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Wildwood Whispers
Wildwood Whispers by Willa Reece is $2.99! I mentioned this one on a previous Hide Your Wallet. It reminded me a bit of one of my favorite books, Garden Spells, but with some darker tones. Have you read this one?
A heartwarming novel of hope, fate, and folk magic unfolds when a young woman travels to a sleepy southern town in the Appalachian Mountains to bury her best friend.
“Dark, tender, and thought-provoking, Wildwood Whispers is a beautifully woven tale of fantasy, feminism, and mystery set in rural Appalachia.” —Constance Sayers, author of A Witch in Time
At the age of eleven, Mel Smith’s life found its purpose when she met Sarah Ross. Ten years later, Sarah’s sudden death threatens to break her. To fulfill a final promise to her best friend, Mel travels to an idyllic small town nestled in the shadows of the Appalachian Mountains. Yet Morgan’s Gap is more than a land of morning mists and deep forest shadows.
There are secrets that call to Mel, in the gaze of the gnarled and knowing woman everyone calls Granny, in a salvaged remedy book filled with the magic of simple mountain traditions, and in the connection, she feels to the Ross homestead and the wilderness around it.
With every taste of sweet honey and tart blackberries, the wildwood twines further into Mel’s broken heart. But a threat lingers in the woods—one that may have something to do with Sarah’s untimely death and that has now set its sight on Mel.
The wildwood is whispering. It has secrets to reveal—if you’re willing to listen…
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Silk is for Seduction
Silk is for Seduction by Loretta Chase is $1.99! We had two guest reviews for this one. Julie gave it an A-:
I really enjoyed this book. Marcelline and her sisters play pre-Victorian Era hardball with their business competitors and the duke. She’s surviving in a man’s world by her wits and her determination.
And Milena also gave it an A-:
I loved Marcelline to bits. She’s a businesswoman, and her work is not just a decoration she’s ready to drop at the first twitch of a duke’s eyebrows. She loves it – all of the fabulous dress designs the Noirot sisters produce are hers – and she doesn’t want to abandon it, even in exchange for a life of luxury.
Brilliant and ambitious dressmaker Marcelline Noirot is London’s rising star. And who better to benefit from her talent than the worst-dressed lady in the ton, the Duke of Clevedon’s intended bride?
Winning the future duchess’s patronage means prestige and fortune for Marcelline and her sisters. To get to the lady, though, Marcelline must win over Clevedon, whose standards are as high as his morals are…not.
The prize seems well worth the risk — but this time Marcelline’s met her match. Clevedon can design a seduction as irresistible as her dresses; and what begins as a flicker of desire between two of the most passionately stubborn charmers in London soon ignites into a delicious inferno…and a blazing scandal.
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Kill the Queen
RECOMMENDED: Kill the Queen by Jennifer Estep is $1.99! Elyse read this one and gave it a B+:
Kill the Queen by Jennifer Estep is the first book in a fantasy series that features a badass female gladiator on a quest to reclaim the throne from her murderous cousin. It’s tremendous fun, although it wraps up quickly.
Gladiator meets Game of Thrones: a royal woman becomes a skilled warrior to destroy her murderous cousin, avenge her family, and save her kingdom in this first entry in a dazzling fantasy epic from the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Elemental Assassin series—an enthralling tale that combines magic, murder, intrigue, adventure, and a hint of romance.
In a realm where one’s magical power determines one’s worth, Lady Everleigh’s lack of obvious ability relegates her to the shadows of the royal court of Bellona, a kingdom steeped in gladiator tradition. Seventeenth in line for the throne, Evie is nothing more than a ceremonial fixture, overlooked and mostly forgotten.
But dark forces are at work inside the palace. When her cousin Vasilia, the crown princess, assassinates her mother the queen and takes the throne by force, Evie is also attacked, along with the rest of the royal family. Luckily for Evie, her secret immunity to magic helps her escape the massacre.
Forced into hiding to survive, she falls in with a gladiator troupe. Though they use their talents to entertain and amuse the masses, the gladiators are actually highly trained warriors skilled in the art of war, especially Lucas Sullivan, a powerful magier with secrets of his own. Uncertain of her future—or if she even has one—Evie begins training with the troupe until she can decide her next move.
But as the bloodthirsty Vasilia exerts her power, pushing Bellona to the brink of war, Evie’s fate becomes clear: she must become a fearsome gladiator herself . . . and kill the queen.
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In Bed with the Earl
In Bed with the Earl by Christi Caldwell is $1.99! This is book one in the Lost Lords of London series and I’m super curious about it. It has amnesia, but the hero seems to have it prior to meeting the heroine. Also, the heroine is a reporter!
Christi Caldwell, USA TODAY bestselling author of the Wicked Wallflowers series, combs London’s underground and finds romance and danger for a missing lord and the lady who loves him.
To solve a mystery that’s become the talk of the ton, no clues run too deep for willful reporter Verity Lovelace. Not even in the sewers of London. That’s precisely where she finds happily self-sufficient scavenger Malcom North, lost heir to the Earl of Maxwell. Now that Verity’s made him front-page news, what will he make of her?
Kidnapped as a child, with no memories of his well-heeled past, Malcom prefers the grimy spoils of the culverts to the gilded riches of society. Damn the feisty beauty who exposed the contented tosher to a parade of fortune-hunting matchmakers. How to keep them at bay? Verity must pretend to be his wife. She owes him.
The intimacy of this necessary arrangement—Verity and Malcom thrust together in close quarters—soon sparks an irresistible heat. But when the charade ends, the danger begins. Will love be enough to protect them from a treacherous plot devised to ruin them?
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Rina Kent’s VOW OF DECEPTION is a 99-cent KDD today. This is a dark/bratva romance, which I know isn’t everyone’s cuppa (triggers abound), but I thought Kent really did some really interesting things with the plot (which has elements of JANE EYRE, VERTIGO, Tana French’s THE LIKENESS, and the ballet GISELLE): a homeless woman agrees to impersonate the dead wife of a bratva boss, but things aren’t what they seem and the woman begins to suspect her “husband’s” wife is still alive. VOW OF DECEPTION is the first book of a trilogy (and, unfortunately, the gripping plot runs out of steam by the third book), but if this sort of story piques your interest, 99-cents (or KU, if you’re a member) isn’t a bad price for something off the beaten path. Also, smoking-hot cover model alert! (Always a plus in my book!)
A THORN IN THE SADDLE by Rebekah Weatherspoon is $1.99 on Kindle—not sure if it’s being price-matched elsewhere.
WINTERING by Katherine May is $1.99 in Kindle (as is her newest book Electricity of Every Living Thing). I read it back in November of 2020 when it first came out (from the library), and this is the first time it’s gone on sale. Here’s what I wrote for myself about it at the time:
This was such a great read and much needed right now; the language is beautiful, and I enjoyed the mixture of memoir, travel, and a little research (also the audiobook narrator is wonderful). I’ve “wintered” a few times in my life so far and am actually wintering right now. I think this book should be read along with Burnout by the Nagoski sisters to give women permission to live their lives in a way that’s the truest for themselves.
Silk is for Seduction is also on sale at Chirpbooks.com for around $5 for all you audiobook lovers. It’s narrated by the amazing Kate Reading.
@spinster.revival: Thanks for your thoughts on Wintering. I actually had that up on my screen while I debated clicking. (I’ve begun attempting to limit my buying to somewhat reasonable levels given my life expectancy and number of books already in my TBR pile. :-)) Based on your rec, I think Wintering is worth squeezing in.
@Susan Ha! Lately I have been pondering exactly that: By a factor of how many times does my TBR overreach my life expectancy?
@Mzcue: “We buy books in the hope we will live long enough to read them.” —Schopenhauer
I’m a mood reader and my TBR reflects that. I might not be ready to read a particular book now but at some point I likely will be. I need my TBR to accommodate all my moods.
That’s my story anyway.
@DDD: Apologies to Schopenhauer, but I’m not so sunk into delusions of immortality that I believe I’ll be around to greet the 22nd century. (I did the TBR math. LOL.)
I’ve been distracting myself with the following story I first read in the Washington Post:
https://www.boredpanda.com/vitamix-cats-box/?cexp_id=46971&cexp_var=10&_f=trending&utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=organic
@Susan, I cried laughing at the vitamix cat story, but I don’t have a Facebook account (d*mned evil empire that I refuse to support!) so I can’t follow the ongoing saga myself. Please, if the “dummy” boxes arrive and the household cat overlords agree to relocate to them, come back to this thread and let me know!
@MaryK I’m starting to see parallels between standing in front of my overstocked TBR shelves thinking, what do I want to read next, and standing in front of my refrigerator, thinking what do I want to eat for dinner. In both cases I want something, some flavor or type or trope – but sometimes I’m spoiled for choice and just end up grabbing something.
@Susan @JenM me too!
Off Balance by Jay Hogan (small town New Zealand mm romance) is on sale for 99¢. I went in excited about the fisheries MC (checking both science plus outdoorsy/lumberjack boxes – definitely my catnip) and stayed for the hurt/comfort and grief recovery.
@squee_me I loved Off Balance, and the second book, On Board, was a top 10 book of 2021. This series is Hogan at her best.
Vitamix cats saga is amazing, thank you @Susan
@JenM: No updates to the public FB page yet. Assume the Vitamix is still being held hostage!
And I understand the FB reluctance. At Christmas, my niece set up a stealth (or as stealthy as possible) FB account for the sole purpose of checking out cat sites. (Insert crazy cat lady jokes here.) I have no intention of posting anything, having FB friends, or the like.
@Escapeologist: YVW. Glad you enjoyed. 🙂