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You Were Made to Be Mine
You Were Made to Be Mine by Julie Anne Long is $1.99! This is book five in The Palace of Rogues series. Previous books in the series received some rather positive reviews on the site. Are you a fan of the series?
In the fifth installment of USA Today bestselling author Julie Anne Long’s charming Palace of Rogues series, a rakish spy finds more than he bargained for in his pursuit of an earl’s enchanting runaway fiancée.
The mission: Find the Earl of Brundage’s runaway fiancée in exchange for a fortune. Child’s play for legendary British former spymaster, Christian Hawkes. The catch? Hawkes knows in his bones that Brundage is the traitor to England who landed him in a brutal French prison. Hawkes is destitute, the earl is desperate, and a bargain is struck.
Fleeing a savagely shattered dream, the sheltered Lady Aurelie Capet finds refuge in an alias and the warmth and kindness of the Grand Palace on the Thames–until a gorgeous, mysterious disturbance to her peace literally topples through the door.
An unexpected, fierce desire that feels destined, dangerous–and devastatingly sweet–ignites between the sheltered beauty and the jaded spy, and as they slowly unravel each other’s shocking secrets Hawkes closes in on the truth about the earl. Soon it’s clear they can have no future without vanquishing the past: Hawkes knows that loving her means avenging her. Aurelie knows that loving Hawkes means freeing him to do that, no matter the cost.
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The Reluctant Countess
The Reluctant Countess by Eloisa James is $2.99! This is book two in the Would-Be Wallflowers series. It’s way more recent than I thought it was – releasing last November.
New York Times bestselling author Eloisa James returns to the Would-Be Wallflowers series with an enemies-to-lovers romance between a proper earl and an entirely improper lady—whom he can’t stop thinking about.
Giles Renwick, Earl of Lilford, has never made a fool of himself over a woman—until he meets Lady Yasmin Régnier. Yasmin is ineligible for his attentions in every way: not as a wife, certainly not as a mistress (she is a lady!), nor even as a friend, since they vehemently dislike each other. Her gowns are too low, and her skirts are dampened to cling to admittedly lovely thighs. She loves to gossip—and giggle.
She isn’t dignified, or polite, or even truly British, given that her father’s French ancestry clearly predominated. Not to mention the fact that her mother had been one of Napoleon’s mistresses, a fact she makes no effort to hide.
So what—in heaven’s name—possesses him to propose?
And what will he do if she says yes?
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A Curse So Dark and Lonely
RECOMMENDED: A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer is $3.99! This one was recommended to Carrie and she really enjoyed it, giving the book an A-:
I enjoyed the way this book both used and subverted Beauty and the Beast tropes. There’s a good blend of angst and humor and worldbuilding.
In a lush, contemporary fantasy retelling of Beauty and the Beast, Brigid Kemmerer gives readers another compulsively readable romance perfect for fans of Marissa Meyer.
Fall in love, break the curse.It once seemed so easy to Prince Rhen, the heir to Emberfall. Cursed by a powerful enchantress to repeat the autumn of his eighteenth year over and over, he knew he could be saved if a girl fell for him. But that was before he learned that at the end of each autumn, he would turn into a vicious beast hell-bent on destruction. That was before he destroyed his castle, his family, and every last shred of hope.
Nothing has ever been easy for Harper. With her father long gone, her mother dying, and her brother barely holding their family together while constantly underestimating her because of her cerebral palsy, she learned to be tough enough to survive. But when she tries to save someone else on the streets of Washington, DC, she’s instead somehow sucked into Rhen’s cursed world.
Break the curse, save the kingdom.
A prince? A monster? A curse? Harper doesn’t know where she is or what to believe. But as she spends time with Rhen in this enchanted land, she begins to understand what’s at stake. And as Rhen realizes Harper is not just another girl to charm, his hope comes flooding back. But powerful forces are standing against Emberfall . . . and it will take more than a broken curse to save Harper, Rhen, and his people from utter ruin.
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The Devil and the Dark Water
The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton is $1.99! This is a historical mystery with a locked room aspect – the characters on stuck on a boat. This is a standalone with no plans to turn it into a series with its main character.
An Amazon Best Book of the Year — 2020!
“Compulsively readable.”—New York Times Book Review
The extraordinary new thriller from Stuart Turton, author of the bestselling murder mystery The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, winner of the Costa Best First Novel Award.
A murder on the high seas. A remarkable detective duo. A demon who may or may not exist.
It’s 1634 and Samuel Pipps, the world’s greatest detective, is being transported to Amsterdam to be executed for a crime he may, or may not, have committed. Travelling with him is his loyal bodyguard, Arent Hayes, who is determined to prove his friend innocent.
But no sooner are they out to sea than devilry begins to blight the voyage. A twice-dead leper stalks the decks. Strange symbols appear on the sails. Livestock is slaughtered. Anyone could be to blame. Even a demon.
And then three passengers are marked for death, including Samuel.
With Pipps imprisoned, only Arent can solve a mystery that connects every passenger. A mystery that stretches back into their past and now threatens to sink the ship, killing everybody on board.
For fans of Steven King, The Devil and the Dark Water brings a chilling new spin to the Sherlock Holmes detective duo in a thriller of supernatural horror, occult suspicion, and paranormal mystery on the high seas.
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I really enjoyed A CURSE SO DARK AND LONELY (four stars which is high for me), but the second book in the series was three stars and the third book was a DNF because I got so annoyed about what Kemmerer did with her characters.
I have both warnings/complaints and some gushing about the Palace of Rogues series:
Major content warning on YOU WERE MADE TO BE MINE for abuse and sexual assault in the heroine’s past. There’s a lot of focus on healing and the validity of her feelings, but the revelation of the extent of her abuse comes quite late in the book which makes the happily-ever-after feel a little rushed.
And if you’re new to the series, the first *and* fourth books feature attempted sexual assaults. The first one is especially annoying as it’s completely unnecessary, just an unoriginal way to let the hero come to the rescue, and quickly brushed aside. It’s a bit disappointing JAL seems to turn to this so often, especially as she writes such great smart, snarky female characters.
Despite that, I *do* really love the series. Especially the first two books and the fourth one, but all five are good. This one is definitely a little darker and not the one I’d recommend starting with, though. They have very good complex main characters, strong female characters and friendships, a fun cast of side characters and strong found family vibe, are funny without getting too slapstick about it, and also the writing is just so good?
I’ve never been a Kindle highlighter, but this series turned me into one. So many little metaphors and turns of phrase that I just really loved.
“She could not recall ever before meeting a man who reverberated after he was gone.”
“He said the words deliberately. He laid them down like fortifications between her station in life and his own.”
“Grief was part of his soul’s geography; it had formed a canyon of sorts, through which it ran, deeply and contained. It did not slow him. He did not hover on its banks and stare into its waters. But it was there, nevertheless.”
The characters talk to each other a *lot* and you really see their relationships develop and it feels like they genuinely *like* each other in addition to the requisite lust and dramatic romance. There’s a lot of emphasis on how the men *listen* to the women and give them space and agency and honesty. All of that is also so well-written, and the romantic declarations are gorgeously swoonworthy.
There are very good reviews of the first two books on SBTB that give a great overview of the series. I don’t think this one is the best to start with – and do keep the content warnings in mind – but the series is on my frequent reread list and I recommend them!
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Every Palace of Rogues book is on offer at £1.99 on Amazon UK.
Thought The Reluctant Countess looked interesting until I saw all the similar 2 star reviews on Goodreads: over the top cruelty, slut shaming by Hero and his sister, no comeuppance for the villainess sister, etc. etc. So has anyone on Smart Bitches read it?? I am confused by so many differing opinions and would appreciate hearing from the Smart Bitches community. What think ye??
@Carole: if you’ve read other Eloisa James books, this one is pretty typical of her work – probably most similar to Too Wilde to Wed. Giles, Earl of Lilford, is trying to bring dignity back to the family name after his mother had numerous affairs and his father committed suicide. Yasmin is the granddaughter of an English duke, but grew up in France and was neglected by her parents, culminating in her ruination at 16. Her grandfather (who is awesome) is bringing her out in English society, where the ton has heard whispers of Yasmin’s “improprieties” but no details. Yasmin decides to fight fire with fire, hence her “scandalous” dresses and her flirtatious behavior. Giles keeps dancing with Yasmin at balls, even though he knows being associated with her won’t help his standing in the ton. Enter his sister, Lydia, who in the previous book (How to be a Wallflower) seemed sweet if awkward. Giles and Lydia pretty much only have each other. She has it stuck in her head that her father committed suicide because of her mother’s infidelities, and she thinks Giles will end up the same if he marries Yasmin (because of the rumors about her). Lydia basically goes batshit crazy trying to prevent Giles and Yasmin from getting together – it’s a complete 180 from the bits of Lydia’s personality seen in book 1. There’s some slut shaming that’s in line with Regency England attitudes, but Yasmin puts Giles in his place about that, and he apologizes. Eloisa James is usually soft-hearted to her villains imho, and this book is no exception. Lydia gets a Regency-style punishment of a crappy marriage (I think he even divorces Lydia? the denouement goes fast), shunning by the ton, and being the “poor relation.”
Not my favorite James book – the previous book is slightly better, but I think her best work is the Wilde series.