Act Like It
RECOMMENDED: Act Like It by Lucy Parker is $1.99! If you haven’t read this yet, it was one of Sarah’s favorite reads in the past couple years. She says, “I mean, I could squee at you some MORE beyond my review but I think you’ve heard me already. I loved this book. You should read it. It’s delightful.” This one is part of today’s pages of romance deals.
This just in: romance takes center stage as West End theatre’s Richard Troy steps out with none other than castmate Elaine Graham
Richard Troy used to be the hottest actor in London, but the only thing firing up lately is his temper. We all love to love a bad boy, but Richard’s antics have made him Enemy Number One, breaking the hearts of fans across the city.
Have the tides turned? Has English rose Lainie Graham made him into a new man?
Sources say the mismatched pair has been spotted at multiple events, arm in arm and hip to hip. From fits of jealousy to longing looks and heated whispers, onlookers are stunned by this blooming romance.
Could the rumors be right? Could this unlikely romance be the real thing? Or are these gifted stage actors playing us all?
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RECOMMENDED: Spoiler Alert by Olivia Dade is $1.99! Shana reviewed this one in October and gave it a B+:
Spoiler Alert is tropey wish fulfillment, but at its heart, it’s is a quiet contemporary with a #couplegoals relationship where both characters offer comfort, create beautiful art, and help each other overcome insecurities. Spoiler Alert is also a love letter to fandoms, that will make you want to chase your romance novel with a shot of fanfiction.
Olivia Dade bursts onto the scene in this delightfully fun romantic comedy set in the world of fanfiction, in which a devoted fan goes on an unexpected date with her celebrity crush, who’s secretly posting fanfiction of his own.
Marcus Caster-Rupp has a secret. While the world knows him as Aeneas, the star of the biggest show on TV, Gods of the Gates, he’s known to fanfiction readers as Book!AeneasWouldNever, an anonymous and popular poster. Marcus is able to get out his own frustrations with his character through his stories, especially the ones that feature the internet’s favorite couple to ship, Aeneas and Lavinia. But if anyone ever found out about his online persona, he’d be fired. Immediately.
April Whittier has secrets of her own. A hardcore Lavinia fan, she’s hidden her fanfiction and cosplay hobby from her “real life” for years—but not anymore. When she decides to post her latest Lavinia creation on Twitter, her photo goes viral. Trolls and supporters alike are commenting on her plus-size take, but when Marcus, one half of her OTP, sees her pic and asks her out on a date to spite her critics, she realizes life is really stranger than fanfiction.
Even though their first date is a disaster, Marcus quickly realizes that he wants much more from April than a one-time publicity stunt. And when he discovers she’s actually Unapologetic Lavinia Stan, his closest fandom friend, he has one more huge secret to hide from her.
With love and Marcus’s career on the line, can the two of them stop hiding once and for all, or will a match made in fandom end up prematurely cancelled?
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The Ex Hex by Erin Sterling is $2.99! This is a light paranormal romance with some witchy elements. This one was…sweeter? More twee? than I had thought it’d be. I hope you get what I’m trying to say here.
New York Times bestselling author Rachel Hawkins, writing as Erin Sterling, casts a spell with a spine-tingling romance full of wishes, witches, and hexes gone wrong.
Nine years ago, Vivienne Jones nursed her broken heart like any young witch would: vodka, weepy music, bubble baths…and a curse on the horrible boyfriend. Sure, Vivi knows she shouldn’t use her magic this way, but with only an “orchard hayride” scented candle on hand, she isn’t worried it will cause him anything more than a bad hair day or two.
That is until Rhys Penhallow, descendent of the town’s ancestors, breaker of hearts, and annoyingly just as gorgeous as he always was, returns to Graves Glen, Georgia. What should be a quick trip to recharge the town’s ley lines and make an appearance at the annual fall festival turns disastrously wrong. With one calamity after another striking Rhys, Vivi realizes her silly little Ex Hex may not have been so harmless after all.
Suddenly, Graves Glen is under attack from murderous wind-up toys, a pissed off ghost, and a talking cat with some interesting things to say. Vivi and Rhys have to ignore their off the charts chemistry to work together to save the town and find a way to break the break-up curse before it’s too late.
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This book is on sale at:
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
We also may use affiliate links in our posts, as well. Thanks!You Had Me at Hola
You Had Me at Hola by Alexis Daria is $1.99! We mentioned this on last year’s Hide Your Wallet posts and it was recommended on a couple podcasts. We were all very excited for it and look at that dang cover! Have you read it? What did you think?
RITA ® Award Winning author Alexis Daria brings readers an unforgettable, hilarious rom-com set in the drama-filled world of telenovelas—perfect for fans of Jane the Virgin and The Kiss Quotient.
Leading Ladies do not end up on tabloid covers.
After a messy public breakup, soap opera darling Jasmine Lin Rodriguez finds her face splashed across the tabloids. When she returns to her hometown of New York City to film the starring role in a bilingual romantic comedy for the number one streaming service in the country, Jasmine figures her new “Leading Lady Plan” should be easy enough to follow—until a casting shake-up pairs her with telenovela hunk Ashton Suárez.
Leading Ladies don’t need a man to be happy.
After his last telenovela character was killed off, Ashton is worried his career is dead as well. Joining this new cast as a last-minute addition will give him the chance to show off his acting chops to American audiences and ping the radar of Hollywood casting agents. To make it work, he’ll need to generate smoking-hot on-screen chemistry with Jasmine. Easier said than done, especially when a disastrous first impression smothers the embers of whatever sexual heat they might have had.
Leading Ladies do not rebound with their new costars.
With their careers on the line, Jasmine and Ashton agree to rehearse in private. But rehearsal leads to kissing, and kissing leads to a behind-the-scenes romance worthy of a soap opera. While their on-screen performance improves, the media spotlight on Jasmine soon threatens to destroy her new image and expose Ashton’s most closely guarded secret.
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I will help myself to that Alexis Daria, thank you very much!
I posted yesterday,but as a reminder, the audiobook of You Had Me at Hola is on sale at Chirpbooks.com, along with quite a few other books mentioned here, like Battle Royal by Lucy Parker and two by Talia Hibbert.
Chirpbooks.com, click featured deals, filter for romance.
I’m reading Act Like It right now and it’s a wonderfully written book. So fresh and clever. I’m really enjoying it.
If only I could read Act Like It for the first time all over again. (Also, if only they hadn’t changed the cover. The original cover was delightful.)
I’m going to grab the Olivia Dade. I’ve played library chicken with it twice now, and it always gets such positive mentions in WAYR.
@Deborah – I really enjoyed it. Re-read it soon after finishing it the first time, which I don’t do that often. I’m wavering on the second book, but I’ll get it at some point.
I had major issues with ACT LIKE IT, so much so that I’m extremely hesitant to read another Lucy Parker book.
SPOILER and TRIGGER WARNING for * Attempted Sexual Assault *
The heroine is very nearly sexually assaulted while at a dinner party where she and the hero have to make a good impression on the hosts/other attendees. The hero — OF COURSE — saves the day, just in time. I hate white knights in general in romances, but what made me nearly DNF the book was that the heroine later APOLOGIZES for a damn near sexual assault and the two of them leaving the party immediately afterwards . The entire event was just casually brushed aside after that like it was NBD; it was just mentioned that the asshole was dealt with (not killed, just dealt with in regard to that plotline). I think the setup of that scene would have led to a little more discussion and introspection by the heroine b/c I know *many* women who have been caught by surprise in a situation like that, but nope… it’s like LP just plopped that scene in the middle of the book just to get some traction on another plotline, that oh so conveniently happens in the next scene. I take SA/Rape/Sexual Battery very seriously and it feels like LP doesn’t.
Anyway, I really liked the Alexis Daria book — if you can get your hands on the audio, I highly recommend it — and have Spoiler Alert on my neverending TBR. I have given 4 stars to every Olivia Dade book I’ve read so far, so I have high hopes for Spoiler Alert.
@Deborah – gah library chicken, I know that game… but yay for sales! You’ll love it! And then get All the Feels, which is also worth it!
Ugh, Spoiler Alert. What a strangely disappointing book. Too many plot vectors, too much time setting up the sequel, ripping off the problems with the last season of GOT, and the author really seems to have either no feel for a fanfic community or is afraid of something. How can you write about fanfiction for a media property centering around Greek gods and heroes and not have a single M/M ship? I’ve read a lot of Olivia Dade’s other works and I generally enjoy them – she treats BBW as real people, not as sidekicks, freaks, or women who need fixing. But as a fanfic writer in a mature fandom, this lack of realism struck me as both odd and kind of offensive.
@M – I felt the same way as you did, regarding the SA in Act Like It. I was disappointed with the way it was handled and it soured the book for me. I did read some more of the series and while not related to sexual assault, there were other things that felt like they were added in for a particular purpose and weren’t sufficiently dealt with (in my opinion)… it’s a common theme with Lucy Parker’s books for me. While there are some things I really like about them, there always seems to be something that puts me off.
These are all winners, it’s hard for me to pick a favorite!
The new cover for Act Like It. What is it supposed to be? Fuzzy Theatre lights? Why not an actual marquee? Or I dunno, the original cover. Ok mimi-rant over. I liked the book but honestly if this has been the original cover I would not have taken a moment to check the blurb.
THE EX HEX was fine—amusing, but not very deep (and I hated Vivi’s best friend—she’s super immature and annoying.) Agree that it’s pretty fluffy/not serious for a paranormal.
SPOILER ALERT is not my jam—can’t cope with all the fat shaming in it directed at the heroine.
Act Like It is my go to comfort read. Netflix needs to go ahead and make it into a movie already!
The new cover is terrible though!
I think they’re all worth trying, except the ex-hex. I definitely noticed all the problems raised here (and plenty more) but was still able to finish and enjoy all the others. There were characters I liked or great dialogue, always something to balance the flaws.
I was excited for the ex-hex but dnf, it felt either too stupid or possibly mean for me to care.
I enjoyed Ex Hex and thought it was a fun, quick read. I’m not into horror or fantasy, but I wanted to read something for Halloween last fall and Ex Hex fit the bill.