The Belle of Belgrave Square
The Belle of Belgrave Square by Mimi Matthews is $1.99! Lara reviewed this and gave it a B-:
If you’re looking for a Victorian historical with a heroine who is brave despite herself, in a book that won’t rip your heart out or drag you through rivers of angst and misery, then I think you’ll enjoy this romance.
A London heiress rides out to the wilds of the English countryside to honor a marriage of convenience with a mysterious and reclusive stranger.
Tall, dark, and dour, the notorious Captain Jasper Blunt was once hailed a military hero, but tales abound of his bastard children and his haunted estate in Yorkshire. What he requires now is a rich wife to ornament his isolated ruin, and he has his sights set on the enchanting Julia Wychwood.
For Julia, an incurable romantic cursed with a crippling social anxiety, navigating a London ballroom is absolute torture. The only time Julia feels any degree of confidence is when she’s on her horse. Unfortunately, a young lady can’t spend the whole of her life in the saddle, so Julia makes an impetuous decision to take her future by the reins—she proposes to Captain Blunt.
In exchange for her dowry and her hand, Jasper must promise to grant her freedom to do as she pleases. To ride—and to read—as much as she likes without masculine interference. He readily agrees to her conditions, with one provision of his own: Julia is forbidden from going into the tower rooms of his estate and snooping around his affairs. But the more she learns of the beastly former hero, the more intrigued she becomes…
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RECOMMENDED: How to Tame a Wild Rogue by Julie Anne Long is $1.99! This made our Best of Reviews 2023 list at number five. There are also many of Long’s books ons ale, including book one, Perils of Pleasure, in her Pennyroyal Green series. Lara gave this a Squee grade:
This book made me swoon IRL. Reading it was a fever dream and not just because of the sex scenes. I was so immersed in it that the real world and its troubles didn’t even occur to me for the duration of the book. (I am anxious by nature, so this is a feat.)
In USA Today bestselling author Julie Anne Long’s thrilling new romance in the Palace of Rogues series, an infamous privateer’s limits are put to the test when he’s trapped during a raging tempest with a prickly female at the Grand Palace on the Thames.
He clawed his way up from the gutters of St. Giles to the top of a shadowy empire. Feared and fearsome, battered and brilliant, nothing shocks Lorcan St. Leger—not even the discovery of an aristocratic woman escaping out a window near the London docks on the eve of the storm of the decade. They find shelter at a boarding house called the Grand Palace on the Thames—only to find greater dangers await inside.
Desperate, destitute, and jilted, Lady Daphne Worth knows the clock is ticking on her last chance to save herself and her family: an offer of a loveless marriage. But while the storm rages and roads flood, she and the rogue who rescued her must pose as husband and wife in order to share the only available suite.
Crackling enmity gives way to incendiary desire—and certain heartbreak: Lorcan is everything she never dreamed she’d wanted, but he can never be what she needs. But risk is child’s play to St. Leger. And if the stakes are a lifetime of loving and being loved by Daphne, he’ll move any mountain, confront any old nemesis, to turn “never” into forever.
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Potent Pleasures by Eloisa James is $1.99! This is James’ debut historical romance. Many readers really seem to dislike the hero, while others said this was an emotional rollercoaster that left them a bit misty-eyed. Last time this was on sale, we asked what readers thought of the book and there’s some great conversation in the comments section to check out. Be warned there are spoilers though.
Eloisa James breathes new life into one of the most popular fiction genres with her highly original debut novel Potent Pleasures, a charming, vividly peopled Regency romance. With an uncanny wit and an eye for the whimsical, she unravels a complex–and often hilarious–chain of events inadvertently set in motion by a young woman’s first taste of forbidden pleasure.
About to make her debut in London society, Charlotte Calverstill, beneath the lavish gowns and manners of a well-brought-up young lady, yearns for a taste of freedom. Pushing propriety aside, one evening she sneaks out with a friend to attend a masked ball, and there meets a devastatingly handsome stranger who relieves her–not against her wishes–of her virtue, then vanishes.
Years later, when they meet again, the rogue does not remember Charlotte. But she certainly remembers him; she has since learned not only his identity, but also a titillating piece of gossip about him that is sure to set society abuzz. The intricate web that a now-wiser Charlotte weaves to exact her due ensures justice for some and great merriment for all.
Taking the Regency historical to fresh new places, with artful smoothness and irrepressible humor, Eloisa James delivers a winsome tale of first love and life’s unexpected surprises.
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A Trinket for the Taking by Victoria Laurie is $3.99! Lara reviewed this and gave it a C+:
Looking at it with a bit of distance, this book is distinctly middle of the road for me. While I had a mostly good time reading it and I’m certainly curious about the next installment, it didn’t set my world on fire.
This mesmerizing mystery series debut from New York Times bestselling author Victoria Laurie introduces the captivating Dovey Van Dalen, once the belle of 1840s Copenhagen, now charged with recovering magic property from mortals—whatever it takes.
Dovey Van Dalen has a gorgeous day planned for her 200th driving her new Porsche, admiring the cherry blossoms abloom in her adopted city of Washington DC, and a little pampering. But her boss has other ideas. A powerful artifact has been stolen, and he fears it’s causing chaos in the unmagical world . . .
The rich and connected Ariti family has suffered a string of suspicious deaths, with no signs of foul play. Yet each member has died in the way they feared most. As the enchanting agent most skilled at blending in with mere mortals, Dovey must find answers and retrieve the dangerous trinket.
There’s just one unexpected by the time Dovey arrives at the art gallery where the Ariti patriarch died, FBI agent Grant “Gibs” Bartholomew has taken control of the scene. Dovey needs his cooperation to investigate—but she’ll have to hide her abilities, and her true objective, from a man who uncovers deceptions every day. And as they inch nearer a deadly truth, both will face danger even the spellbound would be lucky to survive . . .
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I could swear that Eloisa James’s POTENT PLEASURES was just featured on sale long ago — and generated some conversation about how problematic it can seem today.
Spoilers Below! (I don’t know how to hide them):
I’m sorry to say that you can add me to the list of haters. To enjoy this novel, you have to be willing to put yourself through countless chapters in which the hero treats the heroine horribly because she was “not a virgin” when they married. The reader knows he’s the reason she was “not a virgin.” The heroine obviously knows this as well but decides never to try to make the case to him that he’s being unreasonable. He finally comes to appreciate her (before learning the truth about his role in her history). So my guess would be that EJ saw that bit of the plot as her contribution to feminism.
I missed the era of THE FLAME AND FLOWER etc. so I’m probably not the right generation of reader for this book. But I’m sure never putting myself through that extended misery again.
Can definitely recommend the Matthews and the Long.
Few people write psychologically creepy characters as well as Matthews (Julia’s parents are creeeeepy) which lends an interesting ambience and character arc to the story. The ending felt a little rushed and pat given how much ground there was to cover emotionally (for a number of characters), but on the whole I really enjoyed it.
The Long is also enjoyable—I think it works a little better if you’ve read other entries in the series, but still accessible. (I had to ignore the fact that the hero’s name is Lorcan. Just ridiculous.)
@laurageorge — wow I’m usually ok with problematic content dub con, dark, alpha assholes…wow this guy? The MMC is mad she isn’t a virgin and it’s his fault. Yeah that’s a big hard nope. I am gen Flame and the Flower and didn’t read romance until about ten years ago because of this sort of nonsense. We live double standards. I don’t want to read them lauded and shrugged off
I read Potent Pleasures back when it first came out and felt like it really broke the mold of romance plots that were being published at the time. I can see how that plot is more problematic today, but I can never hate it for being a bold departure in its day. And, to be slightly fair to the MMC, the FMC was masked and anonymous during their (very consensual) encounter! He doesn’t know it’s his fault she isn’t a virgin…
Now, the Julie Anne Long I can enthusiastically endorse! I think I inhaled that book and it’s one of my favorites in the series.
$.99:
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