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Friday, May 31, 2013

Weekend Bargain Book Roundup

Beauty and the Bounty Hunter ($2.99 Kindle), the first novel in the Once Upon a Time in the West series by Lori Austin [Signet/Penguin]
Book Description
Cathleen Chase is no killer—but as Cat O’Banyon, she is a ruthless bounty hunter who always gets her man. Catching one lowlife after another, she continues her search for the only man she really cares to locate. The one whose voice she will never forget; the man who murdered her husband. She’ll stop at nothing to find him.

Con artist Alexi Romanov taught Cat every trick she knows. He is a master of deceit, disguise, and desire. He’s difficult to trust, and even more difficult to resist, but he has news she can’t ignore. The man she’s after has placed a bounty on her head. To get him before he gets her, she’ll have to team up with Alexi again....And just like before, the two of them together are nothing but trouble.

The Affinity Bridge ($2.99 Kindle), the first in the Newbury & Hobbes Investigations series by George Mann [Tor Books/Macmillan]. Now's your chance, if you missed this when it was on sale two years ago.
Book Description
Welcome to the bizarre and dangerous world of Victorian London, a city teetering on the edge of revolution. Its people are ushering in a new era of technology, dazzled each day by unfamiliar inventions. Airships soar in the skies over the city, while ground trains rumble through the streets and clockwork automatons are programmed to carry out menial tasks in the offices of lawyers, policemen, and journalists.

But beneath this shiny veneer of progress lurks a sinister side.

Queen Victoria is kept alive by a primitive life-support system, while her agents, Sir Maurice Newbury and his delectable assistant Miss Veronica Hobbes, do battle with enemies of the crown, physical and supernatural. This time Newbury and Hobbes are called to investigate the wreckage of a crashed airship and its missing automaton pilot, while attempting to solve a string of strangulations attributed to a mysterious glowing policeman, and dealing with a zombie plague that is ravaging the slums of the capital.

Get ready to follow dazzling young writer George Mann to a London unlike any you’ve ever seen and into an adventure you will never forget....

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

Inspector Morse: The first three novels ($9.99 Kindle), is an omnibus edition by Colin Dexter [Pan - may be self-published backlist, but print editions are still available from Ivy].
Book Description
Featuring the first three books in this classic crime series starring Inspector Morse: Last Bus to Woodstock, Last Seen Wearing and The Silent World of Nicholas Quinn.

Last Bus to Woodstock: The death of Sylvia Kaye figured dramatically in Thursday afternoon's edition of the Oxford Mail. By Friday evening Inspector Morse had informed the nation that the police were looking for a dangerous man – facing charges of wilful murder, sexual assault and rape. But as the obvious leads fade into twilight and darkness, Morse becomes more and more convinced that passion holds the key . . .

Last Seen Wearing: Morse was beset by a nagging feeling. Most of his fanciful notions about the Taylor girl had evaporated and he had begun to suspect that further investigation into Valerie’s disappearance would involve little more than sober and tedious routine . . . The statements before Inspector Morse appeared to confirm the bald, simple truth. After leaving home to return to school, teenager Valerie Taylor had completely vanished, and the trail had gone cold. Until two years, three months and two days after Valerie’s disappearance, somebody decides to supply some surprising new evidence for the case . . .

The Silent World of Nicholas Quinn: Morse had never ceased to wonder why, with the staggering advances in medical science, all pronouncements concerning times of death seemed so disconcertingly vague. The newly appointed member of the Oxford Examinations Syndicate was deaf, provincial and gifted. Now he is dead . . . And his murder, in his north Oxford home, proves to be the start of a formidably labyrinthine case for Chief Inspector Morse, as he tries to track down the killer through the insular and bitchy world of the Oxford Colleges . . .

Lisa McMann's The Unwanteds and Island of Silence, the first two novels in the pre-teen The Unwanteds series, are on sale for $2.99, in anticipation of the concluding volume of the trilogy, Island of Fire, being released in September [Simon and Schuster]. If you are willing to take a chance, you can pre-order The Unwanteds Omnibus, which contains all three volumes, at the same $2.99. It's a bit of a risk because, although the hardcover edition will clearly be released on the same September 3 as Island of Fire, the Kindle edition is now marked with a 2030 release date. So, it may release at the same time as the hardcover, or the publisher may bury the listing and never release it at all; if the former, you get all three books for under a buck each and if the latter, you don't spend a cent. If you know your kids (or you) want to read the series, hedge your bets by grabbing the two titles on sale and pre-order the omnibus edition, so that you also get the third in the series at under 1/3 the regular price.

The Unwanteds
A riveting middle-grade dystopian novel from New York Times bestselling Wake author Lisa McMann that Kirkus Reviews calls “The Hunger Games meets Harry Potter.”

When Alex finds out he is Unwanted, he expects to die. That is the way of the people of Quill. Each year, all the thirteen-year-olds are labeled as Wanted, Necessary, or Unwanted. Wanteds get more schooling and train to join the Quillitary. Necessaries keep the farms running. Unwanteds are set for elimination.

It’s hard for Alex to leave behind his twin, Aaron, a Wanted, but he makes peace with his fate—until he discovers that instead of a “death farm,” what awaits him is a magical place called Artimé. There, Alex and his fellow Unwanteds are encouraged to cultivate their creative abilities and use them magically. Everything Alex has ever known changes before his eyes, and it’s a wondrous transformation.

But it’s a rare, unique occurrence for twins to be divided between Wanted and Unwanted, and as Alex and Aaron’s bond stretches across their separation, a threat arises for the survival of Artimé that will pit brother against brother in an ultimate magical battle.
Island of Silence
Following the life-altering events at the conclusion of The Unwanteds, the stark world of Quill and the magical haven of Artimé are now home to whoever wants to live there, whether they are Wanteds, Unwanteds, or Necessaries.

In Artimé, Alex Stowe and his friends continue to hone their artistic magical spells while welcoming newcomers, wondering how long this peace between Quill and Artimé will last. Alex is stunned when Mr. Today comes to him with a very special request—one Alex questions his readiness for, until circumstances offer a dramatic answer.

And back in Quill, Aaron Stowe, Alex’s twin, faces a very different path. Devastated by his loss of status after Justine’s defeat and seething with rage toward Alex, Aaron is stealthily planning his revenge and return to power.

Alex and Aaron’s separate stories proceed with suspenseful pacing, colliding in a stunning climax that elevates sibling rivalry to epic proportions and leaves the fate of both worlds hanging in the balance.

Strangers on a Train ($2.99 Kindle), by Patricia Highsmith [W. W. Norton]
Book Description
A major new reissue of the work of a classic noir novelist.

With the acclaim for The Talented Mr. Ripley, more film projects in production, and two biographies forthcoming, expatriate legend Patricia Highsmith would be shocked to see that she has finally arrived in her homeland. Throughout her career, Highsmith brought a keen literary eye and a genius for plumbing the psychopathic mind to more than thirty works of fiction, unparalleled in their placid deviousness and sardonic humor. With deadpan accuracy, she delighted in creating true sociopaths in the guise of the everyday man or woman. Now, one of her finest works is again in print: Strangers on a Train, Highsmith's first novel and the source for Alfred Hitchcock's classic 1953 film. With this novel, Highsmith revels in eliciting the unsettling psychological forces that lurk beneath the surface of everyday contemporary life.

A Town Called Valentine ($1.99 Kindle), by Emma Cane [Avon/HarperCollins]. You can also pre-order what looks like a novella anthology, All I Want for Christmas Is a Cowboy ($1.99 Kindle), which lists Ms Cane, Jennifer Ryan and Katie Lane as authors (but doesn't have any descriptive copy, yet).
Book Description
Small towns, rugged cowboy heroes, and passion are a perfect combination when it comes to contemporary romance—just ask the many fans of Susan Wiggs, Robyn Carr, Lori Wilde, and Linda Lael Miller. Now newcomer Emma Cane joins their ranks, transporting readers to fictional Valentine, Colorado. In the first book in Cane’s heartwarming and deliciously sexy series, a young woman with a painful past and a rancher who’s no stranger to heartbreak find love in a tiny western town known for happily-ever-afters … A Town Called Valentine.

Amelia Peabody Omnibus ($9.99 Barnes & Noble), contains four novels by Elizabeth Peters [Constable & Robinson]; the only Kindle Edition that I see on this one, though, isn't available for sale in the US.
Book Description
Amelia Peabody is Elizabeth Peters' most brilliant and best-loved creation, a thoroughly Victorian feminist who takes the stuffy world of archaeology by storm with her shocking men's pants and no-nonsense attitude!

In this first adventure, our headstrong heroine decides to use her substantial inheritance to see the world. On her travels, she rescues a gentlewoman in distress - Evelyn Barton-Forbes - and the two become friends. The two companions continue to Egypt where they face mysteries,mummies and the redoubtable Radcliffe Emerson, an outspoken archaeologist, who doesn't need women to help him solve mysteries -- at least that's what he thinks!

Join our plucky Victorian Egyptologist , together with her devastatingly handsome and brilliant husband Radcliffe, in another exciting escapadeWhen Lady Baskerville's husband Sir Henry dies after discovering what may have been an undisturbed royal tomb in Luxor, she appeals to eminent archaeologist Radcliffe Emerson and his wife Amelia to take over the excavation. Amid rumours of a curse haunting all those involved with the dig, the intrepid couple proceeds to Egypt, where they begin to suspect that Sir Henry did not die a natural death, and they are confident that the accidents that plague the dig are caused by a sinister human element, not a pharoah's curse

The irascible husband of Victorian Egyptologist Amelia Peabody is living up to his reputation as 'The Father of Curses'. Denied permission to dig at the pyramids of Dahshoor, Emerson is awarded instead the 'pyramids' of Mazghunah - countless mounds of rubble in the middle of nowhere. Nothing in this barren spot seems of any interest but then a murder in Cairo changes all of that. The dead man was an antiques dealer, killed in his shop, so when a sinister-looking Egyptian spotted at the crime scene turns up in Mazghunah, Amelia can't resist following his trail. At the same time she has to keep an eagle eye on her wayward son Rameses and his elegant and calculating cat and look into the mysterious disappearance of a mummy case...

The 1985-96 season promises to be an exceptional one for Egyptologist Amelia Peabody, her dashing husband Emerson and their precocious eight-year-old son Rameses. The much-coveted burial chamber in Dahshoor is theirs for the digging. Yet there is a great evil in the wind that caresses the hot sands sweeping through the bustling streets and marketplaces of Cairo. An expedition cursed by misfortune and the daring moonlit abduction of Rameses alerts Amelia to the presence of her arch-enemy, the Master Criminal. And his is now a personal quest for the most valuable and elusive prize of all: vengeance on the meddling lady archaeologist with the parasol who has sworn to deliver him to justice...Amelia Peabody herself!

The Sam Gunn Omnibus ($7.59 Kindle; $7.99 B&N), by Ben Bova [Tor Books/Macmillan], collects a number of older stories from an author who is still writing (his Orion and King Arthur, the sixth novel in the Orion series, released last July).
Book Description
A hero without peer or scruples, Sam Gunn has a nose for trouble, money, and women--though not necessarily in that order. A man with the ego (and stature) of a Napoleon, the business acumen of a P. T. Barnum, and the raging hormones of a teenage boy, Sam is the finest astronaut NASA ever trained…and dumped.

But more than money, more than women, Sam Gunn loves justice. (And he really does love money and women.) Whether he's suing the Pope, helping twin sisters entangled in the "virtual sex" trade, or on trial for his life on charges of interplanetary genocide, you can be sure of one thing: this is one space jockey who'll meet every challenge with a smile on his lips, an ace up his sleeve…and a weapon in his pocket.

Now, for the first time between covers, Hugo-winner Ben Bova presents all the tales of Sam Gunn to date, including three never before collected in book form. Here is the entire chronicle of Sam Gunn, trailblazer and scoundrel, as he scams his way from one end of the Solar System to the other, giving bold new meaning to the term "venture capitalist."

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

The Darwath Trilogy: The Time of the Dark, The Walls of Air, and The Armies of Daylight ($9.99 Kindle), by Barbara Hambly [Open Road], gets you three novels for only a couple of bucks more than any one of them stand-alone.
Book Description
Barbara Hambly’s celebrated trilogy about a murderous force that threatens a far-off magical world and the two ordinary Californians who are drawn into the battle to save mankind

As a student of medieval history, Gil Patterson is a woman familiar with dark stories. She knows the Crusades, the Black Death, and the other horrors of the Middle Ages all too well, but it is another kind of atrocity that has begun to haunt her dreams. She sees forces of evil assaulting a beleaguered kingdom, whose kind people are on the brink of annihilation, and awakes each morning in a cold sweat.

In The Time of the Dark, Gil dismisses the dreams until a wizard appears in her apartment. He has crossed into her dimension, passing through the fraying fabric of the universe, to ask her help. For mankind to survive he must protect an infant prince, whom he plans to hide in Gil's world. She is about to get much closer to evil than she ever imagined.

In The Walls of Air and The Armies of Daylight, Gil and Rudy know the world is no longer safe and there is nowhere to hide from the Dark. Since the Dark Ones returned, the world has been laid to waste. The land’s wizards have been slaughtered, its cities destroyed, and its people scattered in terror. Few have witnessed more of the destruction than Gil and Rudy, and both of them will need all their strength to survive this final challenge.

Ingold, the master wizard, has devised a spell to hide the user from the deathly stare of the Dark, and he intends to use it to strike at their very heart. Finally, Gil, Rudy, and the rest of mankind’s survivors will take the offensive, bringing an end to this terrible war, for better or for worse.

Snow Adrift ($1.99 Kindle), is a brand-new Kindle Serial by Rex Kusler [Thomas & Mercer]
Book Description
This book is a Kindle Serial. Kindle Serials are stories published in episodes, with future episodes delivered at no additional cost. This serial currently contains one episode out of an estimated six total episodes, and new episodes will be delivered every two weeks.

Former Las Vegas homicide detective Jim Snow’s luck has been going from bad to worse, spurred by a series of rash decisions and a quickly developing mid-life crisis. He quit the force a few years ago to play poker for a living and has been losing steadily for months. His money is running out—and so is his live-in girlfriend.

After one of Snow’s poker buddies—a real estate investor and landlord who worked as a clown—is found shot to death in his home following their weekly game, Snow finds himself under suspicion by his former Metro Homicide partner, Marcia Stevens.

At forty-four, Snow is in the worst mess of his life. He’s not sure what to do, who to turn to, or who to trust as he scrambles to stay one step ahead of an arrest warrant for first-degree murder.

Smart and tightly plotted, Snow Adrift is the hardboiled origin story to Kusler’s popular Las Vegas Mystery series.

Daily Deal - Plastered in Stonington (DF)

Plastered in Stonington ($4.50 $3.60 Kindle), the third title in the Kate Bart Mysteries series by Rosemary Goodwin [Samhain Publishing], is today's Deal of the Day at at Diesel E-Books, where it's discounted to $0.90 (9 copies left).
Book Description
Sour grapes are the least of their problems…

The new skill decorating Kate’s resume—licensed PI—officially qualifies her to be Dutch’s partner in crime fighting. Unofficially, their personal relationship has grown well into serious territory.

Both halves of her life are called into service when Kate is hired to redesign the tasting room at Fiona and Cameron MacPherson’s winery. It doesn’t take long to figure out all is not sunshine and roses at Goose Pond, and Dutch agrees to look into some serious safety issues that have led to a string of mishaps.

When another incident results in a death, and it’s clear that this time it’s no accident, Kate and Dutch dig deeper to zero in on who’s responsible. The neighboring vintner who covets Goose Pond’s winery? The tasting room totsie seen skulking about with the MacPhersons’ sulky son?

As their investigation comes closer and closer to bearing fruit, the bullets start flying—and it seems that whoever’s pulling the trigger wants them all to pay the piper—in blood.

Warning: Contains an interior decorating PI with a talent for finding trouble, and her tough-and-tender PI boyfriend who can’t wait to get his hands on her. If only it’s to pull her out of harm’s way.
Get the book from Diesel; be sure to check the sales price, as the Deal of the Day often sells out. Deals change at 11AM Eastern Time, USA.

40% Off Select Kindle Accessories (AL)

This is repeat of the earlier AmazonLocal deal, so if you signed up earlier, you are still signed up for this deal (you just get longer to make a selection).

Click on Apply from the Free Voucher for 40% Off Select Kindle Accessories page, then complete the purchase on the page after that. Yes, it now says "Apply" instead of "purchase" on these free offers, but nearly the same process: you must be in the US and have a credit card on file, make a "purchase" at zero cost, then the promo code is automatically applied to your account (no waiting for an email and dealing with a promo code). Sign-up for this offer expires June 4, 2013 or when the number of vouchers set aside by Amazon have been exhausted.

Grab a voucher now, before they sell out and you'll have three days to look thru the qualifying items and decide which ones you want (although popular ones may sell out, as happened earlier with this deal, but it appears to have been restocked with some new choices). Also, be sure to click on the headings for your particular Kindle model (or the one you're buying for Dad), once you get to the Accessories page - only a few are displayed when you first arrive and there are actually quite a few for each Kindle model. Besides the usual assortment of cases, there are headphones made specifically for the Kindle Fire (presumably with a thin connector, so it will work with the Fire in an Amazon case).
Deal Description
Dad's life changed when he got that Kindle. This Father's Day, support his newfound passion by getting a free voucher good for 40% off up to $250 worth of accessories from the Kindle Accessories Store. Give him a Kindle cover that will identify his device as his alone, or a protective molded case to keep it secure while it's in his briefcase or backpack.
  • Free voucher for 40% off up to $250 worth of select Kindle accessories
  • Choose from a huge variety of covers, cases, easel stands, and sleeves
  • Make sure Dad's Kindle is both stylishly attired and secure
  • Voucher will expire if not used toward a qualifying purchase in the Kindle Accessories Store by June 11, 2013
  • Voucher is valid for a 40% discount on your order total (up to the first $250 spent) for qualifying items in the Kindle Accessories Store; your order total can be over $250, but the maximum discount is $100.
  • Limit 1 voucher per customer; limited quantities available
  • This promotion may not be combined with other offers, including promotional certificates

Free Nook App - Wordsearch Deluxe

Wordsearch Deluxe (no Amazon or Google edition available), by Astraware, is this week's Free Friday App from Barnes & Noble.
App Description
Word search is a popular pastime everyone enjoys! In each puzzle you are given a list of words and you need to find them hidden in a grid full of letters. For this reason, word search puzzles are also known as Word Seek, Word Find or Word Sleuth games.

Astraware Wordsearch Deluxe offers over 1000 puzzles in different themes. You can also download and play a new Daily word search each day - top the global leaderboard by completing the puzzle in the fastest time! For more of a challenge there is a Weekender puzzle available each Friday with an even bigger grid.

Great features include:

  • A collection of over 1000 built-in word searches
  • Over 12 categories of words for themed word searches
  • Words may run horizontally or vertically, forwards or backwards. Hard puzzles also include words diagonally!
  • Unlimited access to our Daily and Weekender puzzles*
  • Intuitive interface
  • 4 save slots available to have several word search on the go at once, so you can stop for a break and come back to a puzzle later
Get the free App from Barnes & Noble.

Kindle Daily Deals 5/31

Today's Gold Box at Amazon saves 61% on "Indiana Jones: The Complete Adventures" on Blu-ray. The current Lightning Deal is $200 off a Sony HDRPJ260V High Definition Handycam 8.9 MP Camcorder with 30x Optical Zoom, 16 GB Embedded Memory and Built-in Projector, which normally isn't discounted at all. It's a pretty neat idea, bypassing the need for anyone to figure out how to connect the camcorder to a television in order to view what you've recorded (and you can watch outside, where everyone can see). If you do want to connect to your computer, the USB cable is built-in, so you can't lose it or leave it behind.

Amazon's Android Free App of the Day is Genius Scan, which turns your phone or your Kindle Fire into a scanner.

Today is the last day to take advantage of these deals and it's also the last day for those on Prime to pick out and borrow a book thru Prime Lending.

Today's Kindle Daily Deal is Strong Poison ($1.99), the sixth novel in the Lord Peter Wimsey Mysteries series by Dorothy L. Sayers [Open Road].
Book Description
She is lovely, smart, and talented—and only Lord Peter can save her from the gallows

Lord Peter Wimsey comes to the trial of Harriet Vane for a glimpse at one of the most engaging murder cases London has seen in years. Unfortunately for the detective, the crime’s details are distractingly salacious, and there is little doubt that the woman will be found guilty. A slightly popular mystery novelist, she stands accused of poisoning her fiancé, a literary author and well-known advocate of free love. Over the course of a few weeks, she bought strychnine, prussic acid, and arsenic, and when her lover died the police found enough poison in his veins to kill a horse. But as Lord Peter watches Harriet in the dock, he begins to doubt her guilt—and to fall in love.

As Harriet awaits the hangman, Lord Peter races to prove her innocence, hoping that for the first time in his life, love will triumph over death.

This ebook features an illustrated biography of Dorothy L. Sayers including rare images from the Marion E. Wade Center at Wheaton College.

Today's Kindle Romance Daily Deal is The Scandalous Marriage ($1.99), by M. C. Beaton, writing as Marion Chesney [RosettaBooks].
Book Description
As far as matrimonial prospects were concerned, Lucy Bliss was told she’d make an excellent clergyman’s wife.

Her mother, however, had loftier aspirations for her lovely younger sister Belinda. Belinda would marry a duke. More specifically, the Duke of Wardshire. Lucy was truly horrified. “Lucifer” Wardshire! Why, he was rumored to be as wicked as the devil, with orgies and mistresses—and worse!

As the London Season unfolded, Lucy couldn’t decide who was more abominable, her vulgar mama or the arrogant yet disconcertingly handsome duke. No matter, Lucy vowed to go to any lengths to protect her sister, even if her mission should take her into the very arms of the devilish duke himself….

Today's Kindle SciFi/Fantasy Daily Deal is The Bridge ($1.99), by bestselling author and screenwriter John Skipp & Craig Spector [47North]. This was originally issued in print by Spectra/Bantam, then Leisure, but is now under on of Amazon's imprints.
Book Description
When the great storm comes, the good life ends. And hell on Earth begins. For 100 years we’ve been tossing our toxic waste over our shoulders. No more. This morning, while we slept, something woke up. It’s virulent. Malign. Intelligent. Ambitious. It’s in our food, our water, our air. It’s inside our bodies themselves. And it’s not leaving. We are.

Today's Kindle Kids Daily Deal is Throw Like a Girl: How to Dream Big and Believe in Yourself ($2.99), by two-time Olympian Jennie Finch and award-winning sportswriter Ann Killion [Triumph Books].
Book Description
Dream Big and Believe in Yourself

In a society that sends incredibly mixed identity messages, sports help preteen and teenage girls make the right choices. Athletic girls not only grow up to be healthier; they learn teamwork, gain self-confidence, and mature into society s leaders.

Throw Like a Girl inspires, motivates, and answers questions about issues specific to today s female athletes. NCAA softball champion, two-time Olympian, and sports icon Jennie Finch offers sound advice on how to translate the lessons she learned from sports into everyday life.

Topics including body image, femininity vs. sports, peer pressure, nutrition, and the balancing act today s young women construct between school, extra-curricular activities, family, and friends are addressed in an engaging and instantly relatable personal style. Fiercely competitive and fashionably cool, Jennie fills the role of girlfriend, big sister, team captain, and mentor as she offers candid observations from personal experience bound to resonate with young women everywhere and inspire them to dream big, work hard, and believe in themselves.

Nook Daily Find 5/31

Murder Is Binding ($7.99 Kindle, $2.99 B&N), the first novel in Lorna Barrett's Booktown cozy mystery series [Berkley/Penguin], is the Nook Daily Find; this should be price matched on Kindle, since Penguin is one of the few remaining Agency pricing publishers. I've reported the price difference on the Amazon product page and expect it to drop later today. The Audible companion audiobook is $7.99.
Book Description
The streets of Stoneham, New Hampsire are lined with bookstores...and paved with murder.

When she moved to Stoneham, city slicker Tricia Miles met nothing but friendly faces. And when she opened her mystery bookstore, she met friendly competition. But when she finds Doris Gleason dead in her own cookbook store, killed by a carving knife, the atmosphere seems more cutthroat than cordial. Someone wanted to get their hands on the rare cookbook that Doris had recently purchased-and the locals think that someone is Tricia. To clear her name, Tricia will have to take a page out of one of her own mysteries-and hunt down someone who isn't killing by the book

UK Kindle Daily Deal 5/31

The Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK is all three titles in the Tir Tanagiri/Sulien series by Jo Walton [Corsair] for £0.99 each (~80% off).

The King's Peace (Main/UK; US edition $7.59)
Sulien ap Gwien is seventeen years old when the Jarnish invasion begins, and strong enough to match any one of their raiders in battle. But when they do come, she finds herself unarmed and at their mercy. As she watches her attackers walk away from where she lies bound, she vows revenge.

With the land around her disintegrating and no help forthcoming, Sulien rides out in search of King Urdo, a young ruler fighting to create unity in a country where there is none.

What follows is the beginning of an alliance that will shape the course of history in Tir Tanagiri as well as the rest of Sulien's life.
The King's Name (Main/UK; US edition $7.59)
Years have passed since the Jarnish invasion, and Sulien ap Gwien has worked tirelessly alongside her lord, King Urdo, to restore the King's Peace to Tir Tanagiri. But the man Sulien believes to be the greatest of his time is seen by others as a potential tyrant. Urdo's vision of a nation of citizens bound by a single code of law is viewed with increasing mistrust, and this soon gives way to civil war.

Sulien must take up arms again. But where once her enemies were barbarian invaders, now they are former comrades and loved ones. As the conflict tears her country and her family apart, Sulien must fight harder and harder to hold onto Urdo's vision of the future.
The Prize in the Game (Main/UK; US edition $7.59)
On the island of Tir Isarnagiri, Gods stalk the land, laying subtle but inescapable dooms upon the feuding kingdoms there.

The lives of four young friends - Conal, Emer, Darag, and Ferdia - have been intertwined since their births. Each is destined for kingship in his own land. But when they unwittingly incur the wrath of the Horse Goddess, they find that ties of friendship - and even love - may not be enough to prevent their countries from attacking each other in a war that will devastate the island - and alter their fates are forever.

Quick Squidoo Note

Just a quick note - my Squidoo page has been taken down by Squidoo's automatic spambots. I've sent in a request for review by an actual person, but they don't promise any speed on replying to such requests (and they don't look at them on weekends). So, until then, you'll need to do searches on your Kindle for any free books I turn up. I'll let you know when Squidoo decides to re-enable the page (it was up to #14 on their site, so hopefully they won't keep it disabled).

Thursday, May 30, 2013

Two Free Audiobooks - Of Poseidon & The Tempest

It's time once again for free audiobooks from Sync! There is a new set each week, pairing a Teen/Young Adult novel with one of the classics. Be sure to fully download your books each week, as they are only available during the one-week promotion (there is no "library" to track your purchases and redownload later). I've linked in the info from the ebook or audiobook version of each title (Amazon has the best reviews), followed by the link to get your copies free, with directions to ensure you get the complete download.

Start off with Of Poseidon ($6.76 Kindle; $18.17 Audible), by Anna Banks, narrated by Rebecca Gibel, a teen romance with an element of fantasy.
Book Description
Emma and her friend Chloe are spending vacation in Florida. When Emma (literally) runs into a hot guy named Galen on the beach, little does she know he's a prince of the Syrena. Galen and Emma both feel something strange - is it attraction? - and Galen suspects that Emma might well be the girl he's heard of - a human who can communicate with fish. What follows is a deadly scene with a shark in which Galen witnesses Emma's gifts. He must know more about her, and follows her back to New Jersey, and high school, to find out for sure if she's the key to saving his kingdom.

Soon, Emma can't deny her feelings for him, but can't explain them, either - and both she and Galen must learn more about where she comes from and what her powers are before they can trust one another and their feelings. Told from both Emma and Galen's points of view, here is a fish-out-of-water story that sparkles with intrigue, humor, and waves of romance.

BBC Radio Shakespeare: The Tempest ($14.95 Audible), by William Shakespeare, narrated by Philip Madoc, Nina Wadia and a full cast, is the second selection for this week. As with most classics, there are many editions to choose from on Kindle; you can spend anything from 99 cents and to $10 and get an edition that will work for reading along while listening.
Book Description
BBC Radio has a unique heritage when it comes to Shakespeare. Since 1923, when the newly formed company broadcast its first full-length play, generations of actors and producers have honed and perfected the craft of making Shakespeare to be heard.

Raging storms and rich beautiful music combine to magical effect in this production of Shakespeare's allegorical last play, where mystical forces work to restore harmony and order to an estranged community.

Revitalised, original, and comprehensive, this is Shakespeare for the new millennium.
Click HERE to get the free downloads (you'll need to enter your name and an email address. You'll end up clicking about three pages (for each book), before the audiobook actually downloads. Don't stop so long as you still see a button that talks about your Sync download (or until you see the Overdrive software open up; there is a link at Sync, if you don't already have Overdrive installed).

Once in Overdrive, you'll need to tell it where to save the files (just click OK to use the default location, since Overdrive will keep track of them for you), then again to actually start the download (by default, all parts of the book are downloaded; I would suggest not changing this in the last dialog box, just click on OK to get the download started). Make sure your audiobook is fully downloaded before the end of the week, as once the promo period is over, you won't be able to get them free.

You can't get any titles that have been missed, but once they are loaded into Overdrive (which you will need to install, if you are not already using it for library books), they are yours to keep (there is no expiration date).

Kindle Daily Deals 5/30

Today is the last day to take advantage of this AmazonLocal deal:

Today's Kindle Daily Deal is The Song of Achilles ($1.99), by Madeline Miller [Ecco/HarperCollins], one of Amazon's Best Books of the Month, March 2012.
Book Description
“Mary Renault lives again!” declares Emma Donoghue, author of Room, referring to The Song of Achilles, Madeline Miller’s thrilling, profoundly moving, and utterly unique retelling of the legend of Achilles and the Trojan War. A tale of gods, kings, immortal fame, and the human heart, The Song of Achilles is a dazzling literary feat that brilliantly reimagines Homer’s enduring masterwork, The Iliad. An action-packed adventure, an epic love story, a marvelously conceived and executed page-turner, Miller’s monumental debut novel has already earned resounding acclaim from some of contemporary fiction’s brightest lights—and fans of Mary Renault, Bernard Cornwell, Steven Pressfield, and Colleen McCullough’s Masters of Rome series will delight in this unforgettable journey back to ancient Greece in the Age of Heroes.

Today's Kindle Romance Daily Deal is Her Restless Heart ($2.99), by Barbara Cameron [Abingdon Press]. Check your libraries on this one, as it was free more than once last year.
Book Description
Mary Katherine is caught between the traditions of her faith and the pull of a different life. When Daniel, an Amish man living in Florida, arrives and shares her restlessness, Mary Katherine feels drawn to him and curious about the life he leads away from Lancaster County. But her longtime friend Jacob has been in love with her for years. He’s discouraged that she’s never viewed him as anything but a friend and despairs that he is about to lose Mary Katherine to this outsider. Will the conflicted Mary Katherine be lost to the Englisch world, or to Daniel, who might take her away to Florida? Or will she embrace her Amish faith and recognize Jacob as the man she should marry and build a life with?

"You'll laugh and cry right alongside the characters in this story that tests a young woman's faith in Gods's plan for her life." - Loree Lough, best-selling author of more than 80 award-winning books, including From Ashes to Honor, #1 in the First Responders series.

Today's Kindle SciFi/Fantasy Daily Deal is Earth Strike ($0.99), the first novel in the Star Carrier series by Ian Douglas [HarperCollins], with the the companion audiobook for $3.49. The only thing stopping me from grabbing this (or anything of his at this price) is that it's already in my library (although I may get it anyway, to get access to the audiobook pricing); if you've already read the earlier novels in the series, be sure to grab Deep Space ($5.69), which was released at the end of last month.
Book Description
The first book in the epic saga of humankind's war of transcendence

There is a milestone in the evolution of every sentient race, a Tech Singularity Event, when the species achieves transcendence through its technological advances. Now the creatures known as humans are near this momentous turning point.

But an armed threat is approaching from deepest space, determined to prevent humankind from crossing over that boundary—by total annihilation if necessary.

To the Sh'daar, the driving technologies of transcendent change are anathema and must be obliterated from the universe—along with those who would employ them. As their great warships destroy everything in their path en route to the Sol system, the human Confederation government falls into dangerous disarray. There is but one hope, and it rests with a rogue Navy Admiral, commander of the kilometer-long star carrier America, as he leads his courageous fighters deep into enemy space towards humankind's greatest conflict—and quite possibly its last.

Today's Kindle Kids Daily Deal is The Dyno-Mite Dog Show ($0.99), by Louise Bonnett-Rampersaud and George O'Connor (Illustrator), is the first in a series of reasonably priced children's readers [Simon and Schuster].
Book Description
Bad guys beware! Eugene McGillicudy just happens to be the most awesome superhero of all time…Captain Awesome. MI-TEE!

Now readers between the ages of five and seven can read chapter books tailor-made for a younger level of reading comprehension. Heavily illustrated with large type, Little Simon's young chapter books let young readers feel like they are reading a “grown-up” format with subject, text, and illustrations geared specifically for their own age groups!

Eight-year-old Eugene McGillicudy is an imaginative boy who loves comic books and superheroes. Eugene also has his very own supersecret superhero alter ego named Captain Awesome. MI-TEE!

When the McGillicudy family relocates to a new town called Sunnyview, Eugene starts a new school, finds a best friend, and even finds time to defend his toys from his two-year-old little sister, Molly! Luckily for Sunnyview, Captain Awesome is there to protect the town (and the universe) from a hilarious cast of comical “bad guys.”

With easy-to-read language and illustrations on almost every page, the Captain Awesome chapter books are perfect for beginning readers.

Age Level: 5 and up

UK Kindle Fire Book Sale

Kindle Fire owners (in the UK), the Kindle Fire Book Sale is for you! Save on a selection of books specifically designed for reading on your Kindle Fire. From beautiful cookery books to classic comics and graphic novels to popular children's books, there are hundreds of titles to choose from for as little as £0.99 each. Sale ends 11:59 pm, May 30, 2013.

Many of the books included are not compatible with the eInk Kindles (or even the Kindle apps other than on Android), but others are, so it's worth taking a look thru the included titles, with cookbooks and graphic novels as low as £0.99.

UK Kindle Daily Deal 5/30

Burn Out (£0.99 UK), a Rachel Scott Adventure by Traci Hohenstein [Thomas & Mercer], is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (the US edition is $2.99).
Book Description
The week before she is to testify at her estranged husband’s trial on drug charges, firefighter Lieutenant Samantha Collins vanishes while combating a warehouse fire, leaving only her helmet behind.

With Sam missing, her mother seeks the help of Florida Omni Search, a nonprofit organization founded by Rachel Scott, whose own daughter, Mallory, disappeared when only three years old. Rachel has worked with law enforcement agencies all over the United States, but she can’t possibly anticipate how terrifying the Sam Collins case will be. Rachel learns of Sam’s husband’s drug operation, and as she digs deeper, not only does the investigator expose Sam’s surprising past, she also uncovers clues that could reveal what happened to her own daughter.

The second book in the Rachel Scott series, Burn Out is a Traci Hohenstein original, an emotionally charged mystery-thriller that takes the reader on a rollercoaster ride of plot twists, turns, and startling surprises.

Nook Daily Find 5/30

Written in Stone: Evolution, the Fossil Record, and Our Place in Nature ($9.99 Kindle, $2.99 B&N), by Brian Switek [Bellevue Literary Press], is the Nook Daily Find.
Book Description
Written In Stone is the first book to tell the story of the fossils that mapped out evolutionary history. 150 years after Darwin's Origin was published, scientists are beginning to understand how whales walked into the sea, how horses stood up on their tip-toes, how feathered dinosaurs took to the air, and how our ancestors came down from the trees.

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Bella Andre Summer of Love Contest

I have a special treat for romance (or beach) fans today. As a part of Bella Andre's The Summer of Love Book Tour, I have a beach bag of gifts to give away to one lucky reader. This includes the print edition of The Look of Love ($5.99 paperback), the first novel in The Sullivans contemporary romance series. Even if you read it on your Kindle, you may want to pick up the print edition if you don't win, as it contains additional scenes not in the digital edition.
Book Description
Expanded Edition! More Story! More Sullivans!

Fans of Bella Andre's Sullivan Series will love this long-awaited print edition of THE LOOK OF LOVE. It features a longer, more-detailed story with all the emotion and sensuality that readers love. Not to be missed!

Sometimes one look is all it takes
Chloe Peterson has vowed never to make the mistake of trusting a man again. Her reasons are as vivid as the bruises on her cheek. So when her car skids off a wet country road straight into a ditch, she's convinced the gorgeous guy who rescues her must be too good to be true.

As a successful international photographer, Chase Sullivan has his pick of beautiful women. He's satisfied with his life—until he finds Chloe and her totaled car on the side of the road in Napa Valley.

With every loving look—and every sinfully sweet caress—the attraction between them sizzles, and Chloe can't help but wonder if she's met the man who may be the exception to her rule….
So, what do you have to do to enter the contest?

Just leave a comment here (on this post), along with an email address that I can use to find you, if you are the lucky winner. The winner will receive a fabulous beach bags filled with summertime essentials from hot brands such as O.P.I., Evian, Not Your Mother’s Hair Care, and Unisun Eyewear. I just received my gift box and the bag is great (it will really hold up to abuse, I believe), as are the contents. Since this will be mailed to you direct from Bella's publicist, you will need a mailing address in the United States.

I'll keep the contest page open until the end of the month - that gives everyone two days to find this post and leave a comment (don't worry if it doesn't show up right away, as I have moderation turned on for comments). If you want an extra entry into the contest, then promote this post on Facebook, Google+ or Twitter and leave a second comment here, along with a link to your promotion (for Twitter, leave your twitter ID); be sure to use these hashtags: #BellaAndreSummerOfLove #win #giveaway .

Be sure to also visit the Harlequin Facebook page and create a Summer of Love mixtape "for a chance to win a trip for YOU and THREE friends to Las Vegas!" *No purchase necessary. Ends May 31, 2013.

Daily Deal - Blissful Lies (P)

Blissful Lies ($9.99 $8.99 Kindle), a movie tie-in novel by Jennifer Brown Thomas [Helm Publishing], is today's Deal of the Day at at Diesel E-Books, where it's discounted to $2.00 (8 copies left).
Book Description
Blissful Lies tells a heart-wrenching story exploring the enviable bonds of five best friends who, in the midst of growing up together, are just starting to realize how much they still have to learn about life. They quickly find the limits of their relationships are tested when secrets and lies rapidly interrupt their picture perfect existence, threatening the stability of years of friendship. At the center of their universe is mother to one group member and Brown-Thomas University Chancellor, Addison Hamilton. Uncertainty in her own life leads her down a path of no return as she finds herself a little too involved with someone many years her junior. While each person is forced to take responsibility for their hidden secret, they wonder if ultimately, it’s just too much to move forward as the ‘family’ they once claimed to be. Join us on the journey, which allows true love to surface despite obvious obstacles, fearful hatred to emerge with a vengeance and betrayal of even the most loyal of friends. As lives are left in tattered pieces, everyone is forced to choose…. Will the group fall apart at the seams or will the strong bonds of everlasting friendship withstand the fire of deceit?
Get the book from Diesel; be sure to check the sales price, as the Deal of the Day often sells out. Deals change at 11AM Eastern Time, USA.

Nook Daily Find 5/29

Confessions of a Scholarship Winner: The Secrets That Helped Me Win $500,000 in Free Money for College. How You Can Too. ($2.99 Kindle, B&N), by Kristina Ellis [Worthy Publishing], is the Nook Daily Find, price matched on Kindle.
Book Description
How ANY student--including YOU!--can win scholarships and earn free money for college!

On the first day of high school, Kristina Ellis's mom--a single, working mother who lost her husband to cancer--informed her that she could not financially support her after graduation. Kristina would need to find her own way to pay for college.

As an average student with less-than-impressive test scores, Kristina realized she would have to sell herself to scholarship committees if she wanted to stand out. That's when she devised the plan that led to her receiving over $500,000 in scholarships--enough to pay for her full education at a top- 20 university, all the way through her doctoral degree, and make her dreams come true.

How she made it happen--and how you can too!--is the focus of this book. In Confessions of a Scholarship Winner, Kristina shares not just her little-known secrets for scholarship success but
her incredibly inspiring story.

Kindle Daily Deals 5/29

Amazon's Android Free App of the Day is Next Word.

Today's Kindle Daily Deal is Under the Lake ($1.99), a stand-alone thriller by Stuart Woods [Simon and Schuster], with the companion audiobook for $3.99.
Book Description
A mesmerizing psychological thriller about the dark underside of a Southern town and its inhabitants.

In the beautiful mountains of North Georgia lies a lake built by an obsessed man at a terrible price. This placid body of water has brought prosperity to an isolated community, and with it, two strangers who intermingle with the insular local folk, strangers probing into crimes against nature from generations past that cannot remain submerged beneath the waters' surface.

Under the Lake marks the eagerly awaited return to the South of his Edgar Award-winning novel Chiefs. John Howell, once a top investigative journalist, comes to this backcountry town on the run from a once promising personal and professional life that has somehow gone sour. What he finds is a mystery so deep, so complex, so bizarre, that he cannot concentrate on the book he has come here to write.

The story begins with his entanglement in a subtle, but relentless battle waged by the autocratic town father and the local sheriff against an outcast family, ravaged by its origins. Howell is further drawn in by his involvement with two women - an ambitious young reporter on the prowl for corruption, and a shy backwoods beauty, forsaken by the world because of her family's ill kept secret. Then, without warning, visits from an otherworldly young girl haunt Howell as his rustic cabin becomes a spectral theater offering strange and frightening images of a hideous event of long ago.

Today's Kindle Romance Daily Deal is Anew ($0.99), the first novel in the YA Archers of Avalon series by Chelsea Fine [self-pub/"Firefall Publishing"]. Each of the books in this series has a hundred or more 5-star reviews (and nearly no negative reviews), plus continuing with the series is reasonably priced: Awry ($2.99) and Avow ($3.99).
Book Description
Three curses. Two brothers. One love triangle.

Sometimes love is meant to be. But sometimes...love is the death of you.

Fans of The Vampire Diaries and Once Upon A Time will fall head over heels for the desperate characters and endless mysteries in Anew!

Today's Kindle SciFi/Fantasy Daily Deal is Seven Kinds of Hell ($1.99), the first novel in the brand-new Fangborn series by Dana Cameron [47North], with the companion audiobook also $1.99. This is the type of novel I'd pick up when browsing at the bookstore just on the strength of the cover and probably buy to take home after reading the blurb on the back or only a page or two from the front; I read more of the sample than that and it has joined my TBR pile.
Book Description
Archaeologist Zoe Miller has been running from a haunting secret her whole life. But when her cousin is abducted by a vicious Russian kidnapper, Zoe is left with only one option: to reveal herself.

Unknown to even her closest friends, Zoe is not entirely human. She’s a werewolf and a daughter of the “Fangborn,” a secretive race of werewolves, vampires, and oracles embroiled in an ancient war against evil.

To rescue her cousin, Zoe will be forced to renew family ties and pit her own supernatural abilities against the dark and nefarious foe. The hunt brings Zoe to the edge of her limits, and with the fate of humanity and the Fangborn in the balance, life will be decided by an artifact of world-ending power.

Zoe’s mission takes her and her friends across the globe on a frenetic quest for no less than Pandora’s Box.

Today's Kindle Kids Daily Deal is The Dyno-Mite Dog Show ($1.99), by Louise Bonnett-Rampersaud [Two Lions].
Book Description
Knock. Knock. Listen up! Agnes and The Secret Knock Club are doing a community service project at The Brookside Retirement Village. But will the dog show (and canine wedding) be a success? Or a dog-gone disaster? Especially after Principal Not-Such-a-Joy’s dog goes missing

The author of The Dyno-Mite Dog Show has donated this book to the Worldreader program.

Age Level: 6 and up; Grade Level: 1 and up

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

UK Kindle Daily Deal 5/29

The Likes of Us: Stories of Five Decades (£0.99 UK), by Stan Barstow [Parthian Books], is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (the US edition is $6.59).
Book Description
A classic selection of the best of Stan Barstow's stories, covering the last five decades of British life. A group of young tearaways on a night out that begins with horse-play and ends in tragedy; the loneliness of a drunken miner's wife; a war-shocked ex-sailor forced beyond endurance, a widower is brought to grief by a woman outside his real understanding, and a factory worker finding his way through the physical world of his marriage. Real and involving, Barstow's stories are urgent slices of life, men and women struggling and succeeding to come to terms with The Likes of Us. Along with Alan Sillitoe and John Braine, Stan Barstow was considered one of the pioneers of the 1960s school of northern literary realism, paving the way for contemporary authors like Nick Hornby.

Daily Deal - Tempting the Mogul (P)

Tempting the Mogul ($5.40 $4.16 Kindle), a contemporary romance by Marcia King-Gamble [Harlequin/Kimani Romance], is today's Deal of the Day at at Diesel E-Books, where it's discounted to $0.80 (5 copies left).
Book Description
Playing glorified babysitter to a reluctant executive isn't quite the job life coach Kennedy Fitzgerald had in mind. Even so, she's sure that grooming Salim Washington to take over as head of a TV studio will be a breeze...right until he delivers a kiss that rocks Kennedy's perfectly ordered world to the core.

Unconventional, impulsive and sexy as sin, Salim would rather be traveling the globe helping others than trapped behind a desk. He also doesn't trust Kennedy's motives one bit. Yet beneath her prim exterior is a tempting, sensual woman who makes him long to turn every business meeting into an adventure in soul-searing pleasure....
Get the book from Diesel; be sure to check the sales price, as the Deal of the Day often sells out. Deals change at 11AM Eastern Time, USA.

Kindle Daily Deals 5/28

Amazon has finally matched today's Nook Daily Find: Graveminder ($10.96 $1.99), by Melissa Marr [HarperCollins]. Grab it before it goes back up!

Today's Gold Box at Amazon is 42% off "Injustice: Gods Among Us", a video game for all platforms and it's video games all day long in the Lightning Deals.

Amazon's Android Free App of the Day is Relax Melodies Premium: A White Noise Ambience For Sleep, Meditation & Yoga.

Today's Kindle Teen Daily Deal is TimeRiders: Day of the Predator ($2.99), by Alex Scarrow [Walker Childrens]. This is the second novel in the TimeRiders series, which has been nominated by Puffin as BEST ADVENTURE FANTASY in their recent BEST SEVENTY CHILDREN'S BOOKS OF ALL TIME press release; if you haven't started it, the first in the series is also on sale for $2.99. This is a pretty good series (and not in any of the libraries I belong to, nor on sale often); this particular volume has only one review below 4 stars (excluding the one-star review said it was "awesome", which usually indicates someone that didn't understand the stars system).

If you like this series, be sure to check out his self-published (and new) Ellie Quin series, which has two novels at $1.99 and the third at $2.99 right now.
Book Description
Liam O'Connor, Maddy Carter, and Sal Vikram all should have died. But instead, they have been given a second chance-to work for an agency that no one knows exists. The TimeRiders' mission: to prevent time travel from destroying history-and the future. . . . When Maddy mistakenly opens a time window where and when she shouldn't, Liam is marooned sixty-five million years in the past, in the hunting ground of a deadly, and until now undiscovered, species of prehistoric predator. Can Liam make contact with Maddy and Sal before he's hunted down by dinosaurs, and without changing history so much that the world is overtaken by a terrifying new reality? The second book in the thrilling TimeRiders series is just as fast-paced, intelligent, and mind-bending as the first.

Today's Kindle Daily Deal is all four books in the Righteous series by Michael Wallace for $0.99 apiece [Thomas & Mercer]; all have companion audiobooks for $1.99 apiece, as well. I have the first three in the series and will be grabbing the fourth today.

The Righteous (companion audiobook $1.99)
Deep in the Utah desert, the small polygamous community of Blister Creek has a history of protecting its own. Even when a young woman is brutally murdered just blocks from her home, the residents of the conservative enclave close ranks. But just because they don’t want outside law enforcement in their business doesn’t mean the murder will go unpunished. More than a thousand miles away, Jacob Christianson, a medical student and son of a devout church elder, learns of his cousin Amanda’s murder. Though Jacob is skeptical of many of the community’s fundamentalist beliefs, his sharply analytical mind and family connection to the victim earns him the assignment of investigator into Amanda’s death. Jacob heads to Blister Creek, accompanied by his inquisitive younger sister, Eliza, to probe the bizarre circumstances of their cousin’s violent death. It doesn’t take long for the pair to realize that Amanda’s murder was no random act; rather, it is part of a covert plot to overthrow the church’s leaders. Chilling and engrossing, The Righteous has been hailed as a “first rate suspense thriller,” a tightly plotted novel about the dark secrets hiding behind the veil of religion.
Mighty and Strong (companion audiobook $1.99)
For years Jacob Christianson struggled to reconcile his faith with his skepticism about the polygamous practices of his religious community. That doubt, combined with a sharp analytical mind, enabled him to solve the ritualistic murder of his cousin at the hands of bloodthirsty fundamentalists within their own church. Now, those experiences have captured the attention of the FBI, who come to Jacob with an unusual request: infiltrate a millennialist cult and extract the undercover agent who has fallen off the radar. Jacob reluctantly agrees, but it doesn’t take long to realize that his mission will be easier said than done. Impatient and unwilling to heed Jacob’s warnings, the FBI closes in, forcing a power play with the dangerous cultists—with Jacob and his family caught squarely in the middle. Tense and engaging, Mighty and Strong offers “an in-depth ride into a world few have entered,” a page-turning foray into the realm of religious extremists and the lengths to which they will go to defend their beliefs.
The Wicked (companion audiobook $1.99)
Growing up in a conservative polygamous community, Eliza Christianson was a young woman of faith who could never quite wrap her mind around the fundamentalist aspects of her religion. Thanks to her older brother Jacob, she managed to survive adolescence unmarried, even enrolling in classes at the University of Utah. Eliza always suspected God had more in store for her than just to be some man’s third or fourth wife; nonetheless, she is surprised when Allison Caliari seeks her out for help. Allison’s daughter Madeline has been recruited by a doomsday cult led by a cruel man known only as the Disciple, and she wants Eliza’s help to get the girl back. One of the few leads Allison can offer is a fateful one: Jacob and Eliza’s brother David, a “lost boy” shunned by the church. Eliza sets out to convince David to help her infiltrate the cult, and she ventures to an abandoned dumping ground in the Las Vegas desert to rescue Madeline. The third installment of Michael Wallace’s enthralling Righteous series, The Wicked tears off the veil of religious fanaticism as seen through the eyes of an extraordinary heroine.
The Blessed and the Damned (companion audiobook $1.99)
As the son of the prophet of Blister Creek, a polygamous enclave in Utah, Dr. Jacob Christianson has struggled for years to reconcile his faith with his skepticism about the fundamentalist practices of his community. Nevertheless, when his family and neighbors were threatened, Jacob stepped up time and again to lead the fight against those who would destroy them. Now Jacob and the residents of Blister Creek face a dangerous new challenge to their quiet existence. Taylor Kimball Jr. wants to take over as prophet of Blister Creek—and he wants Jacob’s sister Eliza by his side when he does it. With no room for personal reservations, Jacob forms a tenuous alliance with his father and the FBI. But Taylor Junior is as crafty as he is brutal, anticipating Jacob’s plan and drawing him out to leave Blister Creek vulnerable to attack. And this time Taylor has come prepared, with a horrific new weapon capable of annihilating Blister Creek. If he has any chance of winning this fight, Jacob will have to decide, once and for all, just how far he is willing to go to protect his community. The fourth in Michael Wallace’s riveting Righteous series, The Blessed and the Damned raises the stakes in Jacob’s world to dizzying new heights.

Today's Kindle Romance Daily Deal is The Last Cowboy ($1.99), the fourth novel in the Jackson Hole series by Lindsay McKenna [Harlequin Mira].
Book Description
City girl. It was written all over her like a sign warning him to keep off. Sure, Slade McPherson would train her horse…With his ranch one bad day away from foreclosure, he can't afford to turn away a paying customer. But no way is this cowboy getting involved with a woman like Jordana Lawton—no matter how pretty she looks in a saddle.

Yet everything can change in an instant. A terrifying run-in with an angry bull tilts Slade's world off its axis, leaving him wounded and unable to compete in a race that could change his future, for good. With Jordana by his side, he just might stand a chance. But what happens when this old-school cowboy finds himself falling for a modern city girl?

Today's Kindle SciFi/Fantasy Daily Deal is Expedition to Earth ($1.99), a short story collection by Arthur C. Clarke [RosettaBooks].
Book Description
This collection of Clarke’s work was originally published in 1953, when it was selected as one of the best science fiction books of the year by Boucher and McComas. It contains many short stories that would later become classics, including “The Sentinel”—the basis for the later classic 2001: A Space Odyssey.

These stories present a brilliant showcase of Clarke’s many-layered approach to the moral dilemmas of scientific advancement—from the thrilling and brutal “Breaking Strain” to the more poetic and thoughtful “Second Dawn.” This collection represents a tour-de-force of science fiction storytelling sure to delight fans of Clarke’s work and the SF genre.

Nook Daily Find 5/28

Graveminder ($10.96 Kindle, $1.99 B&N), by Melissa Marr [HarperCollins], is the Nook Daily Find. This is Marr's first novel for adults and I'll be picking this up sometime today (after I check to see if Amazon price matches later this morning).

Update: Finally price matched at Amazon!

If you've been reading the her popular YA Wicked Lovely series, be sure to put Desert Tales on your wishlist or pre-order for delivery in October.
Book Description
Three sips to mind the dead . . .

Rebekkah Barrow never forgot the attention her grandmother Maylene bestowed upon the dead of Claysville, the small town where Bek spent her adolescence. There wasn't a funeral that Maylene didn't attend, and at each one Rebekkah watched as Maylene performed the same unusual ritual: She took three sips from a silver flask and spoke the words "Sleep well, and stay where I put you."

Now Maylene is dead, and Bek must go back to the place she left a decade earlier. She soon discovers that Claysville is not just the sleepy town she remembers, and that Maylene had good reason for her odd traditions. It turns out that in Claysville the worlds of the living and the dead are dangerously connected; beneath the town lies a shadowy, lawless land ruled by the enigmatic Charles, aka Mr. D. If the dead are not properly cared for, they will come back to satiate themselves with food, drink, and stories from the land of the living. Only the Graveminder, by tradition a Barrow woman, and her Undertaker—in this case Byron Montgomery, with whom Bek shares a complicated past—can set things right once the dead begin to walk.

Although she is still grieving for Maylene, Rebekkah will soon find that she has more than a funeral to attend to in Claysville, and that what awaits her may be far worse: dark secrets, a centuries-old bargain, a romance that still haunts her, and a frightening new responsibility—to stop a monster and put the dead to rest where they belong.

UK Kindle Daily Deal 5/28

This September Sun (£0.99 UK), by Bryony Rheam [Parthian Books], is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (the US edition is $6.39).
Book Description
Winner of Best First Book Award at Zimbabwe International Book Fair 2010.

Ellie is a shy girl growing up in post-Independence Zimbabwe, longing for escape from the confines of small-town life. When she eventually moves to Britain, her wish seems to have come true. But life there is not all she imagined. And when her grandmother Evelyn is brutally murdered, a set of diaries are uncovered spilling out family secrets and recounting a young Evelyn's passionate and dangerous affair with a powerful married man. In the light of new discoveries, Ellie begins to re-evaluate her relationship with her grandmother, and must face up to some truths about herself in the process. Set against the backdrop of a country in change, Ellie burdened by the memories and the misunderstandings of the past must also find a way to move forward in her own romantic endeavors.

Monday, May 27, 2013

40% Off Select Kindle Accessories (AL)

This is another AmazonLocal deal, so you must be in the US, but don't have to find a special offer on your Kindle. Instead, just click on Apply from the Free Voucher Worth 40% Off Select Kindle Accessories for Dad page, then complete the purchase on the page after that. Yes, it now says "Apply" instead of "purchase" on these free offers, but nearly the same process: you must be in the US and have a credit card on file, make a "purchase" at zero cost, then the promo code is automatically applied to your account (no waiting for an email and dealing with a promo code). Sign-up for this offer expires May 30, 2013 or when the number of vouchers set aside by Amazon have been exhausted.

Grab a voucher now, before they sell out and you'll have three days to look thru the qualifying items and decide which ones you want (although popular ones may sell out, as always with these offers). Also, be sure to click on the headings for your particular Kindle model (or the one you're buying for Dad), once you get to the Accessories page - only a few are displayed when you first arrive and there are actually quite a few for each Kindle model. Besides the usual assortment of cases, there are some nice messenger bags and headphones made specifically for the Kindle Fire (presumably with a thin connector, so it will work with the Fire in an Amazon case).
Deal Description
Dad's life changed when he got that Kindle. This Father's Day, support his newfound passion by getting a free voucher good for 40% off up to $250 worth of accessories from the Kindle Accessories Store. Give him a Kindle cover that will identify his device as his alone, or a protective molded case to keep it secure while it's in his briefcase or backpack.
  • Free voucher for 40% off up to $250 worth of select Kindle accessories
  • Choose from a huge variety of covers, cases, easel stands, and sleeves
  • Make sure Dad's Kindle is both stylishly attired and secure
  • Voucher will expire if not used toward a qualifying purchase in the Kindle Accessories Store by May 30, 2013
  • Voucher is valid for a 40% discount on your order total (up to the first $250 spent) for qualifying items in the Kindle Accessories Store; your order total can be over $250, but the maximum discount is $100.
  • Limit 1 voucher per customer; limited quantities available
  • This promotion may not be combined with other offers, including promotional certificates