Daily Deals: Erotica novels, mercenaries, aliens, and a bad publisher
Hidden Depths by Emma Holly. $ .99
From the Jacket Copy:
Three full-length paranormal romances: Hidden Talents, Hidden Depths and Hidden Crimes. Whether they involve irresistible werewolf cops, sexy wereseal kings or sassy firefighting tigresses, these adventures turn up the heat!
My only complaint about Holly is sometimes her work veered away from romance and was more fiction.
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Obsidian by Jennifer Armentrout. $ Free at Amazon | Apple
From the Jacket Copy:
Book One of the bestselling Lux series
Starting over sucks.
When we moved to West Virginia right before my senior year, I’d pretty much resigned myself to thick accents, dodgy internet access, and a whole lot of boring…until I spotted my hot neighbor, with his looming height and eerie green eyes. Things were looking up.
And then he opened his mouth.
Daemon is infuriating. Arrogant. Stab-worthy. We do not get along. At all. But when a stranger attacks me and Daemon literally freezes time with a wave of his hand, well, something…unexpected happens.
The hot alien living next door marks me.
You heard me. Alien. Turns out Daemon and his sister have a galaxy of enemies wanting to steal their abilities, and Daemon’s touch has me lit up like the Vegas Strip. The only way I’m getting out of this alive is by sticking close to Daemon until my alien mojo fades.
If I don’t kill him first, that is.
Note that there are two versions of Obsidian at Apple but one is free and the other is $2.99
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And Then He Kissed Her by Laura Lee Guhrke. $ 2.99
From the Jacket Copy:
An expert in etiquette, Emma takes her pristine reputation most seriously.
But the devilish Lord Marlowe is determined to prove that some rules of proper behavior are made to be broken . . .
The book is told in three parts and at the end of each part, I thought to myself, the book is going to falter. When the secretary/employer barriers are removed, there won’t be any tension. When the writer/publisher barrier is removed, there won’t be any tension. When they become lovers, there won’t be any tension. But it never lagged, not once. It moved me from laughter to sadness to joy. I had a goofy smile on my face the entire time I read this book. Thank you for writing a fun but moving book with great character as Emma whose strength was that she took her chances to live her life to the fullest.
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The Perils of Pleasure by Julie Anne Long. $ 2.99.
From the Jacket Copy:
A rescued rogue . . .
Scandal has rocked the city of London. Colin Eversea, a handsome, reckless unapologetic rogue is sentenced to hang for murder and, inconveniently for him, the only witness to the crime disappears. Then again, throughout history, the Everseas have always managed to cheat fate in style: Colin is snatched from the gallows by a beautiful, clever mercenary.
A captivating captor. . .
Cool-headed, daring Madeleine Greenway is immune to Colin’s vaunted charm. Her mission is not to rescue Colin but to kidnap him, and to be paid handsomely for it. But when it becomes clear that whoever wants Colin alive wants Madeline dead, the two become uneasy allies in a deadly race for truth. Together, they’ll face great danger—and a passion neither can resist.
Janine gave this book a B
I thought the second half of the book was much stronger than the first. Here, we were given many of the answers to the questions about Madeleine, and learning the truth about her past made her character more whole and complete. This was also the part of the book where Madeline and Colin grew closer and their circumstances improved, so that the charm and humor which had seemed jarring in the book’s first half were more fitting in the second. I enjoyed the second half of the book very much.
I want to mention that The Perils of Pleasure has quite a few strengths. Among them are the unusual plot and setting. I thought the piecing together of the mystery was very well done, and I loved that the book was set in parts of London we don’t often see and featured some unusual side characters.
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I picked up Hidden Talents for free awhile back and enjoyed it. It didn’t break any new ground in PNR, but was engaging enough that I didn’t want to put it down. I’ll definitely be picking up the box set even though it looks like the second one is a menage and I’m not a big fan of those.
I loved both The Perils of Pleasure and And Then He Kissed Her!
Sold on the Emma Holly. I remember her erotica titles fondly and I didn’t even know she’d written PNR.
I too really liked The Perils of Pleasure. Exciting. Seemingly-glib-but-with-hidden-depths quippy hero. Badass damaged heroine. Good character development. Yum.
I remember thinking Obsidian was like Roswell meets Twilight. It was a fun read though.
I loved Then He Kissed Her! I feel like Laura Lee Gurhke is often underrated. She has some misses but she also has some of my favorite historicals of all time.
I had to give up on the Julie Anne Long books because of the editing. I was willing to wait it out for the romance I wanted (though it’s getting ridiculous that after 9 books we’ve got nada), but the copyediting issues in that series are consistently some of the worst I’ve experienced. The first book was fine, but the issues become more and more glaring as the series progresses and, at one point, my published version has a heroine with alternating titles (I’m assuming this was fixed in later print editions and know it was corrected for e editions).
Wereseals. What? Done.
I liked The Perils of Pleasure a lot, it wasn’t my first Pennyroyal Green book but it IS the first of the series so it’s great in a lot of ways. I get the song stuck in my head all the time, which makes very little sense as there’s no actual tune…
I bought Then He Kissed Her a while ago because it was on sale and Jane recomended it then. Really loved it. I think I forget about it sometimes because I haven’t fallen in love with any other Guhrke books and all of my favorite historical authors have 3+ books I love.
Also, I bought all of the Emma Holly books in that bundle individually and 99¢ is a great deal. They’re fun. Hidden Depths is a four-gy f/m/m/m with magical were-seals. It’s totally bonkers.
I keep meaning to go back to the Pennyroyal series…It’s been a while. I think I liked What I Did for a Duke and I Kissed an Earl better than The Perils of Pleasure.