Bargain Book Roundup

Sweet Everlasting ($1.99 Kindle), by Patricia Gaffney [Open Road], is just one of her novels that are currently on sale under $5.

Book Description
A young city doctor moves to the country, where a mute and beautiful local woman will change his life forever

Newly installed at his modest post in Wayne’s Crossing, Pennsylvania, Tyler Wilkes is a doctor, a hero of the Spanish-American War, and the heir to a great fortune. His wealthy family in Philadelphia doesn’t approve of his new station, but Tyler is sure of his calling. And the young ladies of Wayne’s Crossing can’t seem to get enough of their handsome young physician, exploiting every excuse to visit his offices with imagined maladies.

Tyler is most intrigued by Carrie Wiggins. Mute, sensitive, lovely, and troubled, Carrie lives with her abusive alcoholic stepfather, Artemis, in the mountains just outside of town. Her gentle nature and the loving care she bestows on injured animals in the woods quickly endear her to Tyler, though they belie the darkness in her life. Can she overcome her tortured past to give voice to her heart?

Deep Autumn Heat ($0.99 Kindle), a Contemporary Romance by Elisabeth Barrett [Loveswept/Random House], is one of four of her novels on sale under $3.

Book Description
In this sexy new Star Harbor romance series, featuring the too-tempting Grayson brothers, a celebrity chef turns up the heat for a local café owner—and things start to sizzle.

Lexie Meyers decides there’s nothing sweeter than watching Sebastian Grayson’s perfect, wicked mouth devour her coconut cake. He’s hot, he’s hungry, and he’s sizing her up like she’s the best thing on the menu. But she’s been burned in the past and flings just aren’t her thing. Too bad Sebastian can’t resist a challenge.

Worldly, famous, and notorious with the ladies, Seb had planned a weekend of fishing and relaxation with his brothers. Until Lexie, with her kissable lips and frosty “get lost” attitude, makes him want to forget his culinary empire and create some magic with her. After he fires up his charm—including challenging her to a televised cook-off to break through her resistance—it’s now hotter in the bedroom than it is in the kitchen and Lexie isn’t sure whether she’s lost her mind . . . or just her heart.

Includes a special message from the editor, as well as excerpts from these Loveswept titles: Here Comes the Bride, The Wedding Chase, and About Last Night.

The Cowboy and the Princess ($1.99 Kindle), by Lori Wilde [Avon/HarperCollins]

Book Description
Welcome back to Jubilee, Texas, where New York Times bestselling author Lori Wilde romantically pairs a beautifully princess with Texas royalty: a rugged, totally hot, real-live cowboy! Wilde’s Jubilee novels celebrate homespun, small-town love—a treat for readers of the contemporary romance fiction of Sherryl Woods, Susan Wiggs and Susan Mallery—and her sexy cowboy heroes are sure to make Linda Lael Miller fans swoon. Nobody can resist these handsome, muscular, outdoorsy American icons, especially not the royal runaway bride in The Cowboy and the Princess, who unexpectedly finds her heart’s true desire in blue jeans smack-dab in the middle of America’s Southwest. You won’t want to miss the fireworks when these two worlds romantically collide!

Because of You and Until There Was You ($2.99 Kindle), two Contemporary Military Romances by Jessica Scott [Loveswept/Random House]

Because of You

From the war-torn streets of Baghdad to the bittersweet comforts of the home front, two wounded hearts navigate the battlefield of coming home from war in this explosive eBook original from newcomer Jessica Scott.

Keeping his men alive is all that matters to Sergeant First Class Shane Garrison. But meeting Jen St. James the night before his latest deployment makes Shane wonder if there's more to life than war. He leaves for Iraq remembering a single kiss with a woman he'll never see again- until a near fatal attack lands him back at home and in her care. Jen has survived her own brush with death and endured its scars. And yet there's a fire in Shane that makes Jen forget all about her past. He may be her patient, but when this warrior looks her in the eyes, she feels - for the first time in a long time - like a woman. Shane is too proud to ask for help, but for Jen, caring for him is more than a duty -it's a need. And as Jen guides Shane through the fires of healing, she finds something she never expected - her deepest desire.

Until There Was You

From the author of Because of You comes an all-new contemporary eBook romance. He plays by the rules, she's not afraid to break them. Now these two strong-willed Army captains will prove that opposites attract . . .

A by-the-book captain with a West Point background, Captain Evan Loehr refuses to mix business with pleasure--except for an unguarded instance years ago when he succumbed to the deep sensuality of redheaded beauty Claire Montoya. From that moment on, though, Evan has been at odds with her, through two deployments to Iraq and back again. But when he is asked to train a team prepping for combat alongside Claire, battle-worn Evan is in for the fight of his life.

Strong, gutsy, and loyal, Captain Claire Montoya has worked hard to earn the rank on her chest. In Evan, Claire sees a rigid officer who puts the rules before everything else--including his people. When the mission forces them together, Claire soon discovers that there is more to Evan than meets the eye. He's more than the rank on his chest; he's a man with dark secrets and deep longings. For all their differences, Evan and Claire share two crucial passions: their country and each other.

Includes a special message from the editor, as well as excerpts from these Loveswept titles: Blaze of Winter, The Devil's Thief, and Santerra's Sin.

Ride with Me ($2.99 Kindle), by Ruthie Knox [Loveswept/Random House], is one of six of her novels on sale under $4.

Book Description
In this fun, scorching-hot eBook original romance by RITA finalist Ruthie Knox, a cross-country bike adventure takes a detour into unexplored passion. As readers will discover, Ride with Me is not about the bike!

When Lexie Marshall places an ad for a cycling companion, she hopes to find someone friendly and fun to cross the TransAmerica Trail with. Instead, she gets Tom Geiger—a lean, sexy loner whose bad attitude threatens to spoil the adventure she’s spent years planning.

Roped into the cycling equivalent of a blind date by his sister, Tom doesn’t want to ride with a chatty, go-by-the-map kind of woman, and he certainly doesn’t want to want her. Too bad the sight of Lexie with a bike between her thighs really turns his crank.

Even Tom’s stubborn determination to keep Lexie at a distance can’t stop a kiss from leading to endless nights of hotter-than-hot sex. But when the wild ride ends, where will they go next?

Includes a special message from the editor, as well as excerpts from these Loveswept titles: In the Arms of the Law, Ivy Secrets, and Because of You.

If I Were You ($3.79 Kindle), the first novel in the Inside Out series by Lisa Renee Jones [Gallery Books/Simon and Schuster], has been optioned by Starz!

Book Description
The steamy first installment in the Inside Out erotic romance trilogy by Lisa Renee Jones, in the bestselling tradition of Fifty Shades of Grey.

When Sara McMillan finds a stack of journals in a storage unit, she’s shocked and enthralled by the erotic life the writer led. Unable to stop reading, she vicariously lives out dark fantasies through Rebecca, the writer—until the terrifying final entry.

Certain something sinister has happened, Sara sets out to discover the facts, immersing herself in Rebecca’s life. Soon she’s working at the art gallery Rebecca worked at and meeting Rebecca’s friends. Finding herself drawn to two dangerously sexy men, the manager of the gallery and a famed artist, Sara realizes she’s going down the same path Rebecca took. But with the promise of her dark needs being met by a man with confident good looks and a desire for control, she’s not sure anything else matters. Just the burn for more.

Heroes Proved ($2.99 Kindle), is the fifth (and latest) novel in the Peter Newman series by Oliver North [Threshold Editions/Simon and Schuster]; two of his non-fiction American Heroes volumes are also on sale under $4.

Book Description
A gripping, tightly crafted, action-packed thriller from the man President Ronald Reagan called “an American hero.”

#1 bestselling author Oliver North applies his extensive experience as a combat-decorated U.S. Marine and counterterrorism expert in this explosive novel of global intrigue, military action, and cutting-edge suspense.

It’s the year 2032, and the president claims America is now safe from terror. We’re told Iranian nuclear weapons no longer menace our citizens. Leaders in Washington insist that United Nations treaties and innovative technologies can protect us and assure peace in our time. To save money, “Progressives,” holding power in our capital, have cut the U.S. Armed Forces to the bone.

But when the city of Houston is targeted by suicide bombers—and Dr. Martin Cohen, America’s foremost physicist, is kidnapped—the brilliantly executed attack sends shock waves around the globe. The price of fuel skyrockets. With the U.S. economy on the brink of catastrophe, leaders in Washington look for a scapegoat—instead of our missing scientist. Enter Peter Newman, a highly decorated U.S. Marine war hero, veteran of multiple high-risk covert operations—and Naval Academy roommate of Dr. Marty Cohen. The precarious quest to find and rescue his friend puts the entire Newman family in lethal peril—and exposes the most ominous threat to the United States in our nation’s history.

Only someone who has actually “been there, done that” could write this book. Filled with heart-stopping action, authentic detail, and blistering tension, Heroes Proved is the most riveting work yet from national security expert, master novelist, and real-life war hero Oliver North.

Cop to Corpse ($2.09 Kindle), the twelfth novel in the Peter Diamond mystery series by Peter Lovesey [Soho Crime], with the companion audiobook for $2.99.

Book Description
PC Harry Trasker is the third policeman in the Bath area to be shot dead in less than twelve weeks. The assassinations are the work of a sniper no one has been able to pin down. The younger detectives are no match for this murderer and his merciless agenda. This is a job for Inspector Peter Diamond, and it might be the most dangerous investigation of his life.

The Chameleon Conspiracy ($1.99 Kindle), the third Dan Gordon Intelligence Thriller by former US covert intelligence agent Haggai Carmon [Thomas & Mercer].

Book Description
The master criminal and con man known as the Chameleon has eluded international law enforcement for twenty years. Dan Gordon was sure he finally had him, but he was left empty-handed. Now he won’t rest until the Chameleon is stopped. The Chameleon is actually more than a mere criminal—he’s an undercover sleeper agent. But Gordon is more than he seems, too. He’s an experienced hunter, trained by the Mossad, working now for the CIA.

Daily Deal - Against the Sun (E)

Against the Sun ($7.99 $6.15 Kindle), the sixth novel in the Raines of Wind Canyon series by Kat Martin [Harlequin MIRA], is today's Deal of the Day at at Diesel E-Books, where it's discounted to $1.00 (9 copies left).

Book Description
It's not in bodyguard Jake Cantrell's job description to share his suspicions with his assignments. Beautiful executive Sage Dumont may be in charge, but Jake's not on her payroll. As a former special forces marine, Jake trusts his gut, and it's telling him there's something off about a shipment arriving at Marine Drilling International. His instinct is aroused…in more ways than one.

A savvy businesswoman, Sage knows better than to take some hired gun's "hunch" as gospel. And yet she is learning not to underestimate the man her grandfather hired to protect her. Determined to prove Jake wrong, Sage does some digging of her own and turns up deadly details she was never meant to see.

Drawn into a terrifying web of lies and deceit—and into feelings they can't afford to explore—what Jake and Sage uncover may be frighteningly worse than they ever imagined.

Get the book from Diesel; be sure to check the sales price, as the Deal of the Day often sells out. Deals change at 11AM Eastern Time, USA.

Kindle Daily Deals 6/10

Today's Kindle Kids Daily Deal is Keeper ($0.99), by Kathi Appelt and August Hall (Illustrator) [Simon and Schuster].

Book Description
Keeper was born in the ocean, and she believes she is part mermaid. So as a ten-year-old she goes out looking for her mother—an unpredictable and uncommonly gorgeous woman who swam away when Keeper was three—and heads right for the ocean, right for the sandbar where mermaids are known to gather. But her boat is too small for the surf—and much too small for the storm that is brewing on the horizon.

Kathi Appelt follows her award-winning and New York Times bestselling novel The Underneath with this stunning, mysterious, and breathtaking tale of a girl who outgrows fairy tales just a little too late—and learns in the end that there is nothing more magical and mythical than love itself.

Age Level: 8 and up

Today's Kindle Daily Deal is Damage Control ($1.99), a stand-alone thriller by Denise Hamilton [Scribner/Simon and Schuster], with the companion audiobook for $3.99.

Book Description
Critically acclaimed author Denise Hamilton weaves an engrossing story of teenage friendship and adult betrayal, featuring a high-powered crisis consultant who gets swept up in murder and scandal involving a wealthy political family.

Maggie Silver is solidly middle class, with a mortgage to pay and an ill mother to support. She is doing her best to scramble up the ladder at an elite PR firm in Southern California whose clients include movie stars and famous athletes. Now, Maggie tackles her toughest client yet: Senator Henry Paxton, a distinguished statesman who also happens to be the father of Anabelle, Maggie’s estranged best friend from high school.

Senator Paxton’s young female aide has been found murdered, and Maggie must run damage control to prevent the scandal from growing. Thrown back into the Paxtons’ glamorous world, Maggie is unexpectedly flooded with memories from the stormy years in high school when her friendship with Anabelle was dramatically severed after a tragedy that neither of them has been able to forget. As Maggie gets further embroiled in the lives of the Paxtons, she realizes that the ties of her old friendship are stronger than she thinks.

Riveting and suspense-filled, Damage Control examines our craving for celebrity and spectacle, and how far the bonds of friendship can stretch before they break forever.

Today's Kindle Romance Daily Deal is The Second Chance Café ($0.99), the first novel in the Hope Springs series by Alison Kent [Montlake Romance], with the companion audiobook for $1.99.

Book Description
Growing up, Kaylie Flynn was shuffled from foster home to foster home before being welcomed into Winton and May Wise’s family. It was May who taught Kaylie the comfort of home, and the healing power of baking the perfect brownie. Years later, May leaves Kaylie the money she needs to open her own café in the charming Victorian house they once shared. Now back in Hope Springs, Kaylie’s determined to finally make all her dreams a reality—and unearth answers to lingering questions about her past.

Soon, however, Kaylie’s carefully laid plans take an unexpected turn. The house needs far more work than she realized, and Tennessee Keller, the carpenter Kaylie hires, is proving to be a very handsome and very unneeded distraction from her quest to uncover the truth about her parents. When a crisis threatens to destroy everything she’s worked so hard to build, Kaylie must decide where her heart lies: with the ghosts of her past or the love and promise of her future.

Today's Kindle SciFi/Fantasy Daily Deal is The Obsidian Blade ($1.99), the first novel in Pete Hautman's Klaatu Diskos YA series [Candlewick], with the companion audiobook for $3.49. With starred reviews from both Kirkus and Publisher's Weekly, you can't go wrong with this one. The second in the series, The Cydonian Pyramid, was released last month to it's own starred review that concluded "The next book can’t come soon enough."

Book Description
Kicking off a riveting sci-fi trilogy, National Book Award winner Pete Hautman plunges us into a world where time is a tool - and the question is, who will control it?

The first time his father disappeared, Tucker Feye had just turned thirteen. The Reverend Feye simply climbed on the roof to fix a shingle, let out a scream, and vanished - only to walk up the driveway an hour later, looking older and worn, with a strange girl named Lahlia in tow. In the months that followed, Tucker watched his father grow distant and his once loving mother slide into madness. But then both of his parents disappear. Now in the care of his wild Uncle Kosh, Tucker begins to suspect that the disks of shimmering air he keeps seeing - one right on top of the roof - hold the answer to restoring his family. And when he dares to step into one, he's launched on a time-twisting journey- from a small Midwestern town to a futuristic hospital run by digitally augmented healers, from the death of an ancient prophet to a forest at the end of time. Inevitably, Tucker's actions alter the past and future, changing his world forever.

Nook Daily Find 6/10

The Iron King ($1.99 Kindle, B&N), the first novel in Maurice Druon's The Accursed Kings series [HarperCollins], is the Nook Daily Find, price matched on Kindle, with the companion audiobook for $3.99. There is a foreword by George R.R. Martin, but this is epic historical fiction, not fantasy; the second in the series, The Strangled Queen, can now be pre-ordered (Nov 12 release).

Book Description
From the publishers that brought you A Game of Thrones comes the series that inspired George R.R. Martin’s epic work.

“Accursed! Accursed! You shall be accursed to the thirteenth generation!”

The Iron King – Philip the Fair – is as cold and silent, as handsome and unblinking as a statue. He governs his realm with an iron hand, but he cannot rule his own family: his sons are weak and their wives adulterous; while his red-blooded daughter Isabella is unhappily married to an English king who prefers the company of men.

A web of scandal, murder and intrigue is weaving itself around the Iron King; but his downfall will come from an unexpected quarter. Bent on the persecution of the rich and powerful Knights Templar, Philip sentences Grand Master Jacques Molay to be burned at the stake, thus drawing down upon himself a curse that will destroy his entire dynasty…

UK Kindle Daily Deal 6/10

Lily (£0.99 UK), by Patricia Gaffney [Open Road], is the Kindle Deal of the Day for those in the UK (the US edition is $7.69).

Book Description
A young noblewoman, fleeing from the darkness of her past, falls into life as a housemaid at a country manor—and into the arms of the lord who owns it

Born a lady, but now orphaned and left to the care of distant relations, Lily Trehearne’s fortunes are low indeed. All she inherited from her spendthrift father is a tangled web of debt, and her ultra-pious guardian, the Reverend Roger Soames, seems determined to marry her off to his son Lewis.

Determined to save herself from that dreary fate, Lily panics and flees to Cornwall. Under the pseudonym Lily Troublefield, she accepts the first position she is offered, as a housemaid at the ominously named Darkstone Manor, property of Devon Darkwell. Lily’s new master is eccentric, deeply troubled . . . and strangely irresistible.

Sandman Slim (£0.99 UK), the first title in the series by Richard Kadrey [Harper Voyager], is the Kindle Deal of the Day for Science Fiction & Fantasy Fans in the UK (the US edition is $1.99). Do check your libraries, first, as there have been a few other editions in the Kindle store, in the past.

Book Description
Supernatural fantasy has a new antihero in Sandman Slim, star of this gripping, gritty new series by Richard Kadrey

Life sucks and then you die. Or, if you’re James Stark, you spend eleven years in Hell as a hitman before finally escaping, only to land back in the hell-on-earth that is Los Angeles.

Now Stark’s back, and ready for revenge. And absolution, and maybe even love. But when his first stop saddles him with an abusive talking head, Stark discovers that the road to absolution and revenge is much longer than you’d expect, and both Heaven and Hell have their own ideas for his future.

Resurrection sucks. Saving the world is worse.

Darkly twisted, irreverent, and completely hilarious, Sandman Slim is the breakthrough novel by an acclaimed author.

Kindle Daily Deals 6/9

Today's Software Deal Pick is up to 76% off on Norton software from Symatec: Norton Utilities 16.0, Norton Internet Security 2013 (what I use) and Norton 360 2013 (this adds backups and system performance tools, in addition to the Internet Security, for an extra $3).

Audible's $7.95 Customer Favorites Sale has been extended to June 11 (ends @ midnight Eastern, US).

Today's Kindle Romance Daily Deal is Lady Fortescue Steps Out ($1.99), by M. C. Beaton (as Marion Chesney) [RosettaBooks], with the companion audiobook for $3.49.

Book Description
The impecunious Lady Fortescue, widowed and alone save for two loyal, unpaid servants, has sold off almost all of the furnishings in her large Bond Street home and faces a grim future as a member of the aristocracy too proud to seek employment or charity, yet too poor to survive on the infrequent largess of wealthy relatives oblivious to her plight. Salvation arrives in the unlikely form of old Colonel Sandhurst, an equally impoverished retired military man who falls at her feet in a hunger-induced faint one afternoon in Hyde Park. The two decide to join forces: the Colonel will share Lady Fortescue's home, and they will invite others of their station and situation to live with them and pool their resources. Thus is born what eventually becomes one of London's most popular hotels, The Poor Relation, to which the nobility flocks to enjoy the novelty of being waited upon by members of their own class.

Today's Kindle Daily Deal is three novels by Southern Gothic pioneer Flannery O'Connor for $2.99 apiece [Farrar, Straus and Giroux/Macmillan].

The Complete Stories

Winner of the National Book Award

The publication of this extraordinary volume firmly established Flannery O'Connor's monumental contribution to American fiction. There are thirty-one stories here in all, including twelve that do not appear in the only two story collections O'Connor put together in her short lifetime--Everything That Rises Must Converge and A Good Man Is Hard to Find.

O'Connor published her first story, "The Geranium," in 1946, while she was working on her master's degree at the University of Iowa. Arranged chronologically, this collection shows that her last story, "Judgement Day"--sent to her publisher shortly before her death—is a brilliantly rewritten and transfigured version of "The Geranium." Taken together, these stories reveal a lively, penetrating talent that has given us some of the most powerful and disturbing fiction of the twentieth century. Also included is an introduction by O'Connor's longtime editor and friend, Robert Giroux.

Wise Blood

Wise Blood, Flannery O’Connor’s astonishing and haunting first novel, is a classic of twentieth-century literature. Focused on the story of Hazel Motes, a twenty-two-year-old caught in an unending struggle against his innate, desperate fate, this tale of redemption, retribution, false prophets, blindness, blindings, and wisdoms gives us one of the most riveting characters in twentieth-century American fiction.

The Violent Bear It Away ($3.99 companion audiobook)

First published in 1955, The Violent Bear It Away is now a landmark in American literature. It is a dark and absorbing example of the Gothic sensibility and bracing satirical voice that are united in Flannery O'Conner's work. In it, the orphaned Francis Marion Tarwater and his cousins, the schoolteacher Rayber, defy the prophecy of their dead uncle--that Tarwater will become a prophet and will baptize Rayber's young son, Bishop. A series of struggles ensues: Tarwater fights an internal battle against his innate faith and the voices calling him to be a prophet while Rayber tries to draw Tarwater into a more "reasonable" modern world. Both wrestle with the legacy of their dead relatives and lay claim to Bishop's soul.

O'Connor observes all this with an astonishing combination of irony and compassion, humor and pathos. The result is a novel whose range and depth reveal a brilliant and innovative writers acutely alert to where the sacred lives and to where it does not.

Today's Kindle SciFi/Fantasy Daily Deal is Invasion ($1.99), the first novel in the C.H.A.O.S series for teens by J. S. Lewis [Thomas Nelson], with the companion audiobook for $3.49.

Book Description
He didn't ask to be a hero, but now all that stands between us and chaos . . . is Colt.

Colt McAlister was having the summer of his life. He spent his days surfing and his nights playing guitar on the beach with friends. He even met a girl and got his first car. But everything changes when his parents are killed in a freak accident.

He's forced to leave his old life behind and move to Arizona with his grandfather. The only person he knows at the new high school is a childhood friend named Dani. And Oz, a guy he's sure he's never met but who is strangely familiar.

But what if his parents' death wasn't an accident? His mother, an investigative reporter, was going to expose a secret mind-control program run by one of the world's largest companies. Before she could release the story, what if agents from Trident Biotech made sure she couldn't go public?

Vowing to uncover truth, Colt is drawn into a secret world of aliens, shapeshifters, flying motorcycles, and invisible getaways.

The invasion has begun.

Age Level: 11 and up

Today's Kindle Kids Daily Deal is Splish, Splash, Splat! ($2.99), by Rob Scotton [HarperCollins]. NOTE: This book features Kindle Text Pop-Up for reading text over vivid, full-color images when using Kindle Fire/HD or select Kindle Reading Apps (Kindle Cloud Reader, Kindle for iPad or Kindle for Android); unlike some other Text Popup books, this one won't work on any of the eInk Kindles.

Book Description
Splat does not want to have a playdate with Spike. Spike will break his toys and eat all of his candy fish! And he does not want to learn how to swim—water is horrible, scary, and wet! He's sure that this is going to be the worst day ever. But when the rest of their classmates rush straight into the pool, Splat and Spike find that they may have more in common than they thought. Will Splat overcome his fear of water and get into the pool? And how can he help Spike to do the same?

Age Level: 4 and up

Nook Daily Find 6/9

The Witch of Blackbird Pond ($1.99 Kindle, B&N), by Elizabeth George Speare [Houghton Mifflin Books for Children], is the Nook Daily Find, price matched on Kindle.

Book Description
Kit Tyler is marked by suspicion and disapproval from the moment she arrives on the unfamiliar shores of colonial Connecticut in 1867. Alone and desperate, she has been forced to leave her beloved home on the island of Barbados and join a family she has never met. Torn between her quest for belonging and her desire to be true to herself, Kit struggles to survive in a hostile place. Just when it seems she must give up, she finds a kindred spirit. But Kit’s friendship with Hannah Tupper, believed by the colonists to be a witch, proves more taboo than she could have imagined and ultimately forces Kit to choose between her heart and her duty.

Elizabeth George Speare’s Newbery Award–winning novel portrays a heroine whom readers will admire for her unwavering sense of truth as well as her infinite capacity to love.

UK Kindle Daily Deal 6/9

The Midnight Swimmer (£0.99 UK), by Edward Wilson [Arcadia Books], is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (no US edition).

Book Description
Spawned in the bleak poverty of an East Anglian fishing port, Catesby is a spy with a big anti-establishment chip on his shoulder. He loves his country, but despises the class who run it. Loathed by the Americans and trusted by the Russians, Catesby is sent to Havana and Washington to make clandestine contacts. London has authorised Catesby to offer Moscow a secret deal to break the Cuban Missile Crisis deadlock. But before that can happen, Catesby meets the Midnight Swimmer who has a chilling message for Washington.

Once again, the author poses the fundamental question that few spy novelists answer: What is the greater crime? Betraying your country or betraying the person you love? A triangle of love and death that began in Berlin ends in Cuba. On one corner is a war disabled KGB general, on another corner is his unfulfilled wife …

This sophisticated novel is full of twists and turns that merge historical fact with fiction. Sleaze and high politics literally share the same beds. A white-knuckle superpower standoff is played out against a backdrop of honey trap blackmail, Mafia contracts, assassination and Vatican scandal. The real blurs into the surreal as Che’s car surfs on the Havana seafront and Fidel takes the pitcher’s mound against a professional baseball team.

30 Kindle Books for $1 Each (AL)

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

I took a quick look at the list of books and see Romance, Literary Fiction, Thrillers, Horror and even one Non-Fiction title in the mix.

Free Voucher to Purchase Select Kindle Books for $1 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 June 12, 2013 or when the number of vouchers set aside by Amazon have been exhausted.

Deal Details:

Take your mind to new and exotic places with today's special offer from Amazon for a free voucher to purchase select Kindle books for just $1 each. With 30 titles to choose from, covering everything from paranormal romance to dating tips, mystery, and beyond, there's certain to be something to catch your interest.

• Follow an emotional family journey with In Search of Lucy
• Race a literary detective to solve the crimes in Bloodman and The Salt Maiden
• See what happens when a new-age hotel opens in a rural area in A Suite Deal

Once applied to your account, you can shop from your Kindle or desktop, picking any of the 30 qualifying titles. You should also be able to gift any of the books to someone else (I have in the past); the full price shows all the way thru, but on the 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 30. The voucher will expire if not used toward qualifying Kindle book purchases from Amazon.com by 11:59 p.m. PST June 18, 2013.

Kindle Daily Deals 6/8

This week's Software Download Deal at Amazon is up to 70% off select Cyberlink titles like PowerDirector 11 Ultimate and CyberLink Media Suite 10 Ultra; the former is used for both creating and editing video, while the latter has tools for the rest of your digital life, including file/photo organization, file conversion and Blu-ray playback.

Today's Kindle Daily Deal is A Little Death In Dixie ($1.99), by Lisa Turner [Bell Bridge Books], with the companion audiobook for $3.99.

Book Description
The Blues were born out of need, anger and pride. Murder comes from those same dark places. Memphis has both.

One of Memphis' most seductive and notorious socialites has vanished. Either she's off on another drunken escapade or the disappearance is something much more frightening. What begins as an ordinary day's work for Detective Billy Able quickly grows into a complex spider's web of tragedy, mystery, suspicion, and sordid secrets including a few of Billy's own.

With the help of Mercy Snow, the estranged sister of the missing socialite, Billy follows a twisted trail of human frailty and corruption to disturbing truths that undermine everything he thought he knew about himself and the people he loves.

Today's Kindle Romance Daily Deal is Honeymoon for One ($0.99), by Beth Orsoff [Amazon Publishing], with the companion audiobook for $1.99.

Book Description
Being ditched at the altar is the least of Lizzie Mancini’s problems. Sitting in a Caribbean jail cell accused of murdering her “pretend” husband, however, is at the top of the list.

After her real groom jilts her, Lizzie decides to go solo on their Belize honeymoon and meets handsome Michael Garcia, who is nursing his own heartache. To avoid the bleakness of dining and sightseeing alone, as well as questions from nosy, if well-meaning, fellow guests at the couples-only resort, the two agree to pose as newlyweds for the week—no strings (or sex) attached.

The plan runs smoothly until Lizzie enjoys the attentions of the local scuba instructor and Michael’s body washes ashore. Suddenly the “Mrs.” is mistakenly ID’d as suspect numero uno. With the Polizia Nationale ready to close the case and cook her goose, Lizzie will have to solve the crime herself.

Unexpected romance and international intrigue are center stage in Beth Orsoff’s mystery caper that takes “’til death do us part” to a whole new level.

Today's Kindle SciFi/Fantasy Daily Deal is The Far Time Incident ($1.99), by Neve Maslakovic [47North], with the companion audiobook for $1.99.

Book Description
When a professor’s time-travel lab is the scene of a deadly accident, the academic world and the future of St. Sunniva University get thrown into upheaval. As assistant to the dean of science, Julia Olsen is assigned to help Campus Security Chief Nate Kirkland examine this rare mishap…then make it quietly go away!

But when the investigation points toward murder, Julia and Chief Kirkland find themselves caught in a deadly cover-up, one that strands them in ancient Pompeii on the eve of the eruption of the world’s most infamous volcano. With the help of their companions—a Shakespearean scholar and two grad students—Julia and the chief must outwit history itself and expose the school’s saboteur before it's too late.

The Far Time Incident is a smart, richly inventive novel that skillfully weaves together mystery, history, and science to create a mesmerizing and addictive read.

Today's Kindle Kids Daily Deal is Don't Be Silly, Mrs. Millie! ($1.99), by Joe Mathieu [Two Lions]. NOTE: This book requires Kindle Fire/HD or select Kindle Reading Apps (Kindle Cloud Reader, Kindle for iPad or Kindle for Android).

Book Description
Mrs. Millie has lots of fun teasing her kindergartners. She tells them to hang up their goats, eat gorilla cheese sandwiches, and to remember to wear their bats and kittens when they go outside for recess. Coupled with hilarious artwork that literally interprets each of Mrs. Millie’s "mistakes," this lighthearted read-aloud sets a typical school day on its ear, even as it teaches a subtle lesson on wordplay.

Age Level: 3 and up

Nook Daily Find 6/8

Strawberry Yellow ($6.39 Kindle, $1.99 B&N), the fifth title in the Mas Arai series by Edgar-winner Naomi Hirahara [Prospect Park Books], is the Nook Daily Find.

Book Description
Curmudgeonly Japanese American gardener and unwitting detective Mas Arai is back in this fifth in the Edgar Award–winning series. Naomi Hirahara has created a memorable protagonist unlike any other: a Hiroshima survivor, Los Angeles gardener, widower, gambler, grandfather, and solver of crimes. In Strawberry Yellow, he returns to the strawberry farms of his youth and encounters family intrigue, danger, and murder.

The series' most compelling and evocative mystery yet is set in the strawberry fields of Watsonville, California, where young Mas first arrived as a Hiroshima survivor in the 1940s. He returns for the funeral of a cousin and quickly gets entangled in the murder of a young woman. Was his cousin murdered, too? Mas has to figure out what happened, keep himself safe, and uncover the mystery of the Strawberry Yellow blight and a new strawberry varietal so important that it could be inspiring a murderer.

UK Kindle Daily Deal 6/8

An Affair of Deceit (£0.99 UK), by Jamie Michele [Montlake Romance], is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (the US edition is $3.99).

Book Description
A father’s sins. A daughter’s loyalty. A lover’s protection.

When a charming CIA agent shows up on her doorstep, lawyer Abigail Mason finds herself drawn into the search for a man she had written off long before--her estranged father. Her father’s caught in the agency’s crosshairs, and she’ll do all that she can to figure out just what he’s done.

Agent James Riley knew that the stubborn, tough-as-nails attorney would be a thorn in his side, but he never guessed that he’d feel an undeniable attraction to her. To keep Abigail from stumbling alone into a web of international espionage and danger, he’ll need to bring her into his search and keep her close. But when a madman singles her out as the one who should pay for her father’s sins, Riley will do all he can to protect the woman who’s claimed her heart.

Daily Deal - Beach Season (E)

Beach Season ($12.99 $9.39 Kindle), a collection of novellas by Lisa Jackson, Cathy Lamb, Holly Chamberlin and Rosalind Noonan [Kensington Books], is today's Deal of the Day at at Diesel E-Books, where it's discounted to $2.60 (9 copies left).

Book Description
Golden sand, pounding surf, a sense of endless possibility--and four unforgettable stories of love, friendship, and second chances…

The Brass Ring by Lisa Jackson
It's a beautiful June day, perfect for a wedding--until Shawna learns that her fiancé, Parker, has been involved in a car crash. Though his injuries heal, his memories of her are gone. Yet Shawna won't stop reaching to reclaim the love they once shared…

June's Lace by Cathy Lamb
June MacKenna is done--with her high-pressure legal career, her cheating soon-to-be-ex, and the stress of city living. In her studio on the Oregon coast, she creates beautiful lace wedding dresses, with no intention of ever wearing one again herself. Then songwriter Reece rents the house next door, and sets out to change her mind…

Second Chance Sweethearts by Holly Chamberlin
Thea Foss is putting a bad marriage behind her in the pretty vacation town of Ogunquit, Maine. What's past is past….Until her first love wanders into the local diner, reminding Thea of the person she once was, and the life it's not too late to claim…

Carolina Summer by Rosalind Noonan
Jane Doyle needs to get out of New York--the farther the better. She's headed toward Florida, but thanks to a storm along North Carolina's Outer Banks, she finds herself stranded in a beautiful, remote town that soon feels a lot like home. And thanks to the local sheriff, she finds herself staying longer than she planned--and feeling less lost at sea than ever…

Get the book from Diesel; be sure to check the sales price, as the Deal of the Day often sells out. Deals change at 11AM Eastern Time, USA.

Free Nook App - Wubbzy's Dinosaur Adventure

Wubbzy's Dinosaur Adventure ($1.99 Amazon), by Cupcake Digital Inc., is this week's Free Friday App from Barnes & Noble.

App Description
Wubbzy's Dinosaur Adventure will have children and their parents laughing and learning with their favorite characters from the Emmy® Award-winning Nick Jr. TV series Wow! Wow! Wubbzy®. Using hands-on teaching activities, developed by seasoned educators, to emphasize and reinforce essential skill building for Matching, Counting, Reading and Site Word Recognition. Kids can also tap into their creative skills as they decorate cupcakes, paint storybook pages and much, much more!

The story includes professional narration, promoting reading through sound and sight. Parents will appreciate the Grown-Up's Corner, which provides thoughtful questions designed to spark conversation while promoting critical thinking and comprehension.

Get the free App from Barnes & Noble.

Kindle Daily Deals 6/7

Today's Gold Box at Amazon is 63% Off Men's Stuhrling Original Swiss-Quartz Ascot Watches" and Lightning Deals on watches all morning (then more items geared towards Father's Day this afternoon).

Amazon has matched the price on the the Nook Daily Find, After Tex ($1.99), the first novel in the Whispering Wind series by Sherryl Woods [Harlequin MIRA].

Today's Kindle Daily Deal is This Body of Death ($1.99), the sixteenth novel in the Inspector Lynley mystery series by Elizabeth George [HarperCollins].

Book Description
The spellbinding new Inspector Lynley novel from Elizabeth George, New York Times bestselling author of Careless in Red and What Came Before He Shot Her.

On compassionate leave after the murder of his wife, Thomas Lynley is called back to Scotland Yard when the body of a woman is found stabbed and abandoned in an isolated London cemetery. His former team doesn't trust the leadership of their new department chief, Isabelle Ardery, whose management style seems to rub everyone the wrong way. In fact, Lynley may be the sole person who can see beneath his superior officer's hard-as-nails exterior to a hidden—and possibly attractive—vulnerability.

While Lynley works in London, his former colleagues Barbara Havers and Winston Nkata follow the murder trail south to the New Forest. There they discover a beautiful and strange place where animals roam free, the long-lost art of thatching is very much alive, and outsiders are not entirely welcome. What they don't know is that more than one dark secret lurks among the trees, and that their investigation will lead them to an outcome that is both tragic and shocking.

A multilayered jigsaw puzzle of a story skillfully structured to keep readers guessing until the very end, This Body of Death is a magnificent achievement from a writer at the peak of her powers.

Today's Kindle Romance Daily Deal is The Color of Hope ($1.99), by Kim Cash Tate [Thomas Nelson].

Book Description
Hope shines brightest when all seems lost.

Stephanie London led a life of comfort and ease in St. Louis before feeling inexplicably drawn back to her father’s roots in the tiny Southern town of Hope Springs. Charlotte Willoughby has lived there all her life and longs to make a new life somewhere else. Stephanie doesn’t know exactly what she’s doing there—or how to occupy her time. And Charlotte doesn’t understand why, despite her overbearing family and reminders of her failed engagement, she’s suddenly led to stay.

Despite its small-town charm, Hope Springs itself is at a crossroads. After a failed reconciliation attempt by two well-meaning pastors, the town is split along racial and cultural lines, with little hope for redemption.

When a terrible tragedy puts Hope Springs on the national radar, the entire town is tested, and both Stephanie and Charlotte feel their lives unraveling. In the midst of heartache, though, they’ll discover the true color of hope . . .

Today's Kindle SciFi/Fantasy Daily Deal is Through the Door ($0.99), by Jodi McIsaac [47North], with the companion audiobook for $1.99. This is the first novel in her Thin Veil series and right now you can pre-order the second, Into the Fire, at half list price.

Book Description
It’s been seven years since the love of Cedar McLeod’s life left with no forwarding address. All she has left of him are heart-wrenching memories of happier times and a beautiful six-year-old daughter, Eden. Then, one day, Eden opens her bedroom door and unwittingly creates a portal that leads to anywhere she imagines.

But they’re not the only ones who know of Eden’s gift, and soon the child mysteriously vanishes.

Desperate for answers, Cedar digs into the past and finds herself thrust into a magical world of Celtic myths, fantastical creatures, and bloody rivalries. Teaming up with the unlikeliest of allies, Cedar must bridge the gap between two worlds and hold tight to the love in her heart…or lose everything to an ancient evil.

The first in the Thin Veil series, Through the Door is a pulse-pounding adventure that takes readers across the globe and deep into the hidden realms of Celtic lore.

Today's Kindle Teens Daily Deal is Little Women and Me ($1.99), by Lauren Baratz-Logsted [Bloomsbury USA Childrens]. Teens may want to read Louisa May Alcott's Little Women first and I suspect fans of the latter of all ages will enjoy this modern take on the classic.

Book Description
Emily is sick and tired of being a middle sister. So when she gets an assignment to describe what she'd change about a classic novel, Emily pounces on Little Women. After all, if she can't change things in her own family, maybe she can bring a little justice to the March sisters. (Kill off Beth? Have cute Laurie wind up with Amy instead of Jo? What was Louisa May Alcott thinking?!) But when Emily gets mysteriously transported into the 1860s world of the book, she discovers that righting fictional wrongs won't be easy. And after being immersed in a time and place so different from her own, it may be Emily-not the four March sisters-who undergoes the most surprising change of all. Lauren Baratz-Logsted's winning confection will appeal to fans of Little Women as well as anyone who enjoys a modern twist on an old favorite.

Nook Daily Find 6/7

After Tex ($6.39 Kindle, $1.99 B&N), the first novel in the Whispering Wind series by Sherryl Woods [Harlequin MIRA], is the Nook Daily Find; most likely, this will be price matched at Amazon later this morning, where the companion audiobook is $3.49.

A prolific writer, this is one of Woods' older novels. If you've already read it or are just filling in your library on her titles, don't miss Sand Castle Bay ($1.99) and Wind Chime Point ($4.00), two Ocean Breeze novels released earlier this year and marked down from the $6-$8 range (the third in the series, Sea Glass Island, released late last week) or set up your pre-order for Temptation (Sept 1).

After Tex

Megan O'Rourke's beloved grandfather had always been determined to lure her out of New York and back to their ranch in Whispering Wind, Wyoming. Now his will makes it impossible for her to refuse. She's named guardian of Tex's daughter—a daughter Megan never knew about!

Jake Landers has also come home to Whispering Wind. After leaving years before under a cloud of suspicion, he's returned to put down roots. When he comes face-to-face with the woman who shares his troubled past, he hardly recognizes the driven powerhouse Megan has become. Now she has big decisions to make—about life, love and where home really is. Jake's only too happy to help Megan rediscover their old dreams—and maybe this time, fulfill them forever.

Sand Castle Bay (companion audiobook $2.99)

In a trade-off she's lived to regret, Emily Castle left home years ago to become an interior designer. The youngest of three sisters, Emily desperately wanted to prove herself. Success, though, came at the cost of leaving behind the man she loved.

For Boone Dorsett, losing Emily left his heart shattered, but another woman was waiting in the wings. Now a widower with a young son, Boone has a second chance with Emily when a storm brings her home. But with his former in-laws threatening a custody suit, the stakes of loving her are higher than ever.

Will fate once again separate them—or is the time finally right for these two star-crossed lovers?

Wind Chime Point (companion audiobook $3.49)

When life gets complicated, New York Times bestselling author Sherryl Woods proves family—and love—can make all the difference

Facing a personal crisis, ambitious and driven Gabriella Castle retreats to the welcoming arms of her family. Everything she's worked for has been yanked out from under her, and she seeks the serenity of her grandmother's home on the North Carolina coast. With difficult decisions to make about her future, the last thing she wants is an unexpected love.

Wade Johnson fell for Gabi the first time he saw her. It's not the only time he's found himself in the role of knight in shining armor, but Gabi isn't looking for a rescuer. To get her to stay, Wade will need a whole lot of patience and gentle persuasion…and maybe the soothing sound of wind chimes on a summer breeze.

UK Kindle Daily Deal 6/7

Angelfall (£0.99 UK), the first novel in the Penryn & the End of Days YA series by Susan Ee [Hodder & Stoughton], is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (the US edition is $3.99; companion audiobook $1.99).

Book Description
The incredible internet phenomenon that already has over 8,000 different five star reviews. (And counting.)

It's been six weeks since the angels of the apocalypse destroyed the world as we know it. Only pockets of humanity remain.

Savage street gangs rule the day while fear and superstition rule the night.

When angels fly away with a helpless girl, her seventeen-year-old sister Penryn will do anything to get her back.

Including making a deal with the enemy.

Bargain Book Roundup

Get any audiobook from Downpour for $6.95, using coupon code ANY695.

The Demon ($1.99 Kindle, B&N), by Hubert Selby, Jr. [Open Road]

Book Description
A womanizer’s struggle for self-control spirals into crime, madness, and murder

Harry White grew up in blue-collar Brooklyn, but the young man’s charm, smarts, and good looks have helped him earn a place as an uptown junior executive. White’s gifts have also made his love life easy, and he takes special pleasure in seducing married women. But when “Harry the Lover” is ready to grow up and leave his womanizing behind, White finds that suppressing his libido has dangerous consequences. His attempts at restraint awaken something sinister, causing White to seek excitement in a new form of violence and depravity.

Shocking and enthralling, The Demon is an unflinching meditation on male vanity by one of the most acclaimed and original writers of the twentieth century.

This ebook features an illustrated biography of Hubert Selby, Jr., including rare photos from the author’s estate.

Bachelor Unclaimed ($1.99 Kindle), by Brenda Jackson [Harlequin Kimani Romance], is the fourth novel in the Bachelors in Demand series; it was only released a couple of months ago, so it's unexpected to see at this price.

Book Description
Are his playboy days over for good?

In the wake of political defeat, former mayoral candidate Ainsley St. James does something totally out of character—she has a one-night stand with a seductive stranger. Never expecting to see him again, she accepts a job covering a breaking story in Hilton Head, South Carolina…only to discover that the island's most desirable recluse is the lover she has yet to forget.

Winston Coltrane can't get that incredible night—or the sexy, sophisticated beauty—out of his mind. The marine biologist is developing a secret formula that could be a major medical breakthrough. But there's something Winston is keeping from Ainsley: his feelings for her have grown beyond the bedroom. Kiss by breathtaking kiss, Ainsley is transforming his oceanside sanctuary into a sensual retreat. Will they be able to turn a passionate fling into forever in each other's arms?

The Last Kind Words ($0.99 Kindle, B&N, Kobo), by four-time Bram Stoker Award winning author Tom Piccirilli [Bantam /Random House]

Book Description
From International Thriller Writers Award winner and Edgar Award nominee Tom Piccirilli, this mesmerizing suspense novel explores the bonds of family and the ways they’re stretched by guilt, justice, and the chance for redemption.

Raised in a clan of small-time thieves and grifters, Terrier Rand decided to cut free from them and go straight after his older brother, Collie, went on a killing spree that left an entire family and several others dead. Five years later, only days before his scheduled execution, Collie contacts Terry and asks him to return home. He claims he wasn’t responsible for one of the murders—and insists that the real killer is still on the loose.

Uncertain whether his brother is telling the truth, and dogged by his own regrets, Terry is drawn back into the activities of his family: His father, Pinsch, who once made a living as a cat burglar but retired after the heartbreak caused by his two sons. His cardsharp uncles, Mal and Grey, who’ve recently incurred the anger of the local mob. His grandfather, Old Shep, who has Alzheimer’s but is still a first-rate pickpocket. His teenage sister, Dale, who’s flirting with the lure of the criminal world. And Kimmy, the fiancée he abandoned, who’s now raising a child with his former best friend.

As Terry starts to investigate what really happened on the day of Collie’s crime spree, will the truth he uncovers about their secrets tear the Rands apart?

Walking the razor-sharp edge between love and violence, with the atmospheric noir voice that is his trademark, The Last Kind Words demonstrates why Tom Piccirilli has become a must-read author.

The Master Quilter ($2.99 Kindle, B&N, Kobo, companion audiobook), by Jennifer Chiaverini [Simon and Schuster], is the sixth novel in her Elm Creek Quilts series.

Book Description
The Master Quilter opens with the sound of wedding bells ringing in the ears of the Elm Creek Quilters. The close-knit group can hardly believe that their own Sylvia Compson planned her holiday wedding to sweetheart Andrew in complete secrecy, without the help of even one of her friends. Eager to honor the newlyweds, the Elm Creek Quilters hasten to stitch a bridal quilt for their favorite Master Quilter. Until the time comes to unveil the surprise gift, they reason, Sylvia will be the one in the dark.

Such little white lies seem harmless enough, especially in the service of future happiness. Yet Elm Creek Manor, and the quilting retreat established there by the Elm Creek Quilters, thrives on the strength of women sharing their creativity, their challenges, and their dreams. Somehow, in the race to commemorate in Sylvia's bridal quilt all that they hold dear about her wisdom, skill, and devotion, they forget to give honesty its pride of place.

As the quilt blocks accumulate, the Elm Creek Quilters celebrate the joy of new beginnings and the ongoing success of their business -- until forces conspire to threaten their happiness and prosperity. Two among them falter in their personal relationships, yet they are too proud to share their pain. The financial problems of another leave the quilt project vulnerable to a malicious act that may prevent its completion. And as two others weigh the comfort of the present against dreams of a future far from Elm Creek Manor, closely guarded secrets strain the bonds of friendship with those who may be left behind.

The Crimes of Jordan Wise ($1.99 Kindle, Kobo; $2.99 companion audiobook), by Bill Pronzini [Walker/Bloomsbury Publishing]

Book Description
Jordan Wise is a mild-mannered accountant with a large San Francisco engineering firm in the late 1970s. By his own admission, the first thirty-four years of his life were dull, empty. But that all changes when he meets and falls in love with Annalise Bonner, an ambitious young woman who craves excitement, a life on the edge. With her as the catalyst, Wise concocts and executes a meticulous plan to steal more than half a million dollars from his firm. They escape to the Virgin Islands, but their plans to live a life of quiet luxury are beset by unexpected pitfalls -- and Wise is forced to carry out two more ingenious schemes as a result. All three of his crimes are perfect -- or are they?THE CRIMES OF JORDAN WISE is a classic tale of love, greed, betrayal, and violence told with Bill Pronzini's characteristic twists and turns and his special brand of suspense. It is also a powerful psychological examination of a man, a woman, and the wages of sin.

Ross Poldark: A Novel of Cornwall, 1783-1787 ($2.99 Kindle, B&N, Kobo) and Demelza - A Novel of Cornwall, 1788-1790 ($2.99 Kindle, Kobo), by Winston Graham [Sourcebooks Landmark]

Ross Poldark: A Novel of Cornwall, 1783-1787

A gorgeous new release of the heartwarming and hilarious first novel in the Poldark series, the subject of the landmark BBC series

Ross Poldark is a heartwarming, gripping, and utterly entertaining saga that brings to life an unforgettable cast of characters and one of the greatest love stories of our age.

Ross Poldark returns to Cornwall from war, looking forward to a joyful homecoming with his family and his beloved Elizabeth. But instead he discovers that his father has died, his home is overrun by livestock and drunken servants, and Elizabeth, having believed Ross dead, is now engaged to his cousin. Ross must start over, building a completely new path for his life, one that takes him in exciting and unexpected directions?

Thus begins an intricately plotted story spanning loves, lives, and generations. The Poldark series is the masterwork of Winston Graham, who evoked the period and people like only he could, and created a world of rich and poor, loss and love, that readers will not soon forget.

Demelza - A Novel of Cornwall, 1788-1790

Demelza is a heartwarming, gripping, and utterly entertaining saga that brings to life an unforgettable cast of characters and one of the greatest love stories of our age.

An impoverished miner's daughter, Demelza Carne is now married to Ross Poldark, who once rescued her from a fairground brawl. Her efforts to adapt to the ways of the gentry--and her husband--place her in hilarious and embarrassing situations, through which she becomes self assured, mannered and lovely, and the birth of her first child brings a joy she never experienced before.

But tragedy strikes where least expected, and sows the seeds of an enduring rivalry for Ross Poldark and the powerful George Warleggan, and tests Ross and Demelza's marriage and their love...

The Fifth Assassin ($4.74 Kindle, B&N), by Brad Meltzer [Hachette], is on a steep discount; it was released in January of this year, when it was named one of Amazon's Best Books of the Month.

Book Description
From John Wilkes Booth to Lee Harvey Oswald, there have been more than two dozen assassination attempts on the President of the United States.

Four have been successful.

But now, Beecher White--the hero of the #1 New York Times bestseller The Inner Circle--discovers a killer in Washington, D.C., who's meticulously re-creating the crimes of these four men. Historians have branded them as four lone wolves. But what if they were wrong?
Beecher is about to discover the truth: that during the course of a hundred years, all four assassins were secretly working together. What was their purpose? For whom do they really work? And why are they planning to kill the current President?

Beecher's about to find out. And most terrifyingly, he's about to come face-to-face with the fifth assassin.

Leviathan Wakes ($2.99 Kindle, B&N, Kobo; $3.99 companion audiobook), by James S.A. Corey [Orbit], includes a full copy of Daniel Abraham's The Dragon's Path in the same volume. This one's been on sale a time or two (or three) in the past, but this week the third in the series, Abaddon's Gate ($8.89), was released, so it's back again. If you missed it, Caliban's War is the novel that goes in between; between the three, you get over 1600 pages of epic Military Science Fiction. If you already have The Dragon's Path, there is an Advanced Reader copy of Leviathan Wakes in it, but this edition is the final, edited/proofed version.

Leviathan Wakes

Humanity has colonized the solar system - Mars, the Moon, the Asteroid Belt and beyond - but the stars are still out of our reach.

Jim Holden is XO of an ice miner making runs from the rings of Saturn to the mining stations of the Belt. When he and his crew stumble upon a derelict ship, The Scopuli, they find themselves in possession of a secret they never wanted. A secret that someone is willing to kill for - and kill on a scale unfathomable to Jim and his crew. War is brewing in the system unless he can find out who left the ship and why.

Detective Miller is looking for a girl. One girl in a system of billions, but her parents have money and money talks. When the trail leads him to The Scopuli and rebel sympathizer Holden, he realizes that this girl may be the key to everything.

Holden and Miller must thread the needle between the Earth government, the Outer Planet revolutionaries, and secretive corporations - and the odds are against them. But out in the Belt, the rules are different, and one small ship can change the fate of the universe.

The Dragon's Path

All paths lead to war...

Marcus' hero days are behind him. He knows too well that even the smallest war still means somebody's death. When his men are impressed into a doomed army, staying out of a battle he wants no part of requires some unorthodox steps.

Cithrin is an orphan, ward of a banking house. Her job is to smuggle a nation's wealth across a war zone, hiding the gold from both sides. She knows the secret life of commerce like a second language, but the strategies of trade will not defend her from swords.

Geder, sole scion of a noble house, has more interest in philosophy than in swordplay. A poor excuse for a soldier, he is a pawn in these games. No one can predict what he will become.

Falling pebbles can start a landslide. A spat between the Free Cities and the Severed Throne is spiraling out of control. A new player rises from the depths of history, fanning the flames that will sweep the entire region onto The Dragon's Path-the path to war.

The Templars ($1.99 Kindle, B&N), by Michael Haag [HarperCollins], looks rather interesting. Note that the Kindle edition may not include the maps and pictures from the print edition (they are not in the sample).

Book Description
Arguably one of the most provocative, puzzling, and misunderstood organizations of medieval times, the legendary Knights Templar have always been shrouded in a veil of mystery, while inspiring popular culture from Indiana Jones to Dan Brown. In The Templars, author Michael Haag offers a definitive history of these loyal Christian soldiers of the Crusades—sworn to defend the Holy Land and Jerusalem, but ultimately damned and destroyed by the Pope and his church. A bestseller in the United Kingdom—the first history of the enigmatic warriors to include findings from the Chinon Parchment, the long-lost Vatican document absolving the Knights of heresy—The Templars by Michael Haag is fascinating reading.

The Mighty Storm ($0.99 Kindle; $2.99 companion audiobook), by Samantha Towle, will soon be going up in price, as the author has signed the book with Montlake Romance (pre-order for Aug 20).

Book Description
It's been twelve years since Tru Bennett last saw Jake Wethers, her former best friend and boy she once loved.

Jake Wethers, sexy, tattooed and deliciously bad lead singer, and brains behind The Mighty Storm, one of biggest bands in the world, left Tru with a broken heart when he moved from England to America with his family when they were both fourteen.

Sent to interview Jake for her music column by the magazine she works for, they are both unprepared for the sparks that fly the instant they reconnect. Only, there’s a complication to their instant feelings for one another – Will, Tru’s boyfriend of two years.

Then Jake makes Tru a job offer she can't refuse - travelling the world with him and his band. But taking the job means leaving Will behind, and being on the road with the band means spending an inordinate amount of time with Jake.

Is Tru strong enough to resist the delectable bad boy who once held her heart so completely, or will she willingly risk it all for one night with the worlds most notorious womanizer?

Two Free Audiobooks - The Mysterious Howling & Jane Eyre

It's time for this week's free audiobooks from Sync. I've linked in the info from the ebook or audiobook version of each title (Amazon has the best reviews), followed by the link to get your copies free, with directions to ensure you get the complete download.

Start off with The Mysterious Howling ($5.69 Kindle; $17.95 Audible), book one in The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place series by Maryrose Wood, narrated by Katherine Kellgren.

Book Description
Found running wild in the forest of Ashton Place, the Incorrigibles are no ordinary children: Alexander, age ten or thereabouts, keeps his siblings in line with gentle nips; Cassiopeia, perhaps four or five, has a bark that is (usually) worse than her bite; and Beowulf, age somewhere-in-the-middle, is alarmingly adept at chasing squirrels.

Luckily, Miss Penelope Lumley is no ordinary governess. Only fifteen years old and a recent graduate of the Swanburne Academy for Poor Bright Females, Penelope embraces the challenge of her new position. Though she is eager to instruct the children in Latin verbs and the proper use of globes, first she must help them overcome their canine tendencies.

But mysteries abound at Ashton Place: Who are these three wild creatures, and how did they come to live in the vast forests of the estate? Why does Old Timothy, the coachman, lurk around every corner? Will Penelope be able to teach the Incorrigibles table manners and socially useful phrases in time for Lady Constance's holiday ball? And what on earth is a schottische?

Jane Eyre ($11.95 Audible), by Charlotte Bronte, narrated by Wanda McCaddon, is the second selection for this week. As with most classics, there are many editions to choose from on Kindle; you can spend anything from nothing to a few dollars and probably get an edition that will work for reading along while listening (although, for $26, the Bloom's Modern Critical Interpretations edition will give you a very detailed, scholarly treatment).

Book Description
This classic story shows how a young woman can overcome adversity and find true happiness. It is a story of passionate love, travail, and final triumph.

Orphaned at an early age, Jane Eyre leads a lonely life until she finds work as a governess at Thornfield Hall, where she meets the mysterious Mr. Rochester and sees a ghostly woman who roams the halls by night.

The relationship between the heroine and Mr. Rochester is only one episode, albeit the most important, in a detailed fictional autobiography in which the author transmuted her own experience into high art. In this work, the plucky heroine is outwardly of plain appearance but possesses an indomitable spirit, a sharp wit, and great courage. She is forced to battle against the exigencies of a cruel guardian, a harsh employer, and the rigid social order that circumscribes her life and position.

Click HERE to get the free downloads (you'll need to enter your name and an email address. You'll end up clicking about three pages (for each book), before the audiobook actually downloads. Don't stop so long as you still see a button that talks about your Sync download (or until you see the Overdrive software open up; there is a link at Sync, if you don't already have Overdrive installed).

Once in Overdrive, you'll need to tell it where to save the files (just click OK to use the default location, since Overdrive will keep track of them for you), then again to actually start the download (by default, all parts of the book are downloaded; I would suggest not changing this in the last dialog box, just click on OK to get the download started). Make sure your audiobook is fully downloaded before the end of the week, as once the promo period is over, you won't be able to get them free.

You can't get any titles that have been missed, but once they are loaded into Overdrive (which you will need to install, if you are not already using it for library books), they are yours to keep (there is no expiration date).