FS Meurinne's Blog: Book Enticer, page 38

Crown Duel (Crown & Court, #1-2) by Sherwood Smith

Sherwood Smith’s most popular young adult fantasy begins with Meliara and her brother vowing to free Remalna from an evil king. War is tougher than it seemed. When Meliara is caught by the enemy commander, the elegant Marquis of Shevraeth, it’s escape or die.

Afterward, Meliara faces a tougher challenge: the battlefield is no longer mud and steel, but palaces, the weapons manners and fans. Toughest of all is courtship, when the one who catches her heart is her personal enemy—the new king.

This beloved romantic fantasy has been in continuous print for over twenty years. The definitive edition is corrected, with additional material in six much-requested inserts from the hero’s point of view.

Audiobook narrated by Samantha Norbury and Connor Brannigan

https://amzn.to/3xZAnJS

Dragon Born by Donna Grant

She’s the most dangerous being alive…and the only one I crave.

I feel her across realms. Through the vast emptiness of space, weaving among the stars. She is the Queen of Violets. Powerful, shrewd, defiant. Utterly exquisite. Feared among her own and pursued by all.

She is the Dragon Queen.

I was an ordinary MI5 agent before being thrust into the world of Dragons Kings, Fae, Reapers, and magic. But it was a world I soon discovered I was bound to by blood from my Druid ancestors.

The instant we met, I was hers. Forever. I would have ripped the moon from the sky for her. I would have razed worlds. Then she deceived me.

Yet, I can’t stop thinking about her. Craving her. She’s in my very psyche, like a fever that burns through my veins like dragon fire. Scorching and eternal.

When I sense a malicious danger closing in around her, I defy every rule to get to her.

My love.

My queen.

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Donna Grant delivers one of the most anticipated books in the exhilarating Dragon King series

https://amzn.to/4cJrof0

The Lost Story by Meg Shaffer

Inspired by C. S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia, this wild and wondrous novel is a fairy tale for grown-ups who still knock on the back of wardrobes—just in case—from the author of The Wishing Game.

As boys, best friends Jeremy Cox and Rafe Howell went missing in a vast West Virginia state forest, only to mysteriously reappear six months later with no explanation for where they’d gone or how they’d survived.

Fifteen years after their miraculous homecoming, Rafe is a reclusive artist who still bears scars inside and out but has no memory of what happened during those months. Meanwhile, Jeremy has become a famed missing persons’ investigator. With his uncanny abilities, he is the one person who can help vet tech Emilie Wendell find her sister, who vanished in the very same forest as Rafe and Jeremy.

Jeremy alone knows the fantastical truth about the disappearances, for while the rest of the world was searching for them, the two missing boys were in a magical realm filled with impossible beauty and terrible danger. He believes it is there that they will find Emilie’s sister. However, Jeremy has kept Rafe in the dark since their return for his own inscrutable reasons. But the time for burying secrets comes to an end as the quest for Emilie’s sister begins. The former lost boys must confront their shared past, no matter how traumatic the memories.

Alongside the headstrong Emilie, Rafe and Jeremy must return to the enchanted world they called home for six months—for only then can they get back everything and everyone they’ve lost.

https://amzn.to/49FI5WE

The Body in the Backyard (Riley Thorn, #4) by Lucy Score

Her self-absorbed news anchor ex-husband careening back into her life was not on this amateur psychic detective’s bingo card.

Not only does Griffin Gentry show up unexpectedly at Riley Thorn’s door—the real shock is that he’s begging her for help. Riley’s hot private investigator boyfriend Nick Santiago refusing to take the job is…well, less of a surprise.

Too bad for Nick that his octogenarian business partner overrules him and takes the lead on Griffin’s case. But when a dead body makes it clear someone really is out to get Riley’s ex, the mile-long suspect list means all hands on deck at Santiago Investigations. Even the wrinkly, retired ones.

It’s only a matter of time before Griffin brings the danger directly to their doorstep. And with Riley and Nick busy interviewing suspects, that leaves their elderly roommates to wreak havoc in the surveillance department. Can Riley block out the chaos to focus her psychic visions long enough to narrow down the list of suspects? Or will Griffin Gentry’s bad karma be the downfall of them all?

https://amzn.to/3V9fqDL

The Seventh Veil of Salome by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

A young woman wins the role of a lifetime in a film about a legendary heroine—but the real drama is behind the scenes in this sumptuous historical epic from the author of Mexican Gothic.

1950s Hollywood: Every actress wants to play Salome, the star-making role in a big-budget movie about the legendary woman whose story has inspired artists since ancient times.

So when the film’s mercurial director casts Vera Larios, an unknown Mexican ingenue, in the lead role, she quickly becomes the talk of the town. Vera also becomes an object of envy for Nancy Hartley, a bit player whose career has stalled and who will do anything to win the fame she believes she richly deserves.

Two actresses, both determined to make it to the top in Golden Age Hollywood—a city overflowing with gossip, scandal, and intrigue—make for a sizzling combination.

https://amzn.to/47xSiTB

Beautiful Villain (Gilded Monsters, #1) by Rebecca Kenney

Seven years ago, I lost him for good. Now he’s back, but is he still the Jay Gatsby I used to know…or is he something more? Something…darker.

Daisy Finnegan is looking forward to the endless golden freedom of summer. No more college, no more pressure, no more worries. But when her cousin goes missing at an exclusive house party, Daisy is all too ready to confront the mysterious host…only to discover the wealthy recluse is Jay Gatsby, her childhood sweetheart―now sinfully hot and impossible to deny.

She could never resist him, and it isn’t long before she’s entangled in a web of wealth and lies and obsession, culminating in a shocking act of violence that shatters the summer haze and threatens to drown them all.

But it isn’t until Gatsby is shot through the heart―and survives―that Daisy discovers the truth of how he clawed his way up in the world: by selling the secret of immortality to the highest bidder. Now with her friends’ lives at stake, her own dizzying new powers still volatile, and an unimaginable threat closing in, Daisy will have to face an impossible choice: Side with the man who claimed her body and soul? Or with the monsters who would see him lost to her forever?

An addictive and truly original spicy New Adult retelling of The Great Gatsby with a magical twist.

https://amzn.to/3uxA8nD

Broken (Manhattan Ruthless. Book 1) by Sadie Kincaid

You want to know the secret to everlasting happiness?

Never fall in love.

That was the wisdom my father imparted to us James boys after our mom died, and it’s a piece of advice that’s served me well.

Until dear old Dad asks me for a favor over Sunday brunch. No big deal, right? I love making my old man happy. Except this “favor” is a lot more complicated than picking up his dry cleaning. Dad wants me to marry and provide a few heirs for the James empire, and he’s even done me the courtesy of handpicking my bride-to-be. Lucky me.

But if I’m being honest, I’ve grown tired of the endless cycle of dating, the constant small talk, and the ever-shrinking pool of women I haven’t already invited for a sleepover.

I’m a lawyer, so contracts are kind of my thing. And that’s all marriage really is—a contract negotiated between two parties. What could possibly go wrong?

Enter Melanie Edison, the five-foot-four brunette with curves in ALL the right places. A veterinary nurse with the smartest mouth I’ve ever heard. And I have more fun not dating her than I did dating any woman before, even with Melanie’s absurd no-sex-before-marriage rule.

But when our business arrangement becomes so much more, I end up breaking my most important rule. And that’s when it all goes to hell.

I have no idea how we can ever repair the damage that’s been done. I’m not even sure I want to. And maybe going back to my old life won’t be so hard.

Except it’s too late. I broke my rule.

And she broke me.

https://amzn.to/4cquPXO

Not Another Love Song by Julie Soto

Two string players fight their attraction for each other as they compete for center stage in this spicy and emotional romance from USA Today bestselling author Julie Soto.

When professional—and self-taught—violinist Gwen Jackson plays, she disappears into the peaks and valleys of each song, a quiet passion that never quite explodes into pure emotion. Xander Thorne is the exact opposite. A cellist and a rock star, he’s all about big emotion, but not even his six-foot-four frame can contain his skill, his genius . . . and an attitude that borders on jerkitude.

Not only did it take Xander a year to notice that he and Gwen both play in the Manhattan Pops, but he also always seems to have the perfect cutting criticism about her technique. When Gwen is offered the role of first chair of the orchestra, something Xander has secretly coveted for years, their existing hostility goes up a notch. Yet, despite her best efforts, Gwen can’t ignore the sizzling chemistry between them.

Forced to work more closely with each other, they can’t help exploring their attraction. As they begin to compose and play songs together, it’s clear that their powerful connection could make for a performance that would blow everyone’s minds. Suddenly, they’re box office dynamite, and the fragile romance growing between them is in danger of being crushed beneath a publicity stunt.

 

https://amzn.to/3J1WhxL

 

Thorns of Desire (Thorns of Omertà #5) by Eva Winners

A devil in a Brioni suit.
My unforgettable one-night stand.
And a notorious member of the Omertà empire.

I learned that last piece of information a bit too late.

I never expected to see him again. But it turns out that destiny had other plans and gave me the whole of him for several incredible hours.

Then I bolted again—for the second time in my life.

He was Manuel Marchetti.
Off-limits. Forbidden. Dangerous.

So then why was I unable to forget him?

My body and soul came alive only for him. I hoped I’d never see him again, but it wasn’t meant to be. Everywhere I went, the man was there—stealing kisses, making promises, and painting streets red.

He seemed to delight in pushing my buttons and demanding more. Much to my dismay, it seemed I was unable to resist him.

Then, a chance encounter required his protection. He swept me away to his remote Italian castle and I could feel my resolve cracking under his burning gaze and searing touch.

The harder I tried to resist, the faster my body caved.

With each passing day, I was starting to realize that by the end of it all, I’d be the one succumbing.

Either by the secrets surrounding my life or under his consuming touch.

If You Want Me (Toronto Terror, #2) by Helena Hunting

A standalone age-gap, dad’s best friend’s hockey romance.

There’s no one more off limits than my best friend’s daughter.

Peggy Aurora Hammerstein. The Toronto Terror’s unofficial team princess. I would never do anything to mess with our team dynamics this late into the hockey season, but seeing her work in the front office changed something for me.

I see her as she is now: a powerful woman with ambition for miles.

When I hold her against me, she fits perfectly.

Her little flirts and taunts push my buttons, if she doesn’t stop-my control just might break.

But I can never cross that line. I can never know what it could be to call her mine.

I’ve never wanted anyone more than Aurora and no one can ever know.

*This is Hollis Hendrix’s standalone novel. If you want to meet Hollis before you read this book, check out If You Hate Me, Rix and Tristan’s story.

https://amzn.to/3XxLoMP