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Verity and the Forbidden Suitor
Verity and the Forbidden Suitor by J.J. McAvoy is $1.99! This is book two in the DuBells series and Shana gave it a B-:
Verity and the Forbidden Suitor is not a stand alone book, y’all. I started reading and immediately flailed in a sea of characters that I might have cared about if I’d read the first book in the series. I was annoyed, but the book eventually settled down into an unabashedly romantic, and slightly gothic, story set in a racially mixed nobility reminiscent of Bridgerton.
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The Other Lady Vanishes
The Other Lady Vanishes by Amanda Quick is $2.99! This is the second book in the Burning Cove series. This is a historical mystery set in 1930s California and has a romance. It can be read on its own. Have you read this one or any other books in the series?
The New York Times bestselling author of The Girl Who Knew Too Much sweeps readers back to 1930s California–where the most dazzling of illusions can’t hide the darkest secrets…
After escaping from a private sanitarium, Adelaide Blake arrives in Burning Cove, California, desperate to start over.
Working at an herbal tea shop puts her on the radar of those who frequent the seaside resort town: Hollywood movers and shakers always in need of hangover cures and tonics. One such customer is Jake Truett, a recently widowed businessman in town for a therapeutic rest. But unbeknownst to Adelaide, his exhaustion is just a cover.
In Burning Cove, no one is who they seem. Behind facades of glamour and power hide drug dealers, gangsters, and grifters. Into this make-believe world comes psychic to the stars Madame Zolanda. Adelaide and Jake know better than to fall for her kind of con. But when the medium becomes a victim of her own dire prediction and is killed, they’ll be drawn into a murky world of duplicity and misdirection.
Neither Adelaide or Jake can predict that in the shadowy underground they’ll find connections to the woman Adelaide used to be–and uncover the specter of a killer who’s been real all along…
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Arsenic and Adobo
Arsenic and Adobo by Mia P. Manansala is $1.99! This is book one in the cozy foodie mystery A Tita Rosie’s Kitchen Mystery series. Sarah was rather disappointed by this one and gave it C-. Did you read it? What did you think?
The first book in a new culinary cozy series full of sharp humor and delectable dishes—one that might just be killer….
When Lila Macapagal moves back home to recover from a horrible breakup, her life seems to be following all the typical rom-com tropes. She’s tasked with saving her Tita Rosie’s failing restaurant, and she has to deal with a group of matchmaking aunties who shower her with love and judgment. But when a notoriously nasty food critic (who happens to be her ex-boyfriend) drops dead moments after a confrontation with Lila, her life quickly swerves from a Nora Ephron romp to an Agatha Christie case.
With the cops treating her like she’s the one and only suspect, and the shady landlord looking to finally kick the Macapagal family out and resell the storefront, Lila’s left with no choice but to conduct her own investigation. Armed with the nosy auntie network, her barista best bud, and her trusted Dachshund, Longanisa, Lila takes on this tasty, twisted case and soon finds her own neck on the chopping block…
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The Love Con
The Love Con by Seressia Glass is $4.99! This is a little higher than deals we typically feature, but I haven’t seen it on sale before and wanted to feature it at a discount. This one has cosplay, friends to lovers, and all sorts of nerdery.
He’s cosplaying as her boyfriend but their feelings for each other are real in this romantic comedy from Seressia Glass.
Sometimes Kenya Davenport believes she was switched at the hospital–how else could a lover of anime, gaming, and cosplay come from STEM parents? Still, Kenya dreams of being able to turn her creative hobby into a career. She finally has a chance to make it big when she joins the reality show competition Cosplay or No Way.
There’s just one catch: the challenge for the final round is all about iconic pairs, and the judges want the contestants’ significant others to participate. Unfortunately, Kenya is as single as can be at the moment. Luckily her best friend, Cameron Lassiter, agrees to be her fake boyfriend for the show.
Roleplaying a couple in love will force them to explore what they’re hiding under the mask of friendship. Can Kenya and Cam fake it until she makes it, or will she be real about her feelings, knowing it could cost her the best friend she’s ever had?
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I liked all of these, but I feel like people are really sleeping on the Quick series; it’s a fun little noir-y set of murder mysteries set in and around Hollywood. Just fantastic stuff.
Quick/Krentz/Castle was my gateway romance author-my first historical, the one that got me hooked, was Dangerous by Amanda Quick. The paperback cover has a bonkers stepback that I wish I’d kept.
Having read this author over the years, I will say she gets repetitive. At this point it’s like there is a bowl of stock character traits, themes, etc that you she draws from and writes a novel around. Which is fine when I am wanting something familiar! Fully admit I continue to buy her new books when they go on sale. Just keep in mind it will always be a woman who doesn’t quite fit the mold, a world weary man who is possibly mysterious in some way and is definitely misperceived (he’s not a criminal/villain/dangerous/cold unfeeling bastard! she can just tell), both with more or less traumatic backstories, possibly a quirky pet (cat/dog/dust bunny), a mystery and/or murder, paranormal elements (mild or strong, depending on the world), sequel bait friends, and culturally homogeneous characters. Generally there is a strong family or found family theme (we take care of our own/each other). Often the setting is the Pacific Northwest (or fictional analog) or other west coast/coastal vibe.
FWIW, I do like the noir setting of the Burning Cove series – it is squarely in her romantic suspense wheelhouse.
i agree with @penny but i think i find this more of a feature, not a bug, lol. instant comfort read, i always know exactly what i am getting, and i particularly enjoy the way she has slowly just given up on having burning cove be separate from the other low-key paranormal stuff (i.e., arcane society) and let it all bleed together. i re-read these all the time just to unwind and turn my brain off. (can i tell them apart? not always!
lol) viva la jayne-verse!!
“Sometimes Kenya Davenport believes she was switched at the hospital–how else could a lover of anime, gaming, and cosplay come from STEM…”
If authors don’t understand nerd culture they shouldn’t write about it. Nerds and geeks love anime, gaming and consolation. This conflict is not necessary.
Cosplay.
$.99:
– Heroine Complex by Sarah Kuhn
– The Lyon’s Perfect Mate: The Lyon’s Den Connected World by Cerise Deland
Free:
– Saving the Sheriff (The Hills of Texas Book 1) by Kadie Scott
– The Lyon’s Share: The Lyon’s Den Connected World by Cerise Deland
Really enjoying the discussion about Jayne Ann Krentz. I really enjoy her books! And it doesn’t seem to matter in terms of genre. She just gets the job done! It’s probably true that she might favor certain types of stories/characters but I just throw one in occasionally so I don’t notice it. I just read her latest in the Harmony series, having read nothing in the series before, and I was amazed how this strange science fiction world was such a comfort read. My gateway book was Ravished. Chef’s kiss.
Exactly what I was thinking,FlikChik. All of my STEM friends are into one or more of anime, gaming, and cosplay. Now my parents had PHDs in economics and child psychology. (I mean, each of them had one of those degrees. They didn’t both have both.) The closest they came to gaming was bridge.
@devra I think you are right! That it is a feature not a bug… Also enjoy that realistically there is one giant AU that all her books probably exist in… Did you ever read the St. Helens trilogy? I like to think that it is in the same universe as the Harmony books, just a different world that was cut off from Earth at the same time…
@Lynn S: Ravished! I remember her historicals in the 90s were all like, triplets of books with single word titles starting with the same letter… not connected but sort of grouped together? Rendezvous, Reckless, Ravished… Deception, Dangerous, Desire…
I will always have a soft spot in my heart and space on my shelf for JAK/AQ (unless of course it turns out she is a terrible human being, but I feel like that is improbable).
The discussion of JAK repeated tropes reminds me that I once made a Google Docs list of Mary Balogh Tropes, lol.
She hits the same stuff a LOT. From general things like settings in Cornwall and Wales and side characters with Down Syndrome to phrases/ideas that come up often to very specific scenarios like “struggling heroine with a well-meaning but oblivious younger brother who doesn’t realize she needs help until the hero gives him a stern talking to, leading him to finally realize the error of his ways and step up to help her.” (I can think of at least 3 or 4 of these off the top of my head!)
But of course the *reason* I spot all of her frequently used tropes is because she’s probably my most re-read author by a good margin and her books are my go-to comfort reads!
Knowing what you’re getting is a big part of being a comfort read.
@Penny I listened to an interview with JAK on the Fated Mates podcast and it all pointed toward her being a lovely person! So read away, no worries!
Jayne Ann Krentz is the author who got me to read contemporary romance and then paranormal romance. I started out with Johanna Lindsey (“Defy Not the Heart” because my Mom had a copy I saw on vacation in the 1990s, with Fabio on the cover) as my first romance. After finishing all her books, I looked for other historical romance and found Amanda Quick. Again, read them all. Then I found out that Amanda Quick was really JAK. I figured if I liked her writing style in historical, it might be okay in contemporary also. This was a big leap for me since “contemporary romance” meant Danielle Steel to me and that didn’t interest me at all. I did enjoy her contemporaries and then found out she was also Jayne Castle. So I now have read all of her books and eagerly await the new ones. I think because I’ve been reading her so long and read so much (a book a day basically), I don’t notice any repetition.
Also, I met her a a book signing at a mystery bookstore in San Mateo California (when I lived there in the 1990s) and she is a wonderful person. And I have written to her over the years and received a response. She does funny interviews with her author-friends, such as Christina Dodd, that are posted.
Anyway, if I had to recommend a romance author to someone, I would recommend JAK in any and all of her genres.
(I know I’m late to this party but my mind was kind of involved with Idalia the last couple of days and I’m just getting back into my groove. I live just north of Tampa and we fortunately did not have any issues except for lots of wind and rain.)
@Lynn S – I am so relieved to hear that! I mean she (JAK) seems like a good human being based on her writing but one never knows! Aargh, I keep meaning to listen to that podcast but it keeps falling further down the queue… my podcast to be listened stack is getting to be as big as my TBR…
@Karen H near Tampa – love to hear she (JAK) seems lovely in person and responds to reader mail! Also glad to hear you didn’t experience a huge impact from Idalia!