Nook Daily Find 6/2

The Real Housewives Tell It Like It Is ($8.49 Kindle, $1.99 B&N), by The Creators of The Real House [Chronicle Books], is the Nook Daily Find.

Book Description
Bravo's The Real Housewives franchise has taken the country by storm with over 13 million fans and record-breaking new seasons. The Real Housewives Tell It Like It Is captures the best, most outlandish quotes from the ladies of the O.C., New York, Atlanta, New Jersey, D.C., Beverly Hills, and Miami in one deluxe volume so fans can refer to their unique brand of wisdom again and again. Organized by topic and brimming with color photographs, The Real Housewives Tell It Like It Is is a must-have for fans everywhere!

$3 Instant Amazon Instant Video Credit (KSO)

This offer is only for those with a Kindle with Special Offers (including any that opts in to Special Offers, but not the Kindle Fire with Special Offers):

Get $3 off select titles in the Amazon Instant Video Store

To take advantage of this offer:

1. First, turn on your Kindle with Special Offers, click Menu, then View Special Offers.
2. Find the offer: Get $3 off select titles in the Amazon Instant Video Store. Click on it, then on the link to Email Me This Offer. You must claim your gift code by Midnight PT, November 12, 2012.
3. You will get an email from Amazon with your promotional code, right away.
4. Once you have the promotion code (and have selected your album; see below), click this link, then on the button labeled Enter Your Code, at any time up to the expiration date of 11:59 p.m. (PT) November 19, 2012.
5. Enter your code and follow the directions.
6. Choose nearly any Amazon Instant Video and the credit will authomatically be applied (up to the expiration date of Midnight, Nov 19).

You might as well apply this one to your account right away, since it will apply automatically. If you are a Twilight Fan, you could rent three of the four for free (or just pay 96 cents for the lot), since Amazon has them on sale for 99 cents right now: Twilight, Twilight: New Moon, Twilight: Eclipse, and Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part I ($.99 through November 8th; playback by Nov 29).

$3 Instant Amazon Instant Video Credit (KSO)

This offer is only for those with a Kindle Fire with Special Offers (KFSO).

From the home page of your KFSO, swipe the top menu to the left until you see Offers, then press/click in order to see the current offers. At the bottom, you should see the offer for $3 to spend on Select TV Episodes. Click on the offer, then on the orange button to add the credit directly to your account. It's nearly instant and the next screen offers to take you to Amazon so you can spend that credit away! If you miss that screen, though, don't worry - a document about the offer will appear on your home page. You must sign up by October 11.

Unlike the previous offer, you can't choose from the entire Instant Video Store, but must use the credit for "television episodes" (rentals and purchases). You can shop from your Kindle Fire or your PC, but you need to check for any individual product that is excluded from this (and all other) promotions, on the product detail page and I don't know if you can see that info on the mobile pages you get on the Fire itself. The credit expires October 18, so be sure to use it quickly.

I'm not sure what (if anything) I'll spend this one. I do wonder if it will work on buying an entire season for a series.

$5 Instant Amazon Instant Video Credit (KSO)

This offer for those with a Kindle Fire with Special Offers only. On your Kindle Fire with Special Offers (and presumably on the HD, which I don't have yet, since I ordered the large memory size), swipe the top menu to the left until you see Offers, then press/click in order to see the current offers. At the bottom, you should see the offer to Get $5 to spend on Select Titles. Click on the offer, then on the orange button to add the credit directly to your account. It's nearly instant and the next screen offers to take you to Amazon so you can spend that credit away! If you miss that screen, though, don't worry - a document about the offer will appear on your home page.

It looks like you can shop the entire Instant Video Store (rentals and purchases) and just check for any individual product that is excluded from this (and all other) promotions, on the product detail page (not that I saw any that were excluded and I checked a couple of dozen pages). The credit expires Sept 29, so be sure to use it quickly.

I'm half-tempted by The Pirates!, especially with the ebook being featured at Amazon today (but only a super-deal for those in the UK) and with tomorrow being Talk Like a Pirate Day (a local donut chain is giving them away to all those dress up or just talk like a pirate in the store.

Don't forget to use your $5 MP3 credit - it expires Sept 24!

Free Book (Kindle/iBooks) - Shimmer (UK)

Shimmer (Main/UK), by Amanda Roberts, is free for UK customers in the Kindle store and from iTunes. This is the first of a planned series of novels very, very loosely based on the BBC show Strictly Come Dancing. Despite the publisher being shown as Harper, I don't think this one will be available at all for US readers.

Book Description
A 100% official Strictly Come Dancing novel, featuring the dancers, stars and judges you love!

What if an ordinary girl's Strictly dreams became a glittering reality?

Meet Amanda Roberts: a production runner on the set of Strictly Come Dancing, desperate to fit into the world of the dazzling and the beautiful. And when she discovers all the backstage drama, Amanda wonders if she is tough enough to survive.But then things start to change…

And incredibly she finds more GLITZ, more MAGIC and more ROMANCE than she could possibly have imagined.

Prepare to be dazzled as you tango into the glamour and mayhem of the world behind the glitter ball.

PREPARE TO BE SHIMMERED!

Get the free book from iTunes (UK).

Ellery Queen Mysteries on DVD

If you are a big mystery buff, you may want to check out the Ellery Queen Mysteries DVD set, which is Amazon's Deal of the Day today.

Book Description
From the creators of Columbo and Murder, She Wrote… Match wits with Ellery Queen (Jim Hutton) in all 22 digitally restored, uncut and unedited episodes of this classic NBC series following the exploits of the famed writer as he assists his father, Inspector Richard Queen (David Wayne), in solving the mysteries that baffle the New York City police force.

Guest Stars include: Don Ameche, Dana Andrews, Tom Bosley, George Burns, Joan Collins, Troy Donahue, Anne Francis, Eva Gabor, Larry Hagman, June Lockhart, Robert Loggia, Roddy McDowall, Ed McMahon, Sal Mineo, Donald O'Connor, Dean Stockwell, Dick Van Patten, Vincent Price, Cesar Romero, Betty White, and many more!

Amazon Review
The case of the missing TV series has finally been cracked, but why Ellery Queen lasted only one season (1975-76) and fell into obscurity is a real mystery. Based on the evidence in this six-disc set, this loving homage to the classic murder mystery created by Richard Levinson and William Link was, like their Columbo and Murder, She Wrote, nonviolent and intelligent television of the first order. Set in the 1940s, Ellery Queen stars boyishly charming Jim Hutton, one of the screen's most likable leading men, as the famed mystery writer and sleuth who helps his father, Inspector Richard Queen (David Wayne), solve the most baffling of cases. The pleasures this series affords are anything but guilty. Each intriguing episode begins with the preview of a murder, a roundup of the suspects (Was it the jealous wife? The dictatorial director?), and an irresistible challenge to viewers to "match wits with Ellery Queen and see if you can guess whodunit." Before revealing the killer, Ellery breaks the fourth wall to ask if we amateur sleuths at home have the mystery figured out, offering last-minute clues such as, "Once you figure out how, you'll know who." As with Burke's Law, each episode of Ellery Queen is packed with enough Hollywood legends, venerable character actors, and TV faves to fill The Love Boat. "The Adventure of Veronica's Veils" features George Burns as the victim ("I didn't die of natural causes," he announces via a filmed presentation following his demise), William Demarest, Don Porter, comedian Jack Carter, Hayden Rorke (Dr. Bellows on I Dream of Jeannie), and John Hillerman in his recurring role as radio detective Simon Brimmer, forever trying to one-up Queen. Queen himself makes it a point "to be observant and pay attention to details," particularly for that "dying clue which makes absolutely no sense." You'd be advised to do the same. The intricately plotted stories turn on the most arcane of clues and circumstances, as in the pilot episode "Too Many Suspects," in which solving a fashion designer's murder hinges on the reenactment of a TV news broadcast (maybe that explains the one-season run). An interview with Link, not very lively, but interesting, is included as a bonus feature. --Donald Liebenson

Free Instant Video Streaming with Amazon Prime

Everyone with a paid Amazon Prime Membership now has access to Unlimited Free Streaming Videos with Amazon Prime. If you are a Student or Amazon Mom member, you have to upgrade to the paid membership to get this benefit (but when you do, you can share with it 4 other members of your family, which means students can share the cost with their parents, in most cases). I love Netflix and we have a plan that allows us one DVD at a time, plus streaming, but if you are going to get a streaming only account, you'll pay a lot less signing up with Amazon. Netflix streaming only is $7.99/month or $95.88 per year (plus taxes, in some states), so you'll save nearly $20 to start with, plus get all the added benefits of a prime membership.

Benefits of Amazon Prime

• Unlimited FREE Two-Day Shipping
• No minimum order size
• One-Day shipping for $3.99/item
• Unlimited, commercial-free, instant streaming of 5,000 movies and TV shows at no additional cost

After your free trial, Amazon Prime is just $79/year

Update: As noted by several readers, only the primary person on the Prime account gets access to free streaming videos. You would need to log in as that person to get access to the free videos (so, not something you would share lightly, as that person could order on your Amazon account). Still, it's a better deal than the same service from Netflix, but the two are different in selection and hardware supported. For example, no Wii or Playstation for Amazon, at least so far, and no Ipad support, which are the three I've used with Netflix.

Pre-Order Collection and a TV Christmas Show

The Collected Novels of José Saramago is available as a pre-order on Kindle (with delivery tomorrow). You might not recognize the author's name right away, as this Portuguese author's books have not always been readily available in the US. His The Gospel According to Jesus Christ ($8.69), for example, provoked enough controversy that it was withdrawn from consideration for the 1992 European Literature Prize. But you likely have heard of the movie based on what is considered his masterpiece, the Nobel prize-winning Blindness ($7.65). It, the sequel Seeing ($9.99) and all the others are collected here, at a price well below what you'd pay picking up the titles individually; at $28.80, you are paying under under $2.50 per novel (with the novella thrown in free).

Book Description
This collection, available exclusively in e-book form, brings together the twelve novels (and one novella) of the great Portuguese writer José Saramago, with an introductory essay by Ursula Le Guin. From Saramago's early work, like the enchanting Baltasar & Blimunda and the controversial Gospel According to Jesus Christ, through his masterpiece Blindness and its sequel Seeing, to his later fables of politics, chance, history, and love, like All the Names and Death with Interruptions, this volume showcases the range and depth of Saramago’s career, his inimitable narrative voice, and his vast reserves of invention, humor, and understanding.

Call Me Mrs. Miracle ($7.29), by Debbie Macomber, may not be quite bargain priced, but you can watch the TV adaptation of it tonight, on the Hallmark Channel (8PM EST). If you prefer your entertainment in eInk, just click on the author's name -- there are 9 volumes under $4, several of them with Christmas themes.

Book Description
This Christmas, Emily Merkle (call her Mrs. Miracle!) is working in the toy department at Finley's, the last family-owned department store in New York City. And her boss is none other than…Jake Finley, the owner's son.

For Jake, holiday memories of brightly wrapped gifts, decorated trees and family were destroyed in a Christmas Eve tragedy years before. Now Christmas means just one thing to him—and to his father. Profit. Because they need a Christmas miracle to keep the business afloat.

Holly Larson needs a miracle, too. She wants to give her eight-year-old nephew, Gabe, the holiday he deserves. Holly's widowed brother is in the army and won't be home for Christmas, but at least she can get Gabe that toy robot from Finley's, the one gift he desperately wants. If she can figure out how to afford it…

Fortunately, it's Mrs. Miracle to the rescue. Next to making children happy, she likes nothing better than helping others—and that includes doing a bit of matchmaking!

This Christmas will be different. For all of them.

Rescue Me - $14.99 per Season

Amazon's Gold Box Deal of the Day has every season of Dennis Leary's Rescue Me for $14.99 today (and today only), which is less than the price of Video on Demand (and I don't know how many days it would take me to download all of these, as our bandwidth isn't high enough to watch them online without downloading first. I'll admit I started skipping episodes in Season 4, but now that the fifth Season is out on DVD, I have to get caught up. You can buy any or all of the seasons at this price (and it looks like as many copies as you want, as well, in case you want to buy them for gifts). Here are the links for the individual seasons:

• Season One
• Season Two
• Season Three
• Season Four
• Season Five

I'm even tempted to buy Season Six on Video on Demand, as the price is currently down to $15.99, which is below what Amazon wants for the previous seasons (although this one does appear to be fairly short, with only ten episodes).