FREE/BARGAIN — Romance & Discussion

[sufue]

Three Ilona Andrews books are £0.99 each at Kindle UK right now. All have been on sale before. Possibly as part of the monthly sale, but I wouldn't count on it. Or possibly in honor of the new Kate Daniels novella, Magic Tides, coming out on Jan 17. (Kate and family are in Wilmington, several years after the end of the previous series, a couple of years before Blood Heir, I have an ARC and liked it a lot, but haven't yet gotten my review written...) In any case, here you go...

Magic Bites, Kate Daniels, #1
Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0043M67BW
Kindle UK/Smile: https://smile.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0043M67BW

Fated Blades, most recent Kinsmen, either a short book or a long novella
Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09G9VJTKT
Kindle UK/Smile: https://smile.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09G9VJTKT

Emerald Blaze, Hidden Legacy #5, middle book in Catalina's story arc
Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B081ZGKN7H
Kindle UK/Smile: https://smile.amazon.co.uk/dp/B081ZGKN7H

[tempest@de]

Originally Posted by library addict

How was your 2022 reading wise?

Mine was not so great, read and listened 158, which is 50 less than the year before and gave up on reading / listening 19 titles.

Lately it seems the books don’t grab my attention the way they used to do, I could spend hours with a book and now that usually doesn’t happen, and to had to that most of my reading was done at night before going to sleep, and now I get sleepy very easily and I’m lucky if I can read for 15 minutes before falling asleep.

If not for the rise in audiobooks listened my numbers would be even worse, this past year listened to almost double the audiobooks then the year before, I now manage to listen while doing other tasks and can still think about what I’m doing, in the beginning I had to be totally focused in the audiobook so I couldn’t listen while doing things that required my brain to be engaged.

[library addict]

All rereads last week, but I waited until I finished a book today so I'd have something to report


Weekly Report:

Read:

• Falling for His Fake Girlfriend (Sutton’s Place #4) by Shannon Stacey (A/5 stars)

Purchased:

[library addict]

Originally Posted by tempest@de

Mine was not so great, read and listened 158, which is 50 less than the year before and gave up on reading / listening 19 titles.

Lately it seems the books don’t grab my attention the way they used to do, I could spend hours with a book and now that usually doesn’t happen, and to had to that most of my reading was done at night before going to sleep, and now I get sleepy very easily and I’m lucky if I can read for 15 minutes before falling asleep.

If not for the rise in audiobooks listened my numbers would be even worse, this past year listened to almost double the audiobooks then the year before, I now manage to listen while doing other tasks and can still think about what I’m doing, in the beginning I had to be totally focused in the audiobook so I couldn’t listen while doing things that required my brain to be engaged.

Slumps and changing brains are hard. Adapting to audiobooks has saved me as well, but I also miss reading more with my eyes.

[sufue]

If you have Amazon Prime, Sariah Wilson's The Chemistry of Love is one of the titles you can get for free as part of the Amazon First Reads program this month. And it seems to indicate that you can get it for $1.99 if you don't have Prime, although I can't see this myself, since I do have Prime. I haven't read this book, but have read a few of Wilson's other books in other series and liked them. And since I'm a bit of a geek myself, this one looks fun too...

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09ZB5FLZ4

Spoiler:

True love requires a little research and development in a funny, heart-racing romance by Sariah Wilson, the bestselling author of The Paid Bridesmaid.

How can Anna Ellis, a geeky, brilliant, and hopelessly smitten cosmetic chemist possibly win over Craig Kimball, the man of her dreams—who also happens to be her boss? The answer is Craig’s empathetic (and handsome) CEO half brother, Marco. The makeup mogul knows Craig for the ridiculously competitive rival he is. Whatever Marco has, Craig wants. That can be Anna, if she’s game to play.

All Anna and Marco have to do is pretend they’re falling in love and let the rumors begin. If the experiment in attraction works, a jealous Craig will swoop in and give Anna her happily ever after—if it weren’t for one hitch in the plan. There’s more to Marco than meets the eye. With every fake date, Anna’s feelings are starting to become dizzyingly real.

Blame it on chemistry. It’s unpredictable, exciting, and occasionally combustible. If Anna and Marco are really falling in love, who are they to argue with science?

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by sufue

If you have Amazon Prime, Sariah Wilson's The Chemistry of Love is one of the titles you can get for free as part of the Amazon First Reads program this month. And it seems to indicate that you can get it for $1.99 if you don't have Prime, although I can't see this myself, since I do have Prime. I haven't read this book, but have read a few of Wilson's other books in other series and liked them. And since I'm a bit of a geek myself, this one looks fun too...

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09ZB5FLZ4

My XYL has liked some of her books so I took a look at this one. According to Amazon.ca, it will not be released until 2023-Feb-01. Weird and wonderful!

Edit: Forgot I wasn't signed it to my Amazon account. When I signed into my Amazon account, the books showed up as a Prime First Read freebie.

[sufue]

I'm a bit late with my "best of 2022", but it's still only Jan 3, so here's my list:

Jennifer Estep's two books (Capture the Crown, Tear Down the Throne) in the Gargoyle Queen series, which is a spin-off from her fantasy/romance Crown of Shards series, which I also loved. The third book is due out in March of this year, and I'm looking forward to it

Jennifer Estep's two books (A Sense of Danger, Sugar Plum Spies) in her Section 47 series, which is kind of a romp-ish urban fiction spy series, with, of course, some romance too. I thought they were sort of like tossing James Bond (although with a steady love interest) into one of Ilona Andrews' worlds.

And although it's a lot of Jennifer Estep, I also really liked her self-pubbed Only Bad Options, which is definitely space opera/romance, and also a lot of fun. I'm glad to see that another one in this series is coming in July.

In a somewhat similar vein, I read and enjoyed Jessie Mihalik's Eclipse the Moon, which is the second in her Starlight's Shadow series. Another fun space opera-ish book. The third in the series is due out in June.

I did a re-read of KF Breene's Demigods of San Francisco series, which starts off with the wonderfully titled Sin & Chocolate. Lots of fluff, but lots of fun, and they read quick.

I totally enjoyed Helen Harper's Slouch Witch series - which is officially called the Lazy Girl's Guide to Magic series. I can easily see myself being Ivy.

And it goes without saying, probably, that I loved both of Ilona Andrews' new books this year: Ruby Fever is the sixth Hidden Legacy book, and the conclusion of Catalina's story arc - and hopefully the tee-up for some books for Arabella sometime in the future (especially based on the last chapter...) And Sweep of the Heart is the most recent in their Innkeeper series, which is my favorite of their series. What's not to love about an episode of Intergalactic Bachelor?

In the "real" world, I liked both of Rosalind James' new books in her New Zealand Ever After series, Kiwi Gold and Kiwi Sin, even though they were wildly different..

And finally, I re-read some of my favorite historical romances by Joan Wolf, which I do every couple of years. Although I've been slightly disappointed by some of her more recent books, her early ones, originally published by Signet, are still awesome. I re-read His Lordship's Mistress, A London Season, The Rebellious Ward, Lord Richard's Daughter, Margarita and the Earl (originally pubbed as just Margarita), and The American Duchess, and loved them just as much as ever.

[Terisa de morgan]

@sufue, thank you for telling about "One bad options". It had avoided me.... but not to the library

[sufue]

YW! Hope you like it. I found it a lot of fun, especially when everything seems to be going wrong for the heroine, but she keeps finding bizarre ways out of her predicaments. And the over-the-top villain is just hysterical...I don't quite know why, but I seem to have a thing for villains...

Originally Posted by Terisa de morgan

@sufue, thank you for telling about "One bad options". It had avoided me.... but not to the library

[library addict]

Weekly Report:

Read:

• Star Cruise: Star Song (Sectors #17) Veronica Scott (B/4 stars)
• Decoding the Truth (The Precinct #42/Kansas City Crime Lab) by Julie Miller (B-/3 stars)
• Sleep No More (The Lost Night Files #1) by Jayne Ann Krentz (A/5 stars)
• Temporary Wife Temptation (The Heirs of Hansol #1) by Jayci Lee (B+/4 stars)

Purchased:

[Terisa de morgan]

I see you've enjoyed Sleep No More. Perhaps it's my mood, but I've felt it a bit "ploff", I don't know. Too much Arcane without being Arcane.

[library addict]

Originally Posted by Terisa de morgan

I see you've enjoyed Sleep No More. Perhaps it's my mood, but I've felt it a bit "ploff", I don't know. Too much Arcane without being Arcane.

I bought the epub and that's how I started reading it, but then listened to the rest of it as audio from the library. Maybe that helped?

The story mentioned

Spoiler:

Burning Cove, which we know has Arcane Society connections even if Arcane hasn't actually been mentioned. I just figure it's part of the same world and the main characters in this new series don't know about the Arcane Society (possibly yet).

But if the story didn't click for you, that's cool too. Not all of her books have worked for me.

[Terisa de morgan]

Originally Posted by library addict

I bought the epub and that's how I started reading it, but then listened to the rest of it as audio from the library. Maybe that helped?

I agree with the spoiler, yes, and I guess that some other elementes are Arcane related. Let's see the next one, it happened the same for me with the Guild book she published last year after her hiatus.

[library addict]

Weekly Report:

Read:

• The Heart of a Ruler (Capturing the Crown #1) by Marie Ferrarella (B/4 stars)
• The Princess's Secret Scandal (Capturing the Crown #2) by Karen Whiddon (C/2 stars)
• The Sheik and I (Capturing the Crown #3) by Linda Winstead Jones (D+/2 stars)
• Royal Betrayal (Capturing the Crown #4) by Nina Bruhns (B/4 stars)
• More Than a Mission (Capturing the Crown #5) by Caridad Piñeiro (D-/1 star)
• The Rebel King (Capturing the Crown #6) by Kathleen Creighton (D/1 star)
• Tested (Legacy of Magic #4) by Lindsay Buroker (A/5 stars)

Purchased:

[sufue]

Mercy Blade is the third in Faith Hunter's Jane Yellowrock series. It has dropped to $1.99/£0.99 in the US/UK respectively...

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0046ECFLI
Kindle US/Smile: https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B0046ECFLI
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/mercy-blade
Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0046ECFLI
Kindle UK/Smile: https://smile.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0046ECFLI

Spoiler:

Jane, a shapeshifting vampire-hunter-for-hire, crosses paths with a stranger who has arrived in New Orleans, enlisted to hunt vampires who have gone insane-or so he says...

Keep meaning to try at least the first one in the series, which was on sale a while back, but it has never made it to the top of my TBR list...