Love in Color
Love in Color by Bolu Babalola is $1.99! This was a previous Hide Your Wallet mention and is a collection of short romances that reimagine myths and folklore. Have you picked this one up? One of my friends says it’s a quick read.
A high-born Nigerian goddess, who has been beaten down and unappreciated by her gregarious lover, longs to be truly seen.
A young businesswoman attempts a great leap in her company, and an even greater one in her love life.
A powerful Ghanaian spokeswoman is forced to decide whether she should uphold her family’s politics or be true to her heart.
In her debut collection, internationally acclaimed writer Bolu Babalola retells the most beautiful love stories from history and mythology with incredible new detail and vivacity. Focusing on the magical folktales of West Africa, Babalola also reimagines Greek myths, ancient legends from the Middle East, and stories from long-erased places.
With an eye towards decolonizing tropes inherent in our favorite tales of love, Babalola has created captivating stories that traverse across perspectives, continents, and genres.
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RECOMMENDED: Silent in the Grave by Deanna Raybourn is $1.99! This book and series has been mentioned quite a bit on the site. Elyse recommended it if you like historical mysteries. Reader StacieH4 mentioned it for those who prefer their romance light on sex, and Reader Tina Chaney said on a podcast that the book has one of her favorite opening lines. Have you read it?
“Let the wicked be ashamed, and let them be silent in the grave.”
These ominous words, slashed from the pages of a book of Psalms, are the last threat that the darling of London society, Sir Edward Grey, receives from his killer. Before he can show them to Nicholas Brisbane, the private inquiry agent he has retained for his protection, Sir Edward collapses and dies at his London home, in the presence of his wife, Julia, and a roomful of dinner guests.
Prepared to accept that Edward’s death was due to a long-standing physical infirmity, Julia is outraged when Brisbane visits and suggests that Sir Edward has been murdered. It is a reaction she comes to regret when she discovers the damning paper for herself, and realizes the truth.
Determined to bring her husband’s murderer to justice, Julia engages the enigmatic Brisbane to help her investigate Edward’s demise. Dismissing his warnings that the investigation will be difficult, if not impossible, Julia presses forward, following a trail of clues that lead her to even more unpleasant truths, and ever closer to a killer who waits expectantly for her arrival.
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The Hookup by Kristen Ashley is $2.99! This is the first book in her Moonlight and Motor Oil contemporary romance series. Fans of Ashley say this might be one of the best books she’s written. However, others found the heroine too twee and perfect. Have you read this one?
When the new girl in town, Eliza “Izzy” Forrester decides to hit the local drinking hole, she’s not ready to meet the town’s good, solid guy. She’s definitely not prepared to engage in her very first hookup with him.
Then Izzy wakes up the next morning in Johnny Gamble’s bed and good girl Izzy finds she likes being bad for Johnny.
Even so, Izzy feels Johnny holding her at arm’s length. But Johnny makes it clear he wants more and Izzy already knows she wants as much of hot-in-bed, sweet-out-of-it Johnny Gamble.
Floating on air thinking this is going somewhere, Izzy quickly learns why Johnny holds distant.
He’s in love with someone else. Someone who left him and did it leaving him broken. Whoever was up next would be runner up, second best. Knowing the stakes, Izzy will take what she can get from the gentleman that’s Johnny Gamble. And even knowing his heart might never mend, Johnny can’t seem to stay away from Izzy.
Until out of nowhere, his lost love comes back to town. He’s not going back, but Johnny still knows the right thing to do is let Izzy go.
And Izzy knew the stakes, so she makes it easy and slips though his fingers.
But that’s before Johnny realizes Eliza moved to town to escape danger that’s been swirling around her.
And that’s why Johnny decides to wade in.
That and the fact Eliza Forrester makes breakfast with a canary singing on her shoulder and fills out tight dresses in a way Johnny Gamble cannot get out of his head.
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Archer’s Voice by Mia Sheridan is $2.99! I haven’t read this one, but I’ve read other books by Sheridan. They are very emotional, very intense, and have alpha heroes. This book was recommended by Pat in a Rec League of books that really met our expectations.
When Bree Prescott arrives in the sleepy, lakeside town of Pelion, Maine, she hopes against hope that this is the place where she will finally find the peace she so desperately seeks. On her first day there, her life collides with Archer Hale, an isolated man who holds a secret agony of his own. A man no one else sees.
Archer’s Voice is the story of a woman chained to the memory of one horrifying night and the man whose love is the key to her freedom. It is the story of a silent man who lives with an excruciating wound and the woman who helps him find his voice. It is the story of suffering, fate, and the transformative power of love.
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Mia Sheridan’s books are very angsty and emotional, and she really loves to put her characters through the wringer. Iirc, in ARCHER’S VOICE, both MCs have trauma in their backgrounds. The Bitchery knows that I love angsty heartache, but sometimes Sheridan’s layering on of painful backstories is too much even for me. However, I remember liking ARCHER’S VOICE, although it doesn’t approach DANE’S STORM, my favorite Sheridan book.
Sorry, that Kristen Ashley book, I didn’t quite catch the hero’s last name what was it again?
Archer’s Voice is so good. I’ve read so many good books sometimes they all blur together, but Archer’s Voice was very memorable. It really stood out and was compelling. I’ve thought recently about rereading it. Highly recommend.
I may have watched too much Taskmaster, the last name Gamble just makes me think Ed Gamble’s long lost brother. Hopefully just as handsome.
@Empress of Blandings – Ha! That blurb is really something.
I enjoyed SILENT IN THE GRAVE, although I thought the next two books were not as strong. I would call them mysteries with romantic elements, but the relationship with Brisbane got repetitive for a couple of books (he doesn’t want her, he does, rinse/repeat). The fourth book returns to the strengths of the first book. I’d say Raybourn is more successful with the mysteries than the romance.
I’m not a fan of Mia Sheridan’s writing. I’m not trying to be negative, but I thought the writing in ARCHER’S VOICE was very simplistic and often clunky. The descriptions are vague, if there at all. If you’re a fan of minimalist writing, you may enjoy it more.
I LOVED Love in Color!! Great collection of stories based on myths from across the globe – lovely stories and also a cultural education. Highly recommend and yes, it’s a quick read .
@Empress of Blandings – It made me think of Hard Target by John Woo, starring the inimitable JCVD as “Chance Boudreaux”
Female Lead: What kind of a name is “Chance”?
JCVD: Well, my mamma took one.
I very much enjoyed Love in Color! lots of fun with mythology, history, futurism.
Just a note, all the stories are hetcis pairings. I mention this only because I think my reading has been curated to be mostly queer stories and so when I read the blurb “Love in Color is a celebration of romance in all its many splendid forms” I wasn’t primed for that uniformity. Absolutely not a criticism of the stories or the author! But I could have used some expectations management, so I’m passing it along)
If you get the Kristen Ashley from Kindle, the audiobook is a $1.99 add on for Audible listeners. I’d never read Ashley before I borrowed this one from the library–probably from a SMTB rec–and to my surprise I enjoyed it enough to buy it on Kindle + Audible.
I haven’t been particularly taken by Mia Sheridan though I’ve tried at least one. Maybe I should try this one and @DiscoDollyDeb’s rec of DANE’S STORM. It’s on the Audible sale (ends today) for $4.49.
I’ve spend an insane amount during the Audible sale. What’s another $4.49? Oops.
I like the Veronica Speedwell books so much better than the Lady Julia Grey series. In the former the detective and her romantic interest are always equal partners. They bicker but they respect each other as experts in their fields. The Lady Julia books just have the heroine making a bunch of foolish mistakes trying to keep up with a man who withholds information from her for no good reason. The hero is just Sherlock Holmes if you remove everything that makes Sherlock Holmes compelling and try to force him into a romantic relationship he clearly doesn’t want.
“Silent in the Grave” was very enjoyable, although it left me thinking that Lady Julia got a really bad deal all around with her husband.
Agree with what others have said about SILENT IN THE GRAVE. I have this vague recollection that Brisbane has a Romani connection and that the books use the term “gypsy” quite a bit which is now widely considered a slur. If that’s something that will bother you, you might want to skip these.
Is ARCHERS CHOICE 1st person POV?
You’re correct about the Romani slurs and negative stereotypes in Silent in the Grave, @FashionablyEvil. Someone points this out every time it’s mentioned in one of these deal posts but they unfortunately never update the blurb. I’m not Romani and I found it to be truly horrific representation. There’s a lot that did not age well. It also has the Bury Your Gays trope and terrible LGBTQ rep for reasons that would be spoilers. I really disliked this book and have never bothered to try anything else from this author as a result.
Love in Color is GREAT! I read it in a waiting room where they 100% forgot about me for HOURS and it’s still one of my best reading experiences of 2021. Audiobook is also fabulous
Yes, Archer’s Voice is 1st person POV.
I DNFed Archer’s Voice but only because the villain (a cop) was stressing me out. The writing is fine. It’s a sweet story with a whole lot of traumatic backstory. I’ll probably finish it eventually.