{"id":7052,"date":"2026-08-14T15:30:23","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T15:30:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=7052"},"modified":"2026-08-14T15:30:23","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T15:30:23","slug":"mysteries-dark-romance-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=7052","title":{"rendered":"Mysteries, Dark Romance, & More"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Potent Pleasures<\/em><\/h1>\n

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Potent Pleasures\u00a0<\/em>by Eloisa James is $1.99! This was James\u2019 debut historical romance. Many readers really seem to dislike the hero, while others said this was an emotional rollercoaster that left them a bit misty-eyed. During a previous sale, we asked what readers thought of the book and there\u2019s some great conversation in the comments section<\/a>\u00a0to check out. Be warned there are spoilers though.<\/p>\n

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Eloisa James breathes new life into one of the most popular fiction genres with her highly original debut novel Potent Pleasures<\/strong>, a charming, vividly peopled Regency romance. With an uncanny wit and an eye for the whimsical, she unravels a complex\u2013and often hilarious\u2013chain of events inadvertently set in motion by a young woman\u2019s first taste of forbidden pleasure.<\/p>\n

About to make her debut in London society, Charlotte Calverstill, beneath the lavish gowns and manners of a well-brought-up young lady, yearns for a taste of freedom. Pushing propriety aside, one evening she sneaks out with a friend to attend a masked ball, and there meets a devastatingly handsome stranger who relieves her\u2013not against her wishes\u2013of her virtue, then vanishes.<\/p>\n

Years later, when they meet again, the rogue does not remember Charlotte. But she certainly remembers him; she has since learned not only his identity, but also a titillating piece of gossip about him that is sure to set society abuzz. The intricate web that a now-wiser Charlotte weaves to exact her due ensures justice for some and great merriment for all.<\/p>\n

Taking the Regency historical to fresh new places, with artful smoothness and irrepressible humor, Eloisa James delivers a winsome tale of first love and life\u2019s unexpected surprises.<\/p>\n

Add to Goodreads To-Read List \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n

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You can find ordering info for this book here<\/a>.<\/h4>\n

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Crazy Spooky Love<\/em><\/h1>\n

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Crazy Spooky Love\u00a0<\/em>by Josie Silver is $1.99! This is book one in the\u00a0Melody Bittersweet<\/em>\u00a0series. The setup gives me\u00a0Stephanie Plum\u00a0<\/em>vibes, but with ghosts.<\/p>\n

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A plucky medium, her fame-chasing ex, and an infuriatingly handsome skeptic reporter make for a complicated love triangle\u2014and that\u2019s before the ghosts get involved. From the #1\u00a0New York Times\u00a0bestselling author of\u00a0One Day in December\u00a0comes the first novel in a ghost-hunting series full of romance and humor.<\/p>\n

In the leafy, charming town of Chapelwick, the Bittersweet family has been a fixture on High Street for as long as anyone can remember. Their rambling black-and-white building houses all three generations of ghost-sensitive Bittersweet women and their business, Blithe Spirits.<\/p>\n

On her twenty-seventh birthday, Melody Bittersweet converts the disused back storeroom into her office and opens her\u00a0own\u00a0business. Unlike the rest of her family, she\u2019s not taking down messages from ghosts\u2014she\u2019s taking them\u00a0out.<\/p>\n

Soon, the Girls\u2019 Ghostbusting Agency takes on its first a grand old house that won\u2019t sell because a trio of incumbent ghost brothers raise merry hell whenever prospective owners arrive to view it.<\/p>\n

It soon becomes clear that there\u2019s a whole heap of unfinished business between the Scarborough brothers\u2014including murder\u2014and Melody isn\u2019t the only one trying to unravel the mystery. Leo Dark, her rakish ex and business rival, is also on the case, along with the TV crew that trails him.<\/p>\n

To make matters worse, the sarcastic and skeptical (and annoyingly good-looking) local reporter Fletcher Gunn has his nose in the story as well. Sniffing out a way to publicly discredit the Bittersweets is his favorite assignment\u2014and has absolutely\u00a0nothing\u00a0to do with his inability to resist Melody.<\/p>\n

With her business on the line, it\u2019s up to Melody to work out the brothers\u2019 issues, but can she protect her own\u00a0very\u00a0susceptible heart from Fletcher\u2019s charm? Does she even want to?<\/p>\n

Add to Goodreads To-Read List \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n

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You can find ordering info for this book here<\/a>.<\/h4>\n

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Definitely Maybe Not a Detective<\/em><\/h1>\n

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Definitely Maybe Not a Detective<\/em>\u00a0by Sarah Fox is $1.99! This is a mix of mystery and contemporary romance, where the heroine convinces the hero to pose as a detective only for their fake detective agency to be hired for a real case.<\/p>\n

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In this delightfully charming rom-com mystery, a woman becomes accidentally entangled in a murder investigation (and with a handsome stranger) when her fake detective agency is enlisted to solve a\u00a0real\u00a0homicide\u2014from the bestselling author of the Pancake House Mysteries.<\/p>\n

Emersyn Gray is definitely not a detective.<\/p>\n

Really, she\u2019s an unemployed twenty-eight-year-old raising her beloved niece in the only place she can afford after her ex-boyfriend ran off with her life a run-down, seniors-only apartment complex that was desperate for tenants. But never fear\u2014her wild best friend has the perfect plan to get Emersyn back on her feet\u00a0and\u00a0stick it to her thieving scare him into returning her money by hiring a private investigator to prove he stole it. Only, there won\u2019t be an actual detective, just a fabricated business card from\u00a0Wyatt Investigations. . .and a ridiculously hot stranger who steps in to play the part\u2014a stranger whose name is, coincidentally, Wyatt.<\/p>\n

Emersyn can\u2019t help but notice the real-life Wyatt is capital H-O-T\u00a0hot, even though she\u2019s wary of his intentions. But her ex does seem flustered, and if she can get her money back and regain control of her life, maybe it\u2019ll finally prove to her parents that she\u00a0can\u00a0be a responsible caregiver to her niece.<\/p>\n

But the day after they set their plan in motion, the superintendent of Emersyn\u2019s apartment building winds up dead, and her neighbors turn to her fake detective for help after finding one of the phony business cards. With so many eyes on them\u2014or maybe just their eyes on each other\u2014Emersyn and Wyatt agree to take on the case. Now the question Can they solve the murder without getting tangled up in their own fictions\u2014or each other?<\/p>\n

Add to Goodreads To-Read List \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n

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You can find ordering info for this book here<\/a>.<\/h4>\n

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The Only Good Indians<\/em><\/h1>\n

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The Only Good Indians\u00a0<\/em>by Stephen Graham Jones is $2.99! This Indigenous psychological horror was a bestseller when it released and a lot of my close trusted horror readers enjoyed this one.<\/p>\n

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The creeping horror of Paul Tremblay meets Tommy Orange\u2019s\u00a0There There\u00a0in a dark novel of revenge, cultural identity, and the cost of breaking from tradition in this latest novel from the Jordan Peele of horror literature, Stephen Graham Jones.<\/p>\n

Seamlessly blending classic horror and a dramatic narrative with sharp social commentary,\u00a0The Only Good Indians\u00a0follows four American Indian men after a disturbing event from their youth puts them in a desperate struggle for their lives. Tracked by an entity bent on revenge, these childhood friends are helpless as the culture and traditions they left behind catch up to them in a violent, vengeful way.<\/p>\n

Add to Goodreads To-Read List \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n

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You can find ordering info for this book here<\/a>.<\/h4>\n

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Leather and Lark<\/em><\/h1>\n

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Leather and Lark\u00a0<\/em>by Brynne Weaver is $4.99! This is book two in the Ruinous\u00a0<\/em>Love series. These are darker romances and feature contract killers and assassins as the main character. I think book two could work as a standalone, though the main characters are prominent side characters in book one.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI don\u2019t just want to hear her laugh, I need to earn it. Every time I gain a little ground, I want more. I want to break out of the shade and back into her light. Without even realizing it, I\u2019ve become addicted to it. To her.\u201d<\/p>\n

Contract killer Lachlan Kane wants a quiet life working in his leather studio and forgetting all about his traumatic past. But when he botches a job for his boss\u2019s biggest client, Lachlan knows he\u2019ll never claw his way out of the underworld. At least, not until songbird Lark Montague offers him a use his skills to hunt down a killer and she\u2019ll find a way to secure his freedom. The catch? He has to marry her first.<\/p>\n

And they can\u2019t stand each other.<\/p>\n

Indie singer-songwriter Lark is the sunshine and glitter that burns through every cloud and clings to every crevice that Lachlan Kane tries to hide inside. The surly older brother of her best friend\u2019s soulmate, Lachlan thinks she\u2019s just a privileged princess, but Lark has plenty of secrets hiding in the shadows of her bright light. With her formidable family in a tailspin and her best friend\u2019s happiness on the line, she\u2019s willing to make a vow to the man she\u2019s determined to hate, no matter how tempting the broody assassin might be.<\/p>\n

As Lachlan and Lark navigate the dark world that binds them together, it becomes impossible to discern their fake marriage from a real one. But it\u2019s not just familiar dangers that haunt them.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s another phantom lurking on their doorstep.<\/p>\n

And this one has come for blood.<\/p>\n

Add to Goodreads To-Read List \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n

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You can find ordering info for this book here<\/a>.<\/h4>\n

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<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Potent Pleasures Potent Pleasures\u00a0by Eloisa James is $1.99! This was James\u2019 debut historical romance. Many readers really seem to dislike the hero, while others said this was an emotional rollercoaster that left them a bit misty-eyed. During a previous sale, we asked what readers thought of the book and there\u2019s some great conversation in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":7053,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7052","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7052"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7052"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7052\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}