Friday Featured Spotlight ~ Untreed Reads & 3 Historical Romance Reviews

Founded in 2008, Untreed Reads is a digital-first publisher and ebook distributor with one of the largest distribution channels in the industry, supplying titles to over 200 retailers and 98 percent of libraries worldwide. With a catalog of works covering nearly every genre and the option for publishers to distribute their content through its network, Untreed Reads is a full-service location for authors and publishers.

*Books source ~ Many thanks to Untreed Reads for providing review copies in exchange for honest reviews.

Title ~ A Worthy Wife

Author ~ Barbara Metzger

Publisher ~ Untreed Reads

Published ~ 23 October 2012

1st published by Signet 1 Feb 2000

Genre ~ Historical/Romance

My Rating ~ 5 bites out of 5

Aurora McPhee is about to marry the dashing and handsome Harland Podell when a stranger bursts through the church doors and declares Harland a bigamist, already married to his sister and another woman. The stranger, Kenyon Warriner, Earl of Windham, believing Aurora to be compromised decides to marry her himself. Thus begins an amusing course of events that turn sinister as Kenyon and Aurora discover she may have a sizeable inheritance she knew nothing about. Will they ever figure out who is behind the events and more important, will they ever get to settle into a proper marriage?

Ah, I know when I pick up a Barbara Metzger book I’m going to get an afternoon of entertainment with an unusual and amusing love story. The deliciously unconventional characters are so much fun to follow as they live their lives between the pages.

Aurora is a plucky intelligent girl raised in what is considered a rather unusual household for the times. Her aunt and uncle are basically environmentalists, but everyone else thinks they’re a bit loony. Kenyon is a take charge kind of guy whose life runs like clockwork. That is until he marries Aurora who creates chaos wherever she goes.  There are many giggles and laugh out loud moments as Aurora and Kenyon try to make a life together even when everything conspires against them. All-in-all a delightful way to spend a few hours.

Title ~ Saved by Scandal

Author ~ Barbara Metzger

Publisher ~ Untreed Reads

Published ~5 December 2012

1st published by Signet 1 June 2000

My Rating ~ 5 bites out of 5

Lord Galen Woodbridge has been dumped by the same woman for the 2^nd time although this time it was actually at the altar. In order to deflect the ensuing scandal away from his very public humiliation he cooks up a plan, while drunk, to marry the elusive Margot Montclaire, a sexy songstress of the stage. Galen is titled and very rich as well as dashing and handsome. For Margot he is harder to resist than any of the others who have tried to be her protector. She agrees to marry him on the condition that he spirit away her younger brother from the hands of her dastardly uncle. Galen agrees, the bargain is struck and they are married by special license only a few hours later. Each are comfortable with their part of the bargain, but soon they learn that there is more to life than mere comfort when they fall in love.

Galen is a knight in shining armor and Margot is a delight. The uncle is a true villain and the other characters are fun to read. When Galen’s ex-fiancée shows up I wanted to beat her about the head and shoulders then kick her out, but Margot isn’t me. *sigh* And his sister? Oh boy! What a piece of work that spoiled bitch is. It all works out in the end, but I’d sure like to get my hands on that uncle for what he did to Margot’s little brother. Grrrr! All-in-all an excellent afternoon read.

Title ~ Rose of the Mists

Series ~ The Rose Trilogy, #1

Author ~ Laura Parker

Publisher ~ Untreed Reads

Published ~ 11 October 2012

1st published by Warner Books September 1985

Genre ~ Historical/Romance

My Rating ~ 3 bites and a nibble out of 5

Meghan O’Neill was born with a strawberry birthmark on her cheek. In the 1500s this was considered by some to mean she is marked by Satan while others thought it meant the person was the product of fairies. Raised by her nurse, Una, Meghan has been sheltered from people, hiding her mark to keep from being killed. The morning she saves the life of handsome Revelin Butler her whole life changes when she falls in love.

Set in Ireland in the 1500s this story has a lot of the English/Irish history and bloodshed. Since I have no interest in history I was pretty lost for all of the history talk. The story of Meghan interested me much more and she was an appealing character even if she put up with Revelin’s bullshit. Revelin, on the other hand, I didn’t like very much. He took Meghan’s virginity even while he still planned to wed another woman. Then he just cast Meghan aside. Yeah, I thought she could do much better than him. He redeemed himself a bit by the end, but I still don’t like him. If you like history then this is a good book to read. All-in-all it’s not a bad story and I enjoyed the folklore.

Untreed Reads 50% off at Kobo through September!

We just received word from ebook retailer Kobo that there is a coupon code that is good for the entire month that will give readers 50% off their purchase. That means that every single title by Untreed Reads and all of its distribution clients can be purchased at 50% off with the code, and there is no limit to the number of titles that can be purchased. Of course, any other non-discounted titles are also eligible with the coupon. Nearly one million titles are part of the sale, and the coupon can be reused!

Why is this important? For a lot of reasons!

1. Kobo will still pay the publisher based on the cover price, NOT based on the discount price. This helps you as the customer get a great deal, and allows our authors to get paid on the full cover price!

2. All books purchased through Kobo are EPUBs, meaning they can be read on every single device or computer in the world except for a Kindle or the Kindle app.

3. Kobo has its own free app for all reading devices and computers. (Editor's Note: I have it installed on my Mac, my iPad, my Galaxy S3 and my Barnes and Noble Nook!)

4. Readers from around the world can buy from Kobo, and the markets included in this sale are US, Canada and the UK.

5. Kobo has a program that supports your local bookstores and enables your local brick-and-mortar to sell ebooks and stay open.

To take advantage of this promo, simply head over to Kobo by clicking HERE. Add as many titles as you'd like to your cart and enter coupon code Sept50 during checkout. Remember, not only is this good for all Untreed Reads titles and those from our distribution folks (Uncial Press, The Fiction Works, Big Finish and Mainly Murder Press to name a few) it's good for any books that are not currently discounted at Kobo.

Happy shopping!