Love, Theoretically
Love, Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood is $3.99! This one came out last summer and Hazelwood’s books rarely go on sale. Snap this one up while you can!
The many lives of theoretical physicist Elsie Hannaway have finally caught up with her. By day, she’s an adjunct professor, toiling away at grading labs and teaching thermodynamics in the hopes of landing tenure. By other day, Elsie makes up for her non-existent paycheck by offering her services as a fake girlfriend, tapping into her expertly honed people pleasing skills to embody whichever version of herself the client needs.
Honestly, it’s a pretty sweet gig—until her carefully constructed Elsie-verse comes crashing down. Because Jack Smith, the annoyingly attractive and broody older brother of her favorite client, turns out to be the cold-hearted experimental physicist who ruined her mentor’s career and undermined the reputation of theorists everywhere. And that same Jack who now sits on the hiring committee at MIT, right between Elsie and her dream job.
Elsie is prepared for an all-out war of scholarly sabotage but…those long, penetrating looks? Not having to be anything other than her true self when she’s with him? Will falling into an experimentalist’s orbit finally tempt her to put her most guarded theories on love into practice?
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Out on a Limb by Hannah Bonam-Young is $1.99! This is a contemporary romance with a surprise pregnancy after a one night stand. Both of the main characters also have limb differences and I appreciate that being present in the cover art as well.
A hot one-night stand—and an unexpected pregnancy—lead a young woman to someone she can depend on
Winnifred “Win” McNulty has always been wildly independent and not one to be coddled for her limb difference. Win has spent most of her life trying to prove that she can do it all on her own. With some minor adjustments, she’s done just fine.
Hooking up at a costume party with the incredibly charming Bo changes everything. Win finds herself pregnant—and decides to keep the baby. While Bo is surprisingly elated to step up to the plate, Win is unsure of whether she can handle this new challenge.
Together, Win and Bo decide to get to know one another as friends and nothing more while they embark on this parenting journey together. But, as they both should know by now, life rarely goes according to plan.
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The Bridge Kingdom by Danielle L. Jensen is $2.99! This is a new adult fantasy romance that could work well for fans of Sarah J. Maas and Jennifer Armentrout. Ellen reviewed it and gave it a C+, noting that while they mostly enjoyed the reading experience, the lead up to a cliffhanger ending was frustrating.
What if you fell in love with the one person you’d sworn to destroy?
Lara has only one thought for her husband on their wedding day: I will bring your kingdom to its knees. A princess trained from childhood to be a lethal spy, Lara knows that the Bridge Kingdom represents both legendary evil – and legendary promise. The only route through a storm-ravaged world, the Bridge Kingdom controls all trade and travel between lands, allowing its ruler to enrich himself and deprive his enemies, including Lara’s homeland. So when she is sent as a bride under the guise of fulfilling a treaty of peace, Lara is prepared to do whatever it takes to fracture the defenses of the impenetrable Bridge Kingdom.
But as she infiltrates her new home – a lush paradise surrounded by tempest seas – and comes to know her new husband, Aren, Lara begins to question where the true evil resides. Around her, she sees a kingdom fighting for survival, and in Aren, a man fiercely protective of his people. As her mission drives her to deeper understanding of the fight to possess the bridge, Lara finds the simmering attraction between her and Aren impossible to ignore.
Her goal nearly within reach, Lara will have to decide her own fate: Will she be the destroyer of a king or the savior of her people?
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A Novel Love Story by Ashley Poston is $2.99! This romance came out in the summer. The heroine finds herself in a small town romance novel and I’m definitely tempted by the meta-ness of it all. However, Poston’s romances have always been middle of the road for me personally.
A professor of literature finds herself caught up in a work of fiction… literally.
Eileen Merriweather loves to get lost in a good happily-ever-after. The fictional kind, anyway. Because at least imaginary men don’t leave you at the altar. She feels safe in a book. At home. Which might be why she’s so set on going to her annual book club retreat this year—she needs good friends, cheap wine, and grand romantic gestures—no matter what.
But when her car unexpectedly breaks down on the way, she finds herself stranded in a quaint town that feels like it’s right out of a novel…
Because it is.
This place can’t be real, and yet… she’s here, in Eloraton, the town of her favorite romance series, where the candy store’s honey taffy is always sweet, the local bar’s burgers are always a little burnt, and rain always comes in the afternoon. It feels like home. It’s perfect—and perfectly frozen, trapped in the late author’s last unfinished story.
Elsy is sure that’s why she must be here: to help bring the town to its storybook ending.
Except there is a character in Eloraton that she can’t place—a grumpy bookstore owner with mint-green eyes, an irritatingly sexy mouth and impeccable taste in novels. And he does not want her finishing this book.
Which is a problem because Elsy is beginning to think the town’s happily-ever-after might just be intertwined with her own.
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Oo! Out on a Limb looks very intriguing. Love the limb difference rep.
This is also like the fourth cover I’ve seen that does the “man and woman in couch, woman lying sideways and smiling up at seated man” romance cover I’ve seen (Cathy Yardley’s ROLE PLAYING was the first I saw like this). Looking forward to when the next new trend is like “man and woman suspended from ceiling like bats.”
I’ve been on an Ali Hazelwood binge lately and she is amazing. A scientist in real life, a writer of steamy scenes, pitch perfect banter. Catnip, ahoy!
My only quibble is the “he hates me for long ago reasons, the best sex of my life means nothing,” borders on the Big Misunderstanding, at least from the reader’s perspective. I love that our MC works through her issues and Hazelwood doesn’t make light of them or the struggle. It’s just …
When we talk about the enemies to lovers trope, are there any books that start with actual enmity instead of (this should be trademarked, SB Sarah) I hate you, I can’t stop thinking about your hair? Characters disliking each other because of an inconvenient attraction is not hate. Enmity as a result of a Big Misunderstanding makes me want to yell, “Use your words, people.”
Maybe that’s it: it’s just people, tension created through a lack of understanding or information.
Or maybe it’s all the parts my dermatologist froze today, which has me very uncomfortable and rethinking getting that dragon tattoo on my calf. /sigh
I know a lot of cover copy doesn’t really make sense, but the second half of that sentence is a perfect example of something that I seem to be seeing a lot; that is two things that are the same linked by ‘or’. Drives me to gibbering incoherently, but maybe I’m just reading it wrong?
$.99:
– I Wish I Had a Red Dress (Idlewild, 2) by Pearl Cleage
– Hard to Handle (Love in the Balance Book 2) by Jessica Lemmon
– Ever Mine: A Small Town Second Chance Sports Romance (Honey Mountain Series Book 2) by Laura Pavlov
– Bossman by Vi Keeland
$1.99:
– Real Self-Care: A Transformative Program for Redefining Wellness (Crystals, Cleanses, and Bubble Baths Not Included) by Pooja Lakshmin MD
@Darlynne At this point unless I already love an author, I won’t even pick up enemies to lovers tropes as they annoy me so much. Usually it’s not any enmity as you’ve noted so much as one character just happens to be acting like an asshole, so the next character (rightly) decides to be an asshole back; eventually they bang it out.
I’d be more interested in actual enemies along the lines of Inigo Montoya (“you killed my father, prepare to die”) as wouldn’t that be a real feat to make an HEA happen? 🙂
@Darlynne, your comment makes me think of all the times I’ve seen cover copy with the phrase “infuriatingly attractive” or similar. It always makes me roll my eyes a bit. Like, is that really a thing, though? I’ve never been like “God I hate my coworker and his smug emails AND HIS STUPID BEAUTIFUL CHEEKBONES” but maybe that is just me.
I agree, Kim. In fact, if someone is a jerk, they’re not attractive. Good looking, maybe. Classically handsome, which I don’t typically find attractive anyway, sure. But no one is good looking enough for me to find them attractive if they’re being an ass.
A Novel Love Story sounds like a romantic Twilight Zone episode, which I’m strangely here for…I just…TBR Mountain is so high already, I just…maybe I’ll put it on my wishlist…
As for the “infuriatingly attractive” discussion, I concur. I like Enemies to Lovers, but that…isn’t this. Ma’am please concentrate, he just called you a gender-based slur and insulted your life’s work; no cut-glass cheekbones or galloping abs are enough to make up for his dogpoop personality.
I prefer the term antagonists-to-lovers rather than enemies-to-lovers, and, for me to enjoy the book, there has to be valid reasons for the antagonism between the MCs. I think CD Reiss’s IRON CROWNE is a great example of the a-t-l trope: she’s an environmental lawyer, he’s a property developer with a reputation for skirting environmental regulations. There are fairly heavy stakes and consequences for them when they cross the line from antagonists to lovers. Kati Wilde’s latest, ONLY ONE BED, is also a nice take on a-t-l: the MCs’ families have a lot of bad blood between them, and it’s only when they are stranded in a cabin far from their families that the MCs can see each other clearly. When done right, antagonists-to-lovers is one of my favorite tropes, but characters are just being jerks because the storyline calls for it does nothing for me.
I love these comments, thank you, all.
Antagonists-to-lovers is a much better trope, DDD. @spinsterrevival: Bring that one on, please.
In the book I was talking about here, Hazelwood’s FMC is acting on previously and partially overheard conversations; assumptions that someone good-looking wouldn’t be attracted to her; real hurt from a recent break-up with a cheating asshole; the viral misogyny in her field of science. The MMC has been to therapy; realizes being closed off has created an uncomfortable environment for the FMC.
They are both completely delightful people, so I’m OK calling this one The Big Misunderstanding and I loved the book (still, when you’ve reached a small level of understanding, use your words; be vulnerable if you can; ask questions).
In these situations, the reader knows full well the characters have to and will work through their issues. We know they’re meant for each other. Why, then, do they continue to hang onto ideas no longer in evidence? That is my frustration.
To any author: you’ve convinced me. Maybe convince your characters at a similar pace?
@Darlynne: This reminds me of the old and tired conflict where the hero hates all women because of the behavior of one, and not only do we have a name for that now, but also there is evidence that not every person is the same?! Yet you’re judging half the planet based on one person’s behavior? And you’re supposed to be the hero?!
The part where the evidence does not support their issues and they still refuse to divert from that held conviction also makes me frustrated.
@jazzlet: Cover copy “same things linked by or” drives me bonkers. So does the repeated use of “just might…” and many, many colons.