Today's Deals

Additional formats on free books:

• 212 (K/N/E)
• Initiation (K/N/E/DF)
• Wicked Desires (K/N/E/DF)
• Ancient Images (K/N/E/I)
• What Your Childhood Memories Say about You . . . (K/N/E)

Today's Kindle Deal of the Day is Seven Norwegian Crime Novels in the Inspector Sejer Mysteries series by Karin Fossum for $1.99 each.

In the wake of Stieg Larsson’s best-selling novels, readers are discovering the rich trove of modern Scandinavian crime fiction. If you’ve devoured the Millennium trilogy and are looking for your next read, Karin Fossum and her bone-chillingly bleak psychological thrillers have won the admiration of the likes of Ruth Rendell and Colin Dexter (of Inspector Morse fame).

1. Don't Look Back
   Don't Look Back heralds the arrival of an exotic new crime series featuring Inspector Sejer, a smart and enigmatic hero, tough but fair. The setting is a small, idyllic village at the foot of Norway's Kollen Mountain, where neighbors know neighbors and children play happily in the streets. But when the body of a teenage girl is found by the lake at the mountaintop, the town's tranquillity is shattered forever. Annie was strong, intelligent, and loved by everyone. What went so terribly wrong? Doggedly, yet subtly, Inspector Sejer uncovers layer upon layer of distrust and lies beneath the town's seemingly perfect facade.
2. He Who Fears the Wolf
   Inspector Sejer is hard at work again, investigating the brutal murder of a woman who lived alone in the middle of the woods. The chief suspect is another loner, a schizophrenic recently escaped from a mental institution. The only witness is a twelve-year-old boy, overweight, obsessed with archery, and a resident at a home for delinquents. When a demented man robs a nearby bank and accidentally takes the suspect hostage, the three misfits are drawn into an uneasy alliance.
   
   Shrewdly, patiently, as is his way, Inspector Sejer confronts a case where the strangeness of the crime is matched only by the strangeness of the criminals, and where small-town prejudices warp every piece of information he tries to collect. Fossum once again provides extraordinary insight into marginalized lives and richly evokes the atmosphere she captured so brilliantly in Don't Look Back.
3. When the Devil Holds the Candle
   When two teenagers steal a purse from a stroller, it results in an infant’s death. Unaware of the enormity of their crime, Zipp and Andreas are intent on committing another. They follow an elderly woman home, and Andreas enters her house with his switchblade. In the dark, Zipp waits for his friend to come out.
   
   Inspector Konrad Sejer and his colleague Jacob Skarre see no connection between the infant’s death and the reported disappearance of a local delinquent. And so while the confusion outside mounts, the heart-stopping truth unfolds inside the old woman’s home.
   
   Unflappable as ever, Sejer digs below the surface of small- town tranquility in an effort to understand how and why violence destroys everyday lives.
4. The Indian Bride
   When perpetual bachelor Gunder Jomann goes to India for two weeks and comes home married, the town of Elvestad is stunned. On the day the Indian bride is supposed to arrive, the battered body of a woman is found in a meadow on the outskirts of town. None of the "good people of Elvestad" can believe that anyone among them would be capable of such a brutal murder. But in his quiet, formal way, Inspector Konrad Sejer understands that good people can commit atrocious deeds, and that no one is altogether innocent—including the café owner who knows too much, the girl who wants to be a chief witness, and the bodybuilder with no outlet for his terrible strength.
5. Black Seconds
   Ida Joner gets on her brand-new bike and sets off toward town. A good-natured, happy girl, she is looking forward to her tenth birthday. Thirty-five minutes after Ida should have come home, her mother starts to worry. She phones store owners, Ida’s friends, anyone who could have seen her. But no one has.
   
   Suspicion immediately falls on Emil Mork, a local character who lives alone and hasn’t spoken since childhood. His mother insists on cleaning his house weekly—although she’s sometimes afraid of what she might find there. A mother’s worst nightmare in either case: to lose a child or to think a child capable of murder. As Ida’s relatives reach the breaking point and the media frenzy surrounding the case begins, Inspector Konrad Sejer is his usual calm and reassuring self. But he’s puzzled. And disturbed. This is the strangest case he’s seen in years.
6. The Water's Edge
   Reinhardt and Kristine Ris, a married couple, are out for a Sunday walk when they discover the body of a boy and see the figure of a man limping away. They alert the police, but not before Reinhardt, to Kristine’s horror, kneels down and takes photographs of the dead child with his cell phone. Inspectors Konrad Sejer and Jakob Skarre begin to make inquiries in the little town of Huseby. But then another boy disappears, and an explanation seems more remote than ever. Meanwhile, the Rises’ marriage unravels as Reinhardt becomes obsessed with the tragic events and his own part in them.
7. Bad Intentions
   In Bad Intentions, the newest installment in the Inspector Sejer series since The Water’s Edge in 2009, Konrad Sejer must face down his memories and fears as he struggles to determine why the corpses of troubled young men keep surfacing in local lakes.
   
   The first victim, Jon Moreno, was getting better. His psychiatrist said so, and so did his new friend at the hospital, Molly Gram, with her little-girl-lost looks. He was racked by a mysterious guilt that had driven him to a nervous breakdown one year earlier. But when he drowns in Dead Water Lake, Sejer hesitates to call it a suicide.
   
   Then another corpse is found in a lake, a Vietnamese immigrant. And Sejer begins to feel his age weigh on him. Does he still have the strength to pursue the elusive explanations for human evil?

Fear in the Sunlight ($1.57 / £0.99 UK), the fourth title in the Josephine Tey Mystery series by Nicola Upson, is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (no US edition). In addition, the first in the series, An Expert in Murder ($2.17 / £1.37 UK), is also marked down to a very good price.

Book Description
Summer, 1936. The writer, Josephine Tey, joins her friends in the holiday village of Portmeirion to celebrate her fortieth birthday. Alfred Hitchcock and his wife, Alma Reville, are there to sign a deal to film Josephine's novel, A Shilling for Candles, and Hitchcock has one or two tricks up his sleeve to keep the holiday party entertained - and expose their deepest fears. But things get out of hand when one of Hollywood's leading actresses is brutally slashed to death in a cemetery near the village. The following day, as fear and suspicion take over in a setting where nothing - and no one - is quite what it seems, Chief Inspector Archie Penrose becomes increasingly unsatisfied with the way the investigation is ultimately resolved. Several years later, another horrific murder, again linked to a Hitchcock movie, drives Penrose back to the scene of the original crime to uncover the shocking truth.

Forbidden ($2.99 Kindle, B&N), the first title in The Books of Mortals series by Ted Dekker and Tosca Lee, is the Nook Daily Find, price matched on Kindle. You can still get the prequel story, The Keeper, free, also.

Book Description
Many years have passed since civilization's brush with apocalypse. The world's greatest threats have all been silenced. There is no anger, no hatred, no war. There is only perfect peace... and fear. But a terrible secret has been closely guarded for centuries: Every single soul walking the earth, though in appearance totally normal, is actually dead, long ago genetically stripped of true humanity.

Fleeing pursuit, with only moments to live, a young man named Rom stumbles into possession of a vial of blood and a piece of cryptic writing. When consumed, the blood will bring him back to life. When decoded, the message will lead him on a perilous journey that will require him to abandon everything he has ever known and awaken humanity to the transforming power of true life and love.

But the blood will also resurrect hatred, ambition, and greed.

Set in a terrifying, medieval future, where grim pageantry masks death, this tale of dark desires and staggering stakes peels back the layers of the heart for all who dare to take the ride.

Inkdeath ($8.57 Kindle, $1.99 B&N), the concluding volume of the Inkheart Trilogy by Cornelia Funke, is the Nook Daily Find for Families.

Book Description
The masterful conclusion to the epic, award-winning, NYT bestselling INKHEART trilogy by internationally acclaimed author Cornelia Funke.

The Adderhead--his immortality bound in a book by Meggie's father, Mo--has ordered his henchmen to plunder the villages. The peasants' only defense is a band of outlaws led by the Bluejay--Mo's fictitious double, whose identity he has reluctantly adopted. But the Book of Immortality is unraveling, and the Adderhead again fears the White Women of Death. To bring the renegade Bluejay back to repair the book, the Adderhead kidnaps all the children in the kingdom, dooming them to slavery in his silver mines unless Mo surrenders. First Dustfinger, now Mo: Can anyone save this cursed story?

Audible $7.95 Sale

Audible has another $7.95 sale for member, with series books by three authors included (in the US, selection may vary in other regions): Robert Crais, Charlaine Harris and J.D. Robb. When you arrive on the page, it may appear that there are no audiobooks listed - just click on one of the author names to see which books are included.

The sale ends Tuesday, May 29, 2012 @ 11:59PM ET.

Today's Deals

Kobo is also having a Memorial Day Sale with 25% off selected books using coupon code lwus25off (most likely this is a one time use code).

Fictionwise's Coupon Code this weekend is for 30% off: 052512

For the romance readers out there, get a free book (up to $5.50) from Samhain Publishing, using coupon code RT2012 (expires: 5/30/12). If you pick a more expensive book, I imagine it will give you $5.50 off the purchase; works on current titles and pre-orders. You don't enter this until the Confirmation page, so you might want to pick PayPal for payment, so you can get there without entering any CC info.

Use the code 40mdoff2012 for 40% Off any XO Skin! Expires: May 29 2012

Today's Kindle Deal of the Day is God is an Englishman ($1.99), the first volume of R. Delderfield's Swann Family Saga.

Book Description
From master author R. F. Delderfield, the first in the beloved classic God Is an Englishman series.

The first novel in the epic God Is an Englishman series, this book is a stirring saga of England in the 19th century, as the Industrial Revolution takes hold, forever changing the landscape of England and her people.

Adam Swann, scion of an army family, returns home in 1858 after service with Her Majesty's army in the Crimea and India, determined to build his fortune in the dog-eat-dog world of Victorian commerce. Swann is soon captivated by Henrietta, the high-spirited daughter of a local mill owner. As Swann works to build his name, he and Henrietta share adventures, reversal, and fortune.

A beloved novel by a beloved author, God Is an Englishman is a treasure both for Delderfield fans and the growing legion of fans of historical fiction.

Burying The Bones: Pearl Buck in China ($1.57 / £0.99 UK), by Hilary Spurling , is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (the US edition is $9.99).

Book Description
Pearl Buck was raised in China by her American parents, Presbyterian missionaries from Virginia. Blonde and blue-eyed she looked startlingly foreign, but felt as at home as her Chinese companions. She ran free on the grave-littered grasslands behind her house, often stumbling across the tiny bones of baby girls who had been suffocated at birth. Buck's father was a terrifying figure, with a maniacal zeal for religious conversion – a passion rarely shared by the local communities he targeted. He drained the family's budget for his Chinese translation of the New Testament, while his aggrieved, long-suffering wife did her utmost to create a homely environment for her children, several of whom died tragically young.

Pearl Buck would eventually rise to eminence in America as a bestselling author (her most renowned work, The Good Earth, re-entered the bestseller charts in 2004 when it was selected for Oprah's Book Club) but in this startlingly original biography, Spurling recounts with elegance and great insight her unspeakable upbringing in a China that was virtually unknown to the West.

The Lions of Lucerne ($3.99 Kindle, $2.99 B&N), the first title in the Scot Harvath series by Brad Thor, is the Nook Daily Find, almost price matched on Kindle and Kobo. However, this is an Agency publisher, so the price should be the same, everywhere - if you want it on Kindle, I'd check later this afternoon, to see if it drops (and report the lower price, in the meantime).

Book Description
On the snow-covered slopes of Utah, the President of the United States has been kidnapped and his SecretService detail massacred. Only one agenthas survived—ex-Navy SEAL Scot Harvath. He doesn’t buy the official line that Middle Eastern terrorists are behind the attack and begins his own campaign to find the truth and exact revenge. But now, framed for murder by a sinister cabal, Harvath takes his fight to the towering mountains of Switzerland—and joins forces with beautiful Claudia Mueller of the Swiss Federal Attorney’s Office. Together they must brave the subzero temperatures and sheer heights of treacherous Mount Pilatus—where their only chance for survival lies inside the den of the most lethal team of professional killers the world has ever known. . . .

Callie ($3.82 Kindle, $1.49 B&N), the first in the Kitty Corner series by Ellen Miles, is the Nook Daily Find for Families.

Book Description
From the bestselling author of THE PUPPY PLACE.

Mia and Michael Battelli want a pet more than anything. And a cuddly cat or kitten would be perfect for their small brownstone apartment. But their parents aren't sure Mia and Michael are ready for the responsibility.

Then Mia spots a tiny calico foraging for food. Callie doesn't seem to belong to anyone--and she's hurt. Mia can't just leave her to fend for herself! But what if she can't convince her parents to keep the sweet little kitten? Will Callie ever find a home?

Labor Day ($2.99 Kindle, Kobo), by Joyce Maynard, is my pick for Today's Deal at Kobo, price matched on Kindle. It takes place at the other end of summer, over another long weekend, but should be a good summer read.

Book Description
With the end of summer closing in and a steamy Labor Day weekend looming in the town of Holton Mills, New Hampshire, thirteen-year-old Henry—lonely, friendless, not too good at sports—spends most of his time watching television, reading, and daydreaming about the soft skin and budding bodies of his female classmates. For company Henry has his long-divorced mother, Adele—a onetime dancer whose summer project was to teach him how to foxtrot; his hamster, Joe; and awkward Saturday-night outings to Friendly's with his estranged father and new stepfamily. As much as he tries, Henry knows that even with his jokes and his "Husband for a Day" coupon, he still can't make his emotionally fragile mother happy. Adele has a secret that makes it hard for her to leave their house, and seems to possess an irreparably broken heart.

But all that changes on the Thursday before Labor Day, when a mysterious bleeding man named Frank approaches Henry and asks for a hand. Over the next five days, Henry will learn some of life's most valuable lessons: how to throw a baseball, the secret to perfect piecrust, the breathless pain of jealousy, the power of betrayal, and the importance of putting others—especially those we love—above ourselves. And the knowledge that real love is worth waiting for.

In a manner evoking Ian McEwan's Atonement and Nick Hornby's About a Boy, acclaimed author Joyce Maynard weaves a beautiful, poignant tale of love, sex, adolescence, and devastating treachery as seen through the eyes of a young teenage boy—and the man he later becomes—looking back at an unexpected encounter that begins one single long, hot, life-altering weekend.

Today's Deals

40% off one book at the Sony Reader store, must apply to account by 5/30: MEMORIAL40

Amazon.UK is celebrating Memorial Day weekend with a £0.99 Jubilee Sale, which has over 200 books to choose from, while Germany has a "Summer Comes" Sale with 80% off English language books and prices of EUR 0,99 - 1,09. Although the US Amazon Store is having a Memorial Day Event for books, it is for print editions, although the monthly $3.99 or Less Sale is ongoing.

Unfortunately, I only had one voucher code on the Refurbished Kindles, so several of you will have to wait until next time. Congratulations, though, to jvan, chosen by the number generator at Random.Org. Check your email for the code and instructions on using it. Be sure to check your Spam folder if you don't see it right away.

Additional formats on free books:

• Untamed (K/E/I)

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

• Neutrogena: Get $10 Off $30 Order

Today's Kindle Deal of the Day is the AmazonEncore edition of Greyhound ($0.99), by Steffan Piper.

Book Description
12-year-old Sebastien Ranes is taking a trip. He doesn't exactly understand why, but he accepts it. His mother often seems too emotionally detached to care for him. Her latest boyfriend Dick takes cruel pleasure in mimicking the boy’s stuttering, and wants to live his life without "somebody else's kid" getting in the way. So it's no surprise when they pack his bags to send him away. It is a surprise when they send him alone.

Ushered from his Stockton, California home, Sebastien must fend for himself and travel two thousand miles across the country to live with his grandmother and sister in Pennsylvania. Along the way, he learns that sometimes caring, guidance and understanding can come from some unlikely people.

Marcus is a man who has been neglected more by society than his family. As a young black ex-con, he is not the epitome of the person most would pick as a chaperone for their child's cross country trip. Yet rather than be held apart by their differences, Marcus and Sebastien are drawn together by the things that make us all alike. As both guide and protector, Marcus imparts his own style of wisdom while showing Sebastien that, despite the darker side of the human condition, people can and do care for one another.

Greyhound is the story of the journey taken by a young boy into manhood, and by the reader into his world. Like every trip, there are many stops along the way. But this journey differs in the way young Sebastien arrives at his destination.

The Happiness Equation ($1.57 / £0.99 UK), by Nick Powdthavee, is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (the US edition is $8.39).

Book Description
Everybody wants to be happy. But how much happiness will each life choice bring? Should I get married? Am I going to feel good in that new job? Is seeing friends worth more than a Ferrari? How can we decide not only which choice is better for us, but how much better?

The Happiness Equation reveals the cutting-edge new science of happiness economics for the first time and explains, quantifiably, how and why some things matter more to our happiness than others.

About the Author
Nick Powdthavee is a behavioral economist at the department of economics, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time ($8.61 $1.99 Kindle, B&N), by Brian Tracy, is the Nook Daily Find, price matched on Kindle.

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.

Every idea in this book is focused on increasing your overall levels of productivity, performance, and output and on making you more valuable in whatever you do. You can apply many of these ideas to your personal life as well. Each of these twenty-one methods and techniques is complete in itself. All are necessary. One strategy might be effective in one situation and another might apply to another task. All together, these twenty-one ideas represent a smorgasbord of personal effectiveness techniques that you can use at any time, in any order or sequence that makes sense to you at the moment. The key to success is action. These principles work to bring about fast, predictable improvements in performance and results. The faster you learn and apply them, the faster you will move ahead in your career—guaranteed! There will be no limit to what you can accomplish when you learn how to Eat That Frog!

Tiger's Quest ($10.98 Hardcover, $2.49 B&N), the second title in the Tiger's Curse series by Colleen Houck, is the Nook Daily Find for Families; no Kindle edition.

Book Description
Back in Oregon, Kelsey tries to pick up the pieces of her life and push aside her feelings for Ren. But danger lurks around the corner, forcing her to return to India where she embarks on a second quest--this time with Ren's dark, bad-boy brother Kishan, who has also fallen prey to the Tiger's Curse. Fraught with danger, spellbinding dreams, and choices of the heart, TIGER'S QUEST brings the trio one step closer to breaking the spell that binds them.

Winner of a Parent's Choice Award!

Today's Deals

If it seems like forever since you've seen a Kindle Special Offer, you would be correct. There are only three deals still active (one ends tomorrow) and the last one to show up was May 1. Instead, I am starting to see some short-time AmazonLocal deals show up that are for Amazon products (Kindle, MP3), rather than for mostly companies I've never dealt with (and for products that even at half price, seem to be priced to high). Today's deal (good thru tomorrow, from what I can see, or until they sell out), is for "half-price" movie tickets via Fandango. Fandango has pretty much a monopoly on advance ticket sales and if you use them (and don't go to matinees with prices already near the $6 mark), this is a pretty decent deal. Pay $6 and get a voucher for Fandango good for $12 off one ticket. Must be used by Sep 30 (or reverts to $6 value) and limit two vouchers per person. You can order them via your Kindle (uses your default payment type) or online.

Speaking of AmazonLocal, I signed up for a the "$20 Off a Certified Refurbished Kindle" voucher, but don't really have a need for it. It must be used by May 29, 2012, so if you would like it (and plan on buying a Kindle in the next few days), leave a comment below with an email address (I'll moderate and not publish the comments). I'll pick someone in the morning and email you the voucher. Please, only comment if you can use the voucher. I'll have another contest this weekend, with a number of iTunes codes, that everyone can participate in.


Today's Kindle Deal of the Day is It Happened on the Way to War ($1.99), by Rye Barcot.

Book Description
In 2000 Rye Barcott spent part of his summer living in the Kibera slum of Nairobi, Kenya. He was a college student heading into the Marines, and he sought to better understand ethnic violence-something he would likely facelater in uniform. He learned Swahili, asked questions, and listened to young people talk about how they survived in poverty he had never imagined. Anxious to help but unsure what to do, he stumbled into friendship with awidowed nurse, Tabitha Atieno Festo, and a hardscrabble community organizer, Salim Mohamed.Together, this unlikely trio built a non-governmental organization that would develop a new generation of leaders from within one of Africa's largest slums. Their organization, Carolina for Kibera (CFK), is now a global pioneer of the movement called Participatory Development, and washonored by Time magazine as a "Hero of Global Health." CFK's greatest lesson may be that with the right kind of support, people in desperate places will take charge of their lives and create breathtaking change.Engaged in two seemingly contradictory forms of public service at the same time, Barcott continued his leadership in CFK while serving as a human intelligence officer in Iraq, Bosnia, and the Horn of Africa. Struggling with the intense stress of leading Marines in dangerous places, he took thetools he learned building a community in one of the most fractured parts of Kenya and became a more effective counterinsurgent and peacekeeper.It Happened on the Way to War is a true story of sacrifice and courage and the powerful melding of military and humanitarian service. It's a story of what America's role in the world could be.

About the Author
Rye Barcott founded the renowned non-governmental organization Carolina for Kibera (CFK) with Salim Mohamed and Tabitha Atieno Festo while he was an undergraduate at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. After graduation, he served as a Marine for five years on active duty. In 2006 ABC World News named then Captain Barcott a Person of the Week and Person of the Year for his dual service to Kibera and the Marine Corps. As a Reynolds Social Entrepreneurship Fellow, he earned master's degrees in business and public administration from Harvard University. He is currently a member of the World Learning Board of Trustees and a TED Fellow living in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Ashes ($1.72 / £1.09 UK), the first title in the trilogy by Ilsa Bick, is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (the US edition is $7.69 on Kindle and from Kobo, where it is coupon eligible). The second in the series, Shadows, is now available to pre-order in the US and should release in September in both the US and UK.

Book Description
It could happen tomorrow . . .

An electromagnetic pulse flashes across the sky, destroying every electronic device, wiping out every computerized system, and killing billions.
Alex hiked into the woods to say good-bye to her dead parents and her personal demons. Now desperate to find out what happened after the pulse crushes her to the ground, Alex meets up with Tom—a young soldier—and Ellie, a girl whose grandfather was killed by the EMP.

For this improvised family and the others who are spared, it’s now a question of who can be trusted and who is no longer human.

Author Ilsa J. Bick crafts a terrifying and thrilling novel about a world that could be ours at any moment, where those left standing must learn what it means not just to survive, but to live amidst the devastation.

Presentations in Action: 80 Memorable Presentation Lessons from the Masters ($12.99 Kindle, $1.99 B&N), by Jerry Weissman, is the Nook Daily Find; this title was free on Kindle last September.

Book Description
World-renowned presentation coach Jerry Weissman has spent 20 years helping top executives succeed in the most important business presentations of their lives. Here’s what he’s learned: the best way to get his message across is to show his techniques in action. Weissman does just that: he teaches how to make spectacularly successful presentations by showing exactly how great presenters have done it. Weissman dives into his library of outstanding presentations, sharing examples from current events, politics, science, art, music, literature, cinema, media, sports, and even the military. His compelling examples don’t just demonstrate what’s universal about effective human communication: they also reveal powerful ways to solve the specific challenges presenters encounter most often.

This book’s five sections focus on each element of the outstanding contemporary presentation: Content: Mastering the art of telling your story; Graphics: Designing PowerPoint slides that work brilliantly; Delivery skills: How to make actions speak louder than words; Q&A: How to handle tough questions; Integration: How to put it all together.

From clarifying “What’s in it for you?” to crafting better elevator pitches, improving flow to using anecdotes, Presentation in Action is packed with solutions–and packed with inspiration, too!

The Sea of Monsters ($2.99 Kindle, B&N), the second title in Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, is the Nook Daily Find for Families, price matched on Kindle. I paid more than this when I bought it two years ago (in fact, when I bought everything in the series). Definitely recommended if you have tweens/teens in the house, this series was read by adults here (think of it as a US Harry Potter, but with Gods, Demigods and Monsters) and it appears that the first four books in the series are all below the $5 mark.

Book Description
After a summer spent trying to prevent a catastrophic war among the Greek gods, Percy Jackson finds his seventh-grade school year unnervingly quiet. His biggest problem is dealing with his new friend, Tyson—a six-foot-three, mentally challenged homeless kid who follows Percy everywhere, making it hard for Percy to have any “normal” friends. But things don’t stay quiet for long. Percy soon discovers there is trouble at Camp Half-Blood: the magical borders which protect Half-Blood Hill have been poisoned by a mysterious enemy, and the only safe haven for demigods is on the verge of being overrun by mythological monsters. To save the camp, Percy needs the help of his best friend, Grover, who has been taken prisoner by the Cyclops Polyphemus on an island somewhere in the Sea of Monsters, the dangerous waters Greek heroes have sailed for millennia—only today, the Sea of Monsters goes by a new name…the Bermuda Triangle. Now Percy and his friends—Grover, Annabeth, and Tyson—must retrieve the Golden Fleece from the Island of the Cyclopes by the end of the summer or Camp Half-Blood will be destroyed. But first, Percy will learn a stunning new secret about his family—one that makes him question whether being claimed as Poseidon’s son is an honor or simply a cruel joke.

Real Life & Liars with Bonus Excerpt ($2.99 Kindle, Kobo), by Kristina Riggle, is my pick for the Today's Deal at Kobo, price matched on Kindle.

Book Description
For a limited time at a special price, enjoy Kristina Riggle's heartwarming novel Real Life & Liars along with an excerpt from her upcoming new novel, Keepsake, on sale June 26, 2012.

Sometimes you find happiness where, and when, you least expect it.

For Mirabelle Zielinski's children, happiness always seems to be just out of reach. Her polished oldest daughter, Katya, clings to a stale marriage with a workaholic husband and three spoiled children. Her son, Ivan, so creative, is a down-in-the-dumps songwriter with the worst taste in women. And the "baby," impulsive Irina, who lives life on a whim, is now reluctantly pregnant and hitched to a man who is twice her age. On the weekend of their parents' anniversary party, lies will be revealed, hearts will be broken...but love will also be found. And the biggest shock may come from Mirabelle herself, because she has a secret that will change everything.

Get $2 Off Select $5 MP3 Albums

Another great MP3 deal, for those with either a Kindle Fire or access to any Android device that can run the Amazon MP3 app: Get $2 Off Select $5 MP3 Albums When You Purchase on the Amazon MP3 App for Android or Kindle Fire. You must use either the App or the Music Store from the Kindle Fire, not a web browser to purchase the album. So, although I've linked in the list here, to make it easier to see which albums are on the list (it's mostly the same as the May $5 MP3 Albums list, but not quite the same, as I saw a $2.99 Memoryhouse album hiding on this offer's page; you may or may not get the $2 discount on it, since it isn't a "$5 album"), you'll need to do a manual search on your device to find the album and purchase it. Be sure that you don't accidentally grab a version that has a digital booklet with it, also, as those are specifically excluded.

There's no date indicated on when this offer ends, so I wouldn't wait too long to try it (right now, I see a box about the offer on the product details page for the albums included - so long as you can see that, it should still be a valid promotion). I also don't see any information as to whether or not this is a "limit one" offer, so if anyone buys two from the list, could you leave a comment and let us all know if you received the discount each time? Also, if you have any problems getting the discount (on the earlier Lumineers $2 off discount that had the same purchase requirements, I didn't get my $2 off and had to email support to get a credit). OK, I found two albums on the list that I wanted and decided to chance it - in fact, you do get the $2 discount for each album purchased, with no apparent limit (other than that there are only about 100 albums that qualify).

If you still have the $2 Facebook MP3 credit (good thru tomorrow), you can combine it with this one, giving you a net price of $1 on any of the albums included. Alas, I spent my credit on John Handy's Live At Monterey album; although the album is priced at $9.99, you can get each of the two 1/2 hour long cuts for 99 cents apiece (If Only We Knew and Spanish Lady), leaving two cents to spend on something else. Another good choice for that credit would be Lionel Richie's Tuskegee album, which is currently on sale at $2.99 (not included in this sale, though, so you can't double up the credits on it).

The Fine Print
Purchase Select $5 MP3 Albums on Your Kindle Fire or on the Amazon MP3 App for Android and Get a $2 Discount Applied at Purchase.

1. Search for any eligible $5 MP3 album title in the Amazon MP3 App for Android or Kindle Fire. If you don't have the Amazon MP3 App for Android, download it here.
2. Purchase your album by clicking the "Buy" button and your $2 discount will be automatically applied to your order. The credit only applies to album purchases and not individual song purchases from the albums. The discount will not apply to album purchases made in the Amazon MP3 webstore or through your Kindle Fire browser. This promotion does not apply to digital booklet versions of the $5 album titles.
3. After your purchase, you can confirm that your $2 credit was applied by checking your order confirmation, which will be sent to you by e-mail.
4. Additional terms and conditions apply.

Today's Deals

Today's Free Android App is CrossMe, which is a "Japanese crossword known as a Nonogram". Normally $5, it looks like it would be fun and has a lot of 5 star reviews.

If you wanted Eoin Colfer's Artemis Fowl on your Kindle, Amazon price matched B&N's deal price from yesterday, so it's currently $1.99; there is no telling when it will go back up, though, so grab it fast.

Today's Kindle Deal of the Day is Mystery Walk ($1.99), by Robert R. McCammon. The publisher is Open Road and my rule of thumb with them is to snap up anything they discount to this level, if it is at all interesting; they only deal with bigger name author's backlist titltes. Several reviews claim that this is McCammon's best work and the only one-star review I saw was a complaint about a used hardcover being the wrong book ordered (which should have been a 3rd party merchant comment, not a review of the book itself).

Book Description
Two young psychics do battle with an ancient evil

Billy Creekmore was born to be a psychic. His mother, a Choctaw Indian schooled in her tribe’s ancient mysticism, understood that the barrier between life and death is permeable. She knew how to cross it, and used that knowledge to help the dead rest easier. She passed that power on to her son, and he has spent his whole life learning how to communicate with the dead to prevent them from meddling with the living.

Though his powers are the same, Wayne Falconer’s background could not be more different. The son of a prominent preacher, he would be disowned if his father learned he was using supernatural powers in service of the church. Though they don’t know each other, Billy and Wayne share a recurring dream—and a common enemy. When a nightmarish monster descends on their community in Alabama, mankind’s fate will rest in their hands.

Darke ($2.04 / £1.29 UK), the sixth book of the Septimus Heap series by Angie Sage, is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (the US edition is $6.99). Another excellent teen/YA series and the only one I don't yet have in my Library; maybe it will drop in the US one day (it's not as though I have nothing in my TBR list).

Book Description
Septimus is on the threshold of his fourteenth birthday, which falls on the shortest day of the year. While everyone celebrates and the Castle is lit with the traditional candles, Septimus has greater concerns on his mind. He has finally reached the period in his Apprenticeship known as Darke Week. During this crucial time, he hopes to undertake the very dangerous mission of restoring Alther from Banishment, following the attempted invasion of the Castle of Syren. But while this preoccupies him, other Darke things are afoot in the Castle.
Written with Angie Sage's characteristic humor, Septimus Heap, Book Six: Darke is a compelling fantasy adventure filled with surprises, thrills, and laugh-out-loud moments. Readers will revel in the action-packed story as they realize the wisdom of Magyk—that all things are meant to be part of a living whole.

I Know What You Did Last Summer ($7.99 $2.99 Kindle, B&N), by Lois Duncan, is the Nook Daily Find. An Agency title, it should be price matched on Kindle, so you might want to check again later today. Now price matched on Kindle.

Book Description
Some secrets just won't stay buried.

They didn't mean it. They didn't mean to hit the boy. There was a party, and it was an accident...that wasn't who they were. They were pre-law, a football player, bound for New York. No one could know, so Barry, Julie, Helen, and Ray swore one another to secrecy. But now, a year later, someone knows. Julie receives a haunting, anonymous threat: "I know what you did last summer." The dark lie is unearthed, and before the four friends know it they need to outsmart a killer...or they will be the next to die.

Leave the lights on when reading this classic thriller!

Camp SpongeBob ($1.99 Kindle, B&N), a Level 2 Reader in the SpongeBob SquarePants Leveled Reader series by Molly Reisner, Kim Ostrow and Heather Martinez (Illustrator), is the Nook Daily Find for Families (NOOK Color, NOOK Tablet or NOOK Kids for iPad App), price matched on Kindle (Kindle Fire or Kindle for Android App).

Book Description
Sandy decides to open Bikini Bottom's very first summer camp and asks SpongeBob to be her assistant. But SpongeBob goes overboard trying to make sure that their camp is the best camp ever!

Refurbished Kindle for $49

Get a free $20 off voucher from Amazon Local and use it to buy a Certified Refurbished Kindle ($69). Net cost after entering the promo code: $49! This is the Special Offers version of the Kindle, but at a great price and it includes the same one-year warranty as a new unit, since you are buying it direct from Amazon.

If you are new to AmazonLocal, you sign in using your Amazon account information. You'll need to use a credit card to secure the voucher (but it won't be charged); presumably it is used to verify that you are in the US. This particular offer is listed in the Boston area, but you can use it no matter where you are in the US. Once you've signed up, you'll get an email on how to use the voucher, but essentially you look under "My Vouchers" (click link in upper right corner) and just enter the promo code at Amazon. You have to wait a bit, for the order to be 'processed' before you can get the code, but it usually doesn't take too long for that to happen (mine took less than 2 minutes)

The Fine Print

• Voucher must be redeemed by May 29, 2012
• Ships only to U.S. addresses
• Limited quantities of vouchers are available. One per customer
• Voucher is valid for $20 off the regular price of $69 for a Certified Refurbished Kindle with Special Offers from Amazon.com; customer will be responsible for $49 payment to Amazon.com, plus applicable taxes and shipping charges
• Includes Certified Refurbished Kindle with Special Offers wireless e-reader and USB 2.0 cable; power adapter sold separately
• Certified Refurbished Kindle orders are eligible for Prime and Super Saver Shipping
• Voucher is available for use immediately after purchase
• Voucher not redeemable via 1-Click ordering
• Amazon.com account with valid credit card required to get this voucher

Today's Deals

Save 30% at Mills & Boon thru 24th May 2012, using coupon code MAYSAVE30.

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

• Save 25% on Skins by DecalGirl

Today's Kindle Deal of the Day is Tune in Tokyo: The Gaijin Diaries ($0.99), by Tim Anderson.

Book Description
Everyone wants to escape their boring, stagnant lives full of inertia and regret. But so few people actually have the bravery to run -- run away from everything and selflessly seek out personal fulfillment on the other side of the world where they don't understand anything and won't be expected to. The world is full of cowards. Tim Anderson was pushing thirty and working a string of dead-end jobs when he made the spontaneous decision to pack his bags and move to Japan, “where my status as a U.S. passport holder and card-carrying ‘American English’ speaker was an asset rather than a liability.” It was a gutsy move, especially for a tall, white, gay Southerner who didn’t speak a lick of Japanese. But his life desperately needed a shot of adrenaline, and what better way to get one than to leave behind everything he had ever known to move to “a tiny, overcrowded island heaving with clever, sensibly proportioned people that make him look fat?” In Tokyo, Tim became a “gaijin,” an outsider whose stumbling progression through Japanese culture is minutely chronicled in these sixteen howlingly funny stories. Yet despite the steep learning curve and the seemingly constant humiliation, the gaijin from North Carolina gradually begins to find his way. Whether playing drums on the fly in an otherwise all-Japanese noise band or attempting to keep his English classroom clean when it’s invaded by an older female student with a dirty mind, Tim comes to realize that living a meaningful life is about expecting the unexpected…right when he least expects it.

The Twitter Diaries: 2 Cities, 1 Friendship, 140 Characters ($1.57 / £0.99 UK), by Imogen Lloyd Webber and Georgie Thompson, is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (the US edition is $7.99). You can join a conversation with one of the authors via Twitter (of course) on May 31.

Book Description
The Twitter Diaries tells the story of pen pals for the 21st century. Two parallel lives separated by an ocean but united over a social network.

Tuesday (@Tuesday Fields), a sports reporter and Stella (@StellaCavill), a men's shoe designer, are Brit 30-somethings who are introduced in NYC on NYE by a mutual friend, a notorious transatlantic TV presenter. They strike up an instant bond.

Over the next 365 days, @TuesdayFields and @StellaCavill put the world to rights, one tweet at a time. From Melbourne to Monaco to Magaluf, the girls flirt and fall out with sportsmen, movie stars... and TV presenters. And then there's their mothers...

December 31st of the same year and @TuesdayFields and @StellaCavill meet again, for the first time since the last time. A lot can happen in a year. It turns out just 140 characters can change everything.

The Twitter Diaries is an instantly recognisable yet fictitious tale all generations can relate to, whether they are one of the world's 140 million and counting transfixed Twitter users or not. Accessible, funny and heart-warming, it's this summer's must read.

Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10 ($2.99 Kindle, B&N), by Marcus Luttrell and Patrick Robinson, is the Nook Daily Find, price matched on Kindle.

Book Description
On a clear night in late June 2005, four U.S. Navy SEALs left their base in northern Afghanistan for the mountainous Pakistani border. Their mission was to capture or kill a notorious al Qaeda leader known to be ensconced in a Taliban stronghold surrounded by a small but heavily armed force. Less then twenty-four hours later, only one of those Navy SEALs remained alive.

This is the story of fire team leader Marcus Luttrell, the sole survivor of Operation Redwing, and the desperate battle in the mountains that led, ultimately, to the largest loss of life in Navy SEAL history. But it is also, more than anything, the story of his teammates, who fought ferociously beside him until he was the last one left-blasted unconscious by a rocket grenade, blown over a cliff, but still armed and still breathing. Over the next four days, badly injured and presumed dead, Luttrell fought off six al Qaeda assassins who were sent to finish him, then crawled for seven miles through the mountains before he was taken in by a Pashtun tribe, who risked everything to protect him from the encircling Taliban killers.

A six-foot-five-inch Texan, Leading Petty Officer Luttrell takes us, blow-by-blow, through the brutal training of America's warrior elite and the relentless rites of passage required by the Navy SEALs. He transports us to a monstrous battle fought in the desolate peaks of Afghanistan, where the beleaguered American team plummeted headlong a thousand feet down a mountain as they fought back through flying shale and rocks. In this rich , moving chronicle of courage, honor, and patriotism, Marcus Luttrell delivers one of the most powerful narratives ever written about modern warfare-and a tribute to his teammates, who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country.

Artemis Fowl ($6.39 Kindle, $1.99 B&N), the first book in the series by Eoin Colfer, is the Nook Daily Find for Families. Note that on Kindle, there are three editions; the other two are both Audio/Video Enhanced Editions, with different prices and file sizes, but I don't see any indication of what the difference in between them.

Book Description
From a strikingly original voice in fiction comes the story of Artemis Fowl, a very unusual hero. Artemis combines the astuteness of Sherlock Holmes with the sangfroid of James Bond and the attitude of Attila the Hun. But even Artemis doesn't know what he's taken on when he kidnaps a fairy, Captain Holly Short of LEPrecon Unit. These aren't the fairies of bedtime stories. These fairies are armed and they're dangerous. Artemis thinks he's got them just where he wants them, but then they stop playing by the rules . . .

Full of unexpected twists and turns, ARTEMIS FOWL opens up a riveting world of magic, mystery, and humor.

Get $2 in MP3's for Free

If you have a Facebook account, you can claim a $2 MP3 credit by letting Amazon post to your wall. You enter a song you like (or whatever you want posted to your wall) and click; the credit is then added to your account automatically (no codes to keep track of).

Some of the Fine Print

• Your promotional credit must be redeemed by 11:59 PM PST on May 24, 2012.
• Limit one promotional credit per Amazon customer and Facebook account.
• Amazon MP3 music is available to customers located and with billing addresses in the United States.

Today's Deals

At DailySteals (today only), you can get a refurbished Kindle Keyboard 3G for $79.99. It's refurbished, but appears to have a 90 day warranty (from Amazon). All indications are that it is not the Special Offers edition (which means you can turn them on and off at no cost) and the same model is going for $129.99 direct from Amazon. It's perhaps just another indication that the Keyboard model is (sadly) on it's way out and that another model may be around the corner.

Today's Kindle Deal of the Day is A Small Furry Prayer ($1.99), by Steven Kotler. This is a very good price, if you read this type of story - it's $15-$17 elsewhere.

Book Description
Steven Kotler was forty years old, single, and facing an existential crisis when he met Lila, a woman devoted to animal rescue. "Love me, love my dogs" was her rule, and Steven took it to heart. Spurred to move by a housing crisis in Los Angeles, Steven, Lila, and their eight dogs-then ten, then twenty, and then they lost count-bought a postage-stamp-size farm in Chimayo, New Mexico. A Small Furry Prayer chronicles their adventures at Rancho de Chihuahua, the sanctuary they created for their special needs pack. While dog rescue is one of the largest underground movements in America, it is also one of the least understood. An insider look at the "cult and culture" of dog rescue, A Small Furry Prayer weaves personal experience, cultural investigation, and scientific inquiry into a fast-paced, fun-filled narrative that explores what it means to devote one's life to the furry and the four-legged. Along the way, Kotler combs through every aspect of canine-human relations, from humans' long history with dogs through brand-new research into the neuroscience of canine companionship, in the end discovering why living in a world made of dog may be the best way to uncover the truth about what it really means to be human.

The AmazonEncore edition of A King of Infinite Space ($1.57 / £0.99 UK), by Tyler Dilts, is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (the US edition is $3.99/KLL Eligible).

Book Description
Long Beach, California, homicide detective Danny Beckett is pouring the weekend’s first shot of vodka when the call comes in: Elizabeth Williams, a teacher at nearby Warren High School, has been brutally murdered in her classroom. When Danny arrives at the school, the blood-spattered crime scene turns even his veteran stomach. What could this young woman have done to make her the target of such a violent attack? And what is the significance of the victim’s left hand, taken by the killer as a grisly trophy? Beckett delves into the case with his usual tenacious cool, yet as he pieces together the facts, long-suppressed anguish from his own past rises up with stunning force. His hunt for the murderer soon morphs into a personal quest for atonement as he struggles to come to terms with the loss of his wife and family. A King of Infinite Space is a riveting crime novel that serves as a memorable introduction for Danny Beckett to the ranks of fiction’s favorite hardened detectives.

Sistergirl Devotions: Keeping Jesus in the Mix on the Job ($2.99 Kindle, B&N), by Carol M. Mackey, is the Nook Daily Find, price matched on Kindle.

Book Description
Finally, a book of meditations for African American women that understands the world they live in. Centering on the lessons God teaches us at work, at church, and in our relationships, this book of devotions uses stories and settings that will resonate with women of color--urban life, office culture, and the leading of the Spirit in things large and small. Using Scripture, conventional wisdom, and stories from the African American community, each devotional will show women how their faith can empower them to have success on the job--at whatever workplace they find themselves. With topics such as respect, resourcefulness, image, timeliness, honesty, negativity, and balancing work and home, each devotion ends with a "power move"--practical affirmations that will move readers toward success at work.

Princess Academy ($5.96 Kindle, $1.99 B&N), by Shannon Hale, is the Nook Daily Find for Families.

Book Description
Miri lives on a mountain where, for generations, her ancestors have quarried stone and lived a simple life. Then word comes that the king’s priests have divined her small village the home of the future princess. Sent to an academy to learn how to become a princess, Miri soon finds herself confronted with a harsh mistress, bitter competition among the girls, and even bandits intent on kidnapping the future princess.

Just Desserts ($1.99 Kindle, Kobo), the first of the Bed-And-Breakfast mystery series by Mary Daheim, is Today's Deal at Kobo, price matched on Kindle (as chosen by me, since Kobo hasn't updated their page in weeks). The author is better known for her Emma Lord series, although both have been written over the last two decades, at least from the selection I find at the local library, which doesn't have this one an many others in the series.

Book Description
When the garishly grotesque clan of wealthy carpet-sweeper magnate Otto Broadie sweeps down upon Judith McMonigle's Hillside Manor Inn, it looks like there'll be a wild night of drinking, dining, and fortune-telling in the offing. But when their soothsayer-for-hire Madame Gushenka drops dead after someone douses her tea leaves with bug killer, harried hostess Judith and her irrepressible cousin Renie are left to clean up the mess. One of the Brodie bunch would dearly love to sweep the Madame's murder under the rug, however, and that might mean eliminating the nosy Ms. McMonigle as well. But with the help of her one-time beau, policeman Joe Flynn, Judith is determined to rattle the dust off some closeted family skeletons, in order to coax a killer out of hiding before coffee is served.

Amazon Digital Weekend Deals

The Kindle Weekend Deal is TimeRiders ($1.99), by Alex Scarrow. This is the first novel in his very popular YA TimeRiders series, only two of which have shown up on Kindle, so far.

Book Description
Maddy should have died in a plane crash. Liam should have died at sea when the Titanic sank. Sal should have died in a tragic fire. But a mysterious man whisked them away to safety.

Maddy, Liam, and Sal quickly learn that time travel is no longer just a hope for the future; it is a dangerous reality. And they weren't just rescued from their terrible fates. . . they were recruited for the agency of TimeRiders created to protect the world from those seeking to alter the course of history for personal gain. By reliving the highly documented events in New York City on 9/11, they can closely monitor history for any deviations-large or small. When just such a change is detected, they are alerted that a threat is at hand unleashing the evil of the Nazis to wreak havoc with Earth's present and future. Can Maddy, Liam, and Sal fulfill their destinies as keepers of time to save the world from utter destruction?

An exhilarating adventure that shifts readers back in time to Nazi Germany and then forward into an ever-changing present.

Look out for the other books in this series: Day of the Predator and The Doomsday Code!

Other vote winners on sale this weekend are The Dark Knight (video), Norah Jones' Come Away With Me (mp3) and A Game of Thrones - Genesis (game). Don't forget to vote on next week's deals.

If you are a gamer, be sure to also check out Amazon's Game Downloads Mayhem Event, with 12 days of deals on some of the more popular games of 2011, ranging from Sims to hardcore gaming. For the more casual gamer, there's also the $2.99 Casual Games Mayhem Event, which has downloadable puzzles, matching, strategy and action/arcade games to choose from (the kind I keep on the netbook to play when not at home). Most have free trials, so you can test to see if they'll work on your hardware, first, before buying to keep. I've seen and ending date of both May 28 and May 29 on these sales, so don't wait until the very last day on these.

Today's Deals

Additional formats on free books:

• Summer of Promise (K/N/E)
• Love Me If You Must (K/E)
• Mystery of the Haunted Cave (K/E)
• Mystery of the Missing Mustangs (K/E)
• Long Shot (K/E)
• Playing for Pride (K/E)
• Baby Food Made Easy (K/E)

Today's Kindle Deal of the Day is The Mongoliad ($0.99), a collaborative novel by Greg Bear, Neal Stephenson, Mark Teppo, Erik Bear, et al. This is the book I borrowed last month on my Amazon Prime membership and it's pretty good; I think I'll go ahead and buy it, so I can just borrow something else for the rest of the month.

Book Description
The first novel to be released in The Foreworld Saga, The Mongoliad: Book One, is an epic-within-an-epic, taking place in 13th century. In it, a small band of warriors and mystics raise their swords to save Europe from a bloodthirsty Mongol invasion. Inspired by their leader (an elder of an order of warrior monks), they embark on a perilous journey and uncover the history of hidden knowledge and conflict among powerful secret societies that had been shaping world events for millennia.

But the saga reaches the modern world via a circuitous route. In the late 19th century, Sir Richard F. Burton, an expert on exotic languages and historical swordsmanship, is approached by a mysterious group of English martial arts aficionados about translating a collection of long-lost manuscripts. Burton dies before his work is finished, and his efforts were thought lost until recently rediscovered by a team of amateur archaeologists in the ruins of a mansion in Trieste, Italy. From this collection of arcana, the incredible tale of The Mongoliad was recreated.

Full of high adventure, unforgettable characters, and unflinching battle scenes, The Mongoliad ignites a dangerous quest where willpower and blades are tested and the scope of world-building is redefined.

A note on this edition: The Mongoliad began as a social media experiment, combining serial story-telling with a unique level of interaction between authors and audience during the creative process. Since its original iteration, The Mongoliad has been restructured, edited, and rewritten under the supervision of its authors to create a more cohesive reading experience and will be published as a trilogy of novels. This edition is the definitive edition and is the authors' preferred text.

The Secret Intensity of Everyday Life ($1.59 / £0.99 UK), by William Nicholson, is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (the US edition is $9.99).

Book Description
Laura is content enough with her marriage, her two children and her part-time job - until an ex-lover whom she had thought was ‘the one' gets in touch out of the blue. Suddenly passion and excitement are rekindled, and she realises how stagnant her life has become. But how much happiness has she a right to expect, and what of the pain she might cause to achieve it? Unknown to Laura, many others in her Sussex village are living with their own unresolved inner dramas. None of them guesses at her crisis. Yet every decision they take has an impact on those around them. The hidden longings of a large cast of characters interweave in a gripping plot that reveals ordinary life at its richest: comic and tragic, poignant and cruel, surprising and moving.

Secrets of Simplicity: Learn to Live Better with Less ($1.99 Kindle, B&N), by Mary Carlomagno, is the Nook Daily Find, price matched on Kindle. I bought this one last summer (although I haven't managed to put it all in practice), when it was last on sale at this price. It's fairly short (144 pages), so you won't be overwhelmed with reading (leaving time to clean out those closets!).

Book Description
Bulging in-boxes, out-of-control stress, and even climate change serve as reminders that when it comes to being happy and healthy, less is more. In this interactive journal, organization expert Mary Carlomagno leads readers on a journey toward release and discovery. Guided by the principle that the way you spend your time and money should reflect your true priorities, Secrets of Simplicity shows how to make practical changes to unburden your closets and calendars and make room for what's really important. Readers can record their successes, as they de-clutter their homes and in the process, their minds.

About the Author
MARY CARLOMAGNO is the founder and owner of Order, a company that specializes in clutter control. Her philosophy has been featured in Woman's Day, Redbook, and The Washington Post. She lives in New Jersey.

Yummy Yucky ($6.64 Kindle, $1.49 B&N), by Leslie Patricelli, is the Nook Daily Find for Families (requires NOOK Color, NOOK Tablet or NOOK Kids for iPad).

Book Description
Spaghetti is yummy, but worms - and blue crayons, and sand, and other things too gross to mention - are definitely yucky when tasted. Amiably illustrated in a bright, graphic style, Leslie Patricelli?s spirited board book, YUMMY YUCKY stars an obliging, bald, and very expressive toddler who acts out each pair of opposites with comically dramatic effect.

Today's Deals

For those in the US, this weekend Audible is having a $7.95 Customer Favorites Sale. There are more than 350 titles, grouped by genre, marked down to $7.95 for any member on a subscription plan. If any of the selections were on your wishlist, this is cheaper than using credits and there are some good choices.

Learn Out Loud is having a sale, with 50 of their classics audiobooks at $1/each.

Delphi Classics, which specializes in well-edited editions of the classics, is having a 40% off sale this weekend. Just use coupon code MERRYMONTH during checkout. Everyone can get a free download of French Masters, also, which features eight masterpiece works translated from French, followed by the original texts. Should be a very good selection for students of the French language, as well as being enjoyable by anyone who reads only one of the two.

Fictionwise's coupon this weekend is good for 40% off (on top of any member/new book discounts): 051812

There seems to be a big sale on Octovo covers and sleeves that fit both the Kindle Keyboard and Kindle Fire going on. I see $24.99 sleeves marked down to $9.99, in various (bright) colors, their Splashproof Tirim cover (which I use outside, such as by the pool) also is marked down to $9.99, but perhaps the best deals are on their Genuine Leather Book Cover ($19.99) and the same cover with Solis light combo ($29.99). The cover originally sold for $75 and the Solis light alone sells for $29.99 (essentially, buy the light and get a free leather cover). If you prefer brown, you get $10 off their Vintage Leather Cover, if you buy it and the Solis light in the same order. Since it's also on sale for $19.99, it ends up being only a bit more than the black cover and light combo (if you want the cover only, they are the same price).

Additional formats on free books:

• Run Among Thorns (N/E/I)
• RV Cooking Cookbook (K/N/E/I)
• Anything But Vanilla (K/N/I) [NSFW]
• Kinky (K/N/I) [NSFW]
• Exposure (K/N/I) [NSFW]

Today's Kindle Deal of the Day is Those Who Save Us ($1.99), by Jenna Blum.

Book Description
For fifty years, Anna Schlemmer has refused to talk about her life in Germany during World War II. Her daughter, Trudy, was only three when she and her mother were liberated by an American soldier and went to live with him in Minnesota. Trudy's sole evidence of the past is an old photograph: a family portrait showing Anna, Trudy, and a Nazi officer, the Obersturmfuhrer of Buchenwald.

Driven by the guilt of her heritage, Trudy, now a professor of German history, begins investigating the past and finally unearths the dramatic and heartbreaking truth of her mother's life.

Combining a passionate, doomed love story, a vivid evocation of life during the war, and a poignant mother/daughter drama, Those Who Save Us is a profound exploration of what we endure to survive and the legacy of shame.

Silent Voices ($1.59 / £0.99 UK), the fourth title in the Vera Stanhope series by Ann Cleeves, is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (no US edition).

Book Description
When DI Vera Stanhope finds the body of a woman in the sauna room of her local gym, she wonders briefly if, for once in her life, she's uncovered a simple death from natural causes. But a closer inspection reveals ligature marks around the victim’s throat – death is never that simple . . . Doing what she does best, Vera pulls her team together and sets them interviewing staff and those connected to the victim, while she and colleague, Sergeant Joe Ashworth, work to find a motive. While Joe struggles to reconcile his home life with the demands made on him by the job; Vera revels being back in charge of an investigation again. Death has never made her feel so alive . . . And when they discover that the victim had worked in social services, and had been involved in a shocking case involving a young child, then it appears obvious that the two are somehow connected. Though things are never as they seem . . .

The Restorer ($1.99 Kindle, B&N), the first novel in The Graveyard Queen series by Amanda Stevens, is the Nook Daily Find, price matched on Kindle (multiple editions, only one on sale). You can also still pick up the prequel novella, The Abandoned, for free.

Book Description
My name is Amelia Gray. I'm a cemetery restorer who sees ghosts. In order to protect myself from the parasitic nature of the dead, I've always held fast to the rules passed down from my father. But now a haunted police detective has entered my world and everything is changing, including the rules that have always kept me safe.

It started with the discovery of a young woman's brutalized body in an old Charleston graveyard I've been hired to restore. The clues to the killer—and to his other victims—lie in the headstone symbolism that only I can interpret. Devlin needs my help, but his ghosts shadow his every move, feeding off his warmth, sustaining their presence with his energy. To warn him would be to invite them into my life. I've vowed to keep my distance, but the pull of his magnetism grows ever stronger even as the symbols lead me closer to the killer and to the gossamer veil that separates this world from the next.

Night of the Living Dummy ($4.61 Kindle, $1.99 B&N), the first title in R. L. Stine's Classic Goosebumps series, is the Nook Daily Find for Families.

Book Description
Something scary is happening in GOOSEBUMPS HORRORLAND, the all-new, all-terrifying series by R. L. Stine. Just how scary? You'll never know unless you crack open this classic prequel!

Discover the fan-favorite thriller and chiller that first introduced the world to the wooden face of fear. The puppet who pulls all the strings. None other than Slappy the Dummy!

Now with all-new bonus material revealing Slappy's secrets and more.