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The Midnight Bargain
RECOMMENDED: The Midnight Bargain by C.L. Polk is $1.99! This is also a Kindle Daily Deal. Shana gave it an A-:
Readers who like cultural world building with a feminist lens, and don’t mind a quick romantic connection that takes most of the book to resolve, might like The Midnight Bargain.
From the beloved World Fantasy Award-winning author of Witchmark comes a sweeping, romantic new fantasy set in a world reminiscent of Regency England, where women’s magic is taken from them when they marry. A sorceress must balance her desire to become the first great female magician against her duty to her family.
Beatrice Clayborn is a sorceress who practices magic in secret, terrified of the day she will be locked into a marital collar that will cut off her powers to protect her unborn children. She dreams of becoming a full-fledged Magus and pursuing magic as her calling as men do, but her family has staked everything to equip her for Bargaining Season, when young men and women of means descend upon the city to negotiate the best marriages. The Clayborns are in severe debt, and only she can save them, by securing an advantageous match before their creditors come calling.
In a stroke of luck, Beatrice finds a grimoire that contains the key to becoming a Magus, but before she can purchase it, a rival sorceress swindles the book right out of her hands. Beatrice summons a spirit to help her get it back, but her new ally exacts a price: Beatrice’s first kiss . . . with her adversary’s brother, the handsome, compassionate, and fabulously wealthy Ianthe Lavan.
The more Beatrice is entangled with the Lavan siblings, the harder her decision becomes: If she casts the spell to become a Magus, she will devastate her family and lose the only man to ever see her for who she is; but if she marries—even for love—she will sacrifice her magic, her identity, and her dreams. But how can she choose just one, knowing she will forever regret the path not taken?
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Make It Sweet
Make It Sweet by Kristen Callihan is $1.99! Another KDD here! Aarya mentioned this in February’s Hide Your Wallet and said she was tempted by the blurb. I haven’t kept up with Callihan’s more current romances. What do you think of them?
From New York Times bestselling author Kristen Callihan comes a charming, emotional romance about redefining dreams and discovering unlikely love along the way.
Life for Emma isn’t good. The world knows her as Princess Anya on Dark Castle, but then her character gets the axe—literally. The cherry on top is finding her boyfriend in bed with another woman. She needs a break, and sanctuary comes in the form of Rosemont, a gorgeous estate in California promising rest and relaxation.
Then she meets the owner’s equally gorgeous grandson, ex–hockey player and current recluse Lucian Osmond, and she sees her own pain and yearning reflected in his eyes.
He’s charming when he wants to be but also secretive and gruff, with protective walls as thick as Emma’s own. Despite a growing attraction, they avoid each other.
But then there’s an impromptu nighttime skinny-dip, and Lucian’s luscious homemade tarts and cream cakes start arriving at Emma’s door, tempting her to taste life again…
In trying to stay apart, they only grow closer—and their broken pieces just might fit together and make them whole.
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Her Body and Other Parties
RECOMMENDED: Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado is $2.99! I love this collection and its mix of dark fantasy, horror, and feminism. It’s also probably one of my most hand-sold books at the bookstore.
In Her Body and Other Parties, Carmen Maria Machado blithely demolishes the arbitrary borders between psychological realism and science fiction, comedy and horror, fantasy and fabulism. While her work has earned her comparisons to Karen Russell and Kelly Link, she has a voice that is all her own. In this electric and provocative debut, Machado bends genre to shape startling narratives that map the realities of women’s lives and the violence visited upon their bodies.
A wife refuses her husband’s entreaties to remove the green ribbon from around her neck. A woman recounts her sexual encounters as a plague slowly consumes humanity. A salesclerk in a mall makes a horrifying discovery within the seams of the store’s prom dresses. One woman’s surgery-induced weight loss results in an unwanted houseguest. And in the bravura novella “Especially Heinous,” Machado reimagines every episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, a show we naïvely assumed had shown it all, generating a phantasmagoric police procedural full of doppelgängers, ghosts, and girls with bells for eyes.
Earthy and otherworldly, antic and sexy, queer and caustic, comic and deadly serious, Her Body and Other Parties swings from horrific violence to the most exquisite sentiment. In their explosive originality, these stories enlarge the possibilities of contemporary fiction.
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Puppy Christmas
Puppy Christmas by Lucy Gilmore is $1.99! This is the second book in the Forever Home series and features a single dad and a service dog training facility. It’s also a holiday romance! Readers recommend this if you’re looking for a sweet, low angst romance.
These adorable service puppies are matchmakers in the making…
Lila Vasquez might not be the “fun one” at Puppy Promise—the service puppy training school she runs with her sisters—but she can always be counted on to gets things done. So when her latest client shows an interest in princess gowns over power suits, Lila puts aside her scruples, straps on the glittery heels, and gets to work.
If only the adorable six-year-old’s father wasn’t such an appealing Prince Charming.
Ford’s whole life revolves around his daughter…until he meets Lila. Smart, capable, and amazing at helping Emily gain confidence with her new service puppy at her side, Lila is everything he ever wanted—but she’s way out of his league. Good thing Emily and her new pup are up to the matchmaking task. This Christmas, it’s all hands (and paws) on deck!
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I really wanted to love MIDNIGHT BARGAINi and I do plan to finish it in the next year or so. The world is fascinating with lots of regency romance touches (about carriages, dresses, commercialization of marriage, etc.) that are really fun. i wouldn’t call it a romance, though. Ianthe is super-super-super perfect. Definitely super-handsome. Definitely has things to learn about women’s oppression in this world but thankfully learns these lessons quickly (mostly in a few chapters). Fortunately not marred by any painful or challenging emotions. Fortunately entranced by heroine from their first meeting. There are Things That Happen. But in terms of the halfway mark, those Things don’t upset emotional journeys of either hero or heroine. Heroine’s new “ally” is by far the most interesting character, IMHO. That character craves sensation — a dance in the dark on cold sand, a kiss. This of course makes the heroine do kissing that she would (really?) prefer not to do otherwise. Well, ok, she’s all about the kissing. But it is still not truly her fault. Anyway, as much as I loved the world I just drifted away into other books by accident. I’d love to hear other opinions here though! Inspire me to love this book!
I had MIDNIGHT BARGAIN on my wishlist. Liked ‘Witchmark’ very much; thought the world-building and romance were nicely balanced. Sounds like this one may be more world-building than romance, but for 1.99 I’ll risk it. 🙂
Free:
Winter Kiss by Sienna Carr
Betrayed by the CEO by Claire Connelly
Baby Daddy Wanted by Taryn Quinn
Sweet Attraction by Susan Warner
The Duke and I by Heather Boyd
I liked the sound of Midnight Bargain, but it’s $15 at B&N. Not much of a bargain, if you ask me.
@Jcp: Thank you for posting daily freebies. I just grabbed the Clare Connelly—it is one of her earlier books (2015), before she started writing Harlequin Presents.
@DiscoDoll. I get so many freebies because In Subscribe to Bookbub along with other newsletter I also sign up for a lot of author newsletters, many authors give a book to their new new subscribers. Many authors offer a free book on the author’s birthday etc, or just because.
It gives me a chance to try new to me authors without having to visit the library. Also many authors hold contests for just their subscribers with the prize being a book or an Amazon giftcard.
MAKE IT SWEET was very enjoyable. Make sure to have enough baked goods on hand when reading.The first in the series, DEAR ENEMY, was also good, but I liked this one better.
Also I forgot to say check your Amazon wish sorting it by lowto high price. I do this daily and many authors place their books for free (sometimes just for a day) so use it and check it. I check dailuy and get free books that way.
I downloaded Midnight Bargain the minute it was available but the formatting of the BN is so completely nuts I couldn’t read it, centered text, weird indents, etc. My eyes couldn’t follow the text.
I tried to finish Midnight Bargain because I loved the premise — but something about the book bored me. The romance is very boring and the heroine— while her struggles and ideals are so worthy— was too one dimensional and also ultimately boring. I’d love to also hear others opinions. The writing is good quality and the world building is good too but somehow the characters and their lack of chemistry didn’t work for me/
@Laura George Hard same. The set up was cool, but Ianthe was much more Useful to the Plot than he was An Actual Person. Agree that the ‘ally’ was more interesting than honestly any of the humans. I don’t know if you finished the book, but the long-awaited confrontation with Disapproving Authorities just– dissolved? and the authorities were like “hoorah, we are all liberated from nonsense norms that we’ve been upholding for no reason.” It was pretty disappointing.
Is the character named Ianthe in Midnight Bargain a man? I’ve always thought of Ianthe as a a girl’s name.
Agree with @Barbara about Make It Sweet. It’s a good read, just don’t read it when you’re hungry.