Showing posts with label Vampire. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Vampire. Show all posts

Monday, December 15, 2014

Kindle Daily Deals! Too many to list. Check them out!

Tons of books on sale for the holiday season! Find them all here.

Here's today's Kindle Daily Deal, available for $1.99!

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Charlie Bucket Book 1), by Roald Dahl.

Willy Wonka's famous chocolate factory is opening at last!

But only five lucky children will be allowed inside. And the winners are: Augustus Gloop, an enormously fat boy whose hobby is eating; Veruca Salt, a spoiled-rotten brat whose parents are wrapped around her little finger; Violet Beauregarde, a dim-witted gum-chewer with the fastest jaws around; Mike Teavee, a toy pistol-toting gangster-in-training who is obsessed with television; and Charlie Bucket, Our Hero, a boy who is honest and kind, brave and true, and good and ready for the wildest time of his life!

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and its sequel, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, along with Roald Dahl's other tales for younger readers, make him a true star of children's literature. Dahl seems to know just how far to go with his oddball fantasies; in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, for example, nasty Violet Beauregarde blows up into a blueberry from sneaking forbidden chewing gum, and bratty Augustus Gloop is carried away on the river of chocolate he wouldn't resist. In fact, all manner of disasters can happen to the most obnoxiously deserving of children because Dahl portrays each incident with such resourcefulness and humor.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a singular delight, crammed with mad fantasy, childhood justice and revenge, and as much candy as you can eat. The book is also available in Spanish

(Charlie y la Fabrica de Chocolate). (The suggested age range for this book is 9-12, but nobody this reviewer has met can resist it, including New York City bellhops, flight attendants, and grumpy teenagers.)

180 pages, with a 4.6-star rating from 885 reviews



Here's today's Daily Romance Deal, available for $1.99!

The Remedy for Love: A Novel, by Bill Roorbach.

“One of the best novels of this or any year . . . A flat-out funny, sexy, and poignant romantic thriller.” —David Abrams, author of Fobbit
They’re calling it the “Storm of the Century,” so Eric stops at the market for provisions on his way home from work. But when the unkempt and seemingly unstable young woman in front of him in line comes up short on cash, a kind of old-school charity takes hold of his heart—twenty bucks and a ride home is the least he can do, right? Trouble is, Danielle doesn’t really have a home. She’s squatting in a cabin deep in the woods, no electricity, no heat, nothing but the nearby river to sustain her. She’ll need food, water, firewood, and that’s just to get her through the storm: there’s a whole Maine winter ahead.

So he gets her set up, departs with relief, climbs to the road, but his car has been towed with his phone inside, and the snow is coming down with historic speed and violence. There’s no choice but to return to the cabin. Danielle is terrified, then merely hostile—who is this guy with his big idea that it’s she who needs rescuing? As the snow keeps mounting, they’re forced to ride out the storm together. For better and for worse. 

The Remedy for Love is a harrowing story about the truths we reveal when there is no time or space for artifice.

The Remedy for Love is not the remedy for sleep deprivation. You’ll stay up all night . . . It is relentless and brilliant. Leave it to Roorbach to tease out the subtlest nuances in the progress of love while stoking a tale that is as gripping as any Everest expedition--and that is also tender and terrifying and funny and, in the end, so true it seems inevitable. I’m not sure there’s another American writing today who can lay down a love story, or any story, with the depth and appeal and freshness of Bill Roorbach.” —Peter Heller, author of The Dog Stars

An Amazon Best Book of the Month, October 2014: Roorbach’s previous book, Life Among Giants, was an Amazon Best of the Month “spotlight” pick and one of my favorites of 2012. In The Remedy for Love, he again creates believably damaged, oddball characters: a buttoned-up, cuckolded small-town stud (Eric), and a bruised, half-starved mystery girl (Danielle). Eric is a lawyer. He does pro bono work. He’s separated from his wife. Danielle is… well, we’re not sure who she is. She looks homeless, but we soon catch glimpses of her “retractable beauty, like a cat’s claws.” Eric feels responsible for her somehow—“a moral tug.” So after buying her groceries, and carrying them to her cabin in the woods, Eric returns to the cabin as a snowstorm begins to shut the roads and blanket the town white. In no time, the two are locked inside as the snow piles higher. Cynical readers may need to make a leap of faith here. (I found myself once asking, “Really?”) Even Danielle seems freaked out by Eric’s irrational helpfulness. 

321 pages, with a 3.5-star rating from 71 reviews

Romance from today's monthly deals.




Here's today's Daily Non-Fiction Deal, available for $2.99!

The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, by J.R.R. Tolkien.

This collection will entertain all who appreciate the art of masterful letter writing. The Letters of J.R.R Tolkien sheds much light on Tolkien's creative genius and grand design for the creation of a whole new world: Middle-earth. Featuring a radically expanded index, this volume provides a valuable research tool for all fans wishing to trace the evolution of THE HOBBIT and THE LORD OF THE RINGS.

Scholars and fans of the great mythologist will find a rich vein of information in Humphrey Carpenter's The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien. Tolkien was a prodigious letter writer all his life; the sheer mass of his correspondence would give pause to even the most stalwart archivist (one shudders to think what he would have done with e-mail). But with the able assistance of Tolkien's son Christopher and a healthy dose of determination, Carpenter manages find the cream of the crop--the letters that shed light on Tolkien's thoughts about his academic and literary work, as well as those that show his more private side, revealing a loving husband, a playful friend, and a doting father. The most fascinating letters are, of course, those in which he discusses Middle-Earth, and Carpenter offers plenty of those to choose from. Tolkien discussed the minutia of his legend--sometimes at great length--with friends, publishers, and even fans who wrote to him with questions. These letters offer significant insights into how he went about creating the peoples and languages of Middle-Earth.

I have long ceased to invent (though even patronizing or sneering critics on the side praise my 'inventions'): I wait till I seem to know what really happened. Or till it writes itself. Thus, though I knew for years that Frodo would run into a tree-adventure somewhere far down the Great River, I had no recollection of inventing Ents. I came at last to the point, and wrote the 'Treebeard' chapter without any recollection of any previous thought: just as it is now. And then I saw that, of course, it had not happened to Frodo at all.
This new edition of letters has an extensive index, and Carpenter has included a brief blurb at the beginning of each letter to explain who the correspondent was and what was being discussed. Still, we strongly recommend buying the companion volume, J.R.R. Tolkien: A Biography, in order to better understand the place these correspondents had in Tolkien's life and get a better context for the letters. --Perry M. Atterberry

512 pages, with a 4.7-star rating from 66 reviews

From today's Monthly deals for $3.99 or less[/url]






Here's today's Daily Science Fiction/Fantasy Deal, available for $1.99!

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, by Seth Grahame-Smith.

Indiana, 1818
. Moonlight falls through the dense woods that surround a one-room cabin, where a nine-year-old Abraham Lincoln kneels at his suffering mother's bedside. She's been stricken with something the old-timers call "Milk Sickness."

"My baby boy..." she whispers before dying.

Only later will the grieving Abe learn that his mother's fatal affliction was actually the work of a vampire.

When the truth becomes known to young Lincoln, he writes in his journal, "henceforth my life shall be one of rigorous study and devotion. I shall become a master of mind and body. And this mastery shall have but one purpose..." Gifted with his legendary height, strength, and skill with an ax, Abe sets out on a path of vengeance that will lead him all the way to the White House.

While Abraham Lincoln is widely lauded for saving a Union and freeing millions of slaves, his valiant fight against the forces of the undead has remained in the shadows for hundreds of years. That is, until Seth Grahame-Smith stumbled upon The Secret Journal of Abraham Lincoln, and became the first living person to lay eyes on it in more than 140 years.

Using the journal as his guide and writing in the grand biographical style of Doris Kearns Goodwin and David McCullough, Seth has reconstructed the true life story of our greatest president for the first time-all while revealing the hidden history behind the Civil War and uncovering the role vampires played in the birth, growth, and near-death of our nation.
Indiana, 1818. Moonlight falls through the dense woods that surround a one-room cabin, where a nine-year-old Abraham Lincoln kneels at his suffering mother's bedside. She's been stricken with something the old-timers call "Milk Sickness."
"My baby boy..." she whispers before dying.
Only later will the grieving Abe learn that his mother's fatal affliction was actually the work of a vampire.

When the truth becomes known to young Lincoln, he writes in his journal, "henceforth my life shall be one of rigorous study and devotion. I shall become a master of mind and body. And this mastery shall have but one purpose..." Gifted with his legendary height, strength, and skill with an ax, Abe sets out on a path of vengeance that will lead him all the way to the White House.
While Abraham Lincoln is widely lauded for saving a Union and freeing millions of slaves, his valiant fight against the forces of the undead has remained in the shadows for hundreds of years. That is, until Seth Grahame-Smith stumbled upon The Secret Journal of Abraham Lincoln, and became the first living person to lay eyes on it in more than 140 years.

Using the journal as his guide and writing in the grand biographical style of Doris Kearns Goodwin and David McCullough, Seth has reconstructed the true life story of our greatest president for the first time-all while revealing the hidden history behind the Civil War and uncovering the role vampires played in the birth, growth, and near-death of our nation..

Take a Look Inside this Book
(Click on each image below to see a larger view)





340 pages, with a 4.2-star rating from 1416 reviews

See the full list of Sci Fi deals here.



Here's today's Daily Youth Deal, available for $1.99!

Ten-Gallon Bart, by Susan Stevens Crummel.

Ten-Gallon Bart, the sheriff of Dog City, has plans to retire . . . until he hears that Billy the Kid is headed to town. Billy is the roughest, toughest, gruffest goat in the country. If he reaches Dog City, he’ll gobble up the whole town!Ten-Gallon Bart must stop him. With the help of Miss Kitty and the other animals, he works up the courage to face the big bully. Dorothy Donohue’s illustrations rendered in textured paper bring this Wild West story about unlikely heroes to a satisfying conclusion.

32 pages, with a 4.4-star rating from 19 reviews

See the whole list here



Happy Reading!

Betsy

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Kindle Daily Deals: six books in a thriller series, romance, business, vampires, and a cute kid's book!



Here's today's Kindle Daily Deal, available for $1.99!

A Clean Kill in Tokyo (Previously Published as Rain Fall) (A John Rain Novel), by Barry Eisler.

Previously published as Rain Fall
Name: John Rain.
Vocation: Assassin.
Specialty: Natural Causes.
Base of operations: Tokyo.
Availability: Worldwide.
Half American, half Japanese, expert in both worlds but at home in neither, John Rain is the best killer money can buy. You tell him who. You tell him where. He doesn’t care about why…
Until he gets involved with Midori Kawamura, a beautiful jazz pianist—and the daughter of his latest kill.
A Clean Kill in Tokyo was previously published as Rain Fall, the first in the bestselling John Rain assassin series.

John Rain, a Japanese American konketsu, or half-breed, learned his lethal trade as a member of the U.S. Special Forces. Although tortured by memories of atrocities he committed in Vietnam, he has become a paid assassin, a solitary man who lives in the shadows and trusts no one, even those who pay extraordinary sums for his ability to make murder look like natural death. But the aftermath of an otherwise routine hit on a government bureaucrat brings Rain to the attention of two men he knows from the old days in Vietnam: a friend who's now a Tokyo cop and an enemy who betrayed Rain long ago and is now the CIA's station chief in Japan. Like the gangster who hired Rain to kill Yasuhiro Kawamura, they want something the dead man had--a computer disk containing proof of high-level corruption, information that could destroy Japan's ruling political coalition. The search for the disk leads them to a woman Rain has come to love, a talented young jazz musician who also happens to be Kawamura's daughter. In this taut, brilliantly paced debut thriller, set in a vividly rendered Tokyo, the author manages an unlikely feat; he earns the reader's sympathy and concern for his protagonist, an amoral assassin who is one of most compelling characters in recent crime fiction. —Jane Adams

276 pages, with a 4.1-star rating from 429 reviews

Six thrillers in the John Rain series. There is a seventh one, not on sale.






Here's today's Daily Romance Deal, available for $0.99!

You Own Me, by Shiloh Walker.

It had always been her…

Ten years had passed since the doors slammed shut behind Decker Calhoun, taking away his freedom, but more importantly, locking him away from Elizabeth Waters, the only woman he’d ever loved—the woman he’d given up everything for.

The day he was sentenced, he’d looked at her and said, No regrets, Lizzie. But he lied, because he did have one. Although he’s been out of jail for three years now, he was a year too late. Lizzie never knew how he felt and just months before he was released, she found somebody else and it’s too late.

Or maybe not. It seems that Lizzie’s boyfriend wants an open relationship and two can play at that game. Now all Decker has to do is convince Lizzie that he’s the better man…and has been all along.

92 pages, with a 4.4-star rating from 45 reviews



Here's today's Daily Non-Fiction Deal, available for $1.99!

The Power of Why: Breaking Out In a Competitive Marketplace, by C. Richard Weylman.

Does your competitor always get the sale, even though your products and service are just as good, if not better? Why are some companies’ once-trusted brands now deemed worthless? Do you have to continually sell to your existing customers as though they are brand new ones?

After many years of diligent research and work with a wide range of clients, consultant and speaker C. Richard Weylman has the answer to these questions.

Customers don’t care if a business is different or that its products are unusual. Trumpeting achievements such as “We were voted #1 again,” “Rated best service three years running,” or “We’re experienced” doesn’t engage buyers emotionally. It is seller-centric thinking in a buyer-centric world.

When customers decide where to buy, they have one thing in mind: Why should I do business with this company? Will it solve my problem, today? Buyers want to do business with companies willing to make a customer-centric promise of expected outcome: up-front and unconditional. This isn’t just a slogan; it has to be in the company’s DNA, consistently delivered through all parts of the organization.

The Power of Why shows readers how to elevate their business performance regardless of their situation or position. Offering the same actionable, hands-on strategies Weylman has used to help companies of all sizes grow in the toughest conditions, The Power of Why is the new manual for business survival and growth.



178 pages, with a 4.3-star rating from 50 reviews



Here's today's Daily Science Fiction/Fantasy Deal, available for $1.99!

Dire Straits (Bo Blackman Book 1), by Helen Harper.

Bo Blackman is a rookie private investigator working for the London based firm of Dire Straits. She doesn't often get triber-based assignments, which is just as well. Vampires and daemons don't interest her as much as humans do. However, when she has to serve a summons on a dodgy daemon called Devlin O'Shea and she ends up saving his life instead of being framed for his murder, her life takes a shocking turn for the worse. And when the vampire Families start involving themselves too, Bo no longer knows where to turn...

383 pages, with a 4.4-star rating from 25 reviews





Here's today's Daily Youth Deal, available for $1.99!

Hero Cat, by Eileen Spinelli.

Double Tap to Zoom.

Five tiny kittens cry for their mama, as smoke begins to fill the abandoned warehouse that has been their home. But Mother Cat has left her cozy heap of kittens to go in search of food.Determined to save her babies, Mother Cat dashes into the burning building and follows the sounds of frightened mewing. In five daring acts, she saves each kitten—a true hero cat! This story, accompanied by beautiful illustrations rendered in pastel, honors the tenth anniversary of the real story of a homeless cat who rescued her kittens from a burning building in 1996.

32 pages, with a 4.4-star rating from 16 reviews



Happy Reading!

Betsy

Saturday, October 11, 2014

KIndle Daily Deals: A Vampire Series, a Romance, Non-fiction about the 50s, Apocalyptic Sci-Fi and a middle grade kid's book.



Here's today's Kindle Daily Deal, available for $0.99!

A Shade of Vampire, by Bella Forrest.

THE SERIES WITH OVER A MILLION BOOKS SOLD

Over 4,325 Five-Star Reviews (on Amazon & Goodreads). 

Recommended Read on USA Today's Happy Ever After blog. Amazon Overall Top 10 Bestseller. #1 Bestseller in Vampire Romance, Paranormal & Fantasy.

"...an utterly enthralling, highly exciting and beautifully sensitive story... Five stars and a standing ovation for A Shade of Vampire and its wonderful author, Bella Forrest."
- Books For Tomorrow ★★★★★


On the evening of Sofia Claremont's seventeenth birthday, she is sucked into a nightmare from which she cannot wake.

A quiet evening walk along a beach brings her face to face with a dangerous pale creature that craves much more than her blood.

She is kidnapped to an island where the sun is eternally forbidden to shine. An island uncharted by any map and ruled by the most powerful vampire coven on the planet. She wakes here as a slave, a captive in chains.

Sofia's life takes a thrilling and terrifying turn when she is the one selected out of hundreds of girls to join the harem of Derek Novak, the dark royal Prince.

Despite his addiction to power and obsessive thirst for her blood, Sofia soon realizes that the safest place on the island is within his quarters, and she must do all within her power to win him over if she is to survive even one more night.

Will she succeed? ...Or is she destined to the same fate that all other girls have met at the hands of the Novaks?

Scroll up & click the buy button now to find out...

"I challenge you to read this book and not love it." - Get Lost In Fiction ★★★★★

155 pages, with a 4.3-star rating from 3635 reviews





Here's today's Daily Romance Deal, available for $1.99!

Blackberry Summer (Hope's Crossing Book 1), by Raeanne Thayne.

Claire Bradford needed a wake-up call.
What she didn't need was a tragic car accident. As a single mom and the owner of a successful bead shop, Claire leads a predictable life in Hope's Crossing, Colorado. So what if she has no time for romance? At least, that's what she tells herself, especially when her best friend's sexy younger brother comes back to town as the new chief of police.

But when the accident forces Claire to slow down and lean on others—especially Riley McKnight—she realizes, for the first time, that things need to change. And not just in her own life. The accident—and the string of robberies committed by teenagers that led up to it—is a wake-up call to the people of Hope's Crossing. The sense of community and togetherness had been lost during those tough years. But with a mysterious "Angel of Hope" working to inspire the town, Riley and Claire will find themselves opening up to love and other possibilities by the end of an extraordinary summer….

377 pages, with a 4.4-star rating from 80 reviews



Here's today's Daily Non-Fiction Deal, available for $1.99!

The Fifties, by David Halberstam.

Exuberant and ambitious, The Fifties delves into a decade that remains a monumental and lasting turning point in American history

Joe McCarthy. Marilyn Monroe. The H-bomb. Ozzie and Harriet. Elvis. Civil rights. It’s undeniable: The fifties were a defining decade for America, complete with sweeping cultural change and political upheaval. This decade is also the focus of David Halberstam’s triumphant The Fifties, which stands as an enduring classic and was an instant New York Times bestseller upon its publication. More than a survey of the decade, it is a masterfully woven examination of far-reaching change, from the unexpected popularity of Holiday Inn to the marketing savvy behind McDonald’s expansion. A meditation on the staggering influence of image and rhetoric, The Fifties is vintage Halberstam, who was hailed by the Denver Post as “a lively, graceful writer who makes you . . . understand how much of our time was born in those years.”
This ebook features an extended biography of David Halberstam.

"In retrospect," writes David Halberstam, "the pace of the fifties seemed slower, almost languid. Social ferment, however, was beginning just beneath this placid surface." He shows how the United States began to emerge from the long shadow of FDR's 12-year presidency, with the military-industrial complex and the Beat movement simultaneously growing strong. Television brought not only situation comedies but controversial congressional hearings into millions of living rooms. While Alfred Kinsey was studying people's sex lives, Gregory Pincus and other researchers began work on a pill that would forever alter the course of American reproductive practices. Halberstam takes on these social upheavals and more, charting a course that is as easy to navigate as it is wide-ranging.

654 pages, with a 4.3-star rating from 444 reviews



Here's today's Daily Science Fiction/Fantasy Deal, available for $1.99!

Liege-Killer (Paratwa, 1), by Christopher Hinz.

Two hundred years after a nuclear apocalypse forced humanity to flee earth, humans still remember the most feared warriors of that planet—-the Paratwa, genetically modified killers who occupy two bodies controlled by one vicious mind. The legendary Paratwa named Reemul, known as the Liege-Killer, was the strongest of them all. Now someone has revived Reemul from stasis and sent him to terrorize the peaceful orbital colonies of Earth. Is this an isolated incident, or has the one who unleashed this terrible power announced a gambit for control over the entire human race? 

458 pages, with a 4.8-star rating from 138 reviews




Here's today's Daily Youth Deal, available for $1.99!

Nick and Tesla's High-Voltage Danger Lab: A Mystery with Electromagnets, Burglar Alarms, and Other Gadgets You Can Build Yourself, by Bob Pflugfelder.

Nick and Tesla are bright 11-year-old siblings with a knack for science, electronics, and getting into trouble. When their parents mysteriously vanish, they’re sent to live with their Uncle Newt, a brilliant inventor who engineers top-secret gadgets for a classified government agency. It’s not long before Nick and Tesla are embarking on adventures of their own—engineering all kinds of outrageous MacGyverish contraptions to save their skin: 9-volt burglar alarms, electromagnets, mobile tracking devices, and more. Readers are invited to join in the fun as each story contains instructions and blueprints for five different projects.

In Nick and Tesla’s High-Voltage Danger Lab, we meet the characters and learn how to make everything from rocket launchers to soda-powered vehicles. Learning about science has never been so dangerous—or so much fun!

242 pages, with a 4.5-star rating from 64 reviews



Happy Reading!

Betsy

Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Kindle Daily Deals (October 1, 2014): Catherine Ryan Hyde, Amish romance, Ian Fleming, Vampires and a charming kid's picture book.



Here's today's Kindle Daily Deal, available for $1.99!

Take Me With You, by Catherine Ryan Hyde.

August Shroeder, a burned-out teacher, has been sober since his nineteen-year-old son died. Every year he’s spent the summer on the road, but making it to Yellowstone this year means everything. The plan had been to travel there with his son, but now August is making the trip with Philip’s ashes instead. An unexpected twist of fate lands August with two extra passengers for his journey, two half-orphans with nowhere else to go.

What none of them could have known was how transformative both the trip—and the bonds that develop between them—would prove, driving each to create a new destiny together.

363 pages, with a 4.6-star rating from 1544 reviews



Here's today's Daily Romance Deal, available for $1.99!

Caroline's Secret, by Amy Lillard.

In Amy Lillard's poignant introduction to Wells Landing, a small Amish community is home to two brave souls hoping to forget their painful pasts and rebuild their faith in the future. . .

Caroline Hostetler arrived in Oklahoma determined to forge a new life for herself and her daughter, Emma. As a single mother, she values the warmth and safety she's found in close-knit Wells Landing. She's even caught the eye of a handsome newcomer--a man who just may be the partner she longs for and the father Emma deserves. But the arrival of an Englisher threatens to lay bare the secrets she's worked so hard to leave behind. . .

After losing his life-long sweetheart, Andrew Fitch moved to Wells Landing to work in his uncle's furniture business and nurse his broken heart. Finding love again seems all but impossible--until he meets Caroline and Emma. But his plans to join their lives together may be shattered when the truth of Caroline's past comes to light--unless, together, they can learn the true meaning of sacrifice and forgiveness. . .

384 pages, with a 4.8-star rating from 20 reviews



Here's today's Daily Non-Fiction Deal, available for $1.99!

Thrilling Cities, by Ian Fleming.

Ian Fleming’s world travels, interests, as well as his journalism and wartime experiences, lent authority to everything he wrote. In 1959, the Sunday Times commissioned Fleming to write a series of dispatches from the world’s most beguiling locales. The result was Thrilling Cities, a masterpiece of well-observed travelogue that stands ably alongside the author’s Bond canon.

Here are Fleming’s highly personal observations of fourteen cities across Europe, Asia, and North America—from Vienna to Hong Kong to Chicago. At each stop, Fleming casts the guidebook aside, taking readers on an insider’s tour of everything from a Tokyo geisha house led by the world’s most beautiful women to a packed Las Vegas casino where fortunes ride on a roll of the dice, and beyond.

Just like his most famous fictional creation, Ian Fleming was a well-traveled man of the world who knew where to go to find excitement, adventure…and danger. In Thrilling Cities, he takes us along on a journey of international intrigue worthy of James Bond.

Originally published in 1963, this edition restores the original observations, maps, and language used at that time.



250 pages, with a 3.7-star rating from 24 reviews



Here's today's Daily Science Fiction/Fantasy Deal, available for $1.99!

Once Bitten, by Stephen Leather.

There’s a full moon over Los Angeles, and for police psychologist Jamie Beaverbook that can only mean one thing: the crazies will be out in force. But when he is called into the station for a consult in the middle of the night, even the jaded Beaverbrook can’t believe his ears. The innocent-looking girl in the interview room doesn’t look a day over fifteen, yet the cops say Terry Ferriman was discovered in an alley off of Sunset Boulevard, her mouth smeared with blood as she crouched over the body of a man whose throat was torn out. A basic psych evaluation convinces Beaverbrook of Terry’s sanity and yet he can’t ignore the evidence that seems to point in one extraordinary direction. He tells himself he doesn’t believe in vampires, but after some digging, the good doctor begins to realize that the shadows of L.A. conceal a world where girls like Terry never age and where blood is more valuable than gold. Sharp, witty, and deliciously sinister, Once Bitten is a satisfying paranormal thriller from bestselling British author Stephen Leather.

241 pages, with a 3.8-star rating from 22 reviews



Here's today's Daily Youth Deal, available for $1.99!

Scaredy Squirrel Makes a Friend, by Mélanie Watt.

HERE’S THE STORY IN A NUTSHELL:
I DON’T have a friend. It’s way too dangerous. I could get BITTEN.
But when I spot a perfectly safe candidate for a friend, I’m prepared. I have a name tag, mittens, a mirror and a lemon to make the PERFECT FIRST IMPRESSION.
All goes well until my PLAN takes a surprising turn, and suddenly I’m pursued tooth and tail by a four-legged individual!
Will I survive this ordeal?
Will I find my kindred spirit?
Will I discover the true meaning of friendship?
READ MY NUTTY ADVENTURE TO FIND OUT . . .
*Caution: This story is not suitable for walruses.

This is a fixed-format ebook, which preserves the design and layout of the original print book.

32 pages, with a 4.8-star rating from 49 reviews


Happy Reading!

Betsy

Thursday, September 4, 2014

Kindle Daily Deals (September 4, 2014): Historical fiction, vampire romance, parenting, a medical sci-fi thriller and a teen vampire novel



Here's today's Kindle Daily Deal, available for $1.99!

Medicus: A Novel of the Roman Empire, by Ruth Downie.

Divorced and down on his luck, Gaius Petreius Ruso has made the rash decision to seek his fortune in an inclement outpost of the Roman Empire, namely Britannia. In a moment of weakness, after a straight thirty-six-hour shift at the army hospital, he succumbs to compassion and rescues an injured slave girl, Tilla, from the hands of her abusive owner.

Now he has a new problem: a slave who won't talk and can't cook, and drags trouble in her wake. Before he knows it, Ruso is caught in the middle of an investigation into the deaths of prostitutes working out of the local bar. Now Ruso must summon all his forensic knowledge to find a killer who may be after him next.

With a gift for comic timing and historical detail, Ruth Downie has conjured an ancient world as raucous and real as our own.

418 pages, with a 3.9-star rating from 206 reviews



Here's today's Daily Romance Deal, available for $1.99!

Darkness Before Dawn, by J. A. London.

Only sunlight can save us.

We built the wall to keep them out, to keep us safe. But it also makes us prisoners, trapped in what's left of our ravaged city, fearing nightfall.

After the death of my parents, it's up to me—as the newest delegate for humanity—to bargain with our vampire overlord. I thought I was ready. I thought I knew everything there was to know about the monsters. Then again, nothing could have prepared me for Lord Valentine . . . or his son. Maybe not all vampires are killers. Maybe it's safe to let one in.

Only one thing is certain: Even the wall is not enough. A war is coming and we cannot hide forever.

368 pages, with a 4.2-star rating from 76 reviews



Here's today's Daily Non-Fiction Deal, available for $1.99!

All Joy and No Fun: The Paradox of Modern Parenthood, by Jennifer Senior.

Thousands of books have examined the effects of parents on their children. In All Joy and No Fun, award-winning journalist Jennifer Senior now asks: what are the effects of children on their parents?

In All Joy and No Fun, award-winning journalist Jennifer Senior tries to tackle this question, isolating and analyzing the many ways in which children reshape their parents' lives, whether it's their marriages, their jobs, their habits, their hobbies, their friendships, or their internal senses of self. She argues that changes in the last half century have radically altered the roles of today's mothers and fathers, making their mandates at once more complex and far less clear.

Recruiting from a wide variety of sources—in history, sociology, economics, psychology, philosophy, and anthropology—she dissects both the timeless strains of parenting and the ones that are brand new, and then brings her research to life in the homes of ordinary parents around the country. The result is an unforgettable series of family portraits, starting with parents of young children and progressing to parents of teens. Through lively and accessible storytelling, Senior follows these mothers and fathers as they wrestle with some of parenthood's deepest vexations—and luxuriate in some of its finest rewards.

Meticulously researched yet imbued with emotional intelligence, All Joy and No Fun makes us reconsider some of our culture's most basic beliefs about parenthood, all while illuminating the profound ways children deepen and add purpose to our lives. By focusing on parenthood, rather than parenting, the book is original and essential reading for mothers and fathers of today—and tomorrow.

Author One-on-One: Jennifer Senior and Curtis Sittenfeld

Jennifer SeniorCurtis Sittenfeld
Curtis Sittenfeld is the best-selling author of Sisterland and American Wife.
Curtis Sittenfeld: As a journalist, you’ve written about a wide range of topics, including pop culture and politics, so I’m wondering why parenthood is the subject that elicited a book from you.
Jennifer Senior: You’re right, and if this were a parenting book, it wouldn’t even occupy the same hemisphere as the other pieces I’ve done. (Confession: I have purchased exactly one parenting book in my lifetime.) But I consider this a social science book, and I’ve done plenty of social science stories over the years: About the psychological effects of high school on our adult years; about loneliness and cities; about burnout; about our obsession with happiness. Also, I think of this book as a series of mini-ethnographies—portraits of how American families live now—and that comes pretty naturally, having been an anthro major. Even when I wrote about the Senate, which used to be often, I treated it as an other-planetary universe with its own alien customs.
CS: This book has its origins in a much-buzzed-about New York magazine cover story. In that article but not in the book, you discussed your own experiences as a parent. Why didn’t you include yourself in the book? Can you share a bit about your family?
JS: So funny: I mentioned my own experience in just two paragraphs of that magazine story, but because they were the first two paragraphs, people misremember it as part-memoir. The only reason I did so – both early in the magazine story and in this book — was to alert readers that I, too, was a parent. But the specifics of my own story seem irrelevant, and too idiosyncratic from which to generalize. It’s far better to look at the full spectrum of social science research about families, and to talk to a wide variety of parents.
For the record, though: My husband and I have one six-year-old son, and my husband has two grown kids from a previous marriage. I entered their lives when they were adolescents, which made me realize how complicated that period was for parents.
CS: One of the book’s fascinating tidbits is the implication that parents have friction with teens in some sense because the parents are jealous.
JS: Jealousy is only a small part of it. (Though I’m amazed by Laurence Steinberg’s finding that fathers become depressed when their teenage sons start to date.) What generally seems to happen is that adolescents make their parents take stock of every life choice they’ve ever made—their marriages and careers especially. Teenagers can be so critical and rejecting that they expose all the holes in their parents’ lives: Now that my kid’s dispensed with me, all I have is my marriage and my job, and I’m not thrilled with either.
CS:In your marriage chapter, you suggest at one point that many moms would be better off being more like dads. Can you explain what you mean?
JS:I only mean this in the sense that fathers seem less frantically perfectionist about their parenting than mothers do, probably because they aren’t burdened by the same unattainable cultural ideals (real or fictional—Tiger Mom or June Cleaver.) It’s a crude generalization, yes, and of course there are exceptions. But both conversations and hard data make it clear that fathers feel much less pressure to play with their children during every free moment, and they’re much quicker to claim their right to free time. If mothers did the same, one wonders what would happen—Glad you’re back from that bike ride, now I’m going to the gym! It’s possible domestic divisions of labor would shift a little in their favor.

An Amazon Best Book of the Month, February 2014: Reading Jennifer Senior’s lively and weirdly comforting All Joy and No Fun was like attending the self-help group for beleaguered parents that I never knew I needed. (“Hi, my name is Neal, and I’m a parent-aholic…”) Far afield from the headline-grabbing shockers in books like Tiger Mom, this is a thoughtful and deeply researched look at the reality of modern day parenthood: we love our kids, and they make us crazy, and it’s all our fault. The book grew from Senior’s eye-raising New York magazine piece, in which she explored the dark side of parenting--the depression, the marital woes, the loss of self-worth. Sure, raising kids is, ultimately, deeply rewarding. But on a day to day basis? Sometimes a bummer. Parenthood has changed a lot since World War II, as more women entered the workforce, dads became more engaged in child rearing, and an “asymmetrical” parent-child relationship evolved. We’re doing more for our kids, but they’re doing less for us. “Children went from being our employees to our bosses,” Senior writes. If you want to be a better parent--or, maybe more importantly, to feel better about the parent you’ve become--you need this book. And, probably, a nap. --Neal Thompson

320 pages, with a 4.4-star rating from 141 reviews



Here's today's Daily Science Fiction/Fantasy Deal, available for $1.99!

The New Reality (Alex Pella Book 1), by Stephen Martino.

Author Stephen Martino delivers an action-packed medical thriller in a heart-stopping race to save humanity.

In the year 2080, a deadly virus similar to EBOLA is inadvertently released upon the planet. Facing financial ruin and catastrophic loss of life, the world's nations turn to acclaimed neuroscientist Alex Pella and NIH expert Marissa Ambrosia. Assembling a team of experts, the scientists begin an international search for the cure while fighting off a foreign elite military unit sent to stop them at all costs. Guided by a code concealed within the Hebrew text of the Old Testament, the scientists must traverse ancient lands and solve a biblical riddle in their quest to save humanity from its eminent destruction.


Drawing from both our nation's politically charged environment and the worldwide economic crisis, The New Reality follows Alex Pella on a journey that projects a frightening path for human existence in the twenty-first century.

338 pages, with a 4.8-star rating from 26 reviews



Here's today's Daily Youth Deal, available for $1.99!

Hourglass (Evernight), by Claudia Gray.

Bianca will risk everything to be with Lucas.
After escaping from Evernight Academy, the vampire boarding school where they met, Bianca and Lucas take refuge with Black Cross, a fanatical group of vampire hunters. Bianca must hide her supernatural heritage or risk certain death at their hands. But when Black Cross captures her friend—the vampire Balthazar—hiding is no longer an option.

Soon, Bianca and Lucas are on the run again, pursued not only by Black Cross, but by the powerful leaders of Evernight. Yet no matter how far they travel, Bianca can't escape her destiny.
Bianca has always believed their love could survive anything . . . but can it survive what's to come?

357 pages, with a 4.1-star rating from 111 reviews



Happy Reading!

Betsy

Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Kindle Daily Deals (September 3, 2014): Historical fiction, historical romance, a biography of a musical giant, vampires and two fun kids' books!



Here's today's Kindle Daily Deal, available for $1.99!

The Scavenger's Daughters (Tales of the Scavenger's Daughters Book 1), by Kay Bratt.

Having survived torture and imprisonment during China’s Cultural Revolution, Benfu escaped to find love with his compassionate and beautiful Calla Lily. Together they build a fulfilling life around the most menial of jobs—Benfu’s work collecting trash. As he sorts through the discards of others, he regularly discovers abandoned children. With unwavering determination, he and Calli spend decades creating a family of hand-picked daughters that help heal the sorrow and brighten their modest home. But all is not perfect and when crisis threatens to separate their family, Benfu—or possibly his band of headstrong daughters—must find a way to overcome the biggest hardship yet.
Inspired by a true story, and set against the backdrop of a country in transition, The Scavenger’s Daughters is a sweeping present day saga of triumph in the face of hardship, and the unbreakable bonds of family against all odds.

241 pages, with a 4.6-star rating from 716 reviews





Here's today's Daily Romance Deal, available for $1.99!

A Man Above Reproach, by Evelyn Pryce.

2013 Winner — Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award — Romance

In 1830s London, scandalous whispers surround the pub known as the Sleeping Dove, a hidden bordello catering to nobles eager to shed the trappings of their stations. Josephine Grant knows the rumors are true—she plays piano at the Dove and is known only as the "Bawdy Bluestocking" to the pub's faithful.

The reluctant Duke of Lennox is called "The Uncatchable" by society ladies, not that he cares for them or their nicknames. Elias Addison's estate was thrust upon him when his father died, and it has been little else but a burden.

When a friend brings him to the Sleeping Dove in an attempt to lighten his mood, the Duke of Lennox finds himself at the Bawdy Bluestocking's piano, and together they begin to play a dangerous melody. Though Elias cannot resist courting her, she has a past to protect, a shaky future, and no time for frivolous nobility with soft hands. When the Duke uncovers the truth, will he wish he had never heard the tune?



226 pages, with a 3.8-star rating from 190 reviews



Here's today's Daily Non-Fiction Deal, available for $2.99!

Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original, by Robin Kelley.

The first full biography of pianist/composer Thelonious Monk, written by noted historian,with full access to the family's archives and with dozens of interviews.

    Winner - Hurston-Wright Legacy Award, Best Non-Fiction Book  
    Winner - Best Book About Jazz, Jazz Journalists
Association, 2009

    Winner - Music in American Culture
Award, American Musicological Association

    Winner - Ambassador Award for Book of Special
Distinction, English Speaking Union

    Winner - PEN Open Book Award, PEN American Center
    Winner - ASCAP Deems-Taylor Award

    Finalist, 2010 PEN USA
Literary Award

624 pages, with a 4.4-star rating from 67 reviews




Here's today's Daily Science Fiction/Fantasy Deal, available for $1.99!

Seven Kinds of Hell (The Fangborn Series Book 1), by Dana Cameron.

Archaeologist Zoe Miller has been running from a haunting secret her whole life. But when her cousin is abducted by a vicious Russian kidnapper, Zoe is left with only one option: to reveal herself.

Unknown to even her closest friends, Zoe is not entirely human. She’s a werewolf and a daughter of the “Fangborn,” a secretive race of werewolves, vampires, and oracles embroiled in an ancient war against evil.

To rescue her cousin, Zoe will be forced to renew family ties and pit her own supernatural abilities against the dark and nefarious foe. The hunt brings Zoe to the edge of her limits, and with the fate of humanity and the Fangborn in the balance, life will be decided by an artifact of world-ending power.

Zoe’s mission takes her and her friends across the globe on a frenetic quest for no less than Pandora’s Box.


374 pages, with a 3.8-star rating from 173 reviews





Here's today's Daily Youth Deal, available for $1.99!

Eliza's Kindergarten Surprise, by Alice B. McGinty.

Eliza has to go to school for the first time ever. But she doesn't want to leave Mommy. Mommy understands. She places a kiss on her fingertips and gently slides it into Eliza's pocket. But Eliza's pocket still feels empty inside. Then, at school, she sees things that remind her of her mother. She gets an idea and makes a mommy doll as a surprise for Mommy! Child-friendly illustrations using acrylic paint by Nancy Speir add charm and appeal as Mommy shows Eliza a surprise, too.

32 pages, with a 4.5-star rating from 33 reviews





Happy Reading!

Betsy