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A Perilous Undertaking
RECOMMENDED: A Perilous Undertaking by Deanna Raybourn is $2.99 as a KDD today! This is book two in the Veronica Speedwell series and I LOVE THIS SERIES. I’ve listened to it one after the other. I reviewed this one and gave it a B, and wrote, “the series is a sizable amount of fun if you like historical mysteries, fearless and intelligent heroines who take negative-zero crap from anyone, characters who embrace sarcasm, adventure and nefarious plotting, and taciturn but brilliant heroes with simmering sexual tension.”
Veronica Speedwell returns in a brand new adventure from Deanna Raybourn, the New York Times bestselling author of the Lady Julia Grey mysteries…
London, 1887 . . Victorian adventuress and butterfly hunter Veronica Speedwell receives an invitation to visit the Curiosity Club, a ladies-only establishment for daring and intrepid women. There she meets the mysterious Lady Sundridge, who begs her to take on an impossible task saving society art patron Miles Ramsforth from execution. Accused of the brutal murder of his artist mistress Artemisia, Ramsforth will face the hangman’s noose in a week s time if Veronica cannot find the real killer.
But Lady Sundridge is not all that she seems and unmasking her true identity is only the first of the many secrets Veronica must uncover. Together with her natural historian colleague Stoker, Veronica races against time to find the true murderer a ruthless villain who not only took Artemisia s life in cold blood but is happy to see Ramsforth hang for the crime.
From a Bohemian artists colony to a royal palace to a subterranean grotto with a decadent history, the investigation proves to be a very perilous undertaking indeed….
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The Work of Art
RECOMMENDED: The Work of Art by Mimi Matthews is free today! Mimi Matthews has been a guest on the podcast in episodes 574 and 598, where we talked about “Historical Romances for Horse Girls.” The last time we featured The Work of Art, many of you commented positively about her work. TinaNoir said, “Work of Art was the first Mimi Matthews book I ever read and I loved it. Prompted me to check out her back list,” and SusanH said,”I love Mimi Matthews. She’s great for those who like their historical romance to feel very grounded in the era.” Have you read this one?
An Uncommon Beauty…
Hidden away in rural Devonshire, Phyllida Satterthwaite has always been considered more odd than beautiful. But in London, her oddity has made her a sensation. Far worse, it’s caught the eye of the sinister Duke of Moreland — a notorious art collector obsessed with acquiring one-of-a-kind treasures. To escape the duke’s clutches, she’s going to need a little help.An Unlikely Hero…
Captain Arthur Heywood’s days of heroism are long past. Grievously injured in the Peninsular War, he can no longer walk unaided, let alone shoot a pistol. What use can he possibly be to a damsel in distress? He has nothing left to offer except his good name.Can a marriage of convenience save Philly from the vengeful duke? Or will life with Arthur put her — and her heart — in more danger than ever?
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The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea
RECOMMENDED: The Mermaid, The Witch and the Sea by Maggie Tokuda-Hall is $3.99! Maggie has been a guest on the podcast, and talked at length about this book in episode 406 and in episode 584, where we discussed this series, aka “Queer Pirate Decolonization Fantasy.”
Tara also squeed about this one:
Because, whoa, did TMtW&tS ever help me escape the world we’re in right now. I loved it so much and I can’t stop thinking about it. I’ve already told eleven friends in the two days since finishing it that they must read this book.
A desperate orphan turned pirate and a rebellious imperial daughter find a connection on the high seas in a world divided by colonialism and threaded with magic.
Aboard the pirate ship Dove, Flora the girl takes on the identity of Florian the man to earn the respect and protection of the crew. For Flora, former starving urchin, the brutal life of a pirate is about survival: don’t trust, don’t stick out, and don’t feel. But on this voyage, as the pirates prepare to sell their unsuspecting passengers into slavery, Flora is drawn to the Lady Evelyn Hasegawa, who is en route to a dreaded arranged marriage with her own casket in tow. Flora doesn’t expect to be taken under Evelyn’s wing, and Evelyn doesn’t expect to find such a deep bond with the pirate Florian.
Soon the unlikely pair set in motion a wild escape that will free a captured mermaid (coveted for her blood, which causes men to have visions and lose memories) and involve the mysterious Pirate Supreme, an opportunistic witch, and the all-encompassing Sea itself.
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Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake
RECOMMENDED: Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake by Alexis Hall is $2.99! Amanda has featured this book before, and wrote, “Carrie and I jointly reviewed this one and agreed on a B+. As a bisexual woman, I definitely felt seen by this book and I’m here for all the baking romance reads.” A mild heads up from Marjorie, who wrote in the comments when this book was on sale in 2023, “I enjoyed Rosaline Palmer but it was SO much darker than I anticipated from the cover. I’m really over these cartoon-y covers that are like shiny candy coatings on a Brussels sprout.” Have you read this book?
Fans of Casey McQuiston, Christina Lauren, and Abby Jimenez will love this scrumptious and sweet romantic comedy from the “dizzyingly talented writer” of Boyfriend Material (Entertainment Weekly)!
Following the recipe is the key to a successful bake. Rosaline Palmer has always lived by those rules—well, except for when she dropped out of college to raise her daughter, Amelie. Now, with a paycheck as useful as greaseproof paper and a house crumbling faster than biscuits in tea, she’s teetering on the edge of financial disaster. But where there’s a whisk there’s a way . . . and Rosaline has just landed a spot on the nation’s most beloved baking show.
Winning the prize money would give her daughter the life she deserves—and Rosaline is determined to stick to the instructions. However, more than collapsing trifles stand between Rosaline and sweet, sweet victory. Suave, well-educated, and parent-approved Alain Pope knows all the right moves to sweep her off her feet, but it’s shy electrician Harry Dobson who makes Rosaline question her long-held beliefs—about herself, her family, and her desires.
Rosaline fears falling for Harry is a guaranteed recipe for disaster. Yet as the competition—and the ovens—heat up, Rosaline starts to realize the most delicious bakes come from the heart.
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The New Plant Parent
The New Plant Parent: Develop Your Green Thumb and Care for Your House-Plant Family by Darryl Cheng is $2.99 at Amazon – come on over, price-matching fairies! This is a friendly guide to caring for your house plants, and it is reviewed very positively – 4.43 on StoryGraph, 4.45 on Goodreads (with 2k+ ratings!) where Jennifer wrote, “This little plant book is the BEE’S KNEES and absolutely one of the better reads I’ve had this year!” If you’re looking to level up your houseplant care, this might be a great option!
For indoor gardeners everywhere, Darryl Cheng offers a new way to grow healthy house plants. He teaches the art of understanding a plant’s needs and giving it a home with the right balance of light, water, and nutrients. After reading Cheng, the indoor gardener will be far less the passive follower of rules for the care of each species and much more the confident, active grower, relying on observation and insight. And in the process, the plant owner becomes a plant lover, bonded to these beautiful living things by a simple love and appreciation of nature. The New Plant Parent covers all of the basics of growing house plants, from finding the right light, to everyday care like watering and fertilizing, to containers, to recommended species. Cheng’s friendly tone, personal stories, and accessible photographs fill his book with the same generous spirit that has made @houseplantjournal, his Instagram account, a popular source of advice and inspiration for thousands of indoor gardeners.
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I liked the Hall book, but I didn’t love it. I don’t love kids in romance novels, so it’s rare for a parent MC to appeal to me. Clearly that’s a me problem, but I disliked Rosaline even more than I expected to. She struck me as judgy and superficial (why yes, I do see the similarity there and no, that does not make me like it better, and uh… I am a snob about better things?… oh shush.).
I wasn’t feeling the bi rep on a personal level, it felt more…idk, academic, like Hall had sat down with a list of talking points. Like as if Rosaline winds up with a man so the plot could demonstrate that bisexuals remain queer regardless, not because the chemistry between these two people was undeniable. And I appreciate him getting the word out, but I dislike didactic literature, and this rang those alarm bells for me. Also the villain (an actual bag of dicks villain) gets way too much page time, which doesn’t help the chemistry build between the leads.
It’s funny, though, because Alexis Hall, and it probably made me cry because he generally does, and well written, and all that. The set up is fabulous and the cast of characters amazing. Anyway, fwiw both the books in the series seem like good books more than good romances to me.
Free:
– The Grumpy Prince (Rugged and Royal Book 2) by Lili Valente
– The Fix Up by Tawna Fenske
– Won’t Back Down (Bro Code Book 3) by Shelli Stevens
– Best of Intentions: A Best Friend’s Brother Standalone Romance (The Bay Ridge Series) by LK Farlow
$.99:
– Getting Dirty (an enemies-to-lovers, opposites attract small town rom com) (Sapphire Falls Book 3) by Erin Nicholas
– Food Truck Warriors Box Set Part One by Beth Bolden (includes Drive Me Crazy, Kiss & Tell, Hit the Brakes, and On a Roll–I LOVE this series!)
– An Unwilling Bride by Jo Beverley
– End Zone Book 1-3 by Cathryn Fox (includes Fair Play, Enemy Down, Keeping Score)
$1.99:
– Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother’s Will to Survive by Stephanie Land, Barbara Ehrenreich
– Butterfly Bayou by Lexi Blake
– Judgment in Death by J. D. Robb
$.99:
– The Rogue: A small town bodyguard romantic suspense (The Rockwell Legacy Book 2) by Jennifer Bernard
@kkw If it’s any consolation, I stopped reading Hall after the Spires series, even though I thought it was excellent, because none of the books work for me as romances; they can convince me of the plausibility of a relationship happening but not of its health or longevity, and for romance I need to believe in health and longevity. If he ever decided to write in a different genre, I’d read the hell out of it.