Tantor Media has a number of romances in their current $6.99 download sale, along with a nice selection of SciFi, Thrillers and even some non-fiction, for those that enjoy listening to audiobooks.
For those in the UK, Amazon has a Grisly Reads for under £2 sale to get you ready for Halloween. Choose your fright from gritty, scary or horrid on the Grisly Meter.
Today is the last day to take advantage of this KSO deal:
Today's Kindle Daily Deal is For the King's Favor ($1.99), the third title in the William Marshal historical fiction series by Elizabeth Chadwick, which was also released under the title "The Time of Singing" in other markets. This was briefly free for part of one day in early 2011, apparently as part of a pricing error. If you missed it then, this is a good price to pick it up, as her books aren't often on sale and seldom at a lower price.Book Description
A Bittersweet Tale of Love, Loss, and the Power of Royalty
When Roger Bigod arrives at King Henry II's court to settle a bitter inheritance dispute, he becomes enchanted with Ida de Tosney, young mistress to the powerful king. A victim of Henry's seduction and the mother of his son, Ida sees in Roger a chance to begin a new life. But Ida pays an agonizing price when she leaves the king, and as Roger's importance grows and he gains an earldom, their marriage comes under increasing strain. Based on the true story of a royal mistress and the young lord she chose to marry, For the King's Favor is Elizabeth Chadwick at her best.
In the Land of the Long White Cloud ($1.60 / £0.99 UK), by Sarah Lark and D.W. Lovett (Translator), is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (the US edition is $3.99/KLL eligible). This selection is also historical fiction, but in a completely different setting; it's an Amazon exclusive translation from their AmazonCrossing imprint.Book Description
Helen Davenport, governess for a wealthy London household, longs for a family of her own—but nearing her late twenties, she knows her prospects are dim. Then she spots an advertisement seeking young women to marry New Zealand’s honorable bachelors and begins an affectionate correspondence with a gentleman farmer. When her church offers to pay her travels under an unusual arrangement, she jumps at the opportunity.
Meanwhile, not far away in Wales, beautiful and daring Gwyneira Silkham, daughter of a wealthy sheep breeder, is bored with high society. But when a mysterious New Zealand baron deals her father an unlucky blackjack hand, Gwyn’s hand in marriage is suddenly on the table. Her family is outraged, but Gwyn is thrilled to escape the life laid out for her.
The two women meet on the ship to Christchurch—Helen traveling in steerage, Gwyn first class—and become unlikely friends. When their new husbands turn out to be very different than expected, the women must help one another find the life—and love—they’d hoped for.
Set against the backdrop of colonial nineteenth-century New Zealand, In the Land of the Long White Cloud is a soaring saga of friendship, romance, and unforgettable adventure.
The General: Charles de Gaulle and the France He Saved ($4.99 Kindle, B&N), by Jonathan Fenby, is the Nook Daily Find, price matched on Kindle. Rather than historical fiction, B&N has chosen actual history for their selection today. It's a bit more than their usual choices, but the list price on this one is $33. If you have a history buff on your shopping list, don't forget that you can set it up as a gift and have it delivered at the time of your choosing.Book Description
No leader of modern times was more uniquely patriotic than Charles de Gaulle. As founder and first president of the Fifth Republic, General de Gaulle saw himself as “carrying France on [his] shoulders.” In his twenties, he fought for France in the trenches and at the epic battle of Verdun. In the 1930s, he waged a lonely battle to enable France to better resist Hitler’s Germany. Thereafter, he twice rescued the nation from defeat and decline by extraordinary displays of leadership, political acumen, daring, and bluff, heading off civil war and leaving a heritage adopted by his successors of right and left. Le Général, as he became known from 1940 on, appeared as if he was carved from a single monumental block, but was in fact extremely complex, a man with deep personal feelings and recurrent mood swings, devoted to his family and often seeking reassurance from those around him. This is a magisterial, sweeping biography of one of the great leaders of the twentieth century and of the country with which he so identified himself. Written with terrific verve, narrative skill, and rigorous detail, the first major work on de Gaulle in fifteen years brings alive as never before the private man as well as the public leader through exhaustive research and analysis.
Lincoln and Douglas: The Debates That Defined America ($13.99 Kindle, $2.99 B&N), by Allen C. Guelzo, is the Nook Daily Find: Election 2012. This has a publisher set price from Simon and Schuster, so it may be price matched on Kindle later today (and probably should be already).Book Description
In 1858, Abraham Lincoln was known as a successful Illinois lawyer who had achieved some prominence in state politics as a leader in the new Republican Party. Two years later, he was elected president and was on his way to becoming the greatest chief executive in American history.
What carried this one-term congressman from obscurity to fame was the campaign he mounted for the United States Senate against the country's most formidable politician, Stephen A. Douglas, in the summer and fall of 1858. Lincoln challenged Douglas directly in one of his greatest speeches -- "A house divided against itself cannot stand" -- and confronted Douglas on the questions of slavery and the inviolability of the Union in seven fierce debates. As this brilliant narrative by the prize-winning Lincoln scholar Allen Guelzo dramatizes, Lincoln would emerge a predominant national figure, the leader of his party, the man who would bear the burden of the national confrontation.
Of course, the great issue between Lincoln and Douglas was slavery. Douglas was the champion of "popular sovereignty," of letting states and territories decide for themselves whether to legalize slavery. Lincoln drew a moral line, arguing that slavery was a violation both of natural law and of the principles expressed in the Declaration of Independence. No majority could ever make slavery right, he argued.
Lincoln lost that Senate race to Douglas, though he came close to toppling the "Little Giant," whom almost everyone thought was unbeatable. Guelzo's Lincoln and Douglas brings alive their debates and this whole year of campaigns and underscores their centrality in the greatest conflict in American history.
The encounters between Lincoln and Douglas engage a key question in American political life: What is democracy's purpose? Is it to satisfy the desires of the majority? Or is it to achieve a just and moral public order? These were the real questions in 1858 that led to the Civil War. They remain questions for Americans today.
I highly recommend today's Kindle Kids Daily Deal, Ashfall ($1.99), by Mike Mullin. Even if this title is "supposed to be" for younger teens, due to the age of the main character, it is really better suited for an older audience, in some ways, which is reflected in the description of the sequel. I received a review copy of this title and the sequel and stayed up all night reading them straight thru. The timing of the sale is pretty good, too, as Ashen Winter will be released in five days. There are only a very few bad reviews on this one (one hated the writing and that it wasn't Christian Fiction, one objected to the sexual content and violence), with the majority at 4 and 5 stars. Most parents will probably want to read this first for less mature teens (like in SM Stirling's Emberverse series, people trying to survive do awful things), but most should be able to relate well (and have been exposed to the baser nature of man via the news and internet).Book Description
Many visitors to Yellowstone National Park don’t realize that the boiling hot springs and spraying geysers are caused by an underlying supervolcano, so large that the caldera can only be seen by plane or satellite. And by some scientific measurements, it could be overdue for an eruption.
For Alex, being left alone for the weekend means having the freedom to play computer games and hang out with his friends without hassle from his mother. Then the Yellowstone supervolcano erupts, plunging his hometown into a nightmare of darkness, ash, and violence. Alex begins a harrowing trek to seach for his family and finds help in Darla, a travel partner he meets along the way. Together they must find the strength and skills to survive and outlast an epic disaster.
Grade Level: 6 and up
