Book Reviews and Bargain reads for the Amazon Kindle, nook, Kobo, Sony and other ereaders, Kindle Fire, nookColor, Kobo Vox, and other tablets, along with some games, music, technology and computers tossed in now and then.
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Sunday, January 20, 2013
Audible Wishes Granted Sale Extended
Today's Deals 1/20
Amazon's Android Appstore free App today is iMediaShare, which is usually $5. It lets you watch the video from your Kindle Fire or other Android device on your HDTV, without using wires.
Today's Kindle Teen Daily Deal is If I Stay ($2.99), by Gayle Forman (Penguin).
Today's Kindle Daily Deal is Wilderness ($1.99), by Lance Weller.
Today's Kindle Romance Daily Deal is Strangers in the Night ($0.99), by Inés Saint.
Today's Kindle SciFi/Fantasy Daily Deal is Midworld ($1.99), by Alan Dean Foster. This is another of Open Road's reprint editions that I'd snap up if it weren't already on my elibrary shelves.
Storm & Conquest: The Battle for the Indian Ocean, 1808-10 ($1.60 / £0.99 UK), by Stephen Taylor, is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (no US edition).
Nancy Clancy, Super Sleuth ($1.99 Kindle, B&N), by Jane O'Connor, is the Nook Daily Find, price matched on Kindle.
Today's Kindle Teen Daily Deal is If I Stay ($2.99), by Gayle Forman (Penguin).Book Description
A critically acclaimed novel that will change the way you look at life, love, and family.
In the blink of an eye everything changes. Seventeen year-old Mia has no memory of the accident; she can only recall what happened afterwards, watching her own damaged body being taken from the wreck. Little by little she struggles to put together the pieces- to figure out what she has lost, what she has left, and the very difficult choice she must make. Heartwrenchingly beautiful, Mia's story will stay with you for a long, long time.
Today's Kindle Daily Deal is Wilderness ($1.99), by Lance Weller.Book Description
Thirty years after the Civil War's Battle of the Wilderness left him maimed, Abel Truman has found his way to the edge of the continent, the rugged, majestic coast of Washington State, where he lives alone in a driftwood shack with his beloved dog. Wilderness is the story of Abel, now an old and ailing man, and his heroic final journey over the snowbound Olympic Mountains. It's a quest he has little hope of completing but still must undertake to settle matters of the heart that predate even the horrors of the war.
As Abel makes his way into the foothills, the violence he endures at the hands of two thugs who are after his dog is crosscut with his memories of the horrors of the war, the friends he lost, and the savagery he took part in and witnessed. And yet, darkness is cut by light, especially in the people who have touched his life-from Jane Dao-Ming Poole, the daughter of murdered Chinese immigrants, to Hypatia, an escaped slave who nursed him back to life, and finally to the unbearable memory of the wife and child he lost as a young man. Haunted by tragedy, loss, and unspeakable brutality, Abel has somehow managed to hold on to his humanity, finding way stations of kindness along his tortured and ultimately redemptive path.
In its contrasts of light and dark, wild and tame, brutal and tender, and its attempts to reconcile a horrific war with the great evil it ended, Wilderness tells not only the moving tale of an unforgettable character, but a story about who we are as human beings, a people, and a nation. Lance Weller's immensely impressive debut immediately places him among our most talented writers.
Today's Kindle Romance Daily Deal is Strangers in the Night ($0.99), by Inés Saint.Book Description
Jake Kelly is Chicago's conservative mayoral candidate. Heir to a dubiously obtained real estate fortune, he's had a hard time convincing people a generous, caring heart lies beneath his cold demeanor. Recent polls have him lagging behind his more family oriented Democratic opponent and his main problem seems to be Chicago's large Hispanic constituency.
Keila Diaz is a warm, sassy, left-leaning violinist of Hispanic descent. She's struggling to make a career out of her passion for playing the violin in the city she loves.
Keila needs more work and Jake needs a consultant. When a friend brings them together to come up with a music program for the city's public school system as part of Jake's plans for education reform, sparks ignite and combust. Jake ignores he'd already met Keila once before and Keila follows his lead.
When photos of the two of them dancing close at a festival mysteriously show up in local media, things get complicated. Voters love the idea of Jake and Keila together, but they have it all wrong... or do they?
Sensuality Level: Tender Sensuality
Today's Kindle SciFi/Fantasy Daily Deal is Midworld ($1.99), by Alan Dean Foster. This is another of Open Road's reprint editions that I'd snap up if it weren't already on my elibrary shelves.Book Description
The peaceful inhabitants of the jungle planet Midworld must fight for their survival in this classic adventure novel from Alan Dean Foster
From the rich imagination of science fiction great Alan Dean Foster comes the story of Midworld, a Humanx Commonwealth planet that’s equally fragile and hostile. Covered by a lush rainforest, Midworld is home to a primitive society that lives in harmony with the natural world. But the arrival of an exploitative human company, whose workers know nothing of Midworld’s delicate ecosystem, sparks a conflict. Should Midworld’s villagers aid the humans or stand against them? The hero of Foster’s addictive page-turner, Born, decides to lead two humans across the perilous jungle. His choice propels Midworld toward annihilation—and leads him headlong into a battle for survival.
Storm & Conquest: The Battle for the Indian Ocean, 1808-10 ($1.60 / £0.99 UK), by Stephen Taylor, is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (no US edition).Book Description
The Indian Ocean, 1809. At stake: Britain's commercial lifeline to India and naval supremacy. In one fatal season, the natural order of maritime power since Trafalgar was destroyed. Storm and Conquest brings together the terrifying ordeal of men, women and children caught at sea in hurricanes, and those who survived to drive the French from the Eastern seas. All shared a need to prove themselves - to make a career, or a fortune, or a marriage - in places which could be at once magnificent and terrifying.
Nancy Clancy, Super Sleuth ($1.99 Kindle, B&N), by Jane O'Connor, is the Nook Daily Find, price matched on Kindle.Book Description
Nancy Clancy is growing up and ready for a whole new adventure . . . in her chapter book debut!
Nancy and her best friend, Bree, have everything they need to solve a mystery, from their totally professional trench coats to their top-secret code.
But when crime strikes in their classroom, will these super sleuths be able to crack the case?
Find out in the glamorous start to an all-new chapter book series featuring everyone’s favorite fancy girl!
Grade Level: 2 and up
Saturday, January 19, 2013
Today's Deals 1/19
Today's Kindle Daily Deal is 25 Top-Rated Romance Novels, $1.99 or Less. Too many for me to post, but if you are a romance fan, be sure to scan thru the list to see if there are titles you don't yet have. And the full range of the genre is covered, from historical romance, to romantic suspense and there is at least one urban fantasy hidden in the list, as well.
Today's Kindle SciFi/Fantasy Daily Deal is Rose Garden ($1.99), by Susanna Kearsley, with the companion audiobook only $3.49.Book Description
Eva Ward returns to the only place she truly belongs, the old house on the Cornish coast, seeking happiness in memories of childhood summers. There she finds mysterious voices and hidden pathways that sweep her not only into the past, but also into the arms of a man who is not of her time.
But Eva must confront her own ghosts, as well as those of long ago. As she begins to question her place in the present, she comes to realize that she too must decide where she really belongs.
From Susanna Kearsley, author of the New York Times bestseller The Winter Sea and a voice acclaimed by fans of Gabaldon, du Maurier, and Niffenegger alike, The Rose Garden is a haunting exploration of love, family, the true meaning of home, and the ties that bind us together.
Diamond Star Halo ($1.60 / £0.99 UK), by Tiffany Murray, is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (the US edition is $8.90).Book Description
Growing up in a rural recording studio, Halo Llewellyn is rarely star-struck, but when one of the visiting singers gives birth to Fred, she knows right away that he's special.As the golden child grows into the gilded man, she remains dazzled by his ambition and his talent.Up on stage, being screamed at by hundreds of teenage girls, Fred will always turn his spotlight on Halo in the crowd. But that's the problem with falling in love with your charismatic almost-brother - it can never be a secret. In the end, the whole world has to know.
Texas Pride ($1.99 Kindle, B&N), the sixth novel in Leigh Greenwood's Night Riders series, is the Nook Daily Find, price matched on Kindle.Book Description
A PRINCE AMONG MEN
Carla Reece had never met anyone more infuriating in her life. The blond giant who swaggered up to her door had no right to take over half her ranch - no matter how stupid her brother had been gambling it away in a high-stakes poker game. Her new foreman claimed to be some foreign royalty who promised to leave in a year. Still, a year was way too long to spend with a man who made her madder than a wet hen and weak in the knees all at the same time.
A HELLION AMONG WOMEN
Ivan may have charmed everyone in town into thinking he was the perfect gentleman, but Carla knew better. There had to be a chink in his armor-a red-hot passion under that calm, cool gaze. But once she finds it, she may be in for more than she ever bargained for...
Today's Kindle Kids Daily Deal is The Dragon Princess ($1.99), by E. D Baker.Book Description
With E. D. Baker's trademark humor, wacky animal and human characters, and almost all-new cast, this is the story of Emma's daughter, Millie, who is trying to survive being a magical princess who happens to keep turning into a dragon. When she cannot stop her own magic any other way, she and three friends (one vampire, one troll and her cousin, a young wizard prince) set off for the Frozen North and the Blue Witch. Together the motley group battles fearsome bears, saves imprisoned dragons, and find their way home in style, with Millie having gained control of her dragon magic.
Grade Level: 5 and up
Friday, January 18, 2013
Today's Deals 1/18
Today's Kindle Daily Deal is Pago Pago Tango ($4.99), by John Enright, with the companion audiobook for $1.99.Book Description
Detective Sergeant Apelu Soifua spent seven years in the San Francisco Police Department, where the job was just a job and solving crimes required cool detachment. But back home on American Samoa, life is personal—especially for a cop. Because on a small island where no one is a stranger and secrets are widely known but never discussed, solving crimes requires a certain…finesse.
Here, Apelu must walk the line between two cultures: Samoan versus American, native versus new. And that gulf never yawns wider than when a white family’s home in Pago Pago is burglarized. And what appears to be a simple, open-and-shut case turns out to anything but. As the evidence piles up, Apelu follows a tangled trail between cultures, dead bodies, hidden codes, and a string of lies on his hunt for the ugly truth buried at the heart of paradise.
Set against the steamy backdrop of the Samoan jungle, this thoughtful whodunit introduces a memorable new gumshoe to the ranks of detective fiction.
Today's Kindle Romance Daily Deal is Small Town Secrets ($0.99), by Molly Kate Gray.Book Description
Miller’s Grove’s most eligible bachelor, Josh Owens, could have a different date every night of the week, so he doesn’t understand why he’s drawn to Tara since she’s obviously not interested in him. Tara Sullivan is angry that he’s stolen the coveted prime-time anchor position she’d been promised.
A stranger begins preying on the single young women in Miller’s Grove, and the story’s assigned to Tara. As the number of victims grows, Tara reluctantly accepts help from Josh. As he researches his top suspect in the assaults, he unearths events in the past that more than one resident of Miller’s Grove wants to keep hidden.
Together they discover a web of conspiracy and lies involving the most powerful family in town. Josh and Tara put their reputations at risk in the hope of exposing the truth and, perhaps, finally bringing Tara peace.
Sensuality Level: Sensual
Today's Kindle SciFi/Fantasy Daily Deal is Blood Maidens ($1.99), the third novel in Barbara Hambly's James Asher vampire series. The first two in the series are published by Open Road (and already in my library, as this one will be soon), but this one and the latest, Magistrates of Hell, are published by Severn House.Book Description
The new 'James Asher' vampire novel from the best-selling author - It's 1911. War is coming, and according to one of the vampires of St. Petersburg, the Kaiser is trying to recruit vampires. James Asher, Oxford don and formerly on His Majesty's Secret Service, is forced to team up again with his vampire partner Don Simon Ysidro for a journey to the subarctic Russian capital. Are they on the trail of a rogue vampire with a plan to achieve the power to walk in daylight? Asher wonders. Or is Ysidro's real agenda to seek the woman he once loved?
USS Alcatraz ($1.60 / £0.99 UK), by Philip Robinson, is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (the US edition is $2.99).Book Description
Author Philip Robinson blends reality with a dose of the outlandish in this fast-paced thriller:
Kraken Corporation is too big to fail…or control. Spreading its tentacles into every profit centre around the globe—oil, gold, diamonds—it takes what it wants and leaves behind a path of death and destruction.
When Emma Baine, heir to Kraken, publicly announces her intention to end the corporation’s history of profiteering, murder, and monopoly, a bomb explodes on the rostrum, killing her instantly. To her brother Carson, it’s the perfect punch line to Emma’s childish statement. He took out his sister, and now he’s going to take over the firm.
Using Kraken’s “private security force,” a mercenary army that rolls over every obstacle to profitability, and the USS Alcatraz, an old Russian nuclear sub retrofitted into a gargantuan underwater prison, Carson imprisons everyone he perceives as an enemy—while the highest figures in government turn a blind eye.
But there’s one obstacle Carson can’t grind under his heel: an ex-Marine named Vaughan. As Emma’s former lover and bodyguard, Vaughn is tough, smart…and very angry.
Merle's Door: Lessons from a Freethinking Dog ($3.99 Kindle, $1.99 B&N), by Ted Kerasote, is the Nook Daily Find, which I picked up last April (at Amazon's current sale price). It's likely to end up price matched on Kindle by the afternoon.Book Description
Now including a wonderful new photo insert chronicling Merle’s life, this national bestseller explores the relationship between humans and dogs. How would dogs live if they were free? Would they stay with their human friends?
Merle and Ted found each other in the Utah desert— Merle was living wild and Ted was looking for a pup to keep him company. As their bond grew, Ted taught Merle how to live around wildlife, and Merle taught Ted about the benefits of letting a dog make his own decisions.
Using the latest in wolf research and exploring issues of animal consciousness and leadership and the origins of the human-dog relationship, Ted Kerasote takes us on the journey he and Merle shared. As much a love story as a story of independence and partnership, Merle’s Door is tender, funny, and ultimately illuminating.
Today's Kindle Kids Daily Deal is Good News, Bad News ($1.99), by Jeff Mack.Book DescriptionThis 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.
Good news, Rabbit and Mouse are going on a picnic. Bad news, it is starting to rain. Good news, Rabbit has an umbrella. Bad news, the stormy winds blow the umbrella (and Mouse!) into a tree.So begins this clever story about two friends with very different dispositions. Using just four words, Jeff Mack has created a text with remarkable flair that is both funny and touching, and pairs perfectly with his energetic, and hilarious, illustrations.Good news, this is a book kids will clamor to read again and again!
Grade Level: P and up
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Today's Deals 1/17
Today's Kindle Kids Daily Deal is The Glitch in Sleep ($1.99), the first title in The Seems series by John Hulme and Michael Wexler.Book Description
Twelve-year-old Becker Drane has definitely got the coolest job of any seventh grader in Highland Park, New Jersey. He works as a Fixer for The Seems. From the Department ofWeather to the Department of Sleep, The Seems is a secret organization that makes sure our world keeps running-and more importantly, sticks to The Plan that's been made for it. When a Glitch is reported in the Department of Sleep, Becker is dispatched to Fix it, but he's not so sure this is a routine mission. Could the Bed Bugs, who are behind our Worst Nightmares, be responsible for the problem?Or maybe it's The Tide, an underground organization bent on destroying The Seems? No matter what, Becker's in for quite an adventure, and it'll take all his training, a little luck, and the coolest Tools™ known in (or out of) The Seems to Fix the problem.Look out for the other books in the Seems series: The Split Second and The Lost Train of Thought!
Grade Level: 5 and up
Today's Kindle Daily Deal is Breaking Night ($1.99), by Liz Murray.Book Description
Breaking night: (Urban slang) staying up through the night, until the sun rises
Breaking Night is the stunning memoir of a young woman who at age fifteen was living on the streets, and who eventually made it into Harvard.
Liz Murray was born to loving but drug-addicted parents in the Bronx. In school she was taunted for her dirty clothing and lice-infested hair, eventually skipping so many classes that she was put into a girls’ home. At age fifteen, Liz found herself on the streets when her family finally unraveled. She learned to scrape by, foraging for food and riding subways all night to have a warm place to sleep.
When Liz’s mother died of AIDS, she decided to take control of her own destiny and go back to high school, often completing her assignments in the hallways and subway stations where she slept. Liz squeezed four years of high school into two, while homeless; won a New York Times scholarship; and made it into the Ivy League. Breaking Night is an unforgettable and beautifully written story of one young woman’s indomitable spirit to survive and prevail, against all odds.
Today's Kindle Romance Daily Deal is The Name of the Game ($0.99), by Lisa Weseman.Book Description
He thinks she’s a flake. She thinks he’s a stick-in-the mud. But each time Kyle and Mac are together, they feel an undeniable spark.
After a long day on her feet, all flight attendant Kyle McKinney wants is a cool glass of wine, a warm bath, and a hot man in her bed. Instead, she ends up in a tug-of-war over misdelivered mail with her sexy-but-nerdy neighbor, Kyle “Mac” McKinney.
Thrown together by a shared name and address, Kyle and Mac butt heads as their very different lives begin to overlap. He wears sweater vests and teaches college accounting. She dresses like Carmen Miranda and practices scream therapy. But together, they must deal with a nosy elderly neighbor, a misguided stripper, and an overzealous IRS agent—without killing each other.
When opposites attract, it’s like playing with fire. But will Kyle and Mac figure out that love is the name of the game . . . before it’s too late?
Sensuality Level: Sensual
Today's Kindle SciFi/Fantasy Daily Deal is The Cardinal's Heir ($0.99), by Jaki Demarest.Book Description
Cardinal Richelieu is dead, a victim of poison. The throne of France, which he has long protected, is once more unstable as rival factions vie for power. But the Cardinal has appointed two heirs: one to his religious position, and one to head the elite spy ring that has maintained France's fragile political balance. Francoise Marguerite de Palis, the Cardinal's lovely but low born niece, is devastated by her uncle's murder and vows revenge, which she sets out after immediately. Though the task is daunting, she at least has some formidable tools at her command. Not only is she now the head of the Cardinal's Eyes, but is arguably the most powerful Sorciere in all France. Shapeshifting into her character Biscarrat, notorious swordsman, she sets out to find her uncle's murderer. But with an unexpected ally. Handsome and dashing Jean de Treville, head of the King's Musketeers, is saddened to learn of the Cardinal's death, though both headed groups not generally fond of one another. Sadness turns to stunned amazement, however, when he learns who has been appointed to lead the Cardinal's spy ring and who is also, in fact, the swordsman who has bested him on numerous occasions. Not to mention the beautiful, and untouchable, wife of Court favorite, Antoine de Palis. But just as there is more, much more, to the enchanting Francoise, so is there more than simple murder afoot. Side by side, Francoise and Jean descend into a maelstrom of magic as they battle another powerful Sorcier, and enter a bloody race to obtain a fabulous jewel. And the throne of France hangs in the balance, supported only by the magic and mastery of the cardinal's heir.
To Set Prometheus Free: Essays on Religion, Reason and Humanity ($1.60 / £0.99 UK), by A.C. Grayling, is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (the US edition is $9.89).Book Description
In 2007 Anthony Grayling wrote Against All Gods, a collection of polemical essays attacking religion. Now in To Set Prometheus Free he develops those themes more comprehensively, unpicking the claims and arguments of religious apologists, summarising the views of his fellow secularist (Bertrand Russell in particular detailing the controversy over 'Intelligent Design' and outlining his personal, naturalistic world-view.
He robustly calls for humanity to choose deliverance from religion because, as he puts it, 'large portions of mankind remain in some degree in thrall to myths dating from an ignorant and illiterate past.'
Negotiating to Win ($45.64 Kindle, $2.99 B&N), a collection of titles by Richard Templar, Leigh Thompson, Terry J. Fadem and Jonathan J. Herring, is the Nook Daily Find. There's a big price difference between the two stores on this one, but even if it isn't price matched on Kindle later today, I suspect you can pick it up free sometimes in the next few months anyway (assuming you don't already have it from when it was free last August), if FT Press rotates it back around in their giveaway list.Book Description
Negotiate and communicate to get what you want—no matter who’s on the other side of the table!
Four great books show you how to negotiate, persuade, influence…get what you want! In How to Get What You Want…Without Having to Ask, best-selling author Richard Templar brings his inimitable blend of originality, imagination, wisdom, and straight talk to the challenges of getting people to say “yes” to you! Templar offers up to 100 clever, simple, pain-free techniques for becoming the kind of person people want to support…helping people say yes…saying just the right thing if you do need to ask! Next, in How to Argue, leading lawyer Jonathan Herring reveals the secrets and subtleties of making your case and winning hearts and minds. Herring covers everything from making your point more crisply to keeping your cool in heated situations. In The Truth About Negotiations, Leigh L. Thompson teaches 53 proven negotiation principles and bite-size, easy-to-use techniques that work. You’ll learn how to prepare within one hour…negotiate with friends, colleagues, and spouses…master the win-win litmus test…become a truly world-class negotiator. Finally, in The Art of Asking: Ask Better Questions, Get Better Answers, Terry J. Fadem reveals the core questions that every manager needs to master...shows how to avoid the mistakes business questioners make most often...identifies ten simple rules for asking every question more effectively. You’ll learn how to ask tough questions and take control of tough situations... use questions to promote innovation, drive change, identify hidden problems, and get failing projects back on track!
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