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Saturday, January 14, 2012

Free and Bargain Book Roundup

At Fictionwise, you can use coupon code 011312 at fictionwise for 50% off all books (except Samhain Publishing ones) (usually valid thru Tues or Wed).

Author LC (Linda) Evans passed away two days ago, after a short battle with cancer. Her daughter has taken over promoting her books, with the proceeds going to pay outstanding medical bills. If you are making a purchase with this intent, keep in mind that the $2.99-$9.99 titles pay the author at 70%, while those below that are at 35%. Reading wise, you can't go wrong with any of these, all of which have 4-star or better averages on reviews. According to her bio, she has had more than a hundred of her short stories and essays published in magazines such as Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, Woman's World, Horse Illustrated, and Ladies Circle, before branching out into novel writing.
Night Camp ($0.99)
A spooky graveyard. A creepy basement. A pair of coffins.

Thirteen-year-old Shane Andrews hates summer camp. When his parents allow him to choose, Shane decides to pick the worst camp he can find. Night Camp must be terrible. For one thing, activities take place at night and campers sleep during the day. That can’t be good, Shane reasons. His parents will realize Night Camp is even worse than they thought and they’ll come back to get him. Then Shane’s plans for summer freedom fall apart. His cousin Brad, a boy with a huge collection of tabloid magazines, convinces Shane that two of the camp counselors are vampires. Shane enlists the help of Brad and a girl camper named Nicole. The three set out to save themselves and the other campers. Then Shane uncovers the secret of Night Camp…

Jobless Recovery ($1.49)
Dave Griffin is a poster boy for the American consumer. He drives a blood-colored Behemoth model SUV, has a new home in the suburbs, a beautiful girlfriend, a computer programming job, and all the benefits that come with middle class life in America. Then Dave's employer replaces American computer programmers with cheaper imported labor in order to increase company profits. Soon Dave is out on the street. But he still believes in the system. All he has to do is bring the problem to the attention of the media and the people in Washington to get results. This move only deepens his trouble.

Meanwhile, Dave's friend Joe Tremaine, a former FBI agent who lost his job after suffering a head injury, is struggling to stay sane. Cynical Joe knows better than to trust anyone in Washington or in corporate America. He embroils Dave in his fraudulent money-making schemes, and when Joe decides to educate the powerful senator who has been the driving factor in eliminating American jobs, his plan goes awry. Can an unemployed computer jockey manage to keep Joe--and himself--out of jail? Or will the oddly-shaped bundle in the back of Joe's truck lead the cops to haul them both to the slammer?

We Interrupt This Date ($2.99)
Since her divorce a year ago, Susan Caraway has gone through the motions of life. Now she is finally coming out of her shell. Just when she decides on a makeover and a new career, her family members decide she's crisis central. First there’s her sister DeLorean who has come back from California with a baby, a designer dog, and no prospects for child support or a job. As soon as DeLorean settles in at Susan’s home, Susan’s son Christian returns from college trailing what Susan’s mama refers to as “an androgynous little tart.” Then there’s Mama herself, a southern lady who wrote the book on bossy. A secret from Mama’s past threatens to unravel her own peace. But not before Mama hurts her ankle and has to move into Susan’s home with her babies—two Chihuahuas with attitude. Susan would like to start her new job as a ghost tour operator. She would like to renew her relationship with Jack Maxwell, a man from her past. But Jack isn’t going to stand in line behind her needy family.

The Witness Wore Blood Bay ($2.99)
In Talented Horsewoman, the first book of the Leigh McRae horse mystery series, main character Leigh McRae discovers a body. She also ends up solving a murder. Along the way she helps her cousin Sammi, who is dating a burglar, and she manages to get out from under the control of her overbearing ex-husband.

Now Leigh's friend Candy, a fellow horsewoman, finds herself accused of murder. Who else would she turn to for help except Leigh? After all, everyone in small town Del Canto knows Leigh has body-discovering experience. Never mind that Leigh is busy finding out who's poisoning dogs in Sammi's neighborhood and she's trying to renovate her home without going broke. Or that her ex-husband Kenneth and former ranchhand Doug Reilly have become roommates in Leigh's guest house.

There's a murder to solve. And her friend won't take no for an answer.

Talented Horsewoman ($6.99)
Leigh McRae leads a quiet life in a small Florida town, surrounded by horse farms and alligators. For the sake of her daughter, she has traded her own happiness for job security and a truce with her ex-husband Kenneth, a poster boy for control freaks. But her peaceful existence is shattered when she discovers the body of her friend and fellow horsewoman, Rita Cameron. The police conclude Rita died in an accidental fall from a hayloft. Leigh is sure the death was a murder and she sets out to convince the police to investigate so her friend can rest in peace.

Meanwhile she has to deal with escalating demands from Kenneth, demands that may cost her her horses as well as her home. And on top of everything else, she has to help her cousin Sammi, who's dating a burglar. But Leigh doesn't let personal problems stop her from sleuthing, even though she admits she is not the world's greatest detective. While digging for evidence, she discovers a secret in Rita's past. Now Leigh and her daughter are in danger, and only Leigh's desperate actions can save them.

While looking at Heather Graham's discounted titles earlier today, I noticed that she was listed for a back issue of Suspense Magazine. It turns out, there was an interview with her in that issue, not a short story, but this magazine does include some short fiction, along with articles, reviews, event listings (signings) and advice columns for would-be authors. Even better, the back issues from 2009/2010 are only 99 cents each (2011 and newer are $2.99) on Kindle and nine issues are FREE if grabbed direct from the publisher's website (where you can also read author interviews and some short stories from 2008/2009), although the free issues are in PDF format.


Dinners on a Dime Cookbook: More than 200 recipes for delicious, budget-friendly family meals ($0.79) is a full-length cookbook from Gooseberry Patch; chances are, you already have one or more of their mini-cookbooks in your library, as they've had several of them free over the last few years.
Book Description
When we were kids, our moms always seemed to know the thriftiest ways to fix delicious meals that everybody loved. Some of their dollar-stretching secrets still come in handy today! Dinners on a Dime cookbook is filled with easy, budget-friendly recipes for mouthwatering family meals. You'll find festive-yet-frugal suppers like 4-cheese mostaccioli bake, one-dish dinners like easy cheesy potatoes & sausage, and sides like buttery Parmesan potatoes.

Poisoned Pen Press has ten of their titles, each the beginning title in a series, on sale for 99 cents apiece.
The Heat of the Moon (Rachel Goddard Mysteries), by Sandra Parshall
Young veterinarian Rachel Goddard’s world begins to crumble when a client rushes into the animal hospital with a basset hound struck by a car during a thunderstorm. The dog owner’s terrified tot, drenched with rain, loses sight of her mother in the flurry of activity and screams, “Mommy! I want Mommy!” Instantly Rachel is hurled back in time to a day in her own childhood when her baby sister Michelle uttered the same cry while thunder crashed and rain poured down on them. The unearthed memory feels like a fragment from a nightmare, and Rachel doesn’t understand its meaning or the anguish it stirs up in her.

When she seeks answers she learns nothing from Michelle or from Judith, their loving but manipulative mother. Judith is a psychologist who is only too happy to have her adult daughters still living in her elegant Tudor house outside Washington, DC. But their apparently serene home is a house of secrets where Judith’s unspoken rules forbid questions about the family history or the daughters’ long-dead father. As more baffling memories surface, Rachel begins to suspect that nothing about her family is what it seems. As her mother’s attempts to control her accelerate, Rachel embarks on a quest that takes her deep into her own memory as well as halfway across the country. The heartbreaking truth she uncovers will shatter her world and force her to make an unthinkable choice.

Wine of Violence (Medieval Mysteries), by Priscilla Royal
It is late summer in the year 1270 and England is as weary as its aging king, Henry III. Although the Simon de Montfort rebellion is over, the smell of death still hangs like smoke over the land. Even in the small priory of Tyndal on the remote East Anglian coast, the monks and nuns of the Order of Fontevraud long for a return to tranquil routine. Their hopes are dashed, however, when the young and inexperienced Eleanor of Wynethorpe is appointed their new prioress over someone of their own choosing. Nor are Eleanor's own prayers for a peaceful transition answered. Only a day after her arrival, a brutally murdered monk is found in the cloister gardens, and Brother Thomas, a young priest with a troubled past, arrives to bring her a more personal grief. Now she must not only struggle to gain the respect of her terrified and resentful flock but also cope with violence, lust and greed in a place dedicated to love and peace.

Artifacts (Faye Longchamp Mysteries), by Mary Anna Evans
Faye Longchamp has lost nearly everything except for her quick mind and a grim determination to hang onto her ancestral home, Joyeuse, a moldering plantation hidden along the Florida coast. No one knows how Faye’s great-great-grandmother Cally, a newly freed slave barely out of her teens, came to own Joyeuse in the aftermath of the Civil War. No one knows how her descendants hung onto it through Reconstruction, world wars, the Depression, and Jim Crow, but Faye has inherited the island plantation—and the family tenacity. When the property taxes rise beyond her means, she sets out to save Joyeuse by digging for artifacts on her property and the surrounding National Wildlife Refuge and selling them on the black market. A tiny bit of that dead glory would pay a year’s taxes. A big valuable chunk of the past would save her home forever.

But instead of potsherds and arrowheads, she uncovers a woman’s shattered skull, a Jackie Kennedy-style earring nestled against its bony cheek. Faye is torn. If she reports the forty-year-old murder, she’ll reveal her illegal livelihood, thus risking jail and the loss of Joyeuse. She doesn’t intend to let that happen, so she probes into the dead woman’s history, unaware that the past is rushing up on her like a hurricane across deceptively calm Gulf waters...

In the Shadow of the Glacier (Constable Molly Smith Series), by Vicki Delany
Trouble is brewing in the small, bucolic mountain town of Trafalgar, British Columbia. An American who came to Trafalgar as a Vietnam War draft dodger has left land and money to the town. But there’s a catch. The money must be used to build a garden to honor draft dodgers. This bequest has torn the close-knit, peaceful town apart. Then the body of a leading garden opponent is found in an alley, dead from a single blow to the head.

Constable Molly Smith is assigned to assist veteran Detective Sergeant John Winters in the investigation. But Winters doesn’t want the help of the enthusiastic rookie and suspects that he’s been assigned Smith for political reasons: her mother, a life-long activist, is the leader of the group arguing for the park.

Egged on by a muck-raking TV personality, outside agitators from both sides are soon streaming into Trafalgar. In the meantime, Smith and Winters search through small-town secrets for a killer.

Desert Wives (Lena Jones Series), by Betty Webb
Polygamy can be murder! That’s what private detective Lena Jones learns when she helps thirteen year old Rebecca escape from Purity, a polygamy compound hidden in a desolate area near straddling Utah/Arizona border.

When Rebecca’s mother is arrested for the murder of Prophet Solomon Royal, Rebecca’s intended husband, Lena enters Purity masquerading as a polygamist wife to uncover the real murderer. In doing so, Lena finds out more than she bargained for—the shocking secret the cult’s Circle of Elders will kill to keep. During her investigations, Lena also discovers more about her own past. At the age of four she was found lying unconscious by the side of an Arizona highway, a bullet robbing her of her memories. Raised in a series of foster homes, Lena does not remember her real name nor the names of her parents. She thinks she has put the past behind her, but the sins of Purity’s polygamous mothers and fathers force her to reexamine the few memories she has of her own mother the woman who shot her…

Concrete Desert (David Mapstone Series), by Jon Talton
Having recently lost his job as a history professor, David Mapstone returns to his boyhood home of Phoenix, Arizona, to find the city dramatically changed. It’s now a haven for wealthy retirees and a seasonal retreat for West Coast “sophisticates.” But pockets of his earlier life—some welcome, some not—remain. Mapstone eagerly accepts a temporary job from his old friend and Maricopa County Chief Deputy Mike Peralta: Look into still-open cases and see if he can close any. He is beginning to settle into his new job when his college sweetheart appears at his door one evening. True to his memory of her, she is there because she wants something. Her sister is missing and she wants Mapstone to look for her.

Mapstone’s search for the missing woman is quickly resolved when her body is discovered in the desert, but he is stunned to find the dead sister in circumstances identical to a sensational 40-year-old unsolved murder.

Mapstone’s dogged investigation of both murders bridges the chasm of clashing cultures, meshing his own long-ago memories with the tangled doings of newcomers and their acolytes, young women eager to share the lifestyle of tainted wealth, drugs, and careless violence.

The Old Buzzard Had It Coming (Alafair Tucker Mysteries) , by Donis Casey
Alafair Tucker is a strong woman, the core of family life on a farm in Oklahoma where the back-breaking work and daily logistics of caring for her husband Shaw, their nine children, and being neighborly requires hard muscle and a clear head. She’s also a woman of strong opinions, and it is her opinion that her neighbor, Harley Day, is a drunkard and a reprobate. So, when Harley’s body is discovered frozen in a snowdrift one January day in 1912, she isn’t surprised that his long-suffering family isn’t, if not actually celebrating, much grieving.

When Alafair helps Harley’s wife prepare the body for burial, she discovers that Harley’s demise was anything but natural—there is a bullet lodged behind his ear. Alafair is concerned when she hears that Harley’s son, John Lee, is the prime suspect in his father’s murder, for Alafair’s seventeen-year-old daughter Phoebe is in love with the boy. At first, Alafair’s only fear is that Phoebe is in for a broken heart, but as she begins to unravel the events that led to Harley’s death, she discovers that Phoebe might be more than just John Lee’s sweetheart: she may be his accomplice in murder.

Artscape (Ike Schwartz Mysteries) , by Frederick Ramsay
Ike Schwartz thought he could return to his hometown and ditch the demons that pursue him. More than anything, he wanted to blot out the pain and anger that came when his wife of less than a month was gunned down in a CIA foul-up. So he buried himself as sheriff in rural Picketsville, Virginia, a community indistinguishable from any of the hundreds of small towns that hang like beads on Interstate 81 running from Pennsylvania down to Georgia.
Aside from its Civil War history, Picketsville’s only real claim to fame is Callend College, a private women’s school located just within its corporate limits. The college is notable, in turn, for housing one half of the billion dollar Dillon art collection, carefully secured in an underground bunker originally built in the late 1950s as a super bomb shelter.

It’s bad news for both Dr. Ruth Harris, the newly hired president of the college, and for a shadowy group whose services have been contracted by Middle Eastern fanatics—The New Jihad—when the collection is scheduled to be removed to New York. The plan is to steal the half billion dollars worth of fine art and statuary, and ransom it back for millions.

With the closure of the facility imminent, the operation must be moved forward, which, in turn, creates unanticipated risks and problems. And everyone dismisses Ike Schwartz as a stereotypical rural sheriff. He is, however, a man with uncommon skills, a tough hide, and a notable past—all of which make an arresting first novel.

Four for a Boy (John, the Lord Chamberlain Series), by Mary Reed and Eric Mayer
In 525 Constantinople nothing is as it should be. The winter is unnaturally cold, and the palace has fallen under the sway of both the shade of the wife of the dying Emperor Justin and Theodora, the former actress his gravely ill successor Justinian intends to marry. The streets are terrorized alternately by elegantly dressed young thugs who style themselves the Blues and forces under the orders of the City Prefect nicknamed The Gourd, a man notoriously adept at slaughter and magick. Thus, when a wealthy philanthropist is killed in broad daylight in the Great Church, it isn’t entirely surprising that the future ruler Justinian engages an anonymous young slave called John to investigate what many believe could be part of a succession conspiracy. In this series prequel, John the Eunuch takes his first dangerous steps along the path that will lead him to hold office as Lord Chamberlain.

Among the suspects are many whose lives might be touched by an emperor, from senators, churchman, and wealthy businessmen to laborers, beggars, and prostitutes. Before he can track down the murderer, John must first win the respect of Felix, the excubitor reluctantly assisting him, discourage the advances of the romantic but naive Lady Anna, and make peace with his own fate.

Interrupted Aria (Tito Amato Series), by Beverle Graves Myers
Venice, 1731. Opera is the popular entertainment of the day and the castrati are its reigning divas. Tito Amato, mutilated as a boy to preserve his enchanting soprano voice, returns to the city of his birth with his friend Felice, a castrato whose voice has failed.

Disaster strikes Tito’s opera premier when the singer loses one beloved friend to poison and another to unjust accusation and arrest. Alarmed that the merchant-aristocrat who owns the theater is pressing the authorities to close the case, Tito races the executioner to find the real killer. The possible suspects could people the cast of one of his operas: a libertine nobleman and his spurned wife, a jealous soprano, an ambitious composer, and a patrician family bent on the theater’s ruin.

With carnival gaiety swirling around him and rousing Venetian passions to an ominous crescendo, Tito finds that the most astonishing secrets lurk behind the masks of his own family and friends.

Brightest Kind of Darkness ($0.99) is the first title in the self-published Brightest Kind of Darkness series by P.T. Michelle. This dark paranormal romance for young adults has a nearly 5 star average with over 50 reviews
Book Description
Nara Collins is an average sixteen-year-old, with one exception: every night she dreams the events of the following day. Due to an incident in her past, Nara avoids using her special gift to change fate...until she dreams a future she can't ignore.

After Nara prevents a bombing at Blue Ridge High, her ability to see the future starts to fade, while people at school are suddenly being injured at an unusually high rate.

Grappling with her diminishing powers and the need to prevent another disaster, Nara meets Ethan Harris, a mysterious loner who seems to understand her better than anyone. Ethan and Nara forge an irresistible connection, but as their relationship heats up, so do her questions about his dark past.

Bound ($0.99) is also a YA Paranormal Romance, the first title in the Arelia LaRue series by Kira Saito
Book Description
Sixteen year old Arelia LaRue lives in New Orleans where the music is loud, voodoo queens inhabit every street corner, and the ghosts are alive and well. Despite her surroundings, all she wants is to help her Grand-mere Bea pay the rent and save up for college.

When her best friend Sabrina convinces her to take a well-paying summer job at the infamous Darkwood plantation, owned by the wealthy LaPlante family, Arelia agrees.

However, at Darkwood strange things start to happen, and gorgeous Lucus LaPlante insists that he needs her help. Soon, the powers that Arelia has been denying all her life, come out to play and she discovers mysteries about herself that she could have never imagined.

You can pre-order the novella Chaotic, by Kelley Armstrong (one of my current favorite authors), along with two other titles, Darkest Powers Bonus Pack and Hunting Kat, for 99 cents apiece. The latter may be a short story or novella (there's no description, yet; it's also a pre-order).
Chaotic
Kelley Armstrong returns to the Otherworld with "Chaotic," where a half-demon tabloid journalist's boring date is saved...by a supernatural explosion? She's off to save the day—if only her less-than-stellar date wouldn't tag along! Luckily, the intriguing, infuriating, and just plain sexy werewolf/jewel thief Karl Marsten also appears.

Darkest Powers Bonus Pack
Contains three companion stories to the #1 NYT bestselling Darkest Powers trilogy.

Dangerous (prequel to The Summoning) The story of how Derek and Simon came to Lyle House, told from Derek’s point-of-view

Divided (set between The Summoning and The Awakening) Derek and Simon’s adventures while separated from Chloe and Rae in the factory. Also told from Derek’s point of view.

Disenchanted (overlaps part of The Awakening) Simon and Tori continue their journey after Chloe and Derek are left at the truck stop. Told from Tori’s point of view.

Please note: these are stories, not novels. Combined, they equal half the length of a Darkest Powers novel.

Grave Situation ($0.99) is an interesting looking Police Procedural by Alex MacLean.
Book Description
Halifax cop Allan Stanton is a troubled homicide detective who has lost everything, including his family and his sense of justice. When he finally decides to leave the force and start over, he's assigned a string of murders that all bear the signs of a serial killer collecting trophies. As Stanton unravels each grisly crime scene, the mounting evidence points uncomfortably close to him, forcing him to confront a past he'd rather forget--and a dangerous future when the killer targets Stanton himself.

He Died with His Eyes Open ($1.79), by Derek Raymond, is currently being discounted by Melville House.
Book Description
As it turns out, a dead man can tell stories...

Murders are a dime a dozen in Margaret Thatcher's London, and when it comes to the brutal killing of a middle-aged alcoholic found dumped outside of town, Scotland Yard has more important cases to deal with.

Instead it's a job for the Department of Unexplained Deaths and its head Detective Sergeant. With only a box of cassette-tape diaries as evidence the rogue detective has no chouce but to listen to the haunting voice of the victim for clues to his gruesome end.

The first book in Derek Raymond's acclaimed Factory Series is an unflinching yet deeply compassionate portrait of a city plagued by poverty and perversion, and a policeman who may be the only one who cares about the "people who don't matter and who never did."

The Mammoth Book of New Sherlock Holmes Adventures ($1.99), by Mike Ashley, is another large collection of stories from UK publisher Robinson.
Book Description
The biggest collection of new Sherlock Holmes stories since Sir Arthur Conan Doyle laid down his pen - nearly 200,000 words of superb fiction featuring the Great Detective by masters of historical crime, including Stephen Baxter, H. R. F. Keating, Michael Moorcock and Amy Myers. Almost all the stories here are specially written; the cases presented in the order in which Holmes solved them. The result is a new life of Sherlock Holmes, with a continuous narrative alongside the stories that identifies the 'gaps' in the canon and places the new and hitherto unrecorded cases in sequence. Plus an invaluable complete Holmes chronology.

California Girl ($1.99), by T. Jefferson Parker, is one of two titles currently discounted by HarperCollins, in anticipation of his upcoming release of The Jaguar (the other is The Fallen ($0.99), previously highlighted). As luck would have it, I already have both titles in my library.
Book Description
The Orange County, California, that the Becker brothers knew as boys is no more—unrecognizably altered since the afternoon in 1954 when Nick, Clay, David, and Andy rumbled with the lowlife Vonns, while five-year-old Janelle Vonn watched from the sidelines. The new decade has ushered in the era of Johnson, hippies, John Birchers, and LSD. Clay becomes a casualty of a far-off jungle war. Nick becomes a cop, Andy a reporter, David a minister. And a terrible crime touches them all in ways they could never have anticipated when the mutilated corpse of teenage beauty queen Janelle Vonn is discovered in an abandoned warehouse.

Shooters ($2.99) is a self-published backlist title by Terrill Lee Lankford. He managed to snag a introduction written by T. Jefferson Parker, though, and an afterword by Lev Raphael, on this edition; the original publication was by Forge in 1997 (reprinted in 1998).
Book Description
Nick Gardner is a fashion photographer of the highest caliber. His erotically-charged photos grace every major magazine in the world. He is a superstar shooter in a town filled with supermodels, desperate wannabes, and burned-out has-beens. His peers consider him cold and impenetrable. A loner who will let no one see beyond his carefully crafted facade. See, Nick has a secret. Another identity, buried for more than a decade. An entirely different career that has been hidden and denied.

And a murder.

From the sun-bleached shores of Malibu to the pages of Vogue and the porno empires headquartered in the San Fernando Valley, Shooters reveals the naked truth behind the twin worlds of high fashion and hardcore, where the difference between the two can be a well-chosen shadow or a brazen shaft of light.

West Coast Crime Wave ($2.99) is an anthology edited by Brian Thornton.
Book Description
This collection of crime fiction by some of the West Coast's best mystery writers will immerse the reader in a rich palette of colors that paints a broad mosaic of crime along the Pacific Rim. Running the length of the western edge of the country from Alaska to SoCal and back, these eighteen stories make their setting yet another character in the plot.

Starting with a foreword written by legendary Irish mystery writer Ken Bruen to tightly crafted stories by best-selling authors such as David Corbett, Steve Hockensmith, Simon Wood and Terrill Lee Lankford, to exciting new voices from the likes of Scotti Andrews and Jim Thomsen, mystery fans will enjoy a collection as wide-ranging and varied as the region itself.

West Coast Crime Wave is the first in a series of crime fiction anthologies and other works published in e-book format by BSTSLLR.Com, a new e-book press founded by Michael Wolf. This anthology, edited by Brian Thornton, includes short stories from some of the US west coast’s most popular crime fiction writers.

Wickedly Charming ($1.99), by Kristine Grayson, was free late last fall, but this is a good price, if you missed it then.
Book Description
Cinderella's Prince Charming is divorced and at a dead-end in his career, so he opens a bookstore and travels the land ordering books and discovering new authors. Still handsome and still charming, he has given up on women, royalty, and anything that smacks of a future.

Mellie is sick and tired of being called the Evil Stepmother. She did her best by her stepdaughter Snow White, but the girl resented her to no end and made all kinds of false accusations.

Neither of them believes in happily ever after anymore, but both of them believe in happily for the moment...

Stupid Fast ($1.79), by Geoff Herbach, is a teen/YA title that should appeal to both sexes.
Book Description
Fifteen-year-old Felton Reinstein has always been on the smallish side, but in his sophomore year he starts growing...and growing.

During gym one day he smokes the football jocks in a 600-yard race. Felton has never been interested in sports, but there's no doubt-he is "stupid fast." As he juggles his newfound athletic prowess, his mom's sudden depression, an annoying little brother, and his first love, he discovers a shocking secret about his past which explains why he's turning out the way he is.

The first two titles in the Kathryne Kennedy's Elven Lords series, Fire Lord's Lover and Lady of the Storm, are on sale for $1.79 each. The third title, Lord of Illusion, is now available for pre-order (Feb 7 release).
Fire Lord's Lover
If his powers are discovered, his father will destroy him...

In a magical land ruled by ruthless Elven lords, the Fire Lord's son Dominic Raikes plays a deadly game to conceal his growing might from his malevolent father-until his arranged bride awakens in him passions he thought he had buried forever...

Unless his fiancée kills him first...

Lady Cassandra has been raised in outward purity and innocence, while secretly being trained as an assassin. Her mission is to bring down the Elven Lord and his champion son. But when she gets to court she discovers that nothing is what it seems, least of all the man she married...

Then Dominic and Cassandra together uncover an unspeakable evil, one that threatens the destruction of the magical realm they would give their souls to save...

Lady of the Storm
There’s a thin line between duty and desire…

Giles Beaumont is stuck in a role he never wanted, trying to safeguard a woman of incendiary powers who doesn’t think she needs a protector.

Cecily Sutton has no idea of the enormity of her true task and no inkling of the effect she’s having on Giles. But somewhere along their perilous journey together, they’ll have no choice but to uncover the deep, dark connection that binds them one to the other…

Lose yourself in renowned author Kathryne Kennedy’s gorgeous love story set in a lush world made of equal parts wonder and danger.

Helen Hollick's Kingmaking, the first title in the Pendragon's Banner series, is once again on sale, at $1.79, as is the stand alone novel, I Am the Chosen King ($1.99). If you prefer a story on the high seas, Sea Witch, the start of her Sea Witch Chronicles series, is currently $3.99
Kingmaking
Who was THE MAN
Who became THE LEGEND
We know as KING ARTHUR?

"You are the Pendragon, rightful Lord of Dumnonia and the Summer Land; Lord of less Britain. By all that is right, you ought be seated where Vortigern sits…You ought to be King."

Here lies the truth of the Lord of the Summer Land.

This is the tale of Arthur flesh and bone. Of the shaping of the man, both courageous and flawed, into the celebrated ruler who inspired armies, who captured Gwenhyfar's heart, and who emerged as the hero of the Dark Ages and the most enduring hero of all time.

This is the unexpected story of the making of a king — the legend who united all of Britain.

I Am the Chosen King
In this beautifully crafted tale, Harold Godwinesson, the last Saxon King of England, is a respected, quick-witted man both vulnerable and strong, honorable and loving-and yet, in the end, only human. After the political turmoil and battles leading up to 1066, we all know William the Conquerer takes England. But Helen Hollick will have readers at the edge of their seats, hoping that just this once, for Harold, the story will have a different ending.

Sea Witch
The time: the golden age of piracy – 1716 The Place: the Pirate Round – from South Africa to the Islands of the Caribbean. Escaping the bullying of his elder brother, from the age of fifteen Jesamiah Acorne has been a pirate, with only two loves - his ship and his freedom. But his life is to change when he and his crew unsuccessfully attack a merchant ship off the coast of South Africa. He is to meet Tiola Oldstagh, an insignificant girl or so he thinks - until she rescues him from a vicious attack, and almost certain death, by pirate hunters. And then he discovers what she really is; a healer and a midwife - and a white witch. Her name, an anagram of "all that is good." Jesamiah and Tiola become lovers, despite her guardian, Jenna Pendeen’s disapproval, but Stefan van Overstratten a Cape Town Dutchman, also wants Tiola as his wife, and Jesamiah’s half brother Phillipe Mereno, is determined to seek revenge for a stolen ship and the insult of being cuckolded. When the call of the sea and an opportunity to commandeer a beautiful ship – Sea Witch - is put in Jesamiah’s path, he must make a choice between his life as a pirate or his love for Tiola; he wants both - but Mereno and Von Overstratten want him dead. In trouble, imprisoned in the darkness and stench that is the lowest part of his brother’s ship, can Tiola with her Craft, and the aid of Roux, Jesamiah’s quartermaster and the rest of his loyal crew, save her pirate? And can she keep Jesamiah safe from another who wants him for herself? From the elemental being that is Tethys, Goddess of the Sea? A charismatic pirate rogue and a white witch - what better combination for a story of romance and high-sea fantasy adventure?

Home by Morning ($2.99) is an AmazonEncore title by Alexis Harrington.
Book Description
October 1918: En route from New York to Seattle, Jessica Layton stops for a visit in her hometown of Powell Springs, Oregon, and comes face-to-face with Cole Braddock, her first and only love from years ago. Now Jessica is a highly accomplished clinical physician preparing for an exciting new job in Washington, and Cole is a successful horse breeder who is courting her sister Amy. Both are convinced they have moved beyond their youthful passion and the heartbreak it produced; nonetheless, they are grateful that Jessica’s brief visit will leave little opportunity to rehash old wounds. But before Dr. Layton can leave town, Powell Springs is hit hard by the influenza epidemic ravaging the country. With no other doctors available, Jessica must remain in Oregon and tend to her friends and former neighbors. Her work brings her in constant contact with Cole, and with each passing day he finds it harder to convince himself that sweet-tempered Amy can fill his heart as Jessica once did. Set against the backdrop of World War I and the epidemic of 1918, Home by Morning is a compelling story of betrayal, heartbreak, and redemption.

Done & Dusted - The Organic Home on a Budget ($2.99) is by Stephanie Zia, whose free novel The Smile In The Garden With The Starfish I mentioned a few days ago. While researching her then, I saw that she was the cleaning guru for The Guardian newspaper's popular Space Solves column (2005-2011); this is a collection of her columns from that period.
Book Description
As the Cleaning Guru for The Guardian's Weekend Magazine, Stephanie Zia has helped hundreds of readers solve their impossible stains and cleaning catastrophes. Read 100+ of the best of her columns PLUS
  • What about the vinegar? The best uses for vinegar, baking powder, lemon juice etc - what works and what doesn't.
  • The Housework Hater's Healthy, Quick Cleaning Guide - clean without chemicals, keep your home healthy and save a fortune.
  • Non-toxic stain removal - The Knowledge. Learn the quick, easy way to identify and treat stains instantly without the need of a chart.
  • How to avoid the nasty chemicals lurking in everyday household products with links to online experts for further study.

Take a Load off Your Heart: 109 Things You Can Actually Do to Prevent, Halt and Reverse Heart Disease ($2.69), by Joseph C. Piscatella and Barry A. Franklin
Book Description
Increase the odds of living longer with this bold, broad approach to cardiac health. A medically up-to-the-minute and easy-to-implement program, TAKE A LOAD OFF YOUR HEART sets our four key steps to cardiovascular fitness, from assessing risk to managing stress, from improving diet to making a habit of exercise. It demystifies predictive markers such as trigylcerides and Syndrome X, and offers 109 simple, practical lifestyle tips - #22 Breathe deeply, #96 Drink black tea, #3 Increase your HDL level, #54 Walk briskly, #75 Give up dieting - for preventing, stabilizing and, yes, reversing heart disease.

The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need ($2.99), by Andrew Tobias, is an revised, updated edition of this million copy bestseller.
Book Description
For more than thirty years, The Only Investment Guide You’ll Ever Need has been a favorite finance guide, earning the allegiance of more than a million readers across the United States. Now even more indispensable, this completely revised and updated edition will show readers how to use money to their best advantage in the wake of epochal change on Wall Street, no matter how much or how little they may have.

Using concise, witty, and truly understandable tips and explanations, Tobias delivers sensible advice and useful information, covering topics such as
  • How virtually any reader can save more than $1,000 a year
  • How and when to invest in stocks
  • The “safest investment in the world”
  • and much, much more.

Today's backlist/indie free books on Kindle (not likely to be free for long):

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