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The Admiral’s Penniless Bride
The Admiral’s Penniless Bride by Carla Kelly is $1.99! Some readers on GR really liked the older hero/younger heroine pairing, and the consideration of the hero in particular.
Sarah: Kelly’s books are a unique kind of historical, and they’re wonderfully immersive. SLURP into the book you go.
Sally Paul is down to her last penny. As she spends it on a cup of tea—to stave off being at the mercy of the workhouse—the last thing she expects is an offer of marriage…from a complete stranger!
Admiral Sir Charles Bright’s seafaring days are over—and according to society, that must mean he’s in need of a wife! Discovering Sally’s in need of a home, he offers a solution…. They marry in haste—but will they enjoy their wedding night at leisure?
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Cinderella is Dead
Cinderella is Dead by Kalynn Bayron is $3.99! This is a queer YA fantasy novel inspired by Cinderella. Carrie wrote a Lightning Review for this one, but gave it a DNF (did not finish). Have you read this one?
It’s 200 years after Cinderella found her prince, but the fairy tale is over. Teen girls are now required to appear at the Annual Ball, where the men of the kingdom select wives based on a girl’s display of finery. If a suitable match is not found, the girls not chosen are never heard from again.
Sixteen-year-old Sophia would much rather marry Erin, her childhood best friend, than parade in front of suitors. At the ball, Sophia makes the desperate decision to flee, and finds herself hiding in Cinderella’s mausoleum. There, she meets Constance, the last known descendant of Cinderella and her step sisters. Together they vow to bring down the king once and for all–and in the process, they learn that there’s more to Cinderella’s story than they ever knew . . .
This fresh take on a classic story will make readers question the tales they’ve been told, and root for girls to break down the constructs of the world around them.
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Paradise
Paradise by Lizzie Johnson is $2.99! This is part of today’s non-fiction Kindle Daily Deals. I mentioned this one on my new column Get Rec’d, where I talk about other books I’ve recommended to people throughout the week. It’s some great journalistic nonfiction.
The definitive firsthand account of California’s Camp Fire–the nation’s deadliest wildfire in a century–and a riveting examination of what went wrong and how to avert future tragedies as the climate crisis unfolds
On November 8, 2018, the people of Paradise, California, awoke to a mottled gray sky and gusty winds. Soon the Camp Fire was upon them, gobbling an acre a second. Less than two hours after it ignited, residents were trapped in flames, cremated in their homes and cars. By the next morning, eighty-five people were dead.
San Francisco Chronicle reporter Lizzie Johnson was there as the town of Paradise burned. She saw the smoldering rubble of a historic covered bridge and the beloved Black Bear Diner, and she stayed long afterward, visiting shelters, hotels, and makeshift camps. Drawing on years of on-the-ground reporting and reams of public records, including 911 calls and testimony from a grand jury investigation, Johnson provides a minute-by-minute account of the Camp Fire, following residents and first responders as they fight to save themselves and their town. We see a young mother fleeing with her newborn; a school bus full of children in search of an escape route; and a group of paramedics, patients, and nurses trapped in a cul-de-sac, fending off the fire with rakes and hoses.
Johnson documents the unfolding tragedy with empathy and nuance. But she also investigates the root causes, from runaway climate change to a deeply flawed alert system to Pacific Gas and Electric’s decades-long neglect of critical infrastructure. A cautionary tale for a new era of megafires, Paradise is the gripping story of a town wiped off the map and the determination of its people to rise again.
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American Queen
American Queen by Sierra Simone is FREE! This is the first book in the New Camelot Trilogy. This is a menage romance with BDSM, some darker elements, and a cliffhanger. I’ve seen this highly recommended on social media, but there’s something about the description that puts me off. Whenever this is featured on sale, there’s always some great discussion in the comments.
Warned as a girl to keep her kisses to herself, Greer Galloway disobeys twice–once on her sixteenth birthday as she’s kneeling in a pool of broken glass, and another time after a charming stranger named Embry Moore whisks her into the dazzling Chicago night. Both times she falls in love, and both times her heart is broken beyond repair. And so as an adult, she vows never to kiss–or to love again.
That’s until the Vice President of the United States shows up at the university where she teaches, and asks for one thing: for her to meet with the hero-turned-President Maxen Colchester. Maxen, the soldier who was her first kiss in that pool of broken glass.
And the other complication? The Vice President is none other than charming Embry Moore himself.
Soon, Greer finds herself caught between past and present, pleasure and pain–and two men who long for each other as much as they long for her. And as war and betrayal press ever closer, they tumble headlong into a passionate love affair that will change the world…
From the USA Today bestselling author of Priest comes a contemporary reimagining of the legend of King Arthur, Guinevere, and Lancelot–elegant, carnal, and unforgettable.
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Carla Kelly is always a comfort read for me. Mrs. Drew Pays her hand is my favourite but I remember enjoying TAPB.
Choose one of these reads free as part of Amazon’s celebrating World Book Day:
https://www.amazon.com/b?node=87672506011
Priscilla Oliveras’s West Side Love Story and Weina Dai Randel’s The Last Rose of Shanghai are among the books you can choose from.
Anything by Carla Kelly is worse your time and money. She writes beautiful love stories of everyday people.
I ended up skipping through bits of American Queen. Everything was so serious and portentous, and the main characters felt so very young and very navel-gazing and I got a bit bored.
I read a lighter book a good while ago – hang on, googling, googling, here we go: Kneel, Mr President by Lauren Gallagher, which has a similar premise: ie mmf menage involving the president. However, instead of being a dom as most of them seem to be (because the guy in the top job OBVIOUSLY wants to be in charge in bed too, right?) the president is a sub, and uses it as a way to temporarily escape the crushing responsibility and pressure of his job. Don’t remember it being super deep, but thought it was an interesting take.
Also, in American President, the names pull me up (a me thing, I know). Maxen in particular makes me think of period products. ‘Feel secure with Maxen!’ [upbeat music over montage of lady in white shorts going jogging, rollerskating, trampolining, etc etc.]
Sorry, keep thinking of things after I’ve posted, argh.
“The Admiral’s Penniless Bride” was lovely. I felt like the characters really enjoyed each other’s company and I was amused by the bawdy sculptures all over the house/property the Admiral purchased. I have the ebook, but I think I need to go order a paperback copy from Thrift Books.
If anyone has any other favorite Carla Kelly reads, please share! I’m in the mood to fall in a romance rabbit hole.
Also, the LIFT4Autism auction has started and bidding closes at 5pmEDT on Friday, April 28. Lots of bookish goodies…
https://click.mlsend.com/link/c/YT0yMTkxNDYwMzE5NDIxNzk1MDAyJmM9ZzR5NyZlPTE5MjgmYj0xMTE5MzA3MjE3JmQ9ejhzM2s5cg==.AIvTPrv9pbvuGhai8OupFf0JgrGp9V18c-nAOgJ-1Tc
@HeatherS I cannot think of a Carla Kelly that has let me down. I am currently reading The Surgeon’s Lady, and really enjoying it. I haven’t read any of her most current books, which I understand are LDS inspirationals, but I highly recommend her Regencies and historicals that take place in the US and involve the cavalry, etc.
I highly recommend:
Mrs. Drew Plays Her Hand
The Lady’s Companion
Summer Campaign
One Good Turn
Here’s to the Ladies: Stories of the Frontier Army. —> This one is a collection of short stories, some/most are not romance, and some are sad, but I really liked it. Her historical research is excellent, & in this book it shows.
@Laurel: Thanks for the recommendations! I had noticed her more recent books (in the last 10 years or so) looked like contemporary inspies, and I’m really more interested in her historical romances.
@Empress of Blandings—“Maxen” also pulled me up short. Must be an attempt to capitalize on all the -son/-syn types names that have been so popular of late (Jackson/Jaxon, Madisyn, Addison, etc.) (Although still not as bad as “Busick,” from one of Vanessa Riley’s books.)
Another vote for the excellence that is Carla Kelly.
I also had to one-click Paradise. That’s kind of my neck of the woods and I had a lot of friends, classmates, acquaintances who settled there. That fire was kind of a sentinel event for me.
I’ve said it before, but…AMERICAN QUEEN is a solid erotic mmf story, however (1) it’s the first book in a trilogy (New Camelot), and you have to read all three books to get the full arc; and (2) you have to be willing to hand wave some of the social situations, such as Greer being a fully-tenured professor at 26 years old. Decide how much of that you can tolerate, and if you’re ok with it, get ready for a hot & sexy mmf ride.
Heatherly Bell’s firefighters box set is $.99:
https://www.heatherlybell.com/book/sunset-kiss-box-set/?
This is not to dissuade anyone else, but just wanted to thank the bitchery for the info on Kelly’s other books! Exmormon here and that turned me right off Kelly. Even if this one is not an LDS-inspie, reading from someone with that mindset/worldview is not what I want to take in at all in my brain candy reading.
I watched the Paradise documentary on Netflix and remember how shocking the event and the footage was. But I don’t remember much analysis or aftermath, so I think I’ll pick that one up.
@Penny, I respect your feelings that you want to avoid any LDS in Carla Kelly’s earlier books, but I honestly don’t think religion even comes up in her earlier books, which is why her move, to LDS inspirationals, at least to me, seemed to come out of left field. I was raised Presbyterian but am very lapsed, & I think you could read the Regencies without worry. I did not read anything that was “preachy”, because I wouldn’t like it either. Some of the western romances might have people attending church, but I am scratching my brain & can’t remember anything that seemed to be prying to present a religious message. I have tried a few inspirationals & the religious aspect was very blatant. I do not think it would be a problem for you, but again, I am unfamiliar with LDS teachings, so you may see things I would not.
@Laurel already named most of my favorite Carla Kelly’s. I would also recommend Marrying the Captain and The Wedding Journey. Actually any of them set in England or during the Peninsular/Napoleonic Wars.
I too wholeheartedly recommend Carla Kelly. My favorites are With This Ring and The Wedding Journey. I have also really enjoyed her (fairly) recent St. Brendan Series.
@Penny, I am with Laurel in that I think you can read the Regency and her early Westerns with no problem. I steer clear of Inspirationals due to the preachyness of most of them and I had no trouble reading and enjoying Kelly’s books.
@Laure & @Lynn Pauley – I appreciate your thoughts! My primary concern is not around preachiness but around the author’s basic worldview. I will probably still steer clear of the regencies. And westerns…
I am bothered by the idea of a mormon author writing in the american west while holding the basic belief that the indigenous peoples of the americas are descendants of tribes of israel and should be converted. Literally until the 1981 it was a precept of the LDS faith that “Indians” would become white if baptized into the LDS faith. https://www.nytimes.com/1981/10/01/us/mormons-altering-indian-prophecy.html (There is also a casual mention in there of how until 1978 black people could not hold the priesthood in the LDS church)
No matter how lovely an author seems, or how enjoyable the romance, LDS = avoid for me. Again, this is just my thing & I’m not trying to stop anyone from reading books by this author! Just feel no need to myself, and explaining why.
You can’t go wrong looking up any of Carla Kelly’s short story collections – many revolve around the holiday season. My favorite short story of her is found in a collection titled “In Love and War” and is called “Something New” and tells the tale of a Scots artillery major coming home to England with a young French orphan in tow, fighting prejudice and class consciousness to ultimately find love. I enjoy her recent series, St. Brendan’s, which stars a neurodivergent hero.
Apparently there’s a manga version of The Admirals Penniless Bride?! My library had it and it was so interesting reading a historical romance in this format.
@Egged: Thanks for sharing that!
Oh, it’s neat that Harlequin did a manga version of “The Admiral’s Penniless Bride”! You can read it on Google Books, too. I always envisioned the admiral being older – perhaps in his mid-40s. https://books.google.com/books?id=kYhwDwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false