Oh the joys of finding Steals and Deals at the beginning of the month. It’s like shooting fish in a barrel which, really, I’m pretty sure no one ever actually did. Anyway… here are today’s deals!

Those of us of a certain age have a soft spot for the romances of Susan Elizabeth Phillips. Back in the day, when older women were rarely romance heroines, SEP kept sticking them in her books, often as the lead in a secondary romance. Plus, her books tend to have love AND laughter in them. First Star I See Tonight has both. You can read our B+ review here. We wrote:

As the book opens we learn a lot about Cooper Graham as he runs along Lake Michigan in his first September of retirement. Perhaps his defining characteristic is he hates to lose, and as he jogs along the Lakeshore he refuses to let a “kid” beat him, running through hip and shin pain from old injuries. Winning is all that matters in Coop’s mind, and he’s now directed his competitive drive to creating a chain of high-profile nightclubs. But while his first nightclub is a success, he needs financing to expand.

Our heroine Piper Dove is also competitive, also driven. She longed to work in her family’s detective agency, but her father would have none of it. After he died, Piper bought the family agency from her stepmother, only to discover it was in bad financial shape. But Piper now has a prestigious case, tailing Coop to get information on him. She longs to be the best detective in Chicago, but so far things aren’t going well as Coop has spotted her on several occasions

A word of warning: do not read the first few chapters in public. I found myself laughing out loud repeatedly during Coop and Piper’s first interaction at his nightclub, where she convinces him she’s British and is his stalker. Coop quickly finds out who she actually is, and demands to know who hired her, threatening her with the loss of future jobs. But Piper hates to lose as much as Coop does, and is just as stubborn, if not more so. In anger she tells Coop his bartender is cheating him. He doesn’t believe her, then figures out she’s telling the truth, and hires Piper to work in his bar for a few weeks.

A strange series of incidents lead Piper to believe someone is trying to hurt Coop and hurt the reputation of his club, do she makes herself his unofficial bodyguard. Talk about your kick-ass heroines! She defends Coop numerous times – and he doesn’t want to be defended. His bouncers are eventually more afraid of Piper than of Coop.

But Piper is so much more than tough. She’s self-aware; she knows she can’t stand to show weakness, but still picks fights, has to show she’s stronger than everyone else. I love how she accepts when she’s wrong, doesn’t make excuses, and admits it.

Piper has no interest in relationships and thinks men are a lot of work. When Coop and Piper head in that direction, they believe it will be temporary and will just be about sex. It’s fun watching the couple develop feelings for each other, almost in spite of themselves. I also love how well they know each other. Piper gradually learns more about Coop, realizing he’s so much more than a famous football player. And the ending is just perfect, demonstrating just how well Coop loves and understands Piper.

You can get it for 1.99 here.

I’m pretty sure I’m amongst a legion of readers who believe a good Julie Anne Long book is better than the vast majority of romances currently being published. It Happened One Midnight is a good JAL. In our B review, we wrote:

The plot is an odd meld of commerce, danger, adorable tots, explosive kisses, and self-determination. Ms. Long pulls it off although the most compelling story is not of that era’s abused impoverished young but rather of Jonathan’s strategic toppling of his father’s limiting demands. Isaiah Redmond has long been cruising for a comeuppance and it’s satisfying to see his youngest son deliver it to him.

I liked Jonathan more than Tommy in part because Jonathan is deftly and deeply portrayed. Readers of the series have gotten to know him and his troubled family over many pages and he is a compelling and confident hero. Tommy is much hazier. Whole parts of her are missing (her sexual and relational past, her relationship with her mother, how she acquired her many skills, just to name a few). And unlike, Jonathan, she doesn’t have to give up anything to fuse her future with his.

I did enjoy the interactions between the two. Ms. Long excels at writing witty repartee and deliciously effective love scenes. One of the pleasant aspects of It Happened One Midnight is that Tommy and Jonathan like each other long before they begin exploring the lust they feel. I worried, once they became lovers, that Jonathan conflated lust and love, but by the (sigh) epilogue, he and Tommy have the stuff that dreams are made of: True, lasting, passionate love.

I count Ms. Long as one of my favorite writers. Two of her Pennyroyal books (#4 and #5) are among my top ten favorite historical romances. It Happened One Midnight is not one of Ms. Long’s best books, but nor is it a bad one. It’s good, not great.

It’s on sale at Amazon for 1.99 here.

Dread Nation is still one of the best YA books I’ve ever read. It’s imaginative, brilliant, revisionist in a way that reads as necessary, and thrilling. I couldn’t put it down EITHER of the two times I’ve read it. In our rave review, we wrote:

The Civil War is over. But not because the North won. No, the North and South were forced to put aside political differences when the dead rose on the battlefield of Gettysburg, eating anyone living regardless of the color of their uniform. A truce was quickly established and hasty solutions to the serious problem of humanity falling to the zombie plague began. One response is the Negro and Native Reeducation Act. Funded by Congress, these special schools produced young men and women of color expertly trained in the art of zombie killing. Miss Preston’s School of Combat for Negro Girls is just that kind of establishment. A place where training in etiquette and battle are equally important, the school provides Attendants to young women of good breeding, ensuring that the well-to-do have a lady’s maid who can set a fine table and kill any undead who try to eat the guests.

Jane McKeen is a student at Miss Preston’s. She’s clever, resourceful, deadly with a sickle and a wee bit independent. She’s got no intention of being an Attendant to anyone but her Mama back in Kentucky, and once she’s had her fill of training, she’ll head home and protect the folks on the family plantation. Her plans may be dashed, however, by her poor results in an exam regarding European place settings and the appropriate titles for nobles. Already on probation for the unladylike act of reading newspapers, she is now in danger of expulsion. Jane reluctantly agrees to attend an extra-credit lecture on the science of zombies in order to show she knows how to behave appropriately in a social setting. Unfortunately, her manners at the event are found lacking; fortunately, the professor giving the lecture is attacked by his zombie experiments and Jane’s ability to fight the undead saves the notable attendees, including the mayor’s wife. Her heroics keep her from getting expelled but land her in a whole other heap of trouble.

For unbeknownst to Jane and the other Miss Preston girls, things in the war for the survival of humanity are not going well. Mysterious disappearances are occurring in the local community. And in the area beyond that? Let’s just say that what awaits Jane and her friends beyond Baltimore’s borders is a far more difficult dilemma.

Skillfully combining fantasy and history, Ms. Ireland creates a world which gives thoughtful examination to slavery, Jim Crow, and the Native American boarding school systems which once existed with the goal of destroying native culture and enslaving native children. Through the eyes of the engaging Jane, we  examine the theories – scientific and religious – which were used to justify the treatment of fellow Americans as less than human. We also experience the fight for justice, survival and the indomitability of the human spirit through our plucky heroine. And it’s all a heck of a good time. This novel manages to blend the serious and the silly to create a story that at once elucidates and entertains. The zombies are what make the tale. Just when the racism and systematic oppression want to make you scream, they enter the story. Not to say they are funny. They aren’t. But the juxtaposition of our very real horrific history on race issues and the unreality of undead zombies gives the reader a chance to step back from the story while still learning what it is trying to teach.

It’s on sale at Amazon for 2.99 here.

Adele Ashworth’s Stolen Charms is a winner. In our B+ review, we wrote:

Adele Ashworth’s first book My Darling Caroline was a true keeper. It had everything – characters, setting, and plot – and was so beautifully written I found myself stopping to re-read passages and marvel. Ms Ashworth’s second book Stolen Charms is just as beautifully written and has fantastic characters both main and secondary. The plot though, is not as well constructed and the book just missed an A rating.

There are so many twists and turns to this plot that to tell much of it would be to give away the story. The book begins in earnest (after the prologue) with Natalie Haislett asking antiques dealer Jonathan Drake to introduce her to a man whom, she says, has long fascinated her, the legendary Black Knight. Natalie, who is not exactly your retiring young miss, comes to his Jonathan’s home unchaperoned. For reasons that become clear later, Jonathan agrees to take her to Europe and introduce her.

The plot takes over when Natalie and Jonathan go to France. Jonathan is trying to steal a valuable emerald necklace that is desired by French Royalists. While engaging enough, the plot definitely took a back seat to the characters.

Natalie Haislett is of good family. She is beautiful, wealthy and unmarried at the age of 23. Not that she has not been asked. She’s been courted by a succession of upper-class twits and, to her family’s dismay, has turned all of them down. Natalie is a passionate soul. In a beautifully written passage, she declares that she wishes to know and be known, love and be loved by her beloved. In turn she wants to know and love him just as intensely. She will not settle for being an ornament and a breeder.

Natalie is not instantly likable, but, after a bit of time, I found myself warming up to her. Her discovery of her mother’s love affair and the hurt that it inflicted on her father, coupled with her mother’s constant sermons of propriety, have made her impatient with the hypocritical standards of society. She wants love and expects fidelity. Natalie is powerfully attracted to Jonathan but wary of his rakish reputation.

Jonathan Drake, the second son of an Earl, uses his antiques business as a cover for the more serious business of serving as a spy for the Foreign Office. Of the two main characters, Jonathan was my favorite. In a memorable speech, he tells of his childhood and his family’s lowered expectations for him as a second son. Jonathan could have been a wastrel, but his own sense of self-worth would not let him. He is patriotic and honorable and close to his brother (the current Earl). He muses that he knows his parents would be proud of the man he has become.

The sexual attraction between Natalie and Jonathan is as intense as can be. The attraction is there from page one and just builds and builds throughout the book. There are two love scenes in Stolen Charms and they are powerful and sensual and written without a trace of purple prose. Aspiring writers would do well to study those scenes to see how a truly passionate love scene should be done.

It’s on sale for 1.99 here.

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