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Accidentally Engaged
RECOMMENDED: Accidentally Engaged by Farah Heron is $2.99! Kiki reviewed this one and gave it an A-:
I cannot emphasize enough how hungry this book will make you.
Accidentally Engaged might be my top pick for “don’t read while hungry.” Between our heroine Reena’s bread baking (there’s rye, there’s challah, there’s an ongoing battle with a sourdough starter) and her Indian and East African cooking, I was craving a feast pretty much the whole time I was reading this book.
Reena Manji doesn’t love her career, her single status, and most of all, her family inserting themselves into every detail of her life. But when caring for her precious sourdough starters, Reena can drown it all out. At least until her father moves his newest employee across the hall–with hopes that Reena will marry him.
But Nadim’s not like the other Muslim bachelors-du-jour that her parents have dug up. If the Captain America body and the British accent weren’t enough, the man appears to love eating her bread creations as much as she loves making them. She sure as hell would never marry a man who works for her father, but friendship with a neighbor is okay, right? And when Reena’s career takes a nosedive, Nadim happily agrees to fake an engagement so they can enter a couples video cooking contest to win the artisan bread course of her dreams.
As cooking at home together brings them closer, things turn physical, but Reena isn’t worried. She knows Nadim is keeping secrets, but it’s fine— secrets are always on the menu where her family is concerned. And her heart is protected… she’s not marrying the man. But even secrets kept for self preservation have a way of getting out, especially when meddling parents and gossiping families are involved.
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The Ruin of a Rake
GUEST RECOMMENDED: The Ruin of a Rake by Cat Sebastian is $1.99! We had a guest review of this one from Heather Morris and they gave it an A-:
That quibble aside, there are so many things little things that I loved. Platonic male-female friendship. Sharpshooting and fake duels. Seduction-by-bookkeeping. A frankly excessive amount of kittens.
Rogue. Libertine. Rake. Lord Courtenay has been called many things and has never much cared. But after the publication of a salacious novel supposedly based on his exploits, he finds himself shunned from society. Unable to see his nephew, he is willing to do anything to improve his reputation, even if that means spending time with the most proper man in London.
Julian Medlock has spent years becoming the epitome of correct behavior. As far as he cares, if Courtenay finds himself in hot water, it’s his own fault for behaving so badly—and being so blasted irresistible. But when Julian’s sister asks him to rehabilitate Courtenay’s image, Julian is forced to spend time with the man he loathes—and lusts after—most.
As Courtenay begins to yearn for a love he fears he doesn’t deserve, Julian starts to understand how desire can drive a man to abandon all sense of propriety. But he has secrets he’s determined to keep, because if the truth came out, it would ruin everyone he loves. Together, they must decide what they’re willing to risk for love.
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American Queen
American Queen by Sierra Simone is 99c and a Kindle Daily Deal! This is the first book in the New Camelot Trilogy. This is a menage romance with BDSM, some darker elements, and a cliffhanger. I’ve seen this highly recommended on social media, but there’s something about the description that puts me off. Maybe the political element? If you’ve read this, let me know what you think!
Warned as a girl to keep her kisses to herself, Greer Galloway disobeys twice–once on her sixteenth birthday as she’s kneeling in a pool of broken glass, and another time after a charming stranger named Embry Moore whisks her into the dazzling Chicago night. Both times she falls in love, and both times her heart is broken beyond repair. And so as an adult, she vows never to kiss–or to love again.
That’s until the Vice President of the United States shows up at the university where she teaches, and asks for one thing: for her to meet with the hero-turned-President Maxen Colchester. Maxen, the soldier who was her first kiss in that pool of broken glass.
And the other complication? The Vice President is none other than charming Embry Moore himself.
Soon, Greer finds herself caught between past and present, pleasure and pain–and two men who long for each other as much as they long for her. And as war and betrayal press ever closer, they tumble headlong into a passionate love affair that will change the world…
From the USA Today bestselling author of Priest comes a contemporary reimagining of the legend of King Arthur, Guinevere, and Lancelot–elegant, carnal, and unforgettable.
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The Jasmine Throne
The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri is $2.99! This could be a leftover KDD from the weekend that has yet to expire. This is Suri’s latest series and many of us were big fans of her debut fantasy romance Empire of Sand. I’m hoping this has the same balance of fantasy and romance.
Author of Empire of Sand and Realm of Ash Tasha Suri’s The Jasmine Throne, beginning a new trilogy set in a world inspired by the history and epics of India, in which a captive princess and a maidservant in possession of forbidden magic become unlikely allies on a dark journey to save their empire from the princess’s traitor brother.
Imprisoned by her dictator brother, Malini spends her days in isolation in the Hirana: an ancient temple that was once the source of the powerful, magical deathless waters — but is now little more than a decaying ruin.
Priya is a maidservant, one among several who make the treacherous journey to the top of the Hirana every night to clean Malini’s chambers. She is happy to be an anonymous drudge, so long as it keeps anyone from guessing the dangerous secret she hides.
But when Malini accidentally bears witness to Priya’s true nature, their destinies become irrevocably tangled. One is a vengeful princess seeking to depose her brother from his throne. The other is a priestess seeking to find her family. Together, they will change the fate of an empire.
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THE BABYSITTERS COVEN by Kate M. Williams is $1.99 at Amazon today. I’ve seen it mentioned here in the past, sounds interesting.
THE RUIN by Dervla McTiernan is also $1.99 at Amazon today. This is the first in a Galway-set police procedural series, which I really enjoyed.
The Bitchery knows I love Sierra Simone (PRIEST is possibly my all-time re-read champion and SAINT is my favorite book of 2021), however, the New Camelot Trilogy—while well-written and full of very sexy MMF permutations—requires a vast amount of suspension of disbelief, starting with how young the college professor heroine is. I generally hand-wave to some of the more unrealistic elements in Simone’s books, but YMMV. On the other hand, if you’d like to read a hot ménage trilogy, AMERICAN QUEEN is the place to start.
Ruin of a Rake is one of my all time favorites – I just think it’s so charming! Hard recommend.
Kelly Siskind’s THE KNOCKOUT RULE is $0.99 on Kindle for two days. I haven’t read this one yet (I’m just behind, not reluctant) but have enjoyed her earlier books a lot. Her books are much like so many contemporary romances but to me are slight a cut above and I’m not exactly sure why I find them more memorable. Her characters and their situations just click with me, like Kate Canterbary’s do.
It’s almost impossible to pick a favorite Cast Sebastian book (they’re all so good!) but I think The Ruin of a Rake may be my absolute favorite. It’s a queer spin on Georgette Heyer’s Sylvester, with really excellent chronic illness rep. Love it to bits and highly recommend for $1.99!
I’m currently reading Tasha Suri’s The Jasmine Throne and am enjoying it immensely— the print book is rather huge so $2.99 for the e-copy is still a steal and is likely kinder on your wrists.
The Ruin of a Rake is excellent, A- for me. It’s the third in the series, but can be read as a stand alone. However, I highly recommend the entire Turner series, which starts with A Soldier’s Scoundrel. That book, and book 2, The Lawrence Brown Affair are regular price right now, which is $3.99 on Kindle.
One more vote for Ruin of a Rake – I like this on so many levels! Yes, Cat Sebastian makes it hard to pick a favourite, but this is definitely one for me.
I LOVED The Jasmine Throne!!!! It was one of my best reads of the year. I haven’t read the author’s earlier books but Janine at DA said that she thinks this book displays a huge leap in skill (and she liked the earlier books).
I’d call this epic fantasy not romance, but there is a very compelling love story at the center of the book – but it ends without an HEA or HFN. It is the first in a trilogy and the other 2 books haven’t been published yet – I’m hoping / assuming they’ll end up together by the end of the trilogy but I don’t know.
Here’s my GR review:
The queer, feminist epic fantasy set in magical alt-India that I didn’t know I needed. It’s beautifully written, with lots of interesting things to say about power and faith and the hidden costs and perils of both – but it’s immersive and compelling, not at all pedantic.
There’s a lot going on, with a several sub-plots and many POV characters – and a lot of political violence, resistance and intrigue. But at its heart, it’s the story of two messy, complicated queer women (an exiled princess and a maidservant with a secret) and their dangerous, high stakes relationship. The way it unfolds is just masterful.
It is intense and the violence can be graphic. There’s no sexual violence but there’s a lot of other violence – here’s the author’s content warnings https://tashasuri.com/contentwarn/
I enjoyed The Ruin of a Rake but only gave it 3.5/5 stars on GR. I love Cat Sebastian but her first trilogy (of which this is the 3rd) isn’t my favorite – in general I think her early books suffer from Too Much Plot. (I know that other readers think her later books suffer from No Plot, Just Vibes but I don’t consider that to be a problem)
Nope on the New Camelot series for me. I read a short story in an anthology featuring the Morgana character and liked it, but looking more into the main series turned me off. It looks well written but Arthur/Guin/Lance is not a favorite of mine. The author is definitely not shy with tackling taboo relationships (the fallout of the Arthur/Morgana one was touched lightly in the short story).