DAILY DEALS: A couple of angsty, emotional reads and an Orbit fantasy
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Servicing the Target by Cherise Sinclair $ 2.99
From the Jacket Copy:
SPECIAL LIMITED TIME PRICING FOR PRE-ORDERS AND FIRST WEEK ON SALE!
A discharged Army Ranger, Ben considers his job as a BDSM club security guard to be an excellent hobby. He’s never been tempted to join in. But everything changes when the notorious Mistress Anne inadvertently reveals the caring heart concealed beneath her Domme armor.
Now, he’s set his sights on the beautiful Shadowlands Mistress. Maybe he’d considered himself vanilla, but she can put her stiletto on his chest any day, any time. He’ll trust her delicate hands to hold his heart. And if she wants to whip his ass on the way to an outstanding climax, he’s just fine with that too.
Sure, he knows she likes “pretty boy” slaves. And he’s older. Craggy and rough. And six-five. Minor hindrances. The mission is a go.
The City Stained Red by Sam Sykes $ 1.99
From the Jacket Copy:
STEP UP TO THE GATES
After years in the wilds, Lenk and his companions have come to the city that serves as the world’s beating heart.
The great charnel house where men die surer than any wilderness.
They’ve come to claim payment for creatures slain, blood spilled at the behest of a powerful holy man.
And Lenk has come to lay down his sword for good.
But this is no place to escape demons.
Skin Deep by Pamela Clare $ 0.99
From the Jacket Copy:
A 47,000-word I-Team After Hours novella featuring characters from author Pamela Clare’s popular I-Team series. The download also includes the I-Team short “Marc & Julian Make a Beer Run.”
Broken on the inside
Megan Hunter has worked hard to get back on her feet, leaving the nightmare of her teenage years behind. The last thing she wants or needs in her life is a man. But when she is attacked by someone from her past, a scarred stranger intervenes, saving her life and that of her little girl. Looks can be deceiving, for despite the man’s rough appearance, she feels safe with him. And for the first time in her life, she knows the stirrings of desire.
Broken on the outside
Nathaniel West paid a high price serving with the Marines in Afghanistan. He returned to his family’s ranch in the Colorado mountains to heal–and be alone. Disfigured as he is, he has put all thoughts of sex and romance aside. But something about Megan brings him back to life, heats his blood, makes him feel like a man again. As danger pursues her, and the truth about her past is revealed, he vows to protect her — and to heal her wounded spirit. ??But confronting the past is never easy — especially when it’s carrying a gun. Megan will have to learn to trust Nate to survive and to claim a passion that is much more than … Skin Deep.
Her by Carey Heywood $ FREE
From the Jacket Copy:
You know her side of the story, now learn his.
“It was useless. I felt branded beneath my skin by a girl who left without even saying goodbye.”
When Will Price was assigned a partner for a sixth grade class project he had no idea she would become his best friend. After years of friendship, she eventually became so much more. Then, one day she left with no explanation.
Will’s life shattered right before his eyes and he was left alone to pick up the pieces. Floundering, Will must figure out a way to carry on, to find a way to exist without her.
Seven years later, a chance encounter leaves him desperate to get her back. He has one week to make her his again. Not everyone gets a second chance with the love of their life and Will is determined to never lose her again.
Hmm. I’m kind of tempted by the Cherise Sinclair, even though I gave up on the Shadowlands series a couple of books ago. But I’ve always liked Ben the vanilla bouncer and as far as I know this is CS’s first femdom – usually her doms are alpha males. If she’s done with the sex trafficking arc that took over the series, I might give it a try.
I caved in and bought the Cherise Sinclair. Can’t wait to read about a Femdom! Grrrll power!
Thought I’d let the readership know – since this is the deals thread – that Carina Press put all three of its Rita-nominated books on sale at the Carina site until July 31 at 11:59 pm, with specific 40% off coupons:
Purely Professional (erotic) by Elia Winters – coupon code PP715
Bonds of Denial (erotic m/m) by Lynda Aicher – coupon code BD715
and His Road Home by Anna Richland (me!) (contemporary, IR/MC)- coupon code HRH715
I rarely pre-order but did for Servicing the Target. I have been interested in Anne throughout the series and am enjoying her story with Ben so far- about a third of the way through.
Cherise Sinclair is one of my wtf-can’t-stop-reading authors, but I really like femdom and so far am really enjoying Servicing the Target (about 1/2 through). There’s a whole lot of visiting previous couples/trios in this book, so I’m wondering if she didn’t feel she could keep people interested with just Anne and Ben, or if the series is suffering from “Remember these people?”-itis. I do think that the characters have been different enough that this is one case where I don’t have trouble telling anyone apart or remembering who anyone is, but the entire series goes from mild to straight-out-there bananas and requires a fair amount of suspension of disbelief. All of that said, re-reading the full series is a yearly thing for me.
While I’m having opinions on things, I listened to the first Shadowlands book as an audiobook and it was a dude narrating, which I thought might have been really interesting (so far the only romance audiobooks I’ve listened to have had women as narrators) but honestly, he made all the women sound like simpering children and made me board the nope train. It was a really weird experience. Usually I feel I get different and new things listening to something vs reading it, but this mostly had me making faces at the narrator sounding so damned disdainful of women and the book they were narrating, y’know?
@Lindsay: I am right there with you. I have the same reaction when female readers try and “low register” every male character and end up sounding like a kid playing “Dad”.
So far, the best audiobook reader for women’s voices that I have run across is Simon Vance. He did the Stieg Larsson books and several Ian Fleming titles, as well as excellent non-fiction. My fave thing for the Larsson books is that he did not try for Scandinavian accents, but denotes class and regional differences with English variations – no Swedish chef-type reading.
My favorite female reader for men’s voices is Jenny Sterlin, who reads the Laurie R. King Holmes/Russell mysteries along with several other books I have purchased b/c of her talent. She has done everything from Thomas Hardy to Virginia Henley.
@Anna Richland: Thanks for the codes and congrats!!! I really enjoyed His Road Home.
@Lindsay: are they still fighting the sex trafficking ring in Servicing the Target? That was my least favorite WTF detour in the series.
The Shadowlands is definitely my book crack, although I may be in recovery because I skipped Sally’s story (the excerpt seemed like she’d gotten a personality transplant and the GR reviews confirmed it and I just went NOPE.)
@Leslie: Oh, thank you for the recommendations! I would have been okay with Lawrence Fishbourne narrating the book because he is Z as far as I’m concerned, but he probably has other things to do. So I will definitely look up the Ian Flemings by Vance, that sounds delightful! I will also check out Jenny Sterlin because I’m learning just how much I enjoy audiobooks of books I have also read, and the narrator brings so much to it.
I really enjoy the narrators for Nalini Singh’s audiobooks, specifically Justine Eyre in the Guild Hunter series as she gives every character such a recognizable voice, and that’s pretty hard to do with such a large cast of characters (and she seems to GET them, too).
@cleo: All done Servicing the Target! No, they finish all of that bunch of bananas in Sally’s book, which I actually liked (despite that part of the plot, mostly because I really like Galen and Vance, although my hopes for a true trio were dashed), and I do agree that she has undergone a personality transplant and we don’t get her back afterwards. Rainie’s novella is sweet, and despite me being hesitant with this one to start (I was concerned that the author wouldn’t try femdom but would go sub-for-you but she totally knocked it out of the park), I think Servicing the Target is going to be one of my top re-reads. I mean, it still requires a hefty suspension of disbelief, but I definitely liked it a lot and the drama comes mostly from relationships/power imbalances/etc. No more wacky spy adventures.