Today's Deals 2/12

At Kobo, get 30% off any non-Agency title using coupon code Comeback3102_3 (exp: Feb 16, 2013) and Save 25% on Harlequin/Mills & Boon New Releases using code VDay25 (exp Feb 15).

For those in the UK, you can join Amazon Family (which looks somewhat similar to the Amazon Mom program in the US) by 15 Feb and get a free Lamaze Jacques the Peacock toy. Unlike the US program, the UK program requires a paid Prime membership after the 3-month free trial period is over (although you can cancel at any time).

Today's Kindle Daily Deal is A Patch of Ground ($1.99), by Michael Archer.

Book Description
A poignant, often humorous, recollection of the siege of Khe Sanha pivotal turning point in the American war in Vietnam. Under constant bombardment from the enemy, Michael Archer and his cadre of young Marines Orr, Pig, Old Woman and Savage, just to name a few managed to survive and, in the process, learn about manhood, sacrifice and the darkest recesses of fear and loneliness.

Today's Kindle Romance Daily Deal is Tidewater Inn ($1.99), the first novel in Colleen Coble's new Hope Beach series. The companion audiobook is $4.99.

Book Description
Welcome to Hope Beach. A place of intoxicating beauty . . . where trouble hits with the force of a hurricane.

Inheriting a beautiful old hotel on the Outer Banks could be a dream come true for Libby. The inn cries out for her restorer’s talent and love of history. She’s delighted to learn of the family she never knew she had. And the handsome Coast Guard lieutenant she’s met there on the island could definitely be the man of her dreams.

But Libby soon realizes that the only way she can afford the upkeep on the inn is to sell it to developers who are stalking the island. The father who willed her the inn has died before she could meet him, and her newfound brother and sister are convinced she’s there to steal their birthright. Worst of all, her best friend and business partner has been kidnapped before her eyes, and Libby’s under suspicion for the crime.

Libby’s dream come true is becoming a nightmare. Her only option is to find her friend and prove her innocence, or lose everything on the shores of Hope Island.

Today's Kindle SciFi/Fantasy Daily Deal is Breathe ($1.99), the first title in the Young Adult series by Sarah Crossan. A second novel should be coming out this year, but isn't yet available for pre-order.

Book Description
Inhale. Exhale.

Breathe.

Breathe.

Breathe . . .

The world is dead.

The survivors live under the protection of Breathe, the corporation that found a way to manufacture oxygen–rich air.

Alina
has been stealing for a long time. She's a little jittery, but not terrified. All she knows is that she's never been caught before. If she's careful, it'll be easy. If she's careful.

Quinn
should be worried about Alina and a bit afraid for himself, too, but even though this is dangerous, it's also the most interesting thing to happen to him in ages. It isn't every day that the girl of your dreams asks you to rescue her.

Bea
wants to tell him that none of this is fair; they'd planned a trip together, the two of them, and she'd hoped he'd discover her out here, not another girl.

And as they walk into the Outlands with two days' worth of oxygen in their tanks, everything they believe will be shattered. Will they be able to make it back? Will they want to?

Million Dollar Mates (£0.99 UK), a YA romance by Cathy Hopkins, is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (no US edition).

Book Description
Jess Hall's dad is the new general manager at Porchester Park, and is moving Jess, her brother and pet cat into a staff apartment there. Jess is dreading the move, until she learns the apartments are strictly A-list only and soon to be populated by actors, musicians, models and millionaires… But fraternising with the stars isn't all it's cracked up to be, and soon Jess is wishing for a return to real-life - but can she admit to her friends that the gilded cage isn't quite as golden as she'd anticipated?

The Hypnotist's Love Story ($2.99 Kindle, B&N), by Liane Moriarty, is the Nook Daily Find, price matched on Kindle.

Book Description
For fans of Emily Giffin, another wonderful book by the author of What Alice Forgot.

Ellen O’Farrell is a professional hypnotherapist who works out of the eccentric beachfront home she inherited from her grandparents. It’s a nice life, except for her tumultuous relationship history. She’s stoic about it, but at this point, Ellen wouldn’t mind a lasting one. When she meets Patrick, she’s optimistic. He’s attractive, single, employed, and best of all, he seems to like her back. Then comes that dreaded moment: He thinks they should have a talk.

Braced for the worst, Ellen is pleasantly surprised. It turns out that Patrick’s ex-girlfriend is stalking him. Ellen thinks, Actually, that’s kind of interesting. She’s dating someone worth stalking. She’s intrigued by the woman’s motives. In fact, she’d even love to meet her.

Ellen doesn’t know it, but she already has.

Today's Kindle Kids Daily Deal is Palace of Stone ($2.99), the second title in the Princess Academy series by Shannon Hale. The companion audiobook is $3.99.

Book Description
Coming down from the mountain to a new life in the city seems a thrill beyond imagining. When Miri and her friends from Mount Eskel set off to help the future princess Britta prepare for her royal wedding, she is happy about her chance to attend school in the capital city. There, Miri befriends students who seem so sophisticated and exciting . . . until she learns that they have some frightening plans. They think that Miri will help them, that she should help them. Soon Miri finds herself torn between loyalty to the princess and her new friends' ideas, between an old love and a new crush, and between her small mountain home and the bustling city.

Picking up where Princess Academy left off, this incredible stand-alone story celebrates the joys of friendship, the delight of romance, and the fate of a beloved fairy tale kingdom.

Free Audiobook & Book - The Souls of Black Folk (DF)

The download edition of The Souls of Black Folk (free - $11.99 Kindle; $20.99 Audible), by W. E. B. Du Bois, narrated by Richard Allen, is free direct from Tantor Media.

Book Description
W. E. B. Du Bois was the foremost black intellectual of his time. The Souls of Black Folk, his most influential work, is a collection of 14 beautifully written essays, by turns lyrical, historical, and autobiographical. Here, Du Bois records the cruelties of racism, celebrates the strength and pride of black America, and explores the paradoxical "double-consciousness" of African American life.

When it was first published in 1903, The Souls of Black Folk quickly established itself as a work that wholly redefined the history of the black experience in America, introducing the now-famous "problem of the color line." In the decades since its publication, its stature has only grown, and today it ranks as one of the most influential and resonant works in the history of American thought.

Get the free ebook from Tantor Media, along with a bonus PDF ebook when you download the complete ZIP file from your library. The download is available in MP3 (Kindle compatible) format and both it and the book are DRM-free.

While you are there, check out their $6.99 sale, which includes Timothy Egan's The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl amongst the selections.

Free Audiobook - The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (DF)

Get a free download of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (free-$7.99 Kindle, $15.37 Audible), by Mark Twain, read by Grover Gardner, from Downpour.com, Blackstone Audio's new consumer site.

Book Description
This humorous and nostalgic novel takes the listener back to the carefree days of boyhood in Hannibal, Missouri, where Mark Twain grew up.

Just what did boys do in a small Midwestern town during the mid-1800s, a time when there were no televisions, no arcades, and no videos? They whitewashed fences, floated down rivers, traded marbles, formed secret societies, smoked pipes, and, on occasion, managed to attend their own funerals. Yes, they may have been a bit mischievous, but as Aunt Polly said of Tom when she believed him to be dead, "He was the best-hearted boy that ever was." Aunt Polly's sentiments reveal one of the cardinal tenets of Twain's philosophy: In this deceitful and infirm world, innocence can be found only in the heart of a boy.

Get the free audiobook from Downpour. Add the Download edition to your cart, then enter coupon code sawyeremail (make sure there are no extra spaces, if you cut and paste) and click on Apply. Make sure that the new total has been adjusted to $0.00, then click on Checkout. You'll be prompted to log into your account (or create a new one) and then taken to the final screen; click on Place Order and then on Continue to My Library in order to download the audiobook. The download is available in either MP3 (Kindle compatible) or M4B (iTunes) formats and is DRM-free.

Today's Deals 2/11

Today's Gold Box at Amazon is up to 60% off on heart-shaped pendants, with free one-day shipping so that you get them before Valentine's Day.

Box, which is a off-site storage company similar to Dropbox, has a special offer in conjunction with Dell, that lets you sign up for a free 50GB account (for life). Normally, this plan costs $20/year, but if you sign up here, not only do you get that much storage free, you can give it to two friends or co-workers. Box has their app in the Amazon Appstore, so has always been a bit easier to get loaded on your Kindle Fire, and has recently released a syncing app for the desktop (until this was released, getting files into Box was a bit more difficult).

At AmazonLocal, you can get a 50% off voucher for select DecalGirl Skins for the Kindle and Kindle Fire devices. The voucher is free (although you go thru checkout and need a credit card on file) and you must use the promo code that ends up in the Your Vouchers section during checkout for your purchase at Amazon.

Additional formats on free books:

• 1,001 Best Hot and Spicy Recipes - now free on Kindle
• Hotter than Hot - now free on Kindle

Today's Kindle Kids Daily Deal is There Was an Old Pirate Who Swallowed a Fish ($1.99), by Jennifer Ward and Steve Gray (Illustrator). This book features Kindle Text Pop-Up for reading text over vivid, full-color images when using Kindle Fire/HD or select Kindle Reading Apps (Kindle Cloud Reader, Kindle for iPad or Kindle for Android); unlike some other Text Popup books, this one won't work on any of the eInk Kindles.

Book Description
There was an old pirate . . . who swallowed a fish, a bird, a map, some gold, and even a whole pirate ship! Will the Old Pirate sink to the bottom of the deep, dark sea? Yo ho ho! Watch his belly grow! Jennifer Ward’s take on the “Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly” song is perfectly matched with Steve Gray’s zany digital illustrations.

Grade Level: Pre-K and up

Today's Kindle Daily Deal is Stone Maidens ($1.99), by Lloyd Devereux Richards, with the companion audiobook also $1.99.

Book Description
As the chief forensic anthropologist for the FBI’s Chicago field office, Christine Prusik has worked her fair share of bizarre cases. Yet this one trumps them all: a serial killer is strangling young women and dumping their bodies in the steep, forested ravines of southern Indiana. With each victim, the killer leaves a calling card: a stone figurine carved like the spirit stones found among the primitive tribes of Papua New Guinea—the same tribes from whom Prusik narrowly escaped a decade earlier while doing field research. The similarity is eerie and, frankly, terrifying; Prusik still carries the scars from the tribesmen’s attack. But is the connection real? Or have the dark details of Prusik’s nightmares finally wormed their way into her waking life? Displaying the expertise of a veteran writer, debut novelist Lloyd Devereux Richards skillfully builds layers of psychological suspense and terror into a compulsively readable whodunit.

Today's Kindle Romance Daily Deal is The Heart You Own ($0.99), by Diane R. Jewkes.

Book Description
Why would an English lord want to have part ownership in a New Mexico cattle ranch? And why did it have to be her father’s ranch?

Kara Jonston has grown up thinking she will someday inherit the family ranch. She has worked the ranch as hard as any man. Ask any of the cowboys. Finding out her father sold half ownership in the ranch—and to a soft Englishman, no less—without even talking to her hurts her pride and stirs her anger. To make matters worse, this outsider is coming to inspect his investment, and her father expects her to be nice.

Although she promises her father to give his new partner a chance, she vows she will never accept him as her partner on her ranch.

Hawke Pryce, Lord Stoneham, is not English, he is Scottish. He is not soft, and he is not coming to the New Mexico Territory just to inspect his latest investment. He’s hunting a man.

Sparks fly—but will they turn into lasting love for two people determined to hang on to their hearts?

Sensuality Level: Sensual

Today's Kindle SciFi/Fantasy Daily Deal is Ruby Slippers, Golden Tears ($1.99), edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling. I haven't read this collection, so I'm definitely picking it up, as the anthologies Datlow edits have always contained good stories worth reading.

Book Description
In their third critically acclaimed collection of original fairy tales for adults, World Fantasy Award-winning editors Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling present 21 new stories by some of the top names in literature today. Dark, disturbing and delightful, each story was written expressly for this superb collection of distinctly grown-up fantasy -- a brilliant companion volume to Datlow and Windling's acclaimed anthologies, Snow White, Blood Red and Black Thorn, White Rose. Contributors include: Susan Wade, Tanith Lee, Garry Kilworth, Nancy Kress, Farida S.T. Shapiro, Joyce Carol Oates, Roberta Lannes, Michael Cadnum, Lisa Goldstein, John Brunner, Nancy A. Collins, Gene Wolfe, Susan Palwick, Milbre Burch, Gahan Wilson, Anne Bishop, Kathe Koja, Ellen Steiber, Neil Gaiman, Jane Yolen, and Delia Sherman.

Old Gold (£0.99 UK), by Jay Stringer, is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (the US edition is $4.99/KLL Eligible, with the companion audiobook for $1.99).

Book Description
Half-gypsy detective Eoin Miller finds people for a living—usually people who would do anything to remain hidden. Ironic considering Eoin has done all he can to lose himself in a downward spiral that has cost him his job, his respect, his wife, and anything else that ever mattered. But he’s not inclined to dwell on what he’s given up, and Eoin prefers it that way.

Then he meets Mary, a hard-drinking woman on the run who confides that she’s stolen a valuable item, one that certain people would kill to get back. The two of them seek a temporary—and incomplete—solace in each other’s arms, only for Mary to turn up as a corpse in Eoin’s bed the next morning, him asleep on the sofa.

Recalling his father’s aversion to authority, Eoin runs from the body, but he hates a mystery and is driven to discover the truth behind Mary’s murder, even if it means putting his own life on the line. Before long, Eoin’s tangled up in a ferocious turf war that has him playing his former allies and employers—crime lords, drug dealers, cops, and politicians—against each other.

Don't Look Twice ($1.99 Kindle, B&N), the second novel in Andrew Gross' Ty Hauck series, is the Nook Daily Find, price matched on Kindle. I'm picking this up to complete the series, as the first in the series was free three years ago and the third was 99 cents early last Spring.

Book Description
In this dramatic new novel following the bestselling The Dark Tide, a drive-by shooting rocks the posh suburb of Greenwich, Connecticut, and an innocent bystander is left dead.

Detective Ty Hauck plunges into what seems like a vicious case of retribution and follows the trail to a sinister gambling scheme at an upstate casino. Until Annie Fletcher, a young restaurateur in the midst of rebuilding her life, witnesses something she shouldn't have—and immediately runs to him with what she knows. Suddenly, Hauck is pulled into a rising storm far greater than it first appeared—a storm wide enough to encompass corruption inside Greenwich's circle of wealthy and powerful citizens. And punishing enough to consume Hauck's own family, and tear brothers apart forever . . . if it doesn't kill them first.

Don't Look Twice is a gripping story of profiteering on an international scale and an emotionally resonant domestic thriller from one of the hottest new talents in suspense fiction.

Today's Deals 2/10

Audible's Win-Win Sale is back with 200+ titles for $4.95 apiece (ends Feb 18). This one is broken up by genre, so you don't have to browse only by author.

The Amazon Video Game Deal of the Week: from now through February 16, get The Sims 3 expansion packs for up to 66% off. This includes The Sims 3 Seasons, Katy Perry Collector's Edition, The Sims 3 Supernatural, and many more. You can also now pre-order SimCity - Limited Edition and you'll get SimCity Heroes & Villains, which includes new characters, crime waves, a Super Hero HQ and an Evil Villain Lair, plus a $5 Credit with your pre-order.

Today's Kindle Daily Deal is six top-rated Harlequin Romances for $1.99 each. Despite having multiple novels from practically every author on the list, I think they've found one I'm missing for every author included!

Summer Desserts by Nora Roberts (companion audiobook $4.49)

Could a cordon bleu chef be a junkfood addict? The more Blake Cocharan learned about Summer Lyndon, dessert chef extraordinaire, the more intrigued he becameand the more determined he was to hire her. Blake wanted the Best, and Summer looked extremely good to him. Her superb credentials were icing on the cake.

Summer was accustomed to traveling around the world, creating the perfect ending to perfect meals. But Blake had a unique appeal. Summer found herself responding to the challenge, both professionally…and personally…. For the first time, Summer was planning a meal from start to finish—and creating a perfect ending all her own.

Yours To Keep by Shannon Stacey

Emma Shaw needs a husband, and fast! Not because she's interested in romance—after all, she's too busy with her landscaping company—but because Grandma Shaw is coming to town, and she will have nonstop questions about Emma's (stagnant) love life.

Sean Kowalski no sooner leaves the army than he's recruited by Emma to be her fake fiancé. Sean doesn't like the deception, but he can't help his attraction to the feisty brunette. A little pretend kissing won't hurt anyone—especially when there's no chance he'll fall for a woman with deep roots in a town he's not planning to call home. But when fake, innocent kisses lead to very real, explosive sparks, Emma and Sean discover that their big ruse might just lead to happily-ever-after….

Previously published, newly refreshed.

Already Home by Susan Mallery

After nearly a decade as a sous-chef in a trendy eatery, and fresh off a divorce from the owner, Jenna Stevens is desperate for a change. So when she spots a for-lease sign in her hometown, she impulsively decides to open her very own cooking store. Her crash course in business is aided by a streetwise store manager and Jenna's adoptive mother. But as soon as she gains a foothold in her new life, in walk her birth parents—aging hippies on a quest to reconnect.

Now Jenna must figure out how to reconcile the free-spirited Serenity and Tom with the parents who raised her and decide whether to open her heart to a man who just might be the best thing to happen to her in years. All without sacrificing her newly found dreams. In the end, Jenna will find that there is no perfect family, only the people we love….

The Inn at Eagle Point by Sherryl Woods

It's been years since Abby O'Brien Winters set foot in Chesapeake Shores. The Maryland town her father built has too many sad memories and Abby too few spare moments, thanks to her demanding Wall Street career, the crumbling of her marriage and energetic twin daughters. Then one panicked phone call from her youngest sister brings her racing back home to protect Jess's dream of renovating the charming Inn at Eagle Point.

But saving the inn from foreclosure means dealing not only with her own fractured family, but also with Trace Riley, the man Abby left ten years ago. Trace can be a roadblock to her plans…or proof that second chances happen in the most unexpected ways.

The Bridegroom by Linda Lael Miller

Undercover agent Gideon Yarbro is renowned for stopping outlaws almost before they commit a crime. But now he must stop a wedding—despite the bride's resistance. Lydia Fairmont will lose everything if she doesn't honor her betrothal to a heartless banker. Unless she marries someone else instead…whether it's a love match or not.

Determined to honor his own decade-old promise to help Lydia, Gideon carries her off to Stone Creek and makes her his reluctant wife. Forget a honeymoon for "show"—not with a vengeful ex-fiancé on their trail and a hired gun on the loose. But there just might be hope for the marriage…and two hearts meant for each other.

The Girl in the Steel Corset\The Strange Case of Finley Jayne by Kady Cross [Harlequin Teen]

In 1897 England, sixteen-year-old Finley Jayne has no one…except the "thing" inside her

When a young lord tries to take advantage of Finley, she fights back. And wins. But no normal Victorian girl has a darker side that makes her capable of knocking out a full-grown man with one punch.

Only Griffin King sees the magical darkness inside her that says she's special, says she's one of them. The orphaned duke takes her in from the gaslit streets, against the wishes of his band of misfits. And Finley thinks she might finally be a part of something, finally fit in—until a criminal mastermind known as the Machinist threatens to tear the group apart….

Included for the first time in print, meet Finley in her first adventure The Strange Case of Finley Jayne the novella prequel to The Girl in the Steel Corset!

Today's Kindle Teen Daily Deal is Gravity ($0.99), the first novel in The Taking series by Melissa West.

Book Description
In the future, only one rule will matter:

Don’t. Ever. Peek.

Seventeen-year-old Ari Alexander just broke that rule and saw the last person she expected hovering above her bed — arrogant Jackson Locke, the most popular boy in her school. She expects instant execution or some kind of freak alien punishment, but instead, Jackson issues a challenge: help him, or everyone on Earth will die.

Ari knows she should report him, but everything about Jackson makes her question what she’s been taught about his kind. And against her instincts, she’s falling for him. But Ari isn’t just any girl, and Jackson wants more than her attention. She’s a military legacy who’s been trained by her father and exposed to war strategies and societal information no one can know — especially an alien spy, like Jackson. Giving Jackson the information he needs will betray her father and her country, but keeping silent will start a war.

Today's Kindle SciFi/Fantasy Daily Deal is Midshipman's Hope ($1.99), by David Feintuch [Open Road].

Book Description
David Feintuch’s acclaimed Seafort Saga begins as Nicholas Seafort sets off on an interstellar naval adventure he will never forget

In the year 2194, seventeen-year-old Nicholas Seafort is assigned to the Hibernia as a lowly midshipman. Destination: the thriving colony of Hope Nation. But when a rescue attempt goes devastatingly wrong, Seafort is thrust into a leadership role he never anticipated. The other officers resent him, but Seafort must handle more dangerous problems, from a corrupted navigation computer to a deadly epidemic. Even Hope Nation has a nasty surprise in store. Seafort might be the crew’s only hope . . .

This page-turning science fiction in the vein of Robert Heinlein and Orson Scott Card—with a dash of Horatio Hornblower—marks the captivating debut adventure in Feintuch’s hugely popular Seafort Saga.

The Twyning (£0.99 UK), by Terence Blacker, is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (no US edition).

Book Description
This is the story of Efren, a young ratling born into the Court of Tasting, in the kingdom of rats below the city streets. The kingdom is in turmoil after the death of the old king, assassinated by a human scientist, Dr Henry Ross-Gibbon. Obsessed by an ambition to exterminate all rats, the doctor is assisted by Dogboy, an abandoned thirteen-year-old with a gift for understanding animals. Soon a war to the death rages between the rat kingdom and its mortal enemy: humankind.

Hurt and alone, Efren finds shelter with Dogboy and his friend Caz, a runaway eleven-year-old girl. And between these unlikely allies a spark is ignited - first of communication, then of hope. This tumultuous story of creatures caught up in a pitiless war transcends the barriers between animals and humans. What Watership Down did for rabbits, THE TWYNING will do for the kingdom of rats.

Serendipity ($7.99 $1.99 Kindle, B&N), the first novel in the Serendipity series by Carly Phillips, is the Nook Daily Find. Still no price match on Kindle, despite being an Agency Publisher. Update: Now price matched on Kindle.

Book Description
New York Times bestselling author Carly Phillips presents the first in a delightful new series about a quaint upstate New York town where love, fate and fortune are intertwined ...

Faith Harrington was the classic girl of privilege--until her father was convicted of running a Ponzi scheme and then her marriage crashed and burned.

Now Faith is back in her hometown, hoping for a fresh start. But her father's betrayal has rocked Serendipity - and not everyone is ready to welcome her with open arms. Then she runs into her teenage crush -- the dark, brooding Ethan Barron. Ethan, no stranger to scandal himself, never imagined he'd own the mansion on the hill, much less ever again come face to face with Faith--the princess he once kissed senseless. The chance meeting reignites the electric charge between them.

Still, when Ethan hires her to redecorate what was once her childhood home, Faith is sure that getting involved with the town's notorious bad boy will only lead to trouble. But her heart has other ideas. And so do the townspeople of Serendipity...


Dear Readers,

Welcome to SERENDIPITY!

SERENDIPITY is a new contemporary romance series in the more heartfelt style I developed in novels like CROSS MY HEART and SEALED WITH A KISS. I will be introducing you to the town of Serendipity, its landmark Harrington Mansion, and a vibrant cast of characters from both sides of the tracks. Like any other town, Serendipity has its secrets, scandals, pain, heartache and love, but there is also an implied promise of fortune and good luck, along with people at changes and crossroads in their lives.

First up, Ethan Barron, the bad boy who has come home to make good and Faith Harrington, the girl who got away. Next is Nash Barron in Destiny (1/12) and Dare Barron in Karma (5/12).

I hope you'll take this new journey with me!
Happy Reading,
Carly Phillips