Bargain Book Roundup

I mentioned before that I went to see Star Trek Into Darkness in 3D and really liked it. Since we wanted to grab it on Blu-ray when it was released, I signed up to be notified when it could be ordered and today, there it is! Even better, the prices are pretty reasonable, so I pre-ordered the 3D Combo Edition (with Blu-ray 3D + Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy) for under $25. If you want to save a few bucks, the Blu-ray Combo is $19.99 and the DVD Only (no digital copy) is $16.99. If you really want to splurge, though, you can also get Star Trek Into Darkness Starfleet Phaser Limited Edition Gift Set, which adds a (non-weaponized, although with a spinning barrel) Phaser to the 3D Combo Edition.

And here's the best part for Kindle readers: You also get a Free Star Trek Comic Book: Pre-Order Star Trek Into Darkness on DVD, Blu-ray Combo,or 3D Blu-ray Combo and receive a promotional credit (valued at $2.99) for a free Star Trek: Countdown to Darkness #1 Comic Book, by Mike Johnson and David Messina (Illustrator). Now, I'll be waiting to order mine after I get the promo credit and the details page claims you can't get it at all unless you are an Into Darkness pre-order customer ... but, right this minute there is a one-click order button on the page (and a $2.99 price tag); I don't know if it will refuse your order if you didn't buy the movie first, but it's there to click, for those that want to try for it.

Boring details: Promotional credit will be sent upon ship date and must be used by September 30, 2013 in order to receive the free download. Download must be used with a Kindle device or through the Kindle app.

It took several days, but 1,001 Best Grilling Recipes: Delicious, Easy-to-Make Recipes from Around the World ($1.99 Kindle, B&N), by Rick Browne [Agate Surrey], finally dropped on Kindle to match the B&N price. If you were holding off on getting it, I'd do it now, as this price may not last long.

Book Description
This newest addition to Surrey's 1,001 line of cookbooks is the definitive book on grilling everything from appetizers and side dishes, to lamb, beef, hamburgers, sausages, fish & shellfish, wild game, chicken, game birds, turkey, pork, and desserts. Also included are dozens of recipes for sauces, marinades, and rubs to use when cooking on a barbecue grill.

Author Rick Browne is one of the country's best-known authorities on grilling. The creator and host of the PBS TV series "Barbecue America," he is the author of seven cookbooks, most dealing with barbecue and grilling. In this new collection, he's created an encyclopedic collection of recipes drawn from cuisines around the world.

Browne begins with a brief, introductory primer on basic grilling techniques, but the real substance of this book is the dazzling array of recipes--all manner of meat and fish, plus numerous vegetarian options, from every corner of the globe, with a particular focus on North American and Asian traditions.

Never before have this many great grilling recipes been collected between two covers. If you love to grill--or know someone else who does--this is a must-have resource. It's the only grilling recipe book you'll ever need.

Cain ($1.39 Kindle; >$10 elsewhere), by Jose Saramago and Margaret Jull Costa (Translator) [Houghton Mifflin Harcourt]; this is the one novel missing from The Collected Novels of Jose Saramago, as it was unfinished when the latter was published. The Audible companion audiobook is $3.99.

Book Description
In this, his last novel, José Saramago daringly reimagines the characters and narratives of the Old Testament, recalling his provocative The Gospel According to Jesus Christ. His tale runs from the Garden of Eden, when God realizes he has forgotten to give Adam and Eve the gift of speech, to the moment when Noah’s Ark lands on the dry peak of Ararat. Cain, the despised, the murderer, is Saramago’s protagonist.

Condemned to wander forever after he kills his brother Abel, Cain makes his way through the world in the company of a personable donkey. He is a witness to and participant in the stories of Isaac and Abraham, the destruction of the Tower of Babel, Moses and the golden calf, the trials of Job. The rapacious Queen Lilith takes him as her lover. An old man with two sheep on a rope crosses his path. And again and again, Cain encounters a God whose actions seem callous, cruel, and unjust. He confronts Him, he argues with Him. “And one thing we know for certain,” Saramago writes, “is that they continued to argue and are arguing still.”

A startling book—sensual, funny—and in all ways a fitting end to Saramago’s extraordinary career.

If you don't have a copy of The Great Gatsby ($4.99 Kindle, $10.93 B&N, $1.99-$7.99 Kobo), by F. Scott Fitzgerald [Simon and Schuster], now is the time to pick one up to read before seeing the latest movie version in the theaters. Those that prefer the the audiobook edition may want to grab this edition, as well, as the audiobook price drops to 99 cents once you have the Kindle edition in your libraries.

Note that the lower price editions at Kobo (and elsewhere) are public domain copies, for countries where the copyright has expired, which does not include the US.

Book Description
The exemplary novel of the Jazz Age, F. Scott Fitzgeralds' third book, The Great Gatsby (1925), stands as the supreme achievement of his career. T. S. Eliot read it three times and saw it as the "first step" American fiction had taken since Henry James; H. L. Mencken praised "the charm and beauty of the writing," as well as Fitzgerald's sharp social sense; and Thomas Wolfe hailed it as Fitzgerald's "best work" thus far. The story of the fabulously wealthy Jay Gatsby and his love for the beautiful Daisy Buchanan, of lavish parties on Long Island at a time when, The New York Times remarked, "gin was the national drink and sex the national obsession," it is an exquisitely crafted tale of America in the 1920s that resonates with the power of myth. A novel of lyrical beauty yet brutal realism, of magic, romance, and mysticism, The Great Gatsby is one of the great classics of twentieth-century literature.

Overdraft: The Orion Offensive ($1.99 Kindle), by John Jackson Miller [47North], is a new Kindle Serial from the author of Star Wars: Lost Tribe of the Sith (now available as in a Collected Stories edition), as well as several Star Wars and Mass Effects novels. Half of the episodes have been released and you get the remaining episodes over time, at no extra charge (unlike many indie-published attempts at a serial); if you prefer, you can wait until it is finished and read it all at once (in a single book on your Kindle, no searching for chapters). Also unlike the indie serials I've seen lately, this has both editorial support and the length is known before your purchase (I've seen indie's priced at 99 cents/episode, with dozens of tiny episodes, which will break the bank quickly and is vastly overpriced for all but a huge name author, IMO).

Book Description
This book is a Kindle Serial. Kindle Serials are stories published in episodes, with future episodes delivered at no additional cost. This serial currently contains four episodes out of an estimated eight total episodes, and new episodes will be delivered every two weeks.

After an egotistical stock trader for one of the twenty-second century’s biggest corporations gets greedy and loses his employer a fortune, he has two options: go to jail or make the money back before anyone notices. Unfortunately, the only place such profits can be found is the galactic frontier, a region so dangerous it’ll take an uneasy alliance with a crew of rugged mercenaries to keep him alive and in the black.

You’d have to be insane to trade with the violent denizens of the Orion Arm, but with just one hundred days to recoup $100 billion, Jamie Sturm is feeling a little crazy. Standing between Jamie and a variety of agonizing deaths is Surge Team Sigma, the squad of power-armored mercenaries tasked with protecting him. Their last job ended in disaster thanks to Jamie’s scheming, and, led by the implacable Bridget Yang, the team is determined to keep the hapless Jamie alive long enough to fix their reputation. That is, assuming they can ignore their own growing desire to flush the annoying tagalong out of the nearest airlock.

A space opera fueled by today’s financial bravado, Overdraft: The Orion Offensive strikes a thrilling balance between desperate firefights and trenchant dark humor.

Truly Madly Deeply, A Carly Phillips Collection ($0.99 Kindle), by Carly Phillips [indie], contains three romance novels previously published in paper editions: Perfect Partners (Zebra/1999), Solitary Man (Kensington/2004) and The Right Choice (Kensington/2004).

Book Description
A collection of three full length novels by New York Times Bestselling Author Carly Phillips, originally written and published in 1999 and 2000, and published under her real name, Karen Drogin.

PERFECT PARTNERS
No sooner had Chelsie Russell and Griffin Stuart lost their siblings in a car crash than they find themselves fighting for custody of their two year old niece. Griff wins only to discover Chelsie is the only one who can soothe the child's night terrors and fears. Chelsie and Griff bond over the little girl and their growing sexual desire is mutual. But is it enough? Chelsie's been hurt before and Griff isn't sure he can trust the woman who once tried to take his
niece away. What will it take for them to realize they are ... perfect partners?

THE RIGHT CHOICE
Advice columnist Carly Wexler is planning the perfect wedding with the perfect fiancé. So what if he doesn't make her heart beat faster? He's the right choice. Until sexy photo journalist, Mike Novak, her fiance's adopted brother arrives and Carly experiences all the passion she's convinced herself she doesn't need. Mike is torn by loyalty and a yearning unlike any he's ever known. After spending time with Carly, he is sure the engaged couple are marrying for the wrong reasons. With one week to go before the wedding, can Mike convince Carly he's the only choice for her?

SOLITARY MAN
When tough Boston cop Kevin Manning promised to care for his fatally wounded partner's family, a one night stand with the man's grieving sister wasn't part of the plan. No matter how intense the night had been, a woman like Nikki Welles deserves much more than a broken man like Kevin can give, and he leaves the next day. When he returns months later, everything has changed. Nikki can't forgive Kevin for abandoning her nor can she regret the baby she's now carrying. And she can't stop wanting Kevin. But can this solitary man come to believe he's worthy of love?

10 Kindle Books for $1 Each (KSO)

This offer is only for those with a Kindle Fire with Special Offers, apparently, as I don't see it on my eInk Kindles:

Get select eBooks for $1

Click on the offer, then click on the link on the offer page sign up and you'll get an email confirming the credit has been applied to your account. This offer is good for up to 10 books (per account; if you have multiple KSO devices, they need to be registered to different accounts before you sign up to get the promotion code emails; every Kindle on an account gets flagged when you sign up for the special offer). Sign-up for this offer expires June 3, 2013, but I would not delay, as I've often seen offers disappear from my Kindles before the end dates.

The email will contain a link to the promotion page; once you've applied the promo code from your Kindle Fire, you can shop from your Kindle, tablet or desktop; you may also gift the book to someone else (up to the 10 books limit). The full price shows all the way thru (just as with the AmazonLocal offers), but on the invoice summary, you will see the $1 promotional price. Once you have claimed the promotional code, you have until June 3, 2013 to complete your purchases (the same day as the sign-up deadline).

At a glance, these all seem to be Amazon publishing imprint titles. I've read Katherine Amt Hanna's Breakdown and really enjoyed it (it's not about zombies and much more about relationships after a global pandemic than most in the post-apocalytpic genre); those who prefer audiobooks can pick up the the companion audiobook for $1.99 (so, under $3 for the combo). A couple of others are in my TBR pile (The Greenhouse, for example) and I may pick up the mystery/thrillers from Vincent Zandri and Max Allan Collins.

Daily Deal - A Gentleman Says "I Do" (E)

A Gentleman Says "I Do" ($7.99 $6.15 Kindle), a historical romance by Amelia Grey [Sourcebooks Casablanca], is today's Deal of the Day at at Diesel E-Books, where it's discounted to $1.60 (8 copies left).

Book Description
Her Writing Talent is Causing All Kinds of Trouble...

The daughter of a famous writer, Catalina Crisp has helped her father publish a parody that makes Iverson Brentwood's whole family the talk of the town, and not in a good way.

Because He's the Reality Behind the Story...

Furious and threatening, Iverson storms into Catalina's house, demanding satisfaction, but the infamous rake has finally met his match. With her cool demeanor and intense intelligence, Catalina heats his blood like no other woman in his notorious history...

Get the book from Diesel; be sure to check the sales price, as the Deal of the Day often sells out.

Kindle Daily Deals 5/21

Today's Gold Box at Amazon is "ER: The Complete Seasons 1-15" for 78% off (and under $10/season).

To go with today's 25 Children's Books for $2 Each AmazonLocal Deal, I've picked out a Kid's album, Just 4 Kids: Greatest Hits for today's free MP3 (always displayed in the upper right corner on the web edition), and two 99 cent albums for the wee ones in your life: 33 Must-Have Classics for Kids: Travel Songs (including, of course, Wheels on the Bus) and 33 Must-Have Classics for Kids: Farm Songs.

And if you are traveling with the kids or just want to start a Family Night tradition, you might want to check out the 50% deals fro Trivia Party Game - Numaro - The Trivia Game Where You Don't Have to Know the Exact Answer and PICTUREKA.

Today's Kindle Daily Deal is Shake Off ($2.99), by Mischa Hiller [Hachette].

Book Description
An internationally acclaimed thriller of love, espionage and subterfuge, in which Middle East meets West with dangerous consequences.

Years of training have transformed Michel Khoury into a skilled intelligence operative. A refugee whose family was murdered by extremists, he has one mission: the peaceful resolution of the Middle East conflict that upended his life.

An alluring enigma, he attracts the attention of Helen, a pretty English girl who lives in the adjacent apartment. As their relationship develops, Michel is unable to tell Helen about his past--or the collection of passports and unmarked bills he's concealed in the bathroom they share.

When Michel's secrets turn deadly, Helen and Michel find themselves pursued through the streets of London, Berlin and the Scottish countryside, on the run from the very people they thought they could trust.

A critically celebrated novel that "recalls the cool detachment and compelling eye for ordinary detail that characterized the early thrillers of Graham Greene" (Independent on Sunday), SHAKE OFF is that rare breed of riveting tale--of intrigue and suspense, love and betrayal--that announces a bold new voice for our increasingly global times.

Today's Kindle Romance Daily Deal is Rising Storm ($0.99), by Kathleen Brooks [indie], the USA Today Bestseller for all books on August 30th, 2012.

Book Description
Katelyn Jacks was used to being front and center as a model. But she never had to confront the Keeneston Grapevine! After retiring from the runway and returning to town to open a new animal clinic, Katelyn found that her life in the public eye was anything but over. While working hard to establish herself as the new veterinarian in town, Katelyn finds her life uprooted by a storm of love, gossip, and a vicious group of criminals.

Marshall Davies is the new Sheriff in Keeneston. He is also right at the top of the town's most eligible bachelor list. His affinity for teasing the hot new veterinarian in town has led to a rush of emotions that he wasn't ready for. Marshall finds his easy days of breaking up fights at the local PTA meetings are over when he and Katelyn discover that a dog-fighting ring has stormed into their normally idyllic town. As their love struggles to break through, they must battle to save the lives of the dogs and each other.

Today's Kindle SciFi/Fantasy Daily Deal is Werewolf Love Story Box Set ($0.99), by H.T. Night [indie]. With under 300 pages, I'd call this three novellas (not novels; I think these are normally overpriced, when sold individually); the better deal, though, is to skip the daily deal and get H.T. Night's 8-Book Vampire Box Set, which weighs in at over a thousand pages, includes all three of the novellas below, plus 5 others, and is only $2.99 right now.

Book Description
WEREWOLF LOVE STORY: PART ONE
Five Years before Vampire Love Story. It is 2006, and Tommy is training hard before his second mixed martial arts match. On a random night he runs across a sexy, mysterious woman named Sasha. Sasha turns Tommy's life upside down and out of control. On a chance encounter, Tommy befriends a vampire named Patrick. Both Patrick and Sasha change everything Tommy has ever known to be true.

WEREWOLF LOVE STORY: PART TWO
Tommy meets Maya, the woman of his dreams, and is able to make sense of his new reality. A young Josiah Reign befriends Tommy along the way, and Tommy has to inevitably face his true destiny of becoming a werewolf. Will Tommy choose his destiny, or become something no one had ever thought possible?

THE RISE OF KYRO
Tommy is back. Now, he just needs to figure out what it means to be a werewolf while keeping it a secret from young Josiah, his enthusiastic fight prodigy with a superhero complex.

Today's Kindle Kids Daily Deal is Kitty Cat, Kitty Cat, Are You Going To Sleep? ($1.99), by Michael Sampson, Bill Martin Jr., Laura J Bryant and Laura J. Bryant (Illustrator) [Two Lions].

Book Description
Kitty Cat, Kitty Cat, the day is almost done. Not yet, Mother, I still can see the sun. Kitty Cat should be getting ready for bed, but instead she’s playing peekaboo, imagining she’s in outer space, tickling her toes, and more. Will Kitty Cat make it to bed on time? Adorable pastel illustrations rendered in watercolor paints and colored pencil from Laura J. Bryant bring Kitty Cat so close you’ll want to reach out and hug her!

Age Level: 3 and up

25 Children's Books for $2 Each (AL)

This offer is set up via AmazonLocal and anyone (in the US) can participate.

Free Voucher to Purchase Select Kindle Kids' Books for $2 Each

Just click on Apply, then complete the purchase on the page after that. Yes, it now says "Apply" instead of "purchase" on these free offers, but nearly the same process: you must be in the US, log into your Amazon account, have a credit card on file, make a "purchase" at zero cost, then the promo code is automatically applied to your account (no waiting for an email and dealing with a promo code, but verify that it has progressed from Processing on the My Vouchers page before purchasing your books). Sign-up for this offer expires May 25, 2013 or when the number of vouchers set aside by Amazon have been exhausted.

Once applied to your account, you can shop from your Kindle or desktop, picking any of the 25 qualifying titles. You may also gift any of the books (to grandkids, for example); the full price shows all the way thru, but on the emailed invoice summary, you will see the $1 promotional price (note that you'll still see the full price until the invoice finalizes, usually several hours after purchase; the promo credit will show in the lower half of the invoice and the final price charged to your card or gift balance will be $1/book). The total number of books you can get at this price is 25. The voucher will expire if not used toward qualifying Kindle book purchases from Amazon.com by 11:59 p.m. PST May 31, 2013.

Deal Details:

Help foster that love of reading with today's deal from Amazon. Get a free voucher to purchase select Kindle kids' books for $2 each. With 25 titles to choose from, there's sure to be something to capture the interest of every young reader.

• Free voucher to purchase select Kindle kids' books from the Amazon Kindle Store for $2 each
• Learn about lovable creatures like Little Penguin: The Emperor of Antarctica
• Travel to exciting new places with The Adventures of Benny and be careful where you step in The Adventures of Shrinkman
• Above all, be sure to discover How to Hug

Nook Daily Find 5/21

Busting Vegas: The MIT Whiz Kid Who Brought the Casinos to Their Knees ($14.95 $9.78 Kindle, $1.99 B&N), by Ben Mezrich [HarperCollins], is the Nook Daily Find; it's likely to be price matched on Kindle later this morning.

Book Description
He played in casinos around the world with a plan to make himself richer than anyone could possibly imagine -- but it would nearly cost him his life.

Semyon Dukach was known as the Darling of Las Vegas. A legend at age twenty-one, this cocky hotshot was the biggest high roller to appear in Sin City in decades, a mathematical genius with a system the casinos had never seen before and couldn't stop -- a system that has never been revealed until now; that has nothing to do with card counting, wasn't illegal, and was more powerful than anything that had been tried before.

Las Vegas. Atlantic City. Aruba. Barcelona. London. And the jewel of the gambling crown -- Monte Carlo.

Dukach and his fellow MIT students hit them all and made millions. They came in hard, with stacks of cash; big, seemingly insane bets; women hanging on their arms; and fake identities. Although they were taking classes and studying for exams during the week, over the weekends they stormed the blackjack tables only to be harassed, banned from casinos, threatened at gunpoint, and beaten in Vegas's notorious back rooms.

The stakes were high, the dangers very real, but the players were up to the challenges, consequences be damned. There was Semyon Dukach himself, bored with school and broke; Victor Cassius, the slick, brilliant MIT grad student who galvanized the team; Owen Keller, with stunning ability but a dark past that would catch up to him; and Allie Simpson, bright, clever, and a feast for the eyes.

In the classroom, they were geeks. On the casino floor, they were unstoppable.

Busting Vega$ is Dukach's unbelievably true story; a riveting account of monumental greed, excess, hubris, sex, love, violence, fear, and statistics that is high-stakes entertainment at its best.

UK Kindle Daily Deal 5/21

The Beach (£0.99 UK), by Alex Garland [Penguin], is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (the US edition is $12.99).

Book Description
Late at night in a seedy hotel, Richard is drawn into a strange conversation with a fellow guest. Through a narrow strip of mosquito netting he hears for the first time of a secret beach, and island Garden of Eden hidden somewhere in the scattered islands of a Thai marine park. The next morning, Richard finds a map pinned to his door, and the man who put it there has slashed his wrists. The challenge is irresistible, and Richard sets off on a perilous journey in search of Shangri-La.

Daily Deal - Relentless Pursuit (E)

Relentless Pursuit ($4.99 $3.82 Kindle), a contemporary romance by Sara Orwig [Harlequin Desire], is today's Deal of the Day at at Diesel E-Books, where it's discounted to $1.00 (4 copies left).

Book Description
A cool million to help a withdrawn child in time for kindergarten? Widowed teacher Ava Barton is touched that the girl's guardian, Texas billionaire Will Delaney, cares so deeply. But the job includes moving into Will's mansion for the summer. And suddenly, Ava is working nights and weekends trying—unsuccessfully—to resist the gorgeous tycoon down the hall. Will wants her in his bed for June, July and August. But come fall, he'll move on. Unless she can teach him a thing or two about opening his guarded heart to love.

Get the book from Diesel; be sure to check the sales price, as the Deal of the Day often sells out.

Kindle Daily Deals 5/20

Amazon's Android Free App of the Day is Fraction Calculator Plus, which looks to be useful for checking the kid's homework.

I also see that Angry Birds Seasons has had an update, with 36 new levels and magic portals! If you have the Ad-Free Edition, which was a free daily app a couple of years ago, you should be able to update; I may use part of my $5 Amazon Coins credit to grab the Kindle Tablet Edition. I also see that the Bad Piggies Premium HD (Kindle Tablet Edition) is only 99 cents today; although it isn't marked as a sale, Rovio usually charges $2.99 for Tablet Editions and $0.99 for the Ad-Free Edition, which makes me think that it is.

Amazon's Digital Software Deal of the Week is 64% off two Quicken products: Quicken WillMaker Plus 2013 and Quicken Legal Business Pro 2013. Both come with updates thru the end of the year, plus WillMaker gives you free access to Nolo's Online Living Trust, a $79 value, while Legal Business includes the complete, searchable text of five Nolo business bestsellers plus a free download of Nolo's bestselling book Working With Independent Contractors, a $34.99 value, when you register.

Today's Kindle Daily Deal is Berried to the Hilt ($1.99), the fourth novel in the Gray Whale Inn Mystery series by Karen MacInerney [Midnight Ink].

Book Description
When a lobsterman discovers a sunken ship, Cranberry Island is abuzz with excitement. Is the wreck the remains of the Myra Barton, the missing ship of island sea captain Jonah Selfridge? Or the elusive Black Marguerite, which belonged to one of the most notorious pirates of the 17th century and vanished without a trace—except for the ghost ship that old-timers say roams the water on fog-shrouded nights?

Soon the island is swarming with marine archaeologists and treasure hunters. It’s good news for Natalie—and for the Gray Whale Inn—until a body turns up floating near the wreck. Natalie finds herself immersed in the world of pirates and sunken treasure, both past and present. Will she solve the mystery and find the killer in time? Or will Natalie be the next to join the lost ship’s crew, down in Davy Jones’ locker?

Today's Kindle Romance Daily Deal is Beach House No. 9 ($1.99), the first Crescent Cove CA novel by Christie Ridgway [Harlequin HQN].

Book Description
USA TODAY bestselling author Christie Ridgway introduces a sizzling new series set in Crescent Cove, California, where the magic of summer can last forever…

When Jane Pearson arrives at Griffin Lowell's beach house, she expects a brooding loner. After all, his agent hired her to help the reclusive war journalist write his stalled memoir. Instead, Jane finds a tanned, ocean-blue-eyed man in a Hawaiian shirt, hosting a beach party and surrounded by beauties. Faster than he can untie a bikini top, Griffin lets Jane know he doesn't want her. But she desperately needs this job and digs her toes in the sand.

Griffin intends to spend the coming weeks at Beach House No. 9 taking refuge from his painful memories—and from the primly sexy Jane, who wants to bare his soul. But warm nights, moonlit walks and sultry kisses just may unlock both their guarded hearts….

Today's Kindle SciFi/Fantasy Daily Deal is The Secret Hour ($1.99), the first novel in the YA Midnighters Trilogy by Scott Westerfeld [HarperCollins].

Book Description
Nobody is safe in the secret hour.

Strange things happen at midnight in the town of Bixby, Oklahoma.

Time freezes.

Nobody moves.

For one secret hour each night, the town belongs to the dark creatures that haunt the shadows. Only a small group of people know about the secret hour -- only they are free to move about the midnight time.

These people call themselves Midnighters. Each one has a different power that is strongest at midnight: Seer, Mindcaster, Acrobat, Polymath. For years the Midnighters and the dark creatures have shared the secret hour, uneasily avoiding one another. All that changes when the new girl with an unmistakablemidnight aura appears at Bixby High School.

Jessica Day is not an outsider like the other Midnighters. She acts perfectly normal in every way. But it soon becomes clear that the dark creatures sense a hidden power in Jessica . . . and they're determined to stop her beforeshe can use it.

A story of courage, shadowy perils, and unexpected destiny, the secret hour is the first volume of the mesmerizing Midnighters trilogy by acclaimed author Scott Westerfeld.

Today's Kindle Kids Daily Deal is A Prince among Frogs ($2.99), the seventh title in the Tales of the Frog Princess series by E. D. Baker [Bloomsbury USA Childrens].

Book Description
Princess Millie and her fiancé, Audun, are busy preparing for their wedding when trouble starts brewing in Greater Greensward. Millie's baby brother, Felix, has been kidnapped and is trapped in a swamp full of other frogs. With all the adults busy fixing problems elsewhere in the kingdom, it's up to Millie and Audun to find him-but they need all the help they can get to fight the family's oldest nemesis, the angry wizard Olebald. From the deep blue sea to the soaring skies, our two heroes will stop at nothing to get their families back together and banish all the troublemakers for good.E. D. Baker brings out all our favorite characters for this funny and ferocious finale to Tales of the Frog Princess, the best-selling series that inspired Disney's The Princess and the Frog.

Age Range: 10 and up

Romance Bargain Duo

Taking Shots ($0.99 Kindle, Kobo, $2.99 B&N), the first novel in The Assassins series Toni Aleo [Loveswept/Random House]. Best of all, the remaining novels in the series are currently on sale for $2.99 apiece. These are not short novels, either - the first is nearly 500 pages and the next one I checked nearly 700!

Book Description
In Toni Aleo’s exhilarating Loveswept debut, the first in a series featuring the hockey hunks of the Nashville Assassins, a reformed bad boy helps a charming, willful woman face off against the demons of her past.

No matter how hard she tries, Elleanor Fisher never thinks she’s good enough, from her job to her weight to her love life. After enduring years of abuse at the hands of an ex-boyfriend, Elli has been drifting through life in a daze. Until, that is, she meets Shea Adler on a promotional shoot for the NHL’s Nashville Assassins. Before Elli knows what’s happening, the gorgeous Shea breaks the ice and shatters her world.

A brilliant athlete inside the rink, Shea Adler is tired of the life he’s living outside of it: the women, the money, the drinking. But everything changes when he meets Elli. After laying eyes on this feisty, witty, beautiful woman, he feels like he’s just taken the hardest hit of his life. No matter how skeptical she is, Shea knows they are meant to be together—if only he can convince Elli to put her insecurities aside before she misses out on a shot at love.

The Notorious Lady Anne ($0.99 Kindle, Kobo, $2.99 B&N), a historical romance by Sharon Cullen [Loveswept/Random House]. A second novel, The Infamous Lord Blythe ($2.99), is also now available to pre-order, along with her previously published works.

Book Description
From rising romance star Sharon Cullen comes a tale of the fiery passion between a noble naval officer and a female pirate that’s as tempestuous and as unpredictable as the sea.

Nicholas Addison, celebrated captain of the Blackwell Shipping Fleet, has agreed to take Mrs. Emmaline Sutherland aboard the Pride and ferry the raven-haired beauty across the Atlantic on what he imagines will be a routine trip. But when the ship is attacked by pirates, the seemingly innocent passenger is revealed to be none other than the infamous marauder Lady Anne, whose name strikes fear in the hearts of sailors everywhere—and whose seductive wiles commandeers Nicholas’s affections.

Lady Anne, a legend of the high seas, has spent the last eleven years plotting revenge against her father, the owner of Blackwell Shipping. She’s targeted the Pride in hopes of plundering its captain’s company secrets. But beneath her fierce courage and bitter determination, Anne has the delicate heart of a woman—a heart that cannot help falling for Nicholas. Now Anne must make a difficult choice: bring down Blackwell or surrender to love.

Includes a special message from the editor, as well as excerpts from these Loveswept titles: The Reluctant Countess, Wild Rain, and Silk on the Skin.

Nook Daily Find 5/20

How to Swear Around the World ($7.39 Kindle, $8.39 $0.99 B&N), by Toby Triumph and Jason Sacher [Chronicle Books], is the Nook Daily Find.

Book Description
This essential phrasebook collects the most colorful, explicit, and outrageous ways to tell people off in every part of the world. Featuring dozens of different languages, the sayings range from everyday swears to family curses to expressions for X-rated relations with animals. Phonetic pronunciation is provided so that readers can curse like a native, and handy illustrations provide visual guides to these foreign exclamations. Perfect for the international traveler who may need to wish an enemy a painful death, insult a person's grandmother, or accuse someone's mother of having intimate relations with bears in the forest.

UK Kindle Daily Deal 5/21

They Were Counted (£0.99 UK), the first novel in the Transylvanian Trilogy by Miklos Banffy, is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (the US edition is $7.19).

Book Description
Painting an unrivalled portrait of the vanished world of pre-1914 Hungary, this story is told through the eyes of two young Transylvanian cousins, Count Balint Abády and Count László Gyeroffy. Shooting parties in great country houses, turbulent scenes in parliament, and the luxury of life in Budapest provide the backdrop for this gripping, prescient novel, forming a chilling indictment of upper-class frivolity and political folly, in which good manners cloak indifference and brutality. Abády becomes aware of the plight of a group of Romanian mountain peasants and champions their cause, while Gyeroffy dissipates his resources at the gaming tables, mirroring the decline of the Austro-Hungarian Empire itself. The first book in a trilogy published before World War II, it was rediscovered after the fall of Communism in Hungary and this edition contains a new foreword.

They Were Found Wanting (£0.99 UK), the second novel in the Transylvanian Trilogy by Miklos Banffy, is the second Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (the US edition is $7.19).

Book Description
The tale of the two Transylvanian cousins, their loves, and their very different fortunes continues in this second volume of the Transylvanian trilogy. Balint Abady is forced to part from the beautiful and unhappily married Adrienne Uzdy, while Lazlo Gyeroffy is rapidly heading for self-destruction through excessive drinking and his own fecklessness. Politicians, quarreling among themselves and stubbornly ignoring their countrymen's real needs, are still pursuing their vendetta with the Habsburg rule of Hungary from Vienna. Meanwhile, they fail to notice how the Great Powers-through such events as Austria's annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1908-are moving ever closer to the conflagration of 1914-1918 that will destroy their world forever. Contrasting a life of privilege and corruption with the lives and problems of an expatriate Romanian peasant minority whom Balint tries to help, this portrait is an unrivalled evocation of a rich and fascinating aristocratic world oblivious of its impending demise.

They Were Divided (£0.99 UK), the concluding volume in the Transylvanian Trilogy by Miklos Banffy, is the third Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (the US edition is $7.19).

Book Description
The final part of Banffy's trilogy reflects the rapidly disintegrating course of events in Central Europe. In the foreground the lives of Balint, with his ultimately unhappy love for Adrienne, and his fatally flawed cousin, Laszlo Gyeroffy, who dies in poverty and neglect, are told with humour and a bitter-sweet nostalgia for a paradise lost through folly. The sinister and fast moving events in Montenegro, the Balkan wars, the apparent encirclement of Germany and Austria-Hungary by Britain, France and Russia, and finally the assassination of Franz Ferdinand all lead inexorably to the youth of Hungary marching off to their death and the dismemberment of their country.

Kindle Daily Deals 5/19

Today's Kindle Daily Deal is Hugh Howey's Silo Saga, two omnibus editions for $1.99 apiece. These are self-published, multi-million sellers, so popular that Howey was able to force a print-only deal from traditional publishers (and has both print and movie deals worldwide). I bought the Wool Omnibus the last time it was on sale, but put off reading it for quite a while, thinking that the hype was just that; don't make the same mistake: add this to the top of your reading list. I bought the Shift Omnibus as soon as I finished Wool and paid more than today's sale, so save a few bucks and pick them both up. I've blurred the description on the second volume, though - you don't want to read anything that will give away the plot or ending of the first before you've read it. I can only hope that this sale is signaling that the third series, Dust, is nearing publication.

Wool Omnibus Edition (companion audiobook $0.99)

This Omnibus Edition collects the five Wool books into a single volume. It is for those who arrived late to the party and who wish to save a dollar or two while picking up the same stories in a single package.

The first Wool story was released as a standalone short in July of 2011. Due to reviewer demand, the rest of the story was released over the next six months. My thanks go out to those reviewers who clamored for more. Without you, none of this would exist. Your demand created this as much as I did.

This is the story of mankind clawing for survival, of mankind on the edge. The world outside has grown unkind, the view of it limited, talk of it forbidden. But there are always those who hope, who dream. These are the dangerous people, the residents who infect others with their optimism. Their punishment is simple. They are given the very thing they profess to want: They are allowed outside.

Shift Omnibus Edition

This is the sequel to the New York Times bestselling WOOL series. It combines the three Shift books (First Shift, Second Shift, and Third Shift) into a single e-book in order to save the reader a few bucks. The saga concludes with DUST, which will be available in late 2013.

In 2007, the Center for Automation in Nanobiotech (CAN) outlined the hardware and software platform that would one day allow robots smaller than human cells to make medical diagnoses, conduct repairs, and even self-propagate.

In the same year, the CBS network re-aired a program about the effects of propranolol on sufferers of extreme trauma. A simple pill, it had been discovered, could wipe out the memory of any traumatic event.

At almost the same moment in humanity’s broad history, mankind had discovered the means for bringing about its utter downfall. And the ability to forget it ever happened.

Today's Kindle Romance Daily Deal is Our Husband ($0.99), by Stephanie Bond [backlist/NeedtoRead]. Originally published by St. Martin's Press.

Book Description
OUR HUSBAND is a laugh-out-loud romantic mystery!

Hell hath no fury like three women scorned... Three women from different walks of life--a doctor, a socialite, and a stripper--find out they have one thing in common: a husband! When the magnanimous hubby winds up dead, the unlikely trio band together to track down a killer, and along the way, discover a lot more than they bargained for.

Today's Kindle SciFi/Fantasy Daily Deal is Dead Witch Walking ($1.99), the first novel in The Hollows series by Kim Harrison [HarperCollins, with the companion audiobook for $3.49]. I love this series and originally read them all in paper; if you read urban fantasy at all, you should definitely pick this up; check your libraries, though, as there was a free Bonus Edition a while back.

Book Description
The underground population of witches, vampires, werewolves—creatures of dreams and nightmares—has lived beside humans for centuries, hiding their powers. But after a genetically engineered virus wipes out a large part of humanity, many of the "Inderlanders" reveal themselves, changing everything.

Rachel Morgan, witch and bounty hunter with the Inderland Runner Services, is one of the best at apprehending supernatural lawbreakers throughout Cincinnati, but when it comes to following the rules, she falls desperately short. Determined to buck the system, she quits and takes off on the run with an I.S. contract on her head and is reluctantly forced to team up with Ivy, Inderland's best runner . . . and a living vampire. But this witch is way out of her league, and to clear her name, Rachel must evade shape-changing assassins, outwit a powerful businessman/crime lord, and survive a vicious underground fight-to-the-death . . . not to mention her own roommate.

Today's Kindle Kid's Daily Deal is Seeds of America: Forge ($0.99), by Laurie Halse Anderson [Simon and Schuster], with the companion audiobook for $3.49.

Book Description
In this compelling sequel to Chains, a National Book Award Finalist and winner of the Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction, acclaimed author Laurie Halse Anderson shifts perspective from Isabel to Curzon and brings to the page the tale of what it takes for runaway slaves to forge their own paths in a world of obstacles—and in the midst of the American Revolution. The Patriot Army was shaped and strengthened by the desperate circumstances of the Valley Forge winter. This is where Curzon the boy becomes Curzon the young man. In addition to the hardships of soldiering, he lives with the fear of discovery, for he is an escaped slave passing for free. And then there is Isabel, who is also at Valley Forge—against her will. She and Curzon have to sort out the tangled threads of their friendship while figuring out what stands between the two of them and true freedom.

Age Level: 10 and up

Nook Daily Find 5/19

Dial C for Chihuahua ($1.99 Kindle, B&N, Sony), by Waverly Curtis [Kensington Books], is the Nook Daily Find, price matched on Kindle and at Sony. This was free in all the major stores two months ago, so you probably already have it in your libraries.

Book Description
"I am Pepe. But you can call me el Jefe."

Pepe may have soft white fur, big brown eyes, and mucho attitude--but he's no furry fashion fad. Pepe can talk--even if his new owner, Geri Sullivan, seems to be the only person who can understand him.

When Geri takes on her first assignment for a quirky investigator named Jimmy G and stumbles over a Seattle millionaire's corpse, Pepe proves to be worth his weight in liver treats. Suspicion falls on the not-so-grieving widow, who wants to finance a reality TV show, Dancing With Dogs.

Normally, Pepe wouldn't be caught muerte in a sparkly costume. However, he has to sniff out the real killer and keep Geri safe. Lesser dogs might flinch. But Pepe isn't the kind to turn tail and run....

UK Kindle Daily Deal 5/19

I Am The Secret Footballer (£0.99 UK), by The Secret Footballer, is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (the US edition is $4.39).

Book Description
"It is often said that 95% of what happens in football goes on behind closed doors. Many of these stories I shouldn't be telling you about. But I will."

Who is The Secret Footballer? Only a few people know the true identity of the man inside the game. But whoever he is - and whoever he plays for - he is always honest, always fearless and always opinionated.

Now, for the first time, he reveals everything you need to know about the hidden world of professional football - the extraordinary highs, the desperate lows, and what it's really like to do the job most of us can only dream of.

Kindle Daily Deals 5/18

Today's Gold Box at Amazon is Up to 60% Off Select Kensington Laptop and Tablet Accessories.

Amazon price matched today's Nook Daily Find: The Island ($5.24 $2.99), by Elin Hilderbrand [Hachette].

If you signed up for the free copy of Summer at Willow Lake by Susan Wiggs from Sony, check your emails for both the code and instructions (redeem first, then add the book to your cart; verify zero total before checkout).

Today's Kindle Teen Daily Deal is A Series of Unfortunate Events Collection Books 1-3 with bonus material: The Bad Beginning, The Reptile Room, The Wide Window ($2.99), by Lemony Snicket [HarperCollins]. This is a pretty good deal, especially if you missed the big pricing snafu in 2010, which resulted in nearly all the books being listed as free for a few hours. If you have kids (or grandkids) in the right age range, you'll probably end up getting the entire series at some point, as it is a fun read. The collections work out to about the same $5-$6/title that you pay individually, with the current sale (usually closer to the $8-$10 range), including the massive omnibus of the entire series, A Series of Unfortunate Events Collection: Books 1-13 with Bonus Material, which is currently marked down 52%, to $79.99 (that's $6.15/title). Of course, this last title is so huge, you actually get the entire first book in the sample, from what I can see in checking it out in the online preview.

Book Description
Lemony Snicket’s unhappy tale of the unlucky Baudelaire siblings begins with The Bad Beginning. In this short bothersome book alone, the three orphans encounter a greedy and repulsive villain, itchy clothing, a disastrous fire, a plot to steal their fortune, and cold porridge for breakfast.

Should you not mind deadly serpents, slippery salamanders, lumpy beds, large brass reading lamps, long knives, and terrible odors, then proceed with caution to the second book in the miserable series, The Reptile Room.

Readers unbothered by inclement weather, hungry leeches, and cold cucumber soup will want to continue with the third installment, The Wide Window. Others will not.

If you’ve got the stomach to wade through the first three tragic tales in Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, then this troubling collection might be the one for you. Several loathsome extras, including a compilation of unsettling quotations and a very disturbing portrait, await those who successfully complete the wretched journey. You’ve been warned!

Age Level: 8 and up

Today's Kindle Daily Deal is Five Little Pigs ($1.99), by Agatha Christie (HarperCollins).

Book Description
Beautiful Caroline Crale was convicted of poisoning her husband, yet there were five other suspects: Philip Blake (the stockbroker) who went to market; Meredith Blake (the amateur herbalist) who stayed at home; Elsa Greer (the three-time divorcee) who had roast beef; Cecilia Williams (the devoted governess) who had none; and Angela Warren (the disfigured sister) who cried 'wee wee wee' all the way home.

It is sixteen years later, but Hercule Poirot just can't get that nursery rhyme out of his mind…

Today's Kindle Romance Daily Deal is Guardians of Stone ($1.99), by Anita Clenney [Montlake Romance].

Book Description
In the tradition of Indiana Jones, a feisty heroine with a sixth sense, and two sexy heroes, a dark, reclusive billionaire and a mercenary bodyguard are on a hunt for four powerful relics that could change their lives…and the course of history. But relics aren’t Kendall’s only quest. Eventually, she’ll have to choose between her sexy boss and her badass bodyguard.

Kendall Morgan is a human bloodhound. Spending her childhood hunting relics with her ambitious archeologist father, she knew the two of them shared a sixth sense for the history and location of objects—sometimes even people. What she didn’t know was that their paranormal gift could ultimately be their undoing.

After the tragic plane crash that killed her father as well as her childhood best friend, Kendall dedicated her life to finding and protecting relics. When mysterious, sexy billionaire Nathan Larraby hires her for his latest expedition—the search for four powerful relics—she’s thrown into a world of high-octane danger. He sends brooding mercenary Jake Stone to watch Kendall’s back, but he may have created danger of a different kind.

As the team chases down clues, a man called the Reaper makes a play for the artifacts and will stop at nothing to put them to his own sinister use. What’s worse is that Nathan hasn’t told the whole story, and the dark secrets he’s keeping could cost them the mission…and their lives.

Today's Kindle SciFi/Fantasy Daily Deal is Some Girls Bite ($2.99), the first novel in the Chicagoland Vampires series by Chloe Neill [Penguin], with the companion audiobook for $4.49. I originally bought this in paper, then replaced it during a sale at Fictionwise (along with the rest of the series that was available then). It looks like a new novel is coming out this year and can now be pre-ordered for delivery in August: Biting Bad.

Book Description
First in a brand new series about a Chicago graduate student's introduction into a society of vampires.

Sure, the life of a graduate student wasn't exactly glamorous, but it was Merit's. She was doing fine until a rogue vampire attacked her. But he only got a sip before he was scared away by another bloodsucker and this one decided the best way to save her life was to make her the walking undead.

Turns out her savior was the master vampire of Cadogan House. Now she?s traded sweating over her thesis for learning to fit in at a Hyde Park mansion full of vamps loyal to Ethan Lord o the Manor Sullivan. Of course, as a tall, green-eyed, four-hundred- year-old vampire, he has centuries? worth of charm, but unfortunately he expects her gratitude? and servitude. But an inconvenient sunlight allergy and Ethan?s attitude are the least of her concerns. Someone's still out to get her. Her initiation into Chicago's nightlife may be the first skirmish in a war and there will be blood.

Nook Daily Find 5/18

The Island ($5.24 $2.99 Kindle, B&N), by Elin Hilderbrand [Hachette], is the Nook Daily Find. Update: Now price matched on Kindle.

Book Description
Birdie Cousins has thrown herself into the details of her daughter Chess's lavish wedding, from the floating dance floor in her Connecticut back yard to the color of the cocktail napkins. Like any mother of a bride-to-be, she is weathering the storms of excitement and chaos, tears and joy. But Birdie, a woman who prides herself on preparing for every possibility, could never have predicted the late-night phone call from Chess, abruptly announcing that she's cancelled her engagement.

It's only the first hint of what will be a summer of upheavals and revelations. Before the dust has even begun to settle, far worse news arrives, sending Chess into a tailspin of despair. Reluctantly taking a break from the first new romance she's embarked on since the recent end of her 30-year marriage, Birdie circles the wagons and enlists the help of her younger daughter Tate and her own sister India. Soon all four are headed for beautiful, rustic Tuckernuck Island, off the coast of Nantucket, where their family has summered for generations. No phones, no television, no grocery store - a place without distractions where they can escape their troubles.

But throw sisters, daughters, ex-lovers, and long-kept secrets onto a remote island, and what might sound like a peaceful getaway becomes much more. Before summer has ended, dramatic truths are uncovered, old loves are rekindled, and new loves make themselves known. It's a summertime story only Elin Hilderbrand can tell, filled with the heartache, laughter, and surprises that have made her page-turning, bestselling novels as much a part of summer as a long afternoon on a sunny beach.

UK Kindle Daily Deal 5/18

Seoul Survivors (£1.09 UK), by Naomi Foyle, is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (no US edition).

Book Description
A meteor known as Lucifer's Hammer is about to wreak destruction on the earth, and with the end of the world imminent, there is only one safe place to be.

In the mountains above Seoul, American-Korean bio-engineer Dr Kim Da Mi thinks she has found the perfect solution to save the human race. But her methods are strange and her business partner, Johnny Sandman, is not exactly the type of person anyone would want to mix with.

Drawn in by their smiles and pretty promises, Sydney - a Canadian model trying to escape an unhappy past - is an integral part of their scheme, until she realises that the quest for perfection comes at an impossible price.

Daily Deal - Acceptable Risks (DF)

Acceptable Risks ($5.99 $4.61 Kindle), the 2013 winner of the EPIC eBook Award for Romantic Suspense by Natalie J. Damschroder [Carina Press], is today's Deal of the Day at at Diesel E-Books, where it's discounted to $1.20 (8 copies left). Since it is DRM-Free, it's easily converted (via Calibre) to read on the Kindle, but if you get the Amazon edition, you can also get the the companion audiobook for $2.99.

Book Description
When security expert Jason Templeton's team is ambushed while protecting a weapons manufacturer vital to U.S. interests, he risks his life to save the man's daughter...and loses. Unbeknownst to Jason, his mentor had been funding experimental medical procedures after losing his young wife. Using the untested drugs, Jason is brought back to life, stronger and faster than before, but also vulnerable in new ways. He's determined to find the traitor in their midst, who is after the miracle drug.

That means protecting the brilliant scientist Lark Madrassa. Their attraction and compatibility are undeniable, but Jason tries to deny his growing feelings for her, thinking he is too damaged. When Lark's father is kidnapped they have to rely on each other in a dangerous plot to uncover the double agent. Before, Jason always accepted the risks—but what about when the life of the woman he loves is on the line?

Get the book from Diesel; be sure to check the sales price, as the Deal of the Day often sells out.

Free Nook App - Sherlock Holmes: The Blue Diamond

Sherlock Holmes: The Blue Diamond - Hidden Object Game ($0.99 Amazon), by SecretBuilders, is this week's Free Friday App from Barnes & Noble.

App Description
Sherlock Holmes: The Blue Diamond is a wonderfully illustrated hidden object puzzle game based on the book by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The game takes you through the detective mystery with high-quality AUDIO NARRATION!

Sherlock Holmes needs to uncover the mystery of how a blue diamond ended up in the throat of a goose of all places. Follow along as Holmes goes on this wild goose chase!

Based on the Oxford University Press edition of Sherlock Holmes: The Blue Diamond, this game features stunning art and stimulating puzzles designed by award winning game producer SecretBuilders. Each brain-teasing level unfolds a scene from the book with beautiful illustrations and audio excerpts.

This application is recommended for ages 5+.

Get the free App from Barnes & Noble.

Kindle Daily Deals 5/17

Today's Gold Box at Amazon is "up to 55% Off Studio Ghibli Favorites on DVD and Blu-ray" and it looks like movie deals today in the Lightning Deals, including an upcoming teaser of "50% Off Star Trek Federation: The First 150 Years". I may have to double check that one later today. We went last night and saw the new Star Trek movie - I don't think fans will be disappointed (although the redshirts did wear a different color disguise when they went down to the planet). I've signed up to be notified when Into Darkness is released at Amazon, so we can watch it again at home (maybe we'll even get the 3D edition).

Today's Kindle Teen Daily Deal is It's a Mall World After All ($1.99), by Janette Rallison [Walker Childrens].

Book Description
Charlotte's job as a perfume spritzer at the mall is perfect for spying on her classmates who hang out there. So when she see her best friend's boyfriend flirting with another girl, a series of hilarious, often foiled attempts to catch him in the act of cheating follow. Through it all, the gorgeous and infuriating Colton is there laughing at her. But when Charlotte and Colton dress up as Santa and his elf for a charity event at the mall, they get more attention than they bargained for-leading to a mall brawl, a moment of truth, and the realization that being right isn't always a one-size-fits solution.

Today's Kindle Daily Deal is all three books in David Mack's Star Trek: The Next Generation: Cold Equations series for a mere $0.99 apiece [Simon and Schuster].

The Persistence of Memory

A BRAZEN HEIST Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the Enterprise crew race to find out who has stolen Data’s android brother B-4—and for what sinister purpose.

A BROKEN PROMISE One desperate father risks all for the son he abandoned forty years ago—but is he ready to pay the price for redemption?

A DARING MISSION Against overwhelming odds, and with time running out, Commander Worf has only one chance to avert a disaster. But how high a price will he pay for victory?

Silent Weapons

A WAR OF LIES

Three years after the disastrous final Borg Invasion, a bitter cold war against the Typhon Pact has pushed Starfleet’s resources to the breaking point. Now the rise of a dangerous new technology threatens to destroy the Federation from within.

Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the Enterprise crew answer a distress call from an old friend, only to become targets in a deadly game of deception. To protect a vital diplomatic mission, they must find a way to identify the spies hiding in their midst, before it’s too late.

But Worf soon realizes the crew’s every move has been predicted: Someone is using them as pawns. And the closer they get to exposing their enemy, the deeper they spiral into its trap. . . .

The Body Electric

AT THE CENTER OF THE GALAXY . . .

A planet-sized Machine of terrifying power and unfathomable purpose hurls entire star systems into a supermassive black hole. Wesley Crusher, now a full-fledged Traveler, knows the Machine must be stopped . . . but he has no idea how.

Wesley must enlist the aid of Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the Enterprise crew, who also fail to halt the unstoppable alien juggernaut’s destructive labors. But they soon divine the Machine’s true purpose—-a purpose that threatens to exterminate all life in the Milky Way Galaxy. With time running out, Picard realizes he knows of only one person who might be able to stop the Machine in time to avert a galactic catastrophe—-if only he had any idea how to find him. . . .

THE CLIMAX OF A NEW TRILOGY BY THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF STAR TREK: DESTINY

Today's Kindle Romance Daily Deal is Caught on Camera ($1.99), the first (and only, so far) novel in Kim Law's Davenports series [Montlake Romance], with the companion audiobook also $1.99.

Book Description
Beautiful Vega Zaragoza was poised to become fashion’s next “it girl” when she learned the hard way that sex and politics don’t mix. Now the former model spends her days behind the camera, working as a videographer to hide from public scrutiny. Her life is on autopilot until a promising new job sparks her ambition. There’s just one catch: she must land an exclusive interview with JP Davenport, the golden boy of American politics and first in line for Georgia’s open senatorial seat.

Charming and gorgeous, JP is also fiercely private, a charismatic enigma with his fair share of secrets—not to mention a string of romantic conquests a mile long. He could make Vega’s career, or destroy what credibility she has left—because JP has made it very clear that his interest in Vega is anything but professional. Vega should know better than to trust a man like him. But kiss by heated kiss, she discovers this man may be worth the risk.

Today's Kindle SciFi/Fantasy Daily Deal is Dawn ($2.99), the first novel in the (excellent) Xenogenesis Trilogy by Octavia E. Butler [Open Road].

Book Description
Rescued from Earth’s destruction, one woman is called upon to revive mankind

Lilith Iyapo has just lost her husband and son when atomic fire consumes Earth—the last stage of the planet’s final war. Hundreds of years later Lilith awakes, deep in the hold of a massive alien spacecraft piloted by the Oankali—who arrived just in time to save humanity from extinction. They have kept Lilith and other survivors asleep for centuries, as they learned whatever they could about Earth. Now it is time for Lilith to lead them back to her home world, but life among the Oankali on the newly resettled planet will be nothing like it was before.

The Oankali survive by genetically merging with primitive civilizations—whether their new hosts like it or not. For the first time since the nuclear holocaust, Earth will be inhabited. Grass will grow, animals will run, and people will learn to survive the planet’s untamed wilderness. But their children will not be human. Not exactly.

This ebook features an illustrated biography of Octavia E. Butler including rare images from the author’s estate.

Nook Daily Find 5/17

Saving CeeCee Honeycutt ($2.99 Kindle, B&N), by Beth Hoffman [Penguin], is the Nook Daily Find, price matched on Kindle.

Book Description
Steel Magnolias meets The Help in this Southern debut novel sparkling with humor, heart, and feminine wisdom

Twelve-year-old CeeCee Honeycutt is in trouble. For years, she has been the caretaker of her psychotic mother, Camille-the tiara-toting, lipstick-smeared laughingstock of an entire town-a woman trapped in her long-ago moment of glory as the 1951 Vidalia Onion Queen. But when Camille is hit by a truck and killed, CeeCee is left to fend for herself. To the rescue comes her previously unknown great-aunt, Tootie Caldwell.

In her vintage Packard convertible, Tootie whisks CeeCee away to Savannah's perfumed world of prosperity and Southern eccentricity, a world that seems to be run entirely by women. From the exotic Miz Thelma Rae Goodpepper, who bathes in her backyard bathtub and uses garden slugs as her secret weapons, to Tootie's all- knowing housekeeper, Oletta Jones, to Violene Hobbs, who entertains a local police officer in her canary-yellow peignoir, the women of Gaston Street keep CeeCee entertained and enthralled for an entire summer.

Laugh-out-loud funny and deeply touching, Beth Hoffman's sparkling debut is, as Kristin Hannah says, "packed full of Southern charm, strong women, wacky humor, and good old-fashioned heart." It is a novel that explores the indomitable strengths of female friendship and gives us the story of a young girl who loses one mother and finds many others.

UK Kindle Daily Deal 5/17

A Good and Useful Hurt (£0.99 UK), by Aric Davis [47North], is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (the US edition is $4.99; companion audiobook $1.99).

Book Description
Mike is a tattoo artist running his own shop, and Deb is the piercing artist he hires to round out the motley crew at his studio of four. The last thing either expects is romance, but that’s exactly what happens when they follow their off-kilter careers and love lives into complete disaster.

When Mike follows a growing trend and tattoos the ashes of deceased loved ones into several customers’ tattoos, he has no idea that it will one day provide the solution—and solace—he will sorely need. And when the life of a serial killer tragically collides with the lives of those in the tattoo shop, Mike and Deb will stop at nothing in their quest for revenge, even if it means stepping outside the known boundaries of life and death.

Ink that is full of crematory ashes, a sociopathic killer, and pain in its most raw form combine for one of the most imaginative, haunting thrillers in recent memory. Full of wit and heart, A Good and Useful Hurt delivers the goods with the pain of a needle in skin.

Daily Deal - Worlds Apart (DF)

Worlds Apart ($6.50 $5.00 Kindle), an Erotic Romance novella by Barbara Elsborg [Samhain Publishing], is today's Deal of the Day at at Diesel E-Books (it was the deal yesterday at EBook Eros, but sold out, as has today's deal there), where it's discounted to $1.30 (1 copies left).

Book Description
Love has never been so close—or seemed so far away.

I love you. Niall is in hiding, but not from the police. He’s trapped between the world he longs for and a place he can’t leave behind. Cursed to hold his tongue, unable to claim what he wants until it’s given, he’s allowed one year to capture his heart's desire. But speaking those three simple words, the most important words in his life, might very well kill him.

I can’t love you. As a private investigator, Taylor walks daily through the ashes of love burned out. He’s witnessed the aftermath of love—destroyed marriages and wrecked lives that leave behind nothing but bitter memories of betrayal. He’s convinced that love will never plant a seed in his heart—until Niall sparks a completely unexpected reaction in both mind and body.

I want to love you. Roo has spent her entire life bouncing from relationship to relationship, offering her heart only to get it trampled on. When she finds herself out in the cold again, she discovers love can come from the most surprising of places. Her choices are simple. Do the right thing. Do the wrong thing. Do nothing. The wrong choice could be simply devastating…

Warning: Beware faeries with killer tattoos and girls dressed as chickens — broken hearts can follow… Or lots of love. And lots of sex—three-way, two-way, every which way. But no chicken sex. Thank god.

Get the book from Diesel; be sure to check the sales price, as the Deal of the Day often sells out.

Kindle Daily Deals 5/16

Amazon's Android Free App of the Day is Blokish, an Android implementation of the popular board game Blokus, turn-based strategy game.

Today's Kindle Teen Daily Deal is The Vanishing Game ($2.99), by Kate Kae Myers [Bloomsbury USA Childrens].

Book Description
Jocelyn's twin brother Jack was everything she had growingup in a world of foster homes - and now he's dead, and she has nothing. Then she gets a cryptic letter from "JasonDecember" - the code name her brother used to use when he made up elaboratepuzzles to fill the unhappy hours at Seale House, a terrifying foster home from their childhood. Only one other personknows about Jason December: Noah, Jocelyn's childhood crush, and their onlyreal friend among the troubled children at Seale House.But when Jocelyn sneaks off to return to Seale House and thecity where she last saw Noah, she gets more than she bargained for. Turns out Seale House's dark powers weren'tjust the figment of a childish information. And someone is following Jocelyn. Is Jack still alive? And if heis, what kind of trouble is he in - and how can Jocelyn and Noah help him?

Today's Kindle Daily Deal is Shaun Morey's Atticus Fish series for $1.99) apiece [AmazonEncore/Thomas & Mercer].

Wahoo Rhapsody (companion audiobook $1.99)

Take one sea-loving captain, a drug-smuggling first mate, and a novice deckhand with a secret, and you have the motley crew of the Wahoo Rhapsody, a ramshackle fishing charter plying the Pacific’s waters off the coast of Cabo San Lucas. Captain Winston Weber makes an honest, if lean, living running fishing charters between Mexico and California, with no inkling of the fact that his first mate, Weevil Ott, is smuggling marijuana inside the yellowfin tuna stacked in the boat’s hold. But when Weevil decides to skim a small fortune for himself, goons under orders from the mysterious drug lord known only as “La Cucaracha” descend upon the Wahoo Rhapsody. What ensues is a madcap romp that will catapult readers from Cabo San Lucas to Tucson and San Diego, as Winston, Weevil, and an expat American lawyer by the name of Atticus Fish try to outrun La Cucaracha’s bloody reach. Fans of Carl Hiaasen and Elmore Leonard will relish this rollicking satirical adventure from award-winning writer Shaun Morey.

El Dorado Blues (companion audiobook $1.99)

In the badlands of southern Baja, retired expatriate billionaire Atticus Fish finds himself sabotaging illegal commercial longliners from his one-man submarine, and schooling boneheaded tourists in civility. But when archaeologist Duncan Rigby gets kidnapped while on the trail of the legendary Jesuit Treasure, intrepid PI Toozie McGill enlists Atticus to fire up his seaplane and fly off in pursuit. Finding the archaeologist is one thing; recovering the stolen jewels is something else altogether. Now that word of the Treasure is out, will Atticus and his sideckick, mescal bootlegger Skegs, stand a chance against the deadly wave of treasure hunters who wash up on Baja’s shores?

A delightfully offbeat mystery adventure brimming with colorful characters and local atmosphere, El Dorado Blues will charm readers in the best-selling tradition of Carl Hiaasen, Elmore Leonard, and Jimmy Buffett.

Today's Kindle SciFi/Fantasy Daily Deal is Makeda ($1.99), by Randall Robinson [Open Lens].

Book Description
The debut title from Akashic's new Open Lens imprint by the nationally best-selling author Randall Robinson has been selected as a "Recommended Read" by Essence magazine's Book Club.

Makeda Gee Florida Harris March is a proud and graceful matriarch, the anchor and emotional bellwether who holds together a hard-working African American family living in 1950s Richmond, Virginia. Embattled by the social ills of the day and the deferred dreams of Makeda's son David and his wife, the hopes of the March family are pinned on their elder son Gordon and the seedlings of change that will grow into the Civil Rights Movement. Lost in the shadows is Gordon's younger brother Gray, also bright and perceptive, but who doesn't quite measure up in his own eyes, or in the eyes of his father.

While struggling to survive the emotional vacuum of his household, Gray escapes into the safe and magical world of his grandmother Makeda's tiny parlor. Makeda, a woman blind since birth but who has always dreamed in color, begins to confide in Gray the things she "sees" and remembers from her dream state, and an increasingly detailed story emerges that is layered with historical accuracy beyond the scope of Makeda's limited education. Gradually, Gray begins to make a connection between his grandmother's dreams and the epic life of an African queen described in the Bible . . .

Part coming-of-age story, part spiritual journey, and part love story, Makeda is a universal tale of family, heritage, and the ties that bind.

Today's Kindle Romance Daily Deal is Whip Smart: Lola Montez Conquers the Spaniardst ($0.99), by Kit Brennan [Astor + Blue Editions].

Book Description
A wild and sexy romp through history based on the real-life adventures of the audacious, Lola Montez.It is 1842, London, and the gorgeous, ever-capricious twenty-two year old Eliza Gilbert, (aka Lola Montez) is in deep trouble and seeks escape from a divorce trial. Desperate to be free, Lola accepts an alluring offer of a paid trip to Spain, if she will only fulfill a few tasks for Juan de Grimaldi—a Spanish theatre impresario who is also a government agent and spy for the exiled Spanish queen, Maria Cristina.Lola soon finds herself in Madrid, undercover as a performer in a musical play. But when she falls dangerously in love with the target, General Diego de Léon—the “perfect Spanish soldier, lover and horseman”—Lola becomes a double agent and the two hatch a plot of their own. Disaster strikes when the plot is exposed, Diego is captured, and Lola is forced to flee on horseback to France, with a dangerous group of Loyalists in hot pursuit. Will Lola’s reckless daring, feminine whiles, and signature whip be enough to save her life and preserve her cause? She will have to be more whip smart than ever.Written with zest and a passionate, fiery fervor by debut author Kit Brennan, Whip Smart irresistibly whisks readers into a vivid journey through 19th Century, France, England and Spain, riding sidesaddle with Eliza Gilbert, the hot-headed Irish girl, as she transforms into Dona Maria Dolores de Porris y Montez—aka Lola Montez, the sensation of Europe!

Nook Daily Find 5/16

The Startup Playbook ($12.09 Kindle, $12.31 $3.99 B&N), by David Kidder and Reid Hoffman [Chronicle Books], is the Nook Daily Find.

Book Description
According to the Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity, more than 565,000 new businesses were created in 2010 in the United States alone—each one of them hoping to strike gold. The Startup Playbook will help them succeed. Going insider to insider with unprecedented access, New York Times bestselling author and Clickable CEO, David Kidder, shares the hard-hitting experiences of some of the world’s most influential entrepreneurs and CEOs, revealing their most closely held advice. Face-to-face interviews with 40 founders give readers key insights into what it took to build PayPal, LinkedIn, AOL, TED, Flickr, and many others into household names. Special sections include topics ranging from how to select the right idea to pursue to finding funding and overcoming inevitable obstacles. In an economy demanding change, The Startup Playbook is the go-to for entrepreneurs big and small.

UK Kindle Daily Deal 5/16

The Water Clock (£0.99 UK), by Jim Kelly, is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (no US edition).

Book Description
Time is running out for Philip Dryden . . .

In the snowbound landscape of the Cambridgeshire fens, a body is discovered, locked in a block of ice. High on Ely Cathedral a second corpse is found, grotesquely 'riding' a stone gargoyle.

Journalist Philip Dryden knows he's onto a great story when forensic evidence links both victims to one terrifying event in 1966. But the murders also offer Dryden the key to a very personal mystery. Who saved his life two years ago? And, more importantly, who left his wife to die?

The answer will bring Dryden face to face with his own guilt, his own fears - and a cold and ruthless killer . . .