May 2012 may be the one of the quietest months Carina Press has had since I first started reporting with their September titles. Well, unless you count the Christmas anthologies as single titles.
On the other hand, you can definitely see the “Fifty Shades” effect on the coverage in this list.
What do I mean by that? Every publisher, including Carina, is marketing books as being “similar to”, or “just like”, or “what to read next”, for women who loved E. L. James Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy. And who can blame them? The story touched a nerve, or should I say, a nerve bundle, and has captured readers’ hearts, minds and dollars. Not to mention the top spots on every bestseller list.
The top featured title for Carina Press in this week’s Ebook Review Central is Let Me In by Callie Croix. Like Fifty Shades, it is an erotic love story that features a BDSM relationship between a dominant male and a submissive female who probably should have known better, especially since she’s a Marine. Also, like Fifty Shades, Let Me In received a ton of reviews, but not all of them were positive. Many readers absolutely adored the story. Some folks thought it was “meh”. But people couldn’t stop talking about it. If you enjoy military romance with a touch of kink, you might want to give this short erotic tale a try. For a taste of the reviews, look to Talk Supe for the big thumbs up and Dear Author for the so/so take.
Feature number two is the third and final book in Ava March’s Brook St. Trilogy, Rogues (personal pet-peeve, the thief is a rogue and not a rouge. Rouge is what you put on your face. Jumping down off soapbox now.) Because Rogues is the final book in this historical male/male romance series, a lot of readers were waiting for it. And the mileage varied. Some folks thought this friends-into-lovers story was the best of the series, some thought it was a little too simple and didn’t have enough angst to make it better than Thief or Fortune Hunter. While readers have different opinions on which book in the series is the best, all agreed that the series on the whole was excellent.
The final featured title this week is Ruined by Rumor by Alyssa Everett. This is a historical romance, and it sounds like a fairly typical plot. The heroine is supposed to marry the man she’s been engaged to for five years. He’s just back from the war. Of course he’s a rake. And he begs off for no good reason. The hero steps in and comforts the heroine, and there’s a witness. They marry to stave off scandal, and their marriage of convenience turns into a real marriage–because the hero has loved the heroine all along. This is apparently one of those romances where the way the characters are written make the story. The reviewers fell in love with the characters as much as those characters fell in love with each other.
This week’s feature certainly shows different shades of romance, even if not quite fifty, all in one week.
Come back for the next Ebook Review Central featuring Dreamspinner Press!
I liked Ruined by Rumor but A Tryst With Trouble by the same author is a much better book. I got a ARC and loved it but it is caught up in Dorchester’s financial troubles and who know what it’s fate is.
Jo @ Mixed Book Bag recently posted..MidSummer Blog Hop June 22, 2012
That whole thing with Dorchester was an absolute train wreck. I hope she manages to get her book back. I saw your review and the book looked really good.
Marlene Harris recently posted..Ebook Review Central, Carina Press, May 2012
Have you seen that Amazon is buying Dorchester?
Marlene Harris recently posted..What’s On My (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand? AKA The Sunday Post 7-1-12