Bargain (DRM-free @ Carina) June $0.99 titles [Fantasy Romance, Horror, Cozy Mystery]

[ATDrake]

Well, it seems that last month's 99 cent pre-order stealth sale at Carina was a success, as they're officially offering three more 99 cent introductory/pre-order titles in a mix of genres, with a non-romantic horror/paranormal, a semi-romantic cozy mystery, and an outright action/adventure fantasy romance (same series as previous sale offering), so there's something for everyone, provided you read some intersection of the three.

Additionally, selected works by the featured authors are discounted by 30% as well.

Here's the official promo page for the sale on their selected works, ranging from novella to full novel length, and some description below, since I bought and read one of them during their holiday sale.

As always, Carina's books are DRM-free ePubs direct from the publisher (which hopefully means that the authors get more of a cut from the sale profits) available without restriction to shoppers worldwide and easily convertible for the reader of your choice.

Designed for Death (67,000 words, regular $4.99) by Jean Harrington is 1st in her Murders by Design series of cozy mysteries starring an interior decorator as amateur sleuth. These are slightly comedic and have a touch of romance in them.

I bought this for somewhere in the neighbourhood of ~$2 during a 20% off mystery/pre-order sale with holiday $5 off $10 coupon and it was a light, decent read. Nothing special, but quite readable and had some fun moments and I don't regret the price paid (although I wouldn't consider it worth the regular asking price, for my tastes). I might pick up the upcoming next in series if it ever goes on deep discount sale.

An Eye for Detail, a Nose for Trouble

Interior designer Deva Dunne's latest project comes to a screeching halt when blood on the carpet leads her to the body of her client, an exotic dancer with a mysterious past. But the murdered woman is not the only resident of the posh beachfront condominium with secrets, and investigating officer Lieutenant Victor Rossi considers them all suspects.

Though wary of working in the killer's midst, Deva continues decorating the unit for the new owner. When she stumbles upon clues that might help crack the case, she can't resist doing a little digging of her own, despite Rossi's orders to quit meddling. Now, she's juggling the investigation, her career and sexy neighbor Simon Yaeger, who seems interested in more than her etchings.

Deva can't help but be flattered by all the male attention—that is, until she realizes the killer has designs on her, too...

Timeless Innocents (26,000 words, regular $3.99, pre-order slated for June 11th) by Janis Susan May is a straight paranormal horror novella with no apparent visible romance in it, according to the blurb. The author writes other plain mystery and horror works for Carina, and I might give this one a try even though I'm generally indifferent to horror, since her gothic mystery looks interesting.

(ETA: It turns out I've already bought another Carina book from this author, who also writes as Janis Patterson for them. Haven't finished that gothic suspense thriller yet, but so far it's been pretty promising, so I'll be definitely getting this as well.)

An additional horror title by May is offered at a 30% tie-in discount: Lure of the Mummy

When Brianna Forte is made executor of the Clerkwells' estate, she thinks it'll be a simple task to catalogue and liquidate their assets. After all, they lived very modestly, their only apparent interest in life being a large collection of eerily lifelike little figurines called Timeless Innocents.

Exquisitely crafted yet somehow ominously creepy, the figurines are all different and made of some hard fleshlike material. When a parade of sinister characters turn up demanding she sell them the figures, Brianna begins to investigate their origin--and what she learns will change her life forever...

The Pirate's Lady (89,000 words, regular $5.99, pre-order slated for June 18th) by Julia Knight is an action/adventure fantasy romance in the Pirates of Estovan series, for which another in the series is Ten Ruby Trick (offered at 30% tie-in discount) which was 40% discounted during Carina's holiday sale, and which they don't link you to when you click the series name. I can't tell from the blurbs whether this is supposed to be sequel or prequel.

I passed on TRT during the 40% off sale because the sample seemed like too much relationship drama proportional to the fantasy action/adventure bits at ~$3.60-ish, but for 99 cents I'm willing to give wherever this fits in the storyline a try, also pour encourager les autres 99 cent sale deals.

There's a price on privateer Van Gast's head. So high that Van is tempted to turn himself in for the reward, then escape with it. Escaping with full pockets is what he does best. He managed to steal a ship, a bride, a dowry, a diamond the size of a fist--and then disappear without a trace.

But this time, he can't go very far. The woman of his dreams, his Josie, has stolen his ship and is leading him on a merry chase dangerously close to Estovan, the one place Van Gast should steer clear of...

Enjoy, if you think that any of these might be to your taste or you'd like to give them a try anyway.

[Blossom]

I grabbed the cozy at Amazon for the same price.