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First, a little history…
It may come as a shock but I wasn’t always aboard the digital book-reading bandwagon. For the longest time, even after I was given my first Kindle Fire (which I named Firelizard, my current Kindle is named Fire Drake – you know it’s adorable and you love it), I would still read all the dead tree books. At some point in 2016, (as I look at my digital content manager on Amazon) I realized that there are gloriously cheap reads to be purchased from the Amazon digital store – from Free to $3.99 is what I consider cheap – as well as the Amazon First Reads Program where Prime members get one or two free Kindle new titles a month, the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library (accessible only from the Books App on your Kindle), and the Prime Reading Library. Please note, this was all before Nikki taught me the magic that is the public library’s Overdrive system (log-in with your library card in participating counties via Overdrive or Libby). I’m slow on the uptake, y’all.
And then, in 2018 I realized that I needed to entertain myself for the 30 hour drive across the country to California, toting two cats who at that point only ever meowed incessantly while in the car. I decided to subscribe to Kindle Unlimited for the first time using one of the occasional sales, because I had researched enough to know that lots of audio books are included in the service. Tricky thing is that after about an hour in the car the cats calmed down and I decided the Dixie Chicks would see me through the 3 day trek to L.A., Cowboy Take Me Away. So much for using those audiobooks.
When August of 2018 rolled around, I realized that my subscription was going to expire/renew at the monthly rate, so I wanted to take better advantage of all the available reading material. I started reading non-fiction things, like The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod – highly recommend to anyone seeking self-development tactics – and real estate and finance books. All of which is still my jam, buy then I allowed my subscription to expire and Nikki taught me the Ways of The Overdrive. However when November’s shopping season rolled around, and we both received notification of a new KU sale during the Black Friday/Cyber Monday hoopla, we decided to both jump in at the same time and see what kind of shenanigans we could get into together…
~Ashley
I blame Facebook and Amazon. Somehow (algorithms, I know), they together decided I needed to see all these ads for Kindle Unlimited books, but like specific books. There were sponsored ads from authors and groups, and ads for Kindle Unlimited itself. I also blame my love of watching a good fictional (and hypothetical) train wreck. I’d click to view the full text, get amused, take a screenshot and text it to Ashley. And so it began. And now we have a Kindle Unlimited Potential list on Amazon to which we both add titles, some of which are romance novels and some of which are not, but because Facebook + Amazon like to suggest romance novels, it’s mostly that. We are not sad at all. We’ve found some really fun titles through this rabbit hole, and now we’re going to share some of our favorites with you.
~Nikki
It started with a banana…
The first ad that got me was for His Banana by Penelope Bloom. Y’all, just look at the cover. And early in this open door romantic comedy, the heroine eats the hero’s banana (not a euphemism) while waiting to interview at his company. Comical Antics Ensue. It’s the first book in a series called Objects of Attraction, and Granny is my favorite, seconded by William, who does have his own book. For giggles the other titles include: Her Cherry, His Treat, His Package, Her Secret, Her Bush, and Her Secret. I *may* have just discovered After His Banana, published this month, which is now on my TBR.
And then there were shifters…
By this point in our narrative, we were enjoying the ads so much we started our Amazon KU TBR list. The requirements for which are: fun and entertaining premise, good reviews, which for us means four to five stars with at least 50 reviews in total, no complaints of copy editing issues, and a minimum of approximately 150 digital pages. We were also wanting to expand the genres of romance we were reading. When we came upon Celia Kyle and Marina Maddix’s Real Men Shift series, we decided it was a great way to dip our toes in the water. These open door romance novels follow the Blackwood Pack of werewolves in the mountains of north Georgia. The pack lives peacefully outside a small town, interacting with the (human) residents and working among them. There is drama, suspense, and oh so many mates. The pack structure, both within the pack and in the nation, was interesting to learn about, while also seeing how it plays out in the town. Start with Real Men Howl and go in order from there, if you’d like a solid introduction to the shifters genre.
Next came a Surprise Package & Fast Girl Media…
Somehow, I feel like we (I, whatever) kept getting better and better recommendations (I know, algorithms). And last Christmas (much like this December), I discovered some delightful titles. The most memorable title last year was Donna Alam’s Surprise Package. Our modern-day heroine is traveling to a wedding in Scotland, is abandoned by her friend/fellow guest, and goes to her weekend cabin anyway. *Spoiler Alert* Someone is already there, and they get snowed in together! Who’s in the wrong place? What are two people to do stuck inside for the weekend? What happens when the weekend is over? All of these questions and more are answered in this entertaining open door romance. This is technically #3 of the Great Scots Series, however I’m glad I read Surprise Package first, because it was a great introduction into Alam’s style. Easy is a bit more…risque, but we proceeded from there and were very delighted to discover that at least some of Alam’s series have intersecting characters, which is really my favorite because they feel like a continuation of the same story but with a different focus. Our favorite thread within the series (both the Great Scots and Aussies/Phillips Brothers series at least) is Fast Girl Media. This is a media company that makes adult films and is run by Chastity, yes a woman (she’s the heroine of In Like Flynn) and we are here for the concept both in print and in real life.
And finally, hockey twins sealed the deal with a gif…
Last, but certainly not least, we discovered Stud in the Stacks by Pippa Grant. A male librarian whose patrons rely on him for romance book recommendations. That’s all we needed to be interested, but additionally the book opens with a date auction, there’s an outrageous Granny, and so much autocorrect that is anything but correct. This was a 2019 favorite of ours, and actually #2 in the series, but again, I’m not sad we started with #2. Mr. McHottie is the first in the series, and is also great, and also just extra. Think glitter bombs and the weinermobile, and no, I’m not exaggerating.
Y’all, these open door romantic comedies are hilarious, like over the top, in the most amazing, laugh out loud ways! If you go down this rabbit hole, let us know, but first check out the reading order! There are several interconnected/overlapping series that cover a (fictional) pro-hockey team, a trio of siblings, a boy band, an all-girl band who specializes in boy band covers, and a group of royals.
My OUR FAVORITES of the series though, are the Berger twins, who both play hockey. One is outspoken, the other is not and prefers to text exclusively through gifs. Oh, and their names are Zeus and Ares. Naturally, their sister, Ambrosia, is a force to be reckoned with and is the heroine in Mr. McHottie. (Ashley also wants to point out that she started reading Samantha Whiskey’s Seattle Sharks series, another hockey romance series on KU, and is gloriously happy about it in every way possible.) Pippa is how we found the Bluewater Billionaires Series, and that’s the entire story of how our February focus came to be.
There’s a lot more to be found on Kindle Unlimited than romance novels, of any type, including the Harry Potter Series and Anne Bogel’s books! Ashley reads a lot of finance, real estate, and personal growth books. Nikki has also read business and leadership books. If you love to read, and read quickly enough to justify the cost, you should definitely look into Kindle Unlimited because there is SO much to choose from, not just romance.
What actually IS Kindle Unlimited, you say?
You can find Amazon’s answers here, but it’s a subscription service from Amazon where subscribers can read (or listen when available) to as many Kindle Unlimited books as they want per month, but you can only have 10 titles checked out at a time. Your first 30 days are free, and after that it’s $9.99 a month (unless you catch a sale, which generally happens a few times a year – like $1.99 for three months). We don’t always have a subscription, but when we do, we tend to read a lot of Kindle Unlimited titles! Take a look at the selection of titles before you purchase a subscription. The latest books from large publishers probably won’t be included, but many, many independent authors who publish on Amazon are included, and that brings us a lot of joy.
Have you checked out Kindle Unlimited? If so, what are your favorite titles, or perhaps some you’re excited about?
