Free Book - Monkey Love (K)

Monkey Love, by Brenda Scott Royce, is free in the Kindle store.

Book Description
Holly Heckerling has a great set of power tools, and she knows how to use them. It's a good thing, because her career as a stand-up comic isn't exactly paying the rent...yet. But nothing's going to stop Holly's rise to stardom. Not the pickpocketing monkey she's been persuaded to pet-sit, or the friends who constantly need her to come to the rescue. And definitely not her meddling aunt, who can't understand why Holly's never had a relationship more than three months long.

Actually, Holly's starting to wonder the same thing.Maybe it's time to stop monkeying around and settle down with a fellow primate (preferably one without fur). Too bad that when it comes to dating, it's a jungle out there, and you never know which way fate's going to swing next.

But if there's one thing that's really unpredictable, it's love.

Free Book - A Season of Angels [K-AU]

A Season of Angels ($7.99 US; $0.00 AU, by Debbie Macomber, is free in the Kindle store for Australia customers only. Could be one that rolls into the US store tomorrow or is just as likely to be a pricing error that corrects in Australia after a while.

Book Description
Wishes for love bring hope from above.

Shirley, Goodness, and Mercy—three willing but sometimes wayward angels—are each given someone's prayer to answer . . .

Shirley: She's sent to help nine-year-old Timmy Potter, who longs for a new father. And although his mother, Jody, has vowed never to trust any man, Shirley is determined to help her love again.

Goodness: She knows Monica Fischer longs for a husband and home of her own, but the young woman has practically given up on finding the right man to stand by her side . . . until Goodness steps in to help.

Mercy: Can Mercy bring hope back into Leah Lundberg's life? This maternity nurse desperately wants a child to fill up the home she's made with her husband, Andrew.

But there's just one catch: Each angel must teach her charge a memorable lesson before the prayer can be granted . . .

Free Book - Creatures Here Below (K)

Creatures Here Below, by O. H. Bennett, is free in the Kindle store, courtesy of small publisher Agate Bolden (Agate's imprint dedicated to titles dealing with the African-American experience).

Book Description
This powerful new novel by O. H. Bennett tells the story of a makeshift family struggling to stay together as life wears away at their bonds of blood and love. At the center of the family is Gail Neighbors, the hardworking single mother of two sons, Mason and Tyler. Mason, the older, grew up without knowing his father, a feckless gambler and womanizer. Tyler, the younger, sings in the church choir and enjoys a close relationship with his father, Dan, who left Gail a few years before still spends plenty of time at the house. To make ends meet, Gail has taken in two boarders: Annie, an elderly woman with a diminishing grip on reality, and Jackie, the 20-year-old single mother of baby Cole, who can't fully accept her overwhelming new responsibilities. Creatures Here Below renders with tremendous richness and care the realities of a black teenaged male whose life is taking a turn toward the worse.

Free Book - Bring on the Blessings (K/N)

Bring on the Blessings , by Beverly Jenkins, is a repeat freebie (of sorts) in the Kindle store and from Barnes & Noble. The last time it was free, though, it was a special bonus edition in both stores (which is now missing from the Kindle store completely). So, if you want to be able to see that you have purchased the book by looking at it's product page, be sure to get this edition, as well (note that this isn't really an issue with B&N, but it's free, so why not get it again? Also, that should prevent B&N from selling it to you again, later on)

Book Description
On Bernadine Brown's fifty-second birthday she received an unexpected gift—she caught her husband, Leo, cheating with his secretary. She was hurt—angry, too—but she didn't cry woe is me. Nope, she hired herself a top-notch lawyer and ended up with a cool $275 million. Having been raised in the church, she knew that when much is given much is expected, so she asked God to send her a purpose.

The purpose turned out to be a town: Henry Adams, Kansas, one of the last surviving townships founded by freed slaves after the Civil War. The failing town had put itself up for sale on the Internet, so Bernadine bought it.

Trent July is the mayor, and watching the town of his birth slide into debt and foreclosure is about the hardest thing he's ever done. When the buyer comes to town, he's impressed by her vision, strength, and the hope she wants to offer not only to the town and its few remaining residents, but to a handful of kids in desperate need of a second chance.

Not everyone in town wants to get on board though; they don't want change. But Bernadine and Trent, along with his first love, Lily Fontaine, are determined to preserve the town's legacy while ushering in a new era with ties to its unique past and its promising future.

Get the free ebook from Barnes & Noble.

Free Book - Homeschooling (K)

Homeschooling, by Carol Guess, is free in the Kindle store, courtesy of UK publisher PS Publishing Ltd. The story line could be a bit controversial, so be sure to read the tags before one-clicking.

Book Description
Reckless and passionate, Eleanor is a bohemian artist with a weakness for the pretty models she sculpts. When she moves from urban Seattle to a sleepy suburb, she forges an unexpected friendship with Laurel, a Fundamentalist Christian mother of six. As their connection deepens, Eleanor realizes that Laurel's family is not as perfect as it seems, and that the most dangerous lessons are sometimes learned at home. Known in the United States as a poet, Carol Guess uses lyrical language and multiple narrative voices to bring Eleanor's story to a startling conclusion.

Free Book - The Little Known (K)

The Little Known, by Janice Daugharty, is a repeat freebie in the Kindle store, courtesy of Bell Bridge Books.

Book Description
When twelve-year-old Knot Crews, an African American boy growing up in the segregated south Georgia town of Statenville, discovers a bag of bank-robbed cash in an alley, he is nearly overcome with happiness and terror. All that money—a hundred thousand dollars—could be the ticket to everything he’s ever wanted, but he knows he can’t spend it, not only because his conscience won’t let him, but for fear of being caught. He decides to do what he can for his needy neighbors, both black and white, and begins mailing them hundred dollar bills anonymously, but it irks Knot daily to discover that most of them squander it and don’t use the money as he had intended, and that the money doesn’t change their lives for the better. It turns out that the weight of Knot’s world can’t be lifted by cold hard cash alone. Set during the turbulent 1960’s, The Little Known is a coming-of-age story full of hope and forgiveness.

Free Audiobook - Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

The second free audiobook that The Guardian (a UK newspaper) is giving away as part of their Head Start program is Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance ($10.99 Kindle), by Robert M. Pirsig.

Book Description
Acclaimed as one of the most exciting books in the history of American letters, this modern epic became an instant bestseller upon publication in 1974, transforming a generation and continuing to inspire millions. This 25th Anniversary Quill Edition features a new introduction by the author; important typographical changes; and a Reader's Guide that includes discussion topics, an interview with the author, and letters and documents detailing how this extraordinary book came to be. A narration of a summer motorcycle trip undertaken by a father and his son, the book becomes a personal and philosophical odyssey into fundamental questions of how to live. The narrator's relationship with his son leads to a powerful self-reckoning; the craft of motorcycle maintenance leads to an austerely beautiful process for reconciling science, religion, and humanism. Resonant with the confusions of existence, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is a touching and transcendent book of life.

Get the free Audiobook from The Guardian UK. You'll need to enter a name and email address, click to submit the info, then click a link that takes you to AudioGo; be sure to note the coupon code on that page, as you'll need it to get the book for free. Once at Audiogo, click on the ad, then click Checkout; log in (or create an account), then enter the promotional Code and click Update. Don't click on Continue until after you've confirmed that a total of $0.00/£0.00 is shown. You'll need an account with AudioGo, but should not need to enter any credit card info. Once you've added the audiobook to your account, you can download at any time (I'd expect download times to be very slow this week).

Free Audiobook - Eat, Pray, Love

The Guardian (a UK newspaper) is once again giving away audiobooks as part of their Head Start program. The first free audiobook in the series is Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia ($12.99 Kindle), by Elizabeth Gilbert. You'll need an account with AudioGo, but should not need to enter any credit card info.

Book Description
This beautifully written, heartfelt memoir touched a nerve among both readers and reviewers. Elizabeth Gilbert tells how she made the difficult choice to leave behind all the trappings of modern American success (marriage, house in the country, career) and find, instead, what she truly wanted from life. Setting out for a year to study three different aspects of her nature amid three different cultures, Gilbert explored the art of pleasure in Italy and the art of devotion in India, and then a balance between the two on the Indonesian island of Bali. By turns rapturous and rueful, this wise and funny author (whom Booklist calls “Anne Lamott’s hip, yoga- practicing, footloose younger sister”) is poised to garner yet more adoring fans.

Get the free Audiobook from The Guardian UK. You'll need to enter a name and email address, click to submit the info, then click a link that takes you to AudioGo; be sure to note the coupon code on that page, as you'll need it to get the book for free. Once at Audiogo, click on the ad, then click Checkout; log in (or create an account), then enter the promotional Code and click Update. Don't click on Continue until after you've confirmed that a total of $0.00/£0.00 is shown. Once you've added the audiobook to your account, you can download at any time (I'd expect download times to be very slow this week).

Thanks to an alert reader (Frank, in France) that this had program started up again!

Free Book - India's Summer (K/N/E)

Update: 1/28/12 Now free from Sony.

India's Summer, by Therese, is free in the Kindle store and from Barnes & Noble, courtesy of Fiction Studio.

Book Description
India Butler, single and about to turn forty, travels to LA in an attempt to reinvent her life. In a world rarely illuminated by the flashbulbs of the paparazzi, she discovers the true meaning of “having it all.”

Get the free ebook from Barnes & Noble.
Get the free ebook from Sony.

Free Book - Unto These Hills (K/N)

Unto These Hills (US/UK), by Emily Sue Harvey, is free in the Kindle store and from Barnes & Noble, courtesy of The Story Plant.

Book Description
Unto These Hills is an unforgettable novel of love, scandal, family, and roots by one of the most emotionally authentic authors of our time. Taking us into the deep South's Tucapau Mill Hill, it introduces us to the unforgettable Sunny Acklin. Betrayed, abandoned, and violated, Sunny faces one seemingly insurmountable challenge after another. But she never loses her spirit or the memory of the love that once so richly illuminated her world. As years go by, Sunny does everything she can to make something of her life until at last an opportunity arises, one charged with promise...and undeniable risk.

From its vivid evocation of mill hill life to its pitch perfect rendering of the complexities of family and relationships, Unto These Hills is at once epic and intensely intimate. It is the richest novel yet from a writer who fluently speaks the language of our deepest feelings.

Get the free ebook from Barnes & Noble.

Free Book - Heir To The Everlasting (K)

Heir To The Everlasting, by Janice Daugharty, is a repeat freebie in the Kindle store, courtesy of Bell Bridge Books.

Book Description
The Pulitzer-nominated author of EARL IN THE YELLOW SHIRT turns her acclaimed talents to an epic story of three generations of Southern women at Big Eddy, the home place they love.

HEIR TO THE EVERLASTING begins at the turn of the last century with the beautiful, determined Pinkie Alexander, strong-willed matron of the Alexander clan. Come Hell or the high water of the south Georgia river which gave Big Eddy its name, Pinkie will ensure the survival of her family on their beloved land--a place where the family cemetery guards the spirit of the past, and where secrets, as well as the dearly departed, are buried. Follow the lives, loves, mysteries, deadly feuds and steely courage of the Alexander women through a full century of joys and sorrows. HEIR TO THE EVERLASTING showcases the culture, language and daily travails of their time and place with vivid storytelling skills and Janice Daugharty's love for "the working words."

Free Book - Resting In the Bosom Of the Lamb [UK] (K)

Resting In the Bosom Of the Lamb (Main/UK), by Augusta Trobaugh (Bell Bridge Books), is free for UK Kindle customers and likely to be free for US customers by morning.

Book Description
Four elderly southern women share a house, a history, and heartbreaking secrets. Baby girl, I hope you’re listening real good to what I’m gonna tell you about that sure-enough miracle we got us. Had to be a miracle, because in all my born days, I didn’t never think it could turn out like this. Didn’t never think you’d be sitting right here on this very porch with me, hearing me talk about all us folks you don’t know nothing much about yet.. . . Back then, I didn’t really know that all the folks who came ahead of us are like the brown roots of a big old vine growing close to the porch, and even though those roots are way down deep in the ground where we can’t see them, they’re still there.

And we grow from them, our whole lives, and then, if we’re lucky, others grow from us. Well, I expect that the ones who came before us—black and white—had things they had to keep still about, too, just like me and Miss Cora. Things we had to do, whether we liked it or not. And then never speak of them again.

Augusta Trobaugh is the acclaimed author of fine novels including Praise Jerusalem, Sophie and the Rising Sun, and coming soon, Music From Beyond the Moon.

Free Book - Praise Jerusalem! [UK] (K)

Praise Jerusalem! (Main/UK), by Augusta Trobaugh (Bell Bridge Books), is a repeat freebie for UK Kindle customers and likely to be free for US customers by morning.

Book Description
Fans of southern novels that explore the complex relationships between white families and their black hired help will find a compelling story about race relations in PRAISE JERUSALEM. Amelia, an aging Georgia matron forced by money woes to move in with two other women--outlandishly preachy Maybelline and take-no-nonsense Mamie, who is black--begins to confront her childhood memories of the black women who worked for her family. Their lives, both tragic and yet sublimely proud, haunt Amelia even now, as she searches for a way to make peace with the sorrows she innocently observed.

PRAISE JERUSALEM is a rare mix of poignant drama but also wry humor. Both the elder Amelia and her childhood self are primly rebellious and irrepressible; Amelia's sharp eye for petty human foibles never fails her.

Free Book (Kindle/EPUB) - The Goddess Of Fried Okra

Update: 12/24/11 Now free in the US Kindle store.

The Goddess Of Fried Okra (US/UK), by Jean Brashear, is a repeat freebie in the Kindle store and from Kobo, courtesy of Bell Bridge Books. So far, it's free for UK Kindle customers only, but I expect it to be free for US Kindle customers by morning.

Book Description
Grief. Hope. Love. Sword fights. And the crisp glory of fried okra. Ex-cocktail waitress and "convenience story professional" Eudora "Pea" O'Brien is filled with grief and regret, low on cash and all alone. Headed down the hot, dusty back roads of central Texas, Pea is convinced she'll find a sign leading her to the reincarnated soul of the sister who raised her. A sign that she's found her place in the world of the living again. At least that's what the psychic promised. In an unforgettably funny and poignant journey, Pea collects an unlikely family of strays-a starving kitten, a pregnant teenager, a sexy con man trying to go straight, and a ferocious gun dealer named Glory, who introduces Pea to the amazing, sword-wielding warrior goddesses of Texas author Robert E. Howard-creator of the Conan the Barbarian novels-and celebrated in festival every year. Six foot tall, red-headed Pea looks good with a sword in her hand. Glory, the goddesses, and a grandmotherly café owner become Pea's unlikely gurus as she struggles to learn swordplay and the art of perfect fried okra. She'll have to master both if she's going to find what matters most-her own lost soul.

Get the free ebook from Kobo.

Free Book (Kindle) - Waiting For Spring

The AmazonEncore edition of R.J. Keller's Waiting For Spring is free in the Kindle store.

Book Description
The pain in Tess Dyer’s heart stems from a lifetime of rejection: by her distant mother, by a string of one-night stands, and by her husband, Jason. He promised to love her forever, yet here she is, divorced and shunned in her own town. She tries everything to dull the pain: sex, work, and endlessly cleaning the house. Finally, in a fit of despair, she abandons the small town of Brookfield, Maine, for an even smaller town, determined to start over with a clean slate. But she can’t run from the demons in her head, and she soon falls back on her old habits, this time with the help of her sexy new neighbor Brian. Though she tells herself he is just a warm body to dull the pain, his kindness has a soothing effect on her bruised heart. But the fear of losing his love is always there, and before long, Tess’s past threatens to destroy her fragile new happiness. Ultimately, she must make a choice: continue drifting through life, or confront the cruel realities of her past and start living. A dramatic departure from contemporary chick-lit, Waiting for Spring is a moving novel about a real woman struggling to find her place in the world.

Free Book (Kindle/EPUB) - The Year She Fell

Update: 12/24/11 Now free from Kobo.
Update: 12/23/11 Now free in the US Kindle store.

The Year She Fell (US/UK), by Alicia Rasley, is a repeat freebie in the Kindle store, courtesy of Bell Bridge Books. So far, it's only free for UK customers, but I expect it to be free for those in the US by morning.

Book Description
The tragic mystery at the heart of their family has finally surfaced . . . When Ellen Wakefield O'Connor is confronted by a young man armed with a birth certificate that mistakenly names her as his mother, she quickly sorts out the truth: his birth mother listed Ellen on the certificate to cover up her own identity, but also because Ellen is, in a way, related to the child. The birth father is Ellen's troubled husband, Tom. The secrets of the past soon engulf Ellen, Tom, and everyone they love.

Get the free ebook from Kobo.

Free Book (Kindle/nook/EPUB) - Skipped Parts

Skipped Parts, the first title in the GroVont Trilogy by Tim Sandlin, is a repeat freebie in the Kindle store and from Barnes & Noble and Sony. Right now, you can also pick up the next title in the series, Sorrow Floats, for $1.64 (Kindle) and the third, Social Blunders, for $6.76 (Kindle; $6.56 Kobo w/ 35% off coupon - see sidebar), in case you missed it when it was $2.99 this past June.

Skipped Parts
Banished to the hinterlands of Wyoming, rebellious Lydia Callahan and her thirteen-year-old son Sam have no choice but to cope. But while Lydia drinks and talks to the moose head on the wall, Sam finds a friend in local girl Maurey Pierce.

One of the wildest, raunchiest, most heartfelt coming-of-age novels of the past thirty years, Skipped Parts puts Tim Sandlin in the upper echelon of contemporary comic novelists.

Sorrow Floats
One of five men could be Sam Callahan's father. Is knowing the truth worth the havoc he'll cause trying to find out?

Laid low by divorce-the result of an endless stream of poor choices-Sam decides it's time he met his dad. But his quest to meet the men and discover the truth does more than just shake up the five likely suspects-it pretty much napalms the lives of everyone he meets.

Social Blunders
One of five men could be Sam Callahan's father. Is knowing the truth worth the havoc he'll cause trying to find out?

Laid low by divorce-the result of an endless stream of poor choices-Sam decides it's time he met his dad. But his quest to meet the men and discover the truth does more than just shake up the five likely suspects-it pretty much napalms the lives of everyone he meets.

Get the free ebook from Barnes & Noble.
Get the free ebook from Sony.

Free Book (Kindle/Nook) - The Journey Home

The Journey Home, by Michael Baron, is free on Kindle and from Barnes & Noble.

Book Description
Joseph, a man in his late thirties, awakens disoriented and uneasy in a place he doesn't recognize. Several people are near him when he opens his eyes, all strangers. All of them seem perfectly friendly, but none of them can explain to him how he got there. They offer him a delicious meal and pleasant conversation in a beautifully decorated room. This would be a very nice experience if not for one thing: Joseph doesn't know where he is and he has no way to contact his wife, who he is sure is worried sick over him. Thanking the people for their hospitality, he leaves to make his way back home. The only problem is that whatever happened to him has stripped him of most of his memories. He knows he needs to get back to his wife, but he doesn't know how to find her. He sets out on a journey to find his home with no sense of where he's going and only the precious, indelible vision of the woman he loves to guide him.

Antoinette is an elderly woman in an assisted living facility. She’s spent the last six years there since her husband died, and most of those years have been happy. She enjoys the company of others in her situation and her son comes to visit often. But in recent months, she’s had a tougher and tougher time leaving her room. Her friends seem different to her and the world seems increasingly confusing. She spends an escalating amount of time on a journey inside her head. There, her body and mind haven’t betrayed her. There, she’s a young newlywed with a husband who dotes on her and an entire life of dreams to live. There, she is truly home.

Warren, Antoinette’s son, is a man in his early forties going through the toughest year of his life. His marriage ended, he lost his job, and in the past few months, his mother has gone from hale to increasingly hazy. Having trouble finding work, he spends more and more time by his mother’s bedside. But her lack of lucidity both frustrates and frightens him. With far too much time on his hands, he decides to try to recreate his memories of home by attempting to cook his mother’s greatest dishes using the rudimentary appliances available in her room. He finds the challenge surprisingly rewarding, especially because the only time he feels his mother is truly with him anymore is when she is eating the meals he prepares for her.

Joseph, Antoinette, and Warren are three people on different searches for home. How they find it, and how they connect with one another at this critical stage in each of their lives, is the foundation for a profound and deeply moving story.

Get the free ebook from Barnes & Noble.

Free Book (Kindle/nook/EPUB/PDF) - Queen of New Beginnings

Update: 11/2/11 Now also free from Barnes & Noble and Sony.

Queen of New Beginnings, by Erica James, is free in the Kindle store and on the publisher's website.

Book Description
What happens when your best hope for the future is through the past?

Voice-over artist Alice avoids telling the truth. It’s not lying, exactly, and the freedom of reinvention makes those tough years in the past a little easier to bear. So when she meets writer Clayton Miller, she recognizes the suspicious signs of someone who wants to shrug off his old life. Untangling the web of secrets they’ve constructed creates an unlikely friendship—until Alice discovers that Clayton has betrayed her in the worst possible way.

The author of fifteen international bestsellers, Erica James deftly explores infidelity, bereavement, and the bonds of family with a sparkling voice that will resonate long after the book is finished.

Get the free ebook from Barnes & Noble.
Get the free ebook from Sony.
Get the free ebook from Sourcebooks. (EPUB/PDF)

Free Audiobook - Water for Elephants

Update: It's confirmed! Anyone can download this one, even without owning a Kindle. Note that the offer may disappear at any moment, once Audible figures out that the KSO requirement isn't being enforced.

Amazon and Audible are giving away a free download of Water for Elephants ($6.99 Kindle), by Sara Gruen, narrated by David LeDoux and John Randolph Jones. This is supposed to be a Kindle with Special Offers deal, but you don't have to actually claim the offer on this one (I didn't and it downloaded just fine). In fact, the KSO page says it is to read on your Kindle, but you can download it to your PC, just like any other Audible book (and presumably copy it to any device, although I haven't tried that, yet).

I even tried looking at the order page without being logged in and it appears as if ANYONE can grab this one for free, even without a KSO registered to their account. Since everyone I know has a KSO, here, can someone without one give it a try and leave a comment to let me know if it works? You'll need an Audible account, of course, and be sure that you are not being charged ($$ or credits) before completing the order, if you give this a go.

Book Description
An atmospheric, gritty, and compelling novel of star-crossed lovers, set in the circus world circa 1932, by the bestselling author of Riding Lessons.

When Jacob Jankowski, recently orphaned and suddenly adrift, jumps onto a passing train, he enters a world of freaks, drifters, and misfits, a second-rate circus struggling to survive during the Great Depression, making one-night stands in town after endless town. A veterinary student who almost earned his degree, Jacob is put in charge of caring for the circus menagerie. It is there that he meets Marlena, the beautiful young star of the equestrian act, who is married to August, the charismatic but twisted animal trainer. He also meets Rosie, an elephant who seems untrainable until he discovers a way to reach her.

Beautifully written, Water for Elephants is illuminated by a wonderful sense of time and place. It tells a story of a love between two people that overcomes incredible odds in a world in which even love is a luxury that few can afford.

Get the free audiobook from Audible.

Just in case the product page gets "fixed", here are some more details on the KSO offer:

• You must claim the offer by November 2, 2001 (note that this is TOMORROW, only a 2 day window).
• You have to add the audiobook to your account by November 9, 2011 (not that this is only a one week period, not an entire month, as usually occurs)