Today's Deals 4/8

Amazon's Android Free App of the Day is Mahjong Nagomi, which looks interesting (and is one of my favorite game types).

Today's Kindle Daily Deal is The Spellman Files ($1.99), the first title in the Spellman series by Lisa Lutz [Simon & Schuster].

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

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

Today's Kindle Romance Daily Deal is The Heart's Haven ($1.99), by Jill Barnett [Bell Bridge Books].

Book Description
The lawless, gold-hungry town of San Francisco is no place to raise a family, but Hallie Fredriksen has little choice after her mother’s sudden death. Her father’s call to sea takes him away for months at a time, and there is no one but Hallie to raise her headstrong sisters and impish twin brothers. The young Fredriksen clan is a handful, but the last person Hallie needs involved is Kit Howland, the arrogant and handsome whaling agent who is her father’s good friend…and her own secret crush. But Kit has been burned by love and thought himself immune to feelings of the heart, until he is face to face with the most unlikely beauty, who captures his heart with her spirit and laughter. He refuses to trust his feelings, refuses to forget the past and step into the dangerous territory of love and desire. Then fate makes them an instant family, binds them as husband and wife in wild town full of danger, and where their battle of wills and love is as treacherous as the stormy sea and as thrilling as the rush for gold.

Jill Barnett's very first title, The Heart's Haven, won the Persie Award for Best First Book.

Today's Kindle SciFi/Fantasy Daily Deal is The Peculiar ($1.99), by Stefan Bachmann [HarperCollins].

Book Description
Don't get yourself noticed and you won't get yourself hanged.

In the faery slums of Bath, Bartholomew Kettle and his sister Hettie live by these words. Bartholomew and Hettie are changelings—Peculiars—and neither faeries nor humans want anything to do with them.

One day a mysterious lady in a plum-colored dress comes gliding down Old Crow Alley. Bartholomew watches her through his window. Who is she? What does she want? And when Bartholomew witnesses the lady whisking away, in a whirling ring of feathers, the boy who lives across the alley—Bartholomew forgets the rules and gets himself noticed.

First he's noticed by the lady in plum herself, then by something darkly magical and mysterious, by Jack Box and the Raggedy Man, by the powerful Mr. Lickerish . . . and by Arthur Jelliby, a young man trying to slip through the world unnoticed, too, and who, against all odds, offers Bartholomew friendship and a way to belong.

Part murder mystery, part gothic fantasy, part steampunk adventure, The Peculiar is Stefan Bachmann's riveting, inventive, and unforgettable debut novel.

Today's Kindle Kids Daily Deal is Nibbles: Another Green Tale ($1.99), by Charlotte Middleton.

Book Description
In this companion book to Nibbles: A Green Tale, Nibbles and his new neighbor, Posie, are keeping six caterpillars as pets. They look after their caterpillars carefully, but one day, the caterpillars disappear! These gardening guinea pigs become the detectives of Dandeville. With the help of shop owner Mr. Rosetti, they solve their mystery in this green tale. Author and illustrator Charlotte Middleton uses a charming, unique style of mixed-media artwork.

Age Level: 6 and up | Grade Level: 1 and up

Nook Daily Find 4/8

Heart of Stone ($1.99 Kindle, B&N), the first title in the Irish Angel series by Jill Marie Landis [Zondervan], is the Nook Daily Find, price matched on Kindle. Unfortunately for those wanting to buy at B&N, the price hasn't dropped yet, a couple of hours after their normal switchover (the deals page shows this is the title and the $1.99 price, but the page where you order is showing a much higher price). So, be careful if purchasing from B&N, to make sure the price is correct, both before and after clicking the buy button.

Book Description
In the first book of the Irish Angels series, we meet Laura Foster, a woman with the darkest of pasts, and Reverend Brand McCormick, a man with everything to lose by loving her. Having escaped a life she never chose, Laura Foster is finally living her dream. But even after four years of posing as a respectable widow in Glory, Texas, she is always afraid someone from her past might reveal her true identity.

Believing no man could love her if he knew the truth, Laura tries to resist Brand's courtship. His reputation would be shattered if Laura's former life is discovered. But it's not only Laura's past that threatens to bring him down---it's also his own. As they open their hearts to love and faith, will Laura and Brand find the depth and power of forgiveness from their community?

UK Kindle Daily Deal 4/8

That Liverpool Girl (£0.99 UK), by Ruth Hamilton, is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (the US edition is $5.00, with the companion audiobook $2.99).

Book Description
NOT EVEN THE BOMBS THAT DESTROYED THEIR CITY COULD BREAK THEIR SPIRIT ... Three generations of strong, determined women and the war that threatened to tear them apart. In the backstreets of Liverpool, Eileen Watson lives with her mother, Nellie, daughter Mel and her three tear-away sons. Life isn't great, but they have eachother, and family can get you through anything. Or...can it? Then, on the third day in September 1939, Britain declares war on Germany and their lives change forever. The children have to be evacuated, but daughter Mel refuses to go, and so Eileen says goodbye to het mother and sons, moves away from the street they love and faces a future without most of the people in her precious family. Thus begins a journey for them all. A journey filled with forbidden love, tragedy and the terrifying sounds of a city they love crumbling into craters left by the Luftwaffe. Their lives will never be the same again ...

Bargain Book - Red Velvet Cupcake Murder (K)

Red Velvet Cupcake Murder ($4.73 Kindle), the latest in the Hannah Swensen Mystery series by Joanne Fluke, complete with recipes, with the companion audiobook for $4.49.

Book Description
This summer has been warmer than usual in Lake Eden, Minnesota, and Hannah Swensen is trying to beat the heat both in and out of her bakery kitchen. But she's about to find out the hard way that nothing cools off a hot summer day like cold-blooded murder. . .

It's a hot, muggy evening, and the last thing Hannah wants to do is squeeze into a pair of pantyhose for the Grand Opening of the refurbished Albion Hotel. But with Hannah's famous Red Velvet cupcakes being served in the hotel's new Red Velvet lounge, she can't bring herself to back out.

The party starts off with a bang with the unexpected arrival of Doctor Bev, a Lake Eden legend who left town in shame after she two-timed her fiancé one too many times. Bev's splashy appearance on the arm of a wealthy investor is the talk of the night. But the gossip comes to a screeching halt when a partygoer takes a mysterious dive off the hotel's rooftop garden.

The victim is the sheriff's secretary, Barbara Donnelly, and she is barely clinging to life. The question is, did she fall--or was she pushed? As the police investigate, the only one who isn't preoccupied with the case is Doctor Bev. She's too busy trying to stir things up with her old flame Norman, who's reunited with Hannah.

Just as Hannah's patience with Bev runs dangerously thin, her rival is found dead at the bottom of Miller's Pond. The only clue the police have is the Red Velvet cupcake Bev ate right before she died--and the tranquilizers someone seems to have baked into it. To everyone's shock, Hannah is now the unlikely target of a murder investigation--and she's feeling the heat in a way she never has before. . .

Kindle Daily Deals 4/7

Amazon's MP3 Deal of the Day is Brantley Gilbert's Halfway To Heaven album for $2.99 (Deluxe Edition) [+Video] [+Digital Booklet].

Today's Kindle Daily Deal is eight exciting adventure novels from James Patterson's "Maximum Ride" series for just $2.99 each. That's an even bigger discount than the price match to B&N's Top 1,000 sale was giving us, so I think I'll be filling in the last two from this series, which I had not picked up yet.

Fourteen-year-old Maximum Ride, better known as Max, knows what it's like to soar above the world. She and all the members of the "flock"--Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gasman and Angel--are just like ordinary kids--only they have wings and can fly. It may seem like a dream come true to some, but their lives can morph into a living nightmare at any time...like when Angel, the youngest member of the flock, is kidnapped and taken back to the "School" where she and the others were experimented on by a crew of wack jobs. Her friends brave a journey to blazing hot Death Valley, CA, to save Angel, but soon enough, they find themselves in yet another nightmare--this one involving fighting off the half-human, half-wolf "Erasers" in New York City. Whether in the treetops of Central Park or in the bowels of the Manhattan subway system, Max and her adopted family take the ride of their lives. Along the way Max discovers from her old friend and father-figure Jeb--now her betrayed and greatest enemy--that her purpose is save the world--but can she?

1. The Angel Experiment
2. School's Out - Forever
3. Saving the World
4. The Final Warning
5. Max
6. Fang
7. Angel
8. Nevermore

Today's Kindle Romance Daily Deal is The Duchess War ($1.99), by Courtney Milan [indie].

Book Description
Miss Minerva Lane is a quiet, bespectacled wallflower, and she wants to keep it that way. After all, the last time she was the center of attention, it ended badly--so badly that she changed her name to escape her scandalous past. Wallflowers may not be the prettiest of blooms, but at least they don't get trampled. So when a handsome duke comes to town, the last thing she wants is his attention.

But that is precisely what she gets.

Because Robert Blaisdell, the Duke of Clermont, is not fooled. When Minnie figures out what he's up to, he realizes there is more to her than her spectacles and her quiet ways. And he's determined to lay her every secret bare before she can discover his. But this time, one shy miss may prove to be more than his match...

The Duchess War is the first full-length book (97,000 words) in the Brothers Sinister series. It is preceded by The Governess Affair, a prequel novella, and followed by A Kiss for Midwinter. Each book stands alone, but those who prefer to read in order might want to read that book first.

Today's Kindle Kids Daily Deal is get four top-rated "Twisted Lit" novels by Kim Askew, Amy Helmes, Jacquelyn Mitchard, Laurie Plissner, and more, for only $1.99 apiece [Merit Press].

Tempestuous (Twisted Lit), by Kim Askew, Amy Helmes and Jacquelyn Mitchard

After a mistake with big financial consequences topples her throne, former "it girl" Miranda Prospero is bitter: she finds herself stranded in a crazed new world, holding court among geeks and misfits at a mall Hot Dog Kabob stand. Then, she gets her chance for revenge. When the storm of the decade snows in the mall workers and last-minute shopaholics for a long winter's night, Miranda sets out to get back at the catty clique who was behind her exile. But there's a complication. She somehow gets handcuffed to sullen loner Caleb. With him (literally) bound to her side, Miranda learns more in one night about her own heart, and human nature, than she ever did as prep royalty. With this twisted take on Shakespeare's The Tempest, authors Kim Askew and Amy Helmes prove again that, from Juliet's grief to Cordelia's rage, no one knew about teen angst better than the Bard. His wisdom holds up nearly half a millennium later.

Exposure (Twisted Lit), by Kim Askew, Amy Helmes and Jacquelyn Mitchard

Double, double, toil, and trouble! The quest for high-school royalty can turn deadly when teen ambition outstrips reason. Skye Kingston is a shy shutterbug who prefers observing life from behind her camera lens. She doesn't know she's stunning, and comes off the sidelines only when she's forced to by the terrifying events of one treacherous school year in Alaska. A boy named Duncan is dead, and his death may or may not be an accident. Skye's three new best friends are eerily able to foretell the future, and cheerleader Beth might be more than a social climber--she quite probably is a sociopath. Then there's Skye's growing attraction to the school hottie, Craig, The Boy Who Would Be Prom King. But their time is crossed by fate. There's already been one death, and who can say if it's only the first? As Skye falls for Craig, she also slowly realizes that he is caught in the crosshairs of a deadly plot. Can she save Craig and herself from a murderous fate? Exposure is not only a modern take on the classic Macbeth, it's proof that nothing has changed since Shakespeare riffed on the subject nearly half a millennium ago: the quest for power can lead to bloodstained hands.

The Girl in the Wall (Twisted Lit), by Daphne Benedis-Grab and Jacquelyn Mitchard

Ariel's birthday weekend looks to be the event of the season, with a private concert by rock star Hudson Winters on the grounds of her family's east coast estate, and all of Ariel's elite prep school friends in attendance. The only person who's dreading the party is Sera, Ariel's former best friend, whose father is forcing her to go. Sera has been the school pariah since she betrayed Ariel, and she now avoids Ariel and their former friends. Thrown together, Ariel and Sera can agree on one thing: this could be one very long night.

They have no idea just how right they are.

Only moments after the concert begins and the lights go down, thugs open fire on parents and schoolmates alike, in a plot against Ariel's father that quickly spins out of control. As the entire party is taken hostage, the girls are forced apart. Ariel escapes into the hidden tunnels in the family mansion, where she and Sera played as children. Only Sera, who forges an unlikely alliance with Hudson Winters, knows where her friend could be. As the industrial terrorist plot unravels and the death toll climbs, Ariel and Sera must recall the sisterhood that once sustained them as they try to save themselves and each other on the longest night of their lives.

Louder Than Words (Twisted Lit), by Laurie Plissner and Jacquelyn Mitchard

A girl with no voice, only one friend, and a synthetic speech machine that makes her sound like a robot--definitely not prom queen material. So traumatized on the night of the car wreck that killed her entire family that she lost her ability to speak and most of her memories, seventeen-year-old Sasha faces a lonely, quiet future...until she meets a beautiful boy who can literally read her mind.

Today's Kindle SciFi/Fantasy Daily Deal is Cat's Cradle ($1.99), by Kurt Vonnegut [RosettaBooks], with the companion audiobook $3.95.

Book Description
Cat’s Cradle (1963) is Vonnegut's most ambitious novel, which put into the language terms like "wampeter", "kerass" and "granfalloon" as well as a structured religion, Boskonism and was submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for a Master's Degree in anthropology, and in its sprawling compass and almost uncontrolled (and uncontrollable) invention, may be Vonnegut's best novel.

Written contemporaneously with the Cuban missile crisis and countenancing a version of a world in the grasp of magnified human stupidity, the novel is centered on Felix Hoenikker, a chemical scientist reminiscent of Robert Oppenheimer… except that Oppenheimer was destroyed by his conscience and Hoenikker, delighting in the disastrous chemicals he has invented, has no conscience at all. Hoenikker's "Ice 9" has the potential to convert all liquid to inert ice and thus destroy human existence; he is exiled to a remote island where Boskonism has enlisted all of its inhabitants and where religion and technology collaborate, with the help of a large cast of characters, to destroy civilization.

Vonnegut's compassion and despair are expressed here through his grotesque elaboration of character and situation and also through his created religion which like Flannery O'Connor's "Church Without Christ" (in Wise Blood) acts to serve its adherents by removing them from individual responsibility. Vonnegut had always been taken seriously by science fiction readers and critics (a reception which indeed made him uncomfortable) but it was with Cat’s Cradle that he began to be found and appreciated by a more general audience. His own ambivalence toward science, science fiction, religion and religious comfort comes through in every scene of this novel.