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Friday Finds & Reader Recommendations – 10-16-2020

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HAPPY FRIDAY FINDS AND TGIF EVERYONE!!!! Lots of new releases and I highlighted a bunch that sound like fun. Plus, we have our latest Blasts from the Past list!! I am LOVING finding these all over again. 😀

BUT! Let’s start off with a freebie? Today’s NEWSLETTER sponsor!! YAY!!! Who wants an ebook freebie? Blair Babylon’s “Working Stiff” is FREE TODAY!!

Mony: Working Stiff: Runaway Billionaires #1 by Blair Babylon…I had wanted to read this author for a while…the whole Runaway Billionaires looks amazing.

TODAY’S “BLAST FROM THE PAST” BOOK HIGHLIGHTS:

TAKE A LOOK AT WHAT WE FOUND FOR THE WEEKEND :D !!

R.C.: For all of you that love getting “the feels” from a book, then you need to read Heart Strings by Melanie Moreland from Monday’s list if you haven’t had a chance.

Great book with all the feels.

M.L.: Hi! I just finished When You Came Back to Me by Emma Scott and it’s easily the best book I’ve read this year. It’s an emotional and powerful love story of two lost souls that is beautifully written. Totally worth the book hangover I’m now suffering. If you’re looking for something new – check it out.

Michele G: I totally agree M.L.!! It was a beautifully written book and easily one of my faves this year as well!

  • The Golden Boys: Dark High School Bully Romance (Kings of Cypress Prep Book 1) by Rachel Jonas and Nikki Thorne <— LIVE!! BULLY ROMANCE ALERT!! “...Don’t let that pretty face of his fool you. He isn’t the boy next door, or the kind you trust with your heart. He’s the devil in designer jeans, with all the charm of a bona fide psycho. Trust me. He swears I did something to cross him before I even stepped foot inside Cypress Prep, but it’s a lie. No one knows better than me that I’m all out of chances. One more misstep and I can kiss my future goodbye, which means I can’t possibly be guilty of whatever he thinks I’ve done. West marks me with a target anyway, and as this town’s football star, no one dares to go against him…”
  • Rivals: A Driven World Novel (The Driven World) by Stephanie Nichole
  • I Promise You by Ilsa Madden-Mills <— RECENT RELEASE & WE HAVE FEEDBACK! Mony loved it!!

Mony: Just read Ilsa Madden-Mills’s I Promise You – also from Monday’s list. A top notch college sports romance! Fantastic H & interesting h. Not surprising as Madden-Mills did such a great job with her other sports romances, I Hate You and I Bet You.

4.5 ⭐

  • Cruel Paradise by J.T. Geissinger <— RECENT RELEASE & BACK ON THE LIST ’cause we have even more feedback! I added Mony’s recommendation for it again, too.

R.C.: Also J.T. Geissinger’s latest Cruel Paradise that came out Oct 1st is very good.

Mony: Finished Cruel Paradise (Beautifully Cruel, #2) by Geissinger. My reading group got into a hot debate about which duet book they preferred! This one or Beautifully Cruel #1? We were split down the middle but agreed these 2 books were fantastic & had amazing banter! 4-5★

  • Take it on Faith: A Friends-to-Lovers, Second Chance Romance (The Hometown Series Book 1) by Jessie Marie <— SECOND CHANCE ROMANCE ALERT!! “…Everyone thinks I’m making a mistake by marrying upcoming college football star Michael Smith. Everyone, that is, except my parents…and Michael. But I know best. Michael is everything that a girl could dream of – he’s generous, sexy, compassionate, fun-loving, and most of all, stable. I have everything I could ever want. So when I bump into flaky, free as a bird Andrew Parker, years after the fight that ended our friendship, I think nothing of it...”
  • Working Stiff: Runaway Billionaires #1 by Blair Babylon <— FREEBIE TODAY!! She’s living with him AND he’s her boss. “…Here’s the problem: when Rox was hired, she told her smoking-hot boss Cash that she was married, but she’s not. Now, three years later, she’s kind of accidentally living with him, and he’s being a perfect gentleman, dang it. Everybody in the office said that Cash was a heartbreaker, that he’d bump her and dump her, so Rox decided not to become a statistic…”
  • It Ends with Us: A Novel by Colleen Hoover <— ONE OF OUR FAVORITES & PEOPLE ARE STILL DISCOVERING IT FOR THE FIRST TIME!

Amy: I had to share what happened yesterday…

My coworker and I were chatting when she tells me her friend gave her a book and said she just *had* to read it. She was trying to remember the title and said she read half of it in one day and then goes, “OH! It’s called It Ends With Us!”

I. Died.

Then I squealed. Literally.

Then I gushed about it like a loon and gushed about Colleen Hoover like a crazy fangirl and about her backstory and how generous she is and about her other books and… *takes a deep breath* I ended up giving her a list of my favorite CH books and Tarryn Fisher books. She should be good for a bit since she is *just* now realizing how fun reading is.

Man, I wish I could read IEWU for the first time all over again. *sigh*

AUDIOBOOK L:DVERS!

Erica: I signed back up for Audible, 1 year (12 credits!) for $…  you can see that *** for twelve credits is only $** per credit, so it’s an amazing deal compared to $15 per credit.

Mona: I really need to try this!

Maryse: I love it! I got a great deal on it when I first signed up for a year (and all of the included audiobook credits that came with it), and I used my credits on some super-expensive audiobooks that I wanted so badly (and it came out SO much cheaper that way for me).

Mona:  I was thinking it would be great for listening in the car or plane while traveling

  • ➔➔ Not a member of Audible yet? Get a free 30 day audible trial (which includes one title from their premium selection of best sellers and listen all you want to thousands of titles in their growing Audible Plus Catalog.)
  • ➔➔ AND! Audiobook Matchmaker!! <— Find out which of YOUR Kindle books are available as audiobooks at a BARGAIN-PRICE! This is how it works. Click on that link & Amazon will show you all of your Kindle books that are also available as an audiobook at a seriously discounted price. This way, you can switch back and forth, seamlessly between your ebooks and your audiobooks. VERY COOL!

and…

Jackie: I just finished The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue on audio and am absolutely blown away. First off, Julia Whelan does an incredible narration. This is not my genre at all, I tend to steer clear of anything referenced as fantasy, so this took me a bit out of my comfort zone.

But what a payoff, hands down the best book I’ve read in quite awhile. It’s a story to get immersed in and just so very different, all the stars-or should I say 7 stars (inside Addie LaRue joke).

PREORDERS (going live soon!!! 😀 )

➔➔➔  Get Maryse’s Book Blog updates delivered by email (you’ll get one daily email that will have each post from that day consolidated on it).

YAY!!! Who wants an ebook freebie? Blair Babylon’s “Working Stiff” is FREE TODAY!!

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<— LOOKIT WHAT BLAIR BABYLON IS GIVING AWAY RIGHT NOW TO ANYONE AND EVERYONE THAT WANTS IT!!! It’s a freebie (for now… 😉 ) And to celebrate her giveaway, the author is also sponsoring tomorrow’s Friday Finds newsletter. 🙂 I love the sound of this one (sounds like fun!!).

P.S. All the “buy links” for the various ebook stores (Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble, Kobo & Google) are below (though it’s free today).

She’s living with him AND he’s her boss. Ruh roh!!!!

“Three years ago, the other women in the office had warned Rox about Cash. Manwhore. Ladykiller. Heartbreaker. He was a walking, waving cluster of red flags.”

And angsty-trouble, too! 😉

He was watching her eyes very closely. “I mean, me. Are you going to leave me?”

Oooooooomph!!!! That got me.

The author gives us fun little tidbits about this one saying:

“I just love Casimir. He was a dream to write from the first scene to the last.”

…and she promises the cat doesn’t die. 😉 

“When my 3 ragamuffin cats and I got thrown out of my apartment, my unattainable, always-professional boss swept in and made us stay at his mansion in the hills above LA. Caz is the office heartbreaker, so I told him I’m married.

But now I’m living with 6-feet-four of hot, ripped, handsome lawyer, and he’s being a perfect gentleman, darn it.

And then he’s in a suspicious car accident.

And then someone bombs his house.

But I swear, the cats are okay. Caz even rescues them from the fire.”

So what’s it about?

Here’s the problem: when Rox was hired, she told her smoking-hot boss Cash that she was married, but she’s not. Now, three years later, she’s kind of accidentally living with him, and he’s being a perfect gentleman, dang it.

Everybody in the office said that Cash was a heartbreaker, that he’d bump her and dump her, so Rox decided not to become a statistic. She went out and bought herself some rings of the finest cubic zirconia so that she could work with Cash, who was several inches over six feet tall, emerald-eyed, ripped, gorgeous, his tailored suit clinging to his athletic body, sporting a British accent, and loaded.

It had seemed like such a good idea at the time.

But now, three years later, she and Cash have become friends. They travel together for work often, and they’re the best of buddies. When Rox gets thrown out of her apartment, Cash insists that she come live with him until they can find her a place because that’s what friends do.

Now, even though everyone insists that Cash never goes after married women, something about him has changed. There are little touches, little slips, and Rox is more and more tempted to tell hunky, gorgeous Cash that she never was married.

And then he’ll take her and break her, and then he’ll walk away, and then she’ll lose her job, and she still hasn’t found a place to live.

And yet, every time he looks at her with mischief in his dark green eyes, every time they’re teasing and it somehow turns into tickling, every time she swats at him and somehow ends up in his arms, she wants so much to risk everything.

What’s a working stiff to do when she falls in love with her friend, the boss?

BUY LINKS:

AUDIOBOOK LINKS

“So excited to announce that JOE FREAKIN’ ARDEN has recorded my book, WORKING STIFF, a hot royal billionaire romance that you need to HEAR!”

Ella James – Dark Heart Duet Reading Order

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THIS DUET came to my attention via a reader question, asking when the duet conclusion was going to go live. It appears there was a hiccup with the original release date, and it has now been moved to October 19th. 🙂 So relief is coming sooooon, my friends!!!

In the meantime, The prequel and book #1 are available to be read as we speak. 😀

The author said:

✨ ANNOUNCEMENT ✨
The release date for Twisted Fate, book two in the Dark Heart Duet, is moving to Monday October 19th. As most people know, I had a pre-order set to release the 14th, and on Saturday, Amazon ate the pre-order (along with some others).

During the time between Saturday and Monday, when the pre-order’s status was in limbo, I couldn’t resist tinkering around with the story, and I decided to add some things.

When it became clear the team at Amazon was not going to be able to cough up my lost pre-order, I decided to go whole hog—as we say in Alabama, where I’m from—and push the release date back a little, giving myself more time to sleep at night, homeschool my three kids, and tweak these expanded parts of Twisted Fate without making life miserable at my house…

About book #1:

He’s the broken prince who takes the train to my elite Uptown school.
I’m the pretend princess with her life mapped out.
We meet at a masquerade ball on the Upper West Side, and we both feel it. His bruises match my cracks. Our love cures everything that ails us. Or it should.
But this isn’t a fairy tale. It’s a tragedy.
We’re tangled in a web of lies from the first moment, star-crossed long before we ever know what turns our story dark.
What should have been the perfect first love ends in bloodshed and so many broken things.
Luca Galante’s not a prince at all. And this is a cautionary tale.  

SERIES READING ORDER:

Reader Question – The book about the girl and two brothers and one is training to be an OBGYN…

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Emily needs our book help! Oh boy!! This one has quite the poignant twist, considering it sounds like a steamy book. I’m dying to know too!

She asks:

I need your help, I have been racking my brain trying to remember the name of a book and I can’t come up with it anywhere.

It’s a ménage book about a girl and two brothers and one is training to be an OBGYN and during one of their “hookups” he finds a lump.

I knew if anyone could help it would be you!!

Thank you so much

Anyone have a guess?

➔➔➔  Browse more reader questions (solved & unsolved) here. 😀 Maybe you’ll find a solved one to read or have a guess for us for one that’s still unsolved.

Have a reader question for us to solve? Send it to me here.

PRIME DAY FUN DAY #2 – 10-14-2020 + My favorite deal finds + audiobook deals too!

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WELCOME TO DAY 2 (and our LAST day of Prime Day fun to get in on) and I will be finding today’s deals and adding them here. You can check out ➔➔ ALL THE PRIME DAY SALES THAT ARE LIVE RIGHT NOW! ALL DONE!! That was fun! 🙂

OH AND!! Many from yesterday’s list are still going strong (with a few that are sold out, so I crossed them out), but check it, because it’s stuff that I have already and that I totally love and recommend, or things that I want and/or ordered for myself. 🙂

And Donna found us THIS HALF OFF KINDLE UNLIMITED deal.

Or… we can play in MY PRIME DAY FINDS below. 🙂 Including a bunch of amazing AUDIOBOOKS are on PRIME DAY SALE right now (plus this awesome membership deal – below):

TODAY’S NEWEST PRIME DAY FINDS:

Maryse (from last year’s sale): Now that Ring doorbell sale however… I don’t REALLY need that. But… I REALLY want that. I’m holding back… for now. I think. 😉

Donna: Love mine!

R: I LOVE my new Roomba that I got on Black Friday. We named her Lucy and she lives under a china cabinet so when she’s not in use, you don’t even know she’s there! It’s like she has her own personal garage!

➔➔ AMAZING DEAL/DISCOUNT RIGHT NOW ON A ONE YEAR AUDIBLE SUBSCRIPTION!! <— I’ve already got a yearly subscription so I can’t get in on this one, but maybe you can? 😀

Erica: I signed back up for Audible, 1 year (12 credits!) for $…  you can see that *** for twelve credits is only $** per credit, so it’s an amazing deal compared to $15 per credit.

And then… some AUDIOBOOK DEALS!!:

  • You by Caroline Kepnes <— I LOVED THIS in book form (and the TV series too). Audiobook will probably be amazing. Here’s my Book Review

Jenn: You by Caroline Kepnes definitely gave me the chills, Joe is crazy scary but I found myself liking him so much and that scared me! 🙂

Patty: Favorite read…it has to be You by Caroline Kepnes! It has everything I haven’t read before and somehow you become a fan of the creepy stalking Joe Goldberg lol.

Mony: It was an angsty quirky hot 🔥read…yup…very delicious. The heroine Sailor is the daughter from the couple in Sparrow (Troy & Sparrow), and the hero is Hunter, a gazillionaire mawhore jerk. It’s an enemies-to-lovers slow burn. Dad Troy, a mafia kind of guy, gets his licks in the story which has twist and turns.

The secondary characters are fantastic. Shen has 3 more books coming in the series…”The Villain”, “The Monster” and “The Rake”. You can already tell which hot guy characters you’d pick for those books. *eyebrow wiggles*

This was a 5-star read as was her previous book Angry God (All Saints High, #3)…about Vicious’ son Vaughn.

Btw, I read The Hunter until 5 a.m. this morning – I never do that! Just wanted to finish the story. Told my husband I wasn’t feeling well and went to another room. shhhh 🙂

  • You Are Not Alone by Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen <— OH!!! I LOVE THESE AUTHORS TOGETHER and I haven’t read this one yet!! 😀

Michele G: I was fortunate enough to read You Are Not Alone early and enjoyed it. I wanted a little more from the ending but still gave it 4 stars.

I felt like it was a psych thriller with a more unusual premise than some I’ve read before.

Amanda: I really loved The Hating Game! I have the worst book memory but that one stuck with me.

Ria: The Hating Game by Sally Thorne is my favorite work romance.

Valerie: My favorite epic love story is The Fault in Our Stars. I ugly cried in this one.

Elizabeth: I kicked myself for waiting to read that and Fault In Our Stars.

Sheila: The last book that did that to me was The Fault in Our Stars, and I still don’t think I’m over that one after many months! (Even though now it’s like an addiction that keeps me re-reading it over and over again)

Michelle: Red Rising is another one of my favorite books and I’ve read nothing that compares to it – highly recommend! …stellar dystopian that was WOW for me

Michelle S: oooh – and Rosie Project, which I thought was hi-lar-i-ous!!! …I just adored that book! …So funny. And since it was written by a guy, the male POV was very very strong! And hilarious! If you’re in the mood for a light, witty, well written off-beat romance, this is it.

Missy: The Rosie Project was one of my favorite books I read last year! I have a child with autism, so the humor is totally relatable! I hope you enjoy!

Laura: I’m reading the Rosie project and oh I’m liking this he’s very much like sheldon from bbt but I’m imagining him hotter lol and I also find myself thinking god he’s totally right we do make a meal out of some things lol

  • The Martian by Andy Weir <— OMG MY FAV BOOK EVER!!! And the audiobook is on sale. You guys… MUST READ or LISTEN to this!! Here’s my Book Review

Maryse: Nerdy crush – The main character (Mark Watney) in AND the author (Andy Weir) of “The Martian” (holy moly – not romance but I crushed SO hard on both of them through that whole book). So clever, hilarious and excitingly scary!! LOL!!

The Martian for everyone that will only read romance. This book was addictive, exciting and scary and hilarious, and I fell hard for the main character AND the author (I have a crush on him… I love super-smart guys) 😉

Johanne: …I could not put it down. Needed to know more and more, wanted to find out the connections, the secrets, the reasons. Just like him! I could actually visualize the characters evolving and their stories mingling, unaware of each other at first. That book would make an excellent movie!”

Suanne: Six of Crows is still echoing in my head. Smart. Exciting. Suspenseful. A hint of swoon. Everything that could go wrong, went wrong. You thought you had it figured out and then—WRONG! It gave me a total panic attack. Loved it.

marina: have been caught up in YA fantasy… Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom and absolutely loving the world and characters.

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