Two Free Audiobooks - Of Poseidon & The Tempest

It's time once again for free audiobooks from Sync! There is a new set each week, pairing a Teen/Young Adult novel with one of the classics. Be sure to fully download your books each week, as they are only available during the one-week promotion (there is no "library" to track your purchases and redownload later). I've linked in the info from the ebook or audiobook version of each title (Amazon has the best reviews), followed by the link to get your copies free, with directions to ensure you get the complete download.

Start off with Of Poseidon ($6.76 Kindle; $18.17 Audible), by Anna Banks, narrated by Rebecca Gibel, a teen romance with an element of fantasy.

Book Description
Emma and her friend Chloe are spending vacation in Florida. When Emma (literally) runs into a hot guy named Galen on the beach, little does she know he's a prince of the Syrena. Galen and Emma both feel something strange - is it attraction? - and Galen suspects that Emma might well be the girl he's heard of - a human who can communicate with fish. What follows is a deadly scene with a shark in which Galen witnesses Emma's gifts. He must know more about her, and follows her back to New Jersey, and high school, to find out for sure if she's the key to saving his kingdom.

Soon, Emma can't deny her feelings for him, but can't explain them, either - and both she and Galen must learn more about where she comes from and what her powers are before they can trust one another and their feelings. Told from both Emma and Galen's points of view, here is a fish-out-of-water story that sparkles with intrigue, humor, and waves of romance.

BBC Radio Shakespeare: The Tempest ($14.95 Audible), by William Shakespeare, narrated by Philip Madoc, Nina Wadia and a full cast, is the second selection for this week. As with most classics, there are many editions to choose from on Kindle; you can spend anything from 99 cents and to $10 and get an edition that will work for reading along while listening.

Book Description
BBC Radio has a unique heritage when it comes to Shakespeare. Since 1923, when the newly formed company broadcast its first full-length play, generations of actors and producers have honed and perfected the craft of making Shakespeare to be heard.

Raging storms and rich beautiful music combine to magical effect in this production of Shakespeare's allegorical last play, where mystical forces work to restore harmony and order to an estranged community.

Revitalised, original, and comprehensive, this is Shakespeare for the new millennium.

Click HERE to get the free downloads (you'll need to enter your name and an email address. You'll end up clicking about three pages (for each book), before the audiobook actually downloads. Don't stop so long as you still see a button that talks about your Sync download (or until you see the Overdrive software open up; there is a link at Sync, if you don't already have Overdrive installed).

Once in Overdrive, you'll need to tell it where to save the files (just click OK to use the default location, since Overdrive will keep track of them for you), then again to actually start the download (by default, all parts of the book are downloaded; I would suggest not changing this in the last dialog box, just click on OK to get the download started). Make sure your audiobook is fully downloaded before the end of the week, as once the promo period is over, you won't be able to get them free.

You can't get any titles that have been missed, but once they are loaded into Overdrive (which you will need to install, if you are not already using it for library books), they are yours to keep (there is no expiration date).

Kindle Daily Deals 5/30

Today is the last day to take advantage of this AmazonLocal deal:

• 40% Off Qualifying Kindle Accessories

Today's Kindle Daily Deal is The Song of Achilles ($1.99), by Madeline Miller [Ecco/HarperCollins], one of Amazon's Best Books of the Month, March 2012.

Book Description
“Mary Renault lives again!” declares Emma Donoghue, author of Room, referring to The Song of Achilles, Madeline Miller’s thrilling, profoundly moving, and utterly unique retelling of the legend of Achilles and the Trojan War. A tale of gods, kings, immortal fame, and the human heart, The Song of Achilles is a dazzling literary feat that brilliantly reimagines Homer’s enduring masterwork, The Iliad. An action-packed adventure, an epic love story, a marvelously conceived and executed page-turner, Miller’s monumental debut novel has already earned resounding acclaim from some of contemporary fiction’s brightest lights—and fans of Mary Renault, Bernard Cornwell, Steven Pressfield, and Colleen McCullough’s Masters of Rome series will delight in this unforgettable journey back to ancient Greece in the Age of Heroes.

Today's Kindle Romance Daily Deal is Her Restless Heart ($2.99), by Barbara Cameron [Abingdon Press]. Check your libraries on this one, as it was free more than once last year.

Book Description
Mary Katherine is caught between the traditions of her faith and the pull of a different life. When Daniel, an Amish man living in Florida, arrives and shares her restlessness, Mary Katherine feels drawn to him and curious about the life he leads away from Lancaster County. But her longtime friend Jacob has been in love with her for years. He’s discouraged that she’s never viewed him as anything but a friend and despairs that he is about to lose Mary Katherine to this outsider. Will the conflicted Mary Katherine be lost to the Englisch world, or to Daniel, who might take her away to Florida? Or will she embrace her Amish faith and recognize Jacob as the man she should marry and build a life with?

"You'll laugh and cry right alongside the characters in this story that tests a young woman's faith in Gods's plan for her life." - Loree Lough, best-selling author of more than 80 award-winning books, including From Ashes to Honor, #1 in the First Responders series.

Today's Kindle SciFi/Fantasy Daily Deal is Earth Strike ($0.99), the first novel in the Star Carrier series by Ian Douglas [HarperCollins], with the the companion audiobook for $3.49. The only thing stopping me from grabbing this (or anything of his at this price) is that it's already in my library (although I may get it anyway, to get access to the audiobook pricing); if you've already read the earlier novels in the series, be sure to grab Deep Space ($5.69), which was released at the end of last month.

Book Description
The first book in the epic saga of humankind's war of transcendence

There is a milestone in the evolution of every sentient race, a Tech Singularity Event, when the species achieves transcendence through its technological advances. Now the creatures known as humans are near this momentous turning point.

But an armed threat is approaching from deepest space, determined to prevent humankind from crossing over that boundary—by total annihilation if necessary.

To the Sh'daar, the driving technologies of transcendent change are anathema and must be obliterated from the universe—along with those who would employ them. As their great warships destroy everything in their path en route to the Sol system, the human Confederation government falls into dangerous disarray. There is but one hope, and it rests with a rogue Navy Admiral, commander of the kilometer-long star carrier America, as he leads his courageous fighters deep into enemy space towards humankind's greatest conflict—and quite possibly its last.

Today's Kindle Kids Daily Deal is The Dyno-Mite Dog Show ($0.99), by Louise Bonnett-Rampersaud and George O'Connor (Illustrator), is the first in a series of reasonably priced children's readers [Simon and Schuster].

Book Description
Bad guys beware! Eugene McGillicudy just happens to be the most awesome superhero of all time…Captain Awesome. MI-TEE!

Now readers between the ages of five and seven can read chapter books tailor-made for a younger level of reading comprehension. Heavily illustrated with large type, Little Simon's young chapter books let young readers feel like they are reading a “grown-up” format with subject, text, and illustrations geared specifically for their own age groups!

Eight-year-old Eugene McGillicudy is an imaginative boy who loves comic books and superheroes. Eugene also has his very own supersecret superhero alter ego named Captain Awesome. MI-TEE!

When the McGillicudy family relocates to a new town called Sunnyview, Eugene starts a new school, finds a best friend, and even finds time to defend his toys from his two-year-old little sister, Molly! Luckily for Sunnyview, Captain Awesome is there to protect the town (and the universe) from a hilarious cast of comical “bad guys.”

With easy-to-read language and illustrations on almost every page, the Captain Awesome chapter books are perfect for beginning readers.

Age Level: 5 and up

UK Kindle Fire Book Sale

Kindle Fire owners (in the UK), the Kindle Fire Book Sale is for you! Save on a selection of books specifically designed for reading on your Kindle Fire. From beautiful cookery books to classic comics and graphic novels to popular children's books, there are hundreds of titles to choose from for as little as £0.99 each. Sale ends 11:59 pm, May 30, 2013.

Many of the books included are not compatible with the eInk Kindles (or even the Kindle apps other than on Android), but others are, so it's worth taking a look thru the included titles, with cookbooks and graphic novels as low as £0.99.

UK Kindle Daily Deal 5/30

Burn Out (£0.99 UK), a Rachel Scott Adventure by Traci Hohenstein [Thomas & Mercer], is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (the US edition is $2.99).

Book Description
The week before she is to testify at her estranged husband’s trial on drug charges, firefighter Lieutenant Samantha Collins vanishes while combating a warehouse fire, leaving only her helmet behind.

With Sam missing, her mother seeks the help of Florida Omni Search, a nonprofit organization founded by Rachel Scott, whose own daughter, Mallory, disappeared when only three years old. Rachel has worked with law enforcement agencies all over the United States, but she can’t possibly anticipate how terrifying the Sam Collins case will be. Rachel learns of Sam’s husband’s drug operation, and as she digs deeper, not only does the investigator expose Sam’s surprising past, she also uncovers clues that could reveal what happened to her own daughter.

The second book in the Rachel Scott series, Burn Out is a Traci Hohenstein original, an emotionally charged mystery-thriller that takes the reader on a rollercoaster ride of plot twists, turns, and startling surprises.

Nook Daily Find 5/30

Written in Stone: Evolution, the Fossil Record, and Our Place in Nature ($9.99 Kindle, $2.99 B&N), by Brian Switek [Bellevue Literary Press], is the Nook Daily Find.

Book Description
Written In Stone is the first book to tell the story of the fossils that mapped out evolutionary history. 150 years after Darwin's Origin was published, scientists are beginning to understand how whales walked into the sea, how horses stood up on their tip-toes, how feathered dinosaurs took to the air, and how our ancestors came down from the trees.