Free and bargain romance ebooks + Discussion January 2014

[laurla]

I just want to read books with well developed characters and stories. My biggest complaint is feeling like I skimmed a book, even though I haven't, because the author didn't develop the characters or the story-line. I don't care if they are indie or not - but it is true that you're much more likely to find a crap book by a NEW indie author than an established publishing house author.

But we all want our cake and to eat it too - we want the professionalism of a well executed published book but we don't want to spend the money on them in the digital world. We've all discussed how we have limits on how much we will spend for an author - it varies on our experience with the author, but I think we've all pretty much said that we wouldn't go above $5 or $6 even for an auto-buy author we love. But the professionalism we want costs money for the author or publisher and of course they're going to pass that on to us. I'm not saying that I agree with the pricing strategies of the big houses, I'm just saying that a lot of readers stopped buying ebooks over a certain price and what's available under that price tends to be not very well edited indie books - in a way, we created our own monster. But I also believe that's changing because we've decided we want to eat our cake and learned that it doesn't taste very good... so now we're starting to get pretty picky about the cake we want.

I'm more picky than I was a year ago, but I won't refuse to buy a book just because they are or aren't an indie or were or weren't published within a certain time frame. I am just more careful to look at reviews, samples, etc before I do the one-click. I had more good reads last year than bad - but I've also already said I am not very picky when it comes to books. I can over-look a lot, especially if I am drawn into the book with the characters. I've never been a huge historical fan, so truth be told, accuracy isn't high on my list because I don't know that I'd ever know the difference. Language would probably only throw me if I wasn't into the story and characters to begin with. I might notice it, but it wouldn't throw me out of story if it was a good one. I know many of you say you wouldn't be able to get into the story if the language was all wrong or there were too many anachronisms, so I'm probably showing my 'historicals ignorance' by saying that only if those things were hugely obvious right from the start would they keep me from continuing to read. And by obvious I mean the character walked into the room saying "whazzz up, homies??" Something like 'storage building' wouldn't do it to me because, well, I just wouldn't know better Maybe if I'd been reading historicals all along, I would, but since I haven't, the anachronisms would have to be glaring for me to be thrown from the story...

I think I lost the point of my post somewhere along the way... I think I was trying to say that I'll give a certain amount of leeway to any author as long as they have written a well developed story with characters I can feel. I've had questionably edited books with characters and a story I really liked and I've read professionally edited books that I hated because there was just no depth to the story. I'm more likely to get the stories I want, of course, from a book that's been edited but I'll probably still take my chances on indies here and there.

[Jane A]

Originally Posted by Blossom

I own Bride of the Lion and maybe read it I am not sure I remember it. It's been sooo long. I may have to skim through it and see if I remember it.

Are Kris Kennedy's historically accurate? If I read a medieval book I expect historical research to be have be done which is why I am leery to read anything that newly published and then there is the dialogue that was used then.

Loretta Chase actually updated her novels from Middle English to modern translation after receiving complaints luckily the ebooks I have are before the edit. Seriously why do that? Are the young people of today that uneducated they can't read and figure out the translation?!?

Hi Blossom,

I feel like Kris Kennedy's books are historically accurate, when I read them I felt really immersed in the time period and the story. However, I'm not a scholar and my knowledge is somewhat limited, so YMMV. If it helps, I've read lots of Roberta Gellis and she is my gold standard for medieval romance. I didn't mention her, but I imagine you've read her, too? VERY historically accurate IMO.

Do you mean For My Lady's Heart and Shadowheart by Laura Kinsale? She wrote these books using Middle English and they are wonderful. I understand the audiobooks with Nicholas Boulton are getting huge raves, though I think I remember you don't like male narrators. Boo that she rewrote them in modern english!!!

If you have Bride of the Lion I highly recommend it, you won't be sorry, though if you're like me a paper book is now a huge PITA. Worth it, though! In fact, you're motivating me to pull out my copy for a re-read!

[laurla]

Originally Posted by apesmom

Today's Romance Kindle Daily Deal has 40 selections for $0.99-$1.99, many of which we've seen on sale before.

They have been on sale before with the same kind of deal at amazon - not just same author, but the same books by the same author.

Has anyone read Catherine Bybee? She's been in these sales often and I've been tempted, but I've never read her and haven't seen her mentioned here, so was curious if others have read her?

I've read the Maria Murnane books, if anyone is interested, and liked them a lot. They are sweet and clean and hover over the line between chick lit and romance. There is definitely romance but it's the heroine's growth that drives the story, not the romance itself - though the romance does provide a lot of the motivations for the heroine.

[Blue2u]

Originally Posted by laurla

I just want to read books with well developed characters and stories. My biggest complaint is feeling like I skimmed a book, even though I haven't, because the author didn't develop the characters or the story-line. I don't care if they are indie or not - but it is true that you're much more likely to find a crap book by a NEW indie author than an established publishing house author.

But we all want our cake and to eat it too - we want the professionalism of a well executed published book but we don't want to spend the money on them in the digital world. We've all discussed how we have limits on how much we will spend for an author - it varies on our experience with the author, but I think we've all pretty much said that we wouldn't go above $5 or $6 even for an auto-buy author we love. But the professionalism we want costs money for the author or publisher and of course they're going to pass that on to us. I'm not saying that I agree with the pricing strategies of the big houses, I'm just saying that a lot of readers stopped buying ebooks over a certain price and what's available under that price tends to be not very well edited indie books - in a way, we created our own monster. But I also believe that's changing because we've decided we want to eat our cake and learned that it doesn't taste very good... so now we're starting to get pretty picky about the cake we want.

I'm more picky than I was a year ago, but I won't refuse to buy a book just because they are or aren't an indie or were or weren't published within a certain time frame. I am just more careful to look at reviews, samples, etc before I do the one-click. I had more good reads last year than bad - but I've also already said I am not very picky when it comes to books. I can over-look a lot, especially if I am drawn into the book with the characters. I've never been a huge historical fan, so truth be told, accuracy isn't high on my list because I don't know that I'd ever know the difference. Language would probably only throw me if I wasn't into the story and characters to begin with. I might notice it, but it wouldn't throw me out of story if it was a good one. I know many of you say you wouldn't be able to get into the story if the language was all wrong or there were too many anachronisms, so I'm probably showing my 'historicals ignorance' by saying that only if those things were hugely obvious right from the start would they keep me from continuing to read. And by obvious I mean the character walked into the room saying "whazzz up, homies??" Something like 'storage building' wouldn't do it to me because, well, I just wouldn't know better Maybe if I'd been reading historicals all along, I would, but since I haven't, the anachronisms would have to be glaring for me to be thrown from the story...

I think I lost the point of my post somewhere along the way... I think I was trying to say that I'll give a certain amount of leeway to any author as long as they have written a well developed story with characters I can feel. I've had questionably edited books with characters and a story I really liked and I've read professionally edited books that I hated because there was just no depth to the story. I'm more likely to get the stories I want, of course, from a book that's been edited but I'll probably still take my chances on indies here and there.

You pretty much summed up everything I would say! I would add that in the past I have spent good money on published books and found some of them lacking just as much as a freebie or indie book too. It's like everything else, there's just such a glut in the market that we need to be more careful, look over ratings etc.

Oh, and you asked about Catherine Bybee, I read 'Not Quite Dating' and gave it a 3. Was just a 'meh' book/author for me.



Now, back to deals.
Free: Faster Longer by Colleen Masters. This is book 3 in the series, the first 2 have been freebies in the past as well.

$.99 All 3 books in the 'Rook and Ronin' series by J.A. Huss. I thoroughly enjoyed these. Tragic, book 1, had been free.

[apesmom]

Sunday report.

I'm back to spending money. Calibre was starting to say "Feed Me" in Seymour's plant's voice. It was scary. I should keep it happy next week with some new releases + Kobo codes.


Read:

• Beguiling the Beauty (Fitzhugh #1) - Sherry Thomas - 4
• Angel's Wolf (Guild Hunter #3.5) - Nalini Singh - 4
• Missing - Sharon Sala - 2.5
• Twenty Palaces (Twenty Palaces #0.5) - Harry Connolly - 3.5
• At Any Price (Gaming the System #1) - Brenna Aubrey - 4
  blue - this is a NA for you. Author turned down 6 figure 3 book NY deal to self-pub. I thought it was well done. Looking forward to the next one and NA is not really my thing. This was not a cliff hanger but author says book 2 will be.

[Jane A]

Originally Posted by laurla

Has anyone read Catherine Bybee? She's been in these sales often and I've been tempted, but I've never read her and haven't seen her mentioned here, so was curious if others have read her?

I read Wife By Wednesday and I gave that one 3 stars, too. It's a light, fluffy read without anything overtly wrong, but doesn't leave much of an impression. I'd read more by her if I didn't feel like thinking.

[Blue2u]

Originally Posted by apesmom

Sunday report.

I'm back to spending money. Calibre was starting to say "Feed Me" in Seymour's voice. It was scary. I should keep it happy next week with some new releases + Kobo codes.

Oh good, it was beginning to feel lonely out here spending $ by myself! I think only me and laurla hadn't slowed down in the past couple of weeks!

[*]At Any Price (Gaming the System #1) - Brenna Aubrey - 4
blue - this is a NA for you. Author turned down 6 figure 3 book NY deal to self-pub. I thought it was well done. Looking forward to the next one and NA is really my thing. This was not a cliff hanger but author says book 2 will be.

Wow, Look in my purchase list below, I've been watching this one for awhile and finally broke down! for thinking of me!

My purchases this week, I did REALLY well 11 books under $10! Under budget and only 2 not on my wishlist, I am seriously cutting those down!:


Books Read this week and my rating:
Rome - Jay Crownover = 3.5
Brutally Beautiful – Christine Zolendz = 3
Seven Sons – Lil St. Germain = 2.5
A Blue tale – Sarah Dosher = 1, DNF
Beck – Harper Sloan = 4
Living in Sin – Isabel Lucero = 2

[Jane A]

I agree there are a lot of really awful books out there, but though many are indies some are professionally published. I really try to research before I buy. (Freebies are the exception, I tend to one-click those that look interesting and then discard) I have run across some really good indies, so I wouldn't want to discard them completely.

[apesmom]

Originally Posted by Blue2u

Wow, Look in my purchase list below, I've been watching this one for awhile and finally broke down! for thinking of me!

I'm looking forward to hearing what you think of it. You've read a lot more NA to compare it to. I loved the Virgin's Manifesto and the gamer geek aspect of this story.

[LiseRayes]

I have just finished a medieval mystery novella (not exactly romance but...) by Sarah Woodbury. I enjoyed it so much that I went looking for some other of her stuff and found the following free:

Daughter of Time: A Time Travel Romance (The After Cilmeri Series)
http://www.amazon.com/Daughter-Time-.../dp/B004SQSMV6

The Good Knight (A Gareth and Gwen Medieval Mystery)
http://www.amazon.com/Good-Knight-Ga.../dp/B005OLTU8I

[Jane A]

Originally Posted by LiseRayes

I have just finished a medieval mystery novella (not exactly romance but...) by Sarah Woodbury. I enjoyed it so much that I went looking for some other of her stuff and found the following free:

Daughter of Time: A Time Travel Romance (The After Cilmeri Series)
http://www.amazon.com/Daughter-Time-.../dp/B004SQSMV6

The Good Knight (A Gareth and Gwen Medieval Mystery)
http://www.amazon.com/Good-Knight-Ga.../dp/B005OLTU8I

Looks really interesting!

[JNCalif]

Originally Posted by Blue2u

You pretty much summed up everything I would say! I would add that in the past I have spent good money on published books and found some of them lacking just as much as a freebie or indie book too. It's like everything else, there's just such a glut in the market that we need to be more careful, look over ratings etc.

Oh, and you asked about Catherine Bybee, I read 'Not Quite Dating' and gave it a 3. Was just a 'meh' book/author for me.



Now, back to deals.
Free: Faster Longer by Colleen Masters. This is book 3 in the series, the first 2 have been freebies in the past as well.

$.99 All 3 books in the 'Rook and Ronin' series by J.A. Huss. I thoroughly enjoyed these. Tragic, book 1, had been free.

Completely agree with you both — I think we *have* created our own monster here. Like you both, I won't refuse to buy a self-pubbed book, but I am more careful to look at the sample and reviews before I hit the buy button.

[apesmom]

I guess my luck with indies has been better but I've been pretty discriminating about what I buy.

I just went through my library to see how I've been doing on self-pubbed books I've bought and read, boy there's been some home runs and solidly rated books in that group. Some stinkers too but the good out weighs the bad by far. The bad were mostly early day purchases when I was still trying to find non-agency stuff. Overall, of those I read I do now have some favorite authors: Kristen Ashley, Kitty Thomas with R. Lee Smith & Brenna Aubrey heading up the list. Much of the other self-pubbed stuff I've read has been novellas that are part of a traditionally published series. Also trad pubbed authors that have gone indie such as Courtney Milan and Bella Andre. If anything my pace is picking up on indie purchases because I've had pretty good luck.

[VictoriaP]

Originally Posted by Jane A

I agree there are a lot of really awful books out there, but though many are indies some are professionally published. I really try to research before I buy. (Freebies are the exception, I tend to one-click those that look interesting and then discard) I have run across some really good indies, so I wouldn't want to discard them completely.

I think this pretty much nails my strategy. I sample anything that I have to pay for--with the exception of a very few autobuys. (Which, BTW, no, I don't put an upper limit on price for those. I've bought the last three years' worth of In Death books on pre-order, so around $12-15 each. No regrets!) Freebies I pick up based on the blurb only, and won't hesitate to delete entirely if they're garbage.

I just wish more people would stop paying to read books that are utter crap, regardless of whether they're self or traditionally published. Maybe that'd encourage authors and publishers to put a higher priority on good editing again. I do think you're more likely to see more rotten indies than professionally published books, but there's plenty of really terrible stuff from both sides of the industry.

Whatever happened to good storytelling?

Originally Posted by LiseRayes

I have just finished a medieval mystery novella (not exactly romance but...) by Sarah Woodbury. I enjoyed it so much that I went looking for some other of her stuff and found the following free:

Daughter of Time: A Time Travel Romance (The After Cilmeri Series)
http://www.amazon.com/Daughter-Time-.../dp/B004SQSMV6

The Good Knight (A Gareth and Gwen Medieval Mystery)
http://www.amazon.com/Good-Knight-Ga.../dp/B005OLTU8I

Picked up The Good Knight, since I'm reading a lot of historical mysteries lately.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by Jane A

Hi Blossom,

I feel like Kris Kennedy's books are historically accurate, when I read them I felt really immersed in the time period and the story. However, I'm not a scholar and my knowledge is somewhat limited, so YMMV. If it helps, I've read lots of Roberta Gellis and she is my gold standard for medieval romance. I didn't mention her, but I imagine you've read her, too? VERY historically accurate IMO.

Do you mean For My Lady's Heart and Shadowheart by Laura Kinsale? She wrote these books using Middle English and they are wonderful. I understand the audiobooks with Nicholas Boulton are getting huge raves, though I think I remember you don't like male narrators. Boo that she rewrote them in modern english!!!

If you have Bride of the Lion I highly recommend it, you won't be sorry, though if you're like me a paper book is now a huge PITA. Worth it, though! In fact, you're motivating me to pull out my copy for a re-read!

Thanks! Jane at DA likes her so I may have to give it a try. I'm no scholar either which shocks me that authors don't get it right as I am the least educated one here in this thread (I was pulled out of school at the age of 12 by a crazy mother) but even I can tell when something is out of place in a historical book and if I can why can't someone who probably went to high school and possibly college not know any better? I would think the average writer would recognize the modern terms not belonging in their stories. I for one who would never even attempt to write in a time period because I see everyday how real authors on Facebook research and even travel just to write one book!

Believe it or not I had never heard of Roberta Gellis till I was a member here so no I have not read her so which books should I start with? I got some of her books for free and on sale.

Added the Kinsale ones to my list! I have been meaning to read her books. I don't mind reading a paperback at all if it's clean and wont break me out in hives. I've bought a few used ones that I have to wear gloves to read with but this is why I always try to get Like New books if I can. ebooks has saved me alot of annoyance with my sensitive allergies. My Bride of Lion copy is in good shape so I added it to my TBR list.

Thank you for all the wonderful recommendations! The only medieval historicals I could get my hands on were harlequins and Precious Gems growing up. As I got older I was able to buy from walmart some Love Spells and a few new ones but there is so much I have not even read. After I got married I discovered Virginia Henley and devoured her books. I have been collecting books every since I got married 14 years ago so many to read!