Today’s Steals and Deals at AAR…..
This is hot and a fun read. It’s one of those best sellers that you can totally see why so many love it–it goes down easy and has a macho hero with a soft side. Thousands of Amazon readers give it a 4.4 rating. Here’s the blurb:
Shay
Six years ago, the good, upstanding men of Stonecut County ran me off. I took a secret with me. An inconvenient truth they wanted buried.Actions have consequences. Their perfect golden boy maybe wasn’t so perfect after all.
When life hands me one too many lemons, I’m forced to go back, and in Stonecut, nothing ever changes.
Kellum Wall is still golden. I’m still unwanted. And being swayed by his cocksure smile will most certainly ruin my life all over again.
Kellum
I believe there are still good men left in this world, and I strive to be one. I was raised to live by a code. God and country. Protect and serve.I always do the right thing, even when it’s hard—and yet, somehow, I’ve made an unforgivable mistake.
I want what I lost. The woman, the child, the white picket fence. But it’s not gonna come easy.
Shay’s a survivor. She doesn’t believe in happy ever after, and earning her trust might be the hardest thing I’ve ever done.
She’s got my heart in her hands, though, and this time—I’m not letting her slip through my fingers.
Hitting the Wall is a steamy, small town romance featuring a secret baby and a second chance at love. It is the first book in the Stonecut County series. It is intended only for adult readers.
It’s free here.
This contemp earned a DIK from us. In our A- review, we wrote:
Yowza! There’s nothing like romance in the kitchen to get juices pumping and hearts pounding, especially when the writing sizzles like it does in Edwards’ latest.
When his mother phones black sheep Max Lunden and asks him to come home to the family’s Greenwich Village steak house, he’s in Tokyo, having just been accepted as an apprentice by the premier Italian sausage maker who rarely takes students. After walking out of the family business six years before, Max has been around the world studying under the best chefs he could cajole. The Italian will be the most prestigious one of all.
Back in New York, however, the steakhouse has been steadily going downhill. True, Max’s family hired Jules Cavanaugh after her mother kicked her out of the house. And Jules, a childhood best friend to Max’s brother Danny, has become like a daughter to Gus and Nina Lunden, as well as a great cook herself.
Gus has decided that what the restaurant needs is to win a big award, so he enters them in the Rising Star Chef competition sponsored by a food magazine. The competition has two parts: a Jeopardy! type quiz and a timed cooking demonstration. Since Gus has recently been diagnosed with a heart problem, they need Max to fill in for him.
Stepping back into the family, however, is like stepping into a basket of live lobsters. Danny resents that Max ran away without saying goodbye, and Jules has always lusted after Danny’s big brother. Not that Max minds Jules’ regard. Cocky Max sees Jules as just another tryst on his world weary palate.
Meanwhile, as the Lunden group prepares for the competition, magazine editor and competition planner Claire Durand learns who her co-judges will be: Chef Devon Sparks and rock star Kane Slater who Claire sees as a food wanna be. When she meets him, however, her 40-something hormones react wildly to his 20-something good looks and sex appeal.
Throughout the book, Edwards simmers and stirs the ingredients to her gastronomic treat: Max and Jules dance around each other while sparks fly, and Claire finds her French roots in Kane’s bad-boy essence. What could be standard fare is changed up with enough unexpected but plausible twists to make this a special delight.
It’s on sale for 1.99 here.
This is a winning Western. In our DIK review, our reviewer wrote:
Marie and Stafford’s story was exactly what I wanted. I wasn’t sure about Stafford to begin with – he was, quite frankly, being a bit of an ass to both Marie and the kids – but we get so much from his point of view, and a good bit about his history, that I very quickly went from “no way” to “yes, please” about him. His family history has made him almost militant about his privacy – it’s no wonder he was more than a little hesitant to let half a dozen children and their rather attractive young nursemaid into his life and his house. Though he really doesn’t have much of a choice when Marie literally burns Mick’s one-room cabin down around their ears. She really is my favorite kind of heroine – she is determined to make things work, and really puts forth a good effort. She definitely is human, though, and we get to see her work through her failures and try again. Plus, she’s the one who sets both the stage and the limits of their relationship (and this is particularly wonderful in the end – seriously, just read it, because I can’t give away the last 10 pages!)
Even the kids, who are mainly in the background for much of the story, were adorable. With 6 of them, I’m still not sure who is who (other than Terrence is the oldest and I know there are two girls. That’s about it), but it didn’t really detract much from my enjoyment of the story. They were there to push the plot along and move Stafford and Marie closer together. And they were quite good in their role.
The story overall was pretty tight – we have our A plot (Stafford and Marie working past their initial impressions and falling for each other) and our B plot (making sure the kids get to stay together and have a proper home), and both plots work out. And, not to give too much away, I really liked how the B plot had a proper villain and external motivators – and how Marie and Stafford join forces to make sure that those adorable kids get what they deserve – a loving and stable home.
Can we make this a series? Because I could stand to read more like this.
It’s on sale for 1.99 here.
This HR got a B from Caz who is very picky! In her review she wrote:
Sabrina Jeffries often includes a mystery as a secondary plotline in her historical romances, and I confess that not all of the ones I’ve read have worked for me, but this one did. The political backdrop is interesting (the author’s note at the end is worth reading) and Gregory and Monique are a well-matched couple. The chemistry between them sizzles right from the start, their verbal sparring is witty and spry and I was pleased with the way the author addressed the issue of consent and the power imbalance between them. Both are well-drawn and likeable, and although Gregory comes from the my-father-was-a-total-git-and-my-parents-were-miserable-so-I-am-emotionally-stunted school of romance heroes, the author puts a slightly different spin on his background which turns out to have an important part to play in the story, and I was glad to see that he was prepared to go all out for what he wanted (once he’d admitted to himself what that was!). The romantic conflict is born largely of the difference in station between Monique and Gregory – a man of his political ambitions cannot possibly expect to advance in his career if he marries a woman deemed ‘unsuitable’ – and is not overplayed; both parties accept it as the way things have to be, until Gregory swings into politician/spymaster mode and solves his Monique-shaped problems at a single stroke.
It’s on sale for 2.99 here.