Today’s Steals and Deals at AAR…..
We found this one to be a very good good time. In her review, Lisa wrote:
Finn Nolan is Irish to the core – but unlucky in love. Working on the Bellini family vineyard as a kind of adopted son, he’s always had his eyes and ears trained on Brenna, the family’s middle daughter, and the girl he’s been crushing on since he was eighteen. Brenna’s never noticed him that way, but he’d love to get her to go out with him.
Workaholic Brenna is done with relationships after a disastrous divorce, but she’s thrilled when her close friend announces she’s going to be married and wants Brenna in the wedding party. Brenna takes up the task of planning the wedding, but soon learns that due to unexpected circumstances not only will her ex-husband, Mitchell, be at the event, but so will her high school rival, Allison – and that would be because Allison and Mitchell are now together, and Allison will be the matron of honor. The idea of being single around the two of them is an appalling prospect, and to avoid that fate Brenna turns to Finn and begs him to pose as her fiancé for the wedding week.
It’s all supposed to be for show and end once the wedding is over, but naturally Finn can’t resist the prospect of trying to make Brenna truly his. He buys her a ring. They do public PDA. Dates lead to kisses, which lead to a whole lot more. Will Brenna break her vow of no more romance for Finn?
The Engagement Arrangement is lighthearted, sexy and filled with the occasional touch of sturm and drang. Brenna is not over what happened during her lousy marriage, and Finn’s hopeless pining occasionally feels like it’ll be a forever-thing, but eventually they work it out. Emphasis on eventually.
It’s on sale for 1.99 here.
Check out that cover. If that doesn’t say the 90s, I don’t know what would! We liked this one. In our B+ review, our reviewer wrote:
Untamed Heart has an intriguing premise. Gabby Wade and Tyler Ashburn are running against each other for the position of mayor in a small Wyoming town in 1887. Who would you think would be the obvious winner? Maureen McKade turns convention on its ear – Gabby runs the only gaming hall/saloon in the town and Ty wants to shut her down. The winner wasn’t obvious; the author kept me guessing for most of the book. Meanwhile, the love and rivalry between the two main characters really had me turning the pages.
Gabby Wade has made her own way in life. She came to Sawtooth with enough money to open her establishment and has turned it into a profitable business. She runs a clean hall – the men are cut off once they’ve had too much to drink, and she always makes those who have had a few too many turn in their weapons. She doesn’t allow any “working girls” to rent the rooms upstairs. Unfortunately, the fact that she lives alone and that her barmaid used to be a prostitute give many of the town folk reason to believe the Emporium is just like any other den of sin.
Tyler Ashburn doesn’t particularly want to be mayor, but at the urging of his soon-to-be father-in-law and business partner, Vernon Gatewood, Ty reluctantly agrees to run. When he announces that he plans to shut down The Emporium, Gabby soon decides she has no choice but to run against him. What starts out as animosity soon grows into grudging respect, even though each candidate thinks the other is wrong. Gabby believes every man has the right to make his own choices. Ty believes that if gaming halls didn’t exist, men wouldn’t make so many wrong choices.
The rivalry between them is sometimes funny, sometimes infuriating, and sometimes down right heartbreaking as the two of them begin to care about each other but remain at odds on this one issue. As details of their pasts come to light, it is soon apparent just how alike these two characters are. Unfortunately, neither of them realizes it.
It’s on sale for 1.99 here.
I love this book. (Our reviewer liked it but not quite as much as I do.) To me, it’s one of the classics of contemporary romance. Gibson gets small towns perfectly, she’s very funny, and the chemistry between the leads is smokin’ hot. THE CAKE SCENE IS FIRE.
Hope Spencer is a tabloid writer for one of the more outlandish weeklies. She comes to Gospel, Idaho to get away from some unpleasantness that resulted from one of her pieces. She also hopes to reconnect with her muse, which has been noticeably absent as of late. She wants only to rest, relax and rejuvenate. She has no plans for involvement with the wacky natives.
Dylan Taber is Gospel’s sheriff. He is also the most eligible bachelor for fifty miles. After a wild youth and a long stint as a LA police officer, he has returned to Gospel with his small son determined to be respectable and to call as little attention to himself as possible. Hope intrigues him from their first meeting. He’s attracted to her outlandish California ways, her smart mouth, and her sexy body. Whenever trouble is stirred up in Gospel, she seems to be right in the thick of it. But he knows that getting involved with an outsider, a Californian, and a writer is impossible. Because he has a secret, and it needs to stay secret. So Hope is off-limits, right? Wrong. He just can’t stay away from her.
It’s on sale for 1.99 here.
This looks hot. And Shupe is a very good writer. Here’s the blurb:
3 dark historical romances—a duke, a rogue and a villain—all in one SPICY collection.
MY DIRTY DUKE
Violet knows that her father’s best friend, the Duke of Ravensthorpe, is the most powerful man in all of London with a reputation for sin.
But nothing can stop Violet from wanting to shed her wallflower ways and fulfill her darkest, most forbidden desires…even if it means seducing a man twice her age.
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
SOLD TO THE DUKE
Though she once lived a life of privilege, Lady Eliza is now destitute and desperate to care for her ill sister. She decides to sell the one thing of value she has left: her virginity.
At the auction, a shocked Duke of Blackwood recognizes Eliza and refuses to allow her to fall into the clutches of a depraved bidder. But his role of noble rescuer is upended when the proud beauty insists on giving him his money’s worth…
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
THE GANGSTER’S PRIZE
From a good upstanding family, Isabelle Kelly is dedicated to righting the city’s wrongs. But when her father goes missing, Isabelle knows who is responsible . . . and she will get answers from the devil one way or another.
As the leader of the Hell’s Kitchen Gang, Billy Baxter always gets what he wants. And he’s had his eye on the beautiful Miss Kelly for months. She doesn’t know it yet, but she’s fallen into his world now.
And he has no intention of ever letting her go.
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
It’s on sale for 0.99 here.