Free Book - Bean, Meet Skillet (DF)

Bean, Meet Skillet, which looks to be a 26 recipe sampler of recipes taken from Crescent Dragonwagon's Bean By Bean: A Cookbook: More than 175 Recipes for Fresh Beans, Dried Beans, Cool Beans, Hot Beans, Savory Beans, Even Sweet Beans! ($8.61 Kindle), is free direct from Workman Publishing this month, as a part of their Blue Plate Specials promotion. Since Bean By Bean weighs in at 400 pages, it's a pretty good deal if you want more than the sampler provides.

Book Description
James Beard Award-winning author Crescent Dragonwagon gives the humble bean its proper due, showcasing its versatility in stovetop recipes from refried beans to falafel and tofu.

Get the free ebook from Workman, using promo code l0v3f0rb34nz (no spaces and those are numbers in places of some letters). You can download a DRM-Free copy in MOBI or EPUB format. As an extra bonus, get a springtime dispatch and a recipe for a Sugar Snap Pea salad from Crescent Dragonwagon on Workman's website.

Bean By Bean: A Cookbook

Has there ever been a more generous ingredient than the bean? Down-home, yet haute, soul-satisfyingly hearty, valued, versatile deeply delectable, healthful, and inexpensive to boot, there’s nothing a bean can’t do—and nothing that Crescent Dragonwagon can’t do with beans. From old friends like chickpeas and pintos to rediscovered heirloom beans like rattlesnake beans and teparies, from green beans and fresh shell beans to peanuts, lentils, and peas, Bean by Bean is the definitive cookbook on beans. It’s a 175-plus recipe cornucopia overflowing with information, kitchen wisdom, lore, anecdotes, and a zest for good food and good times.

Consider the lentil, to take one example. Discover it first in a delicious slather, Lentil Tapenade. Then in half a dozen soups, including Sahadi’s Lebanese Lentil Soup with Spinach, Kerala-Style Dahl, and Crescent’s Very, Very Best Lentil, Mushroom & Barley Soup. It then turns up in Marinated Lentils De Puy with Greens, Baked Beets, Oranges & Walnuts. Plus there’s Jamaica Jerk-Style Lentil-Vegetable Patties, Ethiopian Lentil Stew, and Lentil-Celeriac Skillet Sauce. Do the same for black beans—from Tex-Mex Frijoles Dip to Feijoada Vegetariana to Maya’s Magic Black Beans with Eggplant & Royal Rice. Or shell beans—Newly Minted Puree of Fresh Favas, Baked Limas with Rosy Sour Cream, Edamame in a Pod. And on and on—from starters and soups to dozens of entrees. Even desserts: Peanut Butter Cup Brownies and Red Bean Ice Cream.

Diesel Daily Deal - Question of Trust (E)

Question of Trust: An Izzy McNeil Novel ($6.99 $5.38 Kindle), a romantic suspense novel by Laura Caldwell [Harlequin Mira], is today's Deal of the "Day" at Diesel E-Books, where it's discounted to $1.10. (10 copies left). Audiobook lovers, though, will want to stick with Amazon, as that lets you get the companion audiobook for $3.49.

Book Description

Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. But what if you can't tell which is which?

When attorney Izzy McNeil's home is broken into, right after her boyfriend, Theo, moves in, she ignores the coincidence. When Theo is arrested on charges of fraud, she wants to believe he's innocent. But when a neighbor is found dead, she can't ignore that something is very, very wrong.

Izzy also can't forget how Theo was inexplicably turned down for a mortgage. Or his recent moody silences. Or how a stranger warned her that Theo needs to "accept responsibility…"

Thrust into Theo's case, Izzy must walk the line between attorney and lover to prove that Theo is innocent. But only Izzy can decide whether trusting Theo will keep her safe…or throw her into unimaginable danger.

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

Today's Deals 4/2

It's the start of a new month, as the flood of free books yesterday indicated, so be sure to check out the new 100 Kindle books for $3.99 or less sale and there is a new batch of $5 MP3 Albums for the month. Country music fans will want to grab today's free MP3, Ashley Monroe's Used, one of the highlighted Artists on the Rise this month at Amazon.

Amazon's $5 Magazine Sale is back, with 65 (print) subscriptions to choose from, all for $5/year. If you use the page number/next buttons at the bottom of the page, though, I've found that the restriction on price is lost (at least, it is here, in FireFox) - instead, edit the page number at the end of the URL shown, in your browser's address bar, and press Enter to pull up the next page. (edit to add: some of the magazines shown on the very last pages are not subscriptions, but single issues, so be sure to check before ordering).

Today's Kindle Kids Daily Deal is Spring Is Here ($0.99), by Taro Gomi. This book requires Kindle Fire/HD or select Kindle Reading Apps (Kindle Cloud Reader, Kindle for iPad or Kindle for Android).

Book Description
A winsome calf provides the backdrop--literally--for this charming story. With each turn of the page, the young animal is imaginatively transformed to reflect some activity of the four seasons: snow melting, seedlings springing up, harvest, all the way to the snow melting again and revealing that--the calf has grown. The story line follows the cycle of the seasons from one spring to the next, and its spare, fluid text--wedded to the vigorous graphics--vividly conveys the underlying themes of renewal and growth. The colors are joyful and fresh, and the artist's playful approach to perspective makes this a lovely picture book. Plus, this is a fixed- format version of the book, which looks nearly identical to the print version.

Today's Kindle Daily Deal is Desert Solitaire ($1.99), by Edward Abbey [RosettaBooks], with the companion audiobook for $3.49. Definitely recommended.

Book Description
First published in 1968, Desert Solitaire is one of Edward Abbey's most critically acclaimed works and marks his first foray into the world of nonfiction writing. Written while Abbey was working as a ranger at Arches National Park outside of Moab, Utah, Desert Solitaire is a rare view of one man's quest to experience nature in its purest form.

Through prose that is by turns passionate and poetic, Abbey reflects on the condition of our remaining wilderness and the future of a civilization that cannot reconcile itself to living in the natural world as well as his own internal struggle with morality. As the world continues its rapid development, Abbey's cry to maintain the natural beauty of the West remains just as relevant today as when this book was written.

About the author
Edward Abbey was born in Home, Pennsylvania in 1927. In 1944, at the age of 17, Abbey set out to explore the American Southwest, bumming around the country by hitchhiking and hopping freight trains. It was during this time that Abbey developed a love of the desert, which would shape his life and his art for the next forty years. After a brief stint in the military, Abbey completed his education at the University of New Mexico and later, at the University of Edinburgh. He took employment as a park ranger and fire lookout at several different National Parks throughout his life, experiences from which he drew for his many books. Abbey died at his home in Oracle, Arizona in 1989.

Today's Kindle Romance Daily Deal is Promise Me A Rainbow ($1.99), by Cheryl Reavis [Bell Bridge Books].

Book Description
Two lonely people, scarred by betrayal and tragedy, believe that love is lost to them forever...

Deserted by her husband because she couldn't have children, Catherine Holben has thrown herself into her job counseling pregnant teens. Catherine is still recovering from the pain of her divorce, but her life is changed forever when she makes a purchase in a quaint curio shop. She meets handsome, hardworking Joe D'Amaro, a widower and father of three, and his daughter, Fritz. But Joe needs help with Fritz, a seven-year-old dynamo. She's a precocious but headstrong little girl who's impossible to resist., and he is too proud to admit it.

Joe and Catherine are cautious about making a commitment to each other. They both know the joy and heartache of falling in love, but are they willing to risk being together despite their misgivings? Neither can ignore the love that quickly blossoms between them. Maybe they can have a wonderful life together . . . if only Joe's still-grieving older daughter, Della, will accept a new woman in her father's life.

True love versus reality. Can Catherine handle his ready-made family? Or is there more in store for her than she thinks?

About the author
A four-time RITA winner and a three-time RITA finalist, Cheryl Reavis is the author of acclaimed romance novels including A Crime of the Heart, which was condensed in Good Housekeeping magazine.

Today's Kindle SciFi/Fantasy Daily Deal is Snuff ($1.99), the 39th (and last?) Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett [HarperCollins]. I've read quite a bit of the series, but haven't quite managed to get to this one (yet; on my TBR list, for someday, now).

Book Description
Sam Vimes, watch commander of Ankh-Morpork, is at long last taking a much-needed (and well deserved) vacation. But, of course, this is Discworld®, where nothing goes as planned—and before Vimes can even change his cardboard-soled boots for vacationer’s slippers, the gruff watch commander soon finds himself enmeshed in a fresh fiasco fraught with magic, cunning, daring, and (for the reader more than for poor Vimes) endless hilarity. Did he really expect time off? As Vimes himself says in Feet of Clay, “there’s some magical creature called ‘overtime,’ only no one’s even seen its footprints.” Following the New York Times bestselling Unseen Academichals, Terry Pratchett delivers an enthralling new tale from a place of insuperable adventure: Discworld.

Discworld® is a registered trademark.

Elegy for April (£0.99 UK), the third Quirke novel by Benjamin Black, is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (the US edition is $9.99).

Book Description
1950's Ireland. As a deep, bewildering fog cloaks Dublin, a young woman is found to have vanished. When Phoebe Griffin, still haunted by the horrors of her past, is unable to discover news of her friend; Quirke, fresh from drying out in an institution, responds to his daughter's request for help. But as Phoebe, Quirke and Inspector Hackett speak with those who knew April, they begin to realise that there may have been more behind the young woman's discretion and secrecy than they could have imagined. And while Quirke finds himself distracted from his sobriety by a beautiful young actress, Phoebe watches helplessly as April's family hush up her disappearance, terrified of a scandal; and all possible leads seem to dry up, bar one she cannot bear to contemplate . . . When Quirke eventually makes a disturbing discovery, he is finally able to begin unravelling the great, complex web of love, lies, jealousy and dark secrets that April spun her life from . . .

Closer Than Blood ($1.99 Kindle, B&N), a stand-alone novel by Gregg Olsen, is the Nook Daily Find, price matched on Kindle [Pinnacle Books].

Book Description
The first time was easy. No one ever suspected the victim had been murdered. The crime long buried, the dark passions guiding the killer's hand are still alive. But the need for revenge cannot be denied. Only one person can stop the killing. Only one person can identify the killer. Only one person knows the face of death--is as close as the face in the mirror. . .

Bargain Book Roundup

If you search for "Interactive Charles River" on your Kindle (or from a clean browser, with cookies cleared), then sort by price, there are nearly 30 new, free biographies available today at Amazon. StackPole also has a couple of non-fiction titles you may want to search for and other freebies for today are highlighted on this Squidoo page.

If you had pre-orders in, check your Kindle Libraries. Quite a few of mine were delivered last night (most romance, but not all).

Bones Are Forever ($2.99 Kindle, B&N, Kobo), the fifteenth novel in the bestselling Temperance Brennan series by Kathy Reichs [Scribner (Simon and Schuster)]. I love the show and the series (which I started reading due to the connection to the Body Farm here at UTK).

Book Description
Kathy Reichs, #1 New York Times bestselling author and producer of the FOX televison hit Bones, is at her brilliant best in a riveting novel featuring forensic anthropologist Tempe Brennan—a story of infanticide, murder, and corruption, set in the high-stakes, high-danger world of diamond mining.

A woman calling herself Amy Roberts checks into a Montreal hospital complaining of uncontrolled bleeding. Doctors see evidence of a recent birth, but before they can act, Roberts disappears. Dispatched to the address she gave at the hospital, police discover bloody towels outside in a Dumpster. Fearing the worst, they call Temperance Brennan to investigate.

In a run-down apartment Tempe makes a ghastly discovery: the decomposing bodies of three infants. According to the landlord, a woman named Alma Rogers lives there. Then a man shows up looking for Alva Rodriguez. Are Amy Roberts, Alma Rogers, and Alva Rodriguez the same person? Did she kill her own babies? And where is she now?

Heading up the investigation is Tempe’s old flame, homicide detective Andrew Ryan. His counterpart from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police is sergeant Ollie Hasty, who happens to have a little history with Tempe himself, which she regrets. This unlikely trio follows the woman’s trail, first to Edmonton and then to Yellowknife, a remote diamond-mining city deep in the Northwest Territories. What they find in Yellowknife is more sinister than they ever could have imagined.

Crackling with sexual tension, whip-smart dialogue, and the startling plot twists Reichs delivers so well, Bones Are Forever is the fifteenth thrilling novel in Reichs’s “cleverly plotted and expertly maintained series” (The New York Times Book Review). With the FOX series Bones in its eighth season and her popularity at its broadest ever, Kathy Reichs has reached new heights in suspenseful storytelling.

Jocelynn Drake's Dark Days series (Kindle, B&N, Kobo) is on sale for $0.99 per title (six novels and one short story), along with a short story anthology that she has a story in [HarperCollins]. You can pick up the entire series, which I started reading a couple of years ago, when the first title alone was on sale for 99 cents, for what one volume usually sells for (and if you are an audiobook listener, pick up a few for under $4.50 each and also qualify for the Listener Reward this month right away).

Nightwalker (companion audiobook $3.49)

For centuries Mira has been a nightwalker—an unstoppable enforcer for a mysterious organization that manipulates earth-shaking events from the darkest shadows. But elemental mastery over fire sets her apart from others of her night-prowling breed . . . and may be all that prevents her doom.

The foe she now faces is human: the vampire hunter called Danaus, who has already destroyed so many undead. For Mira, the time has come to hunt . . . or be hunted.

Dayhunter

A new day dawns blood red

A master of fire, Mira is the last hope for the world. For centuries she has secretly enforced the history-altering edicts of the Triad. Now she and her unlikely ally—the human vampire hunter, Danaus—have come to Venice, home of the nightwalker rulers. But there is no safety in the ancient city, for the threat of conflict is in the wind . . . with unholy alliances and earth-shattering betrayals taking hideous form in the shadows.

Banished for eons beyond the world's boundaries, the malevolent naturi prepare to feed once again upon a vulnerable earth—and treachery is opening wide the portal that will enable their dread re-emergence. The great battle that has always been Mira's destiny is looming, and she must remain powerful in the face of a shocking revelation: that Danaus, the only creature she dares to trust, is something more than the man he claims to be . . .

Dawnbreaker (companion audiobook $3.49)

The dawn brings new terror for the creatures of the night . . .

Those of her race fear Mira for the lethal fire she bends to her will—a power unique among nightwalkers, both a gift . . . and a curse.

The naturi despise Mira for what she is—as they prepare the final sacrifice that will destroy the barriers between the worlds. And once the naturi are unchained, blood, chaos, and horror will reign supreme on Earth.

Mira can trust only Danaus, the more-than-mortal vampire slayer, though he is sworn to destroy her kind. And now, as the day approaches when titanic forces will duel under cover of darkness, destiny draws them toward an apocalyptic confrontation at Machu Picchu. But all is not lost, for a wild card has been dealt to them: a rogue enemy princess who can change the balance of power and turn the dread tide.

Pray for Dawn (companion audiobook $3.49)

Vampire enforcer Mira must stop an ancient coven in Pray for Dawn, bestselling author Jocelynn Drake’s fourth action-packed Dark Days novel. A treat for fans of Laurell K. Hamilton, Charlaine Harris, and Kim Harrison—who has praised Drake’s Dark Days series as, “a must-read addition to the urban fantasy genre, filled both with action and satisfying characters”—Prey for Dawn will keep you reading well into the darkest part of the night.

Wait for Dusk

Vampire enforcer Mira must thwart the malevolent schemes of an ancient coven in the fifth action-packed Dark Days novel from New York Times bestselling author Jocelynn Drake. Wait for Dusk is gripping, stellar urban fantasy in the vein of Kim Harrison and Vicki Pettersson, with enough sensual heat to enthrall readers of Christine Feehan, J. R. Ward, and Jeaniene Frost.

Burn the Night

New York Times bestselling author Jocelynn Drake brings her remarkable Dark Days series to a stunning and dramatic conclusion with Burn the Night—a thrilling, page-turning masterwork of urban fantasy that brings the powerful Nightwalker Mira and her cohort, the conflicted vampire slayer Danaus, face to face with their most feared demons as the dreaded Great Awakening approaches. Burn the Night offers superior supernatural thrills and adventure in the bestselling tradition of Patricia Briggs, Carrie Vaughn, and Kelley Armstrong.

Bound to Me

Mira, the heroine of Jocelynn Drake's New York Times bestselling Dark Days series, has been a nightwalker for centuries, traveling the globe as an enforcer for a secretive, powerful organization. In Bound to Me, for the first time, we travel back into Mira's distant past to see the great love affair that shaped her.

Blood by Moonlight, by Jocelynn Drake, Terri Garey and Caris Roane

Just in time for the scariest season of all, three popular paranormal authors come together to tell original tales of romance where Anything can happen under a Halloween moon . . .

Tempers flare and passions rise in Jocelynn Drake's Of Monsters and Men as the local werewolf pack clashes with the Winter Court's Wild Hunt . . .

In Terri Garey's The Ghoul Next Door, a witch and a warlock battle it out for possession of a haunted house, but the ghost may have her own agenda . . .

And, in Trick or Treathen by Caris Roane, a master vampire struggles to stay away from the mortal woman who enflames his very soul.

Butterfly Swords ($1.99 Kindle), by Jeannie Lin, winner of the Golden Heart Award - Best Historical Romance [Harlequin Historical]

Book Description
During China's infamous Tang Dynasty, a time awash with luxury yet littered with deadly intrigues and fallen royalty, betrayed Princess Ai Li flees before her wedding.Miles from home, with only her delicate butterfly swords for defense, she enlists the reluctant protection of a blue-eyed warrior….

Battle-scarred, embittered Ryam has always held his own life at cheap value. Ai Li's innocent trust in him and honorable, stubborn nature make him desperate to protect her—which means not seducing the first woman he has ever truly wanted….

Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover's Soul: Stories of Canine Companionship, Comedy and Courage ($1.99 Kindle, B&N), by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Marty Becker, Carol Kline and Amy D. Shojai [Chicken Soup for the Soul]

Book Description

For thousands of years, dogs have been cherished as devoted companions and exuberant playmates—their unconditional love, limitless affection, and unwavering loyalty never fail to melt our hearts. The stories in Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover’s Soul truly capture the special joy these four-legged creatures bring to our lives and hearts.

• The family that learns the true meaning of Christmas when their Lab needs medical care during the holidays.
• The intimidating Doberman who becomes a loving mother to an orphaned duckling.
• The homeless man whose life is changed when he meets a special dog.
• The pocket-size assistance dog who dials 9-1-1.
• The crafty beagle-mix with the munchies who helps himself from the refrigerator
• And many more unforgettable canine characters

From exciting and entertaining accounts of courage and humor to heartwarming tales of healing and learning, each touching story in this book will inspire dog lovers to rejoice in the unique bond they share with their canine companions.

Today's Deals 4/1

It's Listening Rewards Month once again at Audible: buy four audiobooks with a regular price of $14.95 or more, between April 1 and April 30, 2013, and you'll earn a $10 Listening Reward coupon (credited no later than May 5, 2013). As in the past, the "regular" price must be of the specified level, but that doesn't mean that you have to pay that much - all those companion audiobook prices can work to your advantage and I've picked up 4 books for under $8 in the past and receive the coupon.

Today's Kindle Daily Deal is Chasing Rainbows ($1.99), by Kathleen Long [AmazonEncore]. Includes Reader’s Guide for book club discussions; the companion audiobook is $1.99.

Book Description
Chocolate. Tattered robe. Wedding video. Wine.

Things aren’t looking so good for Bernadette Murphy.

With the breakup of her marriage, the sudden death of her father, and the announcement of her best friend’s pregnancy, Bernadette finds herself careening toward rock bottom. So why stop short? She quits her job, gets herself banned—for life—from the mall, and goes on a late-night-infomercial spending spree. To top it all off, her dog gets kicked out of obedience school—again.

Just when she thinks there’s nothing left for the universe to throw at her, she discovers the one thing she needs the most: a reminder of her father’s love. In the book of cryptograms he left behind, Bernie’s father helps guide her through the pain that’s consuming her. With each solved puzzle, her father’s encoded lessons give Bernie the courage to face life head-on. And as her father always said, “In life, you either choose to sing a rainbow, or you don’t.”

For Bernie, the singing is about to begin.

Today's Kindle Romance Daily Deal is Hidden Secrets ($1.99), by Carolyn Brown [Montlake Romance].

Book Description
Kim Brewster’s ill-fated marriage was annulled so quickly that she thought she could keep the whole thing a secret…until she found out she was pregnant. But before her confession can blow a hole in the seemingly perfect lives of the Brewster women, her great-grandmother, Hannah, drops a bomb of her own. She’s selling her hotel and moving to a farm in Oklahoma—and all the Brewsters are coming with her. Kim is sure her grandmother, Karen, and mother, Sue, won’t go along with the plan, but Hannah can be very convincing. Soon the women are working the farm, selling their wares from a roadside stand, and finally feeling like a family.

And as the Brewster women’s lives take shape in ways they never expected, Kim may have found another shot at love. Luke thought he’d washed his hands of women, but when he stops by the vegetable stand and meets Kim, he’s instantly smitten. To find love, though, they’ll both have to dig past their hidden secrets.

Today's Kindle SciFi/Fantasy Daily Deal is To Have and To Code ($1.99), by Debora Geary [Fireweed], the #1 Kindle bestselling author of A Modern Witch. The companion audiobook is $1.99.

Book Description
... [a] modern romance with a touch of magic.

Nell Sullivan is fiery, easily distracted by cookies, and doomed to wear the peach monstrosity at her best friend’s wedding.

And she’s a witch.

Daniel Walker is a former baseball player turned bored hacker looking for a challenge. Hacking Nell's online gaming world is going to get him a lot more than he bargained for.

A prophecy says they will make babies together – but when it comes to the love life of a modern witch and a hacker, prophecy might not get a vote.

Dear Lupin... Letters to a Wayward Son (£0.99 UK), by Charlie Mortimer and Roger Mortimer, is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (no US edition).

Book Description
Nostalgic, witty and filled with characters and situations that people of all ages will recognise, Dear Lupin is the entire correspondence of a Father to his only son, spanning nearly 25 years.

Roger Mortimer's sometimes hilarious, sometimes touching, always generous letters to his son are packed with anecdotes and sharp observations, with a unique analogy for each and every scrape Charlie Mortimer got himself into. The trials and tribulations of his youth and early adulthood are received by his father with humour, understanding and a touch of resignation, making them the perfect reminder of when letters were common, but always special.A racing journalist himself, Roger Mortimer wrote for a living, yet still wrote more than 150 letters to his son as he left school, and lived in places such as South America, Africa, Weston-super-Mare and eventually London. These letters form a memoir of their relationship, and an affectionate portrait of a time gone by.

Bonnie ($3.99 Kindle, B&N), the third title in the Eve, Quinn and Bonnie series by Iris Johansen, is the Nook Daily Find, price matched on Kindle [St. Martin's Press]. The companion audiobook $2.99.

Book Description
The truth has eluded her for years. . . . Now is she ready to face it?

When Eve Duncan gave birth to her daughter, she experienced a love she never knew existed. Nothing would stand in the way of giving Bonnie a wonderful life---until the unthinkable happened and the seven-year-old vanished into thin air. Eve found herself in the throes of a nightmare from which there was no escape. But a new Eve emerged: a woman who would use her remarkable talent as a forensic sculptor to help others find closure in the face of tragedy. Now with the help of her beloved Joe Quinn and CIA agent Catherine Ling, Eve has come closer than ever to the truth. But the deeper she digs, the more she realizes that Bonnie’s father is a key player in solving this monstrous puzzle. And that Bonnie’s disappearance was not as random as everyone had always believed . . .

Today's Kindle Kids Daily Deal is Barnyard Fun ($1.99), by Maureen Wright and Paul Rátz de Tagyos (Illustrator) [Amazon Children's Publishing]. For the Kindle Fire/HD or select Kindle Reading Apps (Kindle Cloud Reader, Kindle for iPad or Kindle for Android) only.

Book Description
When Sheep found out it was April One, he said, "It's time to have some fun"! Sheep set his alarm an hour ahead. It woke up Rooster in his bed. Sheep plays April Fool's jokes on Rooster, Dog, Pig and Cow. Then Horse decides to play a trick on Sheep-and the farm animals have the biggest laugh of all!