The View Was Exhausting
The View Was Exhausting by Mikaella Clements and Onjuli Datta $2.99! I mentioned this one on a previous Get Rec’d for hardcover romance readers, though now it’s out in paperback. Lots of tropes here – fake dating, celebrities, and friends to lovers
Daisy Jones and the Six meets Crazy Rich Asians in this escapist, swoon-worthy debut novel of a famous actress embroiled in a fake tabloid romance, confronting the challenges of being a woman of color in Hollywood and the notion that she might actually be in love.
Faking a love story is a whole lot easier than being in love . . .
The world can see that international A-list actress Whitman (“Win”) Tagore and jet-setting playboy Leo Milanowski are made for each other. Their kisses start Twitter trends and their fights break the internet. From red carpet appearances to Met Gala mishaps, their on-again, off-again romance has titillated the public and the press for almost a decade. But it’s all a lie.As a woman of color, Win knows the Hollywood deck is stacked against her, so she’s perfected the art of controlling her public persona. Whenever she nears scandal, she calls in Leo, with his endearingly reckless attitude, for a staged date. Each public display of affection shifts the headlines back in Win’s favor, and Leo uses the good press to draw attention away from his dysfunctional family.
But pretending to be in a passionate romance can only lead to one thing . . . trouble. So instead they settle for friendship, with a side of sky-rocketing chemistry. Except this time, on the French Riviera, something is off. A shocking secret in Leo’s past sets Win’s personal and professional lives on a catastrophic collision course. Behind the scenes of their yacht-trips and PDA, the world’s favorite couple is at each other’s throats. Now they must finally confront the many truths and lies of their relationship, and Win is forced to consider what is more important: a rising career, or a risky shot at real love?
THE VIEW WAS EXHAUSTING is a funny, whip-smart modern love story set against the backdrop of exotic locales and the realities of being a woman of color in a world run by men.
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The Trouble with Love by Lauren Layne is $1.99! This is the fourth book in her Stiletto series and features a Southern belle heroine turned Manhattan “ice queen.” The heroine is also the hero’s former fiancee. I believe this is a new cover and it definitely has Cover Snark qualities.
As Lauren Layne’s salacious Sex, Love & Stiletto series returns, a jaded columnist discovers a steamy way to get over an old flame: falling for him all over again.
As Stiletto magazine’s authority on all things breakup-and-heartache, Emma Sinclair writes from personal experience. Five years ago, Emma was Charlotte, North Carolina’s darling debutante and a blushing bride-to-be. Now she’s the ice queen of the Manhattan dating scene. Emma left her sultry Southern drawl behind, but not even her closest friends know that with it she left her heart. Now Emma’s latest article forces her to face her demons—namely, the devilishly sexy guy who ditched her at the altar.
After giving up everything for a pro-soccer career, Alex Cassidy watches his dreams crumble as a knee injury sidelines him for good. Now he’s hanging up his cleats and giving journalism a shot. It’s just a coincidence that he happens to pick a job in the same field, and the same city, as his former fiancée . . . right? But when Emma moves in next door, it’s no accident. It’s research. And Alex can’t help wondering what might have been. Unlike the innocent girl he remembers, this Emma is chic, sophisticated, and assertive—and she wants absolutely nothing to do with him. The trouble is, Alex has never wanted her more.
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The Siren by Katherine St. John is $2.99! This one is a mystery novel. Elyse loved St. John’s first book, but be warned that despite the fun colorful cover, these are pretty dark.
From Katherine St. John, author of The Lion’s Den, comes another sublimely escapist thriller: When dangerously handsome megastar Cole Power hires his ex-wife Stella Rivers to play opposite him in his son’s film, he sparks a firestorm on an isolated island that will unearth long-buried secrets–and unravel years of lies.
In the midst of a sizzling hot summer, some of Hollywood’s most notorious faces are assembled on the idyllic Caribbean island of St. Genesius to film The Siren. Written and directed by Cole Power’s son, the thriller promises to entice audiences with its sultry storyline and intimately connected cast.
Three very different women arrive on set, each with her own motive. Stella, an infamously unstable actress, is struggling to reclaim the career she lost in the wake of multiple, very public breakdowns. Taylor, a fledgling producer, is anxious to work on a film she hopes will turn her career around after her last job ended in scandal. And Felicity, Stella’s mysterious new assistant, harbors designs of her own that threaten to upend all their plans.
With a hurricane brewing offshore, each woman finds herself trapped on the island, united against a common enemy. But as deceptions come to light, misplaced trust may prove more perilous than the storm itself.
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Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff is $1.99! This book has been recommended by a couple readers in the comments around the site. It’s about a couple who breaks up before the planet is destroyed. The entire book is told, epistolary-style, through texts, emails, and other documents. Some people found the epistolary format rather annoying, while others highly recommend it on audiobook. Have you read it?
This morning, Kady thought breaking up with Ezra was the hardest thing she’d have to do.
This afternoon, her planet was invaded.
The year is 2575, and two rival megacorporations are at war over a planet that’s little more than an ice-covered speck at the edge of the universe. Too bad nobody thought to warn the people living on it. With enemy fire raining down on them, Kady and Ezra—who are barely even talking to each other—are forced to fight their way onto an evacuating fleet, with an enemy warship in hot pursuit.
But their problems are just getting started. A deadly plague has broken out and is mutating, with terrifying results; the fleet’s AI, which should be protecting them, may actually be their enemy; and nobody in charge will say what’s really going on. As Kady hacks into a tangled web of data to find the truth, it’s clear only one person can help her bring it all to light: the ex-boyfriend she swore she’d never speak to again.
Told through a fascinating dossier of hacked documents—including emails, schematics, military files, IMs, medical reports, interviews, and more—Illuminae is the first book in a heart-stopping, high-octane trilogy about lives interrupted, the price of truth, and the courage of everyday heroes.
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I love Illluminae, but I’m sucker for epistolary novels. I read almost everything Amie Kaufman writes and b/c it tends to be fun space opera with a dollop of romance and not tons of angst. I actually really enjoyed this wholes series as audiobooks with a full cast.
I love Illuminae and recommend it to all, but I would have severe concerns as to whether or not that book can be represented well in Kindle/ebook format. Literally I’ve had to open my hardback copy and rotate that book around to read everything they have in the ASCII drawings that take up two full pages of the book.
I had a hard time reading Illuminae–I really hated that every other page seemed to be a different character or different media depiction, but I LOVED it as an audiobook. The full cast was great and really worked in the whole series. I have listened to a bunch of Amie Kaufman’s stuff since and I have enjoyed them all
Exactly what Jennifer says. Illuminae is a great book. But I tried to read it on Kindle and it does not work in that format. At least not for me.
Another hand raised in enthusiastic support of ILLUMINAE and the entire series. Although I am a dedicated digital reader, a physical book is better here. I wouldn’t, however, miss the book if digital is the only option; still worth it. Audio, too.
I loved THE VIEW WAS EXHAUSTING. My notes say this was a really clever book about fame, perception, gender, and race. Win struggles to have a perfect public image in order to give directors and producers no excuse for not casting her, but this lands her in impossible situations with her private life. Leo is white, wealthy, and aimless, sailing along on his white male privilege.
The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea by Maggie Tokuda-Hall is $0.99, Squee review: https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/reviews/the-mermaid-the-witch-and-the-sea-by-maggie-tokukda-hall/
Jade Lee’s Lords of the Masquerade series is free or $.99:
– Lord Lucifer is free
– Lord Satyr, Lord Ares, Lord Scot, Lady Scot, and Almost a Scot are all $.99.
Three of Sybil Bartel’s uber alphas are $.99:
– Romeo, Thrust, and Shameless
I think @DiscoDollyDeb has enjoyed some of Ms Bartel’s work.
@flchen1: yes, I do like Bartel’s work—but the heroes are indeed uber-alphas (however, the heroines—despite liking to be dominated in bed—don’t take shit and tend to take the hero down a peg or two). Her books are romantic-suspense, and do feature lots of weaponry and massive exchanges of firepower with really bad guys; so tread carefully if that would be upsetting for you.