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Donut Fall in Love
RECOMMENDED: Donut Fall in Love by Jackie Lau is $1.99! Catherine gave this one a Squee grade:
It is such a perfectly balanced book, too. It doesn’t just skim over the surface of difficult things, but it also doesn’t drag you down into the depths of grief, either. I loved that it is such a light, funny, hot read, but also a story that invites reflection.
A baker provides the sweetest escape for an actor in this charming romantic comedy.
Actor Ryan Kwok is back in Toronto after the promotional tour for his latest film, a rom-com that is getting less-than-stellar reviews. After the sudden death of his mother and years of constant work, Ryan is taking some much-needed time off. But as he tries to be supportive to his family, he struggles with his loss and doesn’t know how to talk to his dad—who now trolls him on Twitter instead of meeting him for dim sum.
Innovative baker Lindsay McLeod meets Ryan when he knocks over two dozen specialty donuts at her bakery. Their relationship is off to a messy start, but there’s no denying their immediate attraction. When Ryan signs up for a celebrity episode of Baking Fail, he asks Lindsay to teach him how to bake and she agrees.
As Lindsay and Ryan spend time together, bonding over grief and bubble tea, it starts to feel like they’re cooking up something sweeter than cupcakes in the kitchen.
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She Who Became the Sun
She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan is $2.99! This is an epic fantasy and the first book in a duology. It reimagines the founding of the Ming Dynasty. Definitely check trigger and content warnings for this one as I heard it can be pretty dark.
Mulan meets The Song of Achilles in Shelley Parker-Chan’s She Who Became the Sun, a bold, queer, and lyrical reimagining of the rise of the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty from an amazing new voice in literary fantasy.
To possess the Mandate of Heaven, the female monk Zhu will do anything.
“I refuse to be nothing…”
In a famine-stricken village on a dusty yellow plain, two children are given two fates. A boy, greatness. A girl, nothingness…
In 1345, China lies under harsh Mongol rule. For the starving peasants of the Central Plains, greatness is something found only in stories. When the Zhu family’s eighth-born son, Zhu Chongba, is given a fate of greatness, everyone is mystified as to how it will come to pass. The fate of nothingness received by the family’s clever and capable second daughter, on the other hand, is only as expected.
When a bandit attack orphans the two children, though, it is Zhu Chongba who succumbs to despair and dies. Desperate to escape her own fated death, the girl uses her brother’s identity to enter a monastery as a young male novice. There, propelled by her burning desire to survive, Zhu learns she is capable of doing whatever it takes, no matter how callous, to stay hidden from her fate.
After her sanctuary is destroyed for supporting the rebellion against Mongol rule, Zhu takes the chance to claim another future altogether: her brother’s abandoned greatness.
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Last Tang Standing
Last Tang Standing by Lauren Ho is $1.99! This, I think, is more women’s fiction than romance and is a Kindle Daily Deal. Shana reviewed this one and gave it a D+, finding it rather mean-spirited. Did you read this one?
Crazy Rich Asians meets Bridget Jones’s Diary in this laugh-out-loud funny and irresistible debut novel in diary form about the pursuit of love, surviving one’s thirties intact, and the endless tug-of-war between pleasing one’s family and pleasing oneself.
Andrea Tang seems to have it all: an enviable job as a high-profile lawyer at one of Singapore’s most esteemed firms, a swanky apartment, and the best friends a woman could ask for. According to her mother and her Auntie Wei Wei, Tang family matriarch and holder of the purse strings to a sizeable fortune, that leaves just one thing missing: a husband. After all, at thirty-three, she’s not getting any younger. When Andrea discovers that even Auntie Wei Wei’s notoriously unattached daughter has gotten engaged, she realizes she’s become what she fears the most: the Last Tang Standing, lone singleton in a sea of married Tangs.
Andrea might be an independent career woman who doesn’t need a man to buy her the Birkin bags she loves, but she’s also a Chinese daughter who’s keenly aware that nothing in the world can pay off the debt of filial guilt. Luckily, options–and eye candy–abound in her quest to find Mr. Right-for-her-parents. There’s Suresh, her annoyingly attractive rival at the firm. There’s Eric Deng, the older, super-wealthy entrepreneur whose vision for their future entails sacrifices Andrea isn’t sure she’s willing to make. And, of course, there’s Tinder.
In diary entries as rollickingly self-deprecating as they are searingly astute, LAST TANG STANDING follows Andrea through bad dates, questionable decisions, friendship drama, career competition, and intense familial pressure. And it reminds readers that the road to happiness might be unpredictable, but there’s always room to enjoy the ride.
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The Guinevere Deception
The Guinevere Deception by Kiersten White is $1.99! I talked about this in a previous Hide Your Wallet and it’s really gorgeous in person. I bought it from my local indie, but of course, it’s sitting in a stack somewhere.
From New York Times bestselling author Kiersten White comes a new fantasy series reimagining the Arthurian legend, set in the magical world of Camelot.
There was nothing in the world as magical and terrifying as a girl.
Princess Guinevere has come to Camelot to wed a stranger: the charismatic King Arthur. With magic clawing at the kingdom’s borders, the great wizard Merlin conjured a solution–send in Guinevere to be Arthur’s wife . . . and his protector from those who want to see the young king’s idyllic city fail. The catch? Guinevere’s real name–and her true identity–is a secret. She is a changeling, a girl who has given up everything to protect Camelot.
To keep Arthur safe, Guinevere must navigate a court in which the old–including Arthur’s own family–demand things continue as they have been, and the new–those drawn by the dream of Camelot–fight for a better way to live. And always, in the green hearts of forests and the black depths of lakes, magic lies in wait to reclaim the land. Arthur’s knights believe they are strong enough to face any threat, but Guinevere knows it will take more than swords to keep Camelot free.
Deadly jousts, duplicitous knights, and forbidden romances are nothing compared to the greatest threat of all: the girl with the long black hair, riding on horseback through the dark woods toward Arthur. Because when your whole existence is a lie, how can you trust even yourself?
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“She Who Became The Sun” is very good, but definitely intense and violent. I was extremely bummed out when I got to the end and realized it was just the first part of a story. I would have waited until the second book was out to read this one if I’d known it was a duology; I hate forgetting characters and details.
Kate Meader’s Foreplayer is on sale for the first time for only $.99!
Booo, the Jackie Lau isn’t on sale in Canada! I’ve been holding off for a sale.
For Jackie Lau fans, another is coming out tomorrow. Her Unexpected Roommate (Cider Bar Sisters Book 5). I find all her books to be beautifully written, warm, and with memorable topics. I have several favorites and Donut Fall in Love is up there.
Kittens and Kisses at the Cat Café: A Furrever Friends Sweet Romance is 99cents on Kindle until 8/10.
Adam has loved Marley since he was 13, and she was his best friend’s free-spirited older sister. Back then, he fantasized about rescuing her from bandits or dragons. Now he’s 24, and the five-year age gap isn’t so serious. He wants nothing more than to become a family with Marley and her son. But will she ever see him as a man?
When someone leaves a box of week-old kittens at the café, Adam jumps at the chance to be a hero. But herding kittens might be tougher than fighting dragons, especially when two of them fail to thrive. Can Adam, Marley, and Brian save the kittens and find a future together
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B084GRN7CC
I have a question. Tessa Bailey’s Romancing the Clarksons series is on sale. Is that any good? I keep hearing conflicting information about this author. It’s a good deal! But only if they’re enjoyable to read. Thanks!
@Lynn I bought all four of Tessa Bailey’s Romancing the Clarkson’s books at full price, one after the other in January 2020, so I must have been pretty keen on them. I recall their being entertaining and the characters engaging to the point of wanting to see all their happy endings. Road trips and small Western town, mutual emotional rescues…I think they’re well worth the time and the price is right.
Book Boyfriend by Kris Ripper is on sale for $2.99, which is a great price since it’s usually $9.99. It’s part of the Carina Adores imprint.
Here’s a little from my GR review:
4.5 stars or B+/A-
I enjoyed this very meta and silly m/nb queer romance much more than I expected to. It took me a while to relax into the story and warm up to the (completely clueless) narrator but once I did, I was all in. I loved how it set up and then skewered genre expectations without making me feel dumb.
This is a romance novel about a character, name PK, who writes a romance novel about how much he loves his best friend, an avid romance reader (instead of like, actually talking to them). And how his attempt to act out the grand gesture trope backfires spectacularly in his actual life. And about the differences between acceptable behavior in a “book boyfriend” and an actual human boyfriend or potential boyfriend.
I think your enjoyment will depend on how much you enjoy / can handle being in PK’s chaotic, anxious and stream of consciousness brain. It’s a lot. He’s a lot – an under-achieving 26 year old who is at least aware that his privilege is allowing him time to figure out things like emotions and adulthood.
In a lot of ways it reminds me of Alexis Hall’s Something Fabulous – they’re very different books but they’re both smartly satirical and also deeply ridiculous romances written by authors who seem to genuinely love the genre while seeing and poking at some of the flaws.
I’ve been reading Kris Ripper for years and it is such a pleasure to see zir get more attention and success and also continue to grow as an author and to take risks. This feels quite different from zir previous books in some ways- it’s much more satirical and meta. But a lot of zir strengths shine through – particularly writing about queer community and queer characters that feel like real people. Ze isn’t always great at relationship development, particularly in zir single POV books, and that is an issue in this book too. But I didn’t mind because I enjoyed the rest of the story so much.
Ze also tackles some tough topics in this – gatekeeping and transphobia in mm romance, addiction and a possible suicide attempt (off page) by a side character, bad parenting.
@Lynn I bought the first one on sale a good while ago, liked it enough to buy the second immediately at full price, and then….haven’t read it yet. I did like the first one pretty well, though contemporaries aren’t my usual thing, and remember being intrigued by the siblings and how their stories would turn out…but obviously not enough to tear through them all right then (though that could be my extremely unreliable attention span). I do want to read the rest and might buy the last two if they’re on sale, so thanks for the heads up.
I liked SHE WHO BECAME THE SUN right up until about the 75% mark where things got super violent and the body count suddenly skyrocketed (up until then it had been more political intrigue than violent.) It also has what I believe is the only fisting scene I’ve read.
GUINEVERE DECEPTION was totally competent but my library didn’t have the sequel so I didn’t pursue further. And I’m excited to snag the Lau—I love her stuff!
I remember The Guinevere Deception as being a pretty good read and an interesting new take on the Arthurian legend – with a very surprising twist for Lancelot. The classic old triangle of Guinevere/Arthur/Lancelot seems to be absent, but while reading this, I was mentally pleading “Don’t become a cliched YA light-dark love triangle with Mordred of all people!”. So far, so good on that front, even in the sequel.
Thanks @loramir and @Mzcue for your help! I think I am going to go for it.
Against the Wall by Cate C Wells is free.
@LynnS I read the first of the Romancing the Clarkson’s series and found it just okay, not my favorite of Tessa’s, but I did always mean to go back to them because I thought some of the other characters might make better stories. If they’re on sale, could be worth it, especially if they’re not available at your local library.
I’ve picked up several Jackie Lau books that were free on Amazon but never actually read any, then checked out Donut Fall in Love from the library. As my first Lau read, I think I was maybe a little disappointed? If feel like her stuff has been so hyped that maybe I was expecting a little more. It was good, but didn’t leave me clamoring to read everything in her back catalogue. I found the characters a bit immature for their age. I did love the food descriptions though – definitely made me want to go find some donuts.