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The Jane Austen Society
The Jane Austen Society by Natalie Jenner is $1.99! Lara mentioned this one in a previous Hide Your Wallet. It’s historical fiction with a group of people coming together post-WWII to repair Jane Austen’s estate.
Just after the Second World War, in the small English village of Chawton, an unusual but like-minded group of people band together to attempt something remarkable.
One hundred and fifty years ago, Chawton was the final home of Jane Austen, one of England’s finest novelists. Now it’s home to a few distant relatives and their diminishing estate. With the last bit of Austen’s legacy threatened, a group of disparate individuals come together to preserve both Jane Austen’s home and her legacy. These people—a laborer, a young widow, the local doctor, and a movie star, among others—could not be more different and yet they are united in their love for the works and words of Austen. As each of them endures their own quiet struggle with loss and trauma, some from the recent war, others from more distant tragedies, they rally together to create the Jane Austen Society.
A powerful and moving novel that explores the tragedies and triumphs of life, both large and small, and the universal humanity in us all, Natalie Jenner’s The Jane Austen Society is destined to resonate with readers for years to come.
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An Heiress’s Guide to Deception and Desire
An Heiress’s Guide to Deception and Desire by Manda Collins is $2.99! It’s part of today’s Kindle Daily Deals and looks like it has a new cover. I believe the previous one was illustrated. This is book two in the Lady Guide’s historical romance series.
Former lovers become reluctant allies in this delightfully witty historical rom-com from the bestselling author of A Lady’s Guide to Mischief and Mayhem—for fans of Evie Dunmore, Enola Holmes, and Netflix’s Bridgerton!
England, 1867 : As half of the writing duo behind England’s most infamous crime column, Miss Caroline Hardcastle has quite the scandalous reputation. It may have cost her a fiancé, but she would much rather bring attention to crimes against those ignored by society than worry about what the ton thinks of her.
After Caro’s dear friend is kidnapped, however, she has no choice but to work with Lord Valentine Thorn, the same man who broke her heart. Worse, when her actions put her father’s business at risk, a marriage of convenience may be her only solution . . . but can she trust Val to stand by her? Or will their past repeat itself?
Val–the new Viscount Wrackham–is in an untenable position: His father is demanding he find a respectable bride to secure the succession. Yet the only woman he’s ever loved, Miss Caroline Hardcastle, is notorious for behaving improperly. And she’s never forgiven him for his youthful transgressions, missteps made in the name of familial duty, but ones he still regrets to this day.
As they grow closer to unmasking the culprit, Val sees an opportunity to show Caro he’s a changed man. But can he convince her to give their love a second chance–before death does them part?
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To Woo a Wicked Widow
To Woo a Wicked Widow by Jenna Jaxon is 99c! This is the first book in The Widows’ Club and some of the subsequent books are also on sale. This has a heroine who is trying to avoid getting married again. Readers seemed divided on the heroine. Some enjoyed her independence, while others couldn’t really connect with her.
The war years are behind them.
The future is before them.
And one by one, the widows of Lyttlefield Park are getting restless…
Lady Charlotte Cavendish is still the spirited girl who tried to elope in the name of love. That dream was thwarted by her father who trapped her into a loveless, passionless marriage. But now widowed, Charlotte is free to reenter the giddy world of the ton—and pursue her desires. For hardly your typical widow, she remains innocent to the pleasures of the flesh. Yet her life is finally her own, and she intends to keep it that way.Nash, the twelfth Earl of Wrotham, is beguiled by Charlotte at first sight—and the feeling is mutual. When he receives her intriguing invitation to a house party, the marriage-minded lord plans to further their acquaintance. But even he cannot sway her aversion to matrimony, and only with great restraint does he resist her most tempting offer. For unbeknownst to Charlotte, the misadventures of the past are revisiting them both, and bedding her could cost him everything—or give him everything he ever wanted.
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The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot is $1.99! I believe Carrie has read the book and loved it and it was made into a mini-series. There seemed to be a few readers who felt the author inserted herself too much into the nonfiction narrative, but many enjoyed how the medical science in the book was written in such a relatable way.
Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor black tobacco farmer whose cells—taken without her knowledge in 1951—became one of the most important tools in medicine, vital for developing the polio vaccine, cloning, gene mapping, and more. Henrietta’s cells have been bought and sold by the billions, yet she remains virtually unknown, and her family can’t afford health insurance. This phenomenal New York Times bestseller tells a riveting story of the collision between ethics, race, and medicine; of scientific discovery and faith healing; and of a daughter consumed with questions about the mother she never knew.
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Am I the only one who doesn’t like this boring new cover font they’re putting on reissues of historical romances lately? Sarah MacLean, Beverly Jenkins, now Manda Collins. It’s too contemporary. I want my loops and swooshes and curlicues and all those lovely font details that scream “HISTORICAL ROMANCE!” from across the room even without me reading the title or author.
@HeatherS, I’m pretty sure they’re trying to cash in on Bridgerton’s popularity on Netflix. The straight, san-serif font makes me think of the show…I do not think this is an accident. 🙂 Hopefully they’ll go back to more fun, swoopy fonts when this one stops working!
I thought the Manda Collins book was cute (although I liked the first one in the series better). My husband raved about the Henrietta Lacks book, he did say the subject matter is quite serious and even sad though.
Henrietta Lacks is an excellent serious read.
@HeatherS, agreed. I think they look cheap and contemporary (the latter not a favored genre for me, then I at least need some magic/paranormal or suspense/mystery. I’ve skipped over several of these modern covers in browsing, only went back because costume caught my eye. I am less likely to trying out a new-to-me author is the artwork is a plain, regular photo.
@HeatherS et al
To tell the truth I didn’t even notice the font. I just hated that cover on sight. It seems posed and sort of garish to me. I read the first book and enjoyed it. I doubt that I’d reread it though, so I probably wouldn’t have added book 2 to my tottering TBR anyway.
Just checked out the KDDs and spotted The Penguin Pool Murder for $2.99 and snagged it. My entire family adored old movies, and the 1932 movie based on this vintage mystery was one of our favorites. It’s definitely not a work of cinematic art and movies of that era tended to have a lot of casual racism and sexism, but we loved Hildegarde Withers for her unembarrassed spinsterhood and her unwillingness to tolerate stupidity. Also the byplay between Miss Withers and Inspector Piper was entertaining af and made it pretty clear that Miss W. did not conflate spinsterhood and maidenhood. I look forward to reading her origin story.
@PamG, I stumbled across the Hildegarde Withers series after discovering the wonderful Edna May Oliver in another movie and wanting to catch more of her work. I decided to read the books after seeing her in the first movie (she did 3 HW movies before leaving due to a contract dispute with the studio). The books are a bit dated but easy reads and Hildegarde is such a delightful curmudgeon. Supposedly Stuart Palmer thought Edna May was the best of the 3 actresses who played Hildegarde in the films, and you can tell in the later novels that he’s envisioning Edna May when he describes the Hildegarde character.
I really enjoyed THE JANE AUSTEN SOCIETY, and full disclosure, I am a huge Austen fan. I did love Jenner’s writing, and am still on the wait list for her new novel The Bloomsbury Girls.
I enjoyed The Jane Austen Society. You may find it starting a little slow, but if you keep up with it, it picks up pace and is a very enjoyable read.
It has nothing to do with JASNA.
Like @Maureen, I’m a Janeite.
Henrietta Lacks’ story is incredible, and the book is fantastic.
Seven romances from Penny Reid’s small press, Smartypants Romance, are free on Amazon. They’re not by Reid herself, but various other authors who are writing in and around her worlds (I think?).
Six crimson cranes by Elizabeth lim is on sale for 1.99 at Kobo
Ok, I’m going to be that pedantic commenter…It bugs the sh*8 out of me when HR covers are not historically accurate. The Manda Collins book sounds charming BUT if she gave that cover a go what other anachronisms are in the narrative? That is a Regency dress and is not the silhouette of a dress in 1867. Plus I agree with everyone else, the font choices lately are annoying. And I have no real problems I’ve I’m banging away about dresses and fonts on book covers. LOL
I don’t think the majority of authors get any say over their covers. Pretty sure they don’t even get to pick their titles half the time either. I wouldn’t ever blame a cover on the author unless it’s self-published.
There’s been some grumbling recently that certain imprints are putting all their marketing eggs (cover design is a marketing choice) in the Booktok basket and as such are more concerned with a certain visual vibe than communicating the actual contents of the book to potential readers who rely on cover cues because they’re not Extremely Online to hear the pitch. Whoadamn, the typefaces are the least of it, but that blocky sans is much easier to read than calligraphy when it’s jiggling around in a video.
I’ve noticed a a lot of changes recently in historical romance covers: san serif fonts and typefaces because of the BRIDGERTON font treatment for the series promotion, and the Quinn series getting covers to match the Netflix seasons with that same san serif title. Used to be that historicals had opulent fonts – I called them “Whirly curly fonts” and somewhere a graphic designer is probably really annoyed with me. Then there’s photographs instead of illustrations, or photos modified to look like illustrations…it’s fascinating to see the new trends in cover style echoed in other books, and so quickly, too.
@Laura, It is a rare and hugely successful author who gets veto power for covers. They’re picked by the publishers and the author may or may not get a say.
I would also love to see actually historically accurate covers, but I suspect researching and costuming them would be too expensive for the price point. 🙁