The Duke Gets Even by Joanna Shupe is $1.99! This is book four in the Fifth Avenue Rebels series. I loved the intimacy in the last couple covers of this series. Have you read all four? What do you think?
Home Work by Julie Andres is $2.99! This is Andrews’ second memoir and while it has positive reviews, I’ve also seen comments that it isn’t as good as her first one. I also have a feeling this would be fantastic on audio!
NB: This week, we’re taking a look back at 2021. We’ve got a week of best-of posts to share, with reviews, cover snark, sales, and more. We hope you enjoy revisiting our archives, and most of all, we wish you and yours a wonderful holiday and a happy new year – with all the very best of reading. … We’re counting down the best of our 2021 reviews, which I’m sure you’re all curious about. … Continue reading Best of Reviews 2021, Part One
RECOMMENDED: Wild Rain by Beverly Jenkins is $1.99! This is part of today’s Kindle Daily Deals. Catherine wrote a Lightning Review for this one and gave it a B+:
I enjoyed this story a lot. It contains many of the elements that feel like a traditional Western to me – scenes of blizzards and horse-breaking, confrontations in the local saloon, slick shysters from out East come to take advantage of the locals – but the central characters buck the stereotypes in numerous ways.
Not the Duke’s Darling by Elizabeth Hoyt is $1.99! We ran a guest review from Ellen before they became a regular reviewer. Ellen gave it a B-:
Overall, I think if you are sufficiently intrigued by the premise of a secret order of Wise Women, you’ll enjoy the book. And if you don’t typically crave a lot of angst and emotional torment in your romance you might enjoy it more than I did!
Usually when I fall in love with a book, I devour it in one giant gulp and at one sitting, and only come back to savour it on a second reading. So Book of Love was unusual for me, in that I loved it, but also kept putting it down because I wanted to make it last longer. The quality of the writing and the sweetness not just of the central relationship, but of the … Continue reading Book of Love by Erin Satie
First Comes Scandal by Julia Quinn is $2.99! This is labeled as a Bridgerton prequel and Kiki gave it a B:
In the stress of the world right now, there is something extra reassuring in a book that, to put it plainly, isn’t trying to reinvent the wheel. First Comes Scandal never makes you wonder if they’ll end up together (although I LOVE that kind of angst at the right time), and it doesn’t make the characters, or the reader, work too hard for the happily ever after. And honestly? Thank god.
Bed of Flowers is a historical that has a lot of things going for it: it’s got a loveably grumpy hero, it depicts female friendships, and it features secondary characters of color. I appreciated all of those elements, and I liked the vaguely gothic feel it had. I really, really enjoyed this book, but I have to admit the ending was a little weak. That said, I was willing to overlook it because my experience … Continue reading Bed of Flowers by Erin Satie
RECOMMENDED: The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin is $2.99! This is a Kindle Daily Deal and as of right now, it’s only being price-matched by iBooks. Elyse loved this book and gave it an A:
The Fifth Season is also a relatively quick read. It opens with a cataclysmic disaster and doesn’t slow down its pace. Its characters travel widely. My only word of warning is that the book ends on a massive cliffhanger. Fortunately the sequel, The Obelisk Gate, will be released in August. After finishing this book I’m making desperate grabby hands for the next one.
If you like immersive, action-driven fantasy and if you want a fantasy world that’s not Euro-centric–or if you just love a really, really good story–I cannot recommend The Fifth Season enough.
