Amazon has two new promos with Kindle Books Up to 75% Off. First
Travel to Another Time:
From the dirt streets of ancient Jerusalem to Manhattan's concrete jungle in the 1990s, this diverse selection of 50 books contains the time-traveling keys to some of the most exciting periods and events in human history. Through August 13, this entertaining collection is available for up to 75% off.
and then the
Get a Better Read on Conspiracy Sale:
Looking for some entertainment this August? We have action-packed titles full of tangled deceptions that build to shocking finales. Try these mysteries and thrillers full of conspiracies from Amazon Publishing for $4.99 or less on Kindle and up to 60% off in print.
The titles I've highlighted below are not necessarily a part of these sales, but are at similar savings.
The Cake Mix Doctor Bakes Gluten-Free (
$2.99), by Anne Byrn. I bought this the last time it was on sale and have tried a couple of recipes, with good results.
Book Description
Thirty million Americans are gluten-intolerant or have a gluten sensitivity, eliminating it from their diets because gluten—a protein found in wheat, rye, and barley—has been implicated in health issues ranging from respiratory problems and abdominal discomfort to anemia, anxiety, and infertility. The food industry has bullishly taken notice. Gluten-free baking products, including cake mixes from Betty Crocker, King Arthur, Whole Foods, and others, have increased sevenfold on grocery shelves in recent years, and the number of other gluten-free products has grown as well—832 were introduced in 2008 alone. And gluten-free options are on the menu of national restaurants like Boston Market, Chili’s, Ruby Tuesday, Outback Steakhouse, and others.
Now comes even sweeter news for people looking to cut gluten from their diets: Anne Byrn shows how to transform gluten-free cake mixes into 76 rich, decadent, easy-to-make, impossible-to-resist desserts. Performing the magic that’s made her a bestselling baking author with over 33 million copies of her books in print, she doctors mixes with additions like almond extract, fresh berries, cocoa powder, grated coconut, cinnamon, lime zest, and more—naturally, all gluten-free ingredients—and voilà: Tres Leches Cake with Whipped Cream and Summer Berries, Almond Cream Cheese Pound Cake, Chocolate Cupcakes with Milk Chocolate Ganache, Caramel Melted Ice Cream Cake, Warm Tarte Tatin Apple Cake, plus brownies, bars, muffins, and cookies. Dessert is back on the menu.
The Weepers: The Other Life (
$1.99), by Susanne Winnacker, from Amazon's new publishing imprint: Amazon Children's Publishing. I've sent a sample of this one to my Kindle (even if it is yet another zombie apocalypse).
Book Description
Sherry has lived with her family in a bunker for more than three years. Her grandfather's body has been in the freezer for the last six months, her parents are at each other's throats and two minutes ago, they ran out of food. Sherry and her father must leave the safety of the bunker. What they find is an empty Los Angeles, destroyed by bombs and haunted by Weepers - savage humans infected with a rabies virus. While searching for food, Sherry's father disappears and Sherry is saved by Joshua, a hunter. He takes her to Safe-haven, a vineyard where a handful of survivors are picking up the pieces of their other lives, before the virus changed everything. Sherry must find a way to help her family, stay alive, and decide whether Joshua is their savior or greatest danger as his desire for vengeance threatens them all. This debut novel is a page-turner that is not easy to forget.
Grade Level: 8th and up
The Wednesday Wars (
$1.99), by Gary D. Schmidt, was the Nook Daily Find a couple of days ago; now it's even cheaper in the Kindle store.
Book Description
Gary D. Schmidt was awarded a Newbery Honor in 2008 for The Wednesday Wars, the story of seventh grader Holling Hoodhood from suburban Long Island in 1967 who is stuck spending his Wednesday afternoons with his teacher Mrs. Baker… who is clearly trying to kill him with Shakespeare. As time rolls on, Shakespeare starts to grow on Holling, and even when he’s not playing the yellow-tighted role of the fairy Ariel, he can’t help but hurl the occasional Elizabethan insult. Laugh-out-loud scenes involving overfed escaped classroom rats and chalk-dusted cream puffs mix seamlessly with more poignant moments, some related to the Vietnam War. Holling is courageous, funny, and unique… and readers will love seeing him evolve beyond the expectations of others to become his own fabulous self.
Grade Level: 5 and up
The Eat, Drink, and Be Gorgeous Project: Three Months to a New You (
$1.99), by Esther Blum and James Dignan (Illustrator)
Book Description
Have your cosmopolitan and drink it, too. In Eat, Drink, and Be Gorgeous, Esther Blum, a nutritionist at the famed Dr. Perricone, MD flagship store in Manhattan, outlines everything a girl needs to know to live it up yet maintain her youthful beauty. There are no diets, no gimmicks, just real solutions. It's all about balance. It is about indulging to satiate, not saturate. She provides pointers on how to nip a hangover in the bud, how to dine out without packing on the pounds, what to eat to rev up the sex drive, what to eat to prevent wrinkles and acne, what to take to combat out-of-control hormones, and much, much more.
More Than Words Can Say (
$0.99), by Robert Barclay, author of
If Wishes Were Horses.
Book Description
... a novel of long-buried secrets and self-discovery, showing us that sometimes what goes unsaid is more powerful than words. . . .
Chelsea Enright never expected to inherit her grandmother's lakeside cottage deep in the Adirondacks—a serene getaway that had been mysteriously closed up decades ago. This is no simple bequest, however, because when Chelsea finds her grandmother's WWII diaries, she's stunned to discover that they hold secrets she never suspected . . . and they have the power to turn her own life upside down.
Even more surprising is the compelling presence of local doctor Brandon "Yale, and Chelsea soon finds her "short stay" has stretched into the entire summer. She cannot put this cottage and her family's past behind her easily—and the more she learns about the woman her grandmother truly was, the more Chelsea's own life begins to change . . . and nothing will ever be the same again.
Black Water Rising (
$1.99), by Attica Locke, called by Publishers Weekly an "extraordinary debut".
Book Description
Writing in the tradition of Dennis Lehane and Greg Iles, Attica Locke, a powerful new voice in American fiction, delivers a brilliant debut thriller that readers will not soon forget.
Jay Porter is hardly the lawyer he set out to be. His most promising client is a low-rent call girl and he runs his fledgling law practice out of a dingy strip mall. But he's long since made peace with not living the American Dream and carefully tucked away his darkest sins: the guns, the FBI file, the trial that nearly destroyed him.
Houston, Texas, 1981. It is here that Jay believes he can make a fresh start. That is, until the night in a boat out on the bayou when he impulsively saves a woman from drowning—and opens a Pandora's box. Her secrets put Jay in danger, ensnaring him in a murder investigation that could cost him his practice, his family, and even his life. But before he can get to the bottom of a tangled mystery that reaches into the upper echelons of Houston's corporate power brokers, Jay must confront the demons of his past.
With pacing that captures the reader from the first scene through an exhilarating climax, Black Water Rising marks the arrival of an electrifying new talent.
Eat Free: No Gluten. No Sugar. No Guilt. (
$3.93), by Rhiannon Lawrence (Note: many recipes are not truly sugar free, as natural sweeteners are used).
Book Description
Created with the gluten-intolerant and diabetic in mind, this collection of gluten- and sugar-free recipes will leave you with delicious meals, desserts, and snacks - all made with fresh, organic, and whole ingredients - that are guaranteed to please your family's pickiest food critic. And the next time someone says, "You are what you eat," you'll take it as a compliment.
Buy Ketchup in May and Fly at Noon (
$0.99), by Mark Di Vincenzo
Book Description
Have you ever wanted to know the best day of the week to buy groceries or go out to dinner?
Have you ever wondered about the best time of day to ask someone out on a date—or for a raise?
Buy Ketchup in May and Fly at Noon tells you the best time—of the day, of the week, of the month or of the year—to do almost anything. Do you know:
The best time of day to be operated on?
The best month to buy an iPod?
The best day of the week to avoid lines at the Louvre?
The best day of the month to make an offer on a house?
Get more for your money, maximize your time, take better care of your health and be savvier about your career—all by doing certain things at the right time.
Remember: Timing is everything!
A Three Dog Life (
$1.99), by Abigail Thomas
Book Description
When Abigail Thomas's husband, Rich, was hit by a car, his brain shattered. Subject to rages, terrors, and hallucinations, he must live the rest of his life in an institution. He has no memory of what he did the hour, the day, the year before. This tragedy is the ground on which Abigail had to build a new life. How she built that life is a story of great courage and great change, of moving to a small country town, of a new family composed of three dogs, knitting, and friendship, of facing down guilt and discovering gratitude. It is also about her relationship with Rich, a man who lives in the eternal present, and the eerie poetry of his often uncanny perceptions. This wise, plainspoken, beautiful book enacts the truth Abigail discovered in the five years since the accident: You might not find meaning in disaster, but you might, with effort, make something useful of it.
The Cleaner Plate Club: Raising Healthy Eaters One Meal at a Time (
$2.51), by Beth Bader and Ali Benjamin
Book Description
Childhood obesity. Diabetes. Developmental delays and disorders. Today’s parents know that what their kids eat is key to their health. Their kids are bombarded with a relentless parade of ads for junk food, fast food, and empty calorie “treats.” How can parents get their kids to eat meals that don’t come out of a box? The Cleaner Plate Club comes to the rescue. Mommy-bloggers Beth Bader and Alison Benjamin offer simple solutions, recipes, meal suggestions, and tips to help parents get kids to eat non-processed food that’s been grown locally or organically and — guess what? — enjoy it. They recognize that cooking real food isn’t difficult, but it does require some know-how, which they supply with humor and compassion. Beth and Alison show readers how to prepare foods found at the farmers’ market (and how to substitute, say, asparagus for string beans if need be), plan ahead and estimate prep time, and get used to cooking food that doesn’t come with printed directions. Their fresh advice will help parents eliminate food waste, plan for leftovers, present foods that are appealing to kids, and quit fighting with their children — finally — about food.
The Cleaner Plate Club offers kid-tested recipes for every meal, basic vegetable preparations for farmers’ market finds, and more healthful recipes for sweets and snacks. Readers will also find shopping strategies, the reasons kids like the foods they do, and vegetable profiles (including nutrition information and tips on selection, storage, and preparation). Expert advice and innovative ideas about feeding kids make this book a must-have for any parent. Fresh, funny, and nonjudgmental, The Cleaner Plate Club is a recipe for healthier kids and happier parents.
Half Baked: The Story of My Nerves, My Newborn, and How We Both Learned to Breathe (
$1.88), by Alexa Stevenson
Book Description
Author Alexa Stevenson had spent most of her life preparing for the wrong disasters. When her daughter is born 15 weeks early, she is plunged into the strange half-light of the Newborn Intensive Care Unit, where she learns the Zen of medical uncertainty and makes the surprising discovery that a worst-case scenario may just be the best thing that’s ever happened to her. The absurdities of the medical system, grappling with mortality, and coming into one’s own are all explored in this wryly heartfelt memoir.
From the indignities of infertility treatments to managing bedrest and parenting a preemie (how does one wrangle an oxygen tank while changing a diaper?), Alexa recounts her rocky road to motherhood with a uniquely sharp, funny, yet poignant voice.
Still the One (
$1.99), by Robin Wells
Book Description
Robin Wells takes us back to Chartreuse, Louisiana, for a deeply moving story of forgiveness and second chances.
After Katie Charmaine's husband is killed in Iraq, all she has left is a closet full of his clothes, a few pictures, and fond memories. She not only lost her love, but her last chance to have the children she's always wanted. Until Zack Ferguson shows up in town . . . with the daughter Katie gave up for adoption nearly seventeen years ago.
Zack Ferguson has never forgotten Katie, or the one magical night they spent together. Seeing her again brings up a tidal wave of emotions: regret over the way he left her, anger at the secret she kept, and desire he hasn't felt in years. But he's in town for Gracie. Their daughter is sixteen, angry at the world, and-worst of all-pregnant. She needs the love of her two parents now more than ever. Can these three forgive the hurts of the past and open their hearts to each other?
Takeover (
$0.99), by Lisa Black
Book Description
In the tradition of Kathy Reichs and Jeffery Deaver, a talented novelist introduces a gutsy forensic investigator caught in the middle of an explosive crisis
Early one Thursday morning, forensic scientist Theresa MacLean is called to the scene of a gruesome murder. The body of a man has been found on the front lawn of a house in suburban Cleveland, the back of his head bashed in. Although it's not the best start to her day, Theresa has been through worse. What unfolds during the next eight hours, though, is nothing she could ever have imagined.
Downtown at the Federal Reserve Bank, her police detective fiancÉ is taken hostage with six others in a robbery masterminded by two clever criminals. When she arrives at the scene, Theresa discovers that the police have brought in the city's best hostage negotiator: handsome, high-profile Chris Cavanaugh. He hasn't lost a victim yet, but Theresa wonders if he might be too arrogant to save the day this time around.
When her fiancÉ is injured, she seizes the opportunity to trade places with him. Once on the inside, she will use all her wiles, experience, and technical skills to gain control of the situation. But what initially appears to be a bank heist turns into something far more complex and deadly, and Theresa must decide how much more she is willing to sacrifice in order to save the lives of innocent people as well as her own.
I'm tempted to get
Population: 485 (
$1.99), by Michael Perry, as I visit family in an even smaller town in a part of the country not too distant from the one Perry returns to.
Book Description
Here the local vigilante is a farmer's wife armed with a pistol and a Bible, the most senior member of the volunteer fire department is a cross-eyed butcher with one kidney and two ex-wives (both of whom work at the only gas station in town), and the back roads are haunted by the ghosts of children and farmers. Michael Perry loves this place. He grew up here, and now -- after a decade away -- he has returned.
Unable to polka or repair his own pickup, his farm-boy hands gone soft after years of writing, Mike figures the best way to regain his credibility is to join the volunteer fire department. Against a backdrop of fires and tangled wrecks, bar fights and smelt feeds, he tells a frequently comic tale leavened with moments of heartbreaking delicacy and searing tragedy.
