OH MY. This book is so good. It’s a Top 100 romance, a straight up DIK, and, most would agree, steampunk doesn’t get any better than this. 

Let’s begin with the best feature, the one that sometimes left me breathless while reading: the world-building, which is superb. In this version of history, the Mongols – throughout the novel referred to as the Horde – developed dramatically advanced technology and used it to conquer and dominate the whole of Asia, Europe and Africa. Due to trickery, England fell 200 years before the start of the novel, and the whole population (except for a lucky few who escaped to America) was enslaved using nanoagents in their blood, then abused and exploited unspeakably. Nine years before the novel starts, the English staged a successful rebellion and drove the Horde out. Now some of the American émigré families have returned, and the British people are slowly forging a new society.

Using this backdrop, Meljean Brook creates an intricate and darkly magical tapestry of a society that was broken, social rules that don’t apply any more, and steampunk technology that is feared as much as it is desired. Glimpses are provided of how matters stand on the European continent, in Africa and the Americas that just made me burn to read novels set in all these places. There is no magic in Brook’s world, but the technology is partly more advanced even than what we possess in the early 21st century. The effect is both tragic and hopeful: While in many aspects Brook’s world is apocalyptic, with a great number of heart-rending details, it’s also one where those who survived are building new places for themselves, and rediscovering strength and even joy in themselves.

It’s on sale for 1.99 here.

Readers love Center’s books. Here’s the blurb: 

Margaret Jacobsen is just about to step into the bright future she’s worked for so hard and so long: a new dream job, a fiancé she adores, and the promise of a picture-perfect life just around the corner. Then, suddenly, on what should have been one of the happiest days of her life, everything she worked for is taken away in a brief, tumultuous moment.

In the hospital and forced to face the possibility that nothing will ever be the same again, Maggie must confront the unthinkable. First there is her fiancé, Chip, who wallows in self-pity while simultaneously expecting to be forgiven. Then, there’s her sister Kit, who shows up after pulling a three-year vanishing act. Finally, there’s Ian, her physical therapist, the one the nurses said was too tough for her. Ian, who won’t let her give in to her pity, and who sees her like no one has seen her before. Sometimes the last thing you want is the one thing you need. Sometimes we all need someone to catch us when we fall. And sometimes love can find us in the least likely place we would ever expect.

How to Walk Away is Katherine Center at her very best—a masterpiece of a novel that is both hopeful and hilarious; truthful and wise; tender and brave.

It’s on sale for 2.99 here.

I couldn’t put this one down. In our review, we wrote: 

I think Every Last Lie will appeal to readers looking less for suspense and more for a cerebral yet emotional conundrum. The flawed characters, their very bumbling, human solutions to their problems, and their difficult relationships will draw your sympathy, frustration and admiration. You’ll find yourself challenged by trying to figure out just what happened and is continuing to happen. You may not be engrossed but you will be intrigued, which leads me to give the book a recommendation to those readers who enjoy spending time in dark places and tough spots.

It’s on sale for 1.99 here.

This one is a DIK too. 

One part warrior’s tale, one part love story, Atalanta will sink you deeply under its spell. It is, at the center of its soul, about a woman seeking to find individual joy and fulfillment of self. Along the way, she learns to deal with the egos of others, to build a life for herself outside of the shadowed protections she’s grown up with, and must deal with and yet appreciate the machinations of the gods.

Atalanta herself stands out as original and interesting, strong and bitterly determined. She is imperfect but feels beautifully real. Her travels with the Argo feel more fully realized than her romances, but her connection with one particular man definitely works, and sizzles properly with tension and slow-burning attraction.

It’s on sale for 2.99 here.

There are MORE! You can see them all here.