Ruthie Knox

Ahoy!

That’s a totally legit greeting, by the way. Feel free to use it.

This week, I recommend another book that I haven’t finished reading yet. I’m not supposed to do this! But I’m going to do it anyway, because it’s interesting.

Oh, but before I do that, I should say that if you missed my latest newsletter, you might want to check it out, because on Monday (Memorial Day) I’m giving away 50 copies of Flirting with Disaster to newsletter subscribers. All the instructions are in there, so have a look. I’m also giving away two autographed copies of the Along Came Trouble paperback in that newsletter.

Here’s the blurb —

Ellie Watt is used to starting over. The daughter of a grifting team, Ellie spent her childhood being used as a pawn in her parents’ latest scam. Now she’s much older, wiser and ready to give her con artist life a rest. But returning to the dry desert town of Palm Valley, California means one more temptation than she bargained for – Camden McQueen. Once known as the high school weirdo, Camden is bigger and badder than the boy he used to be and a talented tattoo artist with his own thriving business. Ellie’s counting on Camden still being in love with her but what she’s not counting on is how easily unrequited love can turn into obsession over time. When Camden discovers Ellie’s plan to con him, he makes her a deal she doesn’t dare refuse, but her freedom comes with a price and it’s one that takes both Ellie and Camden down a dangerous road.

I’ll admit, I’m only about a quarter of the way through this book — far too soon to know for sure that it won’t take a turn toward suckage. But I’m enjoying Halle’s writing, and it takes a lot for me to get on board with a story whose protagonists are almost guaranteed to screw each other over.

Ellie, the heroine of this book, is planning to con the best friend she screwed over in high school. She’s kind of at loose ends, being hunted by bad guys, friendless, broke — and since they’ve just reconnected and she’s seen his cash register full of money, why not?

Yes. Ellie isn’t a nice person, at all. But reading even a little bit between the lines, you can tell she’s stunted in her personal growth, and you can’t help but hope she’ll make it to a better place by the end of the story. In fact, that’s a lot of the tension for me, just now. Is there any hope for Ellie at ALL?

Sins and Needles is told in two “times,” first-person in the present interspersed with third-person flashbacks to high school, but all are from Ellie’s point of view. This means that the hero, Cam — and, as an aside, anytime we’d like to stop naming heroes “Cam,” I’m on board with that — is kind of a cipher. But it seems fairly clear already that Ellie is an idiot to think she’s conning him. He just has to be conning her. Which means, in turn, that the book is going to get even worse, soon, with lots of additional manipulation and recrimination, while they are also engaged in the business of accidentally falling in love.

It’s kind of delicious.

This isn’t the sort of thing I usually like, but it’s totally working here, I think because the writing is solid and the characters are almost likable, and very human. I can’t wait to see what happens next.

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Sins and Needles by Karina Halle | Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

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p.s. I’ll be missing the Friday giveaway, so you’ll have to make do with the newsletter giveaway + free advance copies of Flirting with Disaster. See you next week!

Happy Wednesday, everyone!

Did you see that I’m going to be giving away fifty advance copies of Flirting with Disaster to mailing list subscribers only on May 27? That means fifty lucky readers will get to read the book two weeks before it releases! More details will be included in next Monday’s newsletter. If you’d like to join my mailing list, fill in the form here.

Onward to today’s recommendation! Just released this week, it’s generating a lot of discussion in romance-land. Here’s the blurb—

Outspoken and opinionated, Katherine Sutherland is ill at ease amongst the fine ladies of Regency London. She is more familiar with farmers and her blunt opinions and rough manners offend polite society. Yet when she hears the scandalous rumours involving her sister and the seductive Duke of Darlington, the fiercely loyal Katherine vows to save her sister’s marriage – whatever the cost.

Intrigued by Katherine’s interference in his affairs, the manipulative Duke is soon fascinated. He engages in a daring deception and follows her back to her country home. Here, their intense connection shocks them both. But the Duke’s games have dangerous consequences, and the potential to throw both their lives into chaos…

It doesn’t sound all that outside-the-box or controversial, does it? Ah, back cover copy. Your ability to smooth over everything interesting in a story is legendary.

There are a number of interesting things about this novel, but what’s got a lot of people reading it is the phrase “cross-dressing duke.” The “daring deception” mentioned in the copy? That’s the duke, dressing as a woman named “Lady Rose” for a good 70 percent of the story. Also, he’s more beautiful than the heroine.

(I would kind of love it if the woman on the cover were the duke. Alas, that’s probably a bit too far outside the box.)

This is not a book that works for everyone, but what book does? Certainly not any of the interesting ones. I found it utterly absorbing, beautifully written, and full of insight and humor. I could probably write an entire essay about why I read it as I did, how others seem to be reading it, and the like — but that’s not really my gig. So I’ll just say that if you like offbeat stories, romance that does interesting things with gender roles, men in tights, or pet pigs, this one’s worth a look.

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Untamed by Anna Cowan | Goodreads | Amazon | Destiny Romance (publisher)

(The book has been released but isn’t yet available at all the usual vendors. If you can’t find it at yours, give it a day or two.)

I’ve already typed way too many words today, so I’m going to keep this short.

My friend Delphine Dryden, who doesn’t ever write anything that’s not awesome, has a new book out that begins with a group of six or seven nerds boarding a mobile home that they are about to drive to another state for a geek convention.

Along the way, one of the female nerds reads a BDSM comic book and becomes aroused. Her ex boyfriend, sitting across the aisle and sulking like a weenie baby, also becomes aroused. Some heated glances are exchanged. The boyfriend thinks about all the ways in which he stupidly screwed up his relationship with her. He figures out that she was interested in trying BDSM and so was he but he kind of weenied out.

She puts on a scanty costume and is spanked over a spanking-horse-thing by a strange man in a mask. The nerd hero thinks, “THIS WILL NOT STAND.” Then he gets over his weenie self, goes shopping, comes back with a lot of new toys, cuffs her to a hotel bed, and rocks her world.

Also, there is a lot of very sweet romance and nerdiness, and I just love this book so much. I just do. You will have to read it if you are into this sort of thing. Which is, in fact, Del’s tagline: “For readers who enjoy ‘that sort of thing.’”

I don’t, always, unless Del writes it, in which case I do. You?

(1 Curious Sub + 1 Dom in Denial) – Inhibitions = 4 Naughty Nights

Wildlife biologist Lindsey thought attending a fan convention with her new boyfriend Ben was a great idea—until their relationship fizzled. Lindsey still lusts after her ex—but if he wants her, he’s going to have to prove it.

Ben will do anything to win Lindsey back, and when he sees her in her skimpy black vinyl convention get-up, he realizes what she’s been craving all along. And he is inspired to finally give in to his own dark desire to take complete sexual control…

Lindsey is surprised by her reaction to Ben’s kinky new seduction techniques, and suddenly sees the brilliant but uptight code guru in a different light. After several erotic encounters in hotel rooms and stairwells, she’s falling for Ben all over again. And wondering if the intimate connection will last once they head home…

The Seduction Hypothesis by Delphine Dryden | Amazon | B&N | Goodreads