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Saturday, February 18, 2012

Free and Bargain Book Roundup

As a bonus for those reading on the weekend, who need a bit to listen to as they read, head over to iTunes and grab Real Good Hands (Radio Edit) by Gregory Porter, which is free thru Monday. I have three other MP3's of his, all from various Amazon samplers and this one is definitely worth adding (jazzy R&B). If you are more into acoustic guitar, Fire by Jesse Thomas, is also free this weekend. I picked it up and Come Candela - Canción de la semana by Arturo Sandoval, a Latin big-band jazz artist (one of the biggest, in fact).

I have to admit, I haven't played any RPG's lately (although I was a big D&D gamer, way back when, before video games). I'm tempted, though to pick up Dungeon Defenders, which Amazon has on sale for $2.99 this weekend (along with some other downloads at 75-80% off). It's a digital download, which means I don't have to wait to play (and can easily move it to other computers, later on). But, one of the more tempting features is that if you get the download from Amazon, you get a bonus: "the Amazon Exclusive pet Nagi, a baby black dragon who heals your towers while also attacking nearby enemies." I mean, who can resist picking up a pet dragon for under three bucks? The only thing holding me back is that the reviews are either raves or complaints (and at least some raves are for the download edition), plus you have to have a Steam account to activate it (which I haven't signed up for -- can anyone comment on how they like theirs?).

The Last of His Mind: A Year in the Shadow of Alzheimer's ($2.94), by John Thorndike
Book Description
Joe Thorndike was managing editor of Life at the height of its popularity immediately following World War II. He was the founder of American Heritage and Horizon magazines, the author of three books, and the editor of a dozen more. But at age 92, in the space of six months he stopped reading or writing or carrying on detailed conversations. could no longer tell time or make a phone call. was convinced that the governor of Massachusetts had come to visit and was in the refrigerator.

Five million Americans suffer from Alzheimer’s, and like many of them, Joe Thorndike’s one great desire was to remain in his own house. To honor this wish, his son John left his own home and moved into his father’s upstairs bedroom on Cape Cod. For a year, in a house filled with file cabinets, photos, and letters, John explored his father’s mind, his parents’ divorce, and his mother’s secrets. The Last of His Mind is the bittersweet account of a son’s final year with his father, and a candid portrait of an implacable disease.

It is the ordeal of Alzheimer’s that draws father and son close, closer than they have been since John was a boy. At the end, when Joe’s heart stops beating, John’s hand is on his chest, and a story of painful decline has become a portrait of deep family ties, caregiving, and love.

Angelfall (Penryn & the End of Days, Book 1) ($0.99), by Susan Ee, is self-published, but with nearly 300 reviews, it's still at nearly 5 stars average.
Book Description
It's been six weeks since angels of the apocalypse descended to demolish the modern world. Street gangs rule the day while fear and superstition rule the night. When warrior angels fly away with a helpless little girl, her seventeen-year-old sister Penryn will do anything to get her back.

Anything, including making a deal with an enemy angel.

Raffe is a warrior who lies broken and wingless on the street. After eons of fighting his own battles, he finds himself being rescued from a desperate situation by a half-starved teenage girl.

Traveling through a dark and twisted Northern California, they have only each other to rely on for survival. Together, they journey toward the angels' stronghold in San Francisco where she'll risk everything to rescue her sister and he'll put himself at the mercy of his greatest enemies for the chance to be made whole again.

Recommended for ages 16 and above.

Charming the Shrew ($2.99), by Laurin Wittig, is one of three bargain titles in the Kindle store under one of Amazon's imprints, Montlake Romance.
Book Description
Returning home to the Scottish Highlands after battling the English, Tayg Munro receives a hero’s welcome—and a shocking ultimatum. In order to take his place as heir to the chiefdom of Culrain, he must choose a wife within the month or have one chosen for him. Angered by his family's decree, Tayg delays the inevitable by volunteering for a mission for the king that takes him deep into the Highlands. Preoccupied by his marital obligation, the brooding warrior sets out with no hint of the fateful encounter that awaits him...

Catriona MacLeod is known throughout the Highlands as the Shrew of Assynt, thanks to her razor-sharp tongue and her unwillingness to yield to her five brothers. When she's told that her eldest brother has promised her hand in marriage to a man she has good reason to hate, she flees into the Scottish wilderness, determined to seek the king’s intervention in her plight. When she reluctantly joins forces with a handsome traveler, she cannot anticipate the treacherous plot that will soon embroil them—nor the passion that will ignite between them.

Sex and Sunsets ($1.99), by Tim Sandlin
Book Description
At twenty-nine, Kelly Palamino's a little off-kilter but settled into his career of professional dishwasher. His big, blonde, ex-hippie wife, Julie, has left him for good.

So it's with no particular purpose that Kelly positions himself on his porch across the street from an Episcopal church in Jackson, Wyoming, to witness a singular sight: a dark-haired bride in full regalia punting a football over the rectory before turning resolutely to walk down the aisle.

It's love at first sight for Kelly, and he proceeds to do absolutely anything and everything to get his girl...

Sandlin's acclaimed debut, alternately called "anarchic" (KC Star), "fulltilt Gonzo crazy" (Atlanta Journal-Const), and "engagingly idiosyncratic" (People)

Bum Deal: An Unlikely Journey from Hopeless to Humanitarian ($1.79), by Rufus Hannah and Barry Soper
Book Description
Rufus Hannah is known to millions around the world, unfortunately, as "Rufus the Stunt Bum" because of his participation in the infamous Bumfights video series. But his story doesn't end there...it is a story of incredible pride and perseverance, and a recovery few could have imagined.

Rufus's story is inspiring to anyone who has ever struggled with personal demons and life challenges and wondered where they would find the strength to survive even one more day.

Porn Star Secrets of Sex: Over 100 Mind-blowing Tips, Tricks, and Games You Wish You Knew ($2.99), by Jeni West
Book Description
How to be a Sex Goddess!

Porn stars know everything there is about having a mindblowing sex life. Admit it, you want to know their secrets for crushing inhibitions and finding the sexy vixen within.

Whether you're inexperienced or always orgasmic, these porn star secrets are perfect for anyone who loves sex-and wants to make it even better.

STRIPPING WITH CONFIDENCE...He aches to be teased...

Going beyond missionary...ease into positively perfect positions...

GETTING COMFORTABLE WITH ORAL SEX...thrilling ways to give and receive...

Pushing the BOUNDARIES...as little or as much as you want-games, toys, and DVDs, oh my!

Dirty Work ($1.99), by Larry Brown
Book Description
Dirty Work is the story of two men, strangers—one white, the other black. Both were born and raised in Mississippi. Both fought in Vietnam. Both were gravely wounded. Now, twenty-two years later, the two men lie in adjacent beds in a VA hospital.Over the course of a day and a night, Walter James and Braiden Chaney talk of memories, of passions, of fate.

With great vision, humor, and courage, Brown writes mostly about love in a story about the waste of war.

The Shop (2.99), by J. Carson Black
Book Description
In Aspen, Colorado, a pop star and her entourage are brutally murdered in their luxury chalet. The lead assassin, ex-Navy SEAL Cyril Landry, has no qualms about carrying out his mission until the instant before he kills the young star—an intense, shared moment that will ultimately drive him to find out why these people had to die. Landry transforms from mercenary to hunter as he delves into the depths of The Shop, the shadowy organization that has hired him to execute people across the country.

Thousands of miles away, in a seedy motel in Gardenia, Florida, a local police chief is found shot to death. The scene has all the signs of a romantic rendezvous gone wrong, but Detective Jolie Burke isn’t so sure. As she digs for clues, the tangled threads of evidence lead to a disturbing place: Indigo, the lush tropical estate of the powerful Haddox clan and home of US Attorney General Franklin Haddox. As Jolie continues to pursue the truth, she quickly discovers that Haddox will do anything to protect his country’s ugly secrets—even kill.

Landry’s quest to uncover The Shop’s motives throws him into the dark currents of Jolie’s investigation, and they find themselves working together as an unlikely duo: a cop and a killer, joining forces to expose a shocking conspiracy that ascends to the highest offices in the land.

Intricate and fast-paced, The Shop is a breathtaking thriller in the vein of Nelson DeMille and David Baldacci.

Never to Sleep ($1.31), a novella by Rachel Vincent
Book Description
Don't Close Your Eyes.

Sophie Cavanaugh is not going to let her freak of a cousin's strange psychiatric condition ruin high school for them both. Not after all the work she's put into cultivating the right look, and friends, and reputation. But then, Sophie sees something so frightening she lets out a blood-curdling scream—and finds herself stuck in a bizarre parallel world where nothing is safe and deadly creatures lurk just out of sight, waiting for her to close her eyes and sleep...forever.

Could this world be real? Or does insanity run in the family...?

Fury of Fire (Dragonfury Series #1) ($2.99), by Coreene Callahan
Book Description
A clandestine race of half-dragon, half-humans known as dragon-shifters lives among us. Bastian, leader of the Nightfury dragon clan, is sworn to protect humankind at all costs. For him, honor and duty always come first. When the clan dictates he take a human mate to sire a son, he falters, aware that for a human to birth a dragon-shifter she must die. Myst, the woman given into his care, is the most extraordinary he’s ever met, and though he can’t bear the thought of harming her he is bound by duty.

Myst loves her life in the human world, but Bastian has captured her heart in an instant of electric connection. But Bastian and his warriors are in the middle of a deadly battle with the Razorback dragon-shifters, intent on killing every Nightfury clan member—and the humans they protect—the fate of their world and ours hangs in the balance.

An extraordinary blend of action, fantasy, and steamy romance, Fury of Fire brings to life a dangerous new world intertwined with the survival of humanity, all while exploring the meaning of honor and the nature of true love.

Seeds of Vengeance ($2.99), is the fourth (and latest) in the Kendall O'Dell Mystery series by Sylvia Nobel (to go with #3 featured recently at the same price).
Book Description
Reporter Kendall O'Dell is dragged into a frightening world of secrets and intrigue after the remains of a prominent judge are discovered at a secluded Arizona ranch. As she narrows down the possible suspects, Kendall finds her life—and her engagement to be married—in jeopardy. Torn between withdrawing from the case for her own safety and following a shocking secret in the hopes of solving the murder, Kendall becomes enmeshed in a case that grows more frightening every day.

Macmillan has the first two novels in Julia Spencer-Fleming's Reverend Clare Fergusson mystery series on sale for $2.99: In the Bleak Midwinter and A Fountain Filled With Blood
In the Bleak Midwinter
It's a cold, snowy December in the upstate New York town of Millers Kill, and newly ordained Clare Fergusson is on thin ice as the first female priest of its small Episcopal church. The ancient regime running the parish covertly demands that she prove herself as a leader. However, her blunt manner, honed by years as an army pilot, is meeting with a chilly reception from some members of her congregation and Chief of Police Russ Van Alystyne, in particular, doesn't know what to make of her, or how to address "a lady priest" for that matter.

The last thing she needs is trouble, but that is exactly what she finds. When a newborn baby is abandoned on the church stairs and a young mother is brutally murdered, Clare has to pick her way through the secrets and silence that shadow that town like the ever-present Adirondack mountains. As the days dwindle down and the attraction between the avowed priest and the married police chief grows, Clare will need all her faith, tenacity, and courage to stand fast against a killer's icy heart.

In the Bleak Midwinter is one of the most outstanding Malice Domestic winners the contest has seen. The compelling atmosphere-the kind of very cold and snowy winter that is typical of upstate New York-will make you reach for another sweater. The characters are fully and believably drawn and you will feel like they are your old friends and find yourself rooting for them every step of the way.

A Fountain Filled With Blood
In In the Bleak Midwinter, Julia Spencer-Fleming’s Malice Domestic–winning first mystery, Reverend Clare Fergusson was quickly introduced to a more eventful life than she had expected after moving to the small town of Millers Kill in upstate New York. But the Episcopal priest and former Army Air Force chopper pilot proved to her flockæ and to police chief Russ Van Alstyneæthat she could cope with the unexpected, even when it was as dire as murder. In this new adventure for the two ill-matched friends (who are gamely resisting something beyond friendship), evidence shows that a small town can hold just as much evil as the Wicked City.

Today's backlist/small press/indie, totally free, books for everyone on Kindle. These are are not likely to be free for long, so double check prices before one-clicking (genres are my best guess), as most of them go back up after a day or two (sometimes less), at which point most of them become eligible for the Kindle Lending Library.
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