Happy Halloween!
What do you mean it’s only early October?
Okay, fine. Happy Halloween month.
Sponsored by Kensington Publishing Corp.
Mary Jo Putney, one of the most critically acclaimed writers of historical romance, brings fans the third novel in her Rogues Redeemed series, where two outcasts must endure persecution and peril through stormy seas if their love is going to survive.
News and Useful Links
There’s more romance coming to Netflix. I haven’t read Virgin River or Sweet Magnolias. But I hope this (and of course the success of To All The Boys…) means more kissing movies and shows across streaming services.
Do you know about Maya Rodale’s newest, Duchess by Design? Check out this EW interview where she talks about the Gilded Age and subversive pockets.
I didn’t know about Food from the Heart until I saw this instagram post by theromanticbaker. That bread looks amazing, and there are other recipes from authors including Sonali Dev and Susan Mallery.
There’s still some time to get a few of these deals, I think.
Dadbod Austen Retellings. What.
Just click. You’ll thank me.
Deals!
Have you read Act Like It yet? Well, it’s 1.99, so you have no excuse.
Or if you’re looking for the opposite of fake-relationship, how about After the Wedding? It’s 2.49, and while it’s always good to read series in order, you don’t have to have read Once Upon a Marquess first. But you might want to. Because it’s hilarious. (Also, if you finish and want to read about Adrian’s uncles John and Henry? Let me point you towards The Pursuit Of…)
Okay. Done now.
Wait, one more. Deliver Me by Farrah Rochon is free right now. Good way to get sucked into an amazing series.
Over on Book Riot
Have you read all of these? There are a few I haven’t, so I can say newbies are totally in for a treat with this list!
I know it’s not technically romance related, but I’m behind most of these Idris Elba fancastings, even if he’s a touch too old for a few of them (like Thabiso, to be honest). We’d make it work.
Riotgrams are back! I’ve been…really bad at keeping up but what’s new.
I…want to read all of these.
Also, TBR is a thing and you should check it out.
These may be critical nonfiction, but they’re about romance.
We’re having a giveaway for a custom book stamp!
Recs!
This newsletter is already wildly long and overly full of TBR-busters, so I’ll be a bit more brief than I was last week.
Remember when I mentioned way way at the beginning of this newsletter that I was excited for Halloween? Well, I decided to do something different. Instead of a huge list of Halloween themed and related romances, I would do a sort of… feature creature.
Today’s creature? Dracula.
And friends, I guess.
Thrall
Avon Gale and Roan Parrish
If you’ve read Dracula, you know that it is a story told in letters, news clippings, and various other epistolary formats. Thrall is the story of several people, much like Dracula, but it still has central characters to latch onto. You’ve got Lucy Westenra and Mina Murray, who are a couple that does a true crime podcast based in New Orleans. You have Lucy’s brother Harker, who has gone missing (or at least isn’t returning her texts). You’ve got Harker’s dissertation advisor, Professor Van Helsing. You’ve got Arthur, Mina and Lucy’s social media manager, who decides to pursue the good professor romantically while also trying to figure out what’s happend to Harker. And you’ve got Thrall, the local dating app that Harker was studying for his anthropology dissertation. The story is told in google chats, emails, texts, and other alternate texts, but you still get a bit of a spooky feeling. One moment you’re laughing your eyes out, the next you’re on edge trying to figure out what the heck is happening. What you discover is maybe not what you expect, but any more from me would spoil the experience.
It’s been a while since I’ve read a good vampire romance that wasn’t part of an overarching paranormal or urban fantasy series (I’ll bet the last one was Meg Cabot’s Insatiable, which was…probably a decade ago), or even a “different” kind of vampire like JR Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood (similarly, Lover At Last was the last one of those I read). But. One of the Book Riot Insiders mentioned The Vampire’s Mail Order Bride by Kristen Painter and I’m totally sold.
There’s a dearth in my past reading of vampires of color in romance. (The closest I’ve come is LA Banks, and I…wasn’t really a fan of the first one?) Anyone have any favorites that are actually romantic and not…about soul-sucking demons being evil and needing to be killed?
As a bonus, let’s talk about my favorite Dracula movies. I have…three?
Dracula 2000. Yes. I love this movie. All respect to Gary Oldman, but Gerard Butler was my first Dracula. Also Johnny Lee Miller the antiques dealer. I think this movie might have introduced me to him, too?
Van Helsing. Richard Roxburgh and his weird Romania accent. Hugh Jackman and his crossbow. The brides, kicking ass. (If you listen to When in Romance, you might recall that I took the “which vampire is your soulmate” and I definitely got the Brides of Dracula.)
Dracula Untold. I don’t know why, but I latched onto this one and was really disappointed when I learned they weren’t going to continue the series. It is very pretty.
Then there’s the fact that when I try to recall Renfield the only one that comes to mind is the one from Dracula: Dead and Loving It. I have no recollection of the rest of the movie. Just that Renfield. And no others.
Okay, fun interlude. Back to books.
New and Upcoming Releases
Rafe by Rebekah Weatherspoon (hot male nanny, anyone?)
Mating the Huntress by Talia Hibbert
Always There by Tiara Inserto (they have to share an apartment omgz)
Project Saving Noah by Six de los Reyes (October 6)
For the Love of Luke by David C. Dawson (October 9)
Fight or Flight by Samantha Young (October 9)
As usual, catch me on Twitter @jessisreading or Instagram @jess_is_reading, or send me an email at jessica@riotnewmedia.com if you’ve got feedback or just want to say hi!