Free Book - I Used to Know That (K/N)

I Used to Know That: Stuff You Forgot From School, by Caroline Taggart, is free in the Kindle store and from Barnes & Noble.

Book Description
Rediscover:

• Figures of Speech (and other devices for spicing up your writing): Expressions used in a nonliteral way, such as when you say, "My lips are sealed," but you haven’t put glue over them. Includes hyperbole, which is exaggeration for effect, as in "I’ve told you a hundred times."
• Notable British Authors: From William Blake and William Golding to George Orwell and Virginia Woolf, relearn which authors wrote the most notable poems and tomes. You’ll also find fun facts about each author, including that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle started writing fiction when his medical practice slowed and Jonathan Swift wrote his own obituary.
• International Authors: Homer’s not just the name of a character on The Simpsons. This 9th century Greek writer penned the great epics the Iliad and the Odyssey.
• Arithmetic: With division you divide a divisor into a dividend and the answer is a quotient. If there is anything left over, it is called a remainder. So 15 divided by 2 gives a quotient of 7 with a remainder of 1.
• Biology: The term biology comes from the Greek, meaning study of life; therefore, this field of learning concerns plants and animals and how the human body works. Give your central nervous system something to ponder, such as how a plant is structured or which elements make up the periodic table.
• Explorers: A quick rundown of people who discovered some of the regions of the world, like Amerigo Vespucci (1454-1512, Italian), who discovered the mouth of the Amazon and the River Plate, which made him important enough to have a continent or two named after him.
• Geography: Read this section, and you won’t be able to deny that the Nile is a river in Egypt, or that Russia has five of the longest rivers in the world.

Sure to touch a chord with anyone old enough to have forgotten half of what they learned at school, here is a perfect gift for every perennial student. Make this and all of the Blackboard Books a permanent fixture on your eReader, and you’ll have instant access to searchable knowledge. Whether you need homework help or want to win that trivia game, this series is the trusted source for fun facts.

Get the free ebook from Barnes & Noble.

Free Book - Unto These Hills (K/N)

Unto These Hills (US/UK), by Emily Sue Harvey, is free in the Kindle store and from Barnes & Noble, courtesy of The Story Plant.

Book Description
Unto These Hills is an unforgettable novel of love, scandal, family, and roots by one of the most emotionally authentic authors of our time. Taking us into the deep South's Tucapau Mill Hill, it introduces us to the unforgettable Sunny Acklin. Betrayed, abandoned, and violated, Sunny faces one seemingly insurmountable challenge after another. But she never loses her spirit or the memory of the love that once so richly illuminated her world. As years go by, Sunny does everything she can to make something of her life until at last an opportunity arises, one charged with promise...and undeniable risk.

From its vivid evocation of mill hill life to its pitch perfect rendering of the complexities of family and relationships, Unto These Hills is at once epic and intensely intimate. It is the richest novel yet from a writer who fluently speaks the language of our deepest feelings.

Get the free ebook from Barnes & Noble.

Today's Deals

Additional formats on these free books are now available:

• eye of the god (K-US)
• Lie Down in Green Pastures (K-US)
• The Fence My Father Built (K-US)
• Easter Services Sermons and Prayers (K-US)
• Organize for a Fresh Start (K/N/E)
• The Witness (K/N/E)
• Left Behind (K/N/E)
• Unfriend Yourself (K/N/E)
• Pleasure's Foehn (K/N/E/DF)
• Tween Heaven and Hell (K/N/E/DF)

Today's Kindle Deal of the Day is three books by science writer Dava Sobel, the first two of which were NYT bestsellers in print.

Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time ($0.99)
Anyone alive in the eighteenth century would have known that “the longitude problem” was the thorniest scientific dilemma of the day-and had been for centuries. Lacking the ability to measure their longitude, sailors throughout the great ages of exploration had been literally lost at sea as soon as they lost sight of land. Thousands of lives, and the increasing fortunes of nations, hung on a resolution. The scientific establishment of Europe-from Galileo to Sir Isaac Newton-had mapped the heavens in both hemispheres in its certain pursuit of a celestial answer. In stark contrast, one man, John Harrison, dared to imagine a mechanical solution-a clock that would keep precise time at sea, something no clock had ever been able to do on land. Longitude is the dramatic human story of an epic scientific quest, and of Harrison's forty-year obsession with building his perfect timekeeper, known today as the chronometer. Full of heroism and chicanery, it is also a fascinating brief history of astronomy, navigation, and clockmaking, and opens a new window on our world.

Galileo's Daughter: A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith and Love ($0.99)
Galileo Galilei's telescopes allowed him to discover a new reality in the heavens. But for publicly declaring his astounding argument--that the earth revolves around the sun--he was accused of heresy and put under house arrest by the Holy Office of the Inquisition. Living a far different life, Galileo's daughter Virginia, a cloistered nun, proved to be her father's greatest source of strength through the difficult years of his trial and persecution.

Drawing upon the remarkable surviving letters that Virginia wrote to her father, Dava Sobel has written a fascinating history of Medici--era Italy, a mesmerizing account of Galileo's scientific discoveries and his trial by Church authorities, and a touching portrayal of a father--daughter relationship. Galileo's Daughter is a profoundly moving portrait of the man who forever changed the way we see the universe.

A More Perfect Heaven: How Copernicus Revolutionized the Cosmos ($1.99)
By 1514, the reclusive cleric Nicolaus Copernicus had written and hand-copied an initial outline of his heliocentric theory-in which he defied common sense and received wisdom to place the sun, not the earth, at the center of our universe, and set the earth spinning among the other planets. Over the next two decades, Copernicus expanded his theory through hundreds of observations, while compiling in secret a book-length manuscript that tantalized mathematicians and scientists throughout Europe. For fear of ridicule, he refused to publish.

In 1539, a young German mathematician, Georg Joachim Rheticus, drawn by rumors of a revolution to rival the religious upheaval of Martin Luther's Reformation, traveled to Poland to seek out Copernicus. Two years later, the Protestant youth took leave of his aging Catholic mentor and arranged to have Copernicus's manuscript published, in 1543, as De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres)-the book that forever changed humankind's place in the universe.

In her elegant, compelling style, Dava Sobel chronicles, as nobody has, the conflicting personalities and extraordinary discoveries that shaped the Copernican Revolution. At the heart of the book is her play And the Sun Stood Still, imagining Rheticus's struggle to convince Copernicus to let his manuscript see the light of day. As she achieved with her bestsellers Longitude and Galileo's Daughter, Sobel expands the bounds of narration, giving us an unforgettable portrait of scientific achievement, and of the ever-present tensions between science and faith.

Memoirs Of A Porcupine ($1.85 / £1.19 UK), by Helen Stevenson and Alain Mabanckou, is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (no US edition).

Book Description
All human beings, says an African legend, have an animal double. Some are benign, others wicked. When Kibandi, a boy living in a Congolese village, reaches the age of eleven, his father takes him out into the night, and forces him to drink a vile liquid from a jar which has been hidden for years in the earth. This is his initiation. From now on he, and his double, a porcupine, become accomplices in murder. They attack neighbours, fellow villagers, people who simply cross their path. Throughout his life Kibandi relies on his double to act out his grizzly compulsions, until one day even the porcupine baulks, and turns instead to literary confession.

The Primal Blueprint: Reprogram your genes for effortless weight loss, vibrant health and boundless energy ($8.79 Kindle; $2.99 B&N), by Mark Sisson, is the Nook Daily Find, price matched on Kindle.

Book Description
The Primal Blueprint is a simple, flexible plan to help you look and feel your best without struggling or suffering, by adapting the simple lifestyle practices of our hunter-gatherer ancestors into modern life. Sisson presents the compelling premise that you can reprogram your genes in the direction of weight loss, health, and longevity by following 10 immutable Primal Blueprint lifestyle laws validated by two million years of human evolution. Weight loss is largely about insulin; moderate your production by eliminating sugar and grains, and you will lose the excess body fat you desire even while eating delicious, satisfying foods. Plus you will improve your energy level, reduce inflammation, and eliminate disease risk. Eating meat, eggs, and a generally high-fat diet not only is healthy but is the key to effortless weight loss, a healthy immune system, and boundless energy.

Slowing down your typical cardiovascular workouts, and incorporating brief, intense strength sessions and occasional all-out sprints can produce fitness benefits far superior to workouts that are longer and more grueling-and can eliminate the risk of burnout.

Today's backlist/indie free books on Kindle (not likely to be free for long) and a few free choose-your-own-adventure books and some games for your Kindle Fire (or Android phone/tablet)

• Wizard's Choice Volume 1, by Sam Landstrom - this is the Android/Kindle Fire version of the Kindle App I told you about yesterday. The first one is free for the Fire (the second two are still 99 cents)
• Four Kindle Fire adventure games/books by Choice of Games
• 69 Android Games, by Fupa Games
• Dance of the Winnebagos (Jackrabbit Junction Mystery Series), by Ann Charles and C.S. Kunkle
• Sin City: Two Novels and Spinoza for Hire: Two Vampire Mysteries, by J.R. Rain
• Easy Innocence (Georgia Davis Series), by Libby Fischer Hellmann
• The Mancode: Exposed, by Rachel Thompson
• The Motorgirl Memoirs: Adventures in Mania and Semi-Normality, by Leah-Carla Gordone
• Twelve Dresses, One Star (A Silly Picture Book About Being Who You Are) (Silly Picture Books), by Robert Stanek - looks like he is adding a free children's book each day and he has some in the KLL; they look pretty good on the Kindle Fire (full color)
• Five books by Carolyn McCray
• Four books by Amber Scott

Free Book - Easter Services Sermons and Prayers (K/N/E)

Update: 3/7/12 Repeat freebie in the Kindle store and newly free from ChristianBook and Barnes & Noble.
Update: 1/4/12 Now free in the US Kindle store.

Just in Time Series - Easter Services Sermons and Prayers (US/UK), by Kenneth Carter, is free for UK customers in the Kindle store, courtesy of Christian publisher Abingdon Press. It should be free for US customers by morning.

Book Description
Based on the Revised Common Lectionary and broadly ecumenical, this addition to the Just In Time! series provides creative liturgies, sermon helps, and prayers for Easter Vigil, Easter Sunday, and the 40 days of Easter.

Get the free ebook from Barnes & Noble.
Get the free ebook from ChristianBook.

Free Book - The Fence My Father Built (K/N/E)

Update: 3/1/12 Repeat freebie on Kindle and from B&N and ChristianBook.
Update: 2/7/12 No longer free in the Kindle store; now free from Barnes & Noble.
Update: 1/4/12 Now free in the US Kindle store.

The Fence My Father Built (US/UK), by Linda S. Clare, is free for UK customers in the Kindle store, courtesy of Christian publisher Abingdon Press. It should be free for US customers by morning (repeat).

Book Description
In The Fence My Father Built, when legally separated Muri Pond, a librarian, hauls her kids, teenage Nova and eleven year-old Truman, out to the tiny town of Murkee, Oregon, where her father, Joe Pond lived and died, she’s confronted by a neighbor’s harassment over water rights and Joe’s legacy: a fence made from old oven doors.

The fence and accompanying house trailer horrify rebellious Nova, who runs away to the drug-infested streets of Seattle. Muri searches for her daughter and for something to believe in, all the while trying to save her inheritance from the conniving neighbor who calls her dad Chief Joseph. Along with Joe’s sister, Aunt Lutie, and the Red Rock Tabernacle Ladies, Muri must rediscover the faith her alcoholic dad never abandoned in order to reclaim her own spiritual path.

Get the free ebook from Barnes & Noble.
Get the free ebook from ChristianBook.

Free Book - Lie Down in Green Pastures (K/N/E)

Update: 3/7/12 Repeat freebie in the Kindle store and from ChristianBook and Barnes & Noble.
Update: 2/7/12 No longer free in the Kindle store; now free from Barnes & Noble.
Update: 1/4/12 Now free in the US Kindle store.

Lie Down in Green Pastures (The Psalm 23 Mysteries) (US/UK), by Debbie Viguie, is free for UK customers in the Kindle store, courtesy of Christian publisher Abingdon Press. It should be free for US customers by morning (repeat).

Book Description
Even though they work right next door to each other, Cindy and Jeremiah come from two different worlds. Cindy is a church secretary; Jeremiah is a Reformed rabbi with a mysterious past full of danger and excitement. Together they have faced down a serial killer at Easter and a murderer of homeless people.

The two unlikely companions continue to forge a strong friendship as they explore personal history and faith with each passing adventure.

This third volume in the Psalm 23 Mysteries series finds Jeremiah and Cindy matching wits with an unscrupulous land developer. In a fast-paced story set around St. Patrick's Day, murder invades an idyllic landscape, challenging them to save hundreds of teens even as they try to discover the source of their unexpected danger.

Get the free ebook from Barnes & Noble.
Get the free ebook from ChristianBook.

Free Book - eye of the god (K/N/E)

Update: 4/5/12 Repeat freebie in the Kindle store.
Update: 3/7/12 Repeat freebie in the Kindle store and from ChristianBook and Barnes & Noble.
Update: 2/7/12 No longer free in the Kindle store; now free from Barnes & Noble.
Update: 1/4/12 Now free in the US Kindle store.

Ariel Allison's eye of the god (US/UK) is free for UK customers in the Kindle store, courtesy of Christian publisher Abingdon Press. It should be free for US customers by morning (repeat).

Book Description
When international jewel theives attempt to steal the Hope Diamond from the Simthsonian Institute, only Dr. Abigail Mitchell stands in their way. Abby soon realizes she alone holds the pieces to the complicated puzzle in this deadly game. It is in this context that her faith will be put to the ultimate test as she confronts the father who abandoned her, the betrayal of the only man she has ever loved, and the possibility that she may lose her life because of the legendary gem.

Get the free ebook from Barnes & Noble.
Get the free ebook from ChristianBook.

Bargain Book Roundup

We've got fresh snow to play in today, so I'm only doing a short bargains post.

Grab the first Witch & Wizard ($0.99), by James Patterson and Gabrielle Charbonnet to go with Book 3 from yesterday's post (leaving just #2, The Gift, at full price)

Book Description
The world is changing: the government has seized control of every aspect of society, and now, kids are disappearing. For 15-year-old Wisty and her older brother Whit, life turns upside down when they are torn from their parents one night and slammed into a secret prison for no reason they can comprehend. The New Order, as it is known, is clearly trying to suppress Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Being a Normal Teenager. But while trapped in this totalitarian nightmare, Wisty and Whit discover they have incredible powers they'd never dreamed of. Can this newly minted witch and wizard master their skills in time to save themselves, their parents--and maybe the world?

Gregory Maguire's Wicked with Bonus Material: Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West has dropped to $1.99 (and I expect it to disappear soon, as these bonus editions often do). You can still get the second in the series, Son of a Witch, for $3.99 and one of his stand-alone titles, What-the-Dickens: The Story of a Rogue Tooth Fairy for $1.99.

Book Description
For a limited time at a special price, go back to where The Wicked Years all began—and read excerpts from the rest of the series, including the masterly final book, Out of Oz, available November 1.

When Dorothy triumphed over the Wicked Witch of the West in L. Frank Baum's classic tale, we heard only her side of the story. But what about her arch-nemesis, the mysterious Witch? Where did she come from? How did she become so wicked? And what is the true nature of evil?

Gregory Maguire creates a fantasy world so rich and vivid that we will never look at Oz the same way again. Wicked is about a land where animals talk and strive to be treated like first-class citizens, Munchkinlanders seek the comfort of middle-class stability, and the Tin Man becomes a victim of domestic violence. And then there is the little green-skinned girl named Elphaba, who will grow up to become the infamous Wicked Witch of the West, a smart, prickly, and misunderstood creature who challenges all our preconceived notions about the nature of good and evil.

You can grab all three titles in Beverly Barton's Dead by Trilogy at bargain prices, along with several other books marked down under $5, including As Good As Dead for $2.99.

As Good As Dead
What She Doesn't Know. . .

The victims are all found face-down in the murky waters of the creek that runs through Cherokee Pointe, Tennessee. They are naked, except for the black satin ribbon tied around their necks. And each murdered woman shares a single characteristic. . .they are all redheads. . .

Just Might. . .

Socialite Reve Sorrell has come to Cherokee Pointe seeking answers about her family history and her shocking connection to wrong-side-of-the-tracks Jazzy Talbot. With their stunning good looks and shining red hair, the two are mirror images of each other--twins abandoned at birth and raised in very different worlds. And whoever left them for dead on a cold night thirty years ago isn't about to let them uncover the truth now. . .

Kill Her

As a serial killer leaves another chilling calling card in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains, Reve turns to Sheriff Jacob Butler to help her unravel the potentially deadly secrets of her past. But someone will do anything to stop her. . .someone who won't make the same mistake twice. . .someone more cunning than she knows. . .and closer than she ever could imagine. . .

Dead By Midnight
In Murder. . .

The last sounds Dean Wilson hears are a clock striking twelve and a killer's taunting words. And his death is just the first. One by one, victims are stalked and shot at close range. Only the killer knows their sins, and who will be the next to die at midnight. . .

And In Life. . .

In the ten years since her Hollywood career imploded, Lorie Hammonds has built a good life in her Alabama hometown. When the first death threat arrives, she assumes it's a joke. Then she gets a second note. Sheriff Mike Birkett, her high-school sweetheart, has avoided Lorie since she returned to Dunmore, but when investigators uncover her connection to a string of recent murders, he's drawn into a case that's terrifyingly personal.

Timing Is Everything

With every murder, the killer edges closer. Soon Lorie's will be the last name left on his list. Her only hope is to unearth a deadly secret--before the clock runs out for good. . .

Dead By Morning
The Darkest Sins

He begins his work just before dawn, wielding a knife with the precision of a surgeon. Cunning and meticulous, he's always in control. Mercy is not an option. . .

Will Always

Maleah Purdue is tough, outspoken, and completely dedicated to her work at the Powell Security Agency. But her fearless exterior shatters when a madman begins killing her colleagues one by one, mimicking a notorious serial killer already behind bars. Working alongside top profiler Derek Lawrence, Maleah will do anything to find the murderer, even if it means playing a psychopath's twisted mind games.

Come To Light

No one connected to the Agency is safe. No one is beyond suspicion. For as Maleah and Derek piece together the clues, they uncover a chilling legacy of lies and brutal vengeance--and a killer who has been hiding in plain sight all along. . .

Dead By Nightfall
The Fear. . .

Malcolm York is a sadistic monster, guilty of unspeakable crimes. And with his endless wealth he's funded a series of depraved hunts. The few who survived can never forget. They can only be thankful the terror is over. Until rumors start swirling. . .

Only Stops. . .

Griffin Powell knows the twisted depths of York's madness. He's also sure that York is dead. But then Griff's wife, Nicole, disappears and the phone calls begin--that familiar voice taunting him, promising to destroy everything Griff loves.

When You Die. . .

Using all the resources of the Powell Agency, Griff searches for Nic, aware that every step propels him further into a madman's web. Because the only way to keep Nic safe is to join one last perverse game where winner kills all, and the loser is dead by nightfall. . .

Lisa Jackson also has a large number of titles currently being discounted, including selections from her romance and mystery series. I've picked out just a few to highlight here.

Dark Ruby (Dark Jewels Series)
Amid the mists of enchanting Wales, a beautiful woman made a desperate bargain that would seal her fate forever . . .

THE LADY
An arranged marriage put Lady Gwynn at the mercy of a baron who had murdered two wives for not bearing him a son. Then a sensual thief and a searing night of passion gave birth to a dangerous deception . . .

THE THIEF
Thirteen years later, Trevin McBain cannot forget Lady Gwynn and their child, who now bears another man’s name. But when a powerful magician warns of terrible danger to their son, Trevin rides forth to save him . . .

THE PASSION
Amid treachery and mortal peril, a lady and a thief would meet once more. As desire re-ignited, their only hope was to trust each other, challenging fate to let them touch, let them love again . . .

Wicked Lies (Colony) (with her sister Nancy Bush)
If At First You Don’t Succeed

For two years, Justice Turnbull has paced his room at Halo Valley Security Hospital, planning to escape. Justice has a mission-one that began with a vicious murder two decades ago. And there are so many others who must be sent back to the hell that spawned them…

Kill…

Laura Adderley didn’t plan to get pregnant by her soon-to-be ex-husband, though she’ll do anything to protect her baby. But now reporter Harrison Frost is asking questions about the mysterious group of women who live at Siren Song lodge. Harrison hasn’t figured out Laura’s connection to the story yet. But Justice knows. And he is coming…

Then Kill Again…

All her life, Laura has been able to sense approaching evil. But that won’t stop a psychopath bent on destroying her. Justice has been unleashed, and this time, there will be no place safe to hide…

Running Scared
No Matter How Fast You Run. . .

The newborn baby boy is beautiful, perfect, and hers for the asking. All Kate Summers has to do is agree to one condition--she must disappear from Boston and never breathe a word about the adoption to anyone.

Or How Far You Go. . .

Fifteen years later, Kate has built a good life for herself and her son, Jon, in Hopewell, Oregon. Still, she is haunted by the fear that he will somehow be taken away. Then Daegan O'Rourke arrives in town and strikes up a friendship with her and Jon. But Daegan has his own past to hide--one with shocking ties to hers.

A Killer Will Always Find You. . .

Someone is watching Kate, watching her son, and is willing to go to any lengths to claim him. And the one man Kate is tempted to trust has dangerous secrets that could change her world forever. Soon the past Kate thought she could outrun will explode, unearthing a legacy of lies and treachery, and a fury powerful enough to kill. . .

Linda Howard fans can get a great deal on the Mackenzies Bundle: Mackenzie's Mountain / Mackenzie's Mission / Mackenzie's Pleasure / A Game of Chance: all four titles for $8.38. The only title missing from this bundle that is included in The Complete Mackenzie Collection ($11.41) is Mackenzie's Magic, which you can pick up for $2.84 (saving nearly 20 cents over the bundle price!). If you want to read them in order, be sure to save A Game of Chance for last, whichever bundle you pick up.

Mackenzie's Mountain
Mary Elizabeth Potter is a self-appointed spinster with no illusions about love. When she meets Wolf Mackenzie, a man with a chip on his shoulder the size of Wyoming, she sets out to convince the whole town he's a man worth loving. But Wolf's not sure he's for the taming of Wolf Mackenzie.

Mackenzie's Mission
Night Wing—the revolutionary test plane with a top secret weapons system—is Colonel Joe "Breed" Mackenzie's number one priority—and weapons expert Caroline Evans his number one distraction. When someone on the inside sabotages Night Wing, Caroline's late hours and expertise come under suspicion, forcing Joe to choose between allegiance to his country…and love for his prime suspect.

Mackenzie's Pleasure
Navy SEAL Zane Mackenzie was a pro. No mission had ever gotten the better of him—until now. Saving the ambassador's gorgeous daughter, Barrie Lovejoy, had been textbook—except for their desperate night of passion. And though his job as a soldier had ended with her freedom, his duties as a husband had only just begun. For he would sooner die than let the enemy harm the mother of his child.

Mackenzie's Magic
The final chapter of Linda Howard's beloved Mackenzie family saga! Meet Maris Mackenzie-- and the sexy stranger she woke up to find in her bed! Unfortunately, she had no memory of Alex MacNeil, the previous day... or the prize Thoroughbred she'd apparently stolen...

A Game of Chance
Undercover agent Chance Mackenzie knew that the best way to capture an elusive terrorist was to use the man's daughter as bait, so he seduced Sunny Miller and set out to discover her father's whereabouts. Sunny's own innocence was questionable, and gaining her trust was nearly impossible. And even with all his experience and training, Chance found it difficult to overlook her beauty. However, Chance soon realized that Sunny wasn't running from him - she was running for her life, and she needed Chance's protection. But keeping Sunny safe would involve telling her the truth . . .

If you are a fan of Sam Landstrom's MetaGame (newly released edition, $3.99), be sure to check out his new Kindle App series, Wizard's Choice (A Text-Based Adventure for Kindle), priced at 99 cents per adventure.

Wizard's Choice Volume 1
Fortune and glory or death? Your decisions make the difference in Wizard's Choice, a text-based adventure for Kindle.

Stay alive, manage your spell power, find treasure, and smite evil. Wizard's Choice is an adventure that will engross you in a storyline while allowing you to make the decisions that will determine your fate. Decisions you make early in the game will affect what happens to you and the choices you get to make later in the game.

Wizards Choice will track your health, manna, gold, and morale, so you should take care to manage each well. Your score and rank will be shown at the end, and you can replay as many times as you like to try and improve your rank and score.

So what will it be? Glory? Fortune? Death? (two out of three, perhaps?) Try making the Wizard's Choice today!

Wizard's Choice Volume 2
Ring City conspires against you, or so it seems. Who can you trust? And will you be able to survive long enough to get your vengeance? The answers are up to you in the second installment of the Wizard's Choice text-based adventure books.

Wizard's Choice Volume 2 is a book that puts you in the boots of a wizard in a medieval fantasy setting. Stay alive, manage your spell power, find treasure, and smite evil. Wizard's Choice volume 2 continues the adventure you began in Volume 1. The decisions you make early in the game still affect what happens to you and the choices you get to make later in the game.

Wizard's Choice will track your health, manna, gold, and morale, so you should take care to manage each well. Your score and rank will be shown at the end, and you can replay as many times as you like to try and improve your rank and score.

So how did glory, fortune and death work out for you last time? (Maybe you'd rather skip the death part this time around?) Continue making the Wizard's Choice today with Volume 2 and see where you can take the story!

Wizard's Choice Volume 3
Fortune and glory or death? Your decisions make the difference in the Version 3 climax of Wizard's Choice, a text-based adventure for Kindle.

Wizard's Choice is an interactive book series that puts you in the boots of a wizard in a medieval fantasy setting, and in this installment, an insidious force has infiltrated Ring City and you have caught its attention. What is the nature of this evil and how can you hope to prevail when even the city's greatest heroes fall before this dark power? Big-time evil smiting in this episode... And something a little unexpected!

Make the decisions that will determine your fate. Decisions you make early in the game will affect what happens to you and the choices you get to make later in the game. Wizard's Choice will track your health, manna, gold, and morale, so you should take care to manage each well. Your score and rank will be shown at the end, and you can replay as many times as you like to try and improve your rank and score.

Okay. Enough with the Glory and Fortune stuff. You'll be lucky to escape death in this, the third and final chapter of the Wizard's Choice adventure!

Today's Deals

Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time ($0.99), by Brian Tracy, is today's Kindle Deal of the Day.

Book Description
Using "eat that frog" as a metaphor for tackling the day's most challenging task, Tracy shows readers how to zero in on these critical tasks and organize their time. He details 21 practical, doable steps to stop the procrastination treadmill and get more of the important tasks done.

Rogue Forces ($1.54 / £0.99 UK), by Dale Brown, is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (the US edition is $8.99). It's a great deal on the book (I managed to snag a bonus edition for $2 in the summer, when it was available for those of us in the US).

Book Description
Newly inaugurated president Joseph Gardner has followed through on his pledge to pull American forces out of Iraq. But the region has quickly re-emerged as a hot zone, as Kurdish nationalist attacks have led the Republic of Turkey to invade northern Iraq.

Reluctant to recommit U.S. troops, the commander-in-chief turns to former president Kevin Martindale and retired Air Force Lieutenant-General Patrick McLanahan, who have left government behind for the lucrative world of military contracting. Their private firm, Scion Aviation International, is suddenly the only credible armed force in the region capable of blunting the Turks' advances. America's most lethal military contractor has become more powerful than anyone anticipated—too powerful for even the President to control.

Now Patrick McLanahan is going rogue, determined to take the fight directly to the Turks, and no one is going to stop him. But where does his loyalty ultimately lie: with his country, his commander-in-chief, his fellow warriors . . . or with his company's shareholders?

Immanuel's Veins ($3.40 Kindle, B&N), by Ted Dekker, is the Nook Daily Find, price matched on Kindle.

Book Description
This story is for everyone--but not everyone is for this story.

It is a dangerous tale of times past. A love story full of deep seduction. A story of terrible longing and bold sacrifice.

Then as now, evil begins its courtship cloaked in light. And the heart embraces what it should flee. Forgetting it once had a truer lover.

With a kiss, evil will ravage body, soul, and mind. Yet there remains hope, because the heart knows no bounds.

Love will prove greater than lust. Sacrifice will overcome seduction. And blood will flow.

Because the battle for the heart is always violently opposed. For those desperate to drink deep from this fountain of life, enter.

But remember, not everyone is for this story.

Today's backlist/indie free books on Kindle (not likely to be free for long):

• The Nightmare Within , by Glen Krisch, Kealan Patrick Burke (Illustrator)
• ONE SMALL VICTORY, by Maryann Miller (her The Wisdom of Ages - A Short Story Collection is also free in the Middle East only)
• Remaindered - A Top Suspense Short Story, by Lee Goldberg
• Of Noble Birth, by Brenda Novak
• Barefoot Pirate and Remalna's Children, by Sherwood Smith
• Spell Circles, by Simon Kewin
• Twisted Tales of Terror, by S.A Gambino, Stephanie Kincaid

Free Audiobook - Abby Cooper: Psychic Eye

You can get a free audiobook version of Abby Cooper: Psychic Eye ($7.99 Kindle), the first in Victoria Laurie's Psychic Eye Mystery series, over on Audible (likely geo restricted to those in the US and using a linked Amazon account).

Book Description
In Royal Oak, a suburb of Detroit, Abby Cooper lives a life that's kind of like vanilla ice cream - good enough, but a little bland. Her work as a P.I. - Psychic Intuitive - can be rewarding, but she feels like she's missing out on something. Now she's getting what she wished for - when a client winds up dead and the clues start pointing in Abby's direction. Turns out she knows too much about the murder for her own good ... and the lead investigator for the case is the gorgeous blind date she just met.

Get the free audiobook from Audible.

Free Book - Near to the Heart of God (K/N/E)

Update: 1/3/12 Now free from ChristianBook.

Near to the Heart of God: Meditations on 366 Best-Loved Hymns, by Robert J. Morgan, is free in the Kindle store and from Barnes & Noble, courtesy of Christian publisher Revell I only expect it to be free for the day and it might pop up late in the day at Sony or ChristianBook, but I would not count on it.

Book Description
The great hymns of the faith are not only meaningful songs we love to sing--they teach us about God and ourselves. They are miniature Bible studies that lead us effortlessly toward worship, testimony, exhortation, prayer, and praise. They clear our minds, soothe our nerves, verbalize our worship, summarize our faith, and sing our great Redeemer's praise.
In Near to the Heart of God, bestselling author Robert J. Morgan has gathered 366 hymns, including favorites such as "Amazing Grace" and "Rock of Ages," as well as classic, lesser-known gems such as "In the Garden" and "Teach Me to Pray." Each devotional contains an opening story about the hymn or its writer, the lyrics to the hymn, and a closing Scripture. An index of hymn titles and first lines is included so you can find your favorites easily.

Perfect for any music lover, Near to the Heart of God is a unique yearlong journey into the songbook of praise that has defined our worship for centuries.

Get the free ebook from Barnes & Noble.
Get the free ebook from ChristianBook.

Free Book - Death Tidies Up (K/N)

Death Tidies Up, the second Charlotte LaRue title by Barbara Colley, is free in the Kindle store and from Barnes & Noble. For those that want to start from the beginning, Maid for Murder is only $3.83 (and it looks like the series is under $5/volume); from the Publisher Weekly review, the first title is much stronger (and so, I suppose, more worth paying for) than second.

Book Description
Between running her maid service (the successful Maid-for-a-Day) and fretting about her upcoming birthday (the dreaded 6-0), Charlotte LaRue doesn't have much time for gossip. But New Orleans's latest dust-up is hard to ignore--especially since it involves Marian Hebert, one of Charlotte's new clients. Turns out Marian's now-deceased husband once worked for his best friend Drew Bergeron's real-estate agency--and when the business deal soured, so did the friendship. The whole sordid affair came to an unfortunate end when Drew died in a plane crash--and Bill Hebert was killed in what some people insist on calling an accident. Others are convinced it was murder.

Pretty juicy stuff, right? Charlotte doesn't think so. She's trying her best to forget all the rumors--she has more important things to worry about these days. Like vacuuming, window-washing. . .and her new job at the old Devilier house. The gorgeous historic home is being transformed into luxury apartments, and Maid-for-a-Day is in charge of the cleanup. Should be easy enough, Charlotte thinks--until she finds a barely-cold corpse in one of the closets.

The police are sure the dead man is Drew Bergeron. Funny, considering Drew supposedly died years ago--and Charlotte distinctly remembers attending his funeral. Talk about messy. Suddenly all that gossip about the Heberts and Bergerons seems incredibly timely--and Charlotte wishes she'd listened just a little bit closer. . .

With old rivalries flaring--and past secrets suddenly back in the present--Charlotte has a feeling this job will involve some real dirty work. Good thing she has a knack for cleaning up crimes. . .

Get the free ebook from Barnes & Noble.

Free Book - Haint Misbehavin (K)

Haint Misbehavin, by Maureen Hardegree, is a repeat freebie in the Kindle store, courtesy of Bell Bridge Books.

Book Description
The start of a fun middle-grade series, The Ghost Handlers, follows Heather Tildy, an Atlanta teen with a troublesome habit of attracting ghosts. Middle-child Heather has enough to worry about with sisters, boys and school. Now that a trouble-making girl from the 1800's is poking her nose in Heather's business, her life has taken a supernatural turn for the worse! Before her life can get better, she has to figure out how to help the ghost move on.

Debut author Hardegree is a veteran short-story author for the well-known MOSSY CREEK HOMETOWN series. She plans multiple titles in this warm and funny YA series.

Free Book - Heir To The Everlasting (K)

Heir To The Everlasting, by Janice Daugharty, is a repeat freebie in the Kindle store, courtesy of Bell Bridge Books.

Book Description
The Pulitzer-nominated author of EARL IN THE YELLOW SHIRT turns her acclaimed talents to an epic story of three generations of Southern women at Big Eddy, the home place they love.

HEIR TO THE EVERLASTING begins at the turn of the last century with the beautiful, determined Pinkie Alexander, strong-willed matron of the Alexander clan. Come Hell or the high water of the south Georgia river which gave Big Eddy its name, Pinkie will ensure the survival of her family on their beloved land--a place where the family cemetery guards the spirit of the past, and where secrets, as well as the dearly departed, are buried. Follow the lives, loves, mysteries, deadly feuds and steely courage of the Alexander women through a full century of joys and sorrows. HEIR TO THE EVERLASTING showcases the culture, language and daily travails of their time and place with vivid storytelling skills and Janice Daugharty's love for "the working words."

Bargain Book Roundup

Witch & Wizard: The Fire ($0.99), by James Patterson and Jill Dembowski, is the third in this popular teen series.

Book Description
Whit and Wisty Allgood have sacrificed everything to lead the resistance against the merciless totalitarian regime that governs their world. Its supreme leader, The One Who Is The One, has banned everything they hold dear: books, music, art, and imagination. But the growing strength of the siblings' magic hasn't been enough to stop the One's evil rampage, and now he's executed the only family they had left.

Wisty knows that the time has finally come for her to face The One. But her fight and her fire only channel more power to this already invincible being. How can she and Whit possibly prepare for their imminent showdown with the ruthless villain that devastated their world-before he can truly become all-powerful?

In this stunning third installment of the epic Witch & Wizard series, the stakes have never been higher--and the consequences will change everything.

The Happy Herbivore Cookbook: Over 175 Delicious Fat-Free and Low-Fat Vegan Recipes ($4.99), by Lindsay S. Nixon, the McDougalls' All-You-Can-Eat Cookbook ($1.99), by John and Mary McDougall , and Get Real & Stop Dieting! ($3.99), by Brett Blumenthal, will get you started on your New Year's diet (and the latter even has a couple of recipes for you on it's Amazon page).

The Happy Herbivore Cookbook: Over 175 Delicious Fat-Free and Low-Fat Vegan Recipes
Vegan chef of one of the top 50 food blogs on the Web, HappyHerbivore.com, Lindsay Nixon, gives hundreds of thousands of her followers recipes each month, showing that the vegan diet is not only healthy but delicious, too.

Now, Nixon combines some of her tastiest recipes in The Happy Herbivore Cookbook, each made with no added fats, using only whole, plant-based foods. It’s easy to make great food at home using the fewest number of ingredients and ones that can easily be found at any store, on any budget.

McDougalls' All-You-Can-Eat Cookbook
Eat all the carbs you want – and lose weight? Absolutely!

Contrary to the anti-carbohydrate movement, the eating program described in this book makes healthful starch-based foods the centerpiece of a fat-reducing, wellness-promoting diet.

Dr. John McDougall, bestselling author and creator of the nationally renowned diet and exercise McDougall Plan, presents a cookbook that turns the popular thinking about carbs and weight control upside down. Filled with some of John and Mary McDougall’s favorite vegetarian recipes from their very own kitchen, this book is a great addition to your personal library if you are considering becoming a vegetarian or want a refresher course on the must-have nutrients your body needs to run like a lean, clean machine.

Dr. John McDougall is a certified internist who has been studying and writing about the effect of nutrition on disease for more than 30 years. Mary McDougall has contributed her nutritional expertise and recipes as co-author on many of the bestselling McDougall books.

Get Real & Stop Dieting!
If you are ready to make a life change for the sake of better health, look no further than this simple, no-frills guide to healthy eating. In the pages of "Get Real & Stop Dieting!," fitness instructor and wellness expert Brett Blumenthal cuts through the chaos of fad diets and scientific mumbo jumbo to demystify healthy eating once and for all. After decades of experience in the health and wellness industries, Blumenthal has zeroed in on five simple “Get Real” principles, nutritional tools founded in cold, hard facts. The principles are accompanied by the “Get Real” toolkit to make implementing them easy and effective. Plus, Blumenthal provides forty pages of healthy, satisfying recipes—from whole-grain pancakes to rich chocolate clusters—to help readers launch their nutritional makeover. Healthy eating doesn’t have to be complicated. Now, thanks to this easy-to-implement diet and nutrition program, you too can be inspired, empowered, and motivated to live a healthier, happier life.

Give It Up!: My Year of Learning to Live Better with Less ($1.99), by Mary Carlomagno

Book Description
"Would it be possible to live without the designer coffee, the Kate Spade Bags, the technology that was a part of my every day existence? Could stripping away some of those items and habits make me a appreciate what I was so fortunate to have? I created a plan. Each month for one year, I would choose one of my favorite things and give it up cold turkey for one month. This would become my year to live better with less."

Giving It Up approaches the self–improvement, makeover trends from a new angle: improving ourselves from the inside out. For one month each, Mary Carlomagno gives up alcohol, shopping, elevators, newspapers, cell phones, dining out, television, taxis, coffee, cursing, chocolate, and multi–tasking. In doing so, she gains a deeper appreciation for what she has, and for the world around her. Giving It Up is a wake up call to think, to understand, and to enjoy the lives that we live.

Grab the discounted Justice with Bonus Material ($1.99), by Faye Kellerman, before it disappears and you have to pay full price ($8.99) once again. This is the eighth title in the popular (and long-running) Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus series, but is as good a spot to start as any, if you aren't one that needs to read a series entirely in order.

Book Description
For a limited time, discover one of Faye Kellerman first Decker/Lazarus novels at a special price, including an exclusive excerpt from her new thriller, Gun Games, available January 2012.

The cruel and bizarre slaying of a beautiful teen leads Detective Decker into the dark heart of an exotic subculture: the seamy, sometimes violent world of Southern California’s rootless, affluent youth. But even the confession of a disturbed kid with cold “killer eyes” cannot soothe Decker’s inner torment. For he knows in his gut this crime goes much deeper and higher than anyone expects—and that true justice, brutal and complete, has yet to be done.

Princess of the Midnight Ball ($2.99) is the first title in the titular series by Jessica Day George.

Book Description
A tale of twelve princesses doomed to dance until dawn…

Galen is a young soldier returning from war; Rose is one of twelve princesses condemned to dance each night for the King Under Stone. Together Galen and Rose will search for a way to break the curse that forces the princesses to dance at the midnight balls. All they need is one invisibility cloak, a black wool chain knit with enchanted silver needles, and that most critical ingredient of all—true love—to conquer their foes in the dark halls below. But malevolent forces are working against them above ground as well, and as cruel as the King Under Stone has seemed, his wrath is mere irritation compared to the evil that awaits Galen and Rose in the brighter world above.

Captivating from start to finish, Jessica Day George’s take on the Grimms’ tale The Twelve Dancing Princesses demonstrates yet again her mastery at spinning something entirely fresh out of a story you thought you knew.

You can pick up both titles in Mark Teppo's Codex of Souls series (published by Nightshade Books) for only 99 cents each: Lightbreaker and Heartland.

Lightbreaker
Markham has returned to Seattle, searching for Katarina, the girl who, a decade ago, touched his soul, literally tearing it from his body. But what he discovers upon arriving is dark magick - of a most ancient and destructive kind! An encounter with a desperate spirit, leaping destructively from host to host, sets Markham on the trail of secretive cabal of magicians seeking to punch a hole through heaven, extinguishing forever the divine spark. Armed with the Chorus, a phantasmal chain of human souls he wields as a weapon of will, Markham must engage in a magickal battle with earth-shattering stakes! Markum must delve deep into his past, calling on every aspect of his occult training for there to be any hope of a future. But delve he must, for Markham is a veneficus, a spirit thief, the Lightbreaker...

Heartland
Seek the Light! Embrace the Heartland! Markham returns to Paris where he lost his love - and nearly his life! The ancient order of manipulative magicians that once cast him out is now in turmoil... a turmoil made all the greater by the swaths of destruction that Markham tried to avert in the Pacific Northwest. Teamed with an unlikely partner, Markham seeks to overturn the corrupt remains of an order no longer able to police its own practitioners. Yet, he can't escape the feeling that he's still just a pawn in a larger game. The second novel of the Codex of Souls further explores the strange occult world first introduced in Lightbreaker. Mark Teppo's vision of a magical underworld is a non-stop adventure that continues to bring new light to the occult origins of our history.

Seven Serpents Trilogy ($3.99), by Scott O'Dell, includes all three Books in this young adult series published by Sourcebooks: The Captive; The Feathered Serpent; and The Amethyst Ring.

Book Description
What would you do if everyone thought you were a god?

Young Juliá́n Escobar is traveling to the New World to spread the gospel to the newly discovered Mayan Empire when a hurricane strikes his ship, scattering its contents to the four winds and leaving Julian as the sole survivor. After struggling ashore, he encounters a young Mayan woman who is shocked at his presence.

Soon he learns why. Centuries ago the fair-skinned Mayan god Kukulcá́n—the Feathered Serpent—sailed away with the promise that one day he would return. With his very life at stake, Juliá́n does the unimaginable: he begins to impersonate this returned god.

Some additions to today's backlist/indie free book list on Kindle:

• New York Nights, by Eric Brown
• Plan B: A Nick Heller Story, by Joseph Finder
• Zombie Eyes (Bloodscreams #3), by Robert W. Walker
• The Ancient Lands: Warrior Quest, Search for the Ifa Scepter, by Jason McCammon
• Return of the Runaway Bride, by Donna Fasano
• Learn Me Good, by John Pearson
• The Wyrm Conspiracy, by Rich Middleton
• Life On the Off Ramp: Most Family Life Occurs Far From the Fast Lane, by Donna T. Cavanagh
• Caveat Emptor-Buyer Beware (Phillip Fairfax Series), by Paul Howell
• The Toil and Trouble Trilogy, Book One, by V. J. Chambers
• Uncrossing Her Legs, by Teresa D. Patterson
• David And Suzanne's Big Frickin' Canadian Motorcycle Adventure, by David Moore and Erick Lingbloom (Illustrator)
• Wild Child, by Mike Wells
• The Wizard of Time, by G.L. Breedon
• No Shelter (Holly Lin, No. 1), by Robert Swartwood and Z. Constance Frost
• Nine books by Thomas Hoover

Free Book - ETF Trading and Investing Strategies (K/N)

Update: 1/6/12 Now free in the Kindle store.

ETF Trading and Investing Strategies ($47.99 Kindle), a collection of titles by Tom Lydon, Leslie N. Masonson and Marvin N. Appel, is free from Barnes & Noble, courtesy of FT Press.

Book Description
Breakthrough ETF trading and investing strategies: 3 eBooks packed with techniques for reducing your risks and costs—and supercharging your returns!

Three remarkable eBooks help you use the latest ETF strategies to cut your investing costs, control your risks, and improve your returns! In The ETF Trend Following Playbook, Tom Lydon helps you drive superior performance by combining proven trend following strategies, low-cost ETFs, and fully-proven technical analysis methods. You'll discover how to quickly identify markets that are about to plummet, so you can get out of the way... and how to identify markets that are headed up, so you can capture all of their profits. In Buy—Don't Hold, Leslie Masonson shows how to avoid the massive stock-market drops that destroy "buy and hold" investors, and offers specific, easy-to-use investing strategies for investors with each risk profile: conservative, moderate and aggressive. Finally, in Investing with Exchange Traded Funds Made Easy, Marvin Appel cuts through today's ETF marketing hype, helping you choose the right ETFs from the hundreds now available. Drawing on objective data and proven, backtested strategies, Appel reveals what ETFs can and can't do, and shows exactly how to use them to consistently beat the market.

Get the free ebook from Barnes & Noble.

Free Book - Marketing Metrics (K/N)

Marketing Metrics: The Definitive Guide to Measuring Marketing Performance , by Paul W. Farris, Neil T. Bendle, Phillip E. Pfeifer and David J. Reibstein, is a repeat freebie in the Kindle store and from Barnes & Noble, courtesy of Pearson Prentice Hall. Be careful trying to order from the nook (or doing a search on the web), as there are two editions and the one that was free last time (and shows up in searches) is over $25.

Book Description
Marketing Metrics, Second Edition, is the definitive guide to today’s most valuable marketing metrics. In this thoroughly updated and significantly expanded book, four leading marketing researchers show exactly how to choose the right metrics for every challenge.

The authors show how to use marketing dashboards to view market dynamics from multiple perspectives, maximize accuracy, and “triangulate” to optimal solutions. You’ll discover high-value metrics for virtually every facet of marketing: promotional strategy, advertising, and distribution; customer perceptions; market share; competitors’ power; margins and pricing; products and portfolios; customer profitability; sales forces and channels; and more.

This edition introduces essential new metrics ranging from Net Promoter to social media and brand equity measurement. Last, but not least, it shows how to build comprehensive models to support planning--and optimize every marketing decision you make.

You’ll find practical, up-to-the-minute techniques for measuring everything from brand equity to social media, market share to web engagement. For every metric, the authors present real-world pros, cons, and tradeoffs--and help you understand what the numbers really mean. You’ll learn how to design and interpret marketing dashboards to identify emerging opportunities and risks and use powerful new modeling techniques to optimize every decision you make. In this second edition the authors expand their treatment of social marketing, web metrics, and brand equity. They also give readers new systems for organizing marketing metrics into models and dashboards that translate numbers into management insight.

Get the free ebook from Barnes & Noble.

Free Book - Disrupt (K/N)

Disrupt: Think the Unthinkable to Spark Transformation in Your Business, by Luke Williams, is repeat freebie in the Kindle store and from Barnes & Noble, courtesy of FT Press.

Book Description

In a business world of nonstop change, there's only one way to win the game: Transform it entirely. This requires a revolution in thinking--a steady stream of disruptive strategies and unexpected solutions. In Disrupt, Luke Williams shows exactly how to generate those strategies and deliver those solutions.

This book reflects Williams' immense experience creating breakthrough solutions at frog design, one of the world's leading innovation firms. Williams shows how to combine fluid creativity with analytical rigor in a simple, complete, five-stage process for successfully disrupting any market.

You'll learn why the most unexpected ideas draw the least competitors--and offer the greatest potential. Then, using many examples and a case study, you'll walk through every step of transforming disruptive ideas from conception to breakthrough business strategy.

Get the free ebook from Barnes & Noble.

Free Book - Never Knew Another (K)

Never Knew Another, the first title in the Dogsland Trilogy by J. M. McDermott, is free in the Kindle store, courtesy of Nightshade Books.

Book Description
Fugitive Rachel Nolander is a newcomer the city of Dogsland, where the rich throw parties and the poor just do whatever they can to scrape by. Supported by her brother Djoss, she hides out in their squalid apartment, living in fear that someday, someone will find out that she is the child of a demon. Corporal Jona Lord Joni is a demon's child too, but instead of living in fear, he keeps his secret and goes about his life as a cocky, self-assured man of the law. Never Knew Another is the story of how these two outcasts meet.

Free Book - Tween Heaven and Hell (K/N/E/DF)

Update: 1/3/12 Now free from Sony.

Tween Heaven and Hell, the first title in Sam Cheever's Dancin' With the Devil series, is free in the Kindle store and from Barnes & Noble and from the publisher, Ellora's Cave. This is in their Blush series, so only suggestive romance.

Book Description
Astra Q Phelps is a Tweener, which means she's part angel and part devil. She vaporizes devils and demons for a living. When Astra gets the call from the big Him to aid the good side in a battle between two rival devil courts, she finds herself battling not only the forces of evil but her own nature as she rubs up against the sexiest, most infuriatingly enticing devil prince and discovers he brings out her devil in the most delicious ways.

But Astra's problems don't end with a worrying jolt to her sexual nervous system. She is also discovering that she doesn't really know herself all that well as she begins to uncover magic powers that she didn't know she possessed. She might be entangled in a prophecy that links her to her delicious devil prince in more ways than one. Add to this spicy mix a few yummy secrets she learns about her longtime partner and friend, Emo, and you have a tantalizing stew of problems to solve, and only one small Tweener to unravel them all.

Reader Advisory: This book contains graphic violence.

Get the free ebook from Barnes & Noble.
Get the free ebook from Ellora's Cave.
Get the free ebook from Sony.

Free Book - Pleasure's Foehn (K/N/E/DF)

Update: 1/3/12 Now free from Sony.

Pleasure's Foehn, the first title in the WindVerse series by Charlotte Boyett-Compo, is free in the Kindle store and from Barnes & Noble and from the publisher, Ellora's Cave. It rates a five on the heat index at ARe (but isn't free there, at least, not yet).

Book Description
On the day Davan Shanahan was assigned as doctor to the military pleasure ship, she was having a bad hair day, which was actually an understatement. Her hair looked as though she'd placed her hand on an antique generator. Every dark auburn hair on her head was standing on end.

When Cair Ghrian met Davan, he was coming off one major drunkfest. Known far and wide as The Black Sun, the scythelord of Amhantar was a prince of the royal house, an infamous Deathwielder and a force to be reckoned with…especially when riled. Hating his assignment as the captain of what everyone in the universe called a flying cathouse, Cair's first words to Davan were, "By the Goddess, couldn't you even be bothered to comb that frizzy mess before reporting to me, woman?"

Right from the start, Davan and Cair pushed each other's buttons. She loathed his arrogance and dominating personality. He looked upon her as a nuisance and happily joined the rest of the crew in playing tricks on the new doctor. Thrown together, they would rub each other the wrong way until the rubbing got hot, steamy and incredibly intense.

Get the free ebook from Barnes & Noble.
Get the free ebook from Ellora's Cave.
Get the free ebook from Sony.

Free Book - Buy and Hedge (K/N)

Buy and Hedge: The 5 Iron Rules for Investing Over the Long Term, by Jay Pestrichelli and Wayne Ferbert, is free in the Kindle store and from Barnes & Noble.

Book Description
If you're trying to build wealth, sharp market downturns are your worst enemy. And nowadays, they're happening far more often: in the last 18 years, the S&P 500 has experienced sixteen violent declines. Institutions and professional investors have mastered powerful hedging techniques for dramatically reducing the risks of market volatility. Now, you can do it, too--and you can't afford not to. In Buy and Hedge, two leading investment experts show how to apply hedging as part of a long-term program for growing and preserving your assets. CNBC Fast Money guest Jay Pestrichelli and seasoned financial industry veteran Wayne Ferbert show how to systematically protect yourself against violent downward moves while giving your portfolio maximum room to run in upward markets. The authors' techniques are easy to use, can be applied to most investment vehicles, and--once implemented--require surprisingly little "care and feeding." You'll discover how to take advantage of the hedge-building mechanisms built into low-cost index funds… invest in your ideas with confidence, because you've hedged the downside… systematically manage portfolios for risk as well as return… master and apply the "5 Iron Rules of Buy & Hedge"… use options to manage risk, not to create excess leverage… generate more dividends… effectively manage cash… and much more!

Get the free ebook from Barnes & Noble.

Free Book - Saving for Retirement ... (K/N)

Saving for Retirement without Living Like a Pauper or Winning the Lottery, by Gail MarksJarvis, is a repeat freebie in the Kindle store and from Barnes & Noble.

Book Description
Drawn from responses to questions from over 20,000 readers of the author’s personal finance columns.

Over the years, Chicago Tribune financial columnist Gail MarksJarvis has taken the time to listen and respond to thousands of her readers about the issues, questions, and concerns that are most important to them. Saving and investing for retirement has never been more important...and with this book, it’s never been clearer what you need to do and how to do it.

Get the free ebook from Barnes & Noble.

Free Book - Commentary on Mark (K/N)

Commentary on Mark, by Robert H. Gundry, is free in the Kindle store and from Barnes & Noble, courtesy of Christian publisher Baker.

Book Description
Verse-by-verse explanations with a literal translation.

Shouldn't a Bible commentary clarify what God's Word actually says? Going beyond questions of authorship, date, sources, and historicity, respected linguist and teacher Gundry offers a one-volume exposition of the New Testament that focuses on what is most useful for preaching, teaching, and individual study--what the biblical text really means. Providing interpretive observations in a "breezy" style that's easy to read and adaptable for oral use in pulpit or classroom presentations, Gundry directs his book to an evangelical audience. His crisp translation of the New Testament inserts various phrasings of passages in brackets, allowing for smooth transition from original text to alternative and contemporary readings.

SAMPLE TEXT OF TRANSLATION
JOHN'S PREDICTING A MORE POWERFUL BAPTIZER THAN HE (Mark 1:1-8) 1:1-3: The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, God's Son, according as it's written in Isaiah the prophet, "Behold, I'm sending my messenger before your face [= ahead of you], who'll pave your way [= the road you'll travel], [the messenger who is] the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, 'Prepare the way of the Lord. Make his paths straight.'"

Pastors, Sunday school teachers, small-group leaders, and laypeople will welcome Gundry's non-technical explanations and clarifications. And Bible students at all levels will appreciate his sparkling interpretations of the NT Scriptures. A trustworthy guide for anybody wanting to delve deeper into God's Word.

SAMPLE TEXT OF COMMENTS
"Gospel" means "good news." Jews would associate this good news with Isaiah 52:7. Non-Jews would think of the good news of an emperor's accession to power, birthday, visit to a city, military victory, or bringing of prosperity to the empire. But Mark's good news has to do with the salvation and victory brought by Jesus over evil in all its demonic and physical forms. "The gospel of Jesus Christ" therefore means "the gospel about Jesus Christ" and refers to a proclaimed message ("the voice of one crying out"), not a book (though because books like Mark's contain that proclaimed message, the term came to refer to those books in the capitalized form of "Gospels" to distinguish them from the message, kept uncapitalized as "gospel").

Get the free ebook from Barnes & Noble.

Free Book - Unfriend Yourself (K/N/E)

Update: 1/3/12 Now free from Barnes & Noble and Sony.

Unfriend Yourself, by Kyle Tennant, is free in the Kindle store, courtesy of Christian publisher Moody.

Book Description
We are all connected. To each other, to our devices, to our networks, to everything... The world of social media has turned the rest of our worlds upside down.

Can you disconnect for three days to assess the situation in your own life' This short book is split into three sections to help you DETOX, DISCERN, and DECIDE what role Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and all the rest can and should have in your life. Unfriend Yourself will help you think critically, biblically, and practically from a Christian perspective about the merits and ramifications of our social media culture.

Don't worry, the world can wait; your friends won't even know you're gone-seriously, there are over half a billion of them out there. I doubt you'll be missed.

Get the free ebook from Barnes & Noble.
Get the free ebook from Sony.