Welcome back!
It feels like it’s been forever. I have a couple romances for this round, plus an epistolary and some non-fiction. I really love this selection!
Do you have any recommendations to share? Let us know in the comments!
A Holy Maiden’s Guide to Getting Kidnapped
I saw this while shopping at Lovestruck a week ago. I was super tempted to grab it and the leads are both sort of morally gray, which I love. Unfortunately, it wasn’t what I was after at the time and I was trying to limit myself to only two purchases!
A Holy Maiden should never drink, get kidnapped, nor kiss a Dark Lord, but Ysabel is breaking all the rules to escape her fate as a human sacrifice.
In a world where magical powers are commonplace, Holy Maiden Ysabel is revered as a goddess among her people. She’s the only one able to heal the sick and injured with a simple touch. But her spectacular gift comes at a steep price. For each person she saves, she loses a day of her own conscripted life. To add insult to injury, she’s supposed to maintain a pure image even though she’d rather drink and play dominatrix until her sorrows fade away.
After the corrupt Head Cardinal Jiang abuses her gift, forbids her from leaving the city, and takes her brother hostage, Ysabel doesn’t dare drag anyone else into her problems—especially since it won’t change her fate. But when Dark Lord Kaine arrives at her clinic doorstep grievously wounded, she’s touched by his refusal to accept her healing lest it cost her another day of her life.
The mysterious and sexy Dark Lord awakens forbidden desires in Ysabel, and the nagging survival instinct she tried to drown with booze and drugs comes back with a vengeance. She’s less impressed, however, when he threatens to sack her city in return for his injuries. Fortunately, she can flirt her way to an alliance against the Head Cardinal instead.
Armed with only a ferociously loyal female bodyguard named Alzira, Ysabel attempts to make the most of her mere months left to live, protect the refugees around her city, prevent a war, and hide her face blindness. But before her life flickers to its sad end, she must either die a proper Holy Maiden or risk it all to run off with Kaine.
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Against a Wall
Shout out to Katie! While giving Katie quarterly recs as part of After Dark, she mentioned she loves Cate C. Wells in her survey. As someone who wasn’t sure where to start, I asked her for some suggestions. I blew through The Tyrant Alpha’s Rejected Mate, but she also put this one on my radar with a few caveats about the hero. I immediately bought it, though haven’t started it just yet.
My high school bully is now my fake boyfriend.
Cash Wall has been messing with me since junior high.
Nuisance stuff, mostly. Name calling. Pranks.
Honestly, he’s nowhere near the worst of my problems. Back in school, I had bigger fish to fry, and now, I’ve got a “scarlet letter” situation going on. The whole town hates me.
For some reason, Cash offers himself up as my knight in shining armor.
So now my former bully is my fake boyfriend. What could possibly go wrong?
Cash
Glenna Dobbs thinks I’m an idiot, and she’s mostly right.
I hunt. Fish. Go mudding. I’m not a “brain” type. I’m not really a “thinker.”
But I ain’t stupid. When I see that Glenna needs a rescue, I’m in.
‘Cause what Glenna doesn’t know? I’ve been in this whole time, and once I’ve got her, I’m not letting her go.
Against a Wall is a small-town, enemies-to-lovers romance. It is the second book in the Stonecut County series, but it can be read as a standalone. Intended for adult readers.
HEA guaranteed.
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The Examiner
If you love mysteries that feel more like a puzzle, this one makes clever use of epistolary elements.
Told in emails, text messages, and essays, this innovative pause-resister follows a group of students in an art master’s program that goes dangerously awry.
Gela Nathaniel, head of Royal Hastings University’s new Multimedia Art course, must find six students from all walks of life across the United Kingdom for her new master’s program before the university cuts her funding. The students are nothing but trouble from day one.
There’s Jem, a talented sculptor recently graduated from her university program and eager to make her mark as an artist at any cost. Jonathan, who has little experience in art practice aside from running his family’s gallery. Patrick runs an art supply store, but can barely operate his phone, much less design software. Ludya is a single mother and graphic designer more interested in a paycheck than homework. Cameron is a marketing executive in search of a hobby or a career change. And Alyson, already a successful artist, seems to be overqualified. Finally, there is the examiner, the man hired to grade students’ final works—an art installation for a local cloud-based solutions company that may have an ulterior agenda—and who, in sifting through final essays, texts, and message boards, warns that someone is in danger…or already dead. And nothing about this course has been left up to chance.
With her trademark “unique and exhilarating” (Megan Collins, author of The Family Plot) voice, Janice Hallett weaves a fresh and mind-bending mystery that will keep you guessing until the very end.
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My Parents are Dead: What Now?
I honestly wish I had this when my bio dad died (I was his only surviving relative). My partner’s mom unexpectedly passed in the fall and has had to take the lead on making arrangements, handling things that come up, etc. It’s never a good time to think about these things, but I can’t overstate the need to be prepared.
An approachable, expert-fueled guide to dealing with the legal, financial, and logistical hurdles of parent death—without losing your sense of humor.
Whether you’ve recently lost a parent or are just trying to plan for the toughest day of your life so far, you’re probably experiencing a lot of dizzying emotions. Unfortunately, our legal and financial systems don’t care about your feelings. Whether you’re holding it together or falling apart, you are going to need to enter an overwhelming labyrinth of paperwork and bureaucracy.
But you don’t have to do it alone.
After losing both parents, Becky Robison devoted herself to making death and post-death logistics easier on others—reading up on estate law, becoming a trained death doula, and starting her website DeadParentsWhatNow.com. She draws on her own experience, plus interviews with experts from monument makers to morticians, to hold your hand through:
– Asking your parents about their end-of-life wishes while you can
– Getting a body buried, cremated, or donated to science
– Planning a funeral
– Securing a death certificate
– Dealing with your parents’ property—or debt
– Handling even more tricky issues you never wanted to be in charge of
– And still being able to laugh, a little, sometimesNothing about this is easy. The good news is, you have someone on your side.
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This book is available from:
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
We also may use affiliate links in our posts, as well. Thanks!My Parents are Dead: What Now? by Becky Robison
