion dollars he knew nothing about from his grandfather who was a humble bar owner. Sorry, that much money is its own universe with its own gravity. At the very least it requires an army of money managers, accountants, etc. You can’t just dump it in a savings account and forget about it. Even at today’s low interest rates the annual interest is in the hundreds of millions (which you would have to file taxes on — pretty sure you can’t do that with Turbo Tax, even the premium edition).
@Ruth L I’m sorry, 15 billion? Forget about taxes on the interest in a savings account, the FDIC only insures the first, what $250,000? So that’s 60,000 individual bank accounts someone has to manage? And even if all those savings accounts only generate 1% interest, that’s still $15 million a year in interest alone (or another 60 bank accounts to manage per year).
I wanted to confirm how crazy that was, and apparently humble bar owner grandpa would clock in as the 140th richest person on EARTH, just after Carl Icahn, per Forbes. Yeah, good luck making that much money without anybody realizing, and keeping that on the DL.
This thread is why I love this site, from #teamnobillionaires, “dirty commies,” socialist hippies, and anyone who shows up in pajamas, wounded, inspired, searching, or communicating with jazz hands, rants or squees. There is no place like SBTB.
@Courtney M — actually, one percent of $15 billion is $150 million. 🙂
@Ruth L whoops yes – lost a decimal there. I know intellectually a billion is 1,000 x 1,000,000, but somehow if I’m not paying attention my brain instinctively wants it to be 100 x 1,000,000. I think this is probably pretty common and explains A LOT, both about society and romance novel titles… (and of course for that last one “billionaire” is a lot catchier than “millionaire a hundred times over,” just like “Duke” is a lot catchier than “man who owns an estate and has an income of 20,000 pounds a year”)
@Courtney M ah, I calculated it backwards moving one decimal point at a time: 10 percent of 15 billion is 1.5 billion and 10 percent of 1.5 billion is 150 million.
You put your finger on a real pet peeve of mine: people who just throw out numbers without understanding things like scale. It’s a small town … with a population of 100,000. They ride for miles on a 600 acre ranch. Etc. And then there are the people who throw in details because they think they sound good without actually understanding them. I don’t usually leave reviews on Amazon, but I had to leave one star for the book which only made sense if you replaced every reference to “Montana” with “New Jersey.” I DNF the book where the heroine gassed up her Tesla. In the book about the $15 billion grandpa, the heroine was a teacher who got called into the office and laid off one Friday. Just no. If you don’t know what you are writing, don’t write it. Don’t make yourself look like an idiot for calling a car a Tesla without knowing the most important thing about a Tesla. And then there are the inconsistent details. The very tall character was 6’7″, then he was “almost 6′ 5” — which doesn’t even make sense because that’s tall but not “how tall ARE you” tall — then he was 6′ 6″. Don’t put in details and then not keep track of them. That’s just lazy.
@kit: I loved “The One” by John Marrs. It is just terrific – I selected it for a mixed gender Book Discussion and it was a hit.