Today's Deals

Today's Free MP3 is Joe Walsh's Lucky That Way, which is well worth picking up.

Now free on Kindle:

• Say You Love Me (K/E/I)
• At Last (K/E/I)
• The Rules to Raise Happy, Healthy Children (K/N)
• The Mobile MBA: 112 Skills to Take You Further, Faster (K/N)
• The Secrets of Economic Indicators (K/N)
• The Truth About Winning at Work (K/N)
• Technical Analysis Trading Methods and Techniques (K/N)
• Brains (K/N)
• Allies and Enemies: How the World Depends on Bacteria (K/N)

Today's Kindle Deal of the Day is Carbs & Cadavers ($1.99), the first title in J.B. Stanley's fun looking Supper Club Mystery series. With any luck, you already have Chili Con Corpses, the third in the series, that was free last November.

Book Description
James "Professor Puff" Henry may as well have "loser" stamped on his forehead. Divorced, overweight, shy, and living at home, he relies on books and his favorite snack -- cheese puffs -- for sweet relief from his problems. A former English lit professor at William and Mary, he moves back to Quincy's Gap, a small Virginia town in the Shenandoah Valley, to take care of his recently-widowed father. To improve his social life and waistline, he joins a supper club for dieters who lovingly call themselves the "Flab Five." Avoiding carbs is nearly impossible in this deep-fried potato-loving land, so a mysterious death in their small burg provides an effective, if disturbing, distraction. While dodging delectable temptations, Professor Henry and his fellow dieters work together to shed pounds and find the killer who has struck fear in this tight-knit community.

Palo Alto ($1.53 / £0.99 UK), by Hollywood actor/director James Franco, is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (the US edition is $9.99).

Book Description
Palo Alto is the debut of a powerful new literary voice. Written with an immediacy and sense of place Palo Alto traces the lives of an extended group of teenagers as they experiment with vices of all kinds, struggle with their families and one another, and succumb to self-destructive, often heartless nihilism. Franco presents his characters in all their raw humanity, while at the same time providing insight into the teenage mind.

In the classic American tradition of story-cycles such as Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio, Palo Alto presents a stark, vivid, disturbing, but, above all, compassionate portrait of lives on the rough fringes of youth.

The Blue Zone ($1.99 Kindle, B&N), by Andrew Gross, is the Nook Daily Find, price matched on Kindle. Check your libraries on this one, as there was a Bonus Edition on sale last summer, in both stores (now missing from the stores, but should be in your library, if you bought it then). If you missed it then, I'd recommend grabbing it now, for mystery/thriller fans.

Book Description
From the number one New York Times bestselling coauthor of Judge & Jury and Lifeguard comes this electrifying solo debut, The Blue Zone.

Kate Raab's life seems almost perfect: her boyfriend, her job, her family . . . until her father runs into trouble with the law. His only recourse is to testify against his former accomplices in exchange for his family's placement in the Witness Protection Program. But one of them gets cold feet. In a flash, everything Kate can count on is gone.

Now, a year later, her worst fears have happened: Her father has disappeared—into what the WITSEC agency calls "the blue zone"—and someone close to him is found brutally murdered. With her family under surveillance, the FBI untrustworthy, and her father's menacing "friends" circling with increasing intensity, Kate sets off to find her father—and uncover the secrets someone will kill to keep buried.

The Dark Hills Divide ($4.61 Kindle, $1.99 B&N), the first title in The Land of Elyon children's series by Patrick Carman, is the Nook Daily Find for Families, price matched on Kindle.

Book Description
Inquisitive twelve-year-old Alexa Daley is spending another summer in the walled town of Bridewell. This year, she is set on solving the mystery of what lies beyond the walls. Legend says the walls were built to keep out an unnamed evil that lurks in the forests and The Dark Hills. But what exactly is it that the townspeople are so afraid of?

As Alexa begins to unravel the truth, pushing beyond the protective barrier she's lived behind all her life, she discovers a strange and ancient enchantment -- and exposes a danger that could destroy everything she holds dear.

Grade Level: 4 and up

Today's Deals

This free pre-order should be delivered tomorrow; they often disappear shortly thereafter, so grab it now or first thing tomorrow morning (if it's still free then):

• Gutshot Straight (K)

Today's Kindle Deal of the Day is The Search for Major Plagge:The Nazi Who Saved Jews, Expanded Edition ($1.99), by Michael Good.

Book Description
When The Search for Major Plagge was published last spring, the world finally learned about a unique hero-and about one American doctor's extraordinary journey to tell Karl Plagge's story.

Part detective story, part personal quest, Michael Good's book is the story of the German commander of a Lithuanian work camp who saved hundreds of Jewish lives in the Vilna ghetto -including the life of Good's mother, Pearl. Who was this enigmatic officer Pearl Good had spoken of so often? After five years of research-interviewing survivors, assembling a team that could work to open German files untouched for fifty years, following every lead he could, Good was able to uncover the amazing tale of one man's remarkable courage. And in April 2005 Karl Plagge joined Oskar Schindler and 380 other Germans as a Righteous among Nations, honored by the State of Israel for protecting and saving Jewish lives during the Holocaust.

This expanded edition features new photographs and a new epilogue on the impact of the discovery of Karl Plagge-especially the story of 83-year-old Alfons von Deschwanden, who, after fifty years of silence, came forward as a veteran of Plagge's unit. His testimony is now part of this growing witness to truth.

A Fair Maiden ($1.53 / £0.99 UK), by Joyce Carol Oates, is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (the US edition is $2.24; note that in the US edition, Katya's age is 16, not 15!).

Book Description
Young and innocent, 15-year-old Katya Spivak strikes up a friendship with the silver haired, elegant, and much older Marcus Kidder. His life couldn't be more different from her own drab, working class existence – or more enticing. His beautiful home, classical music and lavish gifts all serve to hide something far more sinister . . .

By degrees, almost imperceptibly, something changes, and posing for Mr Kidder's new painting isn't the light-hearted endeavour it once was. What does he really want from her? And how far will he go to get it?

What Difference Do It Make?: Stories of Hope and Healing ($2.99 Kindle, B&N), by Denver Moore, Ron Hall and Lynn Vincent, is the Nook Daily Find, price matched on Kindle.

Book Description
New thoughts and reflections from the authors of the inspirational New York Times bestseller Same Kind of Different as Me.

The more than four hundred thousand readers stirred by the story of Ron Hall and Denver Moore will resonate with the all new, stand-alone true stories of hope and healing offered in this intimate, authentic follow-up to the New York Times bestseller Same Kind of Different as Me.

With new "Denverisms" and reflections from Denver on his personal dealings with homelessness and disrespect from others, additional insights from Ron on what we can learn from people not like us and from those dealing with a terminal illness, and the stories of readers who have been impacted by the book's central themes, this inspirational reader will generate a host of new fans.

The Golem's Eye ($6.29 Kindle, $1.99 B&N), the second title in the Bartimaeus series by Jonathan Stroud, is the Nook Daily Find for Families. I've reported the price difference, in hopes that it'll drop at Amazon.

Book Description
The second adventure in the Bartimaeus trilogy finds our young apprentice magician Nathaniel working his way up the ranks of the government, when crisis hits. A seemingly invulnerable clay golem is making random attacks on London. Nathaniel and the all-powerful, totally irreverent djinni, Bartimaeus, must travel to Prague to discover the source of the golem's power. In the ensuing chaos, readers will chase a dancing skeleton across London's skyline, encounter the horror of the dreaded Night Police, witness a daring kidnapping, and enter the Machiavellian world of the magician's government. Eventually, Nathaniel and Bartimaeus have to go head to head with the fearsome golem before the surprise identity of his master is finally revealed.

Grade Level: 5 and up

Free Audiobook - Hearing God

Christianaudio's free audiobook this month is Hearing God: Developing A Conversational Relationship with God ($8.30 Kindle; $14.95 Audible), by Dallas Willard, narrated by Grover Gardner.

Book Description
"God spoke to me."

"The Spirit spoke to my heart."

"God revealed the idea to me."

Being close to God means communicating with him--telling him what is on our hearts in prayer and hearing and understanding what he is saying to us. It is this second half of our conversation with God that is so important but that can also be so difficult. How do we hear his voice? How can we be sure that what we think we hear is not our own subconscious? What role does the Bible play? What if what God says to us is not clear?

The key, says best-selling author Dallas Willard, is to focus not so much on individual actions and decisions as on building our personal relationship with our Creator. In this updated classic, originally published as In Search of Guidance, the author provides rich spiritual insight into how we can hear God's voice clearly and develop an intimate partnership with him in the work of his kingdom.

Get the free audio download from Christianaudio and scroll down the page for several $4.98 discounted titles by the same author.

The checkout process is very streamlined (a coupon code is no longer required), as is the download process (no longer do you have to download each part of the book separately). You can also send a gift download of the free audiobook to someone else!

After finishing your order, download a zip file with the entire audiobook: select MP3 if you want to be able to play the book on your Kindle (M4B for the iOS, iTunes or QuickTime). Unzip the contents to the \audiobooks directory on your Kindle (not \music) in order to have audiobook controls and see it on your Kindle home page.

Today's Deals

If you've bought any Android Apps lately, including some of the free apps, be sure to check your MP3 balance at Amazon, as they are giving out a $1 credit with select free apps and select paid apps. If you aren't sure which one to pick up in the paid apps, you probably won't go wrong with Audubon Mammals: A Field Guide to North American Mammals, currently on sale for 99 cents.

Additional formats on free books:

• 25 Dip & Spread Recipes (K/N/E/I)
• 25 Brownie & Bar Recipes (K/N/I)
• Burning Hunger (K/N/E/DF)
• Demonic Passions (K/N/E/DF)
• Elements Unbound (K/N/E/DF)
• Cool Beans (K/N/E)

Messenger ($7.12 $1.99 Kindle, B&N), by Lois Lowry, is the Nook Daily Find for Families, price matched on Kindle.

Book Description
Strange changes are taking place in Village. Once a utopian community that prided itself on its welcome to new strangers, Village will soon be closed to all outsiders. As one of the few people able to travel through the dangerous Forest, Matty must deliver the message of Village’s closing and try to convince Seer’s daughter to return with him before it’s too late. But Forest has become hostile to Matty as well, and he must risk everything to fight his way through it, armed only with an emerging power he cannot yet explain or understand.

Grade Level: 7 and up

Today's Kindle Deal of the Day is A Discovery of Witches ($2.99 Kindle, B&N), the first title in the All Souls Trilogy by Deborah Harkness. It's also the Nook Daily Find today (I think this is the second time they've picked the same book).

I highly recommend this novel; it's one of the ones I paid full price for last year and don't regret it a bit. I've tried to get the next title, Shadow of Night, as a review copy, but Penguin hasn't said yes, yet (perhaps they know it's already on my wishlist, although I'm going to wait a bit to see if it drops from the current pre-order price).

Book Description
In a sparkling debut, A Discovery of Witches became the "it" book of early 2011, bringing Deborah Harkness into the spotlight and galvanizing fans around the world. In this tale of passion and obsession, Diana Bishop, a young scholar and the descendant of witches, discovers a long-lost and enchanted alchemical manuscript deep in Oxford's Bodleian Library. Its reappearance summons a fantastical underworld, which she navigates with her leading man, vampire geneticist Matthew Clairmont. Harkness has created a universe to rival those of Anne Rice, Diana Gabaldon, and Elizabeth Kostova, and she adds a scholar's depth to this riveting story of magic and suspense.

Below Zero ($1.52 / £0.99 UK), by C.J. Box, is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (the US edition is $7.99).

Book Description
"Tell Sherry April called."

A simple phone message that shakes Joe Pickett's oldest daughter Sheridan and the rest of the family to the core. To Joe, it doesn't seem even remotely possible that April could have survived the massacre described in Winterkill six years before. He was there, and he was unable to save her. But Sheridan starts to believe there's a chance that April is still alive, and her suspicions are confirmed when the person sending texts to her cellphone is able to recall family incidents only April could know. Joe, however, remains wary of the messages. But when the texts start to refer to "bad things," and when Marybeth discovers they come from locations throughout the West where vicious murders have taken place, alarm bells go off. Desperate to discover if April is still alive and to save her from possible danger, Joe, Sheridan, and Nate Romanowski take to the road to connect the texts with the crimes. Meanwhile, a dying Chicago mobster named Stenko and a much younger girl cross the country. He's on a mission to reconcile with his extreme environmentalist son before he dies. His son is less interested in reconciliation than in getting his father to repent for the environmental crimes he's committed during his lifetime. He wants his father to become not just carbon neutral, but to reduce his carbon footprint to below zero - as if he'd never even existed. As the path of Stenko and his companions starts to cross with Joe, Sheridan, and Nate, the question is raised: Is this young girl April or are the Picketts the victims of a cruel hoax?

Amazon Digital Weekend Deals

The Kindle Weekend Deal is Deja Vu ($1.99), the nineteenth (and next-to-most recent) title in the Sisterhood series by Fern Michaels.

Book Description
Celebrate With The Sisterhood

Thanks to a presidential pardon, the Sisterhood can put their fugitive days behind them and resume their lives in peace. Still, all the women admit that lately things are a little too calm and peaceful. Meeting up for the first time in months to celebrate Kathryn's birthday--in the City of Sin, no less--seems like the perfect antidote.

But before they can kick up their heels something too big to pass up is dropped into their laps. The time has come to deal with Enemy #1, a/k/a Hank Jellicoe. Wanted by the FBI, the CIA, and Homeland Security for starters, President Connor herself has run out of patience with their lack of results. Only the Sisterhood, with their special blend of guts, imagination, and friends in all places are capable of pulling off the impossible--of hunting down this monster and taking him out once and for all...

Other vote winners on sale this weekend are Ferris Bueller's Day Off (video), The Complete Billie Holiday (mp3) and Nancy Drew: Danger on Deception Island (game). It looks like this is the last weekend of the promotion, as there was nothing to vote upon for next week.