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The Queer Principles of Kit Webb
RECOMMENDED: The Queer Principles of Kat Webb by Cat Sebastian is $1.99! Lara wrote a Lightning Review for this on and gave it an A:
At a time when I didn’t have a lot of energy, I was gifted with pounds of joy, laughter, intrigue, and suspense. The Queer Principles of Kit Webb was a fresh approach to historical romance that made me fall in love with the genre again.
Critically acclaimed author Cat Sebastian makes her trade paperback debut in a stunning historical romance about a reluctantly reformed highwayman and the aristocrat who threatens to steal his heart.
Kit Webb has left his stand-and-deliver days behind him. But dreary days at his coffee shop have begun to make him pine for the heady rush of thievery. When a handsome yet arrogant aristocrat storms into his shop, Kit quickly realizes he may be unable to deny whatever this highborn man desires.
In order to save himself and a beloved friend, Percy, Lord Holland must go against every gentlemanly behavior he holds dear to gain what he needs most: a book that once belonged to his mother, a book his father never lets out of his sight and could be Percy’s savior. More comfortable in silk-filled ballrooms than coffee shops frequented by criminals, his attempts to hire the roughly hewn highwayman, formerly known as Gladhand Jack, proves equal parts frustrating and electrifying.
Kit refuses to participate in the robbery but agrees to teach Percy how to do the deed. Percy knows he has little choice but to submit and as the lessons in thievery begin, he discovers thievery isn’t the only crime he’s desperate to commit with Kit.
But when their careful plan goes dangerously wrong and shocking revelations threaten to tear them apart, can these stolen hearts withstand the impediments in their path?
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The Lady Gets Lucky
The Lady Gets Lucky by Joanna Shupe is $2.99! This was mentioned in October 2021’s Hide Your Wallet and is the second book in the Fifth Avenue Rebels. For the most part, I love Shupe’s pairings, but a lot of the secondary characters, usually parents, are just awful people and can make for a frustrating read.
Following The Heiress Hunt, beloved author Joanna Shupe continues her new Fifth Avenue Rebels series with a scandalous romance about a good girl desperate to rebel and the rebel desperate to corrupt her.
A first-rate scoundrel.
A desperate wallflower.
Lessons in seduction.
The woman no one notices . . .
Shy heiress Alice Lusk is tired of being overlooked by every bachelor. Something has to change, else she’ll be forced to marry a man whose only desire is her fortune. She needs to become a siren, a woman who causes a man’s blood to run hot . . .and she’s just met the perfect rogue to help teach her.
He’s the life of every party . . .
Christopher “Kit” Ward plans to open a not-so-reputable supper club in New York City, and he’s willing to do whatever it takes to hire the best chef in the city to guarantee its success. Even if it requires giving carnal lessons to a serious-minded spinster who has an in with the chef.
Their bedroom instruction grows passionate, and Alice is a much better pupil than Kit had ever anticipated. When the Society gentlemen start to take notice, Kit has to try to win Alice in other ways . . . but is he too late to win her heart?
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My American Duchess
RECOMMENDED: My American Duchess by Eloisa James is $1.99! Elyse read this one and gave it an A:
My American Duchess worked for me in all the ways. It was the perfect example of a book by an author I love so much in a style she pulls off magnificently. I’ll be buying this one for my friends and giving it permanent space on my shelf.
The arrogant Duke of Trent intends to marry a well-bred Englishwoman. The last woman he would ever consider marrying is the adventuresome Merry Pelford— an American heiress who has infamously jilted two fiancés.
But after one provocative encounter with the captivating Merry, Trent desires her more than any woman he has ever met. He is determined to have her as his wife, no matter what it takes. And Trent is a man who always gets what he wants.
The problem is, Merry is already betrothed, and the former runaway bride has vowed to make it all the way to the altar. As honor clashes with irresistible passion, Trent realizes the stakes are higher than anyone could have imagined. In his battle to save Merry and win her heart, one thing becomes clear:
All is fair in love and war.
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Unmask Me If You Can
Unmask Me If You Can by Shana Galen is $1.99! This is book four in Galen’s Survivors series. If you like Galen’s writing or are trying to amass the full series, this book all the way through book 11 in the series is on sale. Stock up!
This masked lord…
Lord Jasper, younger son of a duke, suffered horrible burns fighting in the Napoleonic Wars. He wears a mask to hide his face from the stares and screams and finds comfort in the shadows. Jasper is an exceptional bounty hunter, so when a woman summons him to her deathbed and asks him to find her runaway daughter before she passes away, he doesn’t refuse. Jasper is close to his quarry when he’s knifed by an assailant. Imagine his surprise when he regains consciousness in the arms of the woman he seeks. Except she’s not at all what he expected.Is not the only one with scars.
On a remote cliff on the sea, Olivia Carlisle calls her five-year-old son in from an approaching storm. But the little boy is more interested in the man he’s found on the trail to their hidden cottage. Olivia fears men and wants nothing more than to leave the injured man where she found him. But his knife wound is severe, and with the approaching storm, she knows leaving him will condemn him to death. As Jasper begins to heal, Olivia acknowledges her attraction to him, even though such emotions terrify her almost as much as returning to London. Jasper must convince her that her only chance at safety is to challenge the man who pursues her. They must travel into the lion’s den—he to face his vulnerability and she to face her worst fears.Add to Goodreads To-Read List →
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The Queer Principles of Kitt Webb is my favourite by CS. I usually enjoy her books but don’t love them, but this was so good. I just love the idea of an HR where “eat the rich” is a guiding principle for the HEA 🙂 great side characters as well!
Play by Kylie Scott is also on sale for $1.99 at Amazon (US)
Like GradStudentEscapist, I don’t always love Cat Sebastian, although I’m never sad I’ve read her. But between Peter Cabot Gets Lost and Queer Principles, she’s on a roll.
Also, after I got the eBook of QPoKW from the library, I then got the audiobook (read by Joel Leslie) and that is well worth a listen (fingers crossed for a WhisperSync discount!)
I am also on that somewhere from enjoy to love sliding scale with Cat Sebastian, with QPoKW as one of her best. I have to admit, I find the resolution too good to be true, but that’s part of why I love it so much.
I used to adore Eloisa James but I haven’t been feeling her as much, and idk if it’s me or her.
The only Joanna Shupe I really liked was A Notorious Vow. All of her other books kind of fall into the “strong female character” or “irredeemable asshole” or “some combination of both” trap.
Why can’t romantic hero for once open a business that isn’t a gaming hell or . . . disreputable supper club (?). Is that like a gaming hell with food?
The Shana Galen – is her head on backwards?
I read Unmask Me If You Can shortly before the pandemic began. That title hits differently now.
I also love Kit Webb, and am SUPER EXCITED for the sequel/companion coming out this summer, as it addressed the unresolved dangling plot bits that were my only complaint after finishing the book. And agreed with @omphale, the audio is great!
For Audiobook lovers, Chirp Audiobooks is has several books I’ve seen mentioned her on sale at the moment. I haven’t listened to most of these so I can’t speak to how well they are narrated.
The Plus One Pact by Portia MacIntosh
All the Feels by Olivia Dade
The Princess Trap, and Get a Life Chloe Brown, by Talia Hibbert
A Princess in Theory by Alyssa Cole
You Had Me at Hola by Alexis Dana
Battle Royal by Lucy Parker
American Sweethearts (#4 of the series) by Adriana Herrera
Pride Prejudice and Other Flavors by Somali Dev
Fix Her Up by Tessa Baily
Feel the Fire (3rd in series) by Annabeth Albert narrated by Iggy Toma. This one I have listened to and I enjoy this narrator.
chirpbooks.com Search Feature Deals,filter for romance.
The Paid Bridesmaid by Sariah Wilson is 1.99
I’m Only Wicked With You by Julie Ann Long is 1.99
The Duchess Hunt by Lorraine Heath is 2.99
RiverBend Gap by Denise Hunter is $1.99
The Redeemed Groom by Taylor Hart is free
Yup @EJ. Historicals where “irredeemable asshole” means hero was a poor but blah blah bootstraps so now he can treat people badly. And “strong female character” means rich 20 something with servants getting big mad that her dad won’t give her the family business. She overcomes with the love of rich hero to get to do her own capitalism. yaaas girlboss! Your servants still don’t have weekends or rights and are dying at 30. I hit my limit with this trope and now I miss out on so much Joanna Shupe and Sarah Maclean
Am I the only one who reads the Shupe cover as “THE LADY GETS FUCKY”? (Which, to be fair, also appears to be accurate given the cover.)
I may be in the minority, but QPoKW didn’t work for me the way most of Cat Sebastian’s stuff does. The plot felt rather uneven and there’s a key plot point that’s not resolved (though I will be back for the sequel to find out what happens!) My favorites of Sebastian’s are her Regency Imposters series.
@MeMe
You articulated that so well!
Who writes romance about poor people? Or people who used to be poor and then got rich somewhat ethically?
I don’t relate well to characters who want to be in charge of things. I don’t want to be in charge of things.
I can vouch for the audiobooks by Lucy Parker, Talia Hibbert, and Alicia Dara as I listened to and liked them.
Also want to mention that several by Kristen Callihan are on sale at Chirpbooks, too: https://www.chirpbooks.com/authors/kristen-callihan-audiobooks?fbclid=IwAR2JAhyfD6JGl6rVG-hobIYogrAVoisUYm2gDO5KJAQWU8Ir-8BnHd8dya0
I loooved the Galen and I realize that might just be a “me” opinion.
@MeMe – Hah, I’m picky about McLeans because of that. Shupe gets a wider berth because I like how she writes gilded age New York romances but meh yep.
“Kit Webb” and the James are both perfect, natch.
Winter’s Orbit by Everina Maxwell is 2.99, M/M arranged marriage and political intrigue in space. It got an A- review.
Can confirm A Princess in Theory by Alyssa Cole is great on audio.
@EJ—I’ve found that KJ Charles, Rose Lerner, and Theresa Romain all write historicals with main characters from a wider range of financial backgrounds, often working class/up a bit from poverty but not so far removed that they’ve forgotten it.
@EJ -I guess I don’t really have a problem with rich people romance, I just can’t handle these Feminine Mystique-lite girlboss books where we feel sad that the absurdly rich lady’s energy is wasted on directing servants because she deserves to be a captain of industry. And fuck those servants, they don’t have rich dads… but I digress. I like how Courtney Milan characters with institutional power usually have an ‘uneasy is the head that wears the crown’ vibe.
I got into KJ Charles Will Darling Adventures this year and one of the many ways those books are weirdly comforting is how conspicuous they are about class. One of them is an aristocrat and the other has been starving and it’s not all Cinderella handwaving from there. The audiobooks are like a cup of hot chocolate on a snow day.
Another audiobook that I never shut up about because it blew me away and feels really thoughtful about class (also probably the oldest romance novel I’ve ever read) is Don’t Forget To Smile by Kathleen Gilles Seidel(1986). Union organizer hero and former beauty queen turned bar owner heroine in a small Oregon logging town. Released 2 years after Vanessa Williams put Miss America on the map and nestled at the intersection of labor and feminism but ALSO has: a hero who was bad at sex until he studied romance novels! An ex-wife who is not evil- she’s just a person! The ex-wife’s new husband is also just a guy! It all feels so surprising and fresh.
@FashionablyEvil- Thank you for reminding me to try Rose Lerner again! The first time I picked up her books I had just finished an emotional Kazuo Ishiguro sadz deep dive and the butler/maid was giving Remains of the Day with butt stuff. I couldn’t.
I’m into it now though! Wish there were audiobooks
@MeMe
There’s butt stuff in Remains of the Day? I don’t remember that from the movie.