Free Book (nook) - According to Jane

According to Jane ($8.79 Kindle), by Marilyn Brant, is free from B&N. This title was previously free last year in the Kindle store.

Book Description
In Marilyn Brant's smart, wildly inventive debut, one woman in search of herself receives advice from the ultimate expert in matters of the heart. . .

It begins one day in sophomore English class, just as Ellie Barnett's teacher is assigning Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. From nowhere comes a quiet "tsk" of displeasure. The target: Sam Blaine, the cute bad boy who's teasing Ellie mercilessly, just as he has since kindergarten. Entirely unbidden, as Jane might say, the author's ghost has taken up residence in Ellie's mind, and seems determined to stay there.

Jane's wise and witty advice guides Ellie through the hell of adolescence and beyond, serving as the voice she trusts, usually far more than her own. Years and boyfriends come and go--sometimes a little too quickly, sometimes not nearly fast enough. But Jane's counsel is constant, and on the subject of Sam, quite insistent. Stay away, Jane demands. He is your Mr. Wickham.

Still, everyone has something to learn about love--perhaps even Jane herself. And lately, the voice in Ellie's head is being drowned out by another, urging her to look beyond everything she thought she knew and seek out her very own, very unexpected, happy ending. . .

Click HERE for the free book.

Free Book (nook) - Elvis and The Dearly Departed

Elvis and The Dearly Departed ($4.47), by Peggy Webb, is free in the Barnes & Noble store.

Book Description
They say you can't get to Heaven without passing through the Eternal Rest Funeral Home. And no one gets into Eternal Rest without passing muster with Elvis-the basset hound who's convinced he's the reincarnation of the King of Rock 'n' Roll. Brewing up a big ol' pitcher of Mississippi mystery, Peggy Webb's delightful new series is as intoxicating as the Delta breeze.

Normally, Callie Valentine Jones spends her days fixing up the hairdos of the dead, but when the corpse of local, prominent physician Dr. Leonard Laton goes missing, it's bad for business. So Callie and her cousin Lovie (Eternal Rest's resident wake caterer) have no choice but to go in hot pursuit of the recently embalmed, last seen bound for Vegas by way of downtown Tupelo.

In Vegas, Callie and Lovie hit the jackpot when they find the dearly departed inside a freezer owned by his showgirl mistress, Bubble Malone. But their luck runs out when Bubble decides to join her man in the afterlife. With the poisonous Laton family tree providing plenty of rotten suspects, Callie, along with some help from her basset hound, Elvis, is determined to crack this case-and have a killer singing "Jailhouse Rock" in time for her next haircutting appointment. . .

Click HERE for the free book.

More Kindle for Web Samples

I've been looking around Amazon for the best Kindle for Web sample and may have hit the jackpot:

What do you think?

Here's one that has grabbed me, pulled me in and is pleading with me to keep reading the book, a young adult/apocalyptic fiction novel from Paolo Bacigalupi:

This one is a children's reader:

Free Book (EPUB) - Daniel and Daughter

Sony is giving away copies of the Harlequin comicbook Daniel and Daughter ($3.99 Kindle), by Mayu Takayama and Lucy Gordon. This is a large download, 17MB on the Sony (although only half that on the Kindle) and I expect it will look best on a PC or iPad screen, rather than an ereader device. It is in the Japanese Manga style, so isn't for everyone.

Book Description
When she was 16, photographer Lee went to Gretna Green, the "Elopement Capital of Scotland," where she could get married without her parents' consent. However, she soon divorces, taking her daughter with her. She has had enough of men, but 13 years later, she meets Daniel, who tries everything in his power to seduce her. Meanwhile, Lee's brother is in a passionate relationship with Daniel's daughter. The two lovers decide to elope to Gretna Green just as Lee did all those years ago. Lee chases after them with a bitter feeling in her heart...

Click HERE to get the free book.

Kindle for Web Impressions

I've been playing with the Kindle for Web feature at Amazon and so far, I do like it. There are a few annoyances that with either get worked out or we'll learn to live with. When you share the sample via email, all you get is a message that you are reading a book and a link to the Kindle edition. Twitter is the same, but I don't expect much more in 140 characters. With Facebook, you get a picture of the book cover and a bit of the sample pasted below the are where you can enter your own text. For those who are Amazon associates, you can edit the links in email and twitter to add your affiliate tag, but in Facebook you don't get a chance to edit the links (you can paste them manually into the text box, if you wish). Now, the annoying part - the links all go to the Kindle edition. But, if you are on the Kindle edition of the book (at least, so far), you can't use the Kindle for Web feature and look thru the sample yourself. Instead, you have to either download the sample to a Kindle or App or know that you can click for one of the paper editions and get to Kindle for Web there. What I do like is the ability to view the sample in a larger area (it takes up the full browser area, but not full screen), change the colors and adjust the font size, line spacing and words per line. It isn't quite full access (no text to speech, which would be so dependent on the hardware and software at the other end), but it should offer almost everyone else a size and color combination that they can read on their screens.

So far, you can't highlight or cut-and-paste (for rather obvious reasons; although I'd love to be able to highlight a section and then click on the Share button) any of the text. You don't get some of the search-inside features that you may be used to, which allowed you to check out a recipe in a cookbook (samples on cookbooks are nearly worthless, I've found, as they end long before you can tell if the recipe section is formatted well enough to be used when cooking). You also can't jump to a location, just click to navigate a page at a time.

One of the coolest features is the ability to embed a sample into a web page. I've included one here, just so you can take a look:

Any author with a book on Kindle should consider putting this up on his web page. Indie authors would be foolish not to, since the Kindle edition is both their best chance for sales (at least, currently) and no doubt their highest source of revenue. Traditional authors may hesitate, though, as the embedded sample takes you to the Kindle edition. Those wanting to buy paper will have to click to find that edition after they arrive on the Kindle page.