#then sarah maclean

[starliteonearth]

I feel like the sentiment that shipping Lucy with Cooper/The Ghoul replaces Barb as his canonical love interest ignores the fact that Cooper and Barb already had their time in the sun. They had a great, long relationship. They had a daughter and a family together. It was a good marriage. And then it ENDED. Not because of the bombs dropping but because they got DIVORCED. Cooper divorced her after finding out the truth (which is something a lot of viewers seemed to have missed apparently). There maybe plenty of things unresolved between them but the relationship was over, a long, long time before Lucy comes along.

[starry-sky-stuff]

I agree that The Heiress Hunt is the weakest in that series. If you read that then The Duke Gets Even (or vice versa) you'd probably get a bit of whiplash because tonally they're quite different, but if you read in order you can clearly see the progression (the series definitely got sexier with each book and unfortunately that means The Heiress Hunt falls a bit short when compared to Duke Gets Even or The Bride Goes Rogue). Which makes sense for the start of a series, it just means I don't enjoy the book as much as the others, especially compared to The Duke Gets Even. But I love couples with build-up over multiple books, so I tend to prefer later books in a series anyway.

What are your favourite and least favourite books you’ve read by your top three favourite historical romance authors?

Oh, interesting! My top 3 does change a lot, of course.

Elizabeth Hoyt first.

Favorite: Thief of Shadows, because I think it's a nearly flawless blend of adventure, sex, angst, and romance. Totally sweeping. Both the hero and heroine are unique and incredibly well written.

Least Favorite: To Seduce a Sinner, probably? It's not a bad read as a romance; she does well with it. But it's less memorable than others, and I personally don't love the whole "heroes were tortured by indigenous people" backstory for this series, and that's huge in this one.

Joanna Shupe.

Favorite: The Duke Gets Even. She built up to it perfectly. It's intensely romantic and challenges some of the things we expect from romance novels. Great enemies to lovers vibes, and I love a book with rough sex. I just really, really believed those two were in love.

Least Favorite: The Heiress Hunt. It's good, and I recommend it as part of the Fifth Avenue Rebels series, but it's safer and less dynamic than her other books.

Lisa Kleypas.

Favorite: Dreaming of You. Beautifully written, perfectly angsty, fun, formative.

Least favorite: Hello Stranger. I really dislike this book. So boring.

[triviareads]

do you have more recommendations for Penelope featherington-coded fmcs? both from the book version and the show version.

Callie from Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake by Sarah MacLean: She's fat/plus-sized and a spinster who realizes she never tried to stand out or grab life by the horns (by herself!) so she comes up with a list of scandalous things she wants to do, the first of which is asking a notorious rake for her first kiss. Ralston is immediately intrigued and soon becomes OBSESSED (no seriously the way he's just so deeply into her body is everything) as he helps her accomplish all the things on her list. There is a very hot carriage scene and (an actual) mirror scene.

Grace from When The Duke Was Wicked by Lorraine Heath: The show!polin dynamic basically; Grace is a redhead with a certain body insecurity who asks her older friend to help her find a suitor who truly loves her. Lovingdon is a jaded rake Who Can Never Love Again after the death of his first wife and son, but that doesn't stop him from doing all these sweet things for Grace and debauching her in every corner while informing her that a man who truly loved her would do all of this... which isn't him. obvi.

Penelope from The Duchess Hunt by Lorraine Heath: Not just because her name is Penelope, but the pining vibes in this are impeccable; she's the duke's secretary and this dumb dumb man is making her find him a wife while being all "hm the ideal wife would look like Penelope, talk like Penelope, smell like Penelope.... I WONDER WHAT THAT MEANS". Anyway she's so turned on by a hand touch that she masturbates in his carriage and LATER ON TELLS HIM and then HE GETS HER OFF IN THE CARRIAGE.

Jane from The Truth About Cads and Dukes by Elisa Braden: More plus/size-fat rep and she's a wallflower; she's compromised by a guy name Colin (lol) and Colin's older duke brother Harrison steps in to marry her. He's super icy and cold, but he's actually wildly obsessed with Jane's bod after 10 seconds of marriage and once she realizes that, she uses it to her advantage by means of low-cut gowns and erotically stripping her gloves :D

Sarah from Temptations of a Wallflower by Eva Leigh: Sarah is a wallflower who moonlights as infamous erotica writer The Lady of Dubious Quality, but like, instead of ragging on other women, she's actually doing her part to educate women about sex through her stories and provide entertaining material. The hero Jeremy is a vicar who's charged with hunting down The Lady Of Dubious Quality, and unknowingly ends up falling for, and then marrying her. It's also really cute that as Sarah falls in love with Jeremy, her erotica becomes more and more romantic.

[fated-mates]

An episode for the old school romance readers in the audience, we're talking about kidnapping this week! A trope that either absolutely works for readers (aka us) or absolutely doesn't, we talk about why that is, how the original romances of the 80s and 90s installed these buttons and how we still see the bones of old school kidnapping in delicious romances of today. That, and Jen reminds Sarah of books she wrote one time.

[sarah-maclean-completist]

[sarahmaclean]

Knockout is here! This one comes with very a very big hero who feels even bigger feelings for my curvy heroine who is pure, delightful, explosive (💥) mayhem. It’s full of all my favorite things: 

Two people who are absolutely gone for each other

A group of friends who clock it from the start and get popcorn

Justifiable face punching

An exasperated bodyguard of a hero

A heroine who has no intention of being body guarded

Banter--my god, these two and their BANTER just get a room already! (spoiler: they get a room)

Only one bed in a London snowstorm 

Me and you against the patriarchy

💥💥💥💥

I hope you’ll love this one as much as I do. I am so so thrilled to share it with you, because I miss these two a whole lot, and I can’t wait for y’all to meet them.

Get it wherever you get your books, or at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books or your local independent bookstore!

[dhaaruni]

!!!!

[siredbtches]

rivals bts pt 1 💋👠

[beautifulbookishdisaster]

"You were to take her home." "The lady is rather... unbiddable." "Thank you. That might well be the nicest thing anyone has ever said about me."

Sarah McLean, A Rogue by Any Other Name

[myplussizebookshelf]

Need alternatives for Romancing Mr Bridgerton?

My top 3:

3. Flame and Ember by MA Nichols

2. How to start a scandal by Madeline Martin (18+)

1. Nine rules to break when romancing a rake by Sarah MacLean (18+)

[aspoonfuloffiction]

Gonna reread Knockout to cope with the Miss Scarlet and the Duke news

[barrylyga]

With a gorgeous cover and incredible interior art by the inimitable @colleendoran, GENERATION WONDER hit shelves one year ago today!

The New Age of Heroes launched with 13 amazing stories by some astonishing authors, including Sarah Maclean, Paul Levitz, Sterling Gates, Danielle Paige, Morgan Baden, Anna-Marie McLemore, Varian Johnson, Lamar Giles, Joseph Bruchac, Elizabeth Eulberg, Matthew Phillion, Axie Oh, and yours truly!

If you haven't already sampled the delights awaiting you in this anthology, I implore you to do so now. You can order it here:

[readyforbooks]

All she cared was that he was there, and he smelled like leather and amber, and he radiated heat liked the sun, and her heart was banging about in her chest, and his fingers were stroking over her wrist in little circles that were going to make her mad if he didn't...

—Sarah Maclean, Knockout

[triviareads]

can you recommend for me a good historical romance with a heroine who is in STEM?

I read one good earl deserves a lover on your recommendation and I really liked Pippa. do you have other books with heroines like her?

Sure! Here they are:

In Want of a Viscount by Lorraine Heath (pub date 2/20/24): The heroine is a businesswoman and inventor who invented the typewriter (or a better version of it) and is very interested in engineering. The hero clocks this and even takes her out on dates to see Big Ben (no, not a euphemism but Stuff does happen up there) and to a club so she can disassemble a roulette wheel and I thought he was very hot for that.

Convergence of Desire by Felicity Niven: The heroine is so focused on proving Fermat's Theorem that she agrees to a marriage of convenience to a local rake so she can focus on math while he's allowed to fuck anyone he likes (he predictably can't get it up for anyone but her shortly after their marriage).

My Kind of Earl by Vivienne Lorret: The heroine accidentally incites a riot in a brothel and escapes by using one of her experiments, a beetroot bomb that makes everyone pink. She's generally an inquisitive, experimental sort from what I remember.

Knockout by Sarah MacLean: Another gal with a penchant for explosives, Imogen tinkers with explosives in her brother's basement, but don't worry it's for a good cause, namely her vigilante group, the Hell's Belles. Her expertise is also called upon to investigate a series of bombings.

When a Scot Ties a Knot by Tessa Dare: Maddie does animal illustrations for scientific books for naturalists and dreams of f illustrating multi-issue encyclopedias. A subplot in this books does involve lobsters fucking so Maddie can illustrate them accurately.

The Detective Duke by Scarlett Scott: I'm pretty sure the heroine in this one invented the first electric frying pan.

The Governess Game by Tessa Dare: The heroine goes around fixing clocks in aristocrats' houses before she accidentally becomes a governess for the slutty hero's new wards, and her one true passion is astronomy and looking for comets.

[fated-mates]

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[sarah-maclean-completist]

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