FREE/BARGAIN — Romance & Discussion

[Apache]

Originally Posted by Terisa de morgan

I guess I'm a "Abandon-if you-don't-like" woman now, paid or not. And I don't mind rereading, if I'm in the mood, even if there are a lot of books in my TBR. I'm happier like this.

Except for the woman part, this describes me too.
Apache

[sufue]

I agree - life's too short to finish a book that I don't like. And re-reading an old favorite can sure bring a lot of pleasure. With that said, I do try to persist for a few chapters at least, because there are a few times that I've hated a first chapter, and then ended up really liking the book.

(Or, of course, if I'm reviewing for my blog, I keep reading, since the publisher has trusted me to read the book...)

[mrscoach]

I have a few books I haven't really made a decision (consciously) to not finish, but I've found several in my library in various stages of completion, and just can't make myself care. I actually deleted a couple and it didn't bother me. It's not that I hated the books, I guess they just weren't interesting.

[sufue]

Per an email I received a little while ago, Mills & Boon are offering a free collection of six romance short stories, Summer Escapes. Authors are Joss Wood, Nina Singh (not a typo), Ann McIntosh, Virginia Heath, Tina Beckett, and Dani Collins.

Sadly, it's appears to only be available as a downloadable PDF, but, WTH, it's free!

The link is super-messy, but I was able to pare it down a bit: https://media.sailthru.com/composer/...ree%20Read.pdf

I don't see anything in there that seems as if it's personalized for me, so hopefully should work for others...

[booklover6]

Yes it is hard to skim an audiobook. I speeded it up to 1.35 and got through it while at work. It actually got more interesting in the end, despite the character stupidity. I've got to stop buying unknown authors. (although that one was an accident-I forgot to take it out of my card during a sale)

[sufue]

Got an email from Pippa Grant about a today-only (July 29) set of freebies with the theme of "Blue Collar Book Boyfriends".

It doesn't seem to be limited to subscribers or anything, so here's the link: https://www.subscribepage.com/bcbbfsummer23

I don't read a whole lot of contemporary romance (at least compared to other things ), but I recognize several of the authors. Of course, YMMV...

ADD: Also the email was dated today, perhaps this was for an earlier day. Or perhaps some of the books haven't dropped yet. But of the ones I tried, about a quarter of them were not free...just FYI. And at least one was free at some e-tailers and not others. So YMM(really)V!

[library addict]

Weekly Report:

Read:

• Her Younger Man (Sutton’s Place #5) by Shannon Stacey (A-/5 stars)

Purchased:

[sufue]

As far as series available in KU, I just finished the first three books in the Kings of Avalier fantasy romance series by Leia Stone, in a bit of a binge-read over the weekend, and am about to start the fourth and final one, which just came out a couple of days ago. (Not by my planning, but by happy coincidence...)

They are a little bit trope-ish, but with some interesting tweaks here and there. And some nice world-building. And just kind of fun, IMO. Oh, and I tend to skip pretty fast over some of the steamy stuff in romance novels, if there is a lot of it, and I didn't end up skipping too much on these.

series webpage: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B7SL5ZDC

[sufue]

Joffe Books do a Free Friday book most weeks, but it's usually a mystery. However every now and then it's a romance, and this week there's one of each. The romance is Summer at the Art Café by Sue McDonagh.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C7LNXB48
Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0C7LNXB48

Spoiler:

Dreams do come true . . .

Artist and café owner Lucy Daumier’s marriage is on the rocks. All her husband Gerry seems to do these days is put her down.

Then she wins a brand-new purple motorbike in a raffle. It’s always been her dream to ride one and she’s never had the chance . . . until now.

Gerry says she’s too fat to ride a motorbike and should sell it. When did he become so cruel? She's determined to prove him wrong.

Under the watchful eye of bearded biker Ashley, Lucy begins to take motorbike lessons. But she’s definitely not a natural . . .

And there’s more to Ashley than meets the eye. He’s single dad to seven-year-old Daisy and hides a big heart beneath those leathers. Lucy begins to get the hang of riding and grows closer to Ashley by the day.

But a bullying soon-to-be ex-husband is determined to snatch her newfound happiness away.

With a little help from her friends at the café and potential romance with Ashley, can Lucy recapture the woman she used to be?

Follow Lucy’s journey of rediscovery and finding friends along the way.

And if you want the mystery one too, you can find info on it here.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by sufue

Joffe Books do a Free Friday book most weeks, but it's usually a mystery. However every now and then it's a romance, and this week there's one of each. The romance is Summer at the Art Café by Sue McDonagh.

And for those living in Canada:

Kindle CA: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0C7LNXB48

[library addict]

Free book event Aug 4-6. Various authors including L. Penelope.

Mix of genres including contemporary, historical, romantic suspence, and paranormal in romance. But there's also non-romance including mystery, cozy mystery, children's and memoirs. ETA: there's a cookbook too.

https://naleighnakai.com/tribe



ETA: of the ones I clicked to see full blurb there were some KU titles mixed among the available wide ones. I added some to my Kobo library and one to Google Play because the Kobo one didn't show as free. There's also a few at the end available on Book Funnel.

[library addict]

Vivid by Beverly Jenkins is free.

Spoiler:

It's 1876 and Dr. Viveca Lancaster is frustrated by the limits placed upon female physicians of color. When she is offered the chance to set up a practice in the small all Black community of Grayson Grove, Michigan she leaves her California home and heads east. The very determined Viveca is one of the few nineteenth century Black women to graduate from the prestigious Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania, so she knows all about fighting for her rights. But she may need more than determination to face down the distractingly handsome Nate Grayson, the Grove's bull-headed mayor.


Nate Grayson goes to the train station expecting Dr. V. Lancaster to be a man. Of course he does. But when the lovely dark-skinned Viveca introduces herself, he is at first speechless…then full of some very loud and very choice words, ordering her back on the train and out of his town! It's 1876 and women aren't supposed to be doctors, men are. Nate Grayson is prepared to fight for that belief.


However, he isn't prepared for this extraordinary beauty’s stubbornness and fire, nor for the vivid way she heals, then steals his heart.

Kobo

Google Play

Amazon

[library addict]

Carla Neggers' Saint's Gate (Sharpe & Donovan #1) on sale again for $1.99

Spoiler:

Mystery and intrigue abound as an unlikely pair of FBI agents team up to solve this nail-biting murder from New York Times bestselling author Carla Neggers.

Emma Sharpe is summoned to a Maine convent, partly for her FBI art crimes work, partly because of her past with the Order. At issue is a mysterious painting of Irish lore and Viking legends. But when the nun who contacted her is murdered, it seems legend is becoming deadly reality.

Colin Donovan is one of the FBI’s most valuable deep-cover agents. Back home in Maine after his latest mission, a contact clues him into an intrigue of murder, international art heists and long-held secrets that is too tempting to resist. As danger spirals ever closer, Colin is certain of only one thing—Emma Sharpe is at the center of it all.

The new blurb is slightly different than the original one.

Spoiler:

Two people, isolated by their pasts. An obsessive killer who will force them together. Welcome to Saint’s Gate.

When Emma Sharpe is summoned to a convent on the Maine coast, it’s partly for her art crimes work with the FBI, partly because of her past with the religious order. At issue is a mysterious painting depicting scenes of Irish lore and Viking legends, and her family’s connection to the work. But when the nun who contacted her is murdered, it seems legend is becoming deadly reality.

Colin Donovan is one of the FBI’s most valuable assets—a deep-cover agent who prefers to go it alone. He’s back home in Maine after wrapping up his latest mission, but his friend Father Bracken presents him with an intrigue of murder, international art heists and a convent’s long-held secrets that is too tempting to resist. As the danger spirals ever closer, Colin is certain of only one thing—the very interesting Emma Sharpe is at the center of it all.

A ruthless killer has Emma and Colin in the crosshairs, plunging them into a race against time and drawing them deeper into a twisted legacy of betrayal and deceit.

Kobo

Google Play

Amazon

Apple Books

direct from Harlequin

[library addict]

Weekly Report:

Read:

• You Can Die (Laurel Snow #3) by Rebecca Zanetti (B+/4 stars)
• His Christmas Cowgirl (Wildflower Ranch #6) by Alissa Callen (B/4 stars)
• Frost Station Alpha by Ruby Lionsdrake (B/4 stars)

Purchased:
I ended up making an empty audio book library in Calibre with a custom column to show where they are stored. Lindsay has given away several audiobooks on her Patreon (so stored at Book Funnel) and I got bit by sale fever and bought two audiobooks at Kobo this week. Only afterwards learned that you can only play their audiobooks in the app, not in browser (I usually listen on my laptop). They said they are planning to add audiobook playback to their desktop app "soon". Plus I have a few other audios that must have been free at some point.

[sufue]

Just Say (Hell) No is the eleventh in the Escape to New Zealand series by Rosalind James. This is my favorite series of hers, although I pretty much like them all. It's free right now at Kindle US and UK.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077SKP8KR
Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B077SKP8KR

Spoiler:

Even a hard man needs a soft side.

Marko Sendoa isn’t a beach man. He’s not an Auckland man. He’s a hard man. Born Basque tough, raised in the heart of New Zealand’s Southern Alps, and bred on hard work, discipline, and getting the job done. It’s not easy for a rugby flanker who’s played 13 bruising seasons to make it to age 32 at the top of his game, but he’s done it. Next year is the Rugby World Cup, and he’ll do whatever it takes to be on the field in the black jersey when the anthems are sung.

He doesn't need a kitten. He doesn't need a pregnant cousin. He definitely doesn't need a too-short, distractingly curvy, totally unimpressed Maori barista and part-time pet portraitist who fills his house and his life with too much color, too much chaos, and too many secrets. He’s getting them anyway.

Note: This STAND-ALONE novel, like New Zealand, contains some steam. If that's not your cuppa, maybe visit another country ... er, book.