Free Audiobook - Succubus Blues

You can get a free audiobook download of Succubus Blues ($4.79 Kindle), by Richelle Mead, over on Audible.

Book Description
When it comes to jobs in hell, being a succubus seems pretty glamorous. A girl can be anything she wants, the wardrobe is killer, and mortal men will do anything just for a touch. Granted, they often pay with their souls, but why get technical?

But Seattle succubus Georgina Kincaid's life is far less exotic. At least there's her day job at a local bookstore--free books; all the white chocolate mochas she can drink; and easy access to bestselling, sexy writer, Seth Mortensen, aka He Whom She Would Give Anything to Touch but Can't.

But dreaming about Seth will have to wait. Something wicked is at work in Seattle's demon underground. And for once, all of her hot charms and drop-dead one-liners won't help because Georgina's about to discover there are some creatures out there that both heaven and hell want to deny. . .

Get the free audiobook from Audible.

Free Book (Kindle) - Blood Rock

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

Blood Rock (US/UK), the second title in the Skindancer series by Anthony Francis, is free for UK customers in the Kindle store and from Kobo, courtesy of Bell Bridge Books. I expect it to be free for US Kindle customers by morning. I've read a review copy of this one and definitely recommend the series, which starts with Frost Moon (and which was free last August).

Book Description
Dakota Frost is back, and the ink is about to hit the fan-again.

Graffiti comes to life in the dark heart of Atlanta's oldest cemetery, slaying one of the city's best loved vampires before the eyes of his friend Dakota Frost. Deadly magick is at work on the city's walls, challenging even the amazing power of Dakota's tattoos to contain it. The hungry, graffiti magick loves to kill, and the Edgeworld is no longer safe from its own kind.

Dakota begins a harrowing journey to save those she loves and to discover the truth behind the spreading graffiti-even if that truth offends the vampires, alienates the werekin and creates police suspicion of her every action.

Saving Atlanta may cost her everything, including custody of her "adopted" weretiger daughter, Cinnamon. But failure is not an option. If the graffiti isn't stopped, Cinnamon could be the next victim.

Epic Award winner Anthony Francis writes the Skindancer series while working fulltime for "that famous search engine whose name begins with a 'G'."

Free Book (noDRM) - Infected: Prey

Prey ($5.38 Kindle), the first title in the Infected series by Andrea Speed, is free direct from LGBT Dreamspinner Press (today only). This is urban fantasy (with apparently no sex scenes, according to comments), but very much M/M leads. If you are into Westerns instead, check back with them tomorrow, as they should have them at 30% off sitewide (no coupon code).

Book Description
In a world where a werecat virus has changed society, Roan McKichan, a born infected and ex-cop, works as a private detective trying to solve crimes involving other infecteds.

The murder of a former cop draws Roan into an odd case where an unidentifiable species of cat appears to be showing an unusual level of intelligence. He juggles that with trying to find a missing teenage boy, who, unbeknownst to his parents, was “cat” obsessed. And when someone is brutally murdering infecteds, Eli Winters, leader of the Church of the Divine Transformation, hires Roan to find the killer before he closes in on Eli.

Working the crimes will lead Roan through a maze of hate, personal grudges, and mortal danger. With help from his tiger-strain infected partner, Paris Lehane, he does his best to survive in a world that hates and fears their kind… and occasionally worships them.

Get the free ebook from Dreamspinner Press. You'll be able to download in a variety of DRM-free formats after you checkout.

Free Book (Kindle/nook) - That Voodoo You Do

That Voodoo You Do, the first title in the That Old Black Magic series by Jodi Redford, is free in the Kindle store and from Barnes & Noble. This one is from Samhain, so comes with a content warning!

Book Description
For ten long years Griffin Trudeau has managed to keep his paws off Jemma Finnegan, best friend and leading star of his kinkiest fantasies. As her appointed cat familiar, indulging those fantasies with the delectable witch is strictly forbidden. But when Jemma shows up at his door with seduction in mind, control goes right out the window.

Too late he realizes making love to Jemma is the trigger that launches a zombie apocalypse.

Jemma’s been dealt a double whammy: she’s just discovered she’s a witch. And Griff has been hiding whiskers and a tail. Oh, and if her life wasn’t crazy enough, a dead voodoo queen needs her blood to raise a legion of zombies.

There’s one plan that might work to increase Jemma’s powers so she can put an end to the looming holocaust. A sexy threesome with Griff and Logan Scott, a werewolf familiar with a history of rubbing Griff’s fur the wrong way. A cat and a wolf playing nice, much less sharing? It’ll take a miracle.

Warning: A witch, tiger and wolf doing naughty things. A dead voodoo queen doing evil things. And zombies doing zombie things. Get your shovels ready.

Get the free ebook from from Barnes & Noble.

Five Free Pre-Orders for Australians (Kindle)

Five more free pre-orders for Australians in the Kindle store (at least, until Harper catches it and fixes the prices). All of these are also discounted for those in the US, so I'm including the US price for anyone that wants to grab them. I don't expect any of them to end up free in the US or for them to remain free for long for those Down Under.

Every Which Way But Dead with Bonus Material ($1.99 US), by Kim Harrison

Book Description
For a limited time and at a reduced price, catch up with Rachel Morgan and the Hollow Series with Every Which Way But Dead at a special price! Also included is an exclusive sneak peek at Kim Harrison's new novel, Perfect Blood, available February 21st.

In Every Which Way But Dead, witch and former bounty hunter Rachel Morgan's managed to escape her corrupt company, survive living with a vampire, start her own runner service, and face down a vampire master.

But her vampire roommate Ivy is off the wagon, her human boyfriend Nick is out of town indefinitely and doesn't sound like he's coming back while the far-too-seductive vampire Kisten is looking way too tempting, and there's a turf war erupting in Cincinnati's underworld.

And there's a greater evil still. To put the vampire master behind bars and save her family, Rachel made a desperate bargain and now there's hell to pay--literally. For if Rachel cannot stop him, the archdemon Algaliarept will pull her into the sorcerous ever-after to forfeit her soul as his slave. Forever.

A Dream of Stone & Shadow ($1.99 US), a novella by Marjorie M. Liu, 2006 Nominee for the PRISM award, originally published in the anthology Dark Dreamers.

Book Description
There are those who do terrible things in this world, and those who simply watch. Charlie would do neither. Imprisoned, his only release is through his own destruction—or through Aggie Durand. Sweet as a kiss or a rescued child, she is the one dream he does not dare desire. As an agent of Dirk & Steele, she could be his salvation. Today, Charlie's dream is waking.

Devil's Bride with Bonus Material ($0.99 US), by Stephanie Laurens

Book Description
Where it all began. . . The Cynsters!

When Devil, the most infamous member of the Cynster family, is caught in a compromising position with plucky governess Honoria Wetherby, he astonishes the entire town by offering his hand in marriage. No one dreamed this scandalous rake would ever take a bride. And as society mamas swooned at the loss of England's most eligible bachelor, Devil's infamous Cynster cousins began to place wagers on the wedding date.

But Honoria wasn't about to bend society's demands and marry a man "just" because they'd been found together virtually unchaperoned. No, she craved adventure, and while solving the murder of a young Cynster cousin fit the bill for a while, she decided that once the crime was solved she'd go off to see the world. But the scalding heat of her unsated desire for Devil soon had Honoria craving a very different sort of excitement. Could her passion for Devil cause her to embrace the enchanting peril of a lifelong adventure of the heart?

Now with special bonus material, including Q&As with the author and a sneak peek at other books by Stephanie Laurens!

Sharpe's Christmas (n/a US), by Bernard Cornwell

Book Description
A Richard Sharpe short story, featuring scenes of action and adventure at Christmas.

Christmas, 1813, towards the end of the Peninsular War…

‘You’ll like Irati,’ Colonel Hogan said. ‘It’s a nothing place, Richard. Hovels and misery, that’s all it is and all it ever will be, but that’s where you’re going for Christmas.

’Because maybe the French were going there. The garrison planned to march at Christmas in the hope that their enemies would be too bloated with beef and wine to fight, but Hogan had got wind of their plans and was now setting his snares on the only two routes that the escaping French could use. One, the eastern road, was by far the easier route, for it entered France through a low pass, and Hogan guessed it was that route that the French would choose. But there was a second road, a tight, hard, steep road, and that had to be blocked as well and so the Prince of Wales’s Own Volunteers, Sharpe’s regiment, would climb into the hills and spend their Christmas at a place of hovels and misery called Irati.

There would be no getting bloated with beef and wine for Sharpe and his regiment this Christmas.

Steve Jobs: American Genius ($4.99 US), by Amanda Ziller

Book Description
Book description to come.

Free Short Story (Kindle/nook) - First Frost

First Frost, a prequel short story in the young adult Mythos Academy series by Jennifer Estep, is a repeat freebie in the Kindle store and from Barnes & Noble.

Book Description
I am Gwen Frost, and I have a Gypsy gift. It’s called psychometry – that's a fancy way of saying that I see images in my head and get flashes of other people’s memories off almost everything I touch, even guys.

My gift makes me kind of nosy. Okay, okay, maybe a lot nosy--to the point of obsession sometimes. I want to know everything about everyone around me. But even I don't want to know the secrets my friend Paige is hiding or the terrible loss that will send me to a new school – Mythos Academy, where the teachers aren't preparing us for the SATs, but to battle Reapers of Chaos. Now I have no friends and no idea how my gift fits in with all these warrior whiz kids. The only thing I do know is that my life is never, ever going to be the same....

Get the free ebook from Barnes & Noble.

Free Book (Kindle) - Moonstone

Moonstone, the first title in the Unbidden Magic series by Marilee Brothers, is a repeat freebie in the Kindle store.

Book Description
A sickly mom. A tiny house trailer. High school bullies and snarky drama queens. Bad-guy dudes with charming smiles. Allie has problems. And then there's that whole thing about fulfilling a magical prophecy and saving the world from evil. Geez. Welcome to the sad, funny, sometimes-scary world of fifteen-year-old Allie Emerson, who's struggling to keep her and her mom's act together in the small-town world of Peacock Flats, Washington. An electrical zap from a TV antenna sets off Allie's weird psychic powers. The next thing she knows she's being visited by a hippy-dippy guardian angel, and then her mysterious neighbor, the town "witch," gives her an incredible moonstone pendant that has powers only a good-hearted "Star Seeker" is meant to command. "Who, me?" is Allie's first reaction. But as sinister events begin to unfold, Allie realizes she's got a destiny to live up to. If she can just survive everyday life, in the meantime.

Free Book (Kindle/nook) - What A Demon Wants

What A Demon Wants (US/UK), the fourth title in the New Orleans Vampires series by Kathy Love, is a repeat freebie in both the Kindle store and from Barnes & Noble.

Book Description
She's No Angel

A bodyguard? Why in the world would a demon need a bodyguard? Yes, it's true Ellina Kostova is only half demon ... and an author with a cult following, but that just means strange stuff happens. She isn't in real danger. Heck, she's in more danger from Jude Anthony, the guy her brother has hired to protect her. In big danger, actually. Because she just cannot be attracted to ... well, anyone. She's too much of a demon in bed. No, really.

Jude has grown accustomed to being an outcast, adrift in both the mortal and preternatural worlds. Being a paid fighting machine isn't glamorous, but he does it -- and many other things -- spectacularly well. And man does Ellina Kostova need a lot of protection. But he needs protection, too. She's making him remember what it feels like to be human. And he's already learned no good can come of that. Especially when he's been hired not only to protect her -- but also kill her....

Get the free ebook from Barnes & Noble.

Free Book (Kindle/nook) - Carinian's Seeker

Carinian's Seeker (US/UK/DE), the first title in the Vampire Council of Ethics series by T. J. Michaels, is free in the Kindle store, is free in the Kindle store and from Barnes & Noble, courtesy of Samhain Publisher (so, watch that content warning).

Book Description
She's his target...and his mate. Aw,hell! Book One in the Vampire Council of Ethics series. Beautiful genius, Carinian Derrickson, wants to live long enough to date a man from the future generations of spacemen, complete with ray guns and starships. She's not crazy, she's just afraid of dying young of some dreaded disease, like all the rest of her family. Her research into gene therapy has shown her the way to extend her life is by emulating traits only before seen in fiction. Vampire fiction. Only the beings that shouldn't exist are very real indeed.

Unknown to her, there's a bad boy vampire in the lab next door with a goal quite the opposite of hers. If he has his way, he'll bring the Vampire Council of Ethics (V.C.O.E.) to its knees.

Jon Bixler is a Seeker for the Council-an assassin and undercover operative in a world of humans. Bix must get close enough to this rogue to find out exactly how he plans to dismantle the Council. And Carinian is just the ticket. But when he meets her, all his vampire common sense flies out the window as his libido leaps off the charts. What's he going to do now that the woman is in danger and secretly trying to do the impossible?

Bix and Carin can't deny the combustion of love and lust between them. They accept their mating. But can they stay alive long enough to enjoy it?

Warning, this title contains the following: explicit sex, graphic language, and violence.

Get the free ebook from Barnes & Noble.

Free Book Roundup

This post is a little different from my usual free book postings. There are a number of books that have been free in the past, went back up in price and have dropped once again, some of them that have been free very recently, others quite some time ago. In addition, there are a number of mini-books that I've been ignoring, which I'm going to group together by type. I know a lot of people avoid the mini-books or the subject matter doesn't interest everyone, so I won't include full descriptions on each of these. If you are new to the blog, you might find one or two good ones to pick up, especially at the top of the post.

An Unwanted Hunger, the first novel in the Soul of V’Kar series by Ciana Stone, is a repeat from last year, courtesy of Ellora's Cave.

Book Description
Passion this strong is dangerous. They both know it. Mortal enemies, their respective factions have been at war since the dawn of man. Resa is a Dhampir, bred and trained to hunt Vampyres. Constantine is a prince among the Vampyre, the oldest and most lethal.Nothing good can come of this hunger, this need that drives them relentlessly toward one another. Neither reason nor devotion to duty can stay their need. There is but one way to quench the thirst that drives them. Once sated, they can return to the battle and see which one, if either, is left standing.But one drink from the cup of desire serves only to magnify the hunger. One act of lust that could alter them forever, changing the course of destiny.

The Golden Acorn (The Adventures of Jack Brenin), by Catherine Cooper, was free for some time and many of us picked up the second in the series for 99 cents. If you are in that group, you may want to get Silver Hill, which was released this week

Book Description
When Jack Brenin finds a golden acorn lying in the grass, little does he know that it is the beginning of a thrilling and magical adventure. Just an ordinary boy, Jack has been chosen for a hugely important task, and enters a world he believed only existed in legend. Full of twists and turns, talking ravens and mischievous Spriggans, 'The Golden Acorn' is a hugely entertaining and exciting tale from a very talented new author. Your kids will love it, and so will you! This brilliant story deservedly won the Brit Writers' Awards 2010 for unpublished writers. Jack’s adventures continue in 'Glasruhen Gate' and 'Silver Hill'.

Sasha: A Trial of Blood and Steel Book One, by Joel Shepherd, was first free in the summer and only had a brief absence from the lists.

Book Description
SASHA IS A FIGHTER, THE LIKE OF WHICH THE HIGHLAND COUNTRY OF LENAYIN HAS NEVER SEEN.Spurning her royal heritage to be raised by the great warrior, Kessligh, her exquisite swordplay astonishes all who witness it. But Sasha is still young, untested in battle and often led by her rash temper. In the complex world of Lenayin loyalties, her defiant wilfulness is attracting the wrong kind of attention. sxLenayin is a land almost divided by its two faiths: the Verenthane of the ruling classes and the pagan Goeren-yai, amongst whom Sasha now lives. The Goeren-yai worship swordplay and honour and begin to see Sasha as the great spirit—the Synnich—who will unite them. But Sasha is still searching for what she believes and must choose her side carefully. When the Udalyn people—the symbol of Goeren-yai pride and courage—are attacked, Sasha will face her moment of testing. How will she act? Is she ready to lead? Can she be the saviour they need her to be?

If at First . . . (Short Story), by Peter F. Hamilton, was also first free the summer.

Book Description
Peter F. Hamilton has proven himself a modern master of epic space opera, carrying the tradition of far-future empire building begun by Heinlein and Asimov into the new millennium. But Hamilton is also a master of the short story, and when he tackles one of science fiction’s most enduring themes—time travel—the result is as provocative as it is entertaining. It starts in 2007 with a break-in. The victim: Marcus Orthew, the financial and technological genius behind Orthanics, the computer company whose radical products have delivered a one-two punch to the industry, all but knocking PCs and Macs out of the ring. The perpetrator: a man obsessed with Orthew. Just another simple case of celebrity stalking—or so everyone assumes at first, including Metropolitan Police Chief Detective David Lanson. But when Lanson interviews the suspect, he makes a startling claim: Orthew is from the future. Or, rather, a future—a parallel timeline. Thus begins the ride of a lifetime for Lanson, as his pursuit of the facts tumbles him headlong down a rabbit hole—and the hunter finds himself hunted.

The Last Drop, by L. Sprague de Camp and L. Ron Hubbard, was first free in the summer of 2010.

Book Description
A humorous tale about a New York bartender who receives mysteriously special potions from Borneo which can make people grow or shrink depending on which one they drink. When our hero uses the potion to deal with some unfriendly mobsters, the results are comic and riotously unpredictable—including an unexpected run-in with a dogfish.

Fatal Destiny, a Fatal novella by Marie Force, was free last month.

Book Description
With the week of their wedding finally upon them, Washington, D.C., Police Lieutenant Sam Holland and her fiancé, Senator Nick Cappuano, are at odds. In the aftermath of a tragic loss, they struggle to reconnect as the big day draws near, but their work keeps pulling them apart. When a new clue into a cold case surfaces, Nick asks Sam not to take any foolish chances before the wedding and to leave it alone for the time being.

Sam agrees, but she can't let it go entirely and winds up trapped in an explosive situation. Then an unwelcome visitor from her past threatens her future happiness… With trouble at every turn, will Sam survive long enough to walk down the aisle?

Hidden by Blood (A Sweetblood Novella), by Laurie London, repeats from the summer.

Book Description
Deep within the forests of the Pacific Northwest, two vampire coalitions battle for supremacy--Guardians who safeguard humanity and Darkbloods, rogues who will stop at nothing to satisfy their craving for the sweetest of human blood.

Now, former Army Ranger Finn McKentry finds himself imprisoned as a blood slave, forced to submit to an enemy more powerful than any he's encountered before. Only Brenna Stewart, the woman he'd loved and lost, can set him free--but the secret she harbors might lead them down the most dangerous path of all...

Code Blue, by Richard Mabry, repeats from last year, courtesy of Christian publisher Abingdon Press.

Book Description
In the first book of the Prescription for Trouble series, “Code Blue” means more to Dr. Cathy Sewell than the cardiac emergency she has to face. It describes her mental state as she finds that coming back to her hometown hasn’t brought her the peace she so desperately needs. Instead, it’s clear that someone there wants her gone…or dead.Cathy returns to her hometown seeking healing after a broken relationship, but discovers that among her friends and acquaintances is someone who wants her out of town…or dead. Lawyer Will Kennedy, her high school sweetheart, offers help, but does it carry a price tag? Is hospital chief of staff Dr. Marcus Bell really on her side in her fight to get hospital privileges? Is Will’s father, Pastor Matthew Kennedy, interested in advising her or just trying to get her back to the church she left years ago? When one of Cathy’s prescriptions almost kills the town banker, it sets the stage for a malpractice suit that could end her time in town, if not her career. It’s soon clear that this return home was a prescription for trouble.

The Dead Saint (Bishop Lynn Peterson), by Marilyn Brown Oden, repeats from this spring, courtesy of Christian publisher Abingdon Press.

Book Description
It begins with a single gunshot, and Bishop Lynn Peterson watches in horror as a good friend, who is a member of the New Orleans Saints, collapses on the street.When a medal the player wore—a medal Lynn had promised to return to the man's family—disappears, Lynn is thrust into a suspenseful and fast-moving journey through four assassinations, an attempt on her life, conflicts with a mysterious and ancient society, and a behind-the-scenes conspiracy that reaches all the way to the White House.The turbulent, unstoppable intrigue challenges Lynn mentally, physically, and spiritually as she engages in a desperate battle with an opponent who is just as determined to kill as Lynn is to stop him even though she has no idea where—or who—he will strike next.

Shrouded in Silence, by Robert L. Wise, also repeats from this spring, courtesy of Christian publisher Abingdon Press.

Book Description
Determined to find an answer, Jack and Michelle Townsend set out on a quest to find the original ending to the Gospel of Mark.Following ancient clues, they head for Rome, but what starts out as a scholarly search turns violent as two separate groups strive to stop the Townsends, plunging their quiet research into chaos.After a bomb destroys their office, the Townsends are pushed to the limits of their determination and commitment to God’s will. Can faith in God’s purposes endure in a swirl of conspiracy and espionage that brings the couple to the brink of death?

Sweet Baklava, by Debby Mayne, repeats from late winter, courtesy of Christian publisher Abingdon Press.

Book Description
After years of looking for a place to belong, Paula Andrews finally finds her niche in Tarpon Springs, Florida. Her soap and candle shop flourishes, and her friendship with the Papadopoulos family gives her the love and support she never got from her own family.The only thing missing is a romance—or in the grand hopes of the Papadopoulos family, a proper marriage. Preferably with Nick, their favorite son, currently serving in the Air Force. Paula, however, has doubts. After all, he’s been gone a long time and loves flying. Their lives have grown apart. Would he still feel anything for her?When Nick comes home on leave, sparks fly, and not just with Paula. Nick's father wants him home, helping with the family sponge-diving business. His mother wants him back in the family, back in church. Nick just wants Paula . . . and the Air Force.So who’s going to give in first? And what will it mean for their love and future?

Finding the Top Stocks: Strategies for Success Top Stocks 2012, by Martin Roth, is a mini-book companion to Top Stocks 2012: A Sharebuyer's Guide to Leading Australian Companies.

Book Description
For the first time, Top Stocks 2012, the 18th edition of the bestselling Australian share market bible, comes with a free e-book companion, Finding the Top Stocks—Strategies for Success. A short guide, also written by respected financial journalist Martin Roth, Finding the Top Stocks—Strategies for Success examines eight strategies and market theories and indicates how you can use Top Stocks 2012 to take advantage of these strategies.

The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook Presents - 10 Summertime Treats, by Dinah Bucholz, is a repeat from summer.

Book Description
It's summertime and the weather is just right to sit back and relax with a nice, cool . . . pumpkin juice! With July comes backyard barbecues, long afternoons by the pool, and Harry's birthday of course! Celebrate this magical time with The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook Presents: 10 Summertime Treats. This free eBook includes 10 decadent treats guaranteed to provide sweet relief from the sultry summertime heat. From icy juices to cool, melt-in-your-mouth sundaes, this summer you can conjure a dessert fit for Hogwarts Hall!

Superheroes: The Best of Philosophy and Pop Culture, by William Irwin, repeats from the summer.

Book Description
Explore the philosophical depths of Batman, Superman, Captain America, and your other favorite superheroes—FOR FREE!

Behind the cool costumes, special powers, and unflagging determination to fight evil you’ll find fascinating philosophical questions and concerns deep in the hearts and minds of your favorite comic book heroes.

Why doesn't Batman just kill the Joker and end everyone's misery? Does Peter Parker have a good life? What can Iron Man teach us about the role of technology in society? Bringing together key chapters from books in the Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture series, this free superhero sampler engages the intellectual might of big thinkers like Aristotle and Kant to answer these questions and many others, giving you new insights on everything from whether Superman is truly an American icon to whether Wolverine is the same person when he loses his memory.

Secrets Uncovered - Blogs, hints and the inside scoop, by Mills & Boon editors and authors, is mostly samples, but also includes some original material. This is a UK Romance version of what Macmillan is doing with their (free) Tor/Forge Author Voices series, which is now up to three volumes.

Book Description
Blogs, hints and the inside scoop from Mills & Boon editors and authors. Our fabulous authors and editors have joined forces to compile some of the highlights from this years New Voices competition advice, last years help and some handy Mills & Boon Community posts from the last year! You can refer to the words of wisdom from those in the know at your leisure whilst also enjoying some of our editors brilliant blog posts on making the most of your romance writing!

On the education front, there are two titles from Andrew S Rosen that are sections of a larger title, Change.edu: Rebooting for the New Talent Economy: Club College: Why So Many Universities Look Like Resorts and Harvard Envy: Why Too Many Colleges Overshoot. You might want to take a look if you (or a child) is starting college sometime soon. To help get ready for admissions to graduate school, also look at Kaplan New GRE: An Introduction to the GRE Revised General Test, which highlights the changes this test has recently undergone.


From publisher O'Reilly, there are a number of free titles, with three general themes: computer science topics, new computer languages and computer book bibliographies. Don't dismiss this latter as just catalogs of their books - putting together such lists is something many serious scholars do, before getting to writing their own titles and with so many books out in some areas, having a bibliography can help new students when studying a new language. Some of these are new to the blog, as I've been letting them accumulate for a post; others are repeats, which I'm including for completeness. Also, if you prefer EPUB format, you should be able to find all of them free on O'Reilly's website.

• Building Data Science Teams, by DJ Patil
• The Evolution of Data Products, by Mike Loukides
• Big Data Now: Current Perspectives, by O'Reilly Radar Team
• What Is HTML5?, by Brett McLaughlin
• What Is Node?, by Brett McLaughlin
• Big Data Bibliography
• Android Development Bibliography
• JavaScript Bibliography
• Python Bibliography
• iOS Development Bibliography

Free and Bargain Book Roundup, Part I

Today's Bargain Books are all Simon & Schuster imprints. Several are part of a $3.99 sale they are holding, thru Nov. 14, but others are sale prices I turned up outside the official sale. All the ones with descriptions are US prices (prices vary wildly outside the US), but at the end I've compile a list of some big bargains for those outside the US (where the US pays considerably more). For each title in the latter list, I've included the region where the price is valid (availability may still vary by country in that region, but I have no way to check that). There are also several that I've already highlighted recently, which I'm listing here only by title:

• A Darkness Forged in Fire, by Chris Evans
• The Light of Burning Shadows, by Chris Evans
• How to Flirt with a Naked Werewolf ($3.99), by Molly Harper *currently reading
• Dead on the Delta , by Stacey Jay *currently reading
• Darkness on Fire, by Alexis Morgan
• Zombies vs. Unicorns, by Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier (teen)
• Unwind, by Neal Shusterman (teen)
• Pathfinder, by Orson Scott Card (teen)

Also, since not every one is into Star Trek, I'm only listing The Original Start Trek series selections by title, as well. You know who you are, which ones you already have and that these are good prices, so grab then while it lasts.

• The Klingon Dictionary, by Marc Okrand
• Destiny #1: Gods of Night , by David Mack
• Vanguard #1: Harbinger, by David Mack
• Typhon Pact #1: Zero Sum Game, by David Mack
• Typhon Pact #2: Seize the Fire, by Michael A. Martin
• Enterprise: Kobayashi Mar, by Michael A. Martin and Andy Mangels
• Titan: Taking Wing, by Michael A. Martin and Andy Mangels
• Deep Space Nine: Terok Nor: Day of the Vipers , by James Swallow
• Deep Space Nine: A Stitch in Time, by Andrew J. Robinson
• Department of Temporal Investigations: Watching the Clock, by Christopher L. Bennett
• Voyager: Full Circle, by Kirsten Beyer
• The Next Generation: Death in Winter, by Michael Jan Friedman
• New Frontier: After the Fall, by Peter David
• The Entropy Effect, by Vonda N. McIntyre
• Starfleet Academy: The Edge, by Rudy Josephs (teen)
• Starfleet Academy: The Delta Anomaly, by Rick Barba (teen)
• Serpents Among the Ruins, by David R. George III

Since these are all Agency titles, the price ($3.99) should be the same (for those in the US), at Barnes & Noble, Kobo and Sony.

Wicked Game, by Jeri Smith-Ready (recommended author). You can still get her novella The Wild's Call free on Kindle.

Book Description
LATE NIGHT RADIO YOU CAN SINK YOUR TEETH INTO

Recovering con artist Ciara Griffin is trying to live the straight life, even if it means finding a (shudder!) real job. She takes an internship at a local radio station, whose late-night time-warp format features 1940s blues, '60s psychedelia, '80s goth, and more, all with an uncannily authentic flair. Ciara soon discovers just how the DJs maintain their cred: they're vampires, stuck forever in the eras in which they were turned.

Ciara's first instinct, as always, is to cut and run. But communications giant Skywave wants to buy WVMP and turn it into just another hit-playing clone. Without the station -- and the link it provides to their original Life Times -- the vampires would "fade," becoming little more than mindless ghosts of the past. Suddenly a routine corporate takeover is a matter of life and undeath.

To boost ratings and save the lives of her strange new friends, Ciara rebrands the station as "WVMP, the Lifeblood of Rock 'n' Roll." In the ultimate con, she hides the DJs' vampire nature in plain sight, disguising the bloody truth as a marketing gimmick. WVMP becomes the hottest thing around -- next to Ciara's complicated affair with grunge vamp Shane McAllister. But the "gimmick" enrages a posse of ancient and powerful vampires who aren't so eager to be brought into the light. Soon the stakes are higher -- and the perils graver -- than any con game Ciara's ever played....

Surrender the Dark, by L. A. Banks (recommended author)

Book Description
National bestselling author L.A. Banks’s electrifying new paranormal series is set in a sizzling world where Dark and Light are trapped in an eternal struggle for the fate of mankind.

Celeste Jackson has fought all her life against a fog of hallucination and substance abuse, but it’s not until she meets her protector, Azrael, an angel who has left the safety of the Light, that she learns of the evil forces that have been trying to ruin her, and why. A fierce battle for control of the mortal realm is brewing, and only Celeste—with the help of the Remnant, her half-human, half-angel brethren—can stand in the way. Together, Celeste and Azrael must gather an army of sensitives to defeat the dark powers that have ruled humanity for centuries, but time is running out. If Azrael surrenders to his growing desire for Celeste, he risks being trapped among humanity forever. But the longer he stays, the harder she is to resist. To save the world, Celeste must draw on her own dark experiences with addiction to help Azrael overcome the one temptation that could possibly make him an eternal prisoner—his obsession with her.

Master of None, by Sonya Bateman. As a bonus, you can download The Getaway, a novella connected to the series, for free.

Book Description
ONE UNLUCKY THIEF. ONE UNLIKELY GENIE. ONE VERY ODD COUPLE.

Gavyn Donatti is the world’s unluckiest thief. Just ask all the partners he’s lost over the years. And when he misplaces an irreplaceable item he was hired to steal for his ruthless employer, Trevor—well, his latest bungle just might be his last. But then his luck finally turns: right when Trevor’s thugs have him cornered, a djinn, otherwise known as a genie, appears to save him.

Unfortunately, this genie—who goes by the very non-magical name of “Ian”—is more Hellboy than dream girl. An overgrown and extremely surly man who seems to hate Donatti on the spot, he may call Donatti master, but he isn’t interested in granting three wishes. He informs Donatti that he is bound to help the thief fulfill his life’s purpose, and then he will be free. The problem is that neither Donatti nor Ian has any idea what exactly that purpose is.

At first Donatti’s too concerned with his own survival to look a gift genie in the mouth, but when his ex-girlfriend Jazz and her young son get drawn into the crossfire, the stakes skyrocket. And when Ian reveals that he has an agenda of his own—with both Donatti and the murderous Trevor at the center of it—Donatti will have to become the man he never knew he could be, or the entire world could pay the price. . . .

Raziel, the first in The Fallen series by Kristina Douglas

Book Description
Kristina Douglas’s sexy new series introduces a realm of fallen angels and ruthless demons, where an eternal rebellion is brewing . . . and one unsuspecting woman can change the fate of the Fallen forever.

She was just an ordinary mortal . . .

“You’re dead” is so not what Allie Watson wants to hear. Unfortunately, it explains a lot. Like the dark, angelically handsome man who ferried her to this strange, hidden land. The last thing she remembers is stepping off a curb in front of a crosstown bus. Now she’s surrounded by gorgeous fallen angels with an unsettling taste for blood—and they really don’t want her around. Not exactly how she pictured heaven.

. . . until death catapulted her into a seductive world she never imagined.

Raziel is unsure why he rescued Allie from hellfire against Uriel’s orders, but she stirs in him a longing he hasn't felt in centuries. Now the Fallen are bracing for the divine wrath brought by his disobedience, and they blame Allie for the ferocious Nephilim clawing at the kingdom’s shrouded gates. Facing impossible odds at every turn, the two must work together to survive. Raziel will do anything to defend his spirited lover against the forces of darkness—because Allie may be the Fallen’s only salvation.

Dark Descendant, by Jenna Black (recommended author). It's a different series, but her short story Remedial Magic is still free.

Book Description
From the acclaimed author of the Morgan Kingsley, Exorcist books comes the gripping first novel in a new series about a private eye who discovers, to her surprise, that she’s an immortal huntress.

Nikki Glass can track down any man. But when her latest client turns out to be a true descendant of Hades, Nikki now discovers she can’t die. . . . Crazy as it sounds, Nikki’s manhunting skills are literally god-given. She’s a living, breathing descendant of Artemis who has stepped right into a trap set by the children of the gods. Nikki’s new “friends” include a descendant of Eros, who uses sex as a weapon; a descendant of Loki, whose tricks are no laughing matter; and a half-mad descendant of Kali who thinks she’s a spy. But most powerful of all are the Olympians, a rival clan of immortals seeking to destroy all Descendants who refuse to bow down to them. In the eternal battle of good god/bad god, Nikki would make a divine weapon. But if they think she’ll surrender without a fight, the gods must be crazy. . . .

A Rush of Wings, by Adrian Phoenix, is the first title in her Maker's Song series. (recommended author)

Book Description
HIS NAME IS DANTE.

Dark. Talented. Beautiful. Star of the rock band Inferno. Rumored owner of the hot New Orleans nightspot Club Hell. Born of the Blood, then broken by an evil beyond imagination.

HIS PAST IS A MYSTERY.

F.B.I. Special Agent Heather Wallace has been tracking a sadistic serial murderer known as the Cross Country Killer, and the trail has led her to New Orleans, Club Hell, and Dante. But the dangerously attractive musician not only resists her investigation, he claims to be "nightkind": in other words, a vampire. Digging into his past for answers reveals little. A juvenile record a mile long. No social security number. No known birth date. In and out of foster homes for most of his life before being taken in by a man named Lucien DeNoir, who appears to guard mysteries of his own.

HIS FUTURE IS CHAOS.

What Heather does know about Dante is that something links him to the killer -- and she's pretty sure that link makes him the CCK's next target. Heather must unravel the truth about this sensual, complicated, vulnerable young man -- who, she begins to believe, may indeed be a vampire -- in order to finally bring a killer to justice. But Dante's past holds a shocking, dangerous secret, and once it is revealed not even Heather will be able to protect him from his destiny....

Unclean Spirits, by M.L.N. Hanover (aka Daniel Abraham), is the first title in his Black Sun's Daughter series.

Book Description
In a world where magic walks and demons ride, you can't always play by the rules.

Jayné Heller thinks of herself as a realist, until she discovers reality isn't quite what she thought it was. When her uncle Eric is murdered, Jayné travels to Denver to settle his estate, only to learn that it's all hers -- and vaster than she ever imagined. And along with properties across the world and an inexhaustible fortune, Eric left her a legacy of a different kind: his unfinished business with a cabal of wizards known as the Invisible College.

Led by the ruthless Randolph Coin, the Invisible College harnesses demon spirits for their own ends of power and domination. Jayné finds it difficult to believe magic and demons can even exist, let alone be responsible for the death of her uncle. But Coin sees Eric's heir as a threat to be eliminated by any means -- magical or mundane -- so Jayné had better start believing in something to save her own life.

Aided in her mission by a group of unlikely companions -- Aubrey, Eric's devastatingly attractive assistant; Ex, a former Jesuit with a lethal agenda; Midian, a two-hundred-year-old man who claims to be under a curse from Randolph Coin himself; and Chogyi Jake, a self-styled Buddhist with mystical abilities -- Jayné finds that her new reality is not only unexpected, but often unexplainable. And if she hopes to survive, she'll have to learn the new rules fast -- or break them completely....

The Better Part of Darkness, by Kelly Gay, is the first in her Charlie Madigan series and won several awards.

Book Description
Atlanta: it's the promised city for the off-worlders, foreigners from the alternate dimensions of heaven-like Elysia and hell-like Charbydon. Some bring good works and miracles. And some bring unimaginable evil....

Charlie Madigan is a divorced mother of one, and a kick-ass cop trained to take down the toughest human and off-world criminals. She's recently returned from the dead after a brutal attack, an unexplained revival that has left her plagued by ruthless nightmares and random outbursts of strength that make doing her job for Atlanta P.D.'s Integration Task Force even harder. Since the Revelation, the criminal element in Underground Atlanta has grown, leaving Charlie and her partner Hank to keep the chaos to a dull roar. But now an insidious new danger is descending on her city with terrifying speed, threatening innocent lives: a deadly, off-world narcotic known as ash. Charlie is determined to uncover the source of ash before it targets another victim -- but can she protect those she loves from a force more powerful than heaven and hell combined?

Soulless, by Christopher Golden (aka Thomas Randall)

Book Description
Times Square, New York City: The first ever mass séance is broadcasting live on the Sunrise morning show. If it works, the spirits of the departed on the other side will have a brief window -- just a few minutes -- to send a final message to their grieving loved ones.

Clasping hands in an impenetrable grip, three mediums call to their spirit guides as the audience looks on in breathless anticipation. The mediums slump over, slackjawed -- catatonic. And in cemeteries surrounding Manhattan, fragments of old corpses dig themselves out of the ground....

The spirits have returned. The dead are walking. They will seek out those who loved them in life, those they left behind...but they are savage and they are hungry. They are no longer your mother or father, your brother or sister, your best friend or lover.

The horror spreads quickly, droves of the ravenous dead seeking out the living -- shredding flesh from bone, feeding. But a disparate group of unlikely heroes -- two headstrong college rivals, a troubled gang member, a teenage pop star and her bodyguard -- is making its way to the center of the nightmare, fighting to protect their loved ones, fighting for their lives, and fighting to end the madness.

The River Kings' Road, by Liane Merciel, is the first of two titles in the Ithelas series.

Book Description
A thrilling new voice in fantasy makes an unforgettable debut with this "intriguingly twisted tale of treachery and magic" (New York Times bestselling author L. E. Modesitt, Jr.). Liane Merciel’s The River Kings’ Road takes us to a world of bitter enmity between kingdoms, divided loyalties between comrades, and an insidious magic that destroys everything it touches. . . .

The wounded maidservant thrust the knotted blankets at him; instinctively, Brys stepped forward and caught the bundle before it fell. Then he glimpsed what lay inside and nearly dropped it himself.

There was a baby in the blankets. A baby with a tear-swollen face red and round as a midsummer plum. A baby he knew, even without seeing the lacquered medallion tucked into the swaddling—a medallion far too heavy, on a chain far too cold for an infant who had not yet seen a year.

A fragile period of peace between the eternally warring kingdoms of Oakharn and Langmyr is shattered when a surprise massacre fueled by bloodmagic ravages the Langmyrne border village of Willowfield, killing its inhabitants—including a visiting Oakharne lord and his family—and leaving behind a scene so grisly that even the carrion eaters avoid its desecrated earth. But the dead lord’s infant heir has survived the carnage—a discovery that entwines the destinies of Brys Tarnell, a mercenary who rescues the helpless and ailing babe, and who enlists a Langmyr peasant, a young mother herself, to nourish and nurture the child of her enemies as they travel a dark, perilous road . . . Odosse, the peasant woman whose only weapons are wit, courage, and her fierce maternal love—and who risks everything she holds dear to protect her new charge . . . Sir Kelland, a divinely blessed Knight of the Sun, called upon to unmask the architects behind the slaughter and avert war between ancestral enemies . . . Bitharn, Kelland’s companion on his journey, who conceals her lifelong love for the Knight behind her flawless archery skills—and whose feelings may ultimately be Kelland’s undoing . . . and Leferic, an Oakharne Lord’s bitter youngest son, whose dark ambitions fuel the most horrific acts of violence. As one infant’s life hangs in the balance, so too does the fate of thousands, while deep in the forest, a Maimed Witch practices an evil bloodmagic that could doom them all. . . .

Gears of War: Coalition's End, by Karen Traviss

Book Description
Understand what a world had to do to survive.

When the Locust Horde burst from the ground fifteen years ago to slaughter the human population of Sera, mankind began a desperate war against extinction. Now after a decade and a half of bloody fighting, and with billions dead, the survivors—the Gears of the Coalition of Ordered Governments, along with a small band of civilians—have been forced to destroy their own cities and sacrifice their entire civilization to halt the Locust advance.

The last-ditch measures have succeeded, but at an enormous cost: the survivors have been reduced to a handful of refugees.

Escaping to a haven on the remote island of Vectes, they begin the heartbreaking task of rebuilding their devastated world. For a while, there’s hope . . . making peace with old enemies, and once again planning for the future.

But the short respite is shattered when Vectes comes under siege from an even deadlier force than the Locust—the Lambent, a hideous and constantly mutating life-form that destroys everything in its path. As the Lambent’s relentless assault spreads from the mainland to the island, the refugees finally understand what drove the Locust from their underground warrens and sparked the global war.

While Marcus Fenix and the Gears struggle to hold back the invasion, the Coalition faces a stark choice—fight this new enemy to the last human, or flee to the wastelands to take their chances and live like the human pariahs known as the Stranded . . . even as Coalition chairman Richard Prescott still guards one last, terrible secret about the Locust, the Lambent, and the future of mankind. . . .

Wicked, by Nancy Holder and Debbie Viguié, is an omnibus of the first two titles in the Wicked series, Witch and Curse. A second omnibus, Wicked 2 ($7.99), contains the third and fourth titles in the series, Legacy and Spellbound.

Book Description
Holly Cathers's world shatters when her parents are killed in a terrible accident. Wrenched from her home in San Francisco, she is sent to Seattle to live with her relatives, Aunt Marie-Claire and her twin cousins, Amanda and Nicole.

In her new home, Holly's sorrow and grief soon give way to bewilderment at the strange incidents going on around her. Such as how any wish she whispers to her cat seems to come true. Or the way a friend is injured after a freak attack from a vicious falcon. And there's the undeniable, magnetic attraction to a boy Holly barely knows.

Holly, Amanda, and Nicole are about to be launced into a dark legacy of witches, secrets, and alliances, where ancient magics yield dangerous results. The girls will assume their roles in an intergenerational feud beyond their wildest imaginations...and in doing so, will attempt to fulfill their shared destiny.

Such a Lovely Couple, by Linda Yellin

Book Description
A charming and bittersweet novel about falling in love, drifting apart, and realizing a terrible mistake.

Cigarette Girl, by Carol Wolper, is still in pre-release (Dec 27), but there are some reviews already at GoodReads.

Book Description
A furiously funny, clear-eyed novel about a non-bimbo's dating adventures in a town that celebrates bimbosity.

Elizabeth West is twenty-eight, which means she's just entered The Zone--that seven-year span in a woman's life when the pressure to find Mr. Right is at its most intense. For Elizabeth, however, the quest is not about Mr. Right so much as it is about Mr. Maybe. And on some nights, all she's looking for is a little distraction . . .

What complicates Elizabeth's quest are the particulars of her situation. She is a writer of testosterone-heavy screenplays--the blow-'em-up vehicles for eight-figure stars and their bad-boy directors--and therefore deals on a daily basis with men who traffic nearly exclusively in bimbos, which, like smog and palm trees, are a fixture of the L.A. landscape. Though her job requires her to sound like one of the boys (sample dialogue: "I don't deal with dickbrains"), she's very much a girl, from her cell-phone codependency to her chronic attraction to dangerous men. With her female friends succumbing to marriage or morphing into Spermtrappers (women who hunger to be impregnated--husband optional), Elizabeth finds herself questioning the long-term benefits of remaining an SCU (self-contained unit) and looking with new eyes at the mating options around her

Free Book (Kindle/EPUB/nook) - Deadworld

Update: Now free for US Kindle customers and from Barnes & Noble and Sony.

Deadworld (US/UK), by J.N. Duncan, is free for UK customers in the Kindle store (and should be free in the US in about a half hour). This is a repeat freebie from April of this year.

Book Description
She's as tough as anything haunting Chicago's streets. But to deal with an inhuman power that won't stay buried, this FBI agent needs help that comes at an immortal price. . .

Jackie Rutledge has seen her share of supernatural killers. But her latest murder case is what recurring nightmares are made of. Brutally exsanguinated human victims, vanishing-into-the-ether evidence, and a city on the edge of panic mean that she and her psychic partner, Laurel, are going to need more than just backup . . .

So Jackie is fine with any help rugged P.I. Nick Anderson can give--even if that includes the impish ghost and sexy vampire who make up his team. But Nick is hiding secrets of his own. And Jackie's investigation has plunged them both into a vengeful game reaching back centuries--and up against a malevolent force hungry for more than just victory. . .

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

Free Book (Kindle/EPUB/nook) - The Bite Before Christmas

Update: Now free for US Kindle customers and from Barnes & Noble and Sony.

The Bite Before Christmas (US/UK), by Heidi Betts, is free for UK customers in the Kindle store (and should be free in the US in about a half hour). This is a repeat from last year, but it wasn't free for long then.

Book Description
In Heidi Betts’s collection of holiday novellas, vampires turn to Angelina Bertolli—vampire matchmaker extraordinaire—to help them find that special someone to curl up with under the mistletoe…

“All I Vant For Christmas”
Connor loves trimming the Christmas tree, baking gingerbread cookies, and hanging the mistletoe. But his vampire siblings won’t help. His friend Angelina sends party planner Jillian to the rescue. But when Jillian, who’s mortal, discovers she’s decking the halls for a family of vampires, will she run—or will Connor have a beautiful woman to share the holidays with?

“A Vampire in Her Stocking”
When Vivian learns that her secret crush Nick is terminally ill, she’s heartbroken. Confiding in Angelina, Vivian refuses to turn Nick into a vampire. Deciding to play Santa, Angelina changes Nick and leaves him wrapped in a red bow on Vivian’s doorstep…

“It’s A Wonderful Bite”
Although Angelina is happy with her boyfriend Sergio, she’s ready for a commitment. After drinking eggnog and watching It’s a Wonderful Life on Christmas Eve, Angelina falls into a dream where she is mortal and Sergio isn’t interested in her. Talk about the nightmare before Christmas! But Santa must have checked his list twice because this Christmas Angelina’s wishes are coming true…

National bestselling author Heidi Betts loves all things scary and paranormal…though she’s not a big fan of things that go bump in the night. (Hello! Sleeping, here.) When she’s not writing about vampires (among other things), she often dreams of being an undead creature of the night—if only so that she can sleep all day, stay up all night, and never age another minute or gain another pound. The drinking of blood doesn’t necessarily appeal, but it’s something she thinks she could get used to. Plus, she hears it tastes like chicken. For news, information about upcoming books, and tons of mischievous fun.

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

Today's Deals and Bargain Books

Update: Price drop on Notorious Australian Women to $4.99 in the US.

The first two books that were previously only free for UK Kindle customers are now free in the US Kindle store, while four now have an EPUB format available and one is newly free on nook.

• Shrouded in Silence, by (Kindle/EPUB/nook)
• When the Devil Whistles, by (Kindle/EPUB/nook)
• A Cry for Justice, by (Kindle/EPUB/nook)
• Texas Hold Him, by (Kindle/EPUB/nook)
• You Can't Do EVERYthing ... So Do SOMEthing, by (Kindle/EPUB/nook)

The Way of Shadows ($1.99), the first in The Night Angel Trilogy by Brent Weeks, is today's Kindle Deal of the Day. I'd snap this one up in a second, but (for the second day in a row) I already have it in my eLibrary. The next two in the trilogy are $7.99 right now, which means the entire trilogy bought separately comes in for less than the $19.99 bundle price. I'm considering getting his latest, The Black Prism, as it is also $7.99 now that it is out in paperback; it is the start of his new Lightbringer trilogy. There is also a new novella I had not known about, Perfect Shadow, which appears to be a prequel for The Way of Shadows.

Book Description
For Durzo Blint, assassination is an art-and he is the city's most accomplished artist.

For Azoth, survival is precarious. Something you never take for granted. As a guild rat, he's grown up in the slums, and learned to judge people quickly - and to take risks. Risks like apprenticing himself to Durzo Blint.

But to be accepted, Azoth must turn his back on his old life and embrace a new identity and name. As Kylar Stern, he must learn to navigate the assassins' world of dangerous politics and strange magics - and cultivate a flair for death.

Those outside the US usually get skipped on the Daily Deal and a lot of other bargains in the Kindle store. So, here are three just for those outside the US (those in the US, just skip down, as there are more for us further along).

Welcome to My World ($19.99 US; $0.80/£0.49 UK) and Fairytale of New York ($6.99 US; $1.60/£0.99 UK), both by Miranda Dickinson, are on sale for UK customers only (at least, so far), in both the Main and UK Kindle stores. The US pricing on the former looks to have been entered wrong by the publisher (it's double what it is for most markets), while the latter was free for US customers last year.

Welcome to My World
A travel agent who longs to travel. An intrepid explorer who just wants to find a place to call home.

And a Big Idea that changes everything….

Close your eyes and imagine the world is your oyster…And now imagine never seeing it. Welcome to Harriet Langton's world. All her life she's dreamt of travelling the globe - fate always got in the way.Working as a travel agent, the closest Harri comes to her dream destination of Venice is booking the trip for someone else. But everything changes when travel fanatic Alex drops in.

With her boyfriend Rob tied up with work, Harri is persuaded to help Alex in his quest for love. But in her attempts to help, Harri soon discovers that she's alienating those around her.

Desperate to leave her life behind, will her dreams finally come true? Or will Harri's leap of faith be her biggest mistake yet?

A gorgeous love story for fans of Sophie Kinsella and Jill Mansell.

Fairytale of New York
Are happy-every-afters made in Manhattan?Once upon a time an English girl went to New York to live out her very own fairytale…

Florist Rosie Duncan's life couldn't be better, she has a flourishing business on New York's Upper West Side and fantastic friends. Moving to Manhattan feels like the best decision she ever made. Even though at the time, it was her escape route from heartbreak . . .

For the past six years Rosie has kept her heart under lock and key, despite the protests of her closest friends - charming, commitment-phobic Ed, unlucky in love Marnie and the one-woman tornado that is Celia.

Then a blossoming friendship with publishing hot-shot Nate begins to shake Rosie's resolve at the same time as her brother arrives in the Big Apple, hiding a secret.

But a chance meeting brings Rosie face to face with her past, unravelling the mystery behind her arrival in New York. Rosie is forced to confront questions she has long been trying to ignore, including will she ever get her very own happy-ever-after?

A sparkling, romantic comedy about an English girl who finds herself in the city where dreams can come true - or so she thinks…

Notorious Australian Women ($18.99 $4.99 US), by Kay Saunders, is currently discounted for Canadian ($1.09) and Australian ($1.07) customers in the Kindle store.

Book Description
The sensational lives and exploits of some of Australia's most audacious women Notorious Australian Women celebrates the lives of some of Australia's most fearless, brash and scandalous women. There's Tilly Devine, who went from streetwalker in London to wealthy Sydney madam and standover merchant; Mary Bryant, the highway robber and First Fleeter who escaped by rowing from Port Jackson to Timor with her two children; Lola Montez, the Irish-born grande horizontale, who destroyed King Ludwig I of Bavaria; Ellen Tremaye and Marion Edwards, women who challenged the gender order and became men; and Helena Rubinstein, who rewrote her humble Polish background and became one of the most successful and astute businesswomen in the world. From bushrangers, courtesans and cross-dressers, to writers, designers and a radical or two, what these splendid rebels have in common is a determination to take their destinies into their own hands. Kay Saunders AM was Professor of History and Senator of the University of Queensland from 2002 to 2006. In 2001 she received the Medal of the National Museum of Australia, and in 2006 was the recipient of the John Kerr Medal from the Royal Historical Society of Queensland.

A Taint in the Blood ($9.99 US), the first title in the Shadowspawn series by S. M. Stirling, is marked down to $3.24 in several non-US regions: Asia & Pacific, India, Lat. Am & Carribean and Middle East.

Book Description
Eons ago, the powerful Homo Nocturnis ruled the earth. While their numbers have been greatly reduced, they still exist-though not as purebreds. Adrian Breze is one such being. Wealthy and reclusive, he is more Shadowspawn than human. But he rebelled against his kind, choosing to live as an ordinary man. Now, to save humanity, he must battle the dark forces of the world-including those in his own blood...

The Spellman Files ($1.99), starts off the Spellman series by Lisa Lutz

Book Description
Meet Isabel "Izzy" Spellman, private investigator. This twenty-eight-year-old may have a checkered past littered with romantic mistakes, excessive drinking, and creative vandalism; she may be addicted to Get Smart reruns and prefer entering homes through windows rather than doors -- but the upshot is she's good at her job as a licensed private investigator with her family's firm, Spellman Investigations. Invading people's privacy comes naturally to Izzy. In fact, it comes naturally to all the Spellmans. If only they could leave their work at the office. To be a Spellman is to snoop on a Spellman; tail a Spellman; dig up dirt on, blackmail, and wiretap a Spellman.

Part Nancy Drew, part Dirty Harry, Izzy walks an indistinguishable line between Spellman family member and Spellman employee. Duties include: completing assignments from the bosses, aka Mom and Dad (preferably without scrutiny); appeasing her chronically perfect lawyer brother (often under duress); setting an example for her fourteen-year-old sister, Rae (who's become addicted to "recreational surveillance"); and tracking down her uncle (who randomly disappears on benders dubbed "Lost Weekends"). But when Izzy's parents hire Rae to follow her (for the purpose of ascertaining the identity of Izzy's new boyfriend), Izzy snaps and decides that the only way she will ever be normal is if she gets out of the family business. But there's a hitch: she must take one last job before they'll let her go -- a fifteen-year-old, ice-cold missing person case. She accepts, only to experience a disappearance far closer to home, which becomes the most important case of her life.

Objects in Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear: A Novel ($1.99), by Katharine Weber

Book Description
Harriet Rose, 26, is an American photographer just winning recognition for her work. A travel fellowship brings her to visit her best friend and former roommate, Anne Gordon, in Switzerland. In an ongoing letter to her boyfriend, Harriet reports on strange developments in Anne's life, most notably her affair with a much older married man, which seems to be leading to a disastrous conclusion. Before she can rescue Anne, events take a series of unexpected turns, and Harriet must reexamine her own life and past, and come to terms with the difficulties and possibilities of human relationships.

Already excerpted in The New Yorker, Katherine Weber's witty first novel of attraction and deception, a tale with the sensibility of a Margaret Atwood, pulses with cultural references and word games that echo Nabokov.

Murder on the Eiffel Tower ($2.99) is the first in the Victor Legris Mystery series by Claude Izner. This dropped on a price match with Sony and the price there has already gone back to $9.99.

Book Description
The brand-new, shiny Eiffel Tower is the pride and glory of the 1889 World Exposition. But one sunny afternoon, as visitors are crowding the viewing platforms, a woman collapses and dies on this great Paris landmark. Can a bee sting really be the cause of death? Or is there a more sinister explanation? Enter young bookseller Victor Legris. Present on the tower at the time of the incident, and appalled by the media coverage of the occurrence, he is determined to find out what actually happened. In this dazzling evocation of late nineteenth-century Paris, we follow Victor as his investigation takes him all over the city and he suspects an ever-changing list of possible perpetrators. Could mysterious Kenji Mori, his surrogate father and business partner at the bookstore Legris operates, be involved in the crime? Why are beautiful Russian illustrator Tasha and her colleagues at the newly launched sensationalist newspaper Passepartout always up-to-date in their reporting? And what will Legris do when the deaths begin to multiply and he is caught in a race against time?

Murder on the Eiffel Tower is painstakingly researched, an effortless evocation of the glorious City of Light, and an exciting opening to a promising series of eight books featuring Victor Legris.

Community Organizing for Conservatives: A Manifesto for Localism in the Tea Party Movement, by Lorie Medina, and First, Do No Harm: The President's Cousin Explains Why His Hippocratic Oath Requires Him to Oppose ObamaCare, by Milton Wolf, are two of eight political treatises for the Tea Party, published by an imprint of HarperCollins, Broadside Books. ($1.99 each)

Community Organizing for Conservatives
Lorie Medina explains how she became involved with the Tea Party movement and how her background prepared her for her important role. She shares with the reader how to start a local grassroots organization and helps to prepare them for many of the challenges they will face. Lorie uses real people and real situations to explain best practices for local tea party groups. Throughout the book, Lorie focuses on the necessity of local groups to truly affect lasting change in America.

First, Do No Harm
The discussion what role—if any—the government should play in regulating and dictating the delivery of health care in the United States has become ground zero in the much larger age-old struggle between statism and individual liberty. Personifying this struggle is the conflict between the big government schemes of President Barack Obama and the free market principles of the President's own cousin, the private practice physician Milton R. Wolf, M.D. When Barack Obama and Dr. Milton Wolf met for the first time in May 2010, it marked the beginning of a new phase in this all-American family feud. In this work, Dr. Wolf takes the gloves off and describes the results of decades of government intervention in health care, the disastrous doubling down on failure of ObamaCare and finally the alternative free market reforms that will save our system and ultimately our nation.

The Zoo on the Road to Nablus: A Story of Survival from the West Bank ($4.32), by Amelia Thomas

Book Description
In a unique zoo in one of the world's most turbulent regions, one man wages a strange and heroic battle for its animals' survival.

The last Palestinian zoo stands on a dusty, deadend street in the once prosperous farming town of Qalqilya, on the very edge of the West Bank.

The zoo's bars are rusting; peacocks wander quiet avenues shaded by broad plane trees; a teenage baboon broods in solitary confinement; walls bear the pockmarks of gunfire. And yet the zoo is an extraordinary place, with a bizarre, troubling and inspiring story to tell. At the center of this story is Dr. Sami Khader, the only zoo veterinarian in the Palestinian territories. Family man, amateur inventor, and dedicated taxidermist, he is fiercely independent, apolitical, and resourceful in times of crisis. Dr. Sami dreams of transforming the zoo into one of an international caliber.

In The Zoo on the Road to Nablus, Amelia Thomas brings the reader into a world rarely glimpsed from the outside, weaving the stories of the zoo's animals, its staff, and its visitors into a rich, colorful chronicle of the indomitability of the human--and animal--spirit.

Katie Macalister has several of her backlist/self-published titles marked down to 99 cents. The first two are the first and third in her Noble romance series; the second isn't on Kindle (at least, not yet). The third is a novella in her Dark Ones series (the first title of which, A Girl's Guide to Vampires, is still free for Australians only, courtesy of HarperCollins). The last one is a stand-alone novel, just published this year.

Noble Intentions
Noble Britton suffered greatly at the hands of his first wife, and he refuses to fall into the same trap again. This time he intends to marry a quiet, biddable woman who will not draw attention to herself or cause scandal. Gillian Leigh’s honest manner and spontaneous laughter attract him immediately. It matters little that she is accident-prone; he can provide the structure necessary to guide her.

But unconventional to the tips of her half-American toes, his new bride turns the tables on him, wreaking havoc on his orderly life. Perpetually one step behind his beguiling spouse, Noble suffers a banged-up head, a black eye, and a broken nose before he realizes Gillian has healed his soul and proven that their union is no heedless tumble, but the swoon of true love.

The Trouble With Harry (aka Noble Pursuits)
Just What is the Trouble With Harry?

1. He is Plum’s new husband. Not normally a problem, but when you consider that Harry advertised for a wife, and Plum was set to marry his secretary, there was cause for a bit of confusion.

2. He has a title. Plum has spent the last twenty years hiding from the ton, and now Harry wants her to shine in society? Horrors!

3. He doesn’t know about her shocking secret. How is she going to explain about the dead husband who isn’t a husband…and who now seems to be alive again?

4. He’s fallen in love with her. And yet, the maddening man refuses to confide in her. For Plum knows the real trouble with Harry is that he’s stolen her heart.

Bring Out Your Dead
Battling a demon lord is all in a day’s work for the Dark One named Sebastian. But now he must take on a horde of unhappy zombies and an obnoxious teen vampire if he wants to win the hand of the one woman who can make him whole.

Ysabelle is a woman with a past, and not a whole lot of future if a certain demon lord has his way. With zombies, demons, and a little thing like death standing in her way, will she find happiness in the man who’s seen more darkness than she can imagine?

Note: this novella was published in 2006 and again in 2010 in the Just One Sip and My Zombie Valentine anthologies, respectively. Readers should be aware that this is a republishing of a previously published novella.

Suffragette in the City
Cassandra Whitney is a New Woman, from her forward-thinking attitudes toward women and society, right down to her determination to take a lover—just as soon as she can find one who doesn’t dribble soup, or yell at her for her involvement with the suffrage movement.

Unfortunately, the only candidate she’s found worthy is the annoying, but sinfully attractive, Griffin St. John. It’s just too bad he appears to be central in a plot to destroy everything she’s worked for…

Veneer: Living Deeply in a Surface Society ($0.99), by Timothy D. Willard and Jason Locy, is marked down courtesy of HarperCollins imprint Zondervan.

Book Description
The world has a love affair---with itself. Armed with Facebook, Twitter, and blogs, we think of ourselves as mini celebrities, and we use consumption and technology to convince our friends that this facade is who we are. Veneer illustrates that consumption is more than just acquiring more stuff; it is a potentially dangerous mindset---a mindset turning everything, even people, into products.According to authors Timothy Willard and R. Jason Locy, there is evidence of consumption in all channels of culture---even the church. Most Christian commentators suggest that the church should speak the language of the congregants. Willard and Locy suggest the opposite approach: if congregants are steeped in a culture of consumption, the church should not speak their language at all.Veneer encourages the church to become a refreshing voice amidst a veneered world, inviting you to lead an unveneered life of freedom, honesty, and beauty. Taking on an original concept that addresses the potential dangers of consumption and technology, Veneer speaks to many Christians who are unsure how to live with true meaning among the ever-changing trends and technology our culture offers.

Karin Slaughter's Kindle Single Thorn in My Side is currently half price, at $0.99. She is also featured in a short story collection that Macmillan has marked down and two of her novels at HarperCollins are also being discounted.

Thorn in My Side
It could have been just any night, and they could have just been any two brothers--but it wasn't, and they weren't. The scene is an Atlanta bar. The music is loud and the dance floor is packed. The good-looking brother picks up a girl. But when dark deeds ensue out in the parking lot, what happens next can only be described in two words: vintage Slaughter. From the opening scene to the last line, Thorn in My Side is as wicked as it is entertaining--an unforgettable piece of writing from one of the most beloved storytellers working today.

First Thrills: Volume 3 ($2.99)
New York Times bestselling author Lee Child and the International Thriller Writers, Inc. present a collection of remarkable stories in First Thrills. From small-town crime stories to sweeping global conspiracies, this is a cross section of today’s hottest thriller-writing talent. This original collection is now split into four e-book volumes, packed with murder, mystery, and mayhem!

First Thrills: Volume 3 contains stories five original stories by: Jeffery Deaver, Karin Slaughter, Rebecca Cantrell, Gregg Hurwitz and Theo Gangi

A Faint Cold Fear Grant County series #3 ($3.99)
An apparent student suicide has brought medical examiner Sara Linton to the local college campus, along with her ex-husband, police chief Jeffrey Tolliver. But a horribly mutilated corpse yields up few answers. And a suspicious rash of subsequent "suicides" suggests that a different kind of terror is stalking the youth of Heartsdale, Georgia -- a nightmare that is coming to prey on Sara Linton's loved ones.

A small town is being transformed into a killing ground. And the key to a sadistic murderer's motive and identity may be held in the unsteady hands of a campus security guard -- a former police detective driven from the force by the hellish memories that will never leave her. Lena Adams survived the unthinkable and has paid a devastating price. Now the survival of future victims may depend upon her ... when she can barely protect herself.

Indelible Grant County series #4 ($1.99)
Two armed men enter the police station in tiny Heartsdale, Georgia, and open fire. When the shooting stops, an officer is dead, Police Chief Jeffrey Tolliver is seriously wounded, and the survivors -- including a class of grade-school children and medical examiner Sara Linton -- are held hostage. In a tense standoff that could erupt at any moment into more bloodletting -- with her ex-husband on the threshold of death -- Sara must search for answers and an escape in the memories of a time at the start of their relationship when another brutal, shocking crime shattered their small-town world. Because the sins of the past have caught up with Sara and Jeffrey ... with a vengeance.

Circle Series 4-in-1 ($14.41), by Ted Dekker, gives you all four books in the Books of History Chronicles at $3.60 each, at a lesser cost than just the first three in Black/Red/White (The Circle Trilogy 1-3) ($14.49), which is what I picked up a few years ago. I'll have to look for a good deal on Green, which is the only one I'm missing.

Book Description
Rare is the story that takes readers out of this world and into another.

Rarer still the story that captures heart, soul, and mind...leaving the reader forever transformed.

This is that story.

Dive deep and enter the Circle.

The Circle is an epic story of evil and rescue, betrayal and love, and terrorist threat unlike anything the human race has ever known.

It beings when a man named Thomas hunter finds himself being chased down an alley after working the late shift at a coffee house. When a bullet grazes his head, he awakens in an entirely different reality. Now every time he falls asleep, he wakes up in the other reality--and every choice he makes impacts the fate of two worlds.

At long last, all four novels in this groundbreaking series have been brought together in one adrenaline-laced volume.

Four novels. Two Worlds. One Story.