DAILY DEALS: YA, historical and a shorty contemporary
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Tamed By The Outlaw by Michelle Sharp $ 0.99
From the Jacket Copy:
He’s taking on the bad girl of romance…
Author Jessie Jameson is the Bad Girl of romance, making a huge name for herself writing love stories with sizzling hot sex scenes. No one needs to know that her real-life inspiration is sexy publishing exec Grayson Reynolds. Or that after the hottest sex of her life, Grayson walked out on her.
Grayson’s finally taken the reins of his family’s publishing business, and he’s determined to sell off the romance division. But Jessie Jameson’s contract is complicating things. It’s like she’s been trying to ruin him ever since the mind-blowing night they shared-the night she walked out on him.
Now the sparks are flying. Heated, sexy sparks. It’s a Wild West showdown between Jessie and Grayson. But when Romance ends up in bed with Business, only one can walk away…
Court of Fives by Kate Elliott $ 1.99
From the Jacket Copy:
In this imaginative escape into enthralling new lands, World Fantasy Award finalist Kate Elliott’s first young adult novel weaves an epic story of a girl struggling to do what she loves in a society suffocated by rules of class and privilege.
Jessamy’s life is a balance between acting like an upper-class Patron and dreaming of the freedom of the Commoners. But away from her family she can be whoever she wants when she sneaks out to train for The Fives, an intricate, multilevel athletic competition that offers a chance for glory to the kingdom’s best contenders. Then Jes meets Kalliarkos, and an unlikely friendship between two Fives competitors–one of mixed race and the other a Patron boy–causes heads to turn. When Kal’s powerful, scheming uncle tears Jes’s family apart, she’ll have to test her new friend’s loyalty and risk the vengeance of a royal clan to save her mother and sisters from certain death.
In contrast, Court of Fives is clearly aimed at a Young Adult reading audience, and plays by familiar techniques. There is a heroine who, at first glance, seems to lack the confidence, beauty, or skill of her other sisters but is nevertheless special and important and unique; there is a conflict that threatens to tear the girl’s family and world apart; there is a pretty princeling boy that catches the attention of the heroine, and who is similarly ensnared by the heroine’s unique capabilities. While this setup might sound familiar (and, ok, it is), what sets Court of Fives apart from the baseline of enjoyable but ultimately forgettable YA fantasy is Elliott’s singular knack for creating immersive fantasy cultures and worlds based on historical research, an incisive eye towards social and racial commentary (with a focus on privilege of birth, and written from a feminist perspective), and some truly kickass action and adventure, to boot.”
When a Scot Ties the Knot by Tessa Dare $ 1.99
From the Jacket Copy:
On the cusp of her first London season, Miss Madeline Gracechurch was shy, pretty, and talented with a drawing pencil, but hopelessly awkward with gentlemen. She was certain to be a dismal failure on the London marriage mart. So Maddie did what generations of shy, awkward young ladies have done: she invented a sweetheart.
A Scottish sweetheart. One who was handsome and honorable and devoted to her, but conveniently never around. Maddie poured her heart into writing the imaginary Captain MacKenzie letter after letter . . . and by pretending to be devastated when he was (not really) killed in battle, she managed to avoid the pressures of London society entirely.
Until years later, when this kilted Highland lover of her imaginings shows up in the flesh. The real Captain Logan MacKenzie arrives on her doorstep—handsome as anything, but not entirely honorable. He’s wounded, jaded, in possession of her letters . . . and ready to make good on every promise Maddie never expected to keep.
Cold Iron by Stina Leicht $ 1.99
From the Jacket Copy:
Fraternal twins Nels and Suvi move beyond their royal heritage and into military and magical dominion in this flintlock epic fantasy debut from a two-time Campbell Award finalist.
Prince Nels is the scholarly runt of the ancient Kainen royal family of Eledore, disregarded as flawed by the king and many others. Only Suvi, his fraternal twin sister, supports him. When Nels is ambushed by an Acrasian scouting party, he does the forbidden for a member of the ruling family: He picks up a fallen sword and defends himself.
Disowned and dismissed to the military, Nels establishes himself as a leader as Eledore begins to shatter under the attack of the Acrasians, who the Kainen had previously dismissed as barbarians. But Nels knows differently, and with the aid of Suvi, who has allied with pirates, he mounts a military offensive with sword, canon, and what little magic is left in the world.
Despite Leicht’s attempt to flavor the proceedings with Finnish-like names, the worldbuilding tends to get bogged down in adolescent dialogue and sentimentality. She relies too hard on having her characters constantly plunge into action, with hardly any pauses for inner reflection or growth. With the subterranean Old Ones also threatening, Nels and Suvi apparently have a long road ahead, and the book’s bloodthirsty violence may make it feel even longer”
Kate Elliott? Sold!
I think that any author would need more than 114 pages to explain why the head of a “family publishing company” (do these even exist anymore?) would want to sell off the “romance division” (which is likely providing a huge chunk of the sales) without being a total incompetent and snob.
I would describe Tessa Dare’s romances as “alternate historical universe” rather than historical. The last one I tried felt like a Disney fairytale, with its cheerful disregard for any sense of history. But I suppose that criticism can be levelled at many historical romances, which is why I rarely read them anymore.
The Kate Elliott book is coming up as $2.99 not $1.99.
I had to DNF this one by Tessa Dare, not because of the modern lingo, but because of the characters who kept doing stupid, irrational things.