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Sunday, April 10, 2011

Bargain Book Roundup

For those who can read EPUB, you might want to get some of the bundles at Kobo, as they have both of these coupons active:
  • KoboSpring1 ($1 off; unlimited use, expires 4/30)
  • apr8us20 and apr8ca20 (20% off; unlimited use, expires 4/10)

The Condition Low Price with Bonus Material ($2.99), by Jennifer Haigh, is a pre-order for a new edition of the bestselling The Condition ($9.99) - use the second link to get a sample, then pre-order with the first link. Most of the titles that have had this type of special edition have disappeared from the catalog shortly after release, so don't wait too long on this one.

Book Description
The Condition tells the story of the McKotches, a proper New England family that comes apart during one fateful summer. The year is 1976, and the family, Frank McKotch, an eminent scientist; his pedigreed wife, Paulette; and their three beautiful children has embarked on its annual vacation at the Captain's House, the grand old family retreat on Cape Cod. One day on the beach, Frank is struck by an image he cannot forget: his thirteen-year-old daughter, Gwen, strangely infantile in her child-sized bikini, standing a full head shorter than her younger cousin Charlotte. At that moment he knows a truth that he can never again unknown something is terribly wrong with his only daughter. The McKotch family will never be the same.

Twenty years after Gwen's diagnosis with Turner's syndrome, a genetic condition that has prevented her from maturing, trapping her forever in the body of a child, all five family members are still dealing with the fallout. Each believes himself crippled by some secret pathology; each feels responsible for the family's demise. Frank and Paulette are acrimoniously divorced. Billy, the eldest son, is dutiful but distant, a handsome Manhattan cardiologist with a life built on compromise. His brother, Scott, awakens from a pot-addled adolescence to a soul-killing job, a regrettable marriage, and a vinyl-sided tract house in the suburbs. And Gwen is silent and emotionally aloof, a bright, accomplished woman who spurns any interaction with those around her. She makes peace with the hermetic life she's constructed until, well into her thirties, she falls in love for the first time. And suddenly, once again, the family's world is tilted on its axis.

Compassionate yet unflinchingly honest, witty and almost painfully astute, The Condition explores the power of family mythologies, the self-delusions, denials, and inescapable truths that forever bind fathers and mothers and siblings.


If you missed Even, by Andrew Gran, the last time it was $2.99, you'll want to grab it quick before it goes up again.

Book Description
David Trevellyan is a Royal Navy intelligence operative who usually works undercover, sometimes with the approval of his masters—and sometimes not. On a seemingly normal evening, he takes a lonely late-night walk between a restaurant and his New York City hotel. A familiar huddled shape in the mouth of an alley catches his eye—a homeless man has been shot to death. Trevellyan steps forward…and a cop car arrives. A split second too late, Trevellyan realizes he’s been set up.

But Trevellyan isn’t worried. He’s a hard man from the shadowy world of Royal Navy Intelligence. He’s been in and out of trouble a thousand times before. But the NYPD quickly hands the problem to the FBI. Trevellyan is sucked deeper into the system. And the British Consulate tells him: You’re on your own now, mate.

With no idea who’s a friend and who’s a foe, he penetrates deep into a huge international conspiracy. The price of failure will be death, and the reward for success will be redemption, both for himself and the huddled corpse from the alley. The motivation will be his cherished life-long belief: You don’t get mad—you get EVEN.

If Jack Reacher had a younger brother, he’d be David Trevellyan. Lee Child does have a younger brother, and his name is Andrew Grant. A remarkable debut, Even delivers on its own—a tight, fast-paced, modern thriller fueled by adrenaline and revenge.


Cat Star Chronicles Bundle: Slave, Warrior, and Rogue ($9.99), by Cheryl Brooks, works out to $3.33 per title. At Kobo, it's $10.49 before coupon, or $8.40 with ($2.80/title).

Book Description
The Cat Star Chronicles have taken the universe by storm, delighting readers with their sensual Zeitithian warriors and their unique special powers. As one reviewer put it, "Wow. Just...wow. The romantic chemistry is as close to perfect as you'll find" (BookFetish).

Now discover where it all started with the first three Cat Star Chronicles books for one low price. This bundle includes Slave, Warrior, and Rogue, each story a powerhouse of passion and suspense. Find out why Cheryl Brooks is the newest star of sizzling fantasy romance and lose yourself in the worlds of her rare and potent characters.

Slave:
"I found him in the slave market on Orpheseus Prime, and even on such a god-forsaken planet as that one, their treatment of him seemed extreme..."

Cat is an enslaved warrior from a race with a feline gene that gives him awesome beauty, fearsome strength, and sensuality and sexual prowess unmatched by any other males in the universe. Even filthy, chained, and beaten, he gives off an aura of power and virility and his feline gene gives him remarkable sensual powers.

Jacinth has spent years pursuing her kidnapped sister from planet to planet. Now her quest leads her to a place where all the women are slaves. "Jack" needs a slave of her own-one who can masquerade as her master. Enmeshed in a tangle of deception, lust, and love, they must elude a race of violent killers and together forge a bond stronger than any chains.

Warrior:
"He came to me in the dead of winter, his body burning with fever... "

Leo arrives on Tisana's doorstep a beaten slave from a near-extinct race with feline genes. As soon as Leo recovers his strength, he'll use his extraordinary sexual talents to bewitch Tisana and make a bolt for freedom...

Tisana, whose healing powers are legendary, already knows Leo's the one who can help her fulfill her destiny... she can't let him get away now. Forced together on a dangerous journey, Tisana must reveal all of her powers, and Leo must give all of himself to gain his freedom...

Rogue:
"He crawled toward me on his hands and knees like a tiger stalking his prey... "

Enslaved for years, Tychar belongs to the Queen of Darconia. His feline gene gives him remarkable sexual powers and every female on the planet is in love with him. Then, the Queen gives him to Kyra...

Does she even stand a chance? Or will she be just another one of his conquests? Why would he choose the modest piano teacher? Yet the two are drawn to each other with a powerful, magnetic attraction unlike any he's felt before... Then the palace is attacked in a coup, and Tychar has to choose between freedom and love...


The Goodbye Quilt ($9.34), by Susan Wiggs, I saw mentioned in the Kindle Daily blog. At Kobo, it's $8.59, or $6.87 with the 20% off coupon.

Book Description
Linda Davis's local fabric shop is a place where women gather to share their creations: quilts commemorating important events in their lives. Wedding quilts, baby quilts, memorial quilts—each is bound tight with dreams, hopes and yearnings.

Now, as her only child readies for college, Linda is torn between excitement for Molly and heartache for herself. Who will she be when she is no longer needed in her role as mom? What will become of her days? Of her marriage?

Mother and daughter decide to share one last adventure together—a cross-country road trip to move Molly into her dorm. As they wend their way through the heart of the country, Linda stitches together the scraps that make up Molly's young life. And in the quilting of each bit of fabric—the hem of a christening gown, a snippet from a Halloween costume—Linda discovers that the memories of a shared journey can come together in a way that will keep them both warm in the years to come….


Richelle Mead Dark Swan Bundle: Iron Crowned, Storm Born & Thorn Queen ($9.99), by Richelle Mead, is a great price on a bundle from an author I read (sadly, I already had 2 of the three when Iron Crowned was released, so paid a lot more for them). At Kobo, it's $9.29 before the coupon.

Book Description
Iron Crowned
New York Times bestselling author Richelle Mead takes readers back to the Otherworld, an embattled realm mystically entwined with our world--and ruled by one woman's dangerous choice…

Shaman-for-hire Eugenie Markham is the best at banishing entities trespassing in the mortal realm. But as the Thorn Land's queen, she's fast running out of ways to end the brutal war devastating her kingdom. Her only hope: the Iron Crown, a legendary object even the most powerful gentry fear…

Who Eugenie can trust is the hardest part. Fairy king Dorian has his own agenda for aiding her search. And Kiyo, her shape-shifter ex-boyfriend, has every reason to betray her along the way. To control the Crown's ever-consuming powers, Eugenie will have to confront an unimaginable temptation--one that will put her soul and the fate of two worlds in mortal peril…

Storm Born
Just typical. No love life to speak of for months, then all at once, every horny creature in the Otherworld wants to get in your pants…

Eugenie Markham is a powerful shaman who does a brisk trade banishing spirits and fey who cross into the mortal world. Mercenary, yes, but a girl's got to eat. Her most recent case, however, is enough to ruin her appetite. Hired to find a teenager who has been taken to the Otherworld, Eugenie comes face to face with a startling prophecy--one that uncovers dark secrets about her past and claims that Eugenie's first-born will threaten the future of the world as she knows it.

Now Eugenie is a hot target for every ambitious demon and Otherworldy ne'er-do-well, and the ones who don't want to knock her up want her dead. Eugenie handles a Glock as smoothly as she wields a wand, but she needs some formidable allies for a job like this. She finds them in Dorian, a seductive fairy king with a taste for bondage, and Kiyo, a gorgeous shape-shifter who redefines animal attraction. But with enemies growing bolder and time running out, Eugenie realizes that the greatest danger is yet to come, and it lies in the dark powers that are stirring to life within her…

Thorn Queen
Eugenie Markham is a shaman for hire, paid to bind and banish creatures from the Otherworld. But after her last battle, she's also become queen of the Thorn Land. It's hardly an envious life, not with her kingdom in tatters, her love life in chaos, and Eugenie eager to avoid the prophecy about her firstborn destroying mankind. And now young girls are disappearing from the Otherworld, and no one--except Eugenie--seems willing to find out why.

Eugenie has spilled plenty of fey blood in her time, but this enemy is shrewd, subtle, and nursing a very personal grudge. And the men in her life aren't making things any easier. Her boyfriend Kiyo is preoccupied with his pregnant ex, and sexy fey king Dorian always poses a dangerous distraction. With or without their help, Eugenie must venture deep into the Otherworld and trust in an unpredictable power she can barely control. Reluctant queen or not, Eugenie has sworn to do her duty--even if it means facing the darkest--and deadliest--side of her nature…


DemonSlayer Bundle: Starfire, Demonfire, Hellfire ($9.99), by Kate Douglas, looks to be only at Amazon (I could not find it at Kobo).

Book Description
Starfire
Conquered, the Demon King has been banished to Abyss--but he is far from dead. A greater danger awaits Ginny Jones and the Demonslayers in this spellbinding, highly sensual paranormal romance. . .

The women of Lemuria are still in chains. The daughter of an enslaved warrior, brutally attacked by a vicious guard, Selyn has survived--barely. Beaten and terrified, she must overcome her fear and trust her life to the only man who can help her: Dawson Buck, one from Earth who has crossed through the portal, a gifted healer. His skills and knowledge renew her body and strengthen her spirit--and awaken a compelling passion she has never known. But she cannot yield...

Selyn seeks revenge for herself and her mother and all the Forgotten Ones who toil in secret. If Dawson helps her, his own life may be forfeit. And for Selyn, true love does not ask such sacrifices. . .

Since time began, the Earth has served as a balance between the world of darkness that is the Abyss, and the paradise known as Eden. Now the battle between good and evil has reached a tipping point, and survival depends on one fallen demon--and the woman he can't resist. . .

Demonfire
As night falls in Abyss, an evil beyond measure awakens in secret--an evil that the Demonslayers must vanquish in Kate Douglas's sensational new paranormal romance. . .

Dark Flames
A new, more dangerous vortex has opened in the besieged Earth and the innocent souls of animals are being invaded by the malevolent strength of a powerful demon. For Ginny Jones, there can be no greater wrong--and to make it right, she joins forces with the Lemurian, Alton, a hard-bodied hero not of her world. Under a black moon, pitched battles for the survival of all that is good will be fought once more. The heat of their sensual passion emboldens the two warriors. . .but such passion may well betray them. . .

Yet Alton is willing to make the ultimate sacrifice--life itself--for the human woman he loves. But time is fast running out. . .and time, like fire, devours all. . .


The Dragon's Path ($9.99), by Daniel Abraham, is actually a double volume, containing a pre-release version of Leviathan Wakes, by James S.A. Corey. No coupons on this one, but you can get this special edition at Kobo.

Book Description
All paths lead to war...

Marcus' hero days are behind him. He knows too well that even the smallest war still means somebody's death. When his men are impressed into a doomed army, staying out of a battle he wants no part of requires some unorthodox steps.

Cithrin is an orphan, ward of a banking house. Her job is to smuggle a nation's wealth across a war zone, hiding the gold from both sides. She knows the secret life of commerce like a second language, but the strategies of trade will not defend her from swords.

Geder, sole scion of a noble house, has more interest in philosophy than in swordplay. A poor excuse for a soldier, he is a pawn in these games. No one can predict what he will become.

Falling pebbles can start a landslide. A spat between the Free Cities and the Severed Throne is spiraling out of control. A new player rises from the depths of history, fanning the flames that will sweep the entire region onto The Dragon's Path-the path to war.


If you prefer to wait until Leviathan Wakes ($9.99), by James S.A. Corey, is released, you won't miss out on the bundle deal (provided you pre-order while this edition is up), as it contains a full copy of The Dragon's Path ($9.99), by Daniel Abraham. Either way, whether you buy it now so you can get started or delay to make sure any last typos are fixed in the second, you get two hot new titles, one fantasy and one SciFi (and sort of by the same author, as James S.A. Corey is a pseudonym for a team that includes Daniel Abraham). Since it's a pre-order, there is no sign of it at Kobo, yet.

Book Description
Humanity has colonized the solar system - Mars, the Moon, the Asteroid Belt and beyond - but the stars are still out of our reach.

Jim Holden is XO of an ice miner making runs from the rings of Saturn to the mining stations of the Belt. When he and his crew stumble upon a derelict ship, The Scopuli, they find themselves in possession of a secret they never wanted. A secret that someone is willing to kill for - and kill on a scale unfathomable to Jim and his crew. War is brewing in the system unless he can find out who left the ship and why.

Detective Miller is looking for a girl. One girl in a system of billions, but her parents have money and money talks. When the trail leads him to The Scopuli and rebel sympathizer Holden, he realizes that this girl may be the key to everything.

Holden and Miller must thread the needle between the Earth government, the Outer Planet revolutionaries, and secretive corporations - and the odds are against them. But out in the Belt, the rules are different, and one small ship can change the fate of the universe.


Like Family: Growing Up in Other People's Houses, a Memoir ($1.99), by Paula McLain

Book Description
The first book by the author of the New York Times bestseller The Paris Wife is a powerful and haunting memoir of the years she and her two sisters spent as foster children. In the early 70s, after being abandoned by both parents, the girls were made wards of the Fresno County, California court and spent the next 14 years-in a series of adoptive homes. The dislocations, confusions, and odd pleasures of an unrooted life form the basis of one of the most compelling memoirs in recent years--a book the tradition of Jo Ann Beard's Boys of My Youth and Mary Karr'sThe Liar's Club.

McLain's beautiful writing and limber voice capture the intense loneliness, sadness, and determination of a young girl both on her own and responsible, with her siblings, for staying together as a family.


Love Me, Hate Me: Barry Bonds and the making of an Antihero ($2.99), by Jeff Pearlman

Book Description
No player in the history of baseball has left such an indelible mark on the game as San Francisco Giants outfielder Barry Bonds. In his twenty-year career, Bonds has amassed an unprecedented seven MVP awards, eight Gold Gloves, and more than seven hundred home runs, an impressive assortment of feats that has earned him consideration as one of the greatest players the game has ever seen. Equally deserved, however, is his reputation as an insufferable braggart, whose mythical home runs are rivaled only by his legendary ego. From his staggering ability and fabled pedigree (father Bobby played outfield for the Giants; cousin Reggie Jackson and godfather Willie Mays are both Hall of Famers) to his well-documented run-ins with teammates and the persistent allegations of steroid use, Bonds inspires a like amount of passion from both sides of the fence. For many, Bonds belongs beside Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron in baseball's holy trinity; for others, he embodies all that is wrong with the modern athlete: aloof; arrogant; alienated.

In Love Me, Hate Me, author Jeff Pearlman offers a searing and insightful look into one of the most divisive athletes of our time. Drawing on more than five hundred interviews -- with former and current teammates, opponents, managers, trainers, friends, and outspoken critics and unapologetic supporters alike -- Pearlman reveals, for the first time, a wonderfully nuanced portrait of a prodigiously talented and immensely flawed American icon whose controversial run at baseball immortality forever changed the way we look at our sports heroes.


I paid full price for The Clutter Diet: The Skinny on Organizing Your Home and Taking Control of Your Life ($2.39), by Lorie Marrero, when it first came out. Since then, it was updated (the original topaz format was awful, but it was fixed with an in-place update), with better tables and a live TOC. This is the lowest I've seen it available and it's an even better deal at Kobo, as you get that $2.39 price before coupon (use the $1 off on this one).

Book Description
Applying just an ounce of the advice in this practical guide saves you enough time and money to pay for itself. You will learn:

  • The actual scientific law of nature that helps you get organized
  • The cure for procrastination
  • Ten types of “High Calorie Clutter” to avoid
  • Where to start and how to tackle your projects
  • How to successfully add new habits into your life
Certified Professional Organizer® Lorie Marrero is the creator of ClutterDiet.com, an innovative program allowing anyone to get expert help at an affordable price. Her organizing products are sold online and in stores nationwide. Lorie is the national spokesperson for Goodwill Industries International, and she is a sought-after expert for national media such as CNBC, Family Circle, WGN News and Woman’s Day.