[ATDrake]

Firstly, thanks all for your comments. Still not quite narrowed down, but I've got a better idea of what I might want to get now.

Originally Posted by Blossom

Why not just save the credit for another month? Maybe July will have better selections. They do roll over for as long as you're a member then you can get two instead of one.

If this were the Discover a New SF/Fantasy or even the Discover a New Mystery club I would, but I confess that all the selections so far have been pretty marginal at best as far as my personal tastes go.

I picked the Grace Burrowes thing last month after reading the 1st in series, The Heir, which had some annoying moments but was otherwise pretty promising for the first 95%, and then there was this sharp detour into scenic WTFville when they went and did something really contrived which basically undermined what the first 95% of the book was trying to emphasize in terms of relationships maturing naturally in their own time as the partners become ready for it and trust and consent and respecting boundaries (though the latter bit was a bit iffy; mind you, I think half of Romancelandia needs not only couples counseling, but also treatment for sex addiction as well). It was still good enough otherwise and I liked the secondary characters sufficiently that I was willing to get Lady Maggie's Secret Scandal and buy the Duke's Obsession Bundle when it was $2.99.

And Burrowes, frankly, has been the most promising author with the titles/level of historicity/shippiness best suited to my tastes for these first three months' worth of selections. Somehow I don't think DANL is going to magically add more authors/books more to my preferably-historically-accurate-ish no-romo liking so I think I may end up with a backlog of credits and no books I even vaguely want to get due to diminishing returns in the interest area.

And I am interested in seeing how the elven/human conflict gets dealt with in Kennedy's series, if it really does get dealt with at all, and I do kind of like her worldbuilding setup, which is maybe a bit derivative (reminded me a bit of Mercedes Lackey/Andre Norton's Elvenbane/Halfblood Chronicles series), but still fun.

Originally Posted by pisceschick

You do have to suspend disbelief some to allow for a female spy during the time period, and there is some relationship angst. The couple had been essentially living separately due to difficulty with conceiving that all-important heir. They used that as an excuse to dive into their independent spy activities.

As long as there's reasonable explanation or well-okay-I'm-willing-to-go-along-with-that attempt thereof I'm fine with suspending disbelief (just not hanging it until the neck until very dead and then whacking it like a pinata to see what goodies burst forth, like a lot of authors seem to think the Gentle Reader should be willing to do without question).

I'm even okay with a bit of shippy drama as long as it doesn't dominate the plot or make the characters act stupid in order to drag things out. I'll give the Galen sample chapters another look. Even if I don't end up choosing it, it does seem promising enough that I'm willing to pick it up during future deep-discount sale if it reads well and nothing would seem to indicated that it, too, takes its second honeymoon in scenic WTFville.

Originally Posted by pisceschick

The Kennedy, I can't help you with. I picked up the same freebie last year (and have not read it) but the author's involvement in some review shenanigans kept me from buying the second book when it was on sale recently.

Originally Posted by Loosheesh

IIRC, the review shenanigans were attributed to her husband. I think she claimed he did whatever he did without her knowledge. This to be taken with the requisite grain of salt, of course ...

I'll have to google and see how bad this got. I'm willing to give a small amount of leeway for bad author behaviour and/or unwillingness/inability to rein in their nearest and dearest when it comes to the rabid fan attacks, provided it's not too egregious and the authors can actually write well enough that they get a few milliHarlanEllisons of justifiable overlooking.

And since the 2nd book in Kennedy's Elven series apparently went on discount sale a while ago, I guess my new question is for anyone who's read either the 3rd or the 2nd: Does it seem like I can I read the 3rd book standalone and not miss out on any truly important plot-advancing developments re: elven/human revolution or whatever's going on?

Because if turns out there really have been serious author shenanigans, I might as well get the more expensive 3rd book which wraps the series which I want to see how it turns out for "free", and wait and pay for the Galen book when it goes on deep discount sale again, and read the 2nd Kennedy from the library or whatever if I'm morbidly curious, which would overall seem to be the best allocation of my money --> deserving authors' pockets.