Book Review: Under Witch Moon

One of the books I've read recently is Under Witch Moon, by Maria E. Schneider, and it had me laughing out loud (much to the consternation of the non-reader driving the car). The story was one it took me a few pages to get into, as I had not been reading much in this genre lately, but once I did, I raced right thru it, past all the twists and turns until the very end. I'm glad to see this one marked as part of the Moon Shadow series, which means, I hope, that I'll be reading more about Adriel in the future.

For a limited time, you can pick this one up at Amazon for $3.99 and those of you with other readers (or who want more format choices and easier access to updates, if they occur), can get it on Smashwords for the same price, using coupon code AC78A. Grab this one before it goes up (although if you miss it, it'll only be going to $4.99)!

Book Description
Adriel should have known that with a werewolf, it never stopped with just one body. She would have gone to the police after witnessing Dolores' death, but she wasn't certain the killer she saw was responsible for the other murders. Besides, the police didn't believe in werewolves, and they weren't going to believe she was a witch either so what could she tell them?

She kept her eyes and ears open while she tried to help her latest client escape the clutches of a voodoo witch, but things went from bad to worse when more bodies turned up. She was greatly relieved when she met White Feather, an undercover cop. Unfortunately, he wasn't convinced she was innocent of all wrong-doing.

It was going to take every spell she knew and a few she hadn't tried to solve the murders and stay alive.

A review copy of this book was provided by the author.

Bargain Book Roundup, Part III

Case Histories ($1.99), by Kate Atkinson

Book Description
Case one: A little girl goes missing in the night.

Case two: A beautiful young office worker falls victim to a maniac's apparently random attack.

Case three: A new mother finds herself trapped in a hell of her own making - with a very needy baby and a very demanding husband - until a fit of rage creates a grisly, bloody escape.

Thirty years after the first incident, as private investigator Jackson Brodie begins investigating all three cases, startling connections and discoveries emerge....

Baby Needs a New Pair of Shoes ($1.24), by Lauren Baratz-Logsted

Book Description
For herein Fortune shows herself to be more kind Than is her custom.

That's Shakespeare. In case you're wondering.

If you were Delilah "Baby" Sampson, you'd already know that. Delilah got hooked on the Bard back in college. Then she briefly got hooked on Singapore Sling cocktails. And then she got tossed out of school. Yes, when Delilah discovers something she likes, she really sticks with it.

These days, her addictions include sudoku, lime diet cola and now...Jimmy Choos. Oh, Baby's gotta have those shoes! But on her window-washer salary, $700 for one pair is a stretch. Which leads us to her latest obsession...gambling.

With an impromptu posse, including an elderly movie star, two Brazilian lesbians and Hillary Clinton (no, not that one!), Delilah hits the casinos and discovers that she's a natural-born high-roller. Every win puts her closer to those beloved Choos. And as the "21s" keep dropping, so do the men...right at her feet. But for a girl who never knows when to fold 'em, gambling and casino guys are not healthy habits. She could end up losing her shirt, her head...and a whole lot more.

Hometown Reunion ($1.29), by Pam Andrews

Book Description
Lori Raymond thought her old crush on Scott Mara was long gone. But then a job disaster brings her home to Apple Grove, Iowa...and back into Scott's life. Working together to renovate the town's café, Lori sees a side of Scott she never expected. The former bad boy is now a caring single father, taking his first steps toward a faith-filled life. A life he wants Lori to share. Now Lori must decide: will she follow her dreams back to the big city...or let her heart finally lead her home?

Capitol Reflections ($1.94), by Jonathan Javitt

Book Description
Capt. Gwen Maulder, a hardworking FDA medical officer is traumatically thrust onto the trail of a small, but mysterious epidemic of fatal seizures, all among young professionals. The culprit seemingly kills without a trace, no matter how deeply she probes. As Gwen attempts to probe the mystery, the opposition to her investigation rises, far out of proportion to its scope. At the heart of story is a chilling scheme to manipulate the lives of millions through genetic modification, conceived and executed by those in the highest possible positions of public trust. As Gwen and her allies attempt to overcome dangerous adversity the reader is left to wonder whether anything today can be truly safe to eat or drink or breathe. Gwen's story is as real as tomorrow's headlines.

The Sudoku Murder ($1.25), by Shelley Freydont, is the updated, mobi formatted edition and the same price as the older topaz version.

Book Description
Professor P.T. Avondale is found murdered at his desk at the Avondale Puzzle Museum. Katie McDonald, master puzzle-solver, has returned home to save her childhood mentor's museum from being auctioned off when she learns of the Professor's death. Now she finds herself curator of the museum and in charge of the Professor's newest mentee, a fourteen-year-old runaway. Katie is now faced with working to solve the puzzle of the Professor's murder before a ruthless killer applies his own deadly solution.

The Hunted ($1.33), by Rachel Lee

Book Description
Her story sets off a violent spark. His investigation puts them in the line of fire. Journalist Erin McKenna is not only investigating a major defense contractor suspected of complicity in the international sex-slave trade but testifying against them in court. Her world collapses when that same firm buys her newspaper and she's fired without explanation. Her home is ransacked, her computer stolen and she is attacked. FBI agent Jerod Westlake is haunted by the disappearance of his sister long ago, and has dedicated his life to ending the international sex-slave trade. When he discovers Erin wounded on the floor of her apartment, he swings into action to protect her as a witness--and as a woman.

Jerod needs to protect Erin's life and track down her source.

But once they start working as a team, the real danger begins....

The Secret Hangman ($1.24), by Peter Lovesey

Book Description
Widowed Inspector Peter Diamond is being pursued by a secret admirer as he pursues a serial killer. Delia Williamson, a mother of two young girls who works as a waitress, is first reported missing by her own mother. She is found in a public park, hanged from the crossbar of a children’s swing set. There seems to be no reason for her to have committed suicide, and the postmortem reveals that she was murdered. Her present partner, her ex-husband, and a traveling salesman who dined at her table in the restaurant where she worked, are all suspects. Then her former husband is found in a cave, also hanged. A remorse suicide? Diamond doesn’t think so. When a well-to-do couple is found dead, both hanged, a suicide pact is suggested. Diamond is dubious; too many couples are dying by the same method. Before he can figure out what is going on, one more person will die.

Montana, Mistletoe, Marriage ($1.26), by Patricia Thayer

Book Description
Snowbound Cowboy by Patricia Thayer

Lone wolf Boone Gifford has spent years standing on the outside. Now he's looking at Christmas--through the window of beautiful Amelia's home. The snow falls hard--the stranded family needs help. It's time for the cowboy to step inside.

A Bride for Rocking H Ranch by Donna Alward

Kelley is rancher, housekeeper, doting sister to Amelia, granddaughter and aunt--and the stress of preparing the perfect Christmas at Rocking H ranch is getting to her. But distraction soon arrives in the form of delectable chef Mack Dennison....

Quarter Share ($3.89), by Nathan Lowell

Book Description
The Golden Age of Sail has Returned -- in the Year 2352
When his mother dies in a flitter crash, eighteen-year-old Ishmael Horatio Wang must find a job with the planet company or leave the system--and NerisCo isn't hiring. With credits running low, and prospects limited, he has just one hope...to enlist for two years with a deep space commercial freighter. Ishmael, who only rarely visited the Neris Orbital, and has never been off-planet alone before, finds himself part of an eclectic crew sailing a deep space leviathan between the stars.

Join the crew of the SC Lois McKendrick, a Manchester built clipper as she sets solar sails in search of profit for her company and a crew each entitled to a share equal to their rating.

Maynard and Jennica ($1.24), by Rudolph Delson

Book Description
A wildly original debut,Maynard and Jennica is both a hilarious urban comedy and a captivating love story. In the summer of 2000, while riding the uptown number 6 train, the musician/filmmaker Maynard Gogarty first encounters the beautiful Jennica Green.Though their initial meeting is brief, when fate next brings them together a romance ensues, and as with most things in life, everyone has an opinion.

Delson tells the story of this improbable love affair through the voices of Maynard and Jennica, along with their family, friends, and assorted characters (among them two attorneys, three journalists, and a rap star) pulled into their dizzying orbit.He brings to life a pair of lovers who are flawed, complex, at once eccentric and deeply familiar—and in whose story we continue to feel invested long after we’ve turned the last page.

In the words of Mohsin Hamid, author of The Reluctant Fundamentalist, “this book is the reason we should all read first novels.”

Free Audiobook - Yes Man

Yes Man ($11.99 Kindle), by Danny Wallace , is today's free audiobook from The Guardian and Audible UK.

Book Description
The book that inspired the movie starring Jim Carrey, Danny Wallace chronicles the year he said yes—to everything....

Recently single, Danny Wallace was falling into loneliness and isolation. When a stranger on a bus advises, "Say yes more," Wallace vows to say yes to every offer, invitation, challenge, and chance.

In Yes Man, Wallace recounts his months-long commitment to complete openness with profound insight and humbling honesty. Saying yes takes Wallace into a new plane of existence: a place where money comes as easily as it goes, nodding a lot can lead to a long weekend overseas with new friends, and romance isn't as complicated as it seems. Yes eventually leads to the biggest question of all: "Do you, Danny Wallace, take this woman . . ."

Yes Man is inspiring proof that a little willingness can take anyone to the most wonderful of places.

To sign up for the free audiobook, click HERE. For more detailed instructions, be sure to see this previous post.

Two Free Audiobooks from The Guardian & Audible UK

The Guardian, a UK newspaper, has teamed up with Audible UK to give away two audio books (and possibly more next week).

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo ($6.64 Kindle), by Stieg Larsson

Book Description
An international publishing sensation, Stieg Larsson's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo combines murder mystery, family saga, love story, and financial intrigue into one satisfyingly complex and entertainingly atmospheric novel.

Harriet Vanger, a scion of one of Sweden's wealthiest families disappeared over forty years ago. All these years later, her aged uncle continues to seek the truth. He hires Mikael Blomkvist, a crusading journalist recently trapped by a libel conviction, to investigate. He is aided by the pierced and tattooed punk prodigy Lisbeth Salander. Together they tap into a vein of unfathomable iniquity and astonishing corruption.

Charm Offensive, by Armando Iannucci, appears to be a best-of compilation, although the cover shown is from season 4 (which is $10.42 at Audible.com, via Amazon).

Audio book Description
... the best of Armando Iannucci's Charm Offensive, a heady mix of satirical comedy, messed-about archive, chat and outrageous fibs featuring guests Clive Anderson, Phil Jupitus, John Oliver, Andy Zaltzman, Russell Howard, Michael McIntyre, Chris Addison, Miranda Hart & David Quantick. This Observer exclusive free download is published courtesy of AudioGo.

There are only two requirements: enter your information into a form at the Guardian (which will then give you a link (which you must cut and paste into your browser, as they didn't make it a live, click-able link), and either have or create an account at Audible.UK. This account will be separate from any Audible.com account (for those in the US), but cannot use the same login credentials as your current account, if you already have one at Audible.com (use a secondary email account). Also, these books won't link up to your US Kindle account (perhaps at some point, they will with Amazon UK, but I don't see anywhere to set that up, either, at least, not yet).

Here are the links for the two free books:

• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
• Charm Offensive

If you are using Internet Explorer, you may run into problems trying to get the second book; since it sees you as already logged in, it won't add the book to the cart using the special signup screen. So, fire up either Google Chrome or Firefox (and possibly Safari) instead when you are signing up for the second book (or just use Firefox/Chrome for both, as neither of these will encounter the problem).

After you download the books, which will load into your already installed Audible Manager (or iTunes), you'll be prompted to log in -- use your UK credentials (after the first time, you should not be re-prompted to log in).

Free Book (PDF) - Major Karnage (Tonight Only!)

Major Karnage ($9.95 Kindle), by Gord Zaja, is free direct from Wowio, tonight only.

Book Description
DON'T TALK TO HIM ABOUT THE WAR!!!!

It has been 20 years since The War, and Major John Karnage has finally settled into retirement: locked up in an insane asylum, with an explosive device embedded in the back of his neck to curb his violent tendencies.

Karnage and his troopers have been deemed unfit to live in normal society. Like a bit of old chewing gum stuck under a coffee table, the world has left The War and its scarred, unstable veterans behind. The military has been disbanded and World Peace has descended upon the Earth. Its inhabitants live happy, profitable lives under the global rule of the benevolent Dabney Corporation. All is tea and roses in this new, sanitized world . . .

Until a terrifying threat from beyond the stars rears its squiggly head! An invading armada of aliens threatens to destroy the Earth, and it's up to Major Karnage to stop them—as long as he doesn't accidentally blow his own head off first.

Click HERE to get the free book. You'll need to "like" Wowio on Facebook (so, you'll need an account on FB), then you'll see the download link after the curtain opens.

Author Spotlight - Jennifer Crusie

A number of Jennifer Crusie's books are marked down this month, not only on Kindle, but also at Kobo (only one title) and B&N, it looks like to get you hooked on her books prior to the release of Maybe This Time ($11.99) at the end of this month. These are all stand-alone novels, so I'm just listing them in order of price. If you think you want several of these, be sure to double check the bundle at the end: it contains four titles for $10.

Bet Me ($2.99 Kindle, Kobo)

Book Description
Minerva Dobbs knows how to work the odds.
Calvin Morrisey always plays to win.

But when they face off, neither one is prepared.
Because when real life meets true love, all bets are off. . . .

Minerva Dobbs knows that happily-ever-after is a fairy tale, especially with a man who asked her to dinner to win a bet, even if he is gorgeous and successful Calvin Morrisey. Cal knows commitment is impossible, especially with a woman as cranky as Min Dobbs, even if she does wear great shoes and keep him on his toes. When they say good-bye at the end of their evening, they cut their losses and agree never to see each other again.

But fate has other plans, and it's not long before Min and Cal meet again. Soon they're dealing with a jealous ex-boyfriend, Krispy Kreme doughnuts, a determined psychologist, chaos theory, a freakishly intelligent cat, Chicken Marsala, and more risky propositions than either of them ever dreamed of. Including the biggest gamble of all---true love.

Strange Bedpersons ($3.60)

Book Description
Tess Newhart knows her ex-boyfriend Nick Jamieson isn't the right guy for her. He's caviar and champagne; she's take-out Chinese pot stickers. He's an uptight Republican lawyer; she was raised in a commune. He wants to get ahead in business; she just wants...him. But there's no way Tess will play second fiddle to his job.

Yet somehow she finds herself agreeing to play his fiancée on a weekend business trip that could make or break Nick's career. And while he's trying to convince Tess that he needs her in his respectable world, Tess is doing her best to keep her opinions to herself and her hands off Nick.

Anyone But You ($3.93)

Book Description
art basset, part beagle, all Cupid... For Nina Askew, turning forty means freedom-from the ex-husband, freedom from their stuffy suburban home, freedom to focus on what she wants for a change. And what she wants is something her ex always vetoed-a puppy. A bouncy, adorable puppy.

Instead she gets...Fred.

Overweight, middle-aged, a bit smelly and obviously depressed, Fred is light-years from perky. But he does manage to put Nina in the path of Alex Moore, her gorgeous, younger-by-a-decade neighbor.

Alex seems perfect-he's a sexy, seemingly sane, surprisingly single E.R. doctor-but the age gap convinces Nina that anyone but Alex would be better relationship material. But with every silver-haired stiff she dates, the more she suspects it's the young, dog-loving doc she wants to sit and stay!

Charlie All Night ($4.32)

Book Description
Dumped by her boyfriend and demoted from WBBB's prime-time spot, radio producer Allie McGuffey has nowhere to go but up. She plans to make her comeback by turning temporary DJ Charlie Tenniel into a household name. And if he's willing to help cure her breakup blues with a rebound fling, that's an added bonus.

Charlie just wants to kick back, play good tunes and eat Chinese food. He's not interested in becoming famous. But he is interested in Allie. And after all, what harm is a little chemistry between friends?

But suddenly their one-night stand has become a four-week addiction. Night after night on the airwaves, his voice seduces her and all the other women in town. He's a hit. It looks as if Charlie's solved all Allie's problems - except one. What is she going to do when he leaves?

Getting Rid of Bradley ($4.32)

Book Description
Lucy Savage is not having a good week. Her cheating husband, Bradley, lobbed the final insult when he stood her up in divorce court. A dye job gone wrong has left her hair green. And someone is trying to kill her. To top it off, sexy cop Zack Warren is certain that the very same man Lucy is trying to wash right out of her hair is the same Bradley he wants to arrest for embezzlement.

When someone shoots at her and then her car blows up, Zack decides she needs twenty-four-hour police protection. Next thing Lucy knows, Zack has moved in to her big Victorian house, making them both sleepless - and not just from things that go bump in the night!

Manhunting ($5.04)

Book Description
Kate Svenson may be a dynamite businesswoman--but after three failed engagements, she's decided she's hopeless at romance. What she needs is a Business Plan to help her find Mr. Right. The Cabins resort is ripe with eligible bachelors, all rich and ambitious just her type. But they're dropping like flies, and after fishing Kate's latest reject out of the swimming pool Jake Templeton is convinced that Kate is nothing but trouble. Especially for him. A man who's sworn off ambition and a woman hanging from the top of the corporate ladder don't have much in common. But in that unpredictable territory known as the heart, anything can happen...

What the Lady Wants ($5.40)

Book Description
Mitch Peabody was learning pretty fast that the life of a private detective was nothing like the movies. He'd envisioned a world of tough-talking detectives and smart-mouthed, stunning dames. Instead he saw case after case of cheating husbands, suspicious wives and unsuspecting mistresses... until she walked through the door.

Right down to her stilettos, Mae Sullivan was a knockout with a lethal body--and a lethal family to go with it. There was something not quite on the up-and-up about her, but she came with a case he couldn't afford to refuse...and left him with a case of lust he hadn't had since high school. It didn't take long for him to fall for her, hook, line and sinker. But was Mae interested only in catching the double-crossing crooks who murdered her uncle...or did the lady want to catch him?

Jennifer Crusie Bundle ($9.99)

Book Description
This bundle includes four ferociously funny, sexy romances, Getting Rid of Bradley, Strange Bedpersons, What the Lady Wants and Charlie All Night.

The last book today is a bit different. Blogger Bundle Volume VIII: SBTB's Harlequins That Hooked You ($9.99) contains books from several different authors (Jennifer Crusie, Suzanne Brockmann, Emilie Rose, Beverly Barton, Rachel Lee), which works out to $2.50 per book, if you read them all. The Brockmann selection is also in her anthology Tall, Dark, and Dangerous Part 1 ($6.30), which I mentioned last week (when it was a couple of bucks cheaper, yet).

Book Description
Blogger Sarah asked the readers of the SBTB blog which Harlequin books hooked them on romance. The list was epic, but was ultimately narrowed down to five SBTB readers' contemporary romance picks! So go on and get hooked with these books included in Blogger Bundle Volume VIII: SBTB's Harlequins That Hooked You: Anyone But You by Jennifer Crusie, Prince Joe by Suzanne Brockmann, The Millionaire's Indecent Proposal by Emilie Rose, An Officer and a Gentleman by Rachel Lee and Keeping Annie Safe by Beverly Barton.

For those with a nook, you will want to check the list at B&N. I didn't see Bet Me on sale there, though.

Shopaholics's Series under a Buck!

Although Amazon has one of the best prices on Confessions of a Shopaholic ($0.89), by Sophie Kinsella, the rest of the series there (and most places) is over $6 per volume. However, if you don't mind not reading on the Kindle, you can pick up the rest of the series, other than the upcoming Mini Shopaholic ($9.99), for under a dollar apiece at Fictionwise. They don't have the first in the series, but have books 2-5 in the series at 99 cents each (84 cents for members), as well as four additional stand-alone novels at the same price. Use coupon code eleven2010fw for an additional 11% off (it's working right this minute, but could stop at any time), bringing the member price down to 75 cents apiece.

Click HERE to see the entire list - grab them now, as that price could change at any second. When you are in the cart and checking out, the order total may show as $0.00. Just keep going, once your order is completed, the total shows correctly (I paid $6.75 of my store credit for the lot!).

Free Book (Sony) - Who Is Mark Twain?

Who Is Mark Twain? ($9.99 Kindle), by Mark Twain, is free in the Sony store. No doubt the individual stories are in the public domain, but this collection from Harper-Collins should be well done.

Book Description
Who Is Mark Twain? is a collection of twenty six wickedly funny, thought-provoking essays by Samuel Langhorne Clemens—aka Mark Twain—none of which have ever been published before, and all of which are completely contemporary, amazingly relevant, and gut-bustingly hilarious.

Click HERE for the free book.

Confessions of a Shopaholic under a Buck!

Confessions of a Shopaholic, by Sophie Kinsella, is 99 cents this morning, on Kindle and in other ebookstores. The Kindle and Kobo editions mention containing an excerpt from her upcoming Mini Shopaholic ($9.99 pre-order) and from the file size, the B&N edition has it as well.

Book Description
Rebecca Bloomwood just hit rock bottom. But she's never looked better....

Becky Bloomwood has a fabulous flat in London's trendiest neighborhood, a troupe of glamorous socialite friends, and a closet brimming with the season's must-haves. The only trouble is that she can't actually afford it -- not any of it.

Her job writing at Successful Savings not only bores her to tears, it doesn't pay much at all. And lately Becky's been chased by dismal letters from Visa and the Endwich Bank -- letters with large red sums she can't bear to read -- and they're getting ever harder to ignore.

She tries cutting back; she even tries making more money. But none of her efforts succeeds. Becky's only consolation is to buy herself something ... just a little something...

Finally a story arises that Becky actually cares about, and her front-page article catalyzes a chain of events that will transform her life--and the lives of those around her--forever.

Sophie Kinsella has brilliantly tapped into our collective consumer conscience to deliver a novel of our times -- and a heroine who grows stronger every time she weakens. Becky Bloomwood's hilarious schemes to pay back her debts are as endearing as they are desperate. Her "confessions" are the perfect pick-me-up when life is hanging in the (bank) balance.

Click HERE to get it for 99 cents at B&N.
Click HERE to get it for 89 cents from Kobo.
Click HERE to get it for 99 cents from Sony.

Last Chance for The Bum Magnet (for now)

K.L. Brady has just been picked up by Simon & Schuster and The Bum Magnet ($0.99) will be re-released by Gallery/Pocket on March 29, 2011. For now, you can still get it on Kindle, but I suspect it will be pulled from there soon, as has happened with some other indie authors who have landed publishing contracts (such as Sam Landstrom's MetaGame).

Book Description
2010 Next Generation Indie Book Award Winner!
Third Place Winner - Best Fiction of 2010
First Place Winner - Multicultural Fiction

Real estate agent Charisse Tyson seems to have it all-a great job, a dream car, and a McMansion in high-and-mightyville. Everything in her life is just right...except the Mister. While lamenting the break-up with her most recent "the one" during a holiday meltdown, Charisse realizes she has a type when it comes to men—players, players, and more players. A magazine article motivates her to swear off men and examine the complex roots of her romantic fiascos.

Just five simple steps to transform Charisse's love life to the stuff of legends, right? Life is never that easy.

She commences her Do-It-Yourself therapy and barely cracks open her emotional toolbox when she encounters the monkey wrenches: a sexy new beau, two persistent ex-flames, and an FBI agent with life-altering secrets threatening to turn her world topsy-turvy. A tug of war ensues with Charisse dead center, creating chaos as she attempts to distinguish the Don Juans from the Romeos. As her love life is propelled into unpredictable twists not even she could imagine, will a twenty-seven-year-old secret keep Charisse from finding the right "one"?

Laugh loud and often as Charisse discovers whether her choices reflect something more than a penchant for good looks, great sex, and bad judgment.

Karen McQuestion is another author who picked up a publishing contract and A Scattered Life is now available to pre-order for $2.99 on Kindle and 410.17 in paperback (generally, unless they go with hardcover, print copy prices go down when a major publisher gets involved, just due to the economic of scale, even AmazonEncore, in her case). You can still get her self-published edition, but it's the same price; if you like the sample, be sure to sign up for the pre-order of the (most likely) more polished version, instead.

Book Description
“Most people have everything they need to be happy.” The words latched onto some part of Skyla’s brain. She repeated the phrase to herself while she rang up books and stocked shelves. It had a certain resonance to it, but she doubted it was true.

Free-spirit Skyla Plinka has found the love and stability she always wanted in her reliable husband Thomas. Settling into her new family and roles as wife and mother, life in rural Wisconsin is satisfying, but can’t seem to quell Skyla’s growing sense of restlessness. Her only reprieve is her growing friendship with neighbor Roxanne, who has five kids (and counting) and a life in constant disarray – but also a life filled with laughter and love.

Much to the dismay of her intrusive mother-in-law, Audrey, Skyla takes a part-time job at the local bookstore and slowly begins to rediscover her voice, independence and confidence. Throughout one pivotal year in the life of Skyla, Audrey and Roxanne, all three very different women will learn what it means to love unconditionally. With the storytelling ingenuity of Anne Tyler, the writing talent of Jodi Picoult, and the subtlty of Alice Munro, McQuestion offers a satisfying debut that proves she is a gifted portraitist, a natural storyteller and an author to watch.

Bargain Book Roundup, Part IV

The bargain book roundup for this month continues, this time with non-fiction and humor. These change price frequently and drastically, to check the prices at Amazon before one-clicking. Several that were under $2 last week are anywhere from $10 to $15 this week (so didn't make the roundup).

Fugitive Denim: A Moving Story of People and Pants in the Borderless World of Global Trade ($2.15), by Rachel Louise Snyder

Book Description
Rachel Louise Snyder reports from the far reaches of the multi-billion-dollar denim industry in search of the people who make your clothes. From a cotton picker in Azerbaijan to a Cambodian seamstress, a denim maker in Italy to a fashion designer in New York, Snyder captures the human, environmental, and political forces at work in a complex and often absurd world. Neither polemic nor prescription, Fugitive Denim captures what it means to work in the twenty-first century.

Mike Bloomberg ($2.60), by Joyce Purnick

Book Description
Michael Bloomberg is not only New York City's 108th mayor; he is a business genius and self-made billionaire. He has run the toughest city in America with an independence and show of ego that first brought him great success-and eventually threatened it. Yet while Bloomberg is internationally known and admired, few people know the man behind the carefully crafted public persona.

Hope Leslie: Catharine Maria Sedgwick ($3.79), edited by Mary Kelley

Book Description
Set in seventeenth-century New England, Hope Leslie (1827) portrays early American life and celebrates the role of women in building the republic. A counterpoint to the novels of James Fenimore Cooper, it challenges the conventional view of Indians, tackles interracial marriage and cross-cultural friendship, and claims for women their rightful place in history. At the center of novel are two friends. Hope Leslie, a spirited thinker in a repressive Puritan society, fights for justice for the Indians and asserts the independence of women. Magawisca, the passionate daughter of a Pequot chief, braves her father's wrath to save a white man and risks her freedom to reunite Hope with her long-lost sister, captured as a child by the Pequots and now married to Magawisca's brother. Amply plotted, with unforgettable characters, Hope Leslie is a rich, compelling, deeply satisfying novel.

Forget You Had a Daughter ($4.28), by Michael Tierney

Book Description
Having lived a successful life in Bangkok that included friends, two teaching jobs, and her own apartment, Sandra Gregory recounts how her life took a terrible turn in 1993 and how she experienced a journey from prison to renewal. While recuperating from dysentery and dengue fever, Gregory ran out of money. With mounting medical bills to pay, she met a heroin addict who offered her $1,000 to smuggle his personal supply of heroin to Japan. It was just enough to pay her medical bills and buy a ticket home, but Gregory was arrested at Bangkok airport before she even boarded the plane. Detailing the four and a half years she spent in the notorious Lard Yao prison, dubbed the "Bangkok Hilton," Gregory describes scenes of horrific brutality and suffering before being transferred to a British jail to serve the rest of her 22-year sentence. She tells of her daily fight for survival, of many women who died with no medical care or loved ones around them, and of her acceptance of her guilt and ultimate redemption.

How to Raise a Jewish Dog ($3.99), by Rabbis of Boca Raton Theological Seminary

Book Description
Questions to Ask a Breeder: 1. What kind of job is this, growing dogs? 2. Are these dogs nice? I mean of course they are. But if not, is this refundable? 3. Is this a stable business? Do you make a decent living? 4. Does the insurance kill you or is it okay? 5. Dogs are animals ? does this mean you qualify for some kind of Federal ranch subsidies? 6. What do I say to people who want to know how I can spend $1500 and up on a dog when there are so many dogs to be rescued from the pound?

The (make-believe) Rabbis of the (fictional) Boca Raton Theological Seminary have developed the essential dog training program for raising a Jewish dog. For the first time, the same dynamic blend of passive-aggressiveness and smothering indulgence, that unique alloy of infantilization and disingenuous manipulation that created generations of high-achieving Jewish boys and girls, can be applied to create a generation of high-achieving Jewish doggies. Written (for real) by Ellis Weiner and Barbara Davilman, co-authors of the bestselling Yiddish with Dick and Jane and Yiddish with George and Laura, this essential "guide" is sure to be a complete howl.

Fun with Phone Solicitors: 50 Ways to Get Even ($1.99), by Robert Harris

Book Description
They wake you up Saturday morning, waste your time, and interrupt meals and precious couch time. They're phone solicitors-the only group more despised than lawyers. Now here's your chance to strike back-hustle the hustlers, annoy the annoying-and have a blast with these fifty foolproof ways to get even. Drive 'em nuts with:

• The Receptionist Ruse: Pretend to transfer your tormentor and then press sever
• The Verbatim Variation: Repeat everything the caller says in a singsong tone.
• The Drop-the-phone Drill: The more drops you can get before the solicitor hangs up, the higher your score!

Creative! Relieves stress! Fun for the whole family!

How to Stay Single Forever ($1.99), by Jenny Lombard

Book Description
With this handbook today's independant woman can easily avoid meaningful relationships with aplomb. The 101 strategies are fully explained, may be used alone or in combination and include tips such as using baby talk in bed and be brutally honest.

Things I've Learned from Women Who've Dumped Me ($4.99), by Ben Karlin

Book Description
The Emmy award-winning former executive producer of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report has assembled a stellar lineup of men who have one thing in common: all have been dumped...and are willing to share their pain and the lessons learned.

Relationships end. And in almost all of them, even the most callow among us take something away. This is a book about that something, whether it be major life lessons, like "If you lie, you will get caught," simple truths like, "Flowers work," or something wholly unique like, "Watch out for the high strung brother in the military."

This anthology will be comprised of longer and shorter pieces, drawn from an array of impressive celebrities, writers and public figures. Some pieces may be a paragraph in length while others will be full-blown essays. All of them will be about that salient something men take away from a failed relationship. Yes, men learn.

This is not a touchy-feely book. This is not a self-help book. This is a book packed with smart, funny and insightful stories from men you probably thought never got dumped, or if they did, would never admit it.

Meditations for Men Who Do Next to Nothing (and Would Like to Do Even Less) ($1.99), by N. K. Peske & B.J. Pennacchini

Book Description
As all women know, movies are more than entertainment -- they're self-medication. A good flick is like a soothing tonic that, if administered property, (and in combination with something obscenely high in fat grams), can cure everything from a bad hair day to full-fledged identity crisis. Cinematherapy: The Girl's Guide to_ Movies for Every Mood is a hilarious guide to films to suit women's every emotion (and boy do we have lots of them -- as opposed to men, who basically have 'on' and 'off').

Will Work for Fun: Three Simple Steps for Turning Any Hobby or Interest Into Cash ($3.06), by Alan R. Bechtold

Book Description
Will Work for Fun presents a simple three-step process for turning your favorite hobby or interest into a reliable source of income. Why stay trapped in a job you hate, when you could turn your fun into your job? No matter what your interests are, Alan Bechtold will show you how to what you love into a real moneymaking career. Packed with stories, examples, exercises, and links to online resources, Will Work for Fun is the cure for another dull day at the office.

My Feet Aren't Ugly!: A Girl's Guide to Loving Herself from the Inside Out ($2.85), by Debra Beck

Book Description
Do you sometimes feel like other girls are prettier, more trendy, or more popular than you? Do you ever feel bad about yourself?

In this funny, honest book, teen expert and mentor Debra Beck provides in-depth examples and exercises to develop the tools you need for self-confidence. Learn how to have fulfilling relationships, make good decisions for yourself, respect yourself and others, and love yourself for who you are.

In a humorous, breezy style, this book instructs young women about how to feel good about themselves. Beck uses personal anecdotes from her youth, as well as stories about the young women she knows and works with to illustrate her points and provide examples. She covers topics that include resisting peer pressure, being kind to your body, developing healthy habits, personal responsibility, eating disorders, suicide, and physical intimacy.

The School for Scandal ($2.00), by Richard Brinsley Sheridan

Book Description
Richard Brinsley Sheridan is arguably the only comic dramatist, apart from Shakespeare, who has succeeded in pleasing changing audiences for more than two hundred years. In The School for Scandal he produced a comedy Shakespearean in range, if differing in its components. Its artificial world of heightened wit and heightened folly delights its audience; but at times it engages them with moments of human pain and happiness, before delivering them back to its brilliant comedy. The remarkable poise with which Sheridan holds these various elements together has seen the play consistently hailed as the comic masterpiece of the century. This entirely new edition, prepared for the New Mermaids series by Professor Ann Blake, reappraises and gives full vale to this classic work of comedy.

Rex: A Mother, Her Autistic Child, and the Music that Transformed Their Lives ($1.41), by Cathleen Lewis

Book Description
he inspiring story of Rex, a boy who is not only blind and autistic, but who also happens to be a musical savant.

How can an 11-year old boy hear a Mozart fantasy for the first time and play it back note-for-note perfectly-but struggle to navigate the familiar surroundings of his own home? Cathleen Lewis says her son Rex's laugh of total abandon is the single most joyous sound anyone could hear, but his tortured aversion to touch and sound breaks her heart and makes her wonder what God could have had in mind. In this book she shares the mystery of Rex and the highs, lows, hopes, dreams, joy, sorrows, and faith she has journeyed through with him.

My Three Fathers ($4.05), by Bill Patten

Book Description
Bill Patten grew up in the heart of privileged society to American parents-a debutante mother, a diplomatic father-stationed in Europe. Weekends away from his English boarding school were often spent at the regal country estates of important policy makers and historical figures of the mid-twentieth century. When Bill was twelve years old, his father, William Patten, died, and his mother remarried the renowned columnist Joe Alsop. Patten was swept into Washington during the Kennedy years, where he bore witness to his stepfather's legendary power-brokering, and watched a very different father figure at work. In 1996, when he was forty-seven years old, Bill Patten learned that his biological father was not William Patten, but the noted English diplomat, Duff Cooper. In this quest to know his triumvirate of fathers, Bill Patten offers an unforgettable memoir. My Three Fathers is a search for identity-and a luscious chronicle of a fascinating, bygone era of American aristocracy.

The Think Big Manifesto: Think You Can't Change Your Life (and the World)? Think Again ($3.87), by Michael Port & Mina Samuels

Book Description
Think Bigger. About Who You Are. And What You Offer the World.

Stand for something before someone stands on you. Revolt against the play-it-safe, don't disturb the peace, cynical and silenced society that, more often than not, buries big thoughts.

Michael Port, bestselling author and creator of ThinkBigRevolution.com, knows it's not always easy to think big. But big thinking must happen now; today, tomorrow, and forevermore.

At this very moment, you are the change you want to see in the world—should you choose to accept personal responsibility. Devour every word of The Think Big Manifesto. It is the handbook to your personal revolution.

You are more than you know. And you can do more with less than you think...

• Unhook from the guru track
• Learn how to be comfortable with discomfort
• Join people doing powerful things
• Be one of the big thinkers that others rave about

This book, and life, is not a conceptual, theoretical experiment in how to do big things. No, this is just what you need if you're on, or want to be on, the path to doing big things and are willing to invest in your future.

Join or incite a worldwide revolution that inspires others to follow. All it takes is one big thought and the revolution is unleashed. One thought, one person at a time, quickly followed by another—soon big thinking becomes the norm. Your big thoughts enable you to achieve greatness, be remarkable, and create a better world.

Are you a member of the Think Big Revolution? If so, this is your Manifesto.

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People ($4.95), by Stephen R. Covey

Book Description
The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People is a comprehensive program based on developing an awareness of how perceptions and assumptions hinder success---in business as well as presonal relationships. Here's an approach that will help broaden your way of thinking and lead to greater opportunities and effective problem solving. Be Pro-Active: Take the initiative and the responsibility to make things happen. Begin With an End in Mind: Start with a clear destination to understand where you are now, where you're going and what you value most. Put First Things First: Manage yourself. Organize and execute around priorities. Think Win/Win: See life as a cooperative, not a comprehensive arena where success is not achieved at the expense or exclusion of the success of others. Seek First to Understand: Understand then be understood to build the skills of empathetic listening that inspires openness and trust. Synergize: Apply the principles of cooperative creativity and value differences. Renewal: Preserving and enhanving your greatest asset, yourself, by renewing the physical, spiritual, mental and social/emotional dimensions of your nature. Stephen R. Covey is the most respected motivator in the business world today. Learn to use his 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People--and see how they can change your life.

Solving Tough Problems: An Open Way of Talking, Listening, and Creating New Realities ($4.48), by Adam Kahane

Book Description
Tough problems usually dont get solved peacefully. They either dont get solved at allthey get stuckor they get solved by force. These frustrating and frightening outcomes occur all the time. Families replay the same argument over and over, or a parent lays down the law. Organizations keep returning to a familiar crisis, or a boss decrees a new strategy. Communities split over a controversial issue, or a politician dictates the answer. Countries negotiate to a stalemate, or they go to war. Either the people involved in a problem cant agree on what the solution is, or the people with powerauthority, money, gunsimpose their solution on everyone else..The way we talk and listen expresses our relationship with the world. When we fall into the trap of telling and of not listening, we close ourselves off from being changed by the world and we limit ourselves to being able to change the world only by force. But when we talk and listen with an open mind and an open heart and an open spirit, we bring forth our better selves and a better world.

First Aid Guide and Home Doctor ($4.28), by MobileReference

Book Description
n illustrated survival guide with step-by-step instructions, a world-wide list of emergency phone numbers, first aid techniques, and detailed description of what-to-do in over 60 medical emergency conditions. Navigate from Table of Contents or search for words or phrases. FREE Basic First Aid, First Aid Techniques, and Bites Chapter in the trial.

The Bartenders Black Book, Updated 9th Edition ($2.78), by Stephen Kittredge Cunningham & Robert M. Parker, Jr.

Book Description
The newest and ninth edition to the Bartenders Black Book franchise adds 143 brand-new recipes that were created by bartenders, professional and laymen, around the world in the last two years. That brings the total beverage count to 3,000, more than double that of any other drink guide. All the sections have been expanded and updated, including Robert M. Parker, Jr. s Vintage Guide and Mr. Cunningham s already vast Martini section. Of course this book still has all its classic features: an index by ingredients, in-depth mixing instructions, metric conversion tables, a list of every possible garnish, sections on hot drinks, frozen drinks, beers, ales, lagers, and malternatives.

Is It Just Me or Is Everything Shit?: Insanely Annoying Modern Things ($4.99), by Steve Lowe & Alan McArthur

Book Description
An encyclopedic attack on modern culture so hilariously bitter that it actually becomes uplifting. Based on two runaway UK bestsellers, this new American edition has been ingeniously adapted and features exclusive new material for US audiences by Brendan Hay, a former Daily Show headline producer and contributing writer to America: The Book.

If you hate chick lit, Che Guevara merchandise, pop Kabbalah, cosmetic-surgery-gone-wrong-as-tv-programming, DVDs with ads you can't skip, or any of a few hundred other insanely annoying modern things, then this book will finally lend creedence to your frustrations.

Say NOto the awful ideas, terrible people, useless products, and infuriating doublespeak that increasingly dominates our lives. Never before has there been a book so completely full of shit.

Clearly, it isn't just you...

Consumed ($4.02), by Benjamin R. Barber

Book Description
A powerful sequel to Benjamin R. Barber's best-selling Jihad vs. McWorld, Consumed offers a vivid portrait of an overproducing global economy that targets children as consumers in a market where there are never enough shoppers and where the primary goal is no longer to manufacture goods but needs. To explain how and why this has come about, Barber brings together extensive empirical research with an original theoretical framework for understanding our contemporary predicament. He asserts that in place of the Protestant ethic once associated with capitalism-encouraging self-restraint, preparing for the future, protecting and self-sacrificing for children and community, and other characteristics of adulthood-we are constantly being seduced into an "infantilist" ethic of consumption.

Debt Cures "They" Don't Want You to Know About ($3.10), by Kevin Trudeau

Book Description
Are you getting deeper and deeper into debt while they make bigger and bigger profits? Not after you read...Debt Cure$ "They" Don't Want You To Know About! In this new book, Kevin Trudeau blows the lid off the banking and credit card industries, exposing the greatest rip off of our citizens in this nation's history. The credit card industry is one of the most profitable industries in this country, but they don't want you to know it. You can fight back! You can apply Kevin's solutions to your debt problems, and keep more money in your pocket today. You can learn how to use credit to build wealth! Read Debt Cure$ and cure your debt forever. You will learn:

• How the credit lending business is rigged against you!
• How the financial industry wants to keep you in debt!
• How the banks and credit card companies are making obscene profits off of you and how you can change that!
• How to reduce or possible totally eliminate your debt!
• How you could cut your payments in half!
• How to correct your credit with two magic words!
• How to improve your credit virtually overnight!
• How to get free money that you never have to pay back!
• Find out why the financial industry wants to keep you in debt.
• Turn bad debt into good credit.
• Create wealth through financial health.

Financial Reckoning Day Fallout: Surviving Today's Global Depression ($1.02), by William Bonner

Book Description
When the first edition of Financial Reckoning Day was published more than six years ago, many critics felt that maverick financial writers Bill Bonner and Addison Wiggin were overly critical of the United States increasing debt and the start of what seemed to be foreshadowing of economic concerns. Fast-forward to 2009, and much of what the authors predicted has come true-high unemployment rates, record setting foreclosures and bankruptcies along with the near global collapse of the financial institutions once thought to be so secure.

With the Second Edition of Financial Reckoning Day, Bonner and Wiggin bring you even more down-to-earth wisdom. This timely guide reveals that the hazards of democratic consumer capitalism and the financial follies of history are not a thing of the past-but an ongoing issue with no end in sight. With this book, you'll gain a better perspective of what's really going on and discover the steps you need to take to survive the difficult times ahead.

• Bonner and Wiggin are astute observers of the global financial arena and perfectly positioned to offer you solid advice in this field
• Discusses what's behind all the financial turbulence, what's in store, and what you can do to safeguard your investments
• Other titles by Bonner: Empire of Debt, Financial Reckoning Day, and Mobs, Messiahs, and Markets
• Other titles by Wiggin: I.O.U.S.A., Demise of the Dollar, and Financial Reckoning Day

Honest and accurate, the Second Edition of Financial Reckoning Day offers you the best chance to protect your assets and grow your portfolio in these difficult financial times.

Thriving in the New Economy: Lessons from Today's Top Business Minds ($2.14), by Lori Ann LaRocco

Book Description
Survive and thrive in today's economy

These are make-or-break times for business leaders. In today's defining moment, the "New Economy," CEOs and other leaders in a wide variety of industries must face unprecedented conditions.

Thriving in the New Economy gives you a unique look into some of today's best economic and business minds. A series of close profiles, the book offers inspirational personal stories, useful advice, and actionable strategies you can use immediately to skirt financial peril, seize opportunities, and flourish in the New Economy.

• Profiles include financial publisher Steve Forbes, The Vanguard Group founder Jack Bogle, Former National Economic Council Director and Former Special Assistant to the President on Economic Policy Lawrence Lindsey, former FDIC chair Donald Powell, Saks CEO Steve Sadove, Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. President Jim Lentz, legendary vulture investor Wilbur Ross and more
• Looks at how leaders in economics, banking, automobiles, real estate, and retail are not just avoiding the unraveling economy, but actively evolving and growing their businesses
• \Foreword by H. Wayne Huizenga; Afterword by Rudy Giuliani

If you're looking for the way forward through today's business wilderness, Thriving in the New Economy lets you in on how some leaders use challenges not just to survive but thrive.

The Sages ($2.99), by Charles R. Morris, is one of two identically priced editions. The second one has a subtitle, Warren Buffett, George Soros, Paul Volcker, and the Maelstrom of Markets, but also appears to be in topaz format, so I'd pick this mobi formatted edition.

Book Description
Throughout the violent financial disruptions of the past several years, three men have stood out as beacons of judgment and wisdom: Warren Buffett, George Soros, and Paul Volcker. Though their experiences and styles vary-Buffett is the canny stock market investor; Soros is the reader of shifting global tides in trade and currencies; and Volcker is the regulator and governor, sheriff and clean-up crew-they have very much in common. All three men have more than fifty years of deep involvement in markets. All are skeptical of Wall Street frenzies. They believe that markets tend to be right, but usually only over the medium term. They have seen too many cycles of herd-driven, emotion-riding booms and busts to make their views hostage to the sweeping and simplistic assumptions of "efficient-markets" models. With the benefit of his own deep understanding of markets and finance, Morris brilliantly analyzes the records of these men, distilling their wisdom and experience-and argues for the importance of consistent values in navigating the treacherous terrain of today's globalized world.