Aug 6 2012
Daily Deals: A Matter of Scandal by Suzanne Enoch
A Matter of Scandal by Suzanne Enoch. $1.99.
From Jacket Copy:
Miss Emma Grenville has had her fill of pig-headed noblemen who believe women exist solely to satisfy men. And her arrogant new landlord, the Duke of Wycliffe, is the worst of the lot! The too-attractive cad wants to triple the rent on Emma’s finishing school for young ladies to help get his newly inherited estate out of debt. Well, he clearly needs educating—about women. And Emma is just the one to enlighten him.
The sinfully handsome duke has never met a woman he couldn’t seduce and outwit. And now that he’s tricked Emma into a wager, he has the stubborn headmistress right where he wants her. But the confirmed bachelor underestimates the quick-witted and surprisingly sensual Miss Grenville. For she may be leading him to a place neither dreams they’ll ever go—to the altar.
All These Things I’ve Done by Gabrielle Zevin. $2.99.
From Jacket Copy:
In 2083, chocolate and coffee are illegal, paper is hard to find, water is carefully rationed, and New York City is rife with crime and poverty. And yet, for Anya Balanchine, the sixteen-year-old daughter of the city’s most notorious (and dead) crime boss, life is fairly routine. It consists of going to school, taking care of her siblings and her dying grandmother, trying to avoid falling in love with the new assistant D.A.’s son, and avoiding her loser ex-boyfriend. That is until her ex is accidently poisoned by the chocolate her family manufactures and the police think she’s to blame. Suddenly, Anya finds herself thrust unwillingly into the spotlight–at school, in the news, and most importantly, within her mafia family.
The Bourne Sanction by Eric Van Lustbader. $2.99.
From Jacket Copy:
Jason Bourne returns to Georgetown University and the mild world of his alter ego, David Webb, hoping for normalcy. But after so many adrenaline-soaked years of risking his life, Bourne finds himself chafing under the quiet life of a linguistics professor.
Aware of his frustrations, his academic mentor, Professor Specter, asks for help investigating the murder of a former student by a previously unknown Muslim extremist sect. The young man died carrying information about the group’s terrorist activities, including an immediate plan to attack the United States.
The organization, the Black Legion, and its lethal plot have also popped up on the radar of Central Intelligence, where new director Veronica Hart is struggling to assert her authority. Sensing an opportunity to take control of CI by showing Hart’s incompetence, National Security Agency operatives plan to accomplish what CI never could-hunt down and kill Bourne.
In Europe, Bourne’s investigation into the Black Legion turns into one of the deadliest and most tangled operations of his double life-the pursuit of the leader of a murderous terrorist group with roots in the darkest days of World War II-all while an assassin as brilliant and damaged as himself is getting closer by the minute . . .
The Unwilling Heiress: Signet Regency Romance (InterMix) by Sandra Heath. $2.99.
From Jacket Copy:
WAS SHE AN ARISTOCRAT — OR AN IMPOSTOR?
It took but a few words from the lips of a dying woman to change beautiful young Janine Oldfield’s life utterly. The woman was her mother, who declared that Janine was more than the daughter of the most notorious actress in Regency London: she was also heiress to one of the greatest family names in England.
But when Janine came to the magnificent estate of Calworth to assume her place as granddaughter of proud and imperious Sir Adam Winterton, she discovered how perilous her exalted new position was… And as she fell in love against her will with handsome, scornful Richard Stuart, who accused her of being a pretender, she began to suspect that this man, who held her in such infuriatingly low esteem, might be actually, awfully, right..
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Aug 06, 2012 @ 14:32:04
A Matter of Scandal is the third book in the Ring trilogy by Enoch. I read these years ago and they’re pretty good, but the covers are truly awful!
Aug 06, 2012 @ 17:05:07
Try over 50. I think most of them were published in the US by Signet.
She also has the distinction of being an early Badly Behaving Author when she threw a fit over a critical discussion of one of her novels on a Romance listserv. I don’t remember which listserv it was unfortunately.
Aug 06, 2012 @ 17:51:48
It’s been eons since I read several of the initial Bourne books but I was curious enough to check out Sanction on Amazon. Wow. The reviews were amazingly, and consistently, bad. In fact, it looks like all of the Lustbader Bournes have not fared well in the review department. But people are obviously still buying them. I’m not going to join them, tho, even at this price.
Aug 06, 2012 @ 18:32:22
@Susan: My best friend read a couple of the Lustbader Bournes and she said they were plain rubbish.
I read (and reread a number of times) Robert Ludlum’s Bourne trilogy in my teens and they have stayed with me all this time, I loved the books and the character so much. Though I’ve read and enjoyed a number of Lustbader books (especially liked the Nicholas Linnear series) I won’t go near any of his Bourne books.
Aug 06, 2012 @ 19:13:05
Chocolate and coffee are illegal?
It is NYC. Bloomberg probably banned ‘em, along with oversized sodas and baby formula…
Aug 07, 2012 @ 16:55:49
As I recall Heath wavered from eh to not very good. She was one on the bottom of my personal ranking tier for Signet. Sometimes she’d have three or four books in my TBR before I knocked them out. Popular enough to have a long career with them but not my thing.
Aug 09, 2012 @ 21:50:49
I found the Enoch a pleasant surprise. The character interaction was great, but as with so many romances these days, I couldn’t quite figure out why the heroine changed her mind and jumped into bed with the hero. I think a lot of authors are confusing the editor prescription to keep the focus on the romance with a license to forgo plot. The book was still thoroughly enjoyable, but when the consummation isn’t linked to cause and effect, it never has the same emotional impact. Still a great buy for the $1.99!
Aug 10, 2012 @ 08:14:19
@DM: My favorite Enoch is London’s Perfect Hero. The heroine was quite normal. Pretty, from a good family, well liked. She falls for a Viscount’s brother who was suffering a serious case of PTSD. Very touching.
Aug 10, 2012 @ 23:57:35
@Jane
Sold!