Today's Deals 12/24

At Amazon MP3, Christmas has come early and (today only) there are 20 albums for $1.99 or less including Taylor Swift's Red and Blake Shelton's Red River Blue! The list also includes Abba Gold, the deluxe Bob Marley Legend and Motown #1's for $0.99 each.

Today's free Android App is Doodle Jump Christmas Special (and you can get the Doodle Jump (Kindle Tablet Edition) for 99 cents). You may also want to check out the featured app today, Songza, which is free and has pretty good reviews.

Today's Kindle Daily Deal is We the Animals ($1.99), by Justin Torres, one of Amazon Best Books of the Month, September 2011.

Book Description
An exquisite, blistering debut novel.

Three brothers tear their way through childhood— smashing tomatoes all over each other, building kites from trash, hiding out when their parents do battle, tiptoeing around the house as their mother sleeps off her graveyard shift. Paps and Ma are from Brooklyn—he’s Puerto Rican, she’s white—and their love is a serious, dangerous thing that makes and unmakes a family many times.

Life in this family is fierce and absorbing, full of chaos and heartbreak and the euphoria of belonging completely to one another. From the intense familial unity felt by a child to the profound alienation he endures as he begins to see the world, this beautiful novel reinvents the coming-of-age story in a way that is sly and punch-in-the-stomach powerful.

Written in magical language with unforgettable images, this is a stunning exploration of the viscerally charged landscape of growing up, how deeply we are formed by our earliest bonds, and how we are ultimately propelled at escape velocity toward our futures.

Today's Kindle Romance Daily Deal is Somebody to Love ($1.99), by Kristan Higgins, with companion audiobook at $4.99.

Book Description
After her father loses the family fortune in an insider-trading scheme, single mom Parker Welles is faced with some hard decisions. First order of business: go to Gideon's Cove, Maine, to sell the only thing she now owns—a decrepit house in need of some serious flipping. When her father's wingman, James Cahill, asks to go with her, she's not thrilled…even if he is fairly gorgeous and knows his way around a toolbox.

Having to fend for herself financially for the first time in her life, Parker signs on as a florist's assistant and starts to find out who she really is. Maybe James isn't the glib lawyer she always thought he was. And maybe the house isn't the only thing that needs a little TLC….

Today's Kindle SciFi/Fantasy Daily Deal is Death Has Come Up into Our Windows ($0.99), by Stant Litore, the second volume of The Zombie Bible that has been featured as a Daily Deal. The companion audiobook on this one is only $1.99.

Book Description
Stant Litore’s The Zombie Bible retells biblical tales and ancient history as episodes in humanity’s long struggle with hunger … and with the hungry dead.

God is weeping behind her veil in the Temple while the dead are eating her city alive, and her words are coming out through the mouth of her prophet Yirmiyahu. The king and the priesthood don’t like what he has to say, so they’ve thrown Yirmiyahu down a dry well, and once a day, his gaolers toss a zombie in after him. During the three days of this story, the prophet will have to fight to survive the hungry dead, dehydration, and some truly wrenching memories -- memories of atrocities witnessed, lives lost, and sacrifices that shatter the heart.

The Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK is three titles for £0.99/$1.60 each.

The Sister (Main/UK), by Lynne Alexander (US edition $9.32)

William James, the psychologist… Henry James, the writer… Alice James, the sister? Alice James spends most of her short life in bed. Henry calls it her solution to the ‘practical problem of life’, and William is too busy and too far away to pay much attention. Her lifelong companion, Katharine Loring, is a constant support, but in the midst of coping with Alice’s pain and frustration, the two women are faced with the shock of discovering Henry has made use of them in his fiction. Alice’s witty voice rises vividly from the page as she casts an acerbic eye on the characters who populate her life and on the tensions between Katharine and Henry in this compelling fictional memoir.

Sea of Ink (Main/UK), by Richard Weihe, translated by Jamie Bulloch (US edition $7.99)

A beautiful novella in 50 short chapters and 10 pictures about the life of Bada Shanren, the most influential Chinese painter of all times. In 1626, Bada Shanren is born into the Chinese royal family. When the old Ming Dynasty crumbles, he becomes an artist, committed to capturing the essence of nature with a single brushstroke. Then the rulers of the new Qing Dynasty discover his identity and Bada must feign madness to escape.

The Mists of Simla (Main/UK), by Balraj Khanna (US edition $8.15)

The year is 1962, and young cricket-player Rahul Kapoor has just passed his final exam to enter college in Simla, in the beautiful foothills of the Himalayas. Built by the English as their summer playground, Simla still has its Grand Hotels, faded now, echoing with sounds of the foxtrot and haunted by memsahibs in ballgowns. Since Partition in 1947, Simla society has changed, and the students are building a new India. Rahul swiftly becomes a key player on the Simla College scene; as he sets off on his rites of passage, he finds the way strewn with beautiful women. What can a young man do, but to call on Lord Krishna, the Divine Lover, to help him when things get hot hot hot? Set in turbulent times, during the Chinese invasion of North India, The Mists of Simla is a captivating story, often achingly funny, full of narrow escapes and some tears, as one young man strides out onto the cricket field of adult life.

Elfbot ($5.99 $2.99 Kindle, B&N), a NOOK Kids Read to Me book by Maria Andrade, Joey Andrade and Rafael Navarro, is the Nook Daily Find. Update: Now price matched on Kindle

The Nook edition requires a Nook tablet (any model) or the NOOK Kids for iPad (no desktop access), while the Kindle edition works on the Kindle Fire/HD or select Kindle Reading Apps (Kindle Cloud Reader, Kindle for iPad or Kindle for Android).

Book Description (Nook edition)
Have you ever woken up on Christmas morning to find a special gift for you under the tree? It's a wonder Santa has time to make so many toys for so many kids. Luckily, he has plenty of help from the elves and Elfbots. Wait . . . .you've never heard of Elfbots? This is the story of Santa's greatest invention ever, robots that are designed to make the world's greatest toys. But what happens when the toymaker wants to be the toy?

"As someone who appreciates the value of a well-motivated, clever robot (or two), I know you will find the wonderful Elfbots as enchanting as I did. Christmas just got a whole lot merrier." - Mark Hamill.

Listen to Jim Cummings (voices of Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Darkwing Duck) as he narrates the story of our little metal friend's adventure. This contemporary holiday story stars Mark Hamill (Star Wars) as Santa, Jane Lynch (Glee) as the Head Elf, introducing Haden Ryan-Embry as Lucy. Kenny G's horn provides the "voice" of elfBOT as well as an original music score.

Celebrate this tantalizing tale of wonder and Christmas wishes with a story by Joey and Maria Andrade. Enjoy Rafael Navarro's darling drawings of Elfbot and company. This is a story for the family to enjoy year after year.

Today's Kindle Kids Daily Deal is The Bronze Bow ($1.99), by Elizabeth George Speare (be careful if searching on your Kindle, as there are two editions on this one).

Book Description
In this Newbery Medal-winning novel, Daniel bar Jamin is fired by only one passion: to avenge his father's death by crucifixion by driving the Roman legions from his land of Israel. He joins an outlaw band and leads a dangerous life of spying, plotting, and impatiently waiting to seek revenge. Headstrong Daniel is devoid of tenderness and forgiveness, heading down a destructive path toward disaster until he hears the lessons taught by Jesus of Nazareth. With a brand new cover, young readers won't be able to pass up this timeless tale.

Grade Level: 4 and up

Today's Deals 12/23

Amazon's Android Appstore spotlight today is on Jamie's 20 Minute Meals for $3.99.

Today's Kindle Daily Deal is Too Good To Be True ($1.99), a memoir by Benjamin Anastas.

Book Description
When he was three, in the early 1970s, Benjamin Anastas found himself in his mother’s fringe-therapy group in Massachusetts, a sign around his neck: Too Good to Be True. The phrase haunted him through his life, even as he found the literary acclaim he sought after his 1999 novel, An Underachiever’s Diary, had made the smart set take notice. Too Good to Be True is his deeply moving memoir of fathers and sons, crushing debt and infidelity—and the first, cautious steps taken toward piecing a life back together.“It took a long time for me to admit I had failed,” Anastas begins. Broke, his promising literary career evaporated, he’s hounded by debt collectors as he tries to repair a life ripped apart by the spectacular implosion of his marriage, which ended when his pregnant wife left him for another man. Had it all been too good to be true? Anastas’s fierce love for his young son forces him to confront his own childhood, fraught with mental illness, divorce, and the fumes of hippiedom. His father’s disdain for money might have been in line with the ’70s zeitgeist—but what does it mean when you’re dumping change into a Coinstar, trying to scrounge enough to buy your son a meal? Charged with rage and despair, humor and hope, this unforgettable book is about losing one’s way and finding it again, and the redemptive power of art.

Today's Kindle Romance Daily Deal is Love 'Em or Leave 'Em ($0.99), by Angie Stanton.

Book Description
Ashley Reynolds, who hates even having her picture taken, lands herself smack in the middle of a reality television dating show. She finds herself surrounded by glamour girls and pageant queens all vying for a date with the smokin hot bachelor. Ashley's plan, to fly under the radar and get sent home early, falters when she soon discovers a knack for drawing unwanted attention her way. Bad boy quarterback Luke Townsend thought choosing between 25 stunning women would be a dream come true. How wrong he was! Luke's patience is tried by the wiles of the charmers and the persistence of the camera crews. It doesn't take long for him to realize, however, that the one girl trying the hardest to get off the show is the one who most intrigues him.

Today's Kindle SciFi/Fantasy Daily Deal is Theft of Swords ($1.99), an omnibus of the first two novels in the Riyria Revelations by Michael J. Sullivan. Originally self-published, Orbit is now re-publishing the series of 6 novels in three omnibus editions and has already announced two novels in the planned Riyria Chronicles series to follow. I picked up the first two audiobooks in the newly packaged series in Audible BOGO sale (which I think is the one repeating right now, for those with credits) and had planned to read along with the self-pubbed editions I had, but for two bucks, I'll grab this one.

You may also want to pick up two short stories he still has free in the Kindle store and the first of which is in the upcoming series: The Viscount and the Witch and Greener Grass.

Book Description
They killed the king. They pinned it on two men. They chose poorly.

There's no ancient evil to defeat or orphan destined for greatness, just unlikely heroes and classic adventure. Royce Melborn, a skilled thief, and his mercenary partner, Hadrian Blackwater, are running for their lives when they're framed for the death of the king. Trapped in a conspiracy that goes beyond the overthrow of a tiny kingdom, their only hope is unraveling an ancient mystery before it's too late.

Theft of Swords omnibus contains: The Crown Conspiracy & Avempartha)

The Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK is three titles for £0.99/$1.60 each.

First Daughter: Jack McClure Trilogy #1 (Main/UK), by Eric van Lustbader (US edition $9.99)

When an accident takes the life of his daughter, Emma, ATF agent Jack McClure blames himself, numbing the pain by submerging himself in work. Then he receives a call from his old friend Edward Carson.

Carson is just weeks from taking the reins as President of the United States when his daughter, Alli, is kidnapped. Because Emma McClure was Alli's best friend, Carson turns to Jack, the one man he can trust to go to any lengths to find his daughter and bring her home safely.

Dead Line (Main/UK), by Stella Rimington (US edition $8.99)

MI5 Intelligence Officer Liz Carlyle is summoned to a meeting with her boss Charles Wetherby, head of the Service's Counter-Espionage Branch. His counterpart over at MI6 has received alarming intelligence from a high-placed Syrian source. A Middle East peace conference is planned to take place at Gleneagles in Scotland and several heads of state will attend. The Syrians have learned that two individuals are mounting an operation to disrupt the peace conference in a way designed to be spectacular, laying the blame at Syria's door. The source claims that Syrian Intelligence will act against the pair, presumably by killing them. No one knows who they are or what they are planning to do. Are they working together? Who is controlling them? Or is the whole story a carefully laid trail of misinformation? It is Liz's job to find out. But, as she discovers, the threat is far greater than she or anyone else could have imagined. The future of the whole of the Middle East is at stake...

Lost Causes: A Dr Steven Dunbar Thriller (Main/UK), by Ken McClure (US edition $3.79)

The ninth Dr Stephen Dunbar thriller. Ex-Special Forces medic Dr Steven Dunbar has left his job with the Sci-Med Inspectorate and now works for a pharmaceutical company. Against his will, he is persuaded to return to Sci-Med when a number of people die in suspicious circumstances, including a former health minister. And then the UK comes under bio-terrorist attack. A disease not seen in the country for a hundred years is let loose on major cities and a group of young Islamic fundamentalists are arrested. But something is not quite right. Steven begins to suspect that there is a dark and ruthless conspiracy at the heart of the outbreak that is much closer to home.

Baker's Field Guide to Christmas Cookies ($1.99 Kindle, B&N), by Dede Wilson, is the Nook Daily Find, price matched on Kindle. Be careful if searching on you Kindle for this one, as the search brings up a $10 edition, instead.

Book Description
More than 75 favorite Christmas cookies from around the world will keep you making memories through many happy holiday seasons. This special field guide format gives you quick reference to the details of each cookie “species,” including its Habitat (country of origin), Field Notes (helpful information), Lifespan (how long it will keep), and Related Species (recipe variations). You will also see at a glance which cookies are especially fun to make with kids and which are quick to prepare, which freeze well and ship well, and much more. And there are even creative tips on hosting a Christmas cookie decorating party or a cookie swap!

Today's Kindle Teen Daily Deal is The Abduction ($2.99), the second novel in John Grisham's Theodore Boone YA series.

Book Description
When we last saw Theo Boone, he ensured that justice was served by uncovering evidence that kept a guilty man off of the streets. Hot off this high-profile murder trial, thirteen-year-old Theo is still dispensing legal advice to friends and teachers. But just when it seems as if his life has calmed down and gone back to the status quo, a new legal mystery comes to town, and this time it's personal.

Late Night Bargains (K)

Several bargains for you night owls. Links are to Amazon, but since I see several of the Big-6 publishers in the mix, you'll probably find matching prices at Barnes & Noble or Kobo.

Lori Wilde's The Welcome Home Garden Club was a Daily Deal yesterday, but you can also get The First Love Cookie Club (the third title in the same Twilight Texas series) and The Cowboy Takes a Bride, the first novel in her Jubilee, Texas series, for only 99 cents apiece (HarperCollins). The latter series has a new novel, A Cowboy for Christmas, which just released this year (and it's only $4.37)

The First Love Cookie Club

"On Christmas Eve, if you sleep with kismet cookies under your pillow and dream of your one true love, he will be your destiny."

The townsfolk of Twilight, Texas, believe the legend, but not Sarah Collier—not since she was a pudgy teenager, running down the church aisle on Christmas Day in a jingle bell sweater and reindeer antlers, trying to stop Travis Walker from marrying someone else. She may be grown-up, slimmed-down, bestselling children's book author "Sadie Cool" now, but Sarah will never forget that day. And she'll never fall foolishly in love again!

But when a letter from a sick fan brings Sarah back to Twilight, she's shocked to discover that Travis is the little girl's father—unattached and hotter than ever. His smile still makes her melt, but Sarah knows that ship has sailed. Travis, however, might have different ideas.

The Cowboy Takes a Bride

Ex-champion bull rider-turned-cutting-horse cowboy Joe Daniels isn't quite sure how he ended up sleeping in a horse trough wearing nothing but his Stetson and cowboy boots. But now he's wide-awake, and a citified woman is glaring down at him. His goal? Get rid of her ASAP. The obstacle? Fighting the attraction he feels toward the blond-haired filly with the big, vulnerable eyes.

When out-of-work wedding planner Mariah Callahan learns that her estranged father has left her a rundown ranch in Jubilee, she has no choice but to accept it. Her goal? Redeem her career by planning local weddings. The obstacle? One emotionally wounded, hard-living cowboy who stirs her guilt, her heartstrings, and her long-burned cowgirl roots . . .

The Oxford Companion to American Food and Drink ($3.99), by edited by Andrew F. Smith, has such a long list of contributors that it goes on for several pages. Published by Oxford University Press, USA, this 700+ page tome goes for $65 in hardcover (and hey, there's one left, if you act fast!). As mentioned in the description below, this is a companion book to the two volume set, The Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, which can be had for only $450 (and no, I didn't forget to add a decimal point), although there isn't yet a Kindle edition (at 2560 pages, I definitely would not want to carry it around to read). I've just glanced at a little of the sample, but I'm definitely getting a copy.

Book Description
Offering a panoramic view of the history and culture of food and drink in America with fascinating entries on everything from the smell of asparagus to the history of White Castle, and the origin of Bloody Marys to jambalaya, the Oxford Companion to American Food and Drink provides a concise, authoritative, and exuberant look at this modern American obsession. Ideal for the food scholar and food enthusiast alike, it is equally appetizing for anyone fascinated by Americana, capturing our culture and history through what we love most--food!

Building on the highly praised and deliciously browseable two-volume compendium the Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, this new work serves up everything you could ever want to know about American consumables and their impact on popular culture and the culinary world. Within its pages for example, we learn that Lifesavers candy owes its success to the canny marketing idea of placing the original flavor, mint, next to cash registers at bars. Patrons who bought them to mask the smell of alcohol on their breath before heading home soon found they were just as tasty sober and the company began producing other flavors.

Edited by Andrew Smith, a writer and lecturer on culinary history, the Companion serves up more than just trivia however, including hundreds of entries on fast food, celebrity chefs, fish, sandwiches, regional and ethnic cuisine, food science, and historical food traditions. It also dispels a few commonly held myths. Veganism, isn't simply the practice of a few "hippies," but is in fact wide-spread among elite athletic circles. Many of the top competitors in the Ironman and Ultramarathon events go even further, avoiding all animal products by following a strictly vegan diet. Anyone hungering to know what our nation has been cooking and eating for the last three centuries should own the Oxford Companion to American Food and Drink.

• DT Nearly 1,000 articles on American food and drink, from the curious to the commonplace
• DT Beautifully illustrated with hundreds of historical photographs and color images
• DT Includes informative lists of food websites, museums, organizations, and festivals

To Have and to Kill: A Wedding Cake Mystery ($0.99), the first novel in the Piper Donovan series by New York Times bestselling author Mary Jane Clark

Book Description
Piper Donovan never imagined that decorating wedding cakes could be so dangerous! A struggling actress with no immediate prospects and a recently broken engagement, Piper moves back in with her parents to take stock of her life. She steps tentatively into the family bakery business and finds herself agreeing to create a wedding cake for the acclaimed star of a daytime television drama. But soon someone close to the bride-to-be is horribly murdered and it seems that that someone is ruthlessly determined to stop the wedding.

With the help of her former neighbor, Jack, a handsome FBI agent with a soft spot for the gorgeous cake-maker, Piper moves closer to the truth. And as she narrows in on a suspect, she realizes that it's hotter in the kitchen than she may be able to handle. . . .

Eyes Wide Open ($1.99), a stand-alone novel by Andrew Gross, was also published under the title Killing Hour.

Book Description
A horrible family tragedy that may not be what it seems...

A past encounter with an infamous killer turns deadly today...

An ordinary man must risk his own family to find the truth.

Jay Erlich's nephew has been found at the bottom of a cliff at Morrow Bay. It's all just a tragic suicide, until secrets from the past begin to rear up again. Did a notorious killer, jailed for many decades, have his hand in this?

Years ago, Jay Erlich's older brother, Charlie, a wayward child of the sixties, set out for California, where he fell under the sway of a charismatic but deeply disturbed cultlike figure. Tragedy ensued and lives were destroyed, but as the decades passed, Charlie married and raised a family and lived a quiet, secluded life under the radar. Yet the demons that nearly destroyed him never completely disappeared.

When Jay heads out west to help his grieving brother, he is pulled back into Charlie's past—and begins to suspect that his nephew's suicide may not have been that at all. With eyes wide open, Jay puts his own life at risk to uncover the truth, a quest that goes beyond the edge of madness and a family haunted by a secret past ... and into the depths of evil.

Drawing on two real-life experiences from his own past, Gross has crafted a richly personal, yet utterly terrifying tale of two brothers, one successful, one wayward, trying to bridge the gap of what tore them apart.

Love in a Nutshell ($2.99), by Janet Evanovich and Dorien Kelly, also has a companion audiobook for $3.99.

Book Description
Number one bestselling author Janet Evanovich teams up with award-winning author Dorien Kelly to deliver a sparkling novel of romantic suspense, small-town antics, secretive sabotage, and lots and lots of beer

Kate Appleton needs a job. Her husband has left her, she’s been fired from her position as a magazine editor, and the only place she wants to go is to her parents’ summer house, The Nutshell, in Keene’s Harbor, Michigan. Kate’s plan is to turn The Nutshell into a Bed and Breakfast. Problem is, she needs cash, and the only job she can land is less than savory.
Matt Culhane wants Kate to spy on his brewery employees. Someone has been sabotaging his company, and Kate is just new enough in town that she can insert herself into Culhane’s business and snoop around for him. If Kate finds the culprit, Matt will pay her a $20,000 bonus. Needless to say, Kate is highly motivated. But several problems present themselves. Kate despises beer. No one seems to trust her. And she is falling hard for her boss.

Can these two smoke out a saboteur, save Kate’s family home, and keep a killer from closing in…all while resisting their undeniable attraction to one another? Filled with humor, heart, and loveable characters, Love in a Nutshell is delicious fun.

December Dread ($1.99), the eighth novel in the Lefty-nominated Murder-By-Month Mysteries by Jess Lourey

Book Description
Four shining stars for the Murder-By-Month Mystery series

‘Tis the season for grinning sales-elves on TV and maddeningly jolly muzak. But for Mira James and other Battle Lake-area women, the holidays are marred by something far worse—a serial killer leaving candy canes as his calling card. His target? Thirty-something brunettes who look just like Mira. When a woman from her high school graduating class becomes the latest victim, Mira plows through a case of online dating turned deadly.

Some Kind of Wonderful ($0.99), by NYT Bestselling and RITA Award-winning author Barbara Freethy, is a self-pubbed backlist romance, originally published by Avon Books.

Book Description
"ABANDONED BABY FOUND"

It's the kind of story investigative reporter Matt Winters writes about -- not the kind he wants to be living. When he discovers a newborn baby girl on his doorstep, he panics ... then he desperately turns to his temptingly pretty neighbor Caitlyn Devereaux for help. After all, women are supposed to know everything about babies!

Caitlyn's natural sensuality intrigues Matt ... and her aching vulnerability as she holds the precious bundle piques his curiosity. The wedding gowns she creates are famous for fulfilling every bride's fantasies, yet she firmly says that marriage -- and motherhood -- are not for her. But her kisses suddenly have Matt dreaming of something wonderful -- and soon he's determined to get this reluctant woman to change her mind.

Astor + Blue, a relatively new, digital first publisher, has several of their titles on sale for $0.99 apiece. I've highlighted four of them below, but you might want to look at the entire list.

• Deadly Errors, by Allen Wyler
  A comatose man is given a fatal dose of insulin in the emergency room, even though he isn't diabetic. An ulcer patient dies of shock after receiving a transfusion of the wrong blood type. A recovering heart patient receives a double dose of medication and suffers a fatal heart attack.Brain surgeon Dr. Tyler Matthews suspects that something is seriously wrong with the hospital’s new “Med-InDx” computerized medical record system. But he doesn’t suspect that there’s something murderously wrong with it.As Matthews begins to peel back the layers of deception that cover the deadly errors, he crosses powerful corporate interests who aren’t about to let their multi-billion dollar medical record profits evaporate. Now a target, Matthews finds himself trapped in a maze of deadly conspiracy, with his career, his marriage, and his very life on the line.Once again, Wyler blends his unparalleled expertise as a world class surgeon with his uncanny knack for suspense to create a true “best-of-breed” medical thriller. Deadly Errors is a lightning-quick action procedural that is destined to win new fans to the medical thriller genre.
• The Car Thief, by Theodore Weesner
  Described as “one of the best coming of age novels of the Twentieth Century,” Theodore Weesner’s modern American classic is now re-launched for a new generation of readers to discover. It’s 1959. Sixteen year-old Alex Housman has just stolen his fourteenth car and frankly doesn’t know why. His divorced, working class father grinds out the night shift at the local Chevy Plant in Detroit, looking forward to the flask in his glove compartment, and the open bottles of booze in his Flint, Michigan home. Abandoned and alone, father and son struggle to express a deep love for each other, even as Alex fills his day juggling cheap thrills and a crushing depression. He cruises and steals, running from—and then forcing run-ins with—the police, compelled by reasons he frustratingly can’t put into words. And then there’s Irene Shaeffer, the pretty girl in school whose admiration Alex needs like a drug in order to get by. Broke and fighting to survive, Alex and his father face the realities of estrangement, incarceration, and even violence as their lives unfold toward the climactic episode that a New York Times reviewer called “one of the most profoundly powerful in American fiction.” In this rich, beautifully crafted story, Weesner accomplishes a rare feat: He’s written a transcendent piece of literature in deceptively simple language, painting a powerful portrait of a father and a son, otherwise invisible among the mundane, everyday details of life in blue collar America. A true and enduring American classic.
• Death's Witness, by Paul Batista
  When Tom Perini, a legendary Heisman Trophy winner turned criminal lawyer, is found brutally murdered in Central Park, his widow Julie Perini suspects a wider conspiracy. Not only was her husband part of the defense team for a Congressman on trial for bribery, her intuition also tells her that the FBI is not too eager to find the killer.Relying on her skills as a journalist, Julie begins her own investigation and soon discovers her late husband’s secret underworld associations; ties that now threaten her and her toddler’s lives. Fighting grief and a sense of betrayal, Julie is pulled into an inescapable labyrinth of organized crime dealings, political corruption, brutal power grabs and murder. Desperate, Julie turns to Vincent Sorrentino, Tom’s defense partner, for help, and the two discover a shocking and terrifying truth that threatens to paralyze them. But it may also hold the key—the only key—to saving the lives of Julie and her daughter. Renowned attorney Paul Batista seamlessly combines crack legal expertise with suspenseful storytelling to produce a pulse-pounding action story and a first rate courtroom procedural; a legal thriller so authentic, it reads like tomorrow’s headlines.
• Timeless Desire, by Gwyn Cready
  Two years after losing her husband, overworked librarian Panna Kennedy battles to distract herself from crushing Grief, even as she battles to deal with yet another library budget cut. During a routine search within the library’s lower levels, Panna opens an obscure, pad-locked door and finds herself transported to the magnificent, book-filled quarters of a handsome, eighteenth-century Englishman. She soon recognizes the man as Colonel John Bridgewater, the historic English war hero whose larger-than-life statue loomed over her desk.
  
  However, the life of the dashing Bridgewater is not at all what she imagined. He’s under house arrest for betraying England, and now looks upon her—a beautiful and unexpected half-dressed visitor—as a possible spy. Despite bad first impressions (on both sides), Bridgewater nonetheless warms to Panna, and pulls her into his escape—while both their hearts pull the other headlong into their soul-stirring secrets.
  
  Very quickly Panna is thrown into a whirlwind of high-stakes intrigue that sweeps her from Hadrian’s Wall to a forbidding stone castle in Scotland. And somewhere in the outland, Panna must decide if her loyalties lie with her dead husband, or with the man whose life now depends on her.
  
  Written in her signature style—described as delightfully original, fun and sexy—RITA Award-winning author Gwyn Cready produces yet another lightning-paced, delectable winner of a Time Travel Romance; a genre she has quickly come to master.

The Shadowdance Trilogy ($0.99), by David Dalglish, is self-published, but worth looking at for epic fantasy fans. Not sure you want to risk a buck? Try out his writing with The Weight of Blood and Night of Wolves, both currently free.

Book Description
The Shadowdance Trilogy chronicles the childhood, training, and rise to power of Haern, the Watcher of Veldaren.

A DANCE OF CLOAKS - Aaron has been groomed since birth to be heir of an underworld empire. Yet when sent to kill the daughter of a priest, Aaron instead risks his own life to protect her from the wrath of his guild. In doing so, he glimpses a world beyond poison, daggers, and the iron control of his father.

A DANCE OF BLADES - When the son of Alyssa Gemcroft, one of the three leaders of the powerful Trifect, is believed murdered, slaughter begins anew in the streets of Veldaren. Mercenaries flood the city with one goal in mind: find and kill Aaron, now known as Haern, the King's Watcher.

A DANCE OF DEATH - Haern travels south to confront a copycat killer, finding a city ruled by the corrupt, the greedy, and the dangerous. Rioters fill the streets, and the threat of war with the mysterious elves hangs over all. To stop it, Haern must confront the deadly Wraith, and the man he might become.

Free Audiobook - A Christmas Carol

A special audiobook edition of A Christmas Carol ($14.95 list; $2.99 WhisperSync), by Charles Dickens, featuring a Signature Performance by Tim Curry, is free over at Audible. For those that like to read along while listening, there are many editions in the Kindle store, ranging in price from free to a nice edition from Bantam Classics (Random House) for $2.99.

Book Description
This version of Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol, masterfully narrated by Tim Curry, was available for a limited time last year, and now it's back. This one-of-a-kind performance puts a unique spin on a treasured classic, and served as the inspiration for the exciting new line of Audible Signature Classics, including Adventures of Huckleberry Finn with Elijah Wood, and Heart of Darkness with Kenneth Branagh. Tim Curry performs this timeless holiday story in a deliciously dark tone, returning it to its Dickensian roots with a vivid imagining of Victorian London and just the right touch of outrageous fun.

A Christmas Carol has constantly been in print since its original publication in 1849, and has been adapted for stage, television, film, and opera. It has often been credited with returning the jovial and festive atmosphere to the holiday season in Britain and North America, following the somber period that emerged during the Industrial Revolution.

The story opens on a bleak and cold Christmas Eve as Ebenezer Scrooge is closing up his office for the day. As the story progresses and Christmas morning approaches, Scrooge encounters the unforgettable characters that make this story a classic: Bob Cratchit, Tiny Tim, and, of course, the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come.

Get the free audiobook from Audible. Note that the edition found when searching isn't free, so use this link; this edition is also not Whispersync enabled; for that, you can buy the pay-edition (which I believe was free last year) for $2.99 after picking up on of the Kindle editions above.

Today's Deals 12/22

Today's Kindle Daily Deal is Lowcountry Bribe ($0.99), by C. Hope Clark, with the companion audiobook at $3.99. Some of you will no doubt already have the ebook edition, as it was free this past May.

Book Description
A killer wants to make certain she buys the farm. Threats, a missing boss, a very dead co-worker, a high-level investigation and a sinister hog farmer: Lowcountry Ag Department manager Carolina Slade is a bean-counting civil servant in hot water. Carolina Slade is a by-the-book county manager for the Department of Agriculture-a civil servant who coordinates federal loans for farmers in the coastal lowcountry of South Carolina. When one of her clients, a hog farmer named Jessie Rawlings, offers her a bribe, Slade reports Jessie to her superiors. The next thing she knows, she's besieged by Resident Agent-In-Charge Wayne Largo from the Feds' IG Office in Atlanta. He and his partner have come to investigate Slade's accusations, and if possible catch Jessie in the act of handing over money. However, the IG isn't telling Slade everything. The agents are also investigating the disappearance of Slade's boss the year before in connection to possible land fraud. And when the sting on Jessie goes bad, the case is put on hold and Wayne is called back to Atlanta, leaving Slade to fear not only for her life and job, but for her childrens' safety.

Today's Kindle Romance Daily Deal is The Welcome Home Garden Club: A Twilight, Texas Novel ($0.99), by Lori Wilde.

Book Description
Traditional meaning of Pink and White Roses: I love you still and always will.

Caitlyn Marsh stopped believing in happily-ever-after when high-school sweetheart, Gideon Garza, left for Iraq. Now she raises her small son while her matchmaking gardening club members drive her crazy. Then Caitlyn's world turns upside-down when Gideon swaggers back to Twilight.

Gideon had left town in the middle of night with threats ringing in his ears. A lot of things have changed since then. This bad boy-turned-Green Beret bears scars from the war, the timid girl he loved is an independent mother, and the father who refused to recognize his son in life has, in death, left him a vast cattle ranch.

He still aches for Caitlyn, and now there's a dark-haired boy who looks exactly like Gideon did at that age. Could the child be his? And can this war-weary soldier overcome the scars of the past to claim the family he so richly deserves?

Today's Kindle SciFi/Fantasy Daily Deal is Prince of Thorns ($1.99), by Mark Lawrence.

Book Description
When he was nine, he watched as his mother and brother were killed before him. At thirteen, he led a band of bloodthirsty thugs. By fifteen, he intends to be king…

It’s time for Prince Honorous Jorg Ancrath to return to the castle he turned his back on, to take what’s rightfully his. Since the day he hung pinned on the thorns of a briar patch and watched Count Renar’s men slaughter his mother and young brother, Jorg has been driven to vent his rage. Life and death are no more than a game to him—and he has nothing left to lose. But treachery awaits him in his father’s castle. Treachery and dark magic. No matter how fierce his will, can one young man conquer enemies with power beyond his imagining?

The Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK is three titles for £0.99 each (89% off).

The Bloodletter's Daughter (Main/UK), by Linda Lafferty (US edition $4.99/KLL Eligible)

Within the glittering Hapsburg court in Prague lurks a darkness of which no one dares speak…

In 1606, the city of Prague shines as a golden mecca of art and culture carefully cultivated by Emperor Rudolf II. But the emperor hides an ugly secret: His bastard son, Don Julius, is afflicted with a madness that pushes the young prince to unspeakable depravity. Desperate to stem his son’s growing number of scandals, the emperor exiles Don Julius to a remote corner of Bohemia where the young man is placed in the care of a bloodletter named Pichler. The bloodletter’s task: cure Don Julius of his madness by purging the vicious humors coursing through his veins.

When Pichler brings his daughter Marketa to assist him, she becomes the object of Don Julius’s frenzied—and dangerous—obsession. To him, she is the embodiment of the women pictured in the Coded Book of Wonder, a priceless manuscript from the imperial library that was the mad prince’s only link to sanity. As the prince descends further into the darkness of his mind, his acts become ever more desperate, as Marketa, both frightened and fascinated, can’t stay away.

Inspired by a real-life murder that threatened to topple the powerful Hapsburg dynasty, The Bloodletter’s Daughter is a dark and richly detailed saga of passion and revenge.

The Land of Later On (Main/UK), by Anthony Weller (US edition $4.99/KLL Eligible)

Kip—a New York jazz pianist whose career was cut short by a neurological disease—returns from a failed suicide attempt with a vivid, detailed memory of his journey through the afterlife. Resembling the world as he knows it, but unlimited in space and time, it’s unlike any eternity he has contemplated. Its residents are those who choose not to reincarnate, which would erase all memory of who they once were. Kip has a quest: to find his beloved Lucy, a yoga teacher who shared his apartment for years but died of leukemia before he took his own life. Is she still here? Has she waited for him, or “gone back” to become someone else? In his odyssey across centuries and locales (Istanbul to the Marquesas Islands, India to Oklahoma and New Guinea) to find her, Kip is guided by Walt Whitman—who urges him to write this memoir on his return.

Season of the Witch (Main/UK), by Arni Thorarinsson and Anna Yates (US edition $3.03/KLL Eligible)

When the editors at Reykjavik-based The Afternoon News decide to expand the newspaper into northern Iceland—with their crime writer Einar as its sole reporter on location—the journalist feels as though he has stepped back in time. Compared to the hustle and bustle of the capital, where the nation’s economic and social crises rear their heads on a daily basis, the small town of Akureyri feels slow, quiet, and terribly old-fashioned.

So it’s only fitting that one of Einar’s first assignments is to cover a college theater production of Loftur the Sorcerer, an Icelandic folktale of ambition and greed. But that supposedly ancient history becomes ominously relevant when a local woman dies after falling overboard during a corporate boating retreat. All evidence indicates an accident, but when the victim’s mother cries foul play, kindhearted Einar agrees to investigate. Just days later, the lead actor in Loftur vanishes, leaving the locals reeling—and Einar unconvinced that a single village could be so accident prone. Keenly perceptive and hungry for the truth, Einar begins to chip away at the quaint small-town facade, uncovering a tangled web of power and greed that threatens to devour the historic community for good.

This Is NPR: The First Forty Years ($13.19 $3.99 Kindle, B&N), by Cokie Roberts, NPR and Susan Stamberg, is the Nook Daily Find, price matched on Kindle. Update: Now price matched on Kindle.

Book Description
Always put the listener first has been NPR's mantra since its inception in 1970. Now celebrating its 40th anniversary, NPR's programming attracts over 27 million listeners every week. This beautifully designed volume chronicles NPR's storied history, featuring dozens of behind-the-scenes photos, essays and original reporting by a who's who of NPR staff and correspondents, transcripts of memorable interviews, and an audio CD of the most memorable programming throughout the decades. Beyond an entertaining and inspiring tribute to NPR's remarkable history, this book is an intimate look at the news and stories that have shaped our world, from the people who were on the ground and on the air. With contributions from Steve Inskeep, Neal Conan, Robert Siegel, Nina Totenberg, Linda Wertheimer, Scott Simon, Melissa Block, P.J. O'Rourke, David Sedaris, Sylvia Poggioli, and many more, this is the perfect book for any NPR supporter, fan, or devotee.

Today's Kindle Teen Daily Deal is Perfect Chemistry ($1.99), by Simone Elkeles, with the companion audiobook for $4.99.

Book Description
A fresh, urban twist on the classic tale of star-crossed lovers.

When Brittany Ellis walks into chemistry class on the first day of senior year, she has no clue that her carefully created "perfect" life is about to unravel before her eyes. She's forced to be lab partners with Alex Fuentes, a gang member from the other side of town, and he is about to threaten everything she's worked so hard for-her flawless reputation, her relationship with her boyfriend, and the secret that her home life is anything but perfect. Alex is a bad boy and he knows it. So when he makes a bet with his friends to lure Brittany into his life, he thinks nothing of it. But soon Alex realizes Brittany is a real person with real problems, and suddenly the bet he made in arrogance turns into something much more.

In a passionate story about looking beneath the surface, Simone Elkeles breaks through the stereotypes and barriers that threaten to keep Brittany and Alex apart.

Free AudioBook - The Jefferson Bible

The audiobook download of The Jefferson Bible: The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth ($12.59 Audible), by Thomas Jefferson, narrated by Mel Foster, is free over at Tantor Media thru the end of December.

Book Description
Thomas Jefferson believed that the pure-principled teachings of Jesus should have been separated from the dogma and abuse of organized religion of the day. This led him to recast, by cutting and pasting from the gospels, a new narrative of the life and teachings of Jesus.

In the early nineteenth century, Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States and the principal author of the Declaration of Independence, conceived the idea of extracting a gospel purified of what he saw as extraneous philosophical, mythological, and theological elements. To do so, he took verses from the four canonical gospels and arranged them into a single narrative, focusing on the actual words of Jesus. This work was never published during Jefferson's lifetime but was inherited by his grandson and printed for the first time in the early twentieth century. The original bound manuscript, popularly referred to as The Jefferson Bible, is held by the United States National Museum in Washington.

Get the free audiobook from Tantor Media. Included in the ZIP download is a PDF edition of the book, as well.

Today's Deals 12/21

Happy Mayan Apocalypse Day! Don't forget to reset your calendar....

For those planning to be around for other holidays this month, be sure to pick up the new set of five free holiday songs, including one by Lady Antebellum.

Amazon's Holiday Deals will include a Lightning Deal on Happy Herbivore Abroad: A Travelogue and Over 135 Fat-Free and Low-Fat Vegan Recipes from Around the World at 9AM EST/6AM PST (Hardcover edition).

At Harlequin, Buy two, get one Harlequin TEEN book FREE!

At Kobo, you can get a free read of North Pole Glo, a Christmas short story by Jessica Wong and Sabrina Christo. Note that it only works on their devices or apps, there is no EPUB to download.

Blackstone Audio is giving everyone two free short stories over at Downpour.com: The Souls of the Ships, by Brian Freeman, and Romance, by Chuck Palahniuk.

Today's Kindle Daily Deal is "more than 75 acclaimed books, today's deal includes a diverse selection of mysteries and thrillers, romances, literary fiction, and more" for $0.99 apiece. OK, I'm not going to try to list those, so click the link and shop away!. Amazon has divided the choices up by genre, so you can quickly get thru the to the books you are the most interested in. I didn't recognize many of the authors on this sale (although I do have several of the books in my library) and suspect they are mostly backlist from mid-list authors or new self-published titles.

Today's Kindle Romance Daily Deal is Song For Sophia ($0.99), by Moriah Densley.

Book Description
"If she truly knows her business, a woman has the mind of a diplomat, a general, and Cleopatra, all in one."

Anne-Sophia Duncombe is ruined, a victim of her father's high-stakes gambling. Stolen moments at the piano are her boon. Wilhelm Montegue is a washed up war hero, rumored insane. His "condition" - modern diagnosis: savant autism - is the source of his gift for composing music. Anne-Sophia and Wilhelm thought they had missed their chance for love, but anything can happen in the music room.

Anne-Sophia is in exile, hiding from her villainous father, Lord Chauncey, who tried to force her into marrying the repulsive Lowdry, his partner in crime. She outsmarted them and ran away, but loneliness is its own captivity. As a last resort before the convent, Sophia attempts a radical scheme--a life of humility and disguise.

Wilhelm Montegue, Earl of Devon, is a washed-up war hero who drinks too much, offends his neighbors with his harsh wit, and breaks furniture when his temper flares. Always in the shadow of scandal and absent from society, he is the subject of intense gossip. The town whispers that he is insane and guilty of unnatural proclivities. He is barely excused by his brilliant mind and swarthy good looks.

Lord Devon is bewildered that his newest housemaid has sparked such an irritating fascination in him. Why must she be the most exquisite woman he ever laid eyes on? Chaste and bound by honor, he vows to behave himself, even if her voice is a siren song. He knows she is keeping secrets, and he finds her scent of danger intoxicating . . . .
Sensuality Level: Sensual

Today's Kindle SciFi/Fantasy Daily Deal is Serpent's Kiss ($1.99), the second novel in the Beauchamp Family/Witches of East End series by Melissa de la Cruz. The first in the series, Witches of East End, is also on sale, at $3.03.

Book Description
The intriguing Beauchamp family, introduced in the New York Times bestselling Witches of East End, returns in Serpent's Kiss, with dizzying plot twists and spellbinding magic.

Joanna and her daughters, bookish Ingrid and wild-child Freya, are just settling into the newfound peace that has been cast over their small, off-the map town of North Hampton. With the centuries-old restriction against practicing magic lifted, casting spells, mixing potions, and curing troubled souls has never felt so good for the three witches. That is, until everything gets turned upside down--from Joanna's organized kitchen to Ingrid's previously nonexistent love life to Freya's once unshakeable faith in her sexy soul mate, Killian Gardiner.

When Freya's twin brother, Freddie, suddenly returns, escaped from Limbo and professing innocence on a long-ago crime, Freya should be ecstatic. The golden boy can do no wrong. Or can he? Freddie blames no other than her fiancÉ Killian for his downfall, and enlists Freya's help to prove it. Now Freya doesn't know who to believe or trust.

And for the first time in--well, forever, really--Ingrid is also busy in love. Matt Noble, the handsome and charming police detective, has won her heart. But can romance work between a virgin witch and a mortal who doesn't believe in magic? Things get even more complicated when it appears Ingrid is harboring the prime suspects in Matt's police investigation.

To add to the chaos, a dead spirit is attempting to make contact with Joanna--but does it mean to bring harm or help? Joanna asks her sort-of ex-husband Norman to help figure it out, only to accidentally invite him to a Thanksgiving dinner with a dapper gentleman she's recently begun dating.

As the witches pull together to discover the serpent within their midst and the culprit behind Freddie's imprisonment, everything is thrown into peril. Will the discovery come too late to save those they love most?

Melissa de la Cruz weaves all this and more in a blockbuster sequel that is not to be missed by her fans, and one that is sure to enchant new readers of the series.

Steve Jobs The Man Who Thought Different ($1.60 / £0.99 UK), by Karen Blumenthal, is the first Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (the US edition is $8.99).

Book Description
Inventor. Visionary. Genius. Dropout. Adopted. Steve Jobs was the founder of Apple and he was all of these things.
Steve Jobs has been described as a showman, artist, tyrant, genius, jerk. Through his life he was loved, hated, admired and dismissed, yet he was a living legend; the genius who founded Apple in his parent's garage when he was just 21 years-old, revolutionising the music world. He single-handedly introduced the first computer that could sit on your desk and founded and nurtured a company called Pixar bringing to life Oscar wining animations Toy Story and Finding Nemo.

So how did the man, who was neither engineer nor computer geek change the world we live in, making us want every product he touched?

On graduation day in 2005, a fifty-year-old Steve Jobs said: 'Today I want to tell you three stories from my life, That's it. Just three stories'. The first story is about connecting the dots. My second story is about love and loss. My third story is about death.
This is his story...

Critically acclaimed author Karen Blumenthal takes us to the core of this complicated and legendary man, from his adoption and early years through to the pinnacles of his career, his dismissal from his duties at Apple (for being too disruptive and difficult) to the graduation where he gave the commencement speech just 6 years before his death, giving life to what were soon to become some of most famous quotes of his career, ending with the message: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you." "Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life."

Seve: Golf's Flawed Genius ($1.60 / £0.99 UK), by Robert Green, is the second Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (the US edition is $9.99).

Book Description
A golfing legend with five major championships to his credit, Severiano Ballesteros was one of the game’s great heroes – charismatic, charming, fiery, unpredictable. His untimely death in May 2011, after a prolonged struggle with cancer, left his sport bereft.

Over the course of Seve’s career, no other golf writer enjoyed such regular contact with him as Robert Green – meetings, interviews, conversations and meals together, all of which led to a video and a golf instruction book. This book draws on the material and insights gathered during those collaborative years to capture the ‘real Seve’. It describes his family and upbringing in Spain and recalls his great on-course triumphs – not least his enormous role in the revival of the fortunes of the Ryder Cup, which thanks to him is today one of the world’s great sporting events – as well as his calamities. Dramatically and insightfully, Green recalls the great wins in the Open and the Masters, and also those titles that excruciatingly slipped from Seve’s grasp.

The book also examines Seve’s darker side: his controversial and very public spats with officialdom and his sometimes tempestuous private life, including his divorce from Carmen, the daughter of one of Spain’s wealthiest men and mother of his three children, to whom he was married for 17 years. And even after his death, his legacy could not rest.

Above all, though, it is Seve the golfer who takes centre stage, resulting in a portrait that does full justice to its colourful and mercurial subject. It is a story which will enthral all those who watched and admired this golfing icon throughout his remarkable career.

‘I look into their eyes, shake their hand, pat their back, and wish them luck, but I’m thinking, “I’m going to bury you.”’ Seve Ballesteros

Making Haye: The Authorised David Haye Story (1.60 / £0.99 UK), by Elliot Worsell, is the third Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (the US edition is $9.39).

Book Description
David 'The Hayemaker' Haye is the former WBA world heavyweight champion and the former undisputed (WBA, WBC and WBO) world cruiserweight champion. Haye is one of British boxing's most celebrated and successful ring champions of the modern era and has won twenty-four of twenty-six professional fights. He has twice been shortlisted for BBC Sports Personality of the Year and is now recognised as the face of British and world boxing. Haye was involved in the biggest heavyweight title clash for nearly a decade when he fought Wladimir Klitschko in July 2011, and the biggest domestic fight of 2012, when in a much-hyped grudge match he knocked out Dereck Chisora in five rounds.

His charismatic approach has reminded fight fans of a time when the heavyweight championship was the greatest prize in sport. This is the authorised story of how Haye reached this point, now updated to include the inside story behind Haye's stunning victory over Chisora, and details the ten-year rise of the boxer from a precocious World Amateur Champion. Crafted by close confidant Elliot Worsell, Making Haye offers behind-the-scenes, never-before-told insights into some of the most pivotal ring wars of David Haye's turbulent, and at times controversial, professional boxing career.

Edge of Apocalypse ($1.99 Kindle, B&N), the first title in the End series by Tim LaHaye and Craig Parshall, is the Nook Daily Find, price matched on Kindle. It looks like this one was free a couple of years ago, but it's the same edition as is on sale today, so you should be able to see on the product page if you already have it and won't have to do a library search.

Book Description
Joshua Jordan, former U.S. spy-plane hero now turned weapons designer has come up with a devastatingly effective new missile defense system -- the Return to Sender laser weapon. But global forces are mounting against America, and corrupt White House and Capitol Hill leaders are willing to do anything to stop the nation's impending economic catastrophe -- including selling-out Joshua and his weapon. As world events begin setting the stage for the 'end of days,' Joshua is forced to consider not only the truth of the biblical prophecies preached by the pastor of his brilliant attorney- wife, but also what gut-wrenching price he is willing to pay to save the nation he loves.

Today's Kindle Kids Daily Deal is four of Leslie Patricelli's Board Books for $1.99 apiece.

Filled with bright artwork and exuberant language, Leslie Patricelli's best-selling picture books for early readers star an adorable bald baby. Today only, save on four of the most memorable.

Age Level: 1 and up

Quiet LOUD

Sniffles are quiet, but sneezes are loud. Amiably illustrated in a bright, graphic style, Leslie Patricelli’s spirited board book, QUIET LOUD, stars an obliging, bald, and very expressive toddler who acts out each pair of opposites with comically dramatic effect.

Big Little

Ladies are big, but ladybugs are little. Amiably illustrated in a bright, graphic style, Leslie Patricelli’s spirited board book, BIG LITTLE, stars an obliging, bald, and very expressive toddler who acts out each pair of opposites with comically dramatic effect.

No No Yes Yes

Yanking cat by tail: no NO. Gentle pat on back: yes YES. And it’s funny how dumping a bowl of food gets a very different reaction from mastering the use of a spoon. An expressive baby demonstrates familiar behaviors — and their predictable responses — in an amusing board book that merits a giant YES!

Tubby

It’s time for a bath! Whee! And Baby obliges as only he can, playing with bubbles (and using them to make facial disguises from Santa’s beard to bunny ears), imitating a motorboat, and letting Mommy wash his single hair. And what would tubby time be without running away naked and shiny clean—only to be scooped up and tickled? A beloved bedtime ritual takes on new joy in Leslie Patricelli’s bright artwork, exuberant language, and simple, familiar scenes.

Today's Deals 12/20

Put off shopping until the last minute? Amazon is now giving everyone Free Two-Day Shipping on Kindle devices. Maybe you too can have this scene at Christmas?



Amazon posted a link to it on their website and I thought I'd share it with you.

Amazon has several hardcover cookbooks in the Holiday Book Deals today and Planet Barbecue! should be on sale there shortly.

Today's Audible Daily Deal is James Patterson's Along Came a Spider for $8.95. Members with credits can shot the James Patterson BOGO boutique (if you've used your credits up, then you should see an offer to buy 3 at a discount, up next to your name in the upper right corner of the page).

At Harlequin, Save 50% on featured Christmas books or ebooks, using coupon code HOHOHO50 at Checkout to claim this deal!

Additional formats on free books:

• Paradise Lost (K/N)
• Seven Wonders Journals: The Select (K/N)

Today's Kindle Daily Deal is Terminal Value ($0.99), by Thomas Waite.

Book Description
"Be careful what you wish for." That’s a warning Dylan Johnson should have listened to. When his mobile computing firm is bought out by Mantric Technology, a red-hot company about to go public, it seems like a dream come true for the young entrepreneur and his partners. But the closer they get to payout, the more uncertain Dylan becomes.

Something doesn't feel right. When one of his colleagues is found dead on what should have been their night of triumph, Dylan is determined to find out what happened. But asking questions plunges him into a web of digital deceit and betrayal that will shake everything he thought he knew…

Today's Kindle Romance Daily Deal is Woodrose Mountain ($1.99), by Raeanne Thayne.

Book Description
Evie Blanchard was at the top of her field in the city of angels. But when an emotional year forces her to walk away from her job as a physical therapist, she moves from Los Angeles to Hope's Crossing seeking a quieter life. So the last thing she needs is to get involved with the handsome, arrogant Brodie Thorne and his injured daughter, Taryn.

A self-made man and single dad, Brodie will do anything to get Taryn the rehabilitation she needs…even if it means convincing Evie to move in with them. And despite her vow to keep an emotional distance, Evie can't help but be moved by Taryn's spirit, or Brodie's determination to win her help—and her heart. With laughter, courage and more than a little help from the kindhearted people of Hope's Crossing, Taryn may get the healing she deserves—and Evie and Brodie might just find a love they never knew could exist.

Today's Kindle SciFi/Fantasy Daily Deal is A Kingdom Besieged ($0.99), the first novel in the Chaoswar Saga by Raymond E. Feist. The only reason not to grab this is if you already have it in your library! Or, I guess if you don't have a single person in the house that might, someday, read epic fantasy. You'll have plenty of time to finish reading it before the second volume in the series is released next Spring.

Book Description
After nearly thirty years and more than two dozen novels, Raymond E. Feist's Riftwar Cycle has become one of the most iconic, beloved, and enduring sagas in modern fantasy. The Riftwars—including the original Riftwar, the Serpentwar, the Darkwar, and the Demonwar—were epic battles between Good and Evil whose ramifications have echoed through generations. The latest entry in the epic, A Kingdom Besieged, ushers in the most fearsome threat the Kingdom has yet faced—the Chaoswar—a magic apocalypse with cataclysmic results.

A Kingdom Besieged

Years ago, the Empire of Great Kesh failed in its attempt to conquer Krondor after the Serpentwar, thanks to the bravery, cunning, and magic of the sorcerer Pug and the Conclave of Shadows. Since then, peace has benefitted both nations, and the Kingdom has been free from the threat of another Keshian invasion. Yet now, the dark clouds of war gather again. . . .

From the Far Coast in the west to the frontier with the Eastern Kingdoms, rumors, uncertainty, and political instability are rampant. Spies have gone missing—some were murdered while others have turned traitor. Factions are rising, powerful legions from the Keshian Confederacy have been mobilized, and an attack on the kingdoms of the Isles and Roldem is all but certain.

As the men of the Western Realm begin to mount a defense, Martin conDoin, the middle son of Lord Henry, Duke of Crydee, finds himself leading the charge against the invaders—like his legendary ancestor, Prince Arutha, who stood firm to the death against the Tsurani invasion. But Arutha had an entire army at his command. Martin has just a ragtag force comprised of a few old men and young boys.

As Kesh's invading hordes once again descend upon the Kingdom, no one is safe—not experienced masters of intrigue Lord James Dasher Jamison and the beguiling and deadly Lady Franciezka; not the brave warrior Knight-Adamant Sandreena and a new generation of loyal yet untested defenders; not even the great Pug himself, the most powerful magician the world of Midkemia has ever known. A threat far more terrifying has arisen, an evil whose burgeoning power portends Midkemia's demise. And soon even the Kingdom's enchanted defender will find himself questioning everything he's ever held abiding, true, and treasured . . . including the loyalty and desires of his beloved son, Magnus.

The Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK is three titles for £0.99 each (80% off).

Above Suspicion (Main/UK), by Lynda La Plante (US edition $5.99)

Young detective Anna Travis has been assigned to her first murder case - and it couldn't be a more shocking, more horrific set of killings. They began eight years before; now the body count is up to six. The method of killing is identical, the backgrounds of the girls very similar - all of them were drug-ridden prostitutes. Then a seventh body is found, same modus operandi but this time the victim is a young student, sweet and innocent, with the 'face of an angel'. The profile of the murderer has changed dramatically.

Anna stumbles on a vital piece of information which links one man to the killings. A household name, a much-loved actor who is about to become an international movie star. He has charm, good looks and the gift of the gab. Denial and protestations of innocence spring easily and confidently to his lips. An arrest, in the face of intense publicity, would create a media frenzy. And if he was found beyond doubt to be the wrong man, his career would be finished and Anna's hard fought-for reputation in the police force destroyed once and for all …

With absolute authenticity and extraordinary power, Lynda La Plante takes us deep into the criminal mind and the criminal world. And, in heroine Anna Travis, she has created another memorable and utterly engaging new female detective.

Want to Play? (Main/UK), by P. J. Tracy (US edition $9.99 titled Monkeewrench)

Want to Play? is the electrifying debut crime novel from PJ Tracy.

In this electrifying debut, the slaying of an old couple in small town America looks like one-off act of brutal retribution. But at the same time, in Minneapolis, teams of detectives scramble to stop a sickeningly inventive serial killer striking again in a city paralysed by fear.

When the two separate investigations converge on an isolated catholic boarding school, decades old secrets begin to fall away. It seems an old killer has resurfaced. Yet still the killer's real identity remains dangerously out of reach ...

Want to Play? introduces PJ Tracy's cult thriller characters Grace MacBride and Detectives Gino and Magozzi. Follow their journeys in subsequent works including Play to Kill and Dead Run.

Cemetery Girl (Main/UK), by David Bell (US edition $11.99)

In Cemetery Girl, David Bell's gripping psychological thriller, a father tries to uncover the secrets of his daughter's inexplicable disappearance.

Tom and Abby Stuart had everything: a perfect marriage, successful careers, and a beautiful twelve-year-old daughter, Caitlin. Then one day Caitlin vanished without a trace. For a while they grasped at every false hope and followed every empty lead, but the tragedy ended up changing their lives, overwhelming them with guilt and dread, and shattering their marriage.

Four years later, Caitlin is found alive-dirty and disheveled yet preternaturally calm. She won't discuss where she was or what happened. Then the police arrest a suspect connected to her disappearance, but Caitlin refuses to testify, leaving the Stuarts with a choice: Let the man who may be responsible for destroying their lives walk away, or take matters into their own hands. And when Tom decides to try to uncover the truth for himself, he finds that nothing that has happened yet can prepare him for what he is about to discover.

David Bell's Cemetery Girl will have readers biting their nails, and will accompany his new novel The Hiding Place. A real treat for all fans of Kate Atkinson, Dennis Lehane and Heather Gudenkauf.

The Toaster Project: Or A Heroic Attempt to Build a Simple Electric Appliance from Scratch ($2.99 Kindle, B&N), by Thomas Thwaites, is the Nook Daily Find, price matched on Kindle.

Book Description
"Hello, my name is Thomas Thwaites, and I have made a toaster." So begins The Toaster Project, the author's nine-month-long journey from his local appliance store to remote mines in the UK to his mother's backyard, where he creates a crude foundry. Along the way, he learns that an ordinary toaster is made up of 404 separate parts, that the best way to smelt metal at home is by using a method found in a fifteenth-century treatise, and that plastic is almost impossible to make from scratch. In the end, Thwaites's homemade toaster—a haunting and strangely beautiful object—cost 250 times more than the toaster he bought at the store and involved close to two thousand miles of travel to some of Britain's remotest locations. The Toaster Project may seem foolish, even insane. Yet, Thwaites's quixotic tale, told with self-deprecating wit, helps us reflect on the costs and perils of our cheap consumer culture, and in so doing reveals much about the organization of the modern world.

Today's Kindle Kids Daily Deal is Six Holiday-Themed Picture Books for $1.99 each (80% off).

Turkey Claus, by Wendi Silvano (Author), Lee Harper (Illustrator)

Turkey needs Santa’s help so he won’t be eaten for Christmas dinner.

Turkey is in trouble. Again. He made it through Thanksgiving without becoming a turkey dinner, but now it’s almost Christmas, and guess what’s on the menu? Turkey decides the only thing to do is to ask Santa for help. He sets off for the North Pole, but getting in to see Santa at Christmastime isn’t as easy as Turkey expected. It’s going to take all his ideas—and his clever disguises—to find a way into Santa’s house. After many hilarious attempts, Turkey comes up with the perfect disguise, and Santa has the perfect solution! In this holiday treat, a companion to Turkey Trouble, Wendi Silvano’s story is once again matched with the watercolor artwork of Lee Harper.

Grade Level: Pre-K and up

The Twelve Days Of Christmas, by Gennady Spirin

"The Twelve Days of Christmas" is sung in churches, houses, and concert halls throughout the Christmas season. It would be hard to imagine a Christmas celebration without it. From the partridge in the pear tree to the five golden rings to the twelve drummers drumming, carolers enjoy taking turns singing different verses.

Gennady Spirin's sumptuous paintings bring new life and spectacular beauty to this classic song, making it a gift to be treasured at Christmastime. An Illustrator's Note is included which addresses the song's origin and history.

Sneezy the Snowman, by Maureen Wright (Author), Stephen Gilpin (Illustrator)

B-R-R-R-R! AH-CHOO! Sneezy the Snowman is cold, cold, cold. To warm up, he drinks cocoa, sits in a hot tub, stands near a warm fire – and melts! But the children know just what to do to build him up again – and make him feel "just right". Hilarity chills the air with playful mixed-media illustrations by Stephen Gilpin as Sneezy attempts to warm himself with some silly results.

Grade Level: 1st and up

The Reader, by Amy Hest (Author), Lauren Castillo (Illustrator)

In this timeless picture book, a new reader trudges through deep snow with a mysterious suitcase in tow. He has something important to share with his faithful companion, who bolts ahead to wait at the top of a tall hill. Our small hero climbs higher and higher, until finally, he is there, too. Then he opens his suitcase—click, click—and soon the only sound in the world is the sound of the reader reading their very favorite book to the very last page…the very last word.

Amy Hest’s spare evocative text is a true celebration of new readers and good friends everywhere, while Lauren Castillo’s pen-and-ink and watercolor illustrations, with their bold saturated colors against winter white, perfectly capture the wonder and delight of this magical day.

Grade Level: Pre-K and up

Snowzilla, by Janet Lawler

It snowed without stopping for week after week. When it ended at last, Cami Lou took a peek. She bundled and booted and zipped up her brother. “Let’s build a huge snowman unlike any other!” Cami Lou and her brother build the biggest, hugest, most mammoth snowman the world has ever seen. It’s Snowzilla! The snowman becomes an instant sensation, and tourists pour into the small town. But not everyone is impressed. Some say the giant snowman brings giant problems. Then a judge rules that Snowzilla must come down. Can Cami Lou and her brother save Snowzilla? This fun winter story combines rhyming text with adorable acrylic and colored pencil artwork.

Grade Level: Pre-K and up

Cock-a-doodle Christmas!, by Will Hillenbrand

When Old Rooster leaves the farm to live with his sister, young Harold takes over the job of waking the farm animals each morning. But Harold has a soft voice, and nobody can hear his cock-a-doodle-doo. Then one evening, the sky lights up and a miraculous birth takes place, causing Harold to shout the good news for all to hear. In this Christmas story, Will Hillenbrand shows with gouache, ink, and collage illustrations that even a small creature is changed by the birth of the Christ child.

Grade Level: 1st and up