Free Audiobook - The Story of Classical Music

The audiobook edition of The Story of Classical Music, by Darren Henley, narrated by Marin Alsop, is free in the Audible store.

Book Description
The lives and music of the great composers of classical music unfold in this entertaining account, introduced by the conductor and musical personality Marin Alsop. In 1200 years, classical music grew from the chanting of medieval monks through the symphonies of Beethoven and the grand operas of Wagner to the huge orchestral sound-world of the 21st century, with its electronics and its film music. In her easy-going style, Marin Alsop paints vivid portraits of over 90 composers, each one illustrated with some of his, or her, most famous music.

Get the free audiobook from Audible (some geographic restrictions may apply)

Free Audiobook - Black River

The audiobook edition of Black River, by Dean Koontz, narrated by Scott Brick, is free in the Audible store.

Book Description
Master of suspense Dean Koontz creates an undercurrent of terror in this story set deep in the dark and troubled town of Black River.

Burned-out Hollywood screenwriter Bo Aikens is fed up with life in Los Angeles. He heads out of the hustle and bustle of the big city and arrives in picturesque Black River in Northern California, seeking relaxation and artistic inspiration. In small, idyllic Black River, nearly everyone is happy, contented, and welcoming of strangers. But despite the beautiful setting, Bo begins to feel unsettled after several disturbing incidents. He discovers that all of his money has been transferred to a bank account in Black River, and a house has been purchased for him by someone on "his" instructions.

Troubled by various, peculiar twists of fate, Bo decides to leave Black River. As he becomes entangled in a nightmarish plot, preventing his return home, it suddenly seems clear to Bo that his perfect little hideaway captures more than just the imagination of its visitors.

"Black River" appeared in print in Mystery Scene Magazine #63 in 2000.

Get the free audiobook from Audible (some geographic restrictions may apply)

Free Audiobook - Vintage Death

The audiobook edition of Vintage Death a short story by Lisa Jackson from the anthology Thriller 2, narrated by Tanya Eby Sirois, is free in the Audible store.

Book Description
Lisa Jackson's "Vintage Death" tells of a dysfunctional family in the California wine country. Enjoy the complete story now, free, and then listen to the rest of the Thriller 2 collection.

About Thriller 2:
When some of the top thriller writers in the world came together in Thriller: Stories to Keep You Up All Night, they became a part of one of the most successful short-story anthologies ever published. The highly anticipated Thriller 2: Stories You Just can't Put Down, will be even bigger. From Jeffery Deaver's tale of international terrorism to Lisa Jackson's dysfunctional family in the California wine country to Ridley Pearson's horrifying serial killer, this collection has something for everyone. Twenty-three best-selling and hot new authors in the genre have submitted original stories to make up this unforgettable blockbuster.

Turn off your phone....

Shut down your computer....

Say goodbye to your friends and family....

Be prepared to listen for days!

Get the free audiobook from Audible (some geographic restrictions may apply)

Free Audiobook - The Cosmic Computer

The audiobook edition of The Cosmic Computer ($0.00 Kindle), by H. Beam Piper, narrated by Jeffrey Kafer, is free in the Audible store.

Book Description
Conn Maxwell returns from Terra to his poverty-stricken home planet of Poictesme, “The Junkyard Planet”, with news of the possible location of Merlin, a military super-computer rumored to have been abandoned there after the last war. The inhabitants hope to find Merlin, which they think will be their ticket to wealth and prosperity. But is Merlin real or just an old rumor? And if they find it, will it save them - or tear them apart?

Get the free audiobook from Audible (some geographic restrictions may apply)

Free Audiobook - Four-Day Planet

The audiobook edition of Four-Day Planet (various Kindle editions), by H. Beam Piper, narrated by Eric Stuart, is free in the Audible store.

Book Description
Fenris isn't a hell planet, but it's nobody's bargain. With 2,000-hour days and an 8,000-hour year, it alternates blazing heat with killing cold. A planet like that tends to breed a special kind of person: tough enough to stay alive and smart enough to make the best of it. And when that kind of person discovers he's being cheated out of wealth he's risked his life for, that kind of planet is ripe for revolution.

Get the free audiobook from Audible (some geographic restrictions may apply)

Free Audiobook - The Lair of the White Worm

The audiobook edition of The Lair of the White Worm (various Kindle editions), by Bram Stoker, narrated by Oliver Wyman, is free in the Audible store.

Book Description
In a tale of ancient evil, Bram Stoker creates a world of lurking horrors and bizarre denizens: a demented mesmerist, hellbent on mentally crushing the girl he loves; a gigantic kite raised to rid the land of an unnatural infestation of birds, and which receives strange commands along its string; and all the while, the great white worm slithers below, seeking its next victim....

Bram Stoker, creator of Dracula, is one of the most enduring and masterful influences on the literature of terror.

Get the free audiobook from Audible (some geographic restrictions may apply)

Free Audiobook - Ivanhoe

The audiobook edition of Ivanhoe (various Kindle editions), by Sir Walter Scott, narrated by Michael Page, is free in the Audible store.

Book Description
A century has passed since the Norman Conquest, and England is still a colony of foreign warlords. Prince John is plotting to seize the throne from his brother, Richard the Lion-Hearted, and Robin Hood and his merry band are making fools out of the Sheriff of Nottingham.

Wilfred, knight of Ivanhoe, the son of Cedric the Saxon, is in love with his father's ward, Rowena. Cedric, however, wishes her to marry Athelstane, a descendant of the royal Saxon line, whom Cedric hopes will restore the Saxon succession.

With a colorful cast of chivalric knights and fair ladies, this action-filled novel comes complete with feats of derring-do, the pageantry of a tournament, and a great flame-engulfed castle - all of which makes it the most enthralling of Scott's creations.

Get the free audiobook from Audible (some geographic restrictions may apply; for those in the UK, try this link instead)

Free Audiobook - The Brotherhood

Christianaudio's free audiobook this month is The Brotherhood ($10.19 Kindle; $14.95 Audible), by Jerry B. Jenkins, narrated by Johnny Heller. For those that like to read along, also check your Kindle library, as this was free last October.

Book Description
Boone Drake has it made. He’s a young cop rising rapidly through the ranks of the Chicago Police Department. He has a beautiful wife and a young son, a nice starter house, a great partner, and a career plan that should land him in the Organized Crime Division within five years. Everything is going right. Until everything goes horribly, terribly wrong. His personal life destroyed and his career and future in jeopardy, Boone buries himself in guilt and bitterness as his life spirals out of control. But when he comes face-to-face with the most vicious gang leader Chicago has seen in decades, he begins to realize that God is a God of second chances and can change the hardest heart . . . and forgive the worst of crimes.

A thought-provoking police thriller from New York Times best-selling author Jerry B. Jenkins.

Get the free audio download from Christianaudio and scroll down the page for two more in the series that are discounted to $4.98 for the month, along with Left Behind and a selection from Bill Myers.

The checkout process is very streamlined (a coupon code is no longer required), as is the download process (no longer do you have to download each part of the book separately). You can also send a gift download of the free audiobook to someone else!

After finishing your order, download a zip file with the entire audiobook: select MP3 if you want to be able to play the book on your Kindle (M4B for the iOS, iTunes or QuickTime). Unzip the contents to the \audiobooks directory on your Kindle (not \music) in order to have audiobook controls and see it on your Kindle home page.

Free Audiobook - Eat That Frog!

The unabridged audiobook performance of Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time ($8.22 Kindle), by Brian Tracy (and narrated by Brian Tracy), is free on Audible. This has been a Kindle Deal of the Day and a Nook Daily Find choice this year, so you may already have the ebook in your library.

After weeks of nothing interesting on my Kindle with Special Offers, this one popped up on it today, but anyone (at least, in the US; other areas may be locked out) can grab this freebie from Audible.

Book Description
There's an old saying: if you eat a live frog first thing each morning, you'll have the satisfaction of knowing that it's probably the worst thing you'll do all day. Using "eat that frog" as a metaphor for tackling the most challenging task of your day, the one you are most likely to procrastinate on, but also the one that might have the greatest positive impact on your life, Eat That Frog! shows you how to zero in on these critical tasks and organize your day. You'll not only get more done faster, but get the right things done.

In his trademark high-energy style, acclaimed speaker and best-selling author Brian Tracy cuts to the core of what is vital to effective personal time management: decision, discipline, and determination. He reminds us: "The purpose of time-management skills, of eating that frog, and getting more done in less time, is to enable you to spend more 'face time' with the people you care about, doing the things that give you the greatest amount of joy in life."

Get the free audiobook from Audible. Update: No Longer Available

Two Free Audiobooks - The Whale Rider & The Call of the Wild

This is the final week of free audiobooks from Sync. They've had an issue getting one of the titles linked up and ready to go, but seem to have that under control now. I've linked in the info from the ebook or audiobook version of each title (Amazon has the best reviews), followed by the link to get your copies free, with directions to ensure you get the complete download.

Start off with The Whale Rider ($17.95 Audible), a stand-alone title by Witi Ihimaera, narrated by Jay Laga'aia.

Book Description
The classic book that inspired the award-winning, internationally released film Whale Rider, winner of Best Film at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival and 2004 Academy Awards Best Actress nomination for Keisha Castle-Hughes. Eight-year-old Kahu craves her great-grandfather's love and attention. But he's focused in his duties as Chief, in a tribe that claims decent from the legendary "whale rider". A male has always inherited the title of Chief, but now there is no male heir. There's only Kahu, and her great-grandfather sees no use for a girl. Kahu will not be ignored. And in her struggle she has a unique ally: the whale rider himself.

The Call of the Wild ($9.95 Audible), by Jack London, narrated by William Roberts, is the second selection for this week. As with most classics, there are many editions to choose from on Kindle; you can spend anything from nothing to a few dollars and probably get an edition that will work for reading along while listening.

Book Description
Written in 1903, this classic brought Jack London to the world’s attention. It is the story of Buck, part St. Bernard and part Scotch shepherd dog, who shows the strengths of both breeds when he is stolen and sold off as a sled dog in the Yukon during the gold rush. A heartfelt story that appeals to both children and adults.

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

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

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

Free Audiobook + eBook - The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes

Get a free MP3 download of The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes ($19.95 Audible), by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Simon Prebble (Narrator), along with a DRM-free PDF ebook over at Tantor Media.

Book Description
The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes are overshadowed by the event with which they close - the meeting of the great detective and Moriarty, the Napoleon of Crime. When "The Final Problem" was first published, the struggle between Holmes and his arch nemesis, seemingly to the death, left many readers desolate at the loss of Holmes, but it also led to his immortality as a literary figure. The stories that precede it included two narratives from Holmes himself - on a mutiny at sea and a treasure hunt in a Sussex country house - as well as a meeting with his brilliant brother, Mycroft.

Included in The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes are "Silver Blaze", "The Yellow Face", "The Stock-Broker's Clerk", "The Gloria Scott", "The Musgrave Ritual", "The Reigate Puzzle", "The Crooked Man", "The Resident Patient", "The Greek Interpreter", "The Naval Treaty", and "The Final Problem".

Get the free audiobook/ebook combo from Tantor Media. Once you've completed your purchase and have it in your library, you can download individual segments of the audiobook or grab the complete ZIP download, which also contains the PDF ebook, at any time.

Free Audiobook - Kluge

Get a free MP3 download of Kluge: The Haphazard Construction of the Human Mind ($9.99 Kindle, $17.95 Audible), by Gary Marcus, narrated by Stephen Hoye, over at Tantor Media today.

Book Description
Are we "noble in reason"? Perfect, in God's image? Far from it, says New York University psychologist Gary Marcus. In this lucid and revealing book, Marcus argues that the mind is not an elegantly designed organ but a "kluge", a clumsy, cobbled-together contraption. He unveils a fundamentally new way of looking at the human mind - think duct tape, not supercomputer - that sheds light on some of the most mysterious aspects of human nature.

Taking us on a tour of the fundamental areas of human experience - memory, belief, decision making, language, and happiness - Marcus reveals the myriad ways our minds fall short. He examines why people often vote against their own interests, why money can't buy happiness, why leaders often stick to bad decisions, and why a sentence like "people people left left" ties us into knots even though it's only four words long.

He also offers surprisingly effective ways to outwit our inner kluge - for example, always consider alternative explanations, make contingency plans, and beware the vivid, personal anecdote. Throughout, he shows how only evolution - haphazard and undirected - could have produced the minds we humans have, while making a brilliant case for the power and usefulness of imperfection.

Get the free audiobook from Tantor Media.

Two Free Audiobooks - Skulduggery Pleasant and Dead Men Kill

There are two new free audiobook from Sync today. First, I've linked in the info from the ebook or audiobook version of each title (Amazon has the best reviews), followed by the link to get your copies free, with directions to ensure you get the complete download.

Start off with Scepter of the Ancients ($7.99 Kindle; $16.95 Audible), the first title in the Skulduggery Pleasant series by Derek Landy, narrated by Rupert Degas. If you've been following the blog for a while, you have the ebook in your library, as it was free in all formats last October.

Book Description
Meet Skulduggery Pleasant

• Ace Detective
• Snappy Dresser
• Razor–tongued Wit
• Crackerjack Sorcerer
and
• Walking, Talking, Fire-throwing Skeleton

—as well as ally, protector, and mentor of Stephanie Edgley, a very unusual and darkly talented twelve-year-old.

These two alone must defeat an all-consuming ancient evil.

The end of the world?

Over his dead body.

Grade Level: 5 and up

Dead Men Kill ($0.00 Kindle $2.95 Audible), by L. Ron Hubbard, narrated by Jennifer Aspen and a Full Cast, is the second selection for this week.

Book Description
When several of the city's most respected citizens are inexplicably killed by what appear to be zombies, all Detective Terry Lane has to go on is a blue-grey glove, a Haitian pharmacy bill for some very unusual drugs, and a death threat from a mysterious stranger.

Matters are soon complicated when a beautiful nightclub singer shows up, claiming to have information that could solve the case. But her motives are plainly suspect. Against his better judgement, Terry investigates her lead, only to find himself sealed in a coffin en route to the next zombie murder - his own.

First published in 1934 in Thrilling Detective magazine, Hubbard's rollicking horror yarn just happens to tap into the current craze for zombies. Heroic Det. Sgt. Terrence "Terry" Lane looks into a deeply disturbing series of murders of powerful businessmen. Dawn Drayden, a pretty Club Haitian entertainer, confirms Lane's hunch that the killers are dead men "coming back from the grave and killing their employers." The zombie mastermind is the nefarious Dr. Leroux, originally of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, aka Loup-garou (or human hyena).

In the end, Drayden and Lane must face heart-pounding dangers once Dr. Leroux's secrets are revealed. This fun, campy novella reflects a contemporary revenge vibe felt by those who wouldn't mind dispatching a few zombies to punish criminally inclined businessmen.

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

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

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

Free Audiobook - The End of the Affair

The audiobook edition of The End of the Affair ($10.20 paperback, no Kindle edition; reg $17.95 Audible), by Graham Greene, narrated by Colin Firth, is free on Audible, using the special link below.

Book Description
"This is a record of hate far more than of love," writes Maurice Bendrix in the opening passages of The End of the Affair, and it is a strange hate indeed that compels him to set down the retrospective account of his adulterous affair with Sarah Miles — a hate bred of a passion that ultimately lost out to God.

Now, a year after Sarah's death, Bendrix seeks to exorcise the persistence of passion by retracing its course from obsessive love to love-hate. At the start he believes he hates Sarah and her husband, Henry. By the end of the book, Bendrix's hatred has shifted to the God he feels has broken his life but whose existence he has at last come to recognize.

Originally published in 1951, The End of the Affair was acclaimed by William Faulkner as "for me one of the best, most true and moving novels of my time, in anybody's language."

Get the free ebook from Audible.

Free Audiobook - The Disciplines of the Christian Life

Christianaudio's free audiobook this month is The Disciplines of the Christian Life ($6.98 Kindle; $9.95 Audible), by Eric Liddell, narrated by Simon Vance.

Book Description
The Christian life should be a life of growth. I believe the secret of growth is to develop the devotional life. - Eric Liddell

The Disciplines of the Christian Life is Eric Liddell's practical guide to helping Christians grow spiritually through a daily practice of prayer and Bible study, structured around key topics he believes are basic knowledge for any Christian. He introduces his topic with a discussion of discipleship, including a his definition of a disciple.

At the foundation of the book is a Bible reading plan with a suggested reading for each day of the year. Readings are organized into chapters for each month of the year, and focus on 12 subject areas the author considers essential. In each chapter, Liddell offers additional information about the topic to further guide the understanding of the reader. Not content to merely offer truth, Liddell helps the reader to apply the scriptures to their life throughout the book. New Christians will be helped by the clear information presented in an easy to understand style, while seasoned Christians will find their spiritual life challenged by Liddell's clear call to a life of discipleship.

About the Author
Eric Henry Liddell was a Scottish athlete, rugby union international player, and missionary. He is perhaps most well known as the subject of the Oscar-winning 1981 film Chariots of Fire, which depicted his experiences training and racing in the Olympics and the religious convictions that influenced him. In his book about spiritual disciplines, he outlines his own pattern for living which has as its foundation a daily Bible reading plan.

Get the free audio download from Christianaudio and scroll down the page three titles that are discounted to $4.98 for the month.

The checkout process is very streamlined (a coupon code is no longer required), as is the download process (no longer do you have to download each part of the book separately). You can also send a gift download of the free audiobook to someone else!

After finishing your order, download a zip file with the entire audiobook: select MP3 if you want to be able to play the book on your Kindle (M4B for the iOS, iTunes or QuickTime). Unzip the contents to the \audiobooks directory on your Kindle (not \music) in order to have audiobook controls and see it on your Kindle home page.

Free Audiobook - Moby Dick

Update: Looks like this deal is over.

Get a free MP3 download and PDF ebook of Moby Dick ($27.95 Audible), by Herman Melville and Norman Dietz (narrator), over at Tantor media.

Book Description
On a previous voyage, a mysterious white whale had ripped off the leg of a sea captain named Ahab. Now the crew of the Pequod, on a pursuit that features constant adventure and horrendous mishaps, must follow the mad Ahab into the abyss to satisfy his unslakeable thirst for vengeance. Narrated by the cunningly observant crew member Ishmael, Moby Dick is the tale of the hunt for the elusive, omnipotent, and ultimately mystifying white whale - Moby Dick.

On its surface, Moby Dick is a vivid documentary of life aboard a 19th-century whaler, a virtual encyclopedia of whales and whaling, replete with facts, legends, and trivia that Herman Melville had gleaned from personal experience and scores of sources. But as the quest for the whale becomes increasingly perilous, the tale works on allegorical levels, likening the whale to human greed, moral consequence, good, evil, and life itself. Who is good? The great white whale who, like Nature, asks nothing but to be left in peace? Or the bold Ahab who, like scientists, explorers, and philosophers, fearlessly probes the mysteries of the universe? Who is evil? The ferocious, man-killing sea monster? Or the revenge-obsessed madman who ignores his own better nature in his quest to kill the beast?

Get the free audiobook from Tantor media. Once you've completed the purchase and added to your library, you can download at any time, so no rush on that (like there is with Sync).

Two Free Audiobooks - Daughter of Smoke & Bone and A Tale of Two Cities

There are two new free audiobook from Sync today. First, I've linked in the info from the ebook or audiobook version of each title (Amazon has the best reviews), followed by the link to get your copies free, with directions to ensure you get the complete download.

The first free audiobook is Daughter of Smoke & Bone ($9.99 Kindle; $19.95 Audible), by Alfred C. Martino, narrated by Mark Shanahan.

Book Description
Around the world, black handprints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky.

In a dark and dusty shop, a devil's supply of human teeth grown dangerously low.

And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherwordly war.

Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real; she's prone to disappearing on mysterious "errands"; she speaks many languages--not all of them human; and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she's about to find out.

When one of the strangers--beautiful, haunted Akiva--fixes his fire-colored eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But will Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself?

Grade Level: 10 and up

A Tale of Two Cities ($21.95 Audible), by Charles Dickens, narrated by Simon Prebble, is the second selection for this week. As with most classics, there are many editions to choose from on Kindle, although the 60 available might be a bit too much of a good thing. In any case, you can spend anything from nothing to a few dollars and probably get an edition that will work for reading along while listening.

Book Description
Set against the backdrop of the French Revolution, A Tale of Two Cities is a sprawling tale of London and revolutionary Paris with a complex plot portraying the results of terror and treason, love and supreme sacrifice.

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." - opening line of A Tale of Two Cities

It was the time of the French Revolution, a time of great change and great danger. It was a time when injustice was met by a lust for vengeance, and rarely was a distinction made between the innocent and the guilty. Against this tumultuous historical backdrop, Dickens' dramatic story of adventure and courage unfolds.

Unjustly imprisoned for 18 years in the Bastille, Dr. Alexandre Manette is reunited with his daughter, the gentle Lucie Manette, and safely transported from France to England. It would seem that they could now take up the threads of their lives in peace. As fate would have it, however, the two are summoned to the Old Bailey to testify against a young Frenchman, Charles Darnay, falsely accused of treason. Strangely enough, Darnay bears an uncanny resemblance to another man in the courtroom: Sydney Carton, a dissolute barrister. It is a coincidence that saves Darnay from certain doom more than once, as the two men's fates become intertwined with that of the Revolution.

And there is Madame Defarge, a female revolutionary who has an implacable grudge against the aristocratic Evrémonde dynasty and who knits as she watches the beheadings.

The storming of the Bastille, the death carts with their doomed human cargo, the swift drop of the blade of La Guillotine - this is the French Revolution that Charles Dickens vividly captures. Brilliantly plotted, the novel is rich in drama, romance, and heroics that culminate in a daring prison escape in the shadow of the guillotine.

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

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

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

Two Free Audiobooks - Pinned and Locomotion

There are two new free audiobook from Sync today. First, I've linked in the info from the ebook or audiobook version of each title (Amazon has the best reviews), followed by the link to get your copies free, with directions to ensure you get the complete download.

The first free audiobook is Pinned ($4.99 Kindle; $17.95 Audible), by Alfred C. Martino, narrated by Mark Shanahan.

Book Description
In this gripping story, wrestling dominates the lives of two young men. Ivan Korske and Bobby Zane come from very different backgrounds--yet they both have the drive, determination, and commitment of a champion. And both are determined to have successful wrestling seasons despite having to grapple with their own demons.

But their personal problems won't matter when these two teens meet on the mat to compete for the title of New Jersey State Wrestling Champion. Both Ivan and Bobby have put in grueling hours of practice, endured intense hunger to cut weight, and sacrificed themselves for the sport they love--but only one of them is destined to win.

Grade Level: 7 and up

Locomotion ($7.99 Kindle; $11.95 Audible), by Jacqueline Woodson, narrated by Dion Graham, is the second selection for this week.

Book Description
When Lonnie was seven years old, his parents died in a fire. Now he's eleven, and he still misses them terribly. And he misses his little sister, Lili, who was put into a different foster home because not a lot of people want boys-not foster boys that ain't babies." But Lonnie hasn't given up. His foster mother, Miss Edna, is growing on him. She's already raised two sons and she seems to know what makes them tick. And his teacher, Ms. Marcus, is showing him ways to put his jumbled feelings on paper.

Told entirely through Lonnie's poetry, we see his heartbreak over his lost family, his thoughtful perspective on the world around him, and most of all his love for Lili and his determination to one day put at least half of their family back together. Jacqueline Woodson's poignant story of love, loss, and hope is lyrically written and enormously accessible."

Grade Level: P and up

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

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

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

Free Audiobook - The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

The unabridged audiobook performance of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (reg $9.99), by L. Frank Baum, narrated by Anne Hathaway, is free direct from Audible. As is often the case with public domain works, there are a number of editions of the ebook on Kindle, with prices ranging from free to several dollars.

Book Description
One of the best-known stories in American culture, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz has stirred the imagination of young and old alike for over 100 years. Best Actress nominee Anne Hathaway (Rachel Getting Married, Alice In Wonderland), fresh from filming one of this year's most anticipated films, The Dark Knight Rises, lends her voice to this uniquely American fairy tale.

Follow the adventures of young Dorothy Gale and her dog Toto as they get swept away into the magical land of Oz , where they encounter characters and places you may remember from the movie - and several more that never made it to the big screen - on an unforgettable journey to the Emerald City.

"It's such a wonderful book and I was so happy to be a part of bringing it to life", Ms. Hathaway said. "There are a lot of great voices in it. The more fun you have with it, the sillier and the more free you get with it, the better it is because it's a story that can handle it. It's amazing to be able to discover something new about something you feel you know so well."

Get the free audiobook from Audible.

Two Free Audiobooks - Mark Twain and Romance

Blackstone Audio periodically sends out a free audiobook to those who sign up for the newsletter (if you can get a subscription to go thru - I've often received no info back from attempts to sign up). The two below are the ones from this month's newsletter.

THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER BY MARK TWAIN, READ BY GROVER GARDNER

Book Description

Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is a humorous and nostalgic book depicting the carefree days of boyhood in a small Midwestern town.

Download MP3 M4B

"ROMANCE" BY CHUCK PALAHNIUK, READ BY THE AUTHOR

Book Description
We teamed up with the New York Times-bestselling author to offer this short story exclusively in audio. Originally published in Playboy magazine, "Romance" is a twisted love story like only Chuck could tell.

Download MP3 M4B

Remember: You want the MP3 format for Kindle; put the file(s) into the \audible directory of the Kindle, using a USB cable, and they'll show up on you Home page and have audiobook controls.