DAILY DEALS: Two heartrending stories about love and two recommended reads
Book Dealsdaily deals49 Comments
A Knight in Shining Armor by Jude Deveraux $ 1.99
From the Jacket Copy:
Jude Deveraux’s beloved bestseller has captivated readers the world over; now in a special edition featuring new material, this timeless love story greets a new generation.
Once upon a time…as a fair maiden lay weeping upon a cold tombstone, her heartfelt desire was suddenly made real before her: tall, broad of shoulder, attired in gleaming silver and gold, her knight in shining armor had come to rescue his damsel in distress….
Abandoned by her lover, thoroughly modern Dougless Montgomery finds herself alone and brokenhearted in an old English church. She never dreamed that a love more powerful than time awaited her there…until Nicholas Stafford, Earl of Thornwyck, a sixteenth-century knight, appeared. Drawn to him by a bond so sudden and compelling that it defied reason, Dougless knew that Nicholas was nothing less than a miracle: a man who would not seek to change her, who found her perfect just as she was. But she could not know how strong were the chains that tied them to the past—or the grand adventure that lay before them.
Blamed by Edie Harris $ 0.99
From the Jacket Copy:
Born into a long line of spies, sanctioned killers and covert weapons developers, Beth Faraday carried out her first hit-for-hire when she was still a teenager.
That part of her life—the American spy royalty part—ended one year ago, with a job gone wrong in Afghanistan. The collateral damage she caused with a single shot was unfathomable and, for Beth, unforgivable. She’s worked hard to build a new life for herself, far away from the family business.
But someone, somewhere, hasn’t forgotten what Beth did in Kabul. And they want revenge.
As the Faraday clan bands together to defend Beth and protect their legacy, Beth is forced to flee her new home with the unlikeliest of allies-MI6 agent Raleigh Vick, the only man she’s ever loved. And the one she thought she’d killed in the desert.
Book one of the Blood Money series
84,000 words
I think my other problem was that I am a very linear reader and some of the story is told in form of flashbacks given the couple’s long history together. Mandi from Smexy Books gave it a B+. “I loved Vick and Beth (especially Beth) and I think the author does a great job balancing the romance and suspense. If you have read Carolyn Crane’s Associates series, this has a bit of the same feel. Plus this is spy falls for spy – such a fun premise.”
Between the Sheets by Molly O’Keefe $ 0.99
From the Jacket Copy:
After years of running, Wyatt Svenson has now parked himself in Bishop, Arkansas, trying to do the right thing and parent a son he didn’t even know he had until recently. Over six feet tall and packed with muscles and power, Ty likes to get his hands dirty, fixing his motorcycle at night and keeping his mind away from the mistakes he’s made. Then his pretty neighbor shows up on his driveway, doesn’t bother to introduce herself, and complains about the noise. First impression? She should loosen up. Funny that she turns out to be his son’s elementary school art teacher—and the only one willing to help his troubled boy. Ty needs her. In more ways than one.
Though Shelby Monroe is safe in her structured life, she is drawn to Ty’s bad-boy edge and rugged sexuality. What if she just lets it all go: her worries about her mother, her fear of heartbreak, and her tight self control? What if she grabs Ty and takes a ride on the wild side? “What if” becomes reality—intense, exhilarating . . . and addictive. But Ty wants more than a secret affair. He wants it all with Shelby. But will she take a chance and open her heart? Ty is determined to convince Shelby to take the biggest risk of her life: on him.
“Most of the sex is in the first two thirds of the book – sex is the easiest thing for Ty and Shelby to do – it is the actual relationship they find hard. Ty because he’s never done it before and Shelby because she’s so insular. This worked for me too because I already knew they could have successful sex – I didn’t need to read about that by the end – it was them communicating over the hard things and sharing struggles which made me believe in their HEA. Even so, the sex which was in the book was both hot and at first, kind of removed. Their first few encounters were purely physical and impersonal. Then there is a gradual introduction of emotion – to the point where a simple kiss, a hug, became more intimate than naked penetrative sex. I liked the subversion of it.”
Goodnight, Beautiful by Dorothy Koomson $ 1.99
From the Jacket Copy:
Nova will do anything for her closest friend, Mal, whom she has known since childhood. So when Mal and his wife, Stephanie, ask Nova to be a surrogate mother, she agrees—despite her reservations about what it might mean for their friendship. Then Nova’s fears are realized. Halfway through the pregnancy, Stephanie finds a text from her husband to Nova that reads “Goodnight, beautiful.” Already suspicious of their deep connection, Stephanie demands that Mal cut all ties to Nova and their unborn baby, leaving Nova to raise the child alone.
Eight years later, Nova is anxiously waiting for her son, Leo, to wake up from a coma, while childless Stephanie is desperately trying to save her failing marriage. Despite her anger and hurt, Nova wants Mal to have the chance to know his son before it’s too late. Will it take a tragedy to remind them all how much they mean to one another?
I loved all these books though the Koomson depressed me for weeks and like you, I couldn’t go back to read her anymore.
I have SO many feelings! A Knight in Shining Armor was the first genre romance that I remember discussing with other people – it was a turning point for me. Jude Devereaux became the first romance author that I consciously read (instead of randomly and covertly reading whatever I found in the supermarket book aisle). I didn’t mind the ending – maybe because I was new enough to genre romance to not have strong expectations re happy endings. But yeah, new readers, be warned that the ending doesn’t meet genre hea standards (although it meets my personal standards for a happy ending, fwiw).
@cleo:
I often wonder whether the readers who hate A Knight in Shining Armor are those who read it years after its 1989 publication date. The eighties were a time when bad things regularly befell romance characters, and joyous epilogues were far from the norm.
I read A Knight in Shining Armor the year it came out and while the ending struck me as unusual, it didn’t feel out of bounds for a romance. Many other readers likely felt similarly because the book hit the NY Times Bestseller list. IIRC, it got the coveted #1 spot and Deveraux said in interviews that it was her betstselling and most beloved book (as opposed to her other books which have more traditional endings).
When I joined romancelandia in 1999, the controversy was just beginning, but hadn’t gained the steam it got later. There were still a lot of readers who loved the book and it even held the top spot on AAR’s Top Romances poll.
The 2000s were a time when characters in romance were a lot less likely to come to harm, and happy-happy-happy epilogues became the norm. Reader expectations for the genre changed accordingly. It was around this time that I began to hear a lot more from readers who hated the book, which surprised me given how beloved it had once been. That is anecdotal, of course, but sometimes books can be barometers for how the genre has changed and how reader expectations change with the genre, so it’s interesting to speculate.
Like you, I really liked the book and it met my personal standards for a happy ending. What worries me about the ebook is the mention of this being “a special edition featuring new material.” I wish authors wouldn’t tinker with romance classics because I never know if I’m going to like the new material as much as I liked the old.
@Janine: I read it shortly after it came out and so did a huge number of readers who have issues with the ending.
Well, great. I bought it, then found a review for the current rewrite. I’m not a new romance reader by any means. I read the gothic romance that was Holt back in the 60’s when it wasn’t really romance but you could read it that way if you were so inclined. I’ve grown up and older since then and have enough crap in my life (by virtue of being an ‘adult’) that I want my clear cut HEA. It gives me a lift so many other things just don’t. Oh well, I’ll read it, but I won’t like it…
@Jane: I stand corrected. Still, if it is the most popular of Deveraux’s books, there must also be readers who loved that ending.
I have never read this book but have heard of it as a romance with a bad ending – can somebody tell me whether this involves character death? And should someone like me who only reads romances with HEA should even attempt to read this?
@ducky: It has an HEA, but the debate is whether that is a satisfying one. For me it wasn’t. I didn’t buy into the love ever after at all.
Buried Comment (Reason: spoiler) Show
@Janine: I’m sure that there are readers who love the ending. It’s why I said it was a controversial ending.
@ducky:
BIG SPOILERS
Buried Comment: Show
@Jane: He isn’t childless. He has an infant son whose life the heroine saves (when he travels forward in time to the 1980s, he tells the heroine his son died in infancy, when the heroine goes back to the Elizabethan era, she arrives three years earlier and saves the child.)
@Janine: Is this the one on the plane–I know this is a really weird question–where the flight attendant asks the woman why she didn’t use her fork during her meal, was there something wrong with it? Because after living so long in the past, she ate only with a knife, as one did in those days. But the comment flung me completely out of the story–who would really ask such a question of a customer?–and that’s the only thing I’ve remembered after all these years, until reading your spoiler.
@Darlynne: It’s been so long since I read the book, and that line isn’t one I remember, but it sounds like it could be this book. And I agree a ridiculous question for a flight attendant to ask.
One of the lines I remember really well is when the heroine explains to the hero (right after he has traveled forward in time) how a flush toilet works. It says (paraphrasing) she teaches him that after using it, he has to put the seat down, feeling that if she can just instill this one thing in him, she will have achieved a victory for womankind.
@Janine: I read this book when it was first published and, like you and @cleo, I really liked the ending. It fit the “time travel” and “reincarnation” tropes of the time it was published, and which, IIRC, were quite popular. Barbara Erskine was also one of my favourite authors, and of course, Outlander came out a few years after this.
I actually prefer this kind of ending to some of the “happy, happy” baby filled epilogues of the mid 2000s UMMV.
YMMV – I need an edit button!
@Lynnd:
Yes me too. I like a poignant ending sometimes, as long as it’s not depressing.
I don’t think I’ve ever read Erskine. What do you recommend of hers?
Dear godlings, I hated Knight in Shining Armor. To the point where I haven’t read another Devereaux since I first read it back in the early 90s.
That book had the most crummy ending in the history of crummy-ended romances. It’s like calling Nicholas Sparks’ books romances.
@Janine–re: Barbara Erskine. Her best, in my opinion, is Lady of Hay. But it is a very tough, emotional read. You have to be in the mood for a big book, as well. I have such vivid memories of it, but haven’t re-read it for fear of the suck fairies.
Likewise, I have fond memories of a much more light-hearted take on time travel/reincarnation: The Nonesuch Lure by Mary Luke.
Avid romance reader here but amazingly I’ve somehow managed to never read Jude Deveraux. Sent the sample to my Kindle, and decided to purchase it based on 1) my enjoyment of the sample and 2) the fact there are so many haters! We’ll see….
I liked Knight in Shining Armor back when I read it and thought the ending was cool. Don’t know if I’d think that way now, though. However one of my first romance novels I’d read after branching out from Harlequins was Bertrice Small’s Adora which had a sad/happy? ending.
Arguably the only light-hearted novels Dorothy Koomson has written were The Chocolate Run and The Cupid Effect. Goodnight Beautiful is a tearjerker. It also pisses you off. Not the book, but you get pissed on on behalf of the main character Nova because of the situation & the actions of the characters. The writing though is so good and the story is really compelling.
@Tina: In Goodnight, Beautiful I wished Mal had been less passive about his life. His actions toward Nova…God, I just wanted to wring his neck sometimes. But she loved him so.
Knight in Shining Armour is so NOT for me. *runs away from crappy ending like hair is on fire* Thx for the spoilers ladies!
OMG Barb, you remember “The Nonsuch Lure” too? It’s one of my favorites. I’ve read it so many times, although the last time I remember finding a big plot hole that I’ve erased from my memory.
I think perhaps because I was primed for the reincarnation thing due to the Nonsuch Lure, I found the ending to Knight in Shining Armor to be happy. And if I knew how to spoiler tag my comment I would break down why I found it happy.
I’m surprised that reincarnation never gained a ton of traction in the romance genre. It seems like it would be something that could lead to a super-earned HEA – two characters who fight through several lifetimes in order to be together…
And also, the Deveraux is not on sale at the Kobo store. Come on, price matching fairies, do your work!!!
I remember loving Knight in Shining Armor and thinking that it had the perfect romantic ending, as opposed to someone settling down happily in a totally alien society.
Romantic and Romance are not always synonymous.
I’ve never read Deveraux, and I’m kind of on the fence. Other than the ending, is it well written?
@Olivia: I would say yes. Dougless, the heroine, starts out flawed (letting her selfish fiance treat her like a doormat) and has a huge growth arc where she learns to stand up for herself. I remember some readers didn’t care for that but others (including myself) really liked that aspect of the book.
I read a lot of Jude Devereaux books in a short time. But after the twin sister books (one was a “good girl” while other was “rebellious” doctor and both were TSTL) in her Montgomery series and then Knight in Shining Armor, never picked up another book by her again. This was in the early 1990s
The ending of KiSA was just so UNFAIR…
Hit enter too soon. I remember being really upset at the fact that everyone, including Nicolas, watched Douglas bathe every morning. That seemed such a violation of her privacy not to mention rather sleazy…
@Janine:
SPOILER
BEWARE – I don’t know how to do the hidden text thing.
I’m in the hated it camp but not quite for the reasons you mention. I read all the way to the bitter end expecting JD to pull it out with him somehow traveling to the future. In your reply to ducky, you said “So one can view the book as ending in the hero’s death, or as ending in the hero and heroine’s reunion.” I viewed it as ending with another hero altogether which was not satisfying at all. Reincarnation is not something I can suspend disbelief about. I think the fact that it’s a RL religious belief with polarized opinions causes it to burst my fictional fantasy bubble. I have the same trouble with angels and demons. I can only handle them as characters if they’re removed from their religious origins like Nalini Singh’s archangels. To me, it seems like reincarnation is inherently religious since it deals with souls.
“The eighties were a time when bad things regularly befell romance characters, and joyous epilogues were far from the norm.”
I don’t think it’s a question of more flexible endings back in the day. I think JD fully believed she was writing a solid HEA but it doesn’t translate for some readers because of their differing view of reincarnation. That’s my take, anyway. :)
@MaryK: * I can’t seem to satisfactorily articulate my problem with the ending. It’s not that it didn’t strictly conform to HEA guidelines or end less happily than expected. It’s more like it didn’t end, there’s just some other guy stuck into the end there. I’m reminded of that paranormal series that made Jane throw her ereader except JD obviously didn’t intentionally write it that way.
@Taffygrrl – have you read Remembrance by JD? It has a romance across multiple lives / reincarnations – the heroine is a romance author who becomes obsessed with one of her fictional heroes, does a past life regression thingie and discovers they were star crossed lovers in the past and idk, a bunch of other crazy stuff happens. No one does crazysauce quite like JD.
I think maybe one reason reincarnated love across many lives never caught on is because it’s a lot of work to keep up with all the different lives (or maybe that’s just me and my ever shortening attention span). I never read Meljean Brook’s Demon Angel (not exactly reincarnation but it has an 800 year old conflict and attraction) because just reading the reviews tired me out.
@Janine: I really liked Lady of Hay which, in part, tells the story of Matilda de Braose who was murdered by King John (eventually this, in part, led to many of the provisions in the Magna Carta which is celebrating its 850 Anniversary this year). It is, as @Barb in Maryland” says a tough and emotional book, but it has stuck with me for over 25 years (and I haven’t reread it either, although I mean to), so I guess that says something. I also enjoyed Kingdom of Shadows and Child of the Phoenix very much. I lost track of her books for awhile after that (too busy and I was reading more fantasy than anything else), but I have good intentions of catching up on her back list – I’m getting bored with a good deal of the romance being published (except for a very few auto-buy authors), so I think It’s time for me to take a break and hopefully end my reading slump from hell.
I had no idea KiSA was so controversial. The end worked for me when I read it in the 90s and again on a recent reread. Perhaps if JD had given a few more pages with the reincarnated hero, the ending would have come across as a more genuine HEA for the readers that didn’t like ending as written. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
@MaryK: I agree that whether one can accept reincarnation in the world of the book will affect one’s interpretation of the ending. I don’t have any specific religious beliefs about reincarnation, either for or against it. But I love reincarnation as a romance trope, and wish we saw more of it. To me it’s like reading about vampires or werewolves — I don’t have to believe in them to enjoy reading about them. There is something really, really romantic about the idea of reincarnated lovers, because in these books love transcends even death.
@Barb in Maryland & @Lynnd — thanks for the Erskine recommendations! And Lynnd, sorry to hear about your reading slump. If you do reread the Erskine books, I hope you post about your experience with them on the open thread.
@cleo: Not Taffygrl, but I remember Remembrance. It didn’t work for me at all because the hero and heroine suffered so much. However, the thing that impressed me most was what an amazing villain the heroine’s mother in the past life storyline was. I started out sympathizing with her and end up hating her.
@MaryK: Yeah, I agree with you.
It isn’t so much whether reincarnation is part of MY belief system — it isn’t, but I have read other books where it works.
It’s more about what the story-world convinces me that reincarnation MEANS — is a reincarnated person still somehow the “same” person? Do we remember our past lives, wholly or in part? How much do our past choices influence our current options? Is there such a thing as “entwined souls” (a la Plato’s Symposium) who are destined (or perhaps doomed) to love each other in life after life? Is there any free will involved at all, or are we just re-enacting old dramas?
My problem with aKiSA was, as I remember it, that this whole reincarnation deal came up at literally the last moment, and the story didn’t prepare me for it in a way that answered any of the above questions.
Didn’t Linda Howard or Jayne Ann Krentz have a reincarnation across the ages story? Only, in all the previous lives they didn’t get it right so they had to make this one count as it was their last? It would have been a Silhouette or Harlequin as I didn’t have time to read anything else in university and I remember debating with myself if i could justify buying it versus taking it out of the library the next time I had a bad day…
@hapax:
It’s not accurate to say that reincarnation only came up at the last minute. When Dougless travels back to the past she meets an earlier version of her fiance, Robert (not the hero) and I think one of his daughter as well. She starts to realize the reasons they were such jerks to her are rooted in these past lives. When she returns to the present Robert and his daughter are much changed due to events that transpired in the past. So even though Nicholas’ reincarnation doesn’t come up until the very end, the idea of reincarnation as part of the world of the book is introduced much earlier.
ETA: I read the book as answering all your questions except the one about free will, actually.
@Nancy: The Linda Howard you are thinking of is a novella titled Lake of Dreams. It’s one of my favorite Howard novellas. For anyone else fond of reincarnation I also liked Time Without End by Linda Lael Miller and Archangel’s Blade by Nalini Singh, both vampire / reincarnation stories.
@Janine: Hah! Obviously I don’t have a good memory for the details of the story!
Apparently, that goes for *while* I’m reading it as well, because I do distinctly recall reading those last pages and going, “wait, WHAT?”
@Janine: Yeah, I remember Remembrance as being really hard to get through – I don’t think it worked for me when I read it, but it did make an impression. I think I read it as I was moving away from JD – I don’t think it precipitated my author break up with her, but it certainly didn’t help.
@Nancy: Melanie Jackson also wrote a book called Dominion in 2002 that was about lovers reincarnating through the ages, trying each time to get it right.
@Jane:
Thank you for the info, Jane.
@Janine:
Thanks very much, Janine! This actually sounds like a very cool ending.
@Janine: I *could* like a book featuring this trope but I would want to spend more time with the reincarnated pair/HEA couple and see them get their HEA rather than leaving it open-ended. For me, the black moment (their separation) has to come way earlier for me to be interested. I think with this example, it would be too little too late for me and I’d have been really cross about it. Even so, it’s not a trope I’d run to with open arms.
@Janine: I loved Archangel’s Blade but that was a book where I got to spend loads of time with the [spoiler alert!!] “present time” incarnation of the heroine. If the story had been of Dmitri and his first love and her dying and then him just meeting Honor then I’d have been stabby in a major way.
@Kaetrin: That would not have worked for me with Archangel’s Blade either, because Dmitri’s backstory was so angsty. I would have been stabby too, after all he went through he deserved way more happiness than just to meet Honor. But AKISA is a very different book, with a very different feel. Deveraux is a much more humorous author than Singh, so it has laugh out loud moments.
Also, even in the past life storyline, we know Dougless is doing Nicholas a lot of good — that he would have been executed if not for her, that his son would have died in infancy if not for her. All his descendants and his architectural work would not have survived if he hadn’t fallen in love with Dougless in that lifetime.
Nor does Dougless lose out because of her experience in the Elizaethan era — it teaches her to stand up for herself and to value herself.
Whereas in Archangel’s Blade it’s exactly the opposite.
SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS
Dimitri’s attachment to Ingrede brings a heap of pain and sorrow to both him and Ingrede/Honor thanks to the evil angel Isis. Where Nicholas’ son is saved, Dmitiri and Ingrede’s daughter and son die. Centuries later both of them are still in pain because of it. So, I don’t think it’s a good comparison at all. The violence and darkness in Archangel’s Blade demand a very different structure than the lighter plot of A Knight in Shining Armor.
I wasn’t trying to compare these two books when I first mentioned Archangel’s Blade, BTW. I listed it and Miller’s Time Without End as other good romances with a reincarnation trope since it’s a trope I find very romantic and since the thread was turning to the topic of other authors who have tackled it like Mary Luke, Barbara Erskine and Linda Howard.
@Janine: I didn’t think you were trying a direct comparison. It’s only that I’d just finished writing a comment which basically said, that I’d be wary of a reincarnation trope and then I read your comment which mentioned Archangel’s Blade and I thought “but I loved that one!” LOL.
I’m still giving KiSA a miss though. Also, I totally missed the JD boat so I don’t have the same emotional attachment to her work as so many readers do.
@Kaetrin: I hear you about not wanting to read the book. No pressure.
Jude Deveraux is a very hit or miss author for me. Her books could on occasion be annoying or (like Remembrance which Cleo mentioned above) dissatisfying. When I read her books, it was more for the comedy and humor than for the romance. I remember Wishes, for example, as a book that was very very funny but the romance just so-so. I think that in her heyday, Deveraux was stronger as a humorist than as anything else. I remember reading The Raider and laughing so hard I teared up and my stomach hurt.
AKISA was one of the few exceptions — very romantic as well as having some humorous moments (and poignant ones, too). So I don’t know that I have a deep attachment to her oeuvre, but I did like this book a lot.
@Janine: I thought of Lake of Dreams when I was commenting earlier. I actually liked that story. :) There must be something to what hapax said about the way the reincarnation is set up.