Today’s Steals and Deals at AAR…..
This series has gotten two DIKs and a B+ from us.
It’s on sale, all three books!, for 3.99 here.
Caz gave this one a DIK. She wrote:
Ms. Linden develops the romance beautifully, showing the deepening emotional connection between the couple through their interactions and their ability to understand each other in an instinctual way. Now, that is my kind of romance. There’s a gentle humour to many of their exchanges, together with a great deal of tenderness, and a delicious, simmering sexual tension….
It Takes a Scandal is a beautifully written and charming romance which features an absolutely gorgeous hero cast from a slightly different mould to so many of the other romantic heroes around today. The characterization of the two principals is excellent and the cast of secondary characters is well-developed, too, especially Abigail’s sister, Penelope, who is gradually revealed to have a greater depth to her personality than I had at first thought. I enjoyed the book immensely and have no hesitation in recommending it to anyone who enjoys a heartfelt, emotionally satisfying and sensual romance.
It’s on sale for 1.99 here.
See Jane Score routinely comes up when our readers list their favorite sports/contemporary romances. It’s a gem. In our DIK review, we wrote:
See Jane Score starts as a good book but becomes a great one as it progresses. The more I read, the more I liked Jane and Luc, and it was all the little things that added up. The gifts Luc brings Jane and how he handles her PMS made him a hero to remember. Then too, Gibson weaves the game throughout; hockey is more than a mere backdrop, it moves the story forward and adds a layer to the plot.
Fans of Simply Irresistible will be happy to know those characters make a cameo here, but it’s not necessary to have read it to enjoy this one. See Jane Score is my first book by Rachel Gibson, but it won’t be my last. She has a voice that balances humor with deeper emotions to perfection and knows how to tell a story that’ll both move a reader and make them laugh out loud. I give it an enthusiastic recommendation and found it a great read to start the new year.
It’s on sale for 1.99 here.
This historical romance got a B+ from us. We wrote:
Kinley MacGregor’s latest offering, Born In Sin, is a redemption story, and quite a good one, as it happens. If there were a little more to it, it could have made the jump to DIK without much effort, but as it stands, it’s still a truly enjoyable read.
Lord Sin, with his improbable (but well-explained) name and well-earned reputation for murder and mayhem is, at first glance, more than daunting. He’s been an assassin for the Saracens who bought him as a child, and now serves King Henry II in the same capacity. Rejected by both parents, and referred to by the Pope himself as Satan’s Most Favorite Spawn, he’s rumored to be a demon or worse. He’s sent men to their deaths unquestioningly, at the order of his king, but he cannot abide by Henry’s latest edict.
He’s been commanded to wed a Scottish clans woman named Caledonia MacNeely, now the king’s hostage, return to the land that was once his home to catch a dangerous Scottish raider, and to make peace. But getting married and returning to Scotland are at the top of Sin’s Never To Do list. Human caring is beyond his experience, and the land that rejected him could never again be his home.
It’s on sale for 1.99 here.
Looking for angst and drama? Here you go! This one got a flat out A from us and readers often cite it as a seminal romance read.
Instead of revealing more of the plot, I want to express, instead, how beautifully and well this book was written. It’s one of the few medievals that actually feels like one. Ms. Ranney has done an incredible amount of research and has been able to incorporate the medieval world flawlessly into the story. So many have tried and failed, that I’d almost given up on finding an author who makes a historical smell and taste and look and feel like like the times being portrayed.
Sebastian is a marvelous hero – a strong, honorable, intelligent man who faces his destiny with a broken heart and a determined sense of purpose. If he could only touch Juliana just once … but he can’t. Juliana is a wonderful heroine – intelligent, happy in her life as a scribe, equal in strength to the man she loves. When she learns his terrible secret, her love for him is such that it binds her to him rather than repulsing or frightening her. Sebastian and Juliana find a bittersweet love between them. Each honors and respects the other. They are a fine match.
The secondary characters are noteworthy and are not stereotypical in the least. There are two such characters that are destined for stories of their own if I’m not mistaken (and, oh, I hope I’m not). My Beloved is not for readers who are looking for a light Medieval romp. War, the unbridled and often unreasonable power of the Church, ambition, greed, human frailties, questions of faith, the persecution of innocents, superstition rather than science … these elements shape all the characters in the story, as well they should. Sebastian and Juliana are products of their time with sensibilities that enlightened modern readers cannot possibly comprehend.
Karen Ranney has fashioned a love story you will not soon forget. While dark and filled with much anguish, it is yet imbued with a sweetness and gentility that raises it from merely a good book, to a remarkable one. The action is minimal as the focus is on the cerebral, thereby allowing the reader to know the characters much more fully than usual. Don’t make the mistake I almost made; give My Beloved a try. This book’s got RITA-contender written all over it.
It’s on sale for 1.99 here.
This Chase is such a gem. We gave it a flat out A.
So, what’s so great? First of all, it’s funny. Very funny. Secondly, Ms. Chase creates two characters equally matched in wit and intelligence who are more than willing to embrace their sexual attraction, while fighting any notions of love with every fiber of their beings. Their romance is amusing, charming, touching, frank, and quite heartbreakingly romantic.
The author also ramps up the sexuality here and – hello – can I just spend a moment wondering what she was waiting for? There are sex scenes I read in detail and there are those I skim, and, holy moly, there was absolutely no skimming for me here. These are wonderful, perfect love scenes in which we never for one moment lose sight of the two people in them. And, that, fellow readers, is what makes some love scenes great and others oh-so-forgettable. We’re talking over-the-moon great ones here.
Add in a cast of extraordinarily interesting secondary characters, a fresh Venetian setting, and Loretta Chase’s assured and polished voice, and the result is an historical romance that’s close to perfection. Really.
It’s on sale for 1.99 here.