First, a few notes: You may have noticed that all the ebookstores have been making changes lately. The Amazon Manage My Kindle page has changed (everything is still there, but broken into different tab sections; pre-orders are on the Pending Deliveries page), the B&N nook pages have all changed and Borders has essentially moved
their own ebookstore
(which was powered by Kobo) and all buy links now take to straight to the
Kobo
store. The first time you click one of Borders' ebook links (or try to get to your library), you should be prompted to move your library to
Kobo. I recommend you do so (it's essentially the only way to get to it now); I did and had no problems - I first logged into Borders, clicked to access my library, then logged in on the Kobo page -- my two libraries were combined and now all the books are in one place on Kobo.
Kobo is running a couple of coupon codes (all one-use though, so choose your books carefully0:
Kobodollaroff ($1 off),
June20off (20% off). Both work on any non-Agency title (if it is a 99 cent title, the first code will give it to you for free) and expire on 7/15. Every book you buy this weekend will also enter you in a
contest to win a Kobo Touch Reader
(as a Canadian company, they can run contests that require purchases; they have another contest that is giving away a
True Blood Prize Pack
), with purchases from the
Southern Vampire Mystery
series by Charlaine Harris (and you can get Reading Life Awards if you use the Kobo Reader to read them.
If you still have an Borders gift cards, you can use them at Kobo -- if your credit card is one that charges a transaction fee for Kobo purchases (some do because it is a Canadian company, even though the charges are in USD and no fee should be incurred), then using a gift card from
your local Borders
or
direct from Kobo
will help you avoid those fees. Moving your library over starting from
this page
also enters you to win one of 10 $500 gift cards from Kobo.
Fictionwise has a 55% off coupon code this weekend (which will probably still work on Mon/Tues, after the new books are posted):
061711. Their codes generally work on anything except Samhain titles and the expiration date of 6/19 usually means it will work until 6/22. The multi-format titles will work on Kindle (the DRM'd ones are EREADER, which means their app and the original NOOK only); I generally get magazines there, especially when they have coupons, as they stay in my library forever and they are DRM-free.
Most of the books below can also be found at the same price from
Barnes & Noble or
iTunes or
Sony, but I'm linking in Amazon and Kobo, as they are easier to create links for and between the two, cover the formats supported by pretty much all the ereader devices out there. If you are considering a nook, though, be sure to buy using
this page, as you'll get a bonus SD card that contains 100 B&N Classics (their own annotated editions of classic books). They value it at $400, but you can generally find the B&N Classics editions at $2-$3 (and I've picked up a number of them free); of course you do have to consider that the SD card is worth $20 or so, on it's own. You'll also find on that page that the WiFi only original Nook is now marked down to $119 (close to the Kindle with Special Offers price and the nook has always had ads, of a sort, inside the store), while the 3G + WiFi is marked down to $169. I expect both of these to get phased out soon, leaving B&N with only the nookColor and the one-button nookTouch editions, neither of which has 3G capability.
If you held off on buying
Bittman's Kitchen: What I Grill and Why, grab this Kindle Single now, while it is 99 cents (half what I paid). You have only a few weeks before you'll need these skills for your Fourth of July BBQ!
Book Description
Mark Bittman, America's favorite home cook and author of the award-winning How to Cook Everything, finally reveals his favorite grilling recipes. These are the essentials, the ones that Bittman goes back to time and again. Easy and accessible, each of these is a delicious excuse to grab a spatula and head outside. And, each is accompanied by short essay written in Bittman's trademark conversational style--so you feel like he's right there with you at the grill, sharing a story while the coals heat up. With this must-have grilling collection, Bittman also serves up a short but comprehensive guide to the grill, including how to get started, how to master doneness, what to grill, and what to keep in the pantry to make planning simple. Whether you cook everyday or pick up a set of tongs only on holiday weekends, these recipes are the ones you'll want to have on hand all summer long.
Allegra Biscotti Collection (
$7.19 Kindle), by Olivia Bennett, is still free from
Kobo
Book Description
Emma Rose is SO not a diva.
She doesn’t want her turn on the catwalk—she’d rather be behind the scenes creating fabulous outfits! So when a famous fashionista discovers Emma’s designs and offers her the opportunity of a lifetime—a feature in Madison magazine (squeal!)—Emma sort of, well, panics. She has only one option: to create a secret identity.
And so Allegra Biscotti is born.
Allegra is worldly, sophisticated, and bold—everything Emma is not. But the pressure is on. And Emma quickly discovers juggling school, a new crush, friends, and a secret identity might not be as glamorous as she thought.
The Stolen Child , a short story by Brian McGilloway, is free on
Kobo
. As near as I can tell, this one isn't in the Kindle store.
Book Description
An exclusive free edition of Brian McGilloway's acclaimed short crime-story, featuring Garda Inspector Benedict Devlin. Includes the opening chapters of McGilloway's dazzling new novel, Little Girl Lost ('Truly chilling' Ann Cleeves).
Finger Lickin' Fifteen (
$2.99 Kindle,
Kobo
) is just one of four titles in this series by Janet Evanovich this is marked down currently
on Kindle and at
Kobo
. I already had 12, 13 and 14, but snapped this one up. Those of you in Canada can also pick up
Plum Spooky for $2.85 in the Kindle store.
Book Description
Unbuckle you belt and pull up a chair. It’s the spiciest, sauciest, most rib-sticking Plum yet…
RECIPE FOR DISASTER
Celebrity chef Stanley Chipotle comes to Trenton to participate in a barbecue cook-off and loses his head—literally.
THROW IN SOME SPICE
Bail bonds office worker Lula is witness to the crime, and the only one she’ll talk to is Trenton cop Joe Morelli.
PUMP UP THE HEAT
The reward for capturing Chipotle’s killers: One million dollars.
STIR THE POT
Lula recruits bounty hunter Stephanie Plum to help her find the killers and collect the moolah.
ADD A SECRET INGREDIENT
Stephanie’s Grandma Mazure. Enough said.
BRING TO A BOIL
Stephanie’s working overtime tracking felons for the bonds office at night and snooping for security expert Carlos Manoso, aka Ranger, during the day. Can she hunt down two killers, a traitor, and five skips, keep her grandmother out of the sauce, and solve Ranger’s problems and not jump his bones?
WARNING
Habanero hot. So good you’ll want seconds.
Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less (
$2.99 Kindle,
Kobo
), by Jeffrey Archer, is another I snapped up. The Kindle edition has "bonus content", an excerpt from
Only Time Will Tell, which follows the end of the text (but isn't in the TOC).
Book Description
The Swindle Is Ingenious
The conned: an Oxford don, a revered society physician, a chic French art dealer, and a charming English lord. They have one thing in common. Overnight, each novice investor lost his life's fortune to one man. The con: Harvey Metcalfe. A brilliant, self-made guru of deceit. A very dangerous individual. And now, a hunted man.
So Is The Revenge
With nothing left to lose four strangers are about to come together-each expert in their own field. Their plan: find Harvey, shadow him, trap him, and penny-for-penny, destroy him. From the luxurious casinos of Monte Carlo to the high-stakes windows at Ascot to the bustling streets of Wall Street to fashionable London galleries, their own ingenious game has begun. It's called revenge-and they were taught by a master.
Laird of the Mist (
$0.99 Kindle,
Kobo
), by Paula Quinn, is the first in her
MacGregors series.
Book Description
PROTECTING HER WAS HIS PASSION
High-born though she is, Kate Campbell isn't afraid to draw her sword. When raiders strike, she rushes into the fray...and is lucky when a mysterious Highlander shields her from a deadly blow. Swept onto his stallion, she soon discovers that her rescuer is her clan's most hated enemy: Callum MacGregor, the man they call The Devil. Yet she cannot ignore his achingly tender touch or the way his fiery gaze leaves her breathless.
POSSESSING HER WOULD BE HIS PLEASURE
Callum MacGregor has taken many Campbell lives, but he's never saved one--until now. Mesmerized by this spirited lass, he wants her by his side, even if it means holding her for ransom. As his fingers graze her sumptuous curves and tangle in her unruly tresses, Callum realizes Kate Campbell is his most dangerous foe of all. For he can't make love to her without betraying his kinsmen and his honor...and surrendering his heart forever.
Eight Days to Live (
$2.99 Kindle,
Kobo
), by Iris Johansen, is the tenth in her
Eve Duncan series (and less than what I paid for it last year).
Book Description
Number-one New York Times bestselling author Iris Johansen delivers a thriller that will chill you to the core: Eve Duncan’s adopted daughter Jane has been targeted by a mysterious cult who has decided that she has only eight days to live
Eve Duncan and her adopted daughter, Jane Macguire, are pitted against the members of a secretive cult who have targeted Jane and have decided that she will be their ultimate sacrifice. In eight days they will come for her. In eight days, what Jane fears the most will become a reality. In eight days, she will die. It all begins with a painting that Jane, an artist, displays in her Parisian gallery. The painting is called “Guilt” and Jane has no idea how or why she painted the portrait of the chilling face. But the members of a cult that dates back to the time of Christ believe that Jane’s blasphemy means she must die. But first, she will lead them to an ancient treasure whose value is beyond price. This elusive treasure, and Jane’s death, are all that they need for their power to come to ultimate fruition. With Eve’s help, can Jane escape before the clock stops ticking?
Blue Heaven (
$2.99 Kindle,
Kobo
), a stand-alone novel by C.J. Box, is a bit more than what I paid last year, but is a new edition (and the one I bought is now missing from the store).
Book Description
A twelve-year-old girl and her younger brother go on the run in the woods of North Idaho, pursued by four men they have just watched commit murder---four men who know exactly who William and Annie are, and who know exactly where their desperate mother is waiting for news of her children’s fate. Retired cops from Los Angeles, the killers easily persuade the inexperienced sheriff to let them lead the search for the missing children.
William and Annie’s unexpected savior comes in the form of an old-school rancher teetering on the brink of foreclosure. But as one man against four who will stop at nothing to silence their witnesses, Jess Rawlins needs allies, and he knows that one word to the wrong person could seal the fate of the children or their mother. In a town where most of the ranches like his have turned into acres of ranchettes populated by strangers, finding someone to trust won’t be easy.
With true-to-life, unforgettable characters and a ticking-clock plot that spans just over forty-eight hours, C.J. Box has created a thriller that delves into issues close to the heart: the ruthless power of greed over broken ideals, the healing power of community where unlikely heroes find themselves at the crossroads of duty and courage, and the truth about what constitutes a family. In a setting whose awesome beauty is threatened by those who want a piece of it, Blue Heaven delivers twists and turns until its last breathtaking page.
Trust No One (
$2.99 Kindle,
Kobo
), by Gregg Hurwitz, is a stand-alone novel that was originally titled
We Know.
Book Description
Over the past two decades, Nick Horrigan has built a quiet, safe life for himself, living as much under the radar as possible. But all of that shatters when, in the middle of the night, a SWAT team bursts into his apartment, grabs him and drags him to a waiting helicopter. A terrorist— someone Nick has never heard of—has seized control of a nuclear reactor, threatening to blow it up. And the only person he’ll talk to is Nick, promising to tell Nick the truth behind the events that shattered his life twenty years ago.
At seventeen years old, Nick Horrigan made a deadly mistake—one that cost his stepfather his life, endangered his mother, and sent him into hiding for years. Now, what Nick discovers in that nuclear plant leaves him with only two choices—to start running again, or to fight and finally uncover the secrets that have held him hostage all these years.
As Nick peels back layer after layer of lies and deception, buffeted between the buried horrors of the past and the deadly intrigues of the present, he finds his own life—and the lives of nearly everyone he loves—at risk. And the only thing guiding him through this deadly labyrinth are his stepfather’s dying words: TRUST NO ONE. Acclaimed for years by both critics and his peers as one of the finest thriller writers today, Gregg Hurwitz has lived up to all the accolades and expectations with Trust No One, an electrifying and compelling novel that will be remembered for years to come.
First American Army: The Untold Story of George Washington and the Men behind America's First Fight for Freedom (
$2.99 Kindle,
Kobo
), by Bruce Chadwick
Book Description
This is the first book that offers a you-are-there look at the American Revolution through the eyes of the enlisted men. Through searing portraits of individual soldiers, Bruce Chadwick, author of George Washington's War, brings alive what it was like to serve then in the American army. With interlocking stories of ordinary Americans, he evokes what it meant to face brutal winters, starvation, terrible homesickness and to go into battle against the much-vaunted British regulars and their deadly Hessian mercenaries.The reader lives through the experiences of those terrible and heroic times when a fifteen-year-old fifer survived the Battle of Bunker Hill, when Private Josiah Atkins escaped unscathed from the bloody battles in New York and when a doctor and a minister shared the misery of the wounded and dying. These intertwining stories are drawn from their letters and never-before-quoted journals found in the libraries belonging to the camps where Washington quartered his troops during those desperate years.
Blood on the Tracks (
$0.99 Kindle), by Cecelia Holland, is a 79 "page" non-fiction Kindle Single. I've read thru the sample and will pick this one up (which I'd seen it before I bought my $5 of Kindle singles and that Bittman's book has been only 99 cents, as it is now).
Book Description
he Great Railroad Strike of 1877 wrenched American history onto a new course. Focusing on events in Baltimore and Pittsburgh, this essay brings this dramatic and bloody confrontation to life, as ordinary people, driven to the wall by oppression, rose against their masters. This was the opening act in long years of savage struggle for the rights of labor that continue to this day.
Dancing Plague: The Strange, True Story of an Extraordinary Illness (
$2.99 Kindle,
Kobo
), by John Waller
Book Description
A gripping tale of one of history's most bizarre events, and what it reveals about the strange possibilities of human nature
In the searing July heat of 1518, Frau Troffea stepped into the streets of Strasbourg and began to dance. Bathed in sweat, she continued to dance. Overcome with exhaustion, she stopped, and then resumed her solitary jig a few hours later. Over the next two months, roughly four hundred people succumbed to the same agonizing compulsion. At its peak, the epidemic claimed the lives of fifteen men, women, and children a day. Possibly 100 people danced to their deaths in one of the most bizarre and terrifying plagues in history.
John Waller compellingly evokes the sights, sounds, and aromas; the diseases and hardships; the fervent supernaturalism and the desperate hedonism of the late medieval world. Based on new evidence, he explains why the plague occurred and how it came to an end. In doing so, he sheds light on the strangest capabilities of the human mind and on our own susceptibility to mass hysteria.
History Buff's Guide to the Civil War: The best, the worst, the largest, and the most lethal top ten rankings of the Civil War (
$1.50 Kindle; $2.99
Kobo
), by Thomas R. Flagel
Book Description
Do You Think You Know the Civil War?
The History Buff's Guide to the Civil War clears the powder smoke surrounding the war that changed America forever. What were the best, the worst, the largest, and the most lethal aspects of the conflict? With over thirty annotated top ten lists and unexpected new findings, author Thomas R. Flagel will have you debating the most intriguing questions of the Civil War in no time. From the top ten causes of the war to the top ten bloodiest battles, this invaluable guide to the great war between the states will delight and inform you about one of the most crucial periods in American history.
Lord of the Isles (
$2.99 Kindle,
Kobo
), by David Drake, is the first title in the series of the same name. This title was briefly free back in 2008, but this is a good price for those who missed it then.
Book Description
A towering and complex epic of heroic adventure in an extraordinary and colorful world where the elemental forces that empower magic are rising to a thousand-year peak.
In the days following an unusually severe storm, the inhabitants of a tiny seaport town travel toward romance, danger, and astonishing magic that will transform them and their world.
Hurricane of Independence: The Untold Story of the Deadly Storm at the Deciding Moment of the American Revolution (
$2.99 Kindle,
Kobo
), by Tony Williams, says it was the sleeper hit of 2008! Did weather play a huge part in the success of the Revolution?
Book Description
THE AMERICAN COLONIES WERE IN THE CLUTCHES OF TWO DEADLY STORMS
Only months before, the first shot of what would become the American Revolution had been fired. But not everyone was committed to battle. The people were caught between a patriotic fervor for the cause of liberty and deep concern about the righteousness of, and the danger in, rebelling against the world's largest empire. And unbeknowst to them, as September 1775 opened, a powerful hurricane was making its way across the Atlantic, one that would test the colonists' strength, resolve, and faith in the rebellion.
Hurricane of Independence is the untold story of a violent storm and the violent birth of a nation. On September 2, 1775, the 8th deadliest Atlantic hurricane of all time landed on American shores. Over the coming days, it would race up the East Coast, striking all of the important colonial capitals and eventually killing more than four thousand people. In an era where hurricanes were viewed as omens from God, what this storm meant to the colonists about the justness of their cause would yield unexpected results.
Hurricane of Independence is the story of the individual people in the eye of the storm and how they saved the American Revolution. From well-known founders like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin to ordinary individuals such as sailors, escaped slaves, farmers, and fishermen, Tony Williams paints a stunning picture of what it meant to live at the opening of the American Revolution and the incredible weight of the choice the people were facing at that deciding moment.
Hurricane of Independence brings to life an incredible moment when the forces of nature and the forces of history came together, and the courageous stories of sacrifice, survival, and strength amidst the fight for freedom.
How to Be a Gentleman: A Timely Guide to Timeless Manners ($8.54 Kindle), by John Bridges, is free from Kobo as part of a Father's Day promotion (expires June 28), courtesy of Christian publisher Zondervan.
