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Friday, June 28, 2013

Bargain Book Roundup

As we are approaching the July 4th holiday, I've been trolling thru the cookbooks at Amazon and a couple of my finds are below. I also ran across Smoke and Pickles: Recipes and Stories from a New Southern Kitchen ($9.18 Kindle), by Edward Lee [Artisan], which is on Amazon's Best Books of the Year So Far list for 2013. It may be a bit over my usual $5 limit, but it's a brand new release and looks pretty interesting (and his restaurant is "just up the road" from here).
Book Description
Chef Edward Lee's story and his food could only happen in America. Raised in Brooklyn by a family of Korean immigrants, he eventually settled down in his adopted hometown of Louisville, Kentucky, where he owns the acclaimed restaurant 610 Magnolia. A multiple James Beard Award nominee for his unique patchwork cuisine, Edward creates recipes--filled with pickling, fermenting, frying, curing, and smoking--that reflect the overlapping flavors and techniques that led this Korean-American boy to feel right at home in the South. Dishes like Chicken-Fried Pork Steak with Ramen Crust and Buttermilk Pepper Gravy; Collards and Kimchi; Braised Beef Kalbi with Soft Grits and Scallions; and Miso-Smothered Chicken all share a place on his table. Born with the storytelling gene of a true Southerner, Lee fills his debut cookbook with tales of the restaurant world, New York City, Kentucky, and his time competing on Top Chef, plus more than 130 exceptional recipes for food with Korean roots and Southern soul.

America's Best BBQ: 100 Recipes from America's Best Smokehouses, Pits, Shacks, Rib Joints, Roadhouses, and Restaurants ($2.99 Kindle), by Chef Paul Kirk and Ardie A. Davis [Andrews McMeel Publishing]. I snagged a review copy of this one and there is everything in there, from breakfast to dessert.
Book Description
Hungry for something different? Then try America's Best BBQ Here, two of the world's top barbecue experts present their favorite barbecue recipes from across America.Only Ardie and Paul, the go-to sources on barbecue, can earn the trust--and the secret recipes--from some of the nation's barbecue legends.Tasty sides include tips, tricks, techniques, fun memorabilia, full-color photos, and firsthand recollections of tales from the pits culled from over a century of combined barbecue experience.With more than 100 recipes for mouthwatering starters, moist and flavorful meats, classic side dishes, sauces and rubs, and decadent desserts, this book should come with its own wet-nap. Whether it's spicy or sweet, Texas or Memphis, this is the best collection of American barbecue recipes. Ardie's BBQ alter ego, Remus Powers, PhB, has earned profiles in many barbecue books, tons of magazines, and more than a few national newspapers. He's graced the Food Network and PBS, appearing in various documentaries on 'cue and great American cuisine. Paul has appeared on The Today Show, Discovery Channel, CBS This Morning, Talk Soup, and Anthony Bourdain's A Cook's Tour: In Search of the Perfect Meal. He was also featured in AARP's Modern Maturity Magazine, Saveur, and The Calgary Herald, and he has written articles for Food and Wine, Fine Cooking, and Chili Pepper magazine.

Our Favorite Grilling Recipes Cookbook ($0.49 Kindle), by Gooseberry Patch; the description is from the paper edition and there is a recipe for Blue Cheese Burgers on the product page.
Book Description
Over 60 of our favorite recipes, with handy tips. "Purse-friendly size" make meal-planning on the go easy.

Midnight Rider and Innocence Undone ($3.79 Kindle) are backlist re-issues by Kat Martin [Macmillan].

Innocence Undone
Jessica Fox wasn't always the beautiful, composed young woman who is the toast of the London ton. Born in poverty, Jessica wandered the streets until fate found her a guardian in the aging Marquess of Belmore. Now, it is fate she tempts with her longing for the Marquess's son, the arrogant and handsome Captain Mathew Seaton.

Upon his return from the sea, Matthew is forced to confront the sensuous beauty he believes has set her sights on the Belmore title. Though his mind tells him to beware, his blood boils with thoughts of luring her into his bed. To win his love, Jessica will do anything. But when desire flames and the dark shadow of her childhood lengthens, she risks everything she has dreamed of in a dangerous dance of denial.
Midnight Rider
She was his captive. He was the one man she was forbidden to have...

As soon as the tall, handsome Spaniard leaned down from his stallion to offer her a rose, Caralee McConnell know California held danger. But all too quickly she was forced to deny the heat Ramon de la Guerra had sparked. Determined to please her uncle who had saved her from poverty, she must resign herself to marrying a man he has chosen for her...and ignore what is in her heart.

Behind Ramon de la Guerra's dark eyes throbbed the memory of his lands, stolen by the beautiful Americana's uncle. He had sworn to reclaim them-riding by night as the ruthless outlaw, El Dragon. In a moment of rage and revenge, he stole Caralee away to his mountain lair...but there, in a passion as sweet as California wine, he would reveal a secret that could cost him his life-and his heart's freedom.

Faith of the Fallen ($2.99 Kindle), the sixth novel in the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind [Macmillan], with the companion audiobook for $3.49. I'll be picking this up to fill in my library (but at nearly 800 pages, it may be a while before I finish reading it).
Book Description
Terry Goodkind author of the enormously popular Sword of Truth novels, has forged perhaps his best novel yet, pitting Richard Rahl and Kahlan Amnell against threats to the freedom of the world that will take them to opposite ends of the world to defeat the forces of chaos and anarchy.

Emperor Jagang is rising once again in the Old World and Richard must face him, on his own turf. Richard heads into the Old World with Cara, the Mord-Sith, while his beloved Kahlan remains behind. Unwilling to heed an ancient prophecy, Kahlan raises an army and goes into battle against forces threatening armed insurrection in the Midlands.

Separated and fighting for their lives, Richard and Kahlan will be tested to the utmost.

At the publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management software (DRM) applied.

Three of Jo Nesbo's Harry Hole novels are on sale for $2.99 apiece [HarperCollins]. Besides the Starred Reviews from Publisher's Weekly (amongst others), these have the Mom stamp of approval - after I picked up the first one and she read it, I had to pick up all the rest that had been translated to English for her. She's currently reading my review copy The Bat, which was only recently translated and can now be pre-ordered in the Kindle store.

The Redbreast #3 ($3.95 companion audiobook)
No disrespect meant to Henning Mankell and Stieg Larsson, but Jo Nesbø, the New York Times bestselling author of The Snowman, is the most exciting Scandinavian thriller writer in the crime fiction business. The Redbreast is a fabulous introduction to Nesbø’s tough-as-nails series protagonist, Oslo police detective Harry Hole. A brilliant and epic novel, breathtaking in its scope and design—winner of The Glass Key for best Nordic crime novel and selected as the best Norwegian crime novel ever written by members of Norway’s book clubs—The Redbreast is a chilling tale of murder and betrayal that ranges from the battlefields of World War Two to the streets of modern-day Oslo. Follow Hole as he races to stop a killer and disarm a ticking time-bomb from his nation’s shadowy past. Vogue magazine says that “nobody can delve into the dark, twisted mind of a murderer better than a Scandinavian thriller writer”…and nobody does it better than Jo Nesbø! James Patterson fans should also take note.
Nemesis #4
The #1 international bestseller from one of the most celebrated crime writers in Europe--the New York Times bestselling author of The Snowman--Jo Nesbø’s extraordinary thriller Nemesis features Norwegian homicide detective Harry Hole, “the next in the long line of great noir crime detectives,” (San Diego Union-Tribune) in a case as dark and chilling as an Oslo winter’s night. The second Harry Hole novel to be released in America—following the critically acclaimed publication of The Redbird—Nemesis is a superb and surprising nail-biter that places Jo Nesbø in the company of Lawrence Block, Ian Rankin, Michael Connelly, and other top masters of crime fiction. Nesbø has already received the Glass Key Award and the Booksellers’ Prize, Norway’s most prestigious literary awards. Nemesis is proof that there are certainly more honors in this extraordinary writer's future.
The Devil's Star #5
Oslo is sweltering in the summer heat when a young woman is murdered in her flat. One finger has been cut off and a tiny red diamond in the shape of a pentagram—a five-pointed star—is found under her eyelid. Detective Harry Hole is assigned the case with Tom Waaler, a colleague he neither likes nor trusts. He believes Tom is behind a gang of arms smugglers—and the murder of his partner. But Harry, an off-the-rails alcoholic, is barely holding on to his job and has little choice but to play nice.

Five days later, another woman is reported missing. When her severed finger is found adorned with a star-shaped red diamond ring, Harry fears a serial killer is on the loose. Determined to find the killer and expose the crooked Tom Waaler, Harry discovers the two investigations melding in unexpected ways. But pursuing the truth comes at a price, and soon Harry finds himself on the run and forced to make difficult decisions about a future he may not live to see.

One of the brightest stars of Scandinavian crime writing, Jo Nesbø has been compared to Ian Rankin, Michael Connelly, and Henning Mankell. His novels are bestsellers throughout Europe, acclaimed by critics and revered by aficionados of thrillers and mysteries. Brilliantly plotted and paced, The Devil's Star shows Nesbø at his absolute best, combining powerful emotional resonance with truly stunning suspense.

Sorcerer's Ring Bundle ($8.99 Kindle), by Morgan Rice; this contains the first three books in the series and apparently runs to around 800 pages in print (according to Google) or about 200,000 words.
Book Description
This bundle includes the first three books in Morgan Rice’s #1 Bestselling fantasy series THE SORCERER’S RING (A QUEST OF HEROES, A MARCH OF KINGS and A FEAST OF DRAGONS). These three bestselling novels are all here in one convenient file. It is a great introduction to the SORCERER’S RING series. Over 200,000 words of reading, all for an incredible price of just $8.99! It is a great deal, and it also makes the perfect gift!

The series tells the epic tale of the coming of age of Thorgrin, a special 14 year old boy, the least loved of his father, as he strives to become a warrior in the magical Kingdom of the Ring, and as he learns he has powers, and a destiny, he does not understand. An outsider, he must fight for acceptance as he strives to join the King’s elite Legion, and as he falls in love with the king’s 16 year old daughter. Most of all, he must learn who he really is, why his destiny is so important, and why the entire fate of The Ring depends on him.

With its sophisticated world-building and characterization, THE SORCERER’S RING is an epic tale of friends and lovers, of rivals and suitors, of knights and dragons, of intrigues and political machinations, of coming of age, of broken hearts, of deception, ambition and betrayal. It is a tale of honor and courage, of fate and destiny, of sorcery. It is a fantasy that brings us into a world we will never forget, and which will appeal to all ages and genders.

The Witness ($1.99 Kindle) and White Hot ($2.99 Kindle), by Sandra Brown

The Witness [Hachette]
The best public defender in Prosper, Kendall has stumbled upon the town's chilling secret - and her marriage to one of the town's most powerful men has become a living hell. Now Kendall is a terrified mother trying to save her child's life.
White Hot [Hachette]
When she hears that her younger brother Danny has committed suicide, Sayre Lynch relents from her vow never to return to Destiny, the small Louisiana town in which she grew up. She plans to leave immediately after the funeral, but instead soon finds herself drawn into the web cast by Huff Hoyle, her controlling and tyrannical father, the man who owns the town's sole industry, an iron foundry, and in effect runs the lives of everyone who lives there.

As she feared, Sayre learns that nothing has changed. Her father and older brother, Chris, are as devious as ever, and now they have a new partner-in-crime, a canny and disarming lawyer named Beck Merchant, who appears to be their equal in corruption.

Soon, Sayre is thrown in closer contact with Beck and becomes convinced that something more sinister is at play than her father's usual need to dominate people and events. As she sets out to learn just what did happen to Danny, she comes to realize that there are many secrets in Destiny -- secrets that hide decades of pain and anger, and that threaten at any moment to erupt and destroy not only her father and brother, but perhaps Sayre herself.

Underneath the rigid control that the Hoyles exert over the town, trouble is brewing. Old hatreds foster plans for revenge, past crimes resurface, and a maverick deputy sheriff determines that Danny Hoyle's death was not suicide, but murder.

As tensions mount, threatening to ignite a powder keg of long-held hostility, Sayre finds herself inextricably drawn into a struggle with striking laborers, her unscrupulous father, and her own emotions over the love/hate relationship that is growing with Beck, a man apparently with his own agenda, and mysteries of his own.

As she has shown in the dozens of bestselling novels in which she has combined hard-edged suspense with intense emotion, Sandra Brown is a master storyteller, and in her new novel she is at her very best.

Midst Toil and Tribulation ($2.99 Kindle), the sixth novel in the Safehold Military SciFi series by David Weber.
Book Description
David Weber's New York Times bestselling Safehold series of military Science Fiction adventure, which began with Off Armageddon Reef, continues with Midst Toil and Tribulation

WAR AND FAMINE

Once the Church of God Awaiting dominated all the kingdoms of Safehold. Then, after centuries of stasis, the island kingdom of Charis began to defy the edicts of Mother Church-egged on, some say, by the mysterious warrior-monk Merlin Athrawes, who enjoys the Charisian royal family's absolute trust.

What vanishingly few people know is that Merlin is the cybernetic avatar of a young woman a thousand years dead, felled in the war in which aliens destroyed Earth...and that since awakening, his task has been to restart the history of the long-hidden human race.

Now, reeling from the wars and intrigues that have cascaded from Charis's declaration of independence, the Republic of Siddermark slides into chaos. The Church has engineered a rebellion, and Siddermark's all-important harvest is at risk. King Cayleb and Queen Sharleyan struggle to stabilize their ally, which will mean sending troops-but, even more importantly, preventing famine. For mass starvation in Safehold's breadbasket is a threat even more ominous than civil war...

At the publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management software (DRM) applied.