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Kulti
Kulti by Mariana Zapata is $1.99! If you like slow burn romances and grumpy heroes, this one comes highly recommended by the Bitchery. However, some found the slow burn a little too slow, and we’ve previously posted a thoughtful guest review with a C grade.
“Trust me, I’ve wanted to punch you in the face a time or five.”
When the man you worshipped as a kid becomes your coach, it’s supposed to be the greatest thing in the world. Keywords: supposed to.
It didn’t take a week for twenty-seven-year-old Sal Casillas to wonder what she’d seen in the international soccer icon—why she’d ever had his posters on her wall, or ever envisioned marrying him and having super-playing soccer babies.
Sal had long ago gotten over the worst non-break-up in the history of imaginary relationships with a man that hadn’t known she’d existed. So she isn’t prepared for this version of Reiner Kulti who shows up to her team’s season: a quiet, reclusive shadow of the explosive, passionate man he’d once been.
Nothing could have prepared her for the man she got to know.
Or the murderous urges he brought out in her.
This was going to be the longest season of her life.
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Fight or Flight
Fight or Flight by Samantha Young is $2.99! This is a standalone contemporary romance and there is a caveat here. I remember when it came out, Twitter had pointed out that some of the hero’s baggage comes from an ex having an abortion. (I think without his input? I don’t know for certain). I believe the offending text may have been removed in newer editions, though correct me if I’m wrong. Regardless, I wanted to definitely mention this in light of the current concerning and horrific headlines.
A series of chance encounters leads to a sizzling new romance from the New York Times bestselling author of the On Dublin Street series.
The universe is conspiring against Ava Breevort. As if flying back to Phoenix to bury a childhood friend wasn’t hell enough, a cloud of volcanic ash traveling from overseas delayed her flight back home to Boston. Her last ditch attempt to salvage the trip was thwarted by an arrogant Scotsman, Caleb Scott, who steals a first class seat out from under her. Then over the course of their journey home, their antagonism somehow lands them in bed for the steamiest layover Ava’s ever had. And that’s all it was–until Caleb shows up on her doorstep.
When pure chance pulls Ava back into Caleb’s orbit, he proposes they enjoy their physical connection while he’s stranded in Boston. Ava agrees, knowing her heart’s in no danger since a) she barely likes Caleb and b) his existence in her life is temporary. Not long thereafter Ava realizes she’s made a terrible error because as it turns out Caleb Scott isn’t quite so unlikeable after all. When his stay in Boston becomes permanent, Ava must decide whether to fight her feelings for him or give into them. But even if she does decide to risk her heart on Caleb, there is no guarantee her stubborn Scot will want to risk his heart on her…
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Lord of Night
Lord of Night by Erica Ridley is $3.99 at most vendors! This is the third book in the Rogues to Riches series, but can be read as a standalone. The first book in the series is FREE and many are also on sale. Major catnip alert: the heroine is dons a disguise and acts as a Robin Hood-type figure. Readers warn that the book requires some suspension of disbelief, but that it’s a lot of fun.
Unlike proper debutantes, Miss Dahlia Grenville is secretly Robin Hood in a bonnet. Her home for wayward girls has too many dependents and not enough donations. But just as she’s about to pull off the heist of the Season, she tumbles straight into the arms of the handsome detective who has sworn to deliver Mayfair’s mysterious thief straight to the gallows.
Highly principled Bow Street runner Simon Spaulding’s world is black and white. There’s no mastermind too clever, no criminal alive who can escape the hangman. Until he realizes the delightful young lady he’s been courting is a liar and a thief. Suddenly, his career—and his heart—are in peril. How can he bring her to justice when it means losing her forever?
In the Rogues to Riches historical romance series, sigh-worthy Regency rogues sweep strong-willed young ladies into whirlwind romance with rollicking adventure.
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Under Her Skin
Under Her Skin by Adriana Anders is FREE! Readers warn that this is a contemporary romance on the darker side, but many say this is a great debut by Anders. I definitely agree with both of these things, though will add the ending felt a bit rushed. Be sure to check Goodreads or another resource for all of the triggers. If you like beta heroes who dabble in blacksmithing, maybe check this one out. This is the first book in a series and the rest are on sale.
Battered by a life determined to tear him down, this quiet ex-con’s scarred hands may be the gentlest touch she’ll ever know.
…if only life were a fairy tale where Beauty was allowed to keep her Beast
Ivan thought the world was through giving him second chances. Who’d want a rough ex-con with a savior complex and a bad habit of bringing home helpless strays? Everyone in Blackwood, Virginia knew he wasn’t good enough for the fine things in life; they knew he was too damaged to save. He just needed to keep his head down, work himself to the bone, and pretend he was content with the lot he was given.
Until she came into his life. Until she changed everything.
Until he realized he would do anything, fight anyone, tear the world apart if it meant saving her.
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I wanted to like Kulti, but it was far too slow paced for me. I think I was at the 25% mark, and Kulti had said maybe three sentences in total. It was a DNF for me.
I liked UNDER HER SKIN, but be aware that the heroine’s ex is awful and has abused her terribly. I enjoyed Anders’s later LOVING THE… series more than the Blank Canvas books.
Kulti is fire! It was my gateway drug into xapata’s sports romances and I do not like sports-ing generally. Her funny and tender slow burn romances just work for me and Kulti is king
I loved Kulti. I loved sports romance coming from a female star’s perspective. I loved the transplanted European former soccer bad guy who was her coach. I loved the women’s team and league dynamics, the warmth of the main character’s family. Plus I’m a long hauler fan of Zapata’s epic slow burn. You have to be fond of 400 and 500 page books going in to enjoy Zapata to the fullest. Certainly not for everyone.
I, too, enjoyed Kulti and went on to read more books by the author.
The ending of UNDER HER SKIN was an ocean of violent man red flags. I impulsively bought the trilogy when they were all on sale and never looked at the last two because I’m convinced the hero of the first one will eventually murder the heroine.
I finished Finding Freedom. I’m glad I got it from the library. Honestly nothing new that I couldn’t have guessed. I really enjoyed Undone by Leslie McAdam a sweet M/M story that I found through browsing the Goodreads Giveaways (the giveaway is still open for a print copy. It is free in KU along with the rest of the series which I hope to read soon.
I just double-checked, and Fight or Flight is indeed the book I remember DNF’ing after two pages. I’m sorry, but the two main characters getting snitty about which one of them gets an upgrade to the last airplane seat in first class? That’s some heavily unexamined privilege, there. I can understand being annoyed or disappointed, but both of them were acting like jerks and I just couldn’t see myself rooting for anyone.
YMMV, as always 🙂
I put my review in here instead of the WHYR post. Sorry, Sarah.
KULTI doesn’t really need another upvote here, but…
I’m cheap, so possibly the most powerful recommendation I can give a book is when I see it being offered at a lower price than I paid and all I think is that I’m glad more readers will get a chance to experience it.
There is a bit of a slog to get past the set-up, but I think that once the protagonists finally start interacting, KULTI has the most conventional/standard/effective romantic pacing of any of Zapata’s books. When I re-read it, I pick up from chapter 12, which is about the 33% mark.
Fight or flight was terrible. Both of the character were terrible, true. But the hero and his attitude about women’s reproduction took the cake. It was one of those books that make me see red. I urge to carefully read the negative reviews on Goodreads before buying.
I’ve had very mixed results with Zapata (she definitely has a formula, and sometimes she makes this too obvious), but I did like Kulti, and I felt like the long build-up was necessary to make the romance work. (For the record, in case it assists other people with calibration, I’m neither a fan of nor opposed to slow-burn romances; I want whatever makes most sense for the characters and setup.)
In Fight or Flight, the “hero” calls a woman who had an abortion a baby-killer. Terrible book!
I’ve kind of moved on from my Zapata phase. It’s not that I hate a slow burn it’s more that I don’t like basically a whole book of the heroine yearning for some guy who more or less brushes her off only for him to be like “I’ve passionately loved you all along” about 10 pages from the end of the book. I need more from my main characters.