Today's Deals 12/16

Amazon has a web page up for their Top Whispersync for Voice Picks for 2012 and you can add professional narration to any of the 75 books on the page for $4.99 or less.

Today's Audible Daily Deal is Ernest Cline's Ready Player One for $9.95. Members with credits get a bonus deal: Sci-Fi & Fantasy 3 for 2 boutique (and if you don't have two credits, Audible will probably show you a Buy 3 discount page.

At Harlequin, save 20% on any Carina Press Fantasy books, today only! Use CPFANTASY20 at Checkout

Join the festivities with 12 Days and 12 FREE comics during comiXology’s 12 Days of Gifting! Today, Dynamite Entertainment proudly presents Masks #1 for FREE!

Today's Kindle Kids Daily Deal is The Ruins of Gorlan ($2.99), the first title in John Flanagan's teen Ranger's Apprentice series. As a bonus, you can get the companion audiobook for $4.99.

Book Description
The international bestselling series with over 5 million copies sold in the U.S. alone!

They have always scared him in the past—the Rangers, with their dark cloaksand shadowy ways. The villagers believe the Rangers practice magic that makes them invisible to ordinary people. And now 15-year-old Will, always small for his age, has been chosen as a Ranger's apprentice. What he doesn't yet realize is that the Rangers are the protectors of the kingdom. Highly trained in the skills of battle and surveillance, they fight the battles before the battles reach the people. And as Will is about to learn, there is a large battle brewing. The exiled Morgarath, Lord of the Mountains of Rain and Night, is gathering his forces for an attack on the kingdom. This time, he will not be denied. . . .

Perfect for fans of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, T.H. White’s The Sword in the Stone, Christopher Paolini’s Eragon series, and George R. R. Martin’s Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire series.

Grade Level: 5 and up

Today's Kindle Daily Deal is Always Looking Up ($1.99), by Michael J. Fox.

Book Description
There are many words to describe Michael J. Fox: Actor. Husband. Father. Activist. But readers of Always Looking Up will soon add another to the list: Optimist. Michael writes about the hard-won perspective that helped him see challenges as opportunities. Instead of building walls around himself, he developed a personal policy of engagement and discovery: an emotional, psychological, intellectual, and spiritual outlook that has served him throughout his struggle with Parkinson's disease. Michael's exit from a very demanding, very public arena offered him the time-and the inspiration-to open up new doors leading to unexpected places. One door even led him to the center of his own family, the greatest destination of all.

The last ten years, which is really the stuff of this book, began with such a loss: my retirement from Spin City. I found myself struggling with a strange new dynamic: the shifting of public and private personas. I had been Mike the actor, then Mike the actor with PD. Now was I just Mike with PD Parkinson's had consumed my career and, in a sense, had become my career. But where did all of this leave Me? I had to build a new life when I was already pretty happy with the old one..

Always Looking Up is a memoir of this last decade, told through the critical themes of Michael's life: work, politics, faith, and family. The book is a journey of self-discovery and reinvention, and a testament to the consolations that protect him from the ravages of Parkinson's.

With the humor and wit that captivated fans of his first book, Lucky Man, Michael describes how he became a happier, more satisfied person by recognizing the gifts of everyday life.

Today's Kindle Romance Daily Deal is Prelude to a Seduction ($0.99), by Lotchie Burton.

Book Description
David Broussard is a handsome, successful businessman with the unsavory reputation of a player. He’s known for his allure, charming personality, and ability to draw and seduce women. He’s gifted by nature with an unbelievably erotic scent that emanates from his body—natural pheromones that attract women in droves. Having used this advantage in the past with great success, he expects the same results as he sets his sights on Sarona Maxwell. He finds himself fascinated to the point of obsession with Sarona and has made it his priority to woo her, to seduce her, and to get her into his bed. However, in his quest to captivate and capture, he finds Sarona is more woman than he’s bargained for, and he’ll need more than cunning, charm, and nature’s gift to achieve his goal.

Sarona is undeniably attracted to the charisma and roguish good looks of David Broussard, and like any red-blooded female alive she’s fallen victim to his intoxicating scent. Unfortunately, his reputation for being on the prowl and always in search of his next conquest precedes him. She has no illusions he has any interest in her. Considering her size and the fact that she’s black, she’s sure she doesn’t fit his usual preference for eye candy. She sees herself as merely a spectator, observing from a distance his penchant to hunt, and she watches him play his game of pursuit, seduction, and surrender.

Sarona has no idea that the rules of the game have changed. She doesn’t realize that there’s no such thing as being safe standing on the sidelines and that now, suddenly she’s become the prey set in the sights of the hunter.

Sensuality Level: Hot

Today's Kindle SciFi/Fantasy Daily Deal is The Color of Magic ($1.99), by Terry Pratchett. This is a definitely recommended title and worth re-reading if it has been a while (and one I bought, long ago).

Book Description
Terry Pratchett's profoundly irreverent, bestselling novels have garnered him a revered position in the halls of parody next to the likes of Mark Twain, Kurt Vonnegut, Douglas Adams, and Carl Hiaasen.

The Color of MagicM is Terry Pratchett's maiden voyage through the now-legendary land of Discworld. This is where it all begins -- with the tourist Twoflower and his wizard guide, Rincewind.

The Amazon exclusive translation of Fujisan ($1.59 / £0.99 UK), by Randy Taguchi and Raj Mahtani (Translator), is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (the US edition is $4.99/KLL Eligible).

Book Description
From acclaimed Japanese author Randy Taguchi come four unforgettable stories of redemption, discovery, loss, and remembrance anchored by one of the world’s holiest peaks. Mount Fuji has been a source of spiritual inspiration since it was first ascended by a monk over a millennium ago.

“Blue Summit” introduces a former cult member struggling to maintain his escape from a mountain monastery, seeking solace in the fluorescent lights of the convenience store he manages. In “Sea of Trees,” three teenage boys who share a fascination with the metaphysical confront the startling realities of death and despair on their final adventure together before parting ways for different schools. “Jamila” chronicles a privileged young man’s descent into disillusionment as he works with a compulsive hoarder to clear her mess. And in “Child of Light,” a nurse struggles as she comes to terms with her role in the oft-brutal cycle of birth, life, and death.

Throughout the stories, Mount Fuji stands sentinel even as it fades in and out of view—watching and remembering as it always has.

Girl Meets Boy: Because There Are Two Sides to Every Story ($1.99 Kindle, B&N), by Kelly Milner Halls, is the Nook Daily Find, price matched on Kindle.

Book Description
What do guys and girls really think? Twelve of the most dynamic and engaging YA authors writing today team up for this one-of-a-kind collection of he said/she said stories he tells it from the guy's point of view, she tells it from the girl's. Stories of love and heartbreak, like the good-looking jock who falls for a dangerous girl and the flipside of the toxic girl who never learns to be loved; a basketball star and the artistic (and shorter) boy she never knew she wanted; and a gay boy looking for love online and the girl who could help make it happen, teach us that relationships become complicated because there are two sides to every story.

Free & Bargain Books by T. Jefferson Parker (K)

T. Jefferson Parker appears to be self-publishing some of his backlist police procedurals and today he has The Blue Hour, the first title in his Merci Rayborn series, free in the Kindle store.

Book Description
Tim Hess is a semi-retired homicide cop staring at his own death sentence – lung cancer. Time is running out. Thrice divorced and childless, Hess is the classic loner cop – so he’s happy to accept the difficult job offered to him: find and stop a serial killer who’s been abducting beautiful young women in Orange County.

His new partner, and boss, is the brash, ambitious Merci Rayborn. She’s unpopular and unloved by her fellow cops, but she’s also relentless, smart and principled. Hess, challenged by the investigation and by his own disease, isn’t happy about taking orders from Merci, and he certainly isn’t planning for her to fall in love with him…
Intricately plotted and surprisingly moving, THE BLUE HOUR is T. Jefferson Parker’s most compelling – and satisfying – thriller yet.

You can also get the second in the series, Red Light, for 99 cents (and the companion audiobook for $1.99). Black Water is published by Hyperion, still, but is under $5 currently.

Not connected to any series, two more novels are also currently on sale for 99 cents: Silent Joe and Where Serpents Lie. I have several of his novels in my library, but not a single one of the ones on this sale (yay!).

Bargain Duo (K)

To go with the free copy of White Witch today, you may be interested in the next two in Trish Milburn's Coven series, both of which are on sale today, starting with Bane ($0.99).

Book Description
In White Witch, Jax Pherson fled the darkest of covens to escape from her own father’s evil. In that life-and-death battle, she gained staggering power. Power so intense, so dangerous, she fears the darkness that now dwells inside her
like a living thing. If she can’t control the power, she may become as evil as the witches she conquered.

For a brief moment, her courage was rewarded. She found everything she’d ever wanted. A normal life. An amazing boyfriend. An envy-worthy best friend.

Now, in Bane, her past puts those she loves in danger again, forcing another confrontation with the covens. Jax must leave her new life behind.

With her friend Egan, she heads for the one place that might hold the answers she desperately needs—Salem, Massachusetts.
There, her research unearths a hopeful but shocking
discovery: The Bane, a secret group of witches dedicated to the same cause as Jax—thwarting the covens.

Finding The Bane is easier said than done; Jax must use all her skills in the search, while evading a deadly witch hunter.

As the tension rises, her sinister powers begin to tempt her. If she succumbs, Jax may have as much to fear from the hunter and The Bane as from the evil covens.

Magick ($1.99)

Book Description
The covens are coming for her.

But is she a White Witch or a Dark Witch? In a war for control of the witch world, the answer will save-or doom-everyone she loves.

In White Witch, Jax gained friends she'd die for and a staggering power that threatens them all.

In Bane, Jax did the unthinkable and killed a supernatural hunter to protect her friends. She found herself lost in darkness and prisoner to the Bane, a secret society of witches sworn to prevent the use of the dark magic.

Now, in Magick, the powers of Jax and her friend Egan have been magically bound by the Bane. She must convince the Bane she can learn to control her power and become a White Witch in truth. She's their only hope now that the dark covens have called a Conclave with one purpose-to kill this generation's White Witch and anyone who has ever stood with her. If Jax can't amass an army of her own, rebuild the trust of her friends and boyfriend, and find the White Witch's elusive weapon against the dark, it may be too late.

Today's Deals 12/15

Today's Kindle Daily Deal is Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter ($1.99), by Tom Franklin.

Book Description
Tom Franklin's extraordinary talent has been hailed by the leading lights of contemporary literature—Philip Roth, Richard Ford, Lee Smith, and Dennis Lehane. Reviewers have called his fiction "ingenious" (USA Today) and "compulsively readable" (Memphis Commercial Appeal). His narrative power and flair for character-ization have been compared to the likes of Harper Lee, Flannery O'Connor, Elmore Leonard, and Cormac McCarthy.

Now the Edgar Award-winning author returns with his most accomplished and resonant novel so far—an atmospheric drama set in rural Mississippi. In the late 1970s, Larry Ott and Silas "32" Jones were boyhood pals. Their worlds were as different as night and day: Larry, the child of lower-middle-class white parents, and Silas, the son of a poor, single black mother. Yet for a few months the boys stepped outside of their circumstances and shared a special bond. But then tragedy struck: Larry took a girl on a date to a drive-in movie, and she was never heard from again. She was never found and Larry never confessed, but all eyes rested on him as the culprit. The incident shook the county—and perhaps Silas most of all. His friendship with Larry was broken, and then Silas left town.

More than twenty years have passed. Larry, a mechanic, lives a solitary existence, never able to rise above the whispers of suspicion. Silas has returned as a constable. He and Larry have no reason to cross paths until another girl disappears and Larry is blamed again. And now the two men who once called each other friend are forced to confront the past they've buried and ignored for decades.

Today's Kindle SciFi/Fantasy Daily Deal is Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell ($1.99), by Susanna Clarke.

Book Description
It's 1808 and that Corsican upstart Napoleon is battering the English army and navy. Enter Mr. Norrell, a fusty but ambitious scholar from the Yorkshire countryside and the first practical magician in hundreds of years. What better way to demonstrate his revival of British magic than to change the course of the Napoleonic wars? Susanna Clarke's ingenious first novel, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, has the cleverness and lightness of touch of the Harry Potter series, but is less a fairy tale of good versus evil than a fantastic comedy of manners, complete with elaborate false footnotes, occasional period spellings, and a dense, lively mythology teeming beneath the narrative. Mr. Norrell moves to London to establish his influence in government circles, devising such powerful illusions as an 11-day blockade of French ports by English ships fabricated from rainwater. But however skillful his magic, his vanity provides an Achilles heel, and the differing ambitions of his more glamorous apprentice, Jonathan Strange, threaten to topple all that Mr. Norrell has achieved.

Today's Kindle Romance Daily Deal is Rainshadow Road ($2.99), by Lisa Kleypas.

Book Description
Lucy Marinn is a glass artist living in mystical, beautiful, Friday Harbor, Washington. She is stunned and blindsided by the most bitter kind of betrayal: her fiancé Kevin has left her. His new lover is Lucy’s own sister. Lucy's bitterness over being dumped is multiplied by the fact that she has constantly made the wrong choices in her romantic life. Facing the severe disapproval of Lucy's parents, Kevin asks his friend Sam Nolan, a local vineyard owner on San Juan Island, to "romance" Lucy and hopefully loosen her up and get her over her anger. Complications ensue when Sam and Lucy begin to fall in love, Kevin has second thoughts, and Lucy discovers that the new relationship in her life began under false pretenses. Questions about love, loyalty, old patterns, mistakes, and new beginnings are explored as Lucy learns that some things in life—even after being broken—can be made into something new and beautiful.

The Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK is three novels written by Andrew Garve and published by Bello, for $1.59 / £0.99 (no US editions).

The Galloway Case (UK)

When the boundaries between reality and fiction become blurred it is left to one man to seek the truth . . . Journalist Peter Rennie discovers more than he bargained for after being sent to the Channel Islands to do an interview for his news paper. A chance meeting with the mysterious Mary Smith not only has Peter falling head over heels in love with the vivacious woman, but also leads him onto a much more intriguing investigation of his own. Using all his professional knowledge, Peter must get to the bottom of a complex murder case in order to win back the woman he has given his heart to. But when the case in question involves two crime authors, two near-identical novels, a gruesome death and an elaborate paper trail the truth seems impossibility out of his grasp . . .

A Hole in the Ground (UK)

Have you ever wondered what undiscovered gems lie waiting to be found in your garden? Lawrence Quilter, a man in a position of power, finds some interesting records amongst his great grandfather’s papers. This leads him to uncover a labyrinth of secret underground caves that have been hidden for decades. Julie, Lawrence’s long-suffering wife, knows that her husband is an obsessive man with a quirky personality but she stands by him all the same. That is until her husband’s behaviour becomes increasingly worrying and she is forces to reconsider the man she has married. One moment brings about a tragic chain of events which affects both Lawrence and his wife. This is an exciting and unusual story which takes us into the realms of the frightening as well as the fantastically beautiful and delves into the very depths of human nature.

The Narrow Search (UK)

It doesn’t take Clare Hunter many years of married life to discover that her husband, Arnold, is ruthless and unscrupulous. But it is not until she attempts to break up their unsatisfactory marriage that she herself becomes victim of his power-complex. To prevent her leaving him, Arnold resorts to blackmail—of a highly specialised variety. Ordinary legal methods seem powerless to cope with the situation and Clare is becoming desperate when she finds an ally in a former colleague, Hugh Cameron. With little to guide them but their own ingenuity, these two can only rely on each other.

Crashed ($3.99 Kindle, B&N), the first novel in the Junior Bender Mystery series by Timothy Hallinan, is the Nook Daily Find, price matched on Kindle.

Book Description
INTRODUCING JUNIOR BENDER, THE FAVORITE BURGLAR-TURNED-PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR OF HOLLYWOOD CROOKS

Junior Bender is a Los Angeles burglar with a magic touch. Since he first started breaking into houses when he was fourteen years old, he’s never once been caught. But now, after twenty-two years of an exemplary career, Junior has been blackmailed by Trey Annunziato, one of the most powerful crime bosses in LA, into acting as a private investigator on the set of Trey’s porn movie venture, which someone keeps sabotaging. The star Trey has lined up to do all that’s unwholesome on camera is Thistle Downing, America’s beloved child star, who now lives alone in a drug-induced stupor, destitute and uninsurable. Her starring role will be the scandalous fall-from-grace gossip of rubber-neckers across the country. No wonder Trey needs help keeping the production on track.

Junior knows what that he should do—get Thistle out and find her help—but doing the right thing will land him on the wrong side of LA’s scariest mob boss. With the help of his precocious twelve-year-old daughter, Rina, and his criminal sidekick, Louie the Lost (an ex-getaway driver), Junior has to figure out a miracle solution.

Today's Kindle Kids Daily Deal is A Mutiny in Time ($1.99), the first title in the Infinity Ring series by James Dashner, author of The Maze Runner, which is what I am currently reading. The title currently on sale is intended for a bit younger market, as is The 13th Reality, Volume 1: The Journal of Curious Letters, which is also on sale ($3.99).

Book Description
Scholastic's next multi-platform mega-event begins here!

History is broken, and three kids must travel back in time to set it right!

When best friends Dak Smyth and Sera Froste stumble upon the secret of time travel -- a hand-held device known as the Infinity Ring -- they're swept up in a centuries-long secret war for the fate of mankind. Recruited by the Hystorians, a secret society that dates back to Aristotle, the kids learn that history has gone disastrously off course.

Now it's up to Dak, Sera, and teenage Hystorian-in-training Riq to travel back in time to fix the Great Breaks . . . and to save Dak's missing parents while they're at it. First stop: Spain, 1492, where a sailor named Christopher Columbus is about to be thrown overboard in a deadly mutiny!

Grade Level: 3 and up

Today's Deals 12/14

It's the last day to register for the gift card giveaway on Amazon's 12 Days of Book Deals promotion page. Today's book is The Third Wheel (Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Book 7) [Hardcover] for $1.99.

Today's Audible Daily Deal is J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit for Just $6.95.

At Harlequin, buy 2 books or more and get ANY third book FREE!.

Join the festivities with 12 Days and 12 FREE comics during comiXology’s 12 Days of Gifting! Today, get Terry Moore’s Strangers in Paradise #1.

Starbucks continues their Buy One, Share One Event in the store on all their "holiday beverages". This is valid from 2pm to 5pm, every day thru Dec 16 at all participating stores. There may be other in-store specials (yesterday was an unannounced BOGOF on Holiday VIA).

Today's Kindle Daily Deal is Swimming Home ($1.99), by Deborah Levy.

Book Description
As he arrives with his family at the villa in the hills above Nice, Joe sees a body in the swimming pool. But the girl is very much alive. She is Kitty Finch: a self-proclaimed botanist with green-painted fingernails, walking naked out of the water and into the heart of their holiday. Why is she there? What does she want from them all? And why does Joe's enigmatic wife allow her to remain?

A subversively brilliant study of love, Swimming Home reveals how the most devastating secrets are the ones we keep from ourselves.

Today's Kindle Romance Daily Deal is What a Texas Girl Wants ($0.99), by Kristina Knight.

Book Description
Kathleen Witte is a down-to-earth girl. She has to be, with the family ranch on the verge of success. After seven months of keeping it all together by swearing off men, however, Kathleen needs a bit of fun in the sun. Waking up with a husband she can’t remember isn’t how she planned to blow off steam.

The last thing Jackson Taylor wants in his life is a down-to-earth girl. He has four weeks of freedom in which to find his birth mother. He’s done well avoiding commitment until now, so when he wakes up on a Mexican beach with Kathleen his first reaction is curiosity. When he spies the matching wedding rings on their left hands curiosity turns to concern.

Neither Jackson nor Kathleen want to stay married, but when her family shows up, they have no choice. Once back in Texas, however, can they keep this all-business marriage from turning into an all-consuming love?

Sensuality Level: Sensual

Once upon a time, Kristina Knight spent her days running from car crash to fire to meetings with local police—no, she wasn't a troublemaker, she was a journalist. When the opportunity to focus a bit of energy on the stories in her head, she jumped at it. And she’s never looked back. Now she writes magazine articles by day and romance novels with spice by night. She lives on Lake Erie with her husband, three-year-old daughter, and twenty-year-old fur-kid. Happily ever after.

Today's Kindle SciFi/Fantasy Daily Deal is Aftertime ($1.99), by Sophie Littlefield. This looks like one I'll add near the top of my TBR list. Be careful if searching for this one on your Kindle; there are two editions and the other, a pre-order, is $6.39. Also, if you've been reading for a while, you should have the prequel novella, Survivors, in your library, as it was free twice last year.

Book Description
Awakening in a bleak landscape as scarred as her body, Cass Dollar vaguely recalls surviving something terrible. Having no idea how many weeks have passed, she slowly realizes the horrifying truth: Ruthie has vanished.

And with her, nearly all of civilization.

Where once-lush hills carried cars and commerce, the roads today see only cannibalistic Beaters—people turned hungry for human flesh by a government experiment gone wrong.

In a broken, barren California, Cass will undergo a harrowing quest to get Ruthie back. Few people trust an outsider, let alone a woman who became a zombie and somehow turned back, but she finds help from an enigmatic outlaw, Smoke. Smoke is her savior, and her safety.

For the Beaters are out there.

And the humans grip at survival with their trigger fingers. Especially when they learn that she and Ruthie have become the most feared, and desired, of weapons in a brave new world….

Today's Kindle Kids Daily Deal is Closed for the Season ($1.99), by Mary Downing Hahn.

Book Description
A contemporary thriller by the bestselling author of THE OLD WILLIS PLACE.

Two 13-year-old boys, Arthur and Logan, set out to solve the mystery of a murder that took place some years ago in the old house Logan's family has just moved into. The boys' quest takes them to the highest and lowest levels of society in their small Maryland town, and eventually to a derelict amusement park that is supposedly closed for the season.

Grade Level: 5 and up

Little Boy Blue ($4.99 Kindle, B&N), by Kim Kavin and Jim Gorant, is the Nook Daily Find, price matched on Kindle. It just squeaks in as a bargain book, but I have to say that I love the cover.

Book Description
When journalist Kim Kavin decided that she wanted a puppy, she did what millions of people do every year: clicked on an online photo and submitted an application. She had no idea that the adorable brindle puppy—advertised as healthy and near her home in New Jersey—was actually a last-minute rescue from a gas-chamber shelter in North Carolina. Blue had arrived in the Northeast with at least a dozen other dogs in an RV that is just one among countless transports whose sponsors are dedicating their efforts to saving dogs by any means possible. Blue was happy and friendly, but he seemed to have endured some unusual albeit unknown ordeal. The dog’s manner prompted Kavin to trace his history all the way back to a long row of cages where Blue had been tagged to be put down in just three more days. Little Boy Blue is the true story of one sweet puppy’s journey of survival. It’s also a shocking exposé that describes a brutal ongoing reality inside some of this country’s taxpayer-funded shelters. But Little Boy Blue also tells an inspiring story of the grass-roots rescue network that has exploded across the nation in recent years. Readers will come to know and love a very special dog who now brings smiles to the faces of everyone he meets. From a single click of Kim Kavin’s computer mouse, Blue’s journey of a lifetime began. This is the story of Little Boy Blue, told with candor and a great deal of love. Readers will see Blue and other foster dogs that have been rescued by Kim Kavin in this book’s color photo insert.

The Perfect Present ($1.59 / £0.99 UK), by Karen Swan, is the first of three Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (no US edition).

Book Description
Haunted by a past she can’t escape, Laura Cunningham desires nothing more than to keep her world small and precise - her quiet relationship and growing jewellery business are all she needs to get by. Until the December day when Rob Blake walks into her studio and commissions a necklace that will tell his enigmatic wife Cat’s life in charms. As Laura interviews Cat’s family, friends and former lovers, she steps out of her world and into theirs – a charmed world where weekends are spent in Verbier and the air is lavender-scented, where friends are wild, extravagant and jealous, and a big love has to compete with grand passions. Hearts are opened, secrets revealed and as the necklace begins to fill up, Cat’s intoxicating life envelops Laura’s own. By the time she has to identify the final charm, Laura’s metamorphosis is almost complete. But the last story left to tell has the power to change all of their lives forever, and Laura is forced to choose between who she really is and who it is she wants to be.

Ever Fallen in Love ($1.59 / £0.99 UK), an LGBT romantic suspense novel by Zoe Strachan, is the second Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (no US edition).

Book Description
Richard fell for Luke at university. Luke was handsome, dissolute, dangerous; together they did things that Richard has spent the last decade trying to forget. Now his career is on the brink of success, but his younger sister Stephie’s life is in pieces. Her invasion of Richard’s remote west coast sanctuary forces Richard to confront the tragedy and betrayal of his past, and face up to his own role in what happened back then. In this compelling, visceral tale of how not to fit in, Zoë Strachan takes us on a journey through hedonistic student days to the lives we didn’t expect to end up living, and the hopes and fears that never quite leave us.

Hartsend ($1.59 / £0.99 UK), by Janice Brown, is the third Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (the US edition is $9.32).

Book Description
At the turn of the year, in a village in Central Scotland, several people come together at the funeral of Mrs Crosthwaite, a dominating woman famed for her fruit scones. Her middle-aged daughter Lesley now has a chance to break out – if it’s not too late. Lesley’s virtuous neighbour Ruby Robertson, the Scourge of E-numbers, conjures up conspiracy where none exists. Her faithful friend Duncan at the age of fifty is suddenly susceptible to romance, but has an awful lot to learn about women. And the younger generation has its own love tangles to sort out. Meanwhile, out of everyone’s sight, something terrible is about happen.