Nook Daily Find 4/9

The Selection ($2.99 Kindle, B&N), by Kiera Cass, is the Nook Daily Find, price matched on Kindle.

Book Description
For thirty-five girls, the Selection is the chance of a lifetime. The opportunity to escape the life laid out for them since birth. To be swept up in a world of glittering gowns and priceless jewels. To live in a palace and compete for the heart of gorgeous Prince Maxon.

But for America Singer, being Selected is a nightmare. It means turning her back on her secret love with Aspen, who is a caste below her. Leaving her home to enter a fierce competition for a crown she doesn't want. Living in a palace that is constantly threatened by violent rebel attacks.

Then America meets Prince Maxon. Gradually, she starts to question all the plans she's made for herself—and realizes that the life she's always dreamed of may not compare to a future she never imagined.

UK Kindle Daily Deal 4/9

The Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK is three books to boost your career at up to £2.89 each (>65% off).

Time Management For Dummies (£2.29 UK), by Clare Evans (US edition $12.62)

If you’re finding yourself tied down by piles of paperwork, endless unanswered emails and thousands of to-do lists, then this is the book for you! Become a more efficient, effective and productive you with Time Management For Dummies- your one-stop guide to taking control of your life.

Packed with hundreds of time-saving ideas, techniques and strategies, you’ll be able to: get on top of your workload, communicate effectively, make the most of your business meetings, organise your desk and files, prioritise and delegate well, and kick the procrastination habit. With tips on getting more out of your time away from your desk, maintaining a productive home office environment and still finding time to see to your finances, health and social life, these time management tools will leave you feeling in control of your life – at work and at home.

Persuasion and Influence For Dummies (£2.69 /UK), by Elizabeth Kuhnke (US edition $12.31)

Many people want to gain trust or support in business and throughout life, but the true skill is doing so in a charming fashion! Whether you're convincing the boss about your much-deserved promotion or a busy restaurateur to offer a better table, the power of persuasion can help improve and increase your successes.

Elizabeth Kuhnke, author of the bestselling Body Language For Dummies, guides the reader through easy-to-implement techniques that can turn a timid person into someone bursting with self confidence and the ability to influence.

Voice and Speaking Skills For Dummies (£2.89 /UK), by Judy Apps (US edition $9.99)

Ever wondered why nobody hears you in meetings, or wished people would take you more seriously? Or maybe you're unhappy with your accent, or you feel insecure about your high-pitched or monotonous voice? Voice and Speaking Skills For Dummies will help you to discover the power of your voice, understand how it works, and use your voice like a professional whether in meetings, addressing an audience, or standing in front of a classroom. Take a deep breath, relax those vocal cords, and make your speech sparkle!

We're not all planning to become politicians, or likely to address large audiences on a regular basis, but we all need to be able to communicate well to achieve success. Certain professions require a high level of vocal confidence, notably teachers and business leaders. As well as using body language effectively, we also rely on our voice to convey passion, exude enthusiasm, and command attention--and that's before we've considered the content of our words! A clear understanding of how your voice works, how to maximize its effectiveness, and ways to overcome voice 'gremlins' such as speaking too fast, stuttering, or sounding childish, is pivotal to enabling you to succeed, whatever the situation.

Bargain Book Trio

Many of the books marked down to price match B&N's sale over the weekend are still bargain priced (such as Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series), so you may want to check out your Wishlist at Amazon to see if any of your watched titles are marked down.

The American Heiress ($4.99 Kindle), by Daisy Goodwin

Book Description
Be careful what you wish for. Traveling abroad with her mother at the turn of the twentieth century to seek a titled husband, beautiful, vivacious Cora Cash, whose family mansion in Newport dwarfs the Vanderbilts’, suddenly finds herself Duchess of Wareham, married to Ivo, the most eligible bachelor in England. Nothing is quite as it seems, however: Ivo is withdrawn and secretive, and the English social scene is full of traps and betrayals. Money, Cora soon learns, cannot buy everything, as she must decide what is truly worth the price in her life and her marriage.

Witty, moving, and brilliantly entertaining, Cora’s story marks the debut of a glorious storyteller who brings a fresh new spirit to the world of Edith Wharton and Henry James.

"For daughters of the new American billionaires of the 19th century, it was the ultimate deal: marriage to a cash-strapped British Aristocrat in return for a title and social status. But money didn’t always buy them happiness." --Daisy Goodwin in The Daily Mail

All the Way Home ($3.79 Kindle pre-order) and She Loves Me Not ($3.79 Kindle pre-order), by Wendy Corsi Staub, join the current lineup of discounted Kindle editions, including Live to Tell ($1.99 Kindle).

All the Way Home

From Wendy Corsi Staub, the New York Times bestselling author of Nightwatcher and Shadowkiller, comes a gripping work of suspense . . .

For years, Rory Connelly has been haunted by the memory of her sister Carleen, who vanished from her bed one night and was never seen again. When Rory returns home to care for her ailing mother and teenage sister, she discovers a family that has never recovered from the tragic events of so long ago.

That summer, the quiet little town of Lake Charlotte was torn apart when four teenage girls vanished—a mystery that still puzzles its residents. Now, a decade later, on the anniversary of the first disappearance, another girl goes missing, and the community is consumed with fear.

Rory is forced to relive her worst nightmare . . . only this time, her own life is at stake.

She Loves Me Not ($3.79 Kindle pre-order

She loves me … she loves me not.

When a homemade, heart-shaped valentine with no signature shows up in Rose Larrabee's mailbox, she is surprised to say the least—as a widow and mother of two young children, she has little time for romance. But what one might mistake for a sweet gift is really a terrifying reminder of the secret she shares with two other women … a secret that has deadly consequences.

I want her … I want her dead.

When the phone rings in the middle of the night, playing a song that chills her to the bone, Rose is determined to keep her family safe from the threat she cannot see but knows is out there ... watching. After one of the other women is murdered, it becomes clear that each valentine is not the gift of a secret admirer but a warning from the madman who is getting all too close to the very heart of her deepest, darkest fears …

Live to Tell

Secrets can scandalize . . .

In a lovely suburban town just north of New York City, the gossip mill runs more efficiently than the commuter-train line. And in every impeccably decorated house, they're talking about Lauren Walsh. They say that nothing could be worse than being abandoned by your husband for another woman. They're wrong . . .

Secrets can shock . . .

All Lauren wants is to protect her children from the pain of her messy divorce. But when their father goes missing, a case of mistaken identity puts all their lives in danger, and a stealthy predator lurks in the shadows, watching . . . waiting . . .

Secrets can kill . . .

Lauren is about to uncover an unfathomable truth—a truth this cold-blooded mastermind would never let her live to tell . . .

If You Stay: Beautifully Broken #1 ($0.99 Kindle), a New York Times and USA Today Bestseller by Courtney Cole, is indie-published, with nearly 400 4&5 star reviews.

Book Description
24-year old Pax Tate is an asshole.

Seriously.

He's a tattooed, rock-hard bad-boy with a bad attitude to match. But he's got his reasons.

His mother died when Pax was seven, leaving a hole in his heart filled with guilt although he doesn't understand why. What he does know is that he and his dad are left alone and with more issues than they can count.

As Pax grew up, he tried to be the kid his father always wanted; the perfect golden boy, but it didn't work. His dad couldn't overcome his grief long enough to notice and Pax couldn't keep up the impossible perfect façade.
So he slipped far, far from it.

Now, he uses drugs and women to cope with the ugliness, the black void that he doesn't want to deal with. If he pretends that the emptiness isn't there, then it isn't, right?

Wrong.

And it's never more apparent than when he meets Mila.

Sweet, beautiful Mila Hill is the fresh air to his hardened frown, the beauty to his ugly heart. He doesn't know how to not hurt her, but he quickly realizes that he'd better figure it out because he needs her to breathe.

When memories of his mother's death resurface from where he's repressed them for so long, Mila is there to catch him when the guilt starts making sense. Mila is the one...the one who can save him from his broken troubled heart; from his issues, from the emptiness.

But only if he can stop being an asshole long enough to allow it.

He knows that. And he's working on it.

But is that enough to make her stay?

**Please note: If You Stay contains mature subject matter such as drug use and sexual situations. It is intended for mature audiences.**

Author Spotlight - Debbie Macomber

You may have heard that the Hallmark Channel is going to turn Debbie Macomber's Cedar Cove book series into a series of made-for-TV movies, but what you might not have noticed is the huge number of bargain pre-orders that Harlequin has lined up for Macomber this year, several of which seem to be long out of print novels, as well as a couple of double-novel volumes. Quite a few of these are priced at rock-bottom, indie-like numbers, so it's a good time for fans to load up (most are releasing in about a week and may go up in price soon after).

Here are some of the highlights and bargains, recently available in the Kindle store (at least a few of which also have $3-$4 companion audiobooks available):

• Lone Star Lovin' ($3.82)
• Norah ($3.82)
• Stephanie ($3.82)
• Valerie ($3.82)
• Starlight ($2.99) [Ballantine Books]
• Heartsong ($2.99) [Ballantine Books])
• Navy Woman ($3.82)
• Navy Wife ($3.82)
• Navy Husband ($3.82)
• Navy Brat ($3.82)
• Navy Baby ($3.82)
• Stand-In Wife ($3.82)
• My Hero ($3.82)
• Marriage of Inconvenience ($3.82)
• Baby Blessed ($3.82)
• Heart of Texas Volume 1: Lonesome Cowboy\Texas Two-Step ($6.15)

And these are pre-orders:

• Texas Two-Step ($2.99)
• Nell's Cowboy ($2.99)
• Lonesome Cowboy ($2.99)
• Lone Star Baby ($2.99)
• Dr. Texas ($2.99)
• Caroline's Child ($2.99)
• The Bachelor Prince ($4.34)
• Just Married ($4.34)
• Hasty Wedding ($4.74)
• Father's Day ($4.74)
• Heart of Texas Volume 2: Caroline's Child\Dr. Texas ($6.15)
• Heart of Texas Volume 3: Nell's Cowboy\Lone Star Baby ($6.39)

If you want to catch up on the Cedar Cove series before the movies air, consider the Debbie Macomber's Cedar Cove Series (6 titles in one volume of > 1900 pages for $21.09) and Debbie Macomber's Cedar Cove Series, Volume 2 (another four titles for $13.74); buying both drops your per-volume cost down under $3.50 (which rivals used paperback costs at our local bookstore).

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