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New Adult
New Adult by by Timothy Janovsky is $3.34 at Amazon! It doesn’t appear to be on sale for elsewhere. I wasn’t a huge fan of this one as I felt the main character to be pretty unsympathetic but your mileage may vary!
Nolan Baker longs to be “thirty, flirty and thriving” in this charmingly quirky LGBTQIA+ romance that’s one part 13 Going on 30 and one part One Last Stop.
WHY CAN’T WE SKIP TO THE GOOD PART?
Twenty-three-year-old Nolan Baker wants it all by the time he’s thirty. Too bad he’s single, barely able to cover his own expenses, and still paying his dues at a prominent NYC comedy club. When faced with his perfect sister’s wedding, Nolan takes it as a wakeup call. It’s time to quit comedy and make good on his practical dreams—most importantly, asking Drew Techler, his best friend, to be his date.
But right as Nolan is about to give it all up, he’s asked to fill a last-minute spot for a famous comedian. Score! He crushes his set, but stands Drew up, misses his sister’s big day, and disappoints his entire family. After major blowouts with everyone he loves, Nolan desperately wishes on a set of gift “magical healing crystals” to skip to the good part of life. When he wakes the next morning, it’s seven years later, he’s a successful comedian, and he has everything he always thought he wanted. Everything, that is, except his friends and family, none of whom are taking his future self’s calls.
With nowhere else to turn, Nolan sets out to find the only person he trusts to help. Except Drew is all grown up now, too. He’s hot, successful…and hates Nolan’s guts. As Nolan works to get back to his younger self—and the life he so carelessly threw away—he’ll have to prove he’s not the man everyone thinks they know in order to regain Drew’s trust, friendship, and maybe, ultimately, his heart.
While part of a series, this book stands alone.
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Doing Time
Doing Time by Jodi Taylor is 99c! This is book one in her spin-off series, The Time Police. Taylor has been recommended previously on the site for her Chronicles of St. Mary’s books. I’m unsure if you need to be familiar with those to read this one. If you know, chime in!
Introducing The Time Police, the brand-new series by international bestselling author, Jodi Taylor – an irresistible spinoff from the much-loved Chronicles of St Mary’s series. Perfect reading for fans of Doctor Who, Ben Aaronovitch and Jasper Fforde.
A long time ago in the future, the secret of time travel became known to all. Everyone seized the opportunity – and the world nearly ended. There will always be idiots who want to change history.
And so, the Time Police were formed. An all-powerful, international organisation tasked with keeping the timeline straight. At all costs.
Their success is legendary, and the Time Wars are over. But now the Time Police must fight to save a very different future – their own.
This is the story of Jane, Luke and Matthew – arguably the worst recruits in Time Police history. Or, very possibly, three young people who might just change everything.
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Let’s Talk About Love
RECOMMENDED: Let’s Talk About Love by Claire Kann is $2.99! It has an asexual heroine and Carrie gave the book a B+:
This book does a great job of discussing asexuality and different forms it can take, as well as other common problems that students have. There is an appropriate amount of ramen. The romance is very sweet.
Striking a perfect balance between heartfelt emotions and spot-on humor, this debut features a pop-culture enthusiast protagonist with an unforgettable voice sure to resonate with readers.
Alice had her whole summer planned. Nonstop all-you-can-eat buffets while marathoning her favorite TV shows (best friends totally included) with the smallest dash of adulting—working at the library to pay her share of the rent. The only thing missing from her perfect plan? Her girlfriend (who ended things when Alice confessed she’s asexual). Alice is done with dating—no thank you, do not pass go, stick a fork in her, done.
But then Alice meets Takumi and she can’t stop thinking about him or the rom com-grade romance feels she did not ask for (uncertainty, butterflies, and swoons, oh my!).
When her blissful summer takes an unexpected turn and Takumi becomes her knight with a shiny library-employee badge (close enough), Alice has to decide if she’s willing to risk their friendship for a love that might not be reciprocated—or understood.
Claire Kann’s debut novel Let’s Talk About Love, chosen by readers like you for Macmillan’s young adult imprint Swoon Reads, gracefully explores the struggle with emerging adulthood and the complicated line between friendship and what it might mean to be something more.
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The “I Do” Dilemma
RECOMMENDED: The “I Do” Dilemma by Jayci Lee is $1.99! This one was previously titled Temporary Wife Temptation. Lara recently wrote a Lightning Review of this one and gave it an A-:
There’s a reason I’m mad about tropes. I like to follow a familiar groove, one that hits all the emotional high points that I need. While these old favourites feel slightly stiff in places, overall, it was just the kind of emotional rollercoaster I love being on.
A read-in-one-sitting, fast-paced Rom Com.
Oprah Magazine recommended as one of the Best Romance Novels We Couldn’t Put Down in 2020!Resolute bachelor Garrett Song’s single-minded focus on business is about to pay off. He’s this close to taking the reins of his family’s L.A. fashion empire. But his family is throwing up a roadblock: Marry the Korean heiress they handpicked for him or lose the CEO seat. To foil the plan, he needs a fake bride, fast. As if on cue, Natalie Sobol enters his office, reading him the riot act about breaking company rules…dare he pop the question?
Talk about breaking the rules. Natalie can’t believe her ears when the big boss proposes—and she says, “I do”! Where the heck did that come from? Sure, Natalie needs to show she can provide a stable home to keep custody of her adorable orphaned niece, and adding a husband to the picture, even temporarily will make her case. She’ll benefit from a fake marriage as much as he does. But there’s one hitch: the spark between them. Will red-hot chemistry burn their bargain?
Previously published as Temporary Wife Temptation in 2020.
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I would advise reading the St. Mary’s series either before or with Time Police. There’s a lot of overlap, and knowing the backstory helps make sense of what’s going on. I just finished a full re-read of both series and went in publication order, pulling the Time Police in at the correct time by publication date.
Again, ALLLLL the trigger warnings.
Boy, howdy. I tried the Chronicles of St. Mary’s series. Someone had compared it to Thursday Next which did not AT ALL prepare me for how grimdark it was. I was expecting fun lighthearted capers with some dark elements, which it absolutely was NOT. Is the first book just an outlier, or are they all that dark?
I enjoyed Jayci Lee’s book and went to look hoping they were all on sale, but just the first one (I recommend 🙂
I have also just binge=read all of the St Mary’s Chronicles, followed by the Time Police series. There were times when I was laughing out loud and at others bawling. I studied History at university and these books made me think about history in a different but good way. They were definitely funny and there were delightful little digs about the people who have made up the British isles and some of our more peculiar habits. Light-hearted but thought-provoking. I will never think about the Siege of Troy in the same way again! Funniest takeaway-Homer was a bloody good historian but a terrible war reporter!
@taffygrrl: Hard same. I was not prepared and DNF’d the first around 75% because nope.
Free:
Beth Bolden’s The Rivalry–excellent m/m football
@Floating Lush, thank you for making me feel less alone! @RachelK’s “lighthearted” description is what I have seen in several places and it leaves me wondering if there’s another edition of the book, because what I read was about as lighthearted as Black Sails minus all the Jack Rackham bits.
@taffygrrl and Floating Lush – I completely agree! I’m glad it’s not just me; I enjoyed the first one up until it all got waaaaay darker than I had been expecting. The blurb and all reviews/marketing I’d seen promised fun, humorous time-travel shenanigans…which really didn’t feel like what I got. After that I noped out of the series because I felt really ambushed by it. I’m not even particularly sensitive irl to the specific issues that happened [trying not to be spoilery], and it was still enough to completely put me off. I don’t see myself reading more by this author, even though the history and time-travel elements should be right up my street.
@BethB you’re my new best friend! “Ambushed” is right. You articulated exactly what I was feeling.
I’m with you taffygrrl, Floating Lush and BethB, if that one thing hadn’t happened I might have continued, but that it not only happened, but didn’t seem to have any repercussions? No, just NO!
@Jazzlet et al, for me it’s that it happens (all of it, whatever CW/TW we’re collectively and individually referring to here) and that no one ever mentions it when they talk about the series??? Like, people can enjoy whatever they want, I’m all for that, but you’ve got to let people *know* so they aren’t, as mentioned, ambushed. I felt betrayed and let down, because it was not at all what I was led to believe, either by the blurb or by people I know who recommended it, the series was. 🙁
@Jazzlet That’s what ultimately turned me off of them. Something grim & dark would happen and it would be reversed & forgotten about by the end of the book
$1.99:
– One Scandalous Season: Four Holiday Novellas
by Grace Burrowes, Elizabeth Hoyt, Jennifer Haymore, Christina Britton
– Immortal Rider (Four Horsemen Book 2) by Larissa Ione
$2.99:
– While Justice Sleeps: A Thriller (Avery Keene Book 1) by Stacey Abrams
– Slow Horses (Slough House Book 1) by Mick Herron
$3.00:
– Wings Once Cursed & Bound (Mythwoven Book 1) by Piper J. Drake
$3.99:
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Dolly Parton, Songteller: My Life in Lyrics
by Dolly Parton, Robert K. Oermann
I read TEMPORARY WIFE TEMPTATION when it first came out, and my reaction was just meh. They pretty much spend all their time mentally lusting after each other, and after a while that’s just not enough to make the characters or the book worthwhile, although, as always, YMMV. But at least the original book had a gorgeous cover with gorgeous people (looking at them I could understand some of the lusting) while the current cover is boring even for a cartoon cover.
@Susan/DC that was my first thought too. The original cover was lush and gorgeous. I do remember it more than the plot of the book itself…
Also, for the Chronicles of St. Marys, l don’t know how to do spoiler tags but if anyone knows of a review that lists out the triggers for that series, please link it, because I likewise had to drop out hard at the reveal of the event in the main character of book one’s backstory and the only place I’ve ever seen it come up is the comments section here. I tried a few of the later books and had the same issue that was mentioned above. Horrible things, no reckoning with them. Really not what l call light and fun.
Thank you @dreamingintrees for answering that question I asked early in the thread as to whether they are all that dark! Clearly I won’t be touching this series again with a ten foot pole. (Which is not meant to yuck anyone’s yum – other people can feel free to enjoy them! But they would clearly be too dark for me.)