Snapdragon (Love Conquers None1)
Snapdragon (Love Conquers None1) book cover

Snapdragon (Love Conquers None1)

Paperback – February 19, 2017

by
Price
$11.04
Format
Paperback
Pages
332
Publisher
Luxe Publishing
Publication Date
ISBN-13
978-0985798352
Dimensions
5.5 x 0.84 x 8.5 inches
Weight
15.8 ounces

Description

Awards and Accolades for Snapdragon: 2018 Publisher's Weekly BookLife Prize Semi-Finalist 2018 Publisher's Weekly BookLife Prize Semi-Finalist 2018 HOLT Medallion Award of Merit 2018 HOLT Medallion Award of Merit 2018 NECRWA Reader's Choice Award 1st Place Winner 2018 NECRWA Reader's Choice Award 1st Place Winner 2018 IPPY Award Bronze Medalist 2018 IPPY Award Bronze Medalist 2018 Foreword Indie Awards Honorable Mention 2018 Foreword Indie Awards Honorable Mention 2018 Emma Award for Diversity in Romantic Literature Finalist 2018 Emma Award for Diversity in Romantic Literature Finalist 2018 Book Buyer's Best Contest 1st Place Winner 2018 Book Buyer's Best Contest 1st Place Winner 2017 National Reader's Choice Award 1st Place Winner 2017 National Reader's Choice Award 1st Place Winner What the experts say... " Fresh, with a reveal toward the end that is surprising! "xa0xa0 - Publisher's Weekly Booklife Critical Review" Blades manages to ease feminism and equality into her novels, which is always a delight to see in a genre written and read by women. "xa0 - IndieReader Starred Review" An absolute stormer of a sexy romance. "xa0 - K.J. Charles, 2018 RITA Nominee and author of The Magpie Lords and Spectred Isle " Michael is the perfect book boyfriend. Darby is refreshingly real. A great read! "xa0xa0 xa0- Rose B. Mashal, Smashwords Hotlist Bestselling author of The Black Keys Snapdragon the first book in the Gilded Love series. The second book, Chrysalis , is told from Michael's point of view. For a sneak peek at Chrysalis , head to kilbyblades.com. Want to ask me about my books, or just say hello? Drop me a note at [email protected]! GET READY TO FALL IN LOVE WITH SNAPDRAGONxa0Deeply meaningful, desperately sexual, and inevitably bittersweet, Snapdragon deals with the quandary of choosing love over career, the weight of adulthood and the complexity of modern work-life. It rewrites the book on what a 21st century relationship should look like and keeps the reader wondering how it will end. A business executive by day, a writer of smart contemporary fiction by night, a lover of words and an admirer of the artists who arrange them cleverly. The mother of two, an oenophile, a cinephile, and above all else, a hopeless fic fiend. Read more

Features & Highlights

  • From
  • USA Today
  • best selling author Kilby Blades, the smoking-hot book that started it all…
  • The rules are simple: unattached companionship, toe-curling sex and a clean break whenever it ends. Either can say the single word that will break it off:
  • Snapdragon
  • .Falling in love is a luxury people like Michael and Darby don’t have. He’s at the top of his field and she’s at the top of hers. It’s only a matter of time before ambition calls and one of them walks away.But she can feel herself slipping, falling for him, every time he unchains her from her desk; every time he plots against her boss for making her life hell; with every tender touch in the dark of night. She knows she ought to be the one to say the word. She’s already broken the rules. She knows she ought to say it. But she can’t.
  • "Fresh, with a reveal toward the end that is surprising!"
  • -
  • Publisher's Weekly
  • Booklife Critical Review
  • "A no-strings arrangement of companionship and sex turns into true love in Kilby Blades’s highly original, genuinely unconventional, feminist and romantic debut. When Michael and Darby meet, the chemistry is palpable, but so is the mutual admiration and genuine respect."
  • -
  • Book Riot
  • The Best Books You've Never Heard Of (Summer 2020)
  • "Blades manages to ease feminism and equality into her novels, which is always a delight to see in a genre written and read by women."
  • -
  • IndieReader
  • Awards and Accolades for
  • Snapdragon
  • 2018 Publisher's Weekly BookLife Prize Semi-Finalist
  • 2018 Publisher's Weekly BookLife Prize Semi-Finalist
  • 2018 HOLT Medallion Award of Merit
  • 2018 HOLT Medallion Award of Merit
  • 2018 NECRWA Reader's Choice Award 1st Place Winner
  • 2018 NECRWA Reader's Choice Award 1st Place Winner
  • 2018 IPPY Award Bronze Medalist
  • 2018 IPPY Award Bronze Medalist
  • 2018 Foreword Indie Awards Honorable Mention
  • 2018 Foreword Indie Awards Honorable Mention
  • 2018 Emma Award for Diversity in Romantic Literature Finalist
  • 2018 Emma Award for Diversity in Romantic Literature Finalist
  • 2018 Book Buyer's Best Contest 1st Place Winner
  • 2018 Book Buyer's Best Contest 1st Place Winner
  • 2017 National Reader's Choice Award 1st Place Winner
  • 2017 National Reader's Choice Award 1st Place Winner

Customer Reviews

Rating Breakdown

★★★★★
60%
(224)
★★★★
25%
(94)
★★★
15%
(56)
★★
7%
(26)
★
-7%
(-26)

Most Helpful Reviews

✓ Verified Purchase

They happily begin a friends with benefits thing around their seventy-plus ...

Darby’s getting into her thirties and her old friends are all getting married, moving to the suburbs and starting families. But Darby hears a different drummer. She wants to focus on her career as a psychiatrist and well, the rest of her life that is blissfully without a husband, house in the suburbs or babies.

She meets Michael, a handsome architect who feels the same way she does. They happily begin a friends with benefits thing around their seventy-plus hour work weeks. The deal is that either can end their arrangement at any time with the word that is also the book’s title, “Snapdragon.”

As the book goes along, Darby deals with issues at the hospital where she works, and family issues, too. Michael steps up to help her and the bonds between them grow. Even though both know they are free to leave at any time. Even though from the start, Michael’s said it’s likely he’ll have to relocate far away for his career sooner or later.

I don’t want to give away the ending so I’ll just say there’s plenty of glamour and sex on the way to it… And that there’s a sequel on the way, too.

This novel is very well done. I’d definitely recommend it to those who like the romance genre.
1 people found this helpful
✓ Verified Purchase

Smart and sexy

I tend to judge books by how easily I'm distracted by other things (Netflix, for instance). In the case of Snapdragon, distractions fell away.

Not unusually for the genre, the protagonists are 1 percenters -- successful, beautiful career people who appear to be at the top of their game. They are driven professionally and are equally uncompromising in their relationships. In this case, Darby (the POV character) and Michael enter into an arrangement that is predicated on physical pleasure. The arrangement can end, without recrimination, by uttering a single word. In other words, friends with benefits under the sword of Damocles.

Despite being 1 percenters, one can't help to sympatize with Darby and Michael. They may be wealthy and successful, but they are hardly the masters of their respective destinies, buffeted by forces they can't (or choose not to) control. And in that respect, the arrangement proves a safe harbor.

Snapdragon shines in its smooth, assured writing style, great sense of pace, perfect balance of reflection and action. The characters are compromised, compelling, and entirely relatable. There is a great balance of sex (which is exquisitely hot) and the various subplots that give the narrative color and lend the proceedings urgency and drama.

While the ending might seem a little abrupt, there is a sequel, in which (interestingly) the point of view switches to Michael. Highly recommended.
✓ Verified Purchase

Snapdragon

A well-written, inteligent read based on a "no-strings" relationship between two career minded professionals.
The central characters were complex and realistic. Devoted to their successful careers both believe they have to choose between this and a loving relationship. They meet by chance and negotiate the terms of a relationship that won't get complicated. Unfortunately life is messy and can't be controlled as easily as they anticipate.
The book doesn't restrict itself to their relationship but follows the stresses of their employment and family relationships in a very believeable way.
Although clearly a romance, the book is a clever look at a range of issues relative to a contemporary lifestyle and so has a more general appeal.

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