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Rebel
RECOMMENDED: Rebel by Beverly Jenkins is $1.99! Claudia wrote a guest review for this one before coming onboard. She gave it a B+:
One of the greatest joys of reading this book was seeing Val reconnecting with her inner hellion, and starting to believe she too could experience a great love.
The first novel in USA Today Bestselling Author Beverly Jenkins’ compelling new series follows a Northern woman south in the chaotic aftermath of the Civil War…
Valinda Lacey’s mission in the steamy heart of New Orleans is to help the newly emancipated community survive and flourish. But soon she discovers that here, freedom can also mean danger. When thugs destroy the school she has set up and then target her, Valinda runs for her life—and straight into the arms of Captain Drake LeVeq.
As an architect from an old New Orleans family, Drake has a deeply personal interest in rebuilding the city. Raised by strong women, he recognizes Valinda’s determination. And he can’t stop admiring—or wanting—her. But when Valinda’s father demands she return home to marry a man she doesn’t love, her daring rebellion draws Drake into an irresistible intrigue.
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Circling Back to You
Circling Back to You by Julie Tieu is $1.99! This is a contemporary romance with friends to lovers, a workplace setting, and fake dating. Have any of you read this one?
Julie Tieu, an exciting new and diverse voice in contemporary romance, returns with a hilarious and sexy new novel about colleagues who decide to take their relationship outside the office.
Cadence Lim has transformed from behind-the-scenes number cruncher to an integral part of the sales team at Prism Realty. But despite moving up the corporate ladder, her complicated relationship with her estranged elderly father weighs heavily and she can’t seem to shake the desire for a new beginning.
At least Cadence can always lean on her favorite co-worker and co-conspirator, Matt Escanilla. A top broker with an unsuccessful love life, the forever single Matt is constantly being nagged by his loving Filipino family to settle down.
Their relationship takes a turn when a business trip lands them both in their hometown and Matt enlists Cadence as a pretend girlfriend for a family gathering. The new after-hours setting forces the two friends to see each other in a new light, and their previously buried feelings rise quickly to the surface. When competing promotions threaten to separate Cadence and Matt, these office besties must work together to round up their ambitions and families to pursue their overdue romance.
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Witcha Gonna Do?
Witcha Gonna Do? by Avery Flynn is $1.99! This was mentioned on both Cover Awe and Hide Your Wallet. I remember being curious about this one, but saw some middling reviews. Have any of you read this one?
An unlucky witch and her know-it-all nemesis must team up in the first of a new, hot romantic comedy series from USA Today bestselling author Avery Flynn.
Could it possibly get any worse than having absolutely no magical abilities when you’re a member of the most powerful family of witches ever? It used to be that I’d say no, but then I keep getting set up on dates with Gil Connolly whose hotness is only matched by his ego. Seriously. I can’t stand him. Even if I also can’t stop thinking about him (specifically kissing him) but we’re going to pretend I never told you that part.
So yeah, my life isn’t the greatest right now, but then it goes straight to the absolute worst hell when I accidentally make my sister’s spell glitch and curse my whole family. And the only person who can help non-magical me break the spell? You guessed it. Gil the super hot jerk.
Now we have to work together to save my family and outmaneuver some evil-minded nefarious forces bent on world domination. Oh yeah, and we have to do all that while fighting against the attraction building between us because I may not be magical, but what’s happening between Gil and I sure feels like it.
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The Lord of Stariel
RECOMMENDED: The Lord of Stariel by AJ Lancaster is $2.49! Ellen gave it an A:
I adored this book and I NEEDED to tell the Bitchery about it. This is a whimsical, fun, sweet fantasy mystery with wonderful characters and a healthy dollop of romance.
The Lord of Stariel is dead. Long live the Lord of Stariel. Whoever that is.
Everyone knows who the magical estate will choose for its next ruler. Or do they?
Will it be the lord’s eldest son, who he despised?
His favourite nephew, with the strongest magical land-sense?
His scandalous daughter, who ran away from home years ago to study illusion?
Hetta knows it won’t be her, and she’s glad of it. Returning home for her father’s funeral, all Hetta has to do is survive the family drama and avoid entanglements with irritatingly attractive local men until the Choosing. Then she can leave.
But whoever Stariel chooses will have bigger problems than eccentric relatives to deal with.
Winged, beautifully deadly problems.
For the first time in centuries, the fae are returning to the Mortal Realm, and only the Lord of Stariel can keep the estate safe.
In theory.
The Lord of Stariel is the first book in the Stariel quartet.
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I liked Circling Back to You, but Tieu’s upcoming novel is leagues better than it. Witcha Gonna Do? is IMO, a hair mediocre. Get Rebel if you can!
If anyone read the link to Tor’s breakdown of witch romances, Witcha Gonna Do is definitely in line with that critique. I’ll also say that (fingers crossed the spoiler tags work):
Definitely grabbing the Beverly Jenkins. I bought a couple of hers (FORBIDDEN and TEMPEST) ages ago on recommendations from here, but had never gotten around to reading them until this week and she’s immediately gone on my favorites list and I’ve got several more from the library ready to read!
Westerns aren’t always my thing, but I occasionally get in the mood and it can be hard to find (or at least, not being super familiar with the genre, I don’t know where to look for) ones that aren’t varying degrees of problematic about the Civil War (quite a few I’ve read just casually mention & then skim right over the hero having fought for the Confederacy??) or race or Native Americans. Hers handle all of those things and others so well, and the author’s notes at the end had a lot more interesting background too!
The Stariel series is amazing and everyone should read it at their earliest convenience.
Ooh, I loved the LORD OF STARIEL. I devoured the entire series in about a week—they are lots of fun and there’s also a fifth book (A RAKE OF HIS OWN) that’s set in the same world but which can be read as a stand-alone. If you read the description or the review and think, “that sounds like something I might like,” definitely grab it.
The Tor breakdown of the witch romances managed to absolutely nail the problem I have with so many American small town romances – they only work by ignoring the wider background of US history. I love WELCOME TO TEMPTATION, I absolutely love it, but I re-read it recently and couldn’t shake the suspicion that the cast is entirely white because it was probably a sun-down town.
I live in a historic small town right now (under 1000 pop.), and it has a hell of a history which isn’t on any of the official signs. The pretty historic school here was segregated. The library was also segregated, although a Black man maintained and repaired the books. The new elementary is named after the guy who fought the desegregation of the library. After the war, the freed black community had to build on the other side of the railway lines, downwind of the town’s only factory and coal fires, and were forced to fund their own one-room school, on land donated by John Brown’s son. Nothing of this community now remains except the name, and a tiny nineteenth century church; their old dwellings are covered with 1990s McMansions. The Emancipation celebration field now has a modern church sprawling on it. During Jim Crow, a thirteen year old boy from this town was lynched in the county capital down the road, but there’s no memorial to him here. The restaurant on the main street was used as a Ku Klux Klan meeting room. And the only reason I know any of this stuff is because I have a history degree, time to research, and also, a bad case of incurable nosiness. Certainly the old timers I chat to about the good old days never mention any of it.
If you’re inventing a small American town in which history plays a significant role for your protagonist’s dilemma, but you leave out THIS kind of history, its very absence raises questions.
Has anyone read/heard of MY QUEENDOM FOR A HORSE (The Russian Witch’s Curse Book #1) by Bridget E. Baker? It’s .99 at Amazon US and UK today and I’m intrigued by the idea of a horse shapeshifter in Ireland no less. The author owns horses herself and reviews say that knowledge is a bonus. I’ll buy it anyway, just another book that I’d never encountered.
@Tam: Thank you, for digging and being incurably nosy.
I love cozy witch romances because I am a wimp and don’t enjoy horror. Finally I have something to enjoy during Halloween season that I don’t dread. I really enjoyed Erin Sterling’s series (The Ex Hex & The Kiss Curse) and I am looking forward to the third book (it’s listed on Amazon as a preorder but I haven’t seen any publicity so I am unsure if it’s being released on schedule). What I got out of the Tor article is we need more witchy cozies! Let them branch out and explore different aspects of American culture. I have already heard of one such book: Full Moon Over Freedom by Angelina Lopez. Really looking forward to it. I would love to hear more suggestions, something the article didn’t do at all. My opinion is this sub genre is here to stay. I think it’s fine to say what’s lacking and can be improved upon. But I did snap up the Avery Flynn.
Currently free (previously recommended by the B*tchery):
– Fee Simple Conditional (Arcadia Chronicles Book 1) by H.C. Helfand
$.99:
– Clear and Convincing Evidence (Arcadia Chronicles Book 2) by H. C. Helfand
– Bundled Up (Portland Heat) by Annabeth Albert — includes first three stories: Served Hot, Baked Fresh, and Delivered Fast
$1.99:
– Ribbons of Scarlet: A Novel of the French Revolution’s Women by Kate Quinn, Stephanie Dray
currently free:
– Komal Needs London by Sookh Kaur
$.99:
– Dance of the Heart: Greek Gods, Fated mates, and Love worth dying for… (The Muse Chronicles Book 6) by Lisa Kessler
“ what’s happening between Gil and I”
Grammatical errors in the blurb make this book a big NO for me.
I’ve been meaning to read Ms. Bev’s REBEL (Women Who Dare). Thanks for the reminder!
Late to the party but Circling Back to You was a solid DNF for me and I would love to save other people the disappointment. Matt is really terrible and self-centred in a way that doesn’t actually get resolved by the book and I really disliked how he treated Cadence the entire way through. She deserved so much better than him.