Book Description
In the summer of 1963 I fell in love and my father drowned....
So begins this sweet, ominous new novel by Charles Simmons. Set against an idyllic landscape of water, sand, and sky, it recounts in exquisite detail the momentous events of a boy's 16th summer that reveal to him the dark facts of adult passion. On Bone Point, an island off the New England coast, the boy's long, lazy days of boating and swimming are sharpened by a growing awareness of his charismatic father's infidelities. Add to this the presence of a flirtatious middle-aged woman and her beautiful 20-year-old daughter, who have rented the guesthouse, and the tale is set in motion. This tautly constructed novel is both startling and haunting—an irresistible story of memory, desire, and suspense.
Today's Kindle Daily Deal is The Flight of the Century: Charles Lindbergh and the Rise of American Aviation ($1.99), by Thomas Kessner [Oxford University Press], with the companion audiobook $4.99.
Book Description
In late May 1927 an inexperienced and unassuming 25-year-old Air Mail pilot from rural Minnesota stunned the world by making the first non-stop transatlantic flight. A spectacular feat of individual daring and collective technological accomplishment, Charles Lindbergh's flight from New York to Paris ushered in America's age of commercial aviation.
In The Flight of the Century, Thomas Kessner takes a fresh look at one of America's greatest moments, explaining how what was essentially a publicity stunt became a turning point in history. He vividly recreates the flight itself and the euphoric reaction to it on both sides of the Atlantic, and argues that Lindbergh's amazing feat occurred just when the world--still struggling with the disillusionment of WWI--desperately needed a hero to restore a sense of optimism and innocence. Kessner also shows how new forms of mass media made Lindbergh into the most famous international celebrity of his time, casting him in the role of a humble yet dashing American hero of rural origins and traditional values. Much has been made of Lindbergh's personal integrity and his refusal to cash in on his fame. But Kessner reveals that Lindbergh was closely allied with, and managed by, a group of powerful businessmen--Harry Guggenheim, Dwight Morrow, and Henry Breckenridge chief among them--who sought to exploit aviation for mass transport and massive profits. Their efforts paid off as commercial air traffic soared from 6,000 passengers in 1926 to 173,000 passengers in 1929. Kessner's book is the first to fully explore Lindbergh's central role in promoting the airline industry--the rise of which has influenced everything from where we live to how we wage war and do business.
The Flight of the Century sheds new light on one of America's fascinatingly enigmatic heroes and most transformative moments.
Today's Kindle Romance Daily Deal is Everything but a Dog ($1.99), the sixth novel in the Everything But... series by Holly Jacobs [Montlake Romance]. The rest of the series is on sale for $2.99/title, for those that prefer to read in order and may not be caught up.
Book Description
Wannabe matchmaker Nana Vancy has donned her Cupid wings once again—this time for Dr. Della McGraw, the distant cousin of her pal Annabelle. Together with her partners in crime, Annabelle and Isabel, she concocts a clever plan to find Della her knight in shining armor. Their first stop? The local dog shelter.
When Jonah McIntosh rescues three old ladies and their narcoleptic dog, it’s just the topper for his lousy day. But things start looking up when he finds himself in the company of the lovely veterinarian Della. There’s just one teensy problem: he’s allergic to dogs.
But Nana’s convinced a happily ever after is in the cards. Can she work her magic once more—or is this one romance that’s doomed before it’s even begun?
Today's Kindle SciFi/Fantasy Daily Deal is Cold Magic ($1.99), the first title in Kate Elliott's steampunk adventure series, The Spiritwalker Trilogy [Hachette].
Book Description
The Wild Hunt is stirring - and the dragons are finally waking from their long sleep...
Cat Barahal was the only survivor of the flood that took her parents. Raised by her extended family, she and her cousin, Bee, are unaware of the dangers that threaten them both. Though they are in beginning of the Industrial Age, magic - and the power of the Cold Mages - still hold sway.
Now, betrayed by her family and forced to marry a powerful Cold Mage, Cat will be drawn into a labyrinth of politics. There she will learn the full ruthlessness of the rule of the Cold Mages. What do the Cold Mages want from her? And who will help Cat in her struggle against them?
The Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK is three Science Fiction & Fantasy reads for £0.99 each (>75% off).
Tooth and Claw (Main/UK), by Jo Walton (US edition $9.99)
A family of dragons gathers on the occasion of the death of their father, the elder Bon Agornin. As is custom, they must eat the body. But even as Bon's last remains are polished off, his sons and daughters must all jostle for a position in the new hierarchy. While the youngest son seeks greedy remuneration through the courts of law, the eldest son - a dragon of the cloth - agonises over his father's deathbed confession. While one daughter is caught between loyalty to her family by blood and her family by marriage, another daughter follows her heart - only to discover the great cost of true love...Stolen Away (Main/UK), by Alyxandra Harvey (US edition $7.99)
Here is a Victorian story of political intrigue, family ties and political intrigue, set in a world of dragons - a world, quite literally, red in tooth and claw. Full of fiery wit, this is a novel unlike any other.
For seventeen years, Eloise Hart had no idea the world of Faery even existed. Now she has been abducted and trapped in the Rath of Lord Strahan, King of Faery. Strahan was only meant to rule for seven years, as Faery tradition dictates, and then give up his crown to another. But he won't comply, and now chaos threatens both worlds.The only one who can break his stranglehold on the Faery court is his wife, Eloise's aunt, Antonia. Using Eloise to lure Antonia, Strahan captures his wife, desperate to end the only threat to his reign. Together with her best friends Jo and Devin, Eloise must place her trust in Lucas, her handsome protector, and Strahan's mysterious son, Eldric, and forge alliances with other Fae in a dangerous attempt to free Antonia for ever.Sanctum (Main/UK), by Sarah Fine (US edition $3.99; companion audiobook $1.99)
"My plan: Get into the city. Get Nadia. Find a way out. Simple."
A week ago, seventeen-year-old Lela Santos’s best friend, Nadia, killed herself. Today, thanks to a farewell ritual gone awry, Lela is standing in paradise, looking upon a vast gated city in the distance – hell. No one willingly walks through the Suicide Gates, into a place smothered in darkness and infested with depraved creatures. But Lela isn’t just anyone – she’s determined to save her best friend’s soul, even if it means sacrificing her eternal afterlife.
As Lela struggles to find Nadia, she’s captured by the Guards, enormous, not-quite-human creatures that patrol the dark city’s endless streets. Their all-too human leader, Malachi, is unlike them in every way except one: his deadly efficiency. When he meets Lela, Malachi forms his own plan: get her out of the city, even if it means she must leave Nadia behind. Malachi knows something Lela doesn’t – the dark city isn’t the worst place Lela could end up, and he will stop at nothing to keep her from that fate.
Sanctum is Sarah Fine’s first novel.
Today's Kindle Kids Daily Deal is Stink and the Midnight Zombie Walk ($0.99), the seventh title in the Stink series by Megan McDonald and Peter H. Reynolds (Illustrator) [Candlewick].
Book Description
Reading is UNdead — and everyone has zombies on the brain — as Stink's school and a local bookstore cook up a frightfully fun Main Street event.
Guts! Brains! Eyeballs! There’s only one week before the new book in the Nightmare on Zombie Street series comes out. Of corpse Stink will be first in line at the Blue Frog Bookstore to buy his copy and join the town’s Midnight Zombie Walk! Until then, Stink and his friends keep busy making ketchup-stained zombie costumes, trying to raise money to buy the book, and racking up points for Virginia Dare School’s race to one million minutes of reading. But with all that talk about the undead, Zink — that is, Stink — starts to wonder: is he being hunted by zombies? He does have a very delicious — er, superb — brain, after all. Readers will just have to open ze book and zee! Mwa-ha-ha-ha!
Age Range: 6 - 9 years