Daily Deal - Stripper: The Fringe (DF)

Stripper ($5.50 $4.24 Kindle), the fourth novel in The Fringe series by Anitra Lynn McLeod [Samhain Publishing], is today's Deal of the Day at at Diesel E-Books, where it's discounted to $1.10 (9 copies left).

Book Description
The woman he can’t forget…a betrayal that must be forgiven.

Duster Jennings loves his job as master-of-arms on Windmere, the only independent planet in the galaxy. Except he has no life. Not since his dream of a large, loving family was ripped to shreds by Diane Black. The woman who abandoned him.

Desperate to move on, Duster pays a fortune to board a courtesan ship and hire a “stripper”—a specialist in erasing unwanted memories. Except when he wakes up, his memories are intact, his money is gone…and the woman he vowed to forget is holding him captive.

When Diane Black discovers her mysterious client is Duster, she’s overjoyed to learn he’s still alive—and unsure what to do with him now. Seven years ago her mission was to kill him. Instead she fell in love. If the network finds out she let him go, it won’t be just her and Duster’s necks in the noose.

Duster’s fury knows no bounds…and damn it, neither does the lust that still burns for her. But when their ship is attacked, survival means trusting each other with their backs—even if they can no longer trust their hearts.

Warning: Contains a knife-wielding hero overcoming a crackleseed addiction, a heroine with a secret skill and a more secret past, bitter betrayals, burning lusts, and bulging canvas trousers.

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

Kindle Daily Deals 5/27

Amazon's Android Free App of the Day is Ruzzle, a word game you can play with friends or strangers on the internet.

Today is the last day to take advantage of The Kindle Big Deal.

Today's Kindle Romance Daily Deal is Charmed ($0.99), by Inés Saint [Crimson Romance].

Book Description
Jamie Sullivan is a widowed mother of twin five-year old boys. A creative goldsmith with her own line of designer charms, she is determined to forge her own unique brand of success. Jamie guards a painful secret that leads her to be emphatic about not letting a man into her life: on the day of her late husband's funeral, she found out he was cheating on her.

Nick Grey is the gorgeous, charming, and daydream-inducing headmaster of the private elementary school Jamie's children will attend. After single-handedly bringing up his daughter while earning his doctorate and proving himself to the school's board of directors and the community, he feels burned out. Come the end of the semester, Nick is taking a year off to travel the world. When they meet, an instant attraction blazes through both. But Nick's not sure he's interested in starting over and raising kids again and Jamie's not sure she can trust her heart. Will they be able to nurture their attraction into something that can last forever?

Sensuality Level: Behind Closed Doors

Today's Kindle Daily Deal is Five James Patterson Thrillers for $2.99 apiece [Hachette]. Unless you are quite the avid collector of his books, there is probably at least one in this group that you are missing (two for me).

Honeymoon by James Patterson and Howard Roughan

How does it feel to be desired by every man and envied by every woman? Wonderful. This is the life Nora Sinclair has dreamed about, the life she's worked hard for, the life she will never give up. Meet Nora Sinclair.

When FBI agent John O'Hara first sees her, she seems perfect. She has the looks. The career. The clothes. The wit. The sophistication. The tantalizing sex appeal. The whole extraordinary package - and men fall in line to court her. She doesn't just attract men, she enthralls them. If you dare.

So why is the FBI so interested in Nora Sinclair? Mysterious things keep happening to people around her, especially the men. And there is something dangerous about Nora when Agent O'Hara looks closer - something that lures him at the same time that it fills him with fear. Is there something dark hidden among the unexplained gaps in her past? And as he spends more and more time getting to know her, is he pursuing justice? Or his own fatal obsession?

With the irresistible attraction of the greatest Hitchcock thrillers, Honeymoon is a sizzling, twisting tale of a woman with a deadly appetite and the men who dare to fall for her

The Beach House by James Patterson and Peter de Jonge

Jack Mullen is in law school in New York City when the shocking news comes that his brother Peter has drowned in the ocean off East Hampton. Jack knows his brother and knows this couldn't be an accident. Someone must have wanted his brother dead. But the powers that be say otherwise. As Jack tries to uncover details of his brothers last night, he confronts a barricade of lawyers, police, and paid protectors who separate the multi-billionaire summer residents from local workers like Peter. And he learns that his brother wasn't just parking cars at the summer parties of the rich. He was making serious money satisfying the sexual needs of the richest women and men in town. THE BEACH HOUSE reveals the secret lives of celebrities in a breathtaking drama of revenge - with a finale so shocking it could only have come from the mind of James Patterson.

Lifeguard by James Patterson and Andrew Gross

The danger isn't in the water.

Working as a lifeguard at a Florida resort, Ned Kelly meets a woman he is wild about, the woman of his dreams. It feels perfect in every way - except that she is used to caviar and Manolo Blahniks, and he is used to burgers and flip-flops. She is a guest at the luxurious hotel - he lives above a garage.

So when Ned's cousin offers to cut him in on a rich deal he's been commissioned to execute, Ned can't turn him down. The plan is simple, just a fast break-and-enter. The risk is high, and the reward is even greater--$5 million. But on the night of the heist, something goes devastatingly wrong. Who will save the lifeguard?

Ned walks away from his job, his town, and the woman he's fallen in love with. Runs away, actually, knowing that only velocity and secrecy can save his life. But who is pursuing him? The FBI? Whoever sabotaged the heist? Or is it all somehow tied into his new love - and his oldest enemies?

Beach Road by James Patterson and Peter de Jonge

Montauk lawyer Tom Dunleavy's client list is woefully small - occasional real estate closings barely keep him in paper clips. When he is hired to defend a local man accused in a triple murder that has the East Hampton world in an uproar, he knows that he has found the case of his lifetime.

The crime turns the glittering playground for the super-rich into a blazing inferno. Dunleavy's client is a local hero, but Dunleavy knows the case rests atop a volcano of money, deception, and forbidden desires. His client is the perfect fall guy - unless he can find the key that unlocks the secret rooms of the gilt-shrouded set.

When Dunleavy is joined by his former flame, the savvy and well-connected attorney, Kate Costello, he believes he has a chance. But payback is a bitch - especially from the rich. The violent retaliations of billionaires threatened by his investigation exceed anything Dunleavy has ever seen. With the entire nation's eyes on him in a new Trial of the Century, Dunleavy orchestrates a series of revelations that lead to a stunning outcome - only to find afterward that the truth is wilder than anything he ever imagined.

Sail by James Patterson and Howard Roughan

Since the death of her husband, Anne Dunne and her three children have struggled in every way. In a last ditch effort to save the family, Anne plans an elaborate sailing vacation to bring everyone together once again. But only an hour out of port, everything is going wrong. The teenage daughter, Carrie, is planning to drown herself. The teenage son, Mark, is high on drugs and ten-year-old Ernie is nearly catatonic. This is the worst vacation ever.
Anne manages to pull things together bit by bit, but just as they begin feeling like a family again, something catastrophic happens. Survival may be the least of their concerns.

Written with the blistering pace and shocking twists that only James Patterson can master, SAIL takes "Lost" and "Survivor" to a new level of terror.

Today's Kindle Kids Daily Deal is If I had a Little Boat ($0.99), by Calee Lee [Xist Publishing - join their newsletter and get a free book!].

Book Description
If you had a little red boat, what would you do with it?

Where would it go?

Who would it meet?

Great for bedtime or beginning readers, this rhyming picture book features mesmerizing images and simple, rhythmic text.

Today's Kindle SciFi/Fantasy Daily Deal is The Black Knight Chronicles ($1.99), by John G. Hartness [Bell Bridge Books]. This is an omnibus edition that contains all three novels in the series and for less that what I paid to get just one in the series (and considerably less than the individual titles are selling for now). John is one of the authors I ran into at the last LibertyCon (and signed my nook tablet); hopefully he'll be there this year, as well (everyone else is welcome, too, of course!).

Book Description
The Black Knight Chronicles: Lots of Vampires. No Sparkles. Serious Snark.

BOOK ONE: HARD DAY’S KNIGHT
Children are missing.
The police are stumped.
Halloween is coming, and an ancient evil is on the horizon.
The vampires are the good guys.

This is not your ordinary fall weekend in Charlotte, North Carolina. Vampire private detectives Jimmy Black and Greg Knightwood have been hired to save a client from being cursed for all eternity, but end up in a bigger mess than they ever imagined.

Suddenly trapped in the middle of a serial kidnapping case, Jimmy and Greg uncover a plot to bring forth an ancient evil. Soon, they’ve enlisted the help of a police detective, a priest, a witch, a fallen angel and a strip club proprietor to save the world. This unlikely band of heroes battles zombies, witches, neuroses and sunburn while cracking jokes and looking for the perfect bag of O-negative.

BOOK TWO: BACK IN BLACK
Vampire detectives Jimmy Black and Greg Knightwood investigate a series of assaults plaguing the alleys of Charlotte, North Carolina. The string of hate crimes becomes personal when Jimmy’s just-maybe-main-squeeze Detective Sabrina Law’s cousin is attacked. Helping a lady out could get the boys killed when they end up in Faerie. Before long, they’re up to their butts in trolls, dark fae and a grand battle royale. The odds are against them, but to the boys, this is just another day on the night shift—if the night shift included a steel cage match of supernaturals.

BOOK THREE: KNIGHT MOVES
Et tu, Vampire? The boys discover they may be tied to a string of serial killings at the college and that they suddenly aren’t the only vampire game in town.

The vampire count in Charlotte is at least three. Or more. As far as the unhappy boys are concerned, anything more than two is a crowd not to be tolerated.

While tracking down the killer and the competition, they encounter coeds, booby traps (not related to the coeds) and a hirsute bounty hunter with a moon fetish and a bad attitude. To catch the killer, Jimmy will have to survive a dive headfirst into the great unwashed horde of Dorkdom (game night at the local comic shop).

What’s a red-blood-drinking vampire to do? His job. Again.

Nook Daily Find 5/27

Cold Magic ($6.64 Kindle, $1.99 B&N), the first novel in the Spiritwalker Trilogy by Kate Elliott [Orbit/Hachette], is the Nook Daily Find. I bought this the last time it was on sale at this price and expect it will drop on Kindle later this morning, for those that missed it, then.

Book Description
The Wild Hunt is stirring - and the dragons are finally waking from their long sleep...

Cat Barahal was the only survivor of the flood that took her parents. Raised by her extended family, she and her cousin, Bee, are unaware of the dangers that threaten them both. Though they are in beginning of the Industrial Age, magic - and the power of the Cold Mages - still hold sway.

Now, betrayed by her family and forced to marry a powerful Cold Mage, Cat will be drawn into a labyrinth of politics. There she will learn the full ruthlessness of the rule of the Cold Mages. What do the Cold Mages want from her? And who will help Cat in her struggle against them?

UK Kindle Daily Deal 5/27

The Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK is three novels by Simon Wood for £0.99 each (~75% off) [Thomas & Mercer].

Accidents Waiting to Happen (Main/UK; $2.99 US edition, companion audiobook $1.99)

Josh Michaels isn’t wanted dead or alive—just dead. That fact becomes shockingly clear when a stranger runs his car off the road. Instead of a helping hand, the man gives Josh a “thumbs down” and abandons him to what is almost certainly a watery grave. Luckily, Josh cheats death…this time. But when more harrowing “accidents” threaten his life, it’s clear he’s a marked man.

Are his past mistakes coming back to bite him? Or is something more sinister afoot? And how can he convince his family, friends, and especially the cops that he’s in danger? The harder Josh fights to stay alive, the more determined his unknown enemy is to see him dead. And the deeper he digs for answers, the more chilling the truth becomes. As his time and luck rapidly run out, he must unmask an insidious conspiracy bent on making a killing—in more ways than one.

Nerve-jangling noir doesn’t get much blacker than Simon Wood’s top speed trip into cold-blooded murder and hot-blooded vengeance.

Asking For Trouble (Main/UK; $2.99 US edition, companion audiobook $1.99)

Not every crime is committed with intent, but each has one thing in common: the guilty party was asking for trouble.

In “Making Ends Meet,” Richard can’t stand the idea of supporting his deadbeat in-laws anymore, so he decides to remove them from his life—permanently. Matt is ready to reform his brawling ways, but the group he joins doesn’t turn out to be a typical 12-step program, in “The Taskmasters.” “Protecting the Innocent” features Nick, who fails to heed the warnings of his girlfriend’s possessive brother. And with “A Gun in the House,” Leah refuses to move from her beloved home, leading to protective measures with disastrous results. These and six others send out the invitation for disaster—one that’s gladly accepted.

The ten taut tales in this collection from award-winning crime-fiction author Simon Wood are rife with good intentions gone bad—and bad intentions gone worse. Filled with jaw-dropping twists and turns, Asking for Trouble is a wild ride that will leave readers clamoring for more.

Paying The Piper (Main/UK; $2.99 US edition, companion audiobook $1.99)

For years, the serial kidnapper known as the Piper got rich by abducting children from San Francisco’s wealthiest families.

When crime reporter Scott Fleetwood gets a call from a man identifying himself as the Piper and offers an exclusive interview, Fleetwood jumps at the chance. But the caller turns out to be a fake, and the rash decision costs the life of the real Piper’s latest victim.

For eight long years, Fleetwood has lived with unbearable guilt—and the enduring disdain of the entire Bay area. Now he hears from the real Piper—and it’s not for an interview. The kidnapper has the reporter’s son. But he doesn’t want money…he wants blood. And he’s going to use Fleetwood to get it.

In the tradition of Harlan Coben and Gregg Hurwitz, Simon Wood weaves a plot thick with suspense and heavy with action. Paying the Piper grabs hold from page one and doesn’t let go until new debts are paid and old scores settled.

Kindle Daily Deals 5/26

It's the next to last day to take advantage of the Kindle Big Deal, with more than 500 books up to 87% off.

The Die Hard: 25th Anniversary Collection [Blu-ray] is currently 58%; get all four movies for the price of one. Plus, this week only, get Arrested Development: Seasons 1-3 on DVD for only $24.99

Today's Kindle Romance Daily Deal is Hearts Unleashed ($2.99), the third novel in the Second Acts contemporary romance series by Julia Dumont [BroadLit].

Book Description
Cynthia Amas, matchmaking guru to everyone but herself, has just opened the new offices of her highly personalized boutique dating service in Hollywood, California. One of her new clients——a gorgeous, well-connected, uber-rich widow——comes in search of a new lease on life in the form of no less than a social and sexual reawakening. The story moves across the endlessly entertaining landscape of Los Angeles——from an astonishingly erotic art exhibit to a decidedly intoxicating voyage with a wildly attractive crew of love and lust seekers via a luxury yacht up the Southern California coast.

Colorful supporting characters in this sensuous and deliciously convoluted farce include Cynthia’s best friend Lolita and her ever-mystifying pack of talented dogs; Paloma, Cynthia’s beautiful young assistant; a passionate new import from Dublin named Seamus O’Brien; baddest-of-bad-boy ex-lovers Max; and superstar screen idol Jack Stone...all seemingly hell-bent on complicating the matters of the heart beyond belief. Meanwhile, Cynthia’s lovably eccentric mother has run off to Italy with one of the biggest philanderers in Hollywood.

Throughout it all, Cynthia attempts to maintain a long distance affair with her own possible once-in-a-lifetime true love match, but as she encounters the sensual on-the-job temptations of a life in the romance business, it all seems to be slipping through her fingers.

Love and lust stir up jealousies and romantic entanglements that come to a passionate and hilarious climax, leaving the reader breathless from laughter and pretty much every other emotion.

Today's Kindle Daily Deal is 11 classic novels by Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Margaret Mitchell, John Irving, and more, for only $1.99 apiece. These are classic, but not public-domain classics, as they are generally still under copyright (at least in the US) and are published by Simon and Schuster and HarperCollins.

• The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway
• Gone with the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell (companion audiobook $3.99)
• Tender is the Night, by F. Scott Fitzgerald (companion audiobook $3.99)
• Cry, the Beloved Country, by Alan Paton
• The Cider House Rules, by John Irving
• The Thorn Birds, by Colleen McCullough
• A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (P.S.), by Betty Smith (companion audiobook $3.99)
• The Complete Short Stories Of Ernest Hemingway: The Finca Vigia Edition, by Ernest Hemingway
• A Farewell to Arms: The Hemingway Library Edition, by Ernest Hemingway
• The Snows of Kilimanjaro and Other Stories, by Ernest Hemingway
• In Our Time, by Ernest Hemingway

Today's Kindle SciFi/Fantasy Daily Deal is The Body Departed ($0.99), by ex–private investigator J.R. Rain [Thomas & Mercer]. With dozens of his novels in my library, many in omnibus form, from before he was picked up by the Amazon imprint, it took me a while to determine that I did have this one in my library already (in the L.A. Rain omnibus). Now to decide, do I want the improved editing of the new edition....

Book Description
When a killer broke into James Blakely’s apartment and fired twelve bullets into his body, it was the end of James’s life—but just the beginning of his journey to redemption. Sentenced to burn in hell for a crime he cannot remember, James is given the choice to proceed immediately to the afterlife or haunt the world of the living in search of his killer. Electing to return to Earth as a ghost, he attempts to solve the mystery of his own murder, visits the living—starting with his daughter and ex-wife—and confronts the sins in his past that put him on the fast track to eternal damnation.

With the help of a world-class medium, James begins to make progress. Forgiveness is possible, it seems, for a good man who made some bad choices. But with the memories of his life on Earth fading out one by one and his ghost body rapidly disintegrating, James faces the very real prospect of vanishing completely before he learns the devastating secret that kept his soul from achieving its true potential.

Today's Kindle Kids Daily Deal is Heidi Heckelbeck Has a Secret ($0.99), by Wanda Coven [Simon and Schuster].

Book Description
Introducing Heidi Heckelbeck—a brand-new young chapter-book series with witchy whimsy!

Now readers between the ages of five and seven can read chapter books tailor-made for a younger level of reading comprehension. Heavily illustrated with large type, Little Simon's young chapter books let young readers feel like they are reading a “grown-up” format with subject, text, and illustrations geared specifically for their own age groups!

Heidi Heckelbeck seems like any other eight-year-old, but she has a secret: She’s a witch in disguise. Careful to keep her powers hidden (but excited to use them all the same), Heidi’s learning to live like any other kid—who just happens to be witch. And with easy-to-read language and illustrations on almost every page, Heidi Heckelbeck chapter books are perfect for beginning readers.

Heidi and her brother Henry have always been homeschooled—until now. But Heidi is not happy about attending Brewster Elementary, especially not when meanie Melanie Maplethorpe turns Heidi’s first day of school into a nightmare by announcing that Heidi is smelly and ruining her art project. Heidi feels horrible and never wants to go back to school—but while sulking in her room at home, she remembers her special medallion and Book of Spells. With a little bit of carefully concealed magic, Heidi might be able to give Melanie a taste of her own medicine….

Age Level: 5 and up