Here are four additional discounted and free Kindle book offers for your morning consideration from highly-rated independent authors who have discounted the pricing for a limited time just for members of the blog. While the pricing of the free status is valid at the time of this posting, please make sure you check the pricing carefully before you press the “buy” button as it could change at any time!

Beer Money , by Dani Amore, is regularly $2.99 but has been discounted 67% to just $0.99 in the Amazon Kindle store, and this book collection has received an average user rating of 4 out of 5 stars based on 48 customer reviews.

Category: Mystery

Here is the book’s description from the Amazon website:

Private investigator Burr Ashland loves two things. His job. And beer.

But when his best friend, a history professor at Marquette University, is murdered, Burr’s investigation plunges him into a violent struggle not just between the present and the past, but between good and evil.

Click here or type in http://smarturl.it/mmi1f5 into your web browser to pick up your copy of Beer Money .

_____

Kiwi in Cat City , by Vickie Johnstone, is regularly $2.99 but has been discounted 67% to just $0.99 in the Amazon Kindle store, and this book has received an average user rating of 5 out of 5 stars based on 25 customer reviews.

Category: Young Adult / Fantasy

Here is the book’s description from the Amazon website:

Lydia Kalila, the Princess Royal of Mishnah, is forced into marriage with the son of her country’s mortal enemy for the sole purpose of producing an heir. Duty comes before personal choice for a princess especially when her country has been at war for more than a thousand years. Lydia’s pregnancy removes her brother and new husband from their respective lines of succession placing her yet unborn infant at the head of the both queues. No one is happy about this, especially Lydia who dies during childbirth from wounds caused by the talon-like toenails of her very strange newborn son.
Have you ever wished your cat could talk or wondered where he/she goes when you are not around?

Kiwi in Cat City is the first book in a series, of which there are six fun adventures so far.

Kiwi seems like a typical moggie, content to nap in the sun and chase shadows, but she has a secret. She is a magical cat from a place called Cat City. With her two humans, James and Amy, Kiwi finds mysteries and adventures, dealing with catnappings, jewel thieves, giant rats, time travel, haunted houses, Father Christmas, pyramids and more. The fun stories contain positive messages about loyalty, friendship, honesty, bullying and the power of standing together.

Book 1 opens on one dark night. Amy cannot sleep and she looks out of the window into the garden to see her cat, Kiwi, transfixed by the moon, which is glowing brightly like a cat’s claw. Waking her brother, James, Amy suggests they follow Kiwi to see where she goes… whether it involves a hunt for mice or something else. Little do they know that with a flick of her tail, Kiwi is going to magically change the children into kittens and lead them on the adventure of their lives to a land they never knew existed in their wildest dreams. In the blue-lit world of Cat City, the budding detectives help Inspector Furrball to investigate the mysterious catnapping of Mr Katz and find out what happened to Madame Purrfect.

The books contain illustrations by Nikki McBroom.

Furry fun for ages 9-99.

Click here or type in http://smarturl.it/pcncgc into your web browser to pick up your copy of Kiwi in Cat City .

_____

Truly Madly Deeply, A Carly Phillips Collection, is a three bookbox collection by Carly Phillips, is regularly $9.99 but has been discounted 90% to just $0.99 in the Amazon Kindle store, and has received an average user rating of 4.6 out of 5 stars based on 7 customer reviews.

Category: Literary Fiction / Contemporary Romance

Here is the book’s description from the Amazon website:

A collection of three full length novels by New York Times Bestselling Author Carly Phillips, originally written and published in 1999 and 2000, and published under her real name, Karen Drogin.

PERFECT PARTNERS
No sooner had Chelsie Russell and Griffin Stuart lost their siblings in a car crash than they find themselves fighting for custody of their two year old niece. Griff wins only to discover Chelsie is the only one who can soothe the child’s night terrors and fears. Chelsie and Griff bond over the little girl and their growing sexual desire is mutual. But is it enough? Chelsie’s been hurt before and Griff isn’t sure he can trust the woman who once tried to take his
niece away. What will it take for them to realize they are … perfect partners?

THE RIGHT CHOICE
Advice columnist Carly Wexler is planning the perfect wedding with the perfect fiancé. So what if he doesn’t make her heart beat faster? He’s the right choice. Until sexy photo journalist, Mike Novak, her fiance’s adopted brother arrives and Carly experiences all the passion she’s convinced herself she doesn’t need. Mike is torn by loyalty and a yearning unlike any he’s ever known. After spending time with Carly, he is sure the engaged couple are marrying for the wrong reasons. With one week to go before the wedding, can Mike convince Carly he’s the only choice for her?

SOLITARY MAN
When tough Boston cop Kevin Manning promised to care for his fatally wounded partner’s family, a one night stand with the man’s grieving sister wasn’t part of the plan. No matter how intense the night had been, a woman like Nikki Welles deserves much more than a broken man like Kevin can give, and he leaves the next day. When he returns months later, everything has changed. Nikki can’t forgive Kevin for abandoning her nor can she regret the baby she’s now carrying. And she can’t stop wanting Kevin. But can this solitary man come to believe he’s worthy of love?

Click here or type in http://smarturl.it/q1xlzn into your web browser to pick up your copy of Truly Madly Deeply, A Carly Phillips Collection .

_____

Betty’s Child , by Donald Dempsey, is just $2.99 today in the Amazon Kindle store, and this book has received an average user rating of 4.8 out of 5 stars based on 70 customer reviews.

Category: Memoir

Here is the book’s description from the Amazon website:

In the tradition of Frank McCourt and Angela’s Ashes, Don Dempsey uses Betty’s Child to tell the story of life with his cruel and neglectful mother, his mother’s abusive boyfriends, and hypocritical church leaders who want to save twelve-year-old Donny’s soul but ignore threats to his physical well-being. Meanwhile, Donny’s best friend is trying to recruit Donny to do petty theft and deal drugs for a dangerous local thug.

Young Donny is a real-life cross between Huckleberry Finn and Holden Caulfield as he tells his story, with only his street smarts and sense of humor to guide him. Donny does everything he can to take care of himself and his younger brothers, but with each new development, the present becomes more fraught with peril–and the future more uncertain.

Click here or type in http://smarturl.it/2ajznh into your web browser to pick up your copy of Betty’s Child .

Want to have this blog sent wirelessly to your e-Ink Kindle vs. reading it on your computer? Try out the free two-week trial subscription! Click here for the Amazon page of the Kindle Books and Tips blog or type in http://smarturl.it/fkblog into your web browser.

Download the Kindle Books and Tips blog app for your Kindle Fire or Android-based smartphone or tablet – for free, of course – by clicking here or type in http://smarturl.it/fkbtfreeapp into your computer’s web browser from the Amazon App Store or click here or type in http://bit.ly/fkbtgoogle into your computer’s web browser for the Google App Store.

Here are four Kindle book offers for your consideration from highly-rated independent authors who have discounted the pricing for a limited time just for members of the blog.

Give Up Your Excess Baggage: 24 Simple Mind Exercises That Great Men & Women Effectively Use Every Single Day, by Sri VIshwanath, is regularly $2.99 but has been discounted 67% to just $0.99 in the Amazon Kindle store, and this book has received an average user rating of 4.1 out of 5 stars based on 31 customer reviews.

Category: Self-Improvement

Here is the book’s description from the Amazon website:

A breakthrough process to remove past pains and how removing past pains give you freedom to restart your life more fully.

Understand how time and life can warp your sense of reality and how learning one simple exercise can transform your life forever.

These are the type of comments the material in this book has gotten from those who have either read the manuscript or taken my online course

“Dear Vish, today i followed the first few steps you suggested . Your way of teaching is very simple and the results i have managed to get within the first two weeks have been huge. I am impressed that I am starting on an incredible journey in my life”

This is a ground breaking turnaround in my life ! I will be really looking forward for more such inspiration and guidance from you”

This book is truly mind-enabling. By using and following the self-liberating exercises clearly and convincingly demonstrated, readers will be able to constantly reach the core of their minds. At the same time they will realize their latent ability to take effective command of their daily thoughts, impulses and instincts. Mounting self-powers of clarity and true purpose will steadily emerge, and become second nature, as distracting elements are thrust away and your minds become pillars of mental strength. It’s the rare reader who won’t find his outlook changed by reading this book, and his life improved by using the exercises.

Click here or type in http://smarturl.it/8qfuri into your web browser to pick up your copy of Give Up Your Excess Baggage: 24 Simple Mind Exercises That Great Men & Women Effectively Use Every Single Day .

_____

Consequence, by Eli Yance, is regularly $2.99 but has been discounted 67% to just $0.99 in the Amazon Kindle store, and this book has received an average user rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars based on 28 customer reviews.

Category: Mystery / Thriller

Here is the book’s description from the Amazon website:

The lives of two hardened hitmen, two experienced conmen and one millionaire businessman are about to change forever. Embroiled in separate worlds of drugs, theft, fraud and murder, their vices combine in a heartless and brutal cataclysm of violence. Three worlds thrust into one; 5 lives that will never be the same again.

A foiled kidnapping, a moment of opportunity and a deadly case of mistaken identity change the lives of two friendly conmen and destroy the mind of a heartbroken millionaire.

Consequence is fast-paced crime thriller. An intricate, edge of the seat novel with its fair share of violence, obscenity and surprise.

Click here or type in http://smarturl.it/consequence into your web browser to pick up your copy of Consequence.

_____

The Beauty Bride, by Deborah Cooke and Claire Delacroix, is regularly $4.99 but has been discounted 80% to just $0.99 in the Amazon Kindle store, and has received an average user rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars based on 97 customer reviews.

Category: Historical Romance

Here is the book’s description from the Amazon website:

More cherished than gold are the Jewels of Kinfairlie, and only the worthiest may fight for their love…The Laird of Kinfairlie has unmarried sisters, each a gem in her own right. And he has no choice but to see them all wed in haste.

Lady Madeline’s heart is not for sale…especially not to a notorious outlaw like Rhys FitzHenry. Yet Madeline’s hand has been sold, to none other than this battle-weary warrior with a price on his head. A more dutiful maiden might cede to the Laird’s command and meekly accept her fate, but Madeline has never been obedient. She decides to run away, though she never dreams that Rhys will pursue her. She does not expect this taciturn man to woo her with fanciful stories, much less that each of his enthralling tales will reveal a scar upon his shielded soul. She never imagines that a man like Rhys could imperil her own heart while revealing so little of his own feelings. When Rhys’s past threatens his future, Madeline takes a leap of faith. She dares to believe him innocent
— and risks her own life to pursue a passion more priceless than the rarest gem.

Click here or type in http://smarturl.it/ikmv32 into your web browser to pick up your copy of The Beauty Bride .

_____

Edgewood, Karen McQuestion, is just $2.99 today in the Amazon Kindle store, and this book has received an average user rating of 4.6 out of 5 stars based on 133 customer reviews.

Category: Young Adult / Science Fiction / Paranormal

Here is the book’s description from the Amazon website:

From bestselling author Karen McQuestion—a brand new, spellbinding novel.

Wandering the dark streets at night is Russ Becker’s way of dealing with his relentless insomnia and the angst of life. But that changes forever the night he witnesses a strange astronomical event, then discovers he’s developed incredible superpowers.

And he’s not alone. Three others in his town—sexy Mallory, arrogant Jameson, and mysterious Nadia—have had the same experience and acquired intriguing powers of their own. As if Mallory isn’t special enough with her good looks and high IQ, now she can control peoples’ minds. Jameson thinks he’s the coolest because he moves objects with his thoughts, and shy Nadia struggles to understand her new empathic abilities.

At first the four secretly relish their newfound gifts while keeping them hidden. However, things get serious when they learn they’re being hunted by an organization that wants them for its own nefarious purposes. Russ has always picked his battles wisely, but when the bad guys threaten his family, they’re about to find out they messed with the wrong teens. What transpires will change all of them in ways they never imagined.

Click here or type in http://smarturl.it/6cmpjq into your web browser to pick up your copy of Edgewood .

Want to have this blog sent wirelessly to your e-Ink Kindle vs. reading it on your computer? Try out the free two-week trial subscription! Click here for the Amazon page of the Kindle Books and Tips blog or type in http://smarturl.it/fkblog into your web browser.

Organize your books on your Kindle Fire with our Collections and Categories App! Click Here or type in http://smarturl.it/firecollections into your web browser to get it now!

Each day, Amazon sponsors the Kindle Daily Deal and the Free App of the Day.

Amazon’s Kindle Daily Deal is a one-day only offer where a specific Kindle book for adults, one for young readers (children or young adults), a romance, and a science fiction / fantasy title have been hand-selected by the editors at Amazon and significantly discounted for today only.

Amazon’s free App of the Day can be utilized on a Kindle Fire and Android-based smartphones and tablet computers, and the app can be a game, utility, or who knows? Each app is offered free for 24 hours and, after that period is over it goes back to paid status and a new app is the Free App of the Day.

Kindle Daily Deal

Today’s Kindle Daily Deal for Adults is Berried to the Hilt , by Karen MacInerney, and this book was $9.99 yesterday but has been discounted 80% to just $1.99 for today only. This book has received an average user rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars based on 48 customer reviews.

Today’s Kindle Kids Daily Deal is A Prince Among Frogs, by E.D. Baker, and this book was $7.99 yesterday but has been discounted 63% to just $2.99 for today only. This book has received an average user rating of 5 out of 5 stars based on 12 customer reviews.

Today’s Kindle Sci-Fi / Fantasy Daily Deal is Midnighters #1: The Secret Hour , by Scott Westerfield, and this book was $8.99 yesterday but has been discounted 78% to just $1.99 for today only. This book has received an average user rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars based on 89 customer reviews.

Today’s Kindle Romance Daily Deal is Beach House No. 9 , by Christie Ridgway, and this book was $7.99 yesterday but has been discounted 75% to just $1.99 for today only. This book has received an average user rating of 4 out of 5 stars based on 47 customer reviews.

You can check each of them out if you click here or type in http://smarturl.it/dailydeal into your web browser.

Here is the Berried to the Hilt book description from the Amazon website:

When a lobsterman discovers a sunken ship, Cranberry Island is abuzz with excitement. Is the wreck the remains of the Myra Barton, the missing ship of island sea captain Jonah Selfridge? Or the elusive Black Marguerite, which belonged to one of the most notorious pirates of the 17th century and vanished without a trace—except for the ghost ship that old-timers say roams the water on fog-shrouded nights?
Soon the island is swarming with marine archaeologists and treasure hunters. It’s good news for Natalie—and for the Gray Whale Inn—until a body turns up floating near the wreck. Natalie finds herself immersed in the world of pirates and sunken treasure, both past and present. Will she solve the mystery and find the killer in time? Or will Natalie be the next to join the lost ship’s crew, down in Davy Jones’ locker?

Click here or type in http://smarturl.it/dailydeal into your web browser to pick up your copy of Berried to the Hilt .

Here is the A Prince Among Frogs book description from the Amazon website:

Princess Millie and her fiancé, Audun, are busy preparing for their wedding when trouble starts brewing in Greater Greensward. Millie’s baby brother, Felix, has been kidnapped and is trapped in a swamp full of other frogs. With all the adults busy fixing problems elsewhere in the kingdom, it’s up to Millie and Audun to find him-but they need all the help they can get to fight the family’s oldest nemesis, the angry wizard Olebald. From the deep blue sea to the soaring skies, our two heroes will stop at nothing to get their families back together and banish all the troublemakers for good.E. D. Baker brings out all our favorite characters for this funny and ferocious finale to Tales of the Frog Princess, the best-selling series that inspired Disney’s The Princess and the Frog.

Click here or type in http://smarturl.it/dailydeal into your web browser to pick up your copy of A Prince Among Frogs .

Here is the Midnighters #1: The Secret Hour book description from the Amazon website:

A few nights after Jessica Day arrives in Bixby, Oklahoma, she wakes up at midnight to find the entire world frozen, except for her and a few others who call themselves ‘midnighters’. Dark things haunt this midnight hour – dark things with a mysterious interest in Jessica. The question is ?hy;
The Secret Hour is a compelling tale of dark secrets, midnight romance, eerie creatures, courage, destiny, and unexpected peril.

Click here or type in http://smarturl.it/dailydeal into your web browser to pick up your copy of Midnighters #1: The Secret Hour .

Here is the Beach House No. 9 book description from the Amazon website:

USA TODAY bestselling author Christie Ridgway introduces a sizzling new series set in Crescent Cove, California, where the magic of summer can last forever…
When Jane Pearson arrives at Griffin Lowell’s beach house, she expects a brooding loner. After all, his agent hired her to help the reclusive war journalist write his stalled memoir. Instead, Jane finds a tanned, ocean-blue-eyed man in a Hawaiian shirt, hosting a beach party and surrounded by beauties. Faster than he can untie a bikini top, Griffin lets Jane know he doesn’t want her. But she desperately needs this job and digs her toes in the sand.
Griffin intends to spend the coming weeks at Beach House No. 9 taking refuge from his painful memories—and from the primly sexy Jane, who wants to bare his soul. But warm nights, moonlit walks and sultry kisses just may unlock both their guarded hearts….

Click here or type in http://smarturl.it/dailydeal into your web browser to pick up your copy of Beach House No. 9 .

Free App of the Day

Today’s Free App of the Day is Fraction Calculator Plus , and this utility app is normally $0.99 in the Amazon App Store but is free for today only.

Here is the app’s description from the Amazon App Store website:

I’m Fraction Calculator Plus and I’m the best and easiest way to deal with everyday fraction problems. Whether you’re checking homework, preparing recipes, or working on craft or even construction projects, I can help:

- Wish you could find the time to check your kids’ math homework? Now you can – checking fraction math takes just seconds.
- Need to adjust recipe quantities for a larger guest list? Let me adjust your cup and teaspoon quantities.
- Working on a craft or home project in inches? Stop double-or-triple calculating on paper – let me do it once, accurately.

I’m attractive and effective and I make great use of that big, beautiful Kindle Fire display:
- I show your calculations in crisp, clear, elegant type that you can read at-a-glance from a distance.
- My innovative triple keypad display lets you type fast! (entering three and three quarters takes just 3 taps!).
- Every fraction result gets automatically reduced to its simplest form to make your job easy.
- NEW! Every result is also shown in decimal to make conversion a breeze.
- It couldn’t be easier to add, subtract, multiply, and divide fractions.

Let Fraction Calculator Plus turn your Kindle Fire into an everyday helping hand.

You can pick up your free copy of 94 Seconds by clicking here or typing in http://smarturl.it/appdeal into your web browser.

Want to have this blog sent wirelessly to your Kindle vs. reading it on your computer? Try out the free two-week subscription! Click here for the Amazon page for Free Kindle Books Plus a Few Other Tipsor type in http://www.tinyurl.com/fkblog into your computer’s web browser.

Download the Kindle Books and Tips blog app for your Kindle Fire or Android-based smartphone or tablet – for free, of course – by clicking here or type in http://smarturl.it/fkbtfreeapp into your computer’s web browser from the Amazon App Store or click here or type in http://bit.ly/fkbtgoogle into your computer’s web browser for the Google App Store.

Today’s Featured Kindle Book of the Day is Noble Beginnings: A Jack Noble Thriller , by L.T. Ryan, and this book is normally $5.99 but has been discounted 83% to just $0.99 in the Amazon Kindle store; this book has received an average user rating of 4 out of 5 stars based on 119 customer reviews.

Category: Thriller

Here is the book’s description from the Amazon website:

In March of 2002, while the eyes of the world focused on Afghanistan, Jack Noble finds himself on the outskirts of Baghdad, Iraq. A Marine in name only, Jack is on-loan to the CIA. Normally an integral part of the team, he finds that he is nothing more than a security detail in Iraq.

Jack and his partner Bear have a run-in with four CIA special agents over the treatment of an Iraqi family. Within hours Jack and Bear are detained.

All Jack wanted was to finish his enlistment and move on with his life. All he did was intervene and save a family from unwarranted violence at the hands of four CIA agents. But he soon discovers that he did far more than intervene. He has placed himself dead square in the middle of a conspiracy that reaches the highest levels of the U.S. government.

This Jack Noble political thriller is not for the feint of heart!

Click here or type in http://smarturl.it/859ffu into your web browser to pick up your copy of Noble Beginnings: A Jack Noble Thriller .

About the Author:

Lee “L.T.” Ryan lives in the suburbs of Atlanta, GA with his wife, three daughters, and one slightly psychologically unbalanced, but lovable dog. He enjoys writing fast paced suspense thrillers. When not writing, he enjoys reading, hiking, mountain biking, fishing, and spending time with the ladies in his life.

Current and upcoming projects include: Noble Intentions Episodes 11-15, Never Go Home (Jack Noble #3), When Dead in Greece (Jack Noble #4)

Join L.T. Ryan’s New Release Newsletter and receive a complimentary Jack Noble short story: http://ltryan.com/newsletter

To Learn more about L.T. go to http://ltryan.com

Join L.T. Ryan on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jack-Noble/333773700042676

You can visit L.T.’s Amazon author page if you click here or type in http://smarturl.it/ltryan into your web browser.
Want to have this blog sent wirelessly to your e-Ink Kindle vs. reading it on your computer? Try out the free two-week trial subscription! Click here for the Amazon page of the Kindle Books and Tips blog or type in http://smarturl.it/fkblog into your web browser.

Organize your books on your Kindle Fire with the Collections and Categories App! Click Here or type in http://smarturl.it/firecollections into your web browser to get it now!

Here’s a quick update to the request I had yesterday…you can click here or type in http://wp.me/p2b82w-4vH into your web browser in case you missed it or want to read it again.

In an effort to help out the blog, and to see if we could make a book reach the #1 best-seller status on the Amazon storefront, I challenged you to buy Pacific Avenue for just a penny. Many of you have helped the post go a little viral, and I am happy to report this book has zoomed all the way to #34 on the Kindle best-seller list!

Can you make this one #1 in the Amazon Kindle store? Sure, you can! Just click the link below and spend a penny – not only will we achieve our goal, but it will help the blog out in terms of being able to list future free Kindle books. How about passing this on (forward the email, give the post a “Like”, call your friends, you name it) and let’s get this book to #1!

Pacific Avenue, by Anne L. Watson, is regularly $1.99 but has been discounted 99% to just $0.01 in the Amazon Kindle store (that’s right, it’s just a penny today), and this book has received an average user rating of 4 out of 5 stars based on 54 customer reviews.

Category: Romance / Literary Fiction

Here is the book’s description from the Amazon website:

Where do you go from the end of the line? This is the question facing Kathy Woodbridge as she steps off the bus in the port city of San Pedro, California. Nineteen years old, from Louisiana, she is running away from her past. There’s a lot to run away from.

What do you do when there’s no one to do for? That’s what Lacey Greer wants to know, with her only child off at college. When Kathy gets a job at the office where Lacey works, she can tell that Kathy’s in trouble. Lacey’s husband advises her to stay out of it — but what’s she supposed to do, buy a rocking chair?

Set in San Pedro, Baton Rouge, and New Orleans in the early seventies, Pacific Avenue explores themes of love, belonging, helpfulness, hope, forgiveness, reconciliation, interracial marriage, and healing from the trauma of war. At the end of the line, will Kathy find a way to return home?

Click here or type in http://smarturl.it/3houi6 into your web browser to pick up your copy of Pacific Avenue .
Want to have this blog sent wirelessly to your e-Ink Kindle vs. reading it on your computer? Try out the free two-week trial subscription! Click here for the Amazon page of the Kindle Books and Tips blog or type in http://smarturl.it/fkblog into your web browser.

Organize your books on your Kindle Fire with the Collections and Categories App! Click Here or type in http://smarturl.it/firecollections into your web browser to get it now!

Here are four Kindle book offers for your Sunday consideration from highly-rated independent authors who have discounted the pricing for a limited time just for members of the blog.

Three Days in Seattle, by Debra Burroughs, is regularly $2.99 but has been discounted 67% to just $0.99 in the Amazon Kindle store, and this book has received an average user rating of 4 out of 5 stars based on 152 customer reviews.

Category: Romantic Suspense

Here is the book’s description from the Amazon website:

Revenge. Romance. Murder.

A gorgeous Blonde, a kidnapped Sister, a handsome Stranger, and a vengeful Killer.

The desperate race is on to find the sister before both women wind up dead.

A sweet Romantic Suspense novel that will curl your toes.

Click here or type in http://smarturl.it/qd8i27 into your web browser to pick up your copy of Three Days in Seattle .

_____

Double Trouble, by Deborah Cooke and Claire Cross, is regularly $4.99 but has been discounted 80% to just $0.99 in the Amazon Kindle store, and this book has received an average user rating of 4 out of 5 stars based on 232 customer reviews.

Category: Contemporary Romance

Here is the book’s description from the Amazon website:

Two sisters. One disaster.

First things first: I’m the bad twin. While my sister, Marcia, has the perfect family in the perfect suburb, I’ve been making my living as an Internet advice columnist and designing Web sites in my downtown loft. I always thought I had the right answer – and hair color – for any occasion. That is, until Marcia ran up loads of debt and ran out on her husband and kids, and I was left helping to pick up the pieces. Her husband, James, is a lawyer who I hate on principle alone.

But for a guy who’s just lost his job, his marriage, and his expensive toys, he’s keeping it together – and making me rethink my feelings toward him. It’s not that he’s traded in his conservative suits for sexy jeans. It’s that he’s not giving up what’s important to him, and oh baby, I’m a sucker for a guy who hangs tough.

That doesn’t mean I’m ready to step into Marcia’s designer shoes now that she’s gone AWOL.

And it doesn’t mean I’m going to fall for James’s easy charm…not again, anyhow. Besides, I’ve had a lifelong policy of not being mistaken for my twin and I’m not backing down on that one now – no matter how convenient it might be for a certain sexy (and persuasive) man…

Click here or type in http://smarturl.it/xriu7n into your web browser to pick up your copy of Double Trouble .

_____

Dark Nights Dangerous Men, is a collection of sex highly-rated books by carious authors, and is a new release specially priced at just $0.99 in the Amazon Kindle store.

Here is the book’s description from the Amazon website:

6 Bestselling Authors, 6 Sexy Reads…

From romantic suspense to paranormal romance; from a full length novel to a bite sized novella, whatever you’re looking for, we’ve got the story for you!
Total collection: 317,000 words

STOLEN FURY by Elisabeth Naughton

To unearth a centuries-old secret, an archaeologist must team up with the rakish thief who’s stolen both an ancient relic and her heart…

Word count: 100,000

BOUND BY BLOOD by Cynthia Eden

Married to the enemy. In order to save her clan, vampire princess Morgan LaBeaux will do anything…even marry werewolf alpha Jace Vaughn. She may have to trust him with her life, but Morgan vows to never give the wolf her heart.

Word Count: 21,000

NO ONE TO TRUST by Katie Reus

When Elizabeth Martinez is shoved into the cross hairs of one of Miami’s death-dealing drug lords she has no choice but to depend on former Marine Porter Caldwell, her ex-boyfriend and the one man she’s tried desperately to forget.

Word count: 45,000

RAPHAEL by Alexandra Ivy

The brilliant and dangerous diplomat of the Pantera shapeshifters, Raphael has devoted his life to discovering the key to the infertility that is threatening the extinction of his puma race. Creating a vast network of spies worldwide, he never expected to discover that the answer might be beneath his very nose. But when Ashe, a beautiful human female, crosses his path, his most primitive instincts are stirred. Unable to resist, he takes her to his bed, and is shocked when she becomes pregnant with his child. It’s a miracle that might prove to be the salvation of his people, but only if he can keep her safe from the mercenaries determined to kill her.

Word count: 21,000

PARISH by Laura Wright

Untamed and undeniably sexy, Parish, leader of the Pantera hunters, rarely leaves the magic of the Wildlands to deal with the humans he despises. But with the prized and risky Pantera birth on the way, puma shifter, Parish must travel to New Orleans to find and bring back a human doctor. The moment he sees the lovely, talented and all too human Dr. Julia Cabot he cannot resist the wild, potent drive to make her his. Betrayed and destroyed by love, Julia will not let her heart choose her path again. But as she and Parish fight to save the life of an unborn child, a fierce and overwhelming bond develops between them, threatening her frozen heart with the secret hope and ultimate temptation of love and family.

Word count: 20,000

INTIMATE ENEMIES by Joan Swan

An emergency physician on leave returns to Baja Mexico in search of answers in the deaths of her mother and stepbrother and uncovers buried secrets that threaten her life and a man who threatens her heart.

Word count: 110,000

Click here or type in http://smarturl.it/qgdvui into your web browser to pick up your copy of Dark Nights Dangerous Men .

_____

Broken Pieces, by Rachel Thompson, is $5.99 today in the Amazon Kindle store, and this book has received an average user rating of 4.2 out of 5 stars based on 116 customer reviews.

Category: Non-Fiction / Women’s Studies / Poetry

Here is the book’s description from the Amazon website:

Winner, Honorable Mention, 2013 San Francisco Book Festival! 2013 Global eBook Award Nominee! eFestival of Words 3-time nominee!

Broken Pieces quickly hit the Paid Top 5 list on Women’s Studies AND Poetry and continues to impact people in unexpected way.
Welcome to bestselling author Rachel Thompson’s newest nonfiction work! Vastly different in tone from her previous essay collections A Walk In The Snark and The Mancode: Exposed, BROKEN PIECES is a collection of pieces inspired by one woman’s life: love, loss, abuse, trust, grief, and ultimately, love again.

Please note: the book is laid out in keeping with the title. This means you are reading ‘pieces,’ or glimpses, into the author’s mind. And heart.

This is NOT a humor book! It IS a book about relationships, a study of women, a book with heart.

Want to see why people love it? Why they call it ‘riveting, powerful, insightful?’
Read it and see why Broken Pieces is tearing up the lists for Poetry, Nonfiction, Women’s Studies, and books for women!

Click here or type in http://smarturl.it/9qxpha into your web browser to pick up your copy of Broken Pieces.

Want to have this blog sent wirelessly to your e-Ink Kindle vs. reading it on your computer? Try out the free two-week trial subscription! Click here for the Amazon page of the Kindle Books and Tips blog or type in http://smarturl.it/fkblog into your web browser.

Organize your books on your Kindle Fire with our Collections and Categories App! Click Here or type in http://smarturl.it/firecollections into your web browser to get it now!

Today’s Featured Kindle Book of the Day is CONTACT , by AFN Clarke, and this book is normally $3.99 but has been discounted 25% to just $2.99 in the Amazon Kindle store; this book has received an average user rating of 4 out of 5 stars based on 16 customer reviews.

Category: Memoir / Autobiography

Here is the book’s description from the Amazon website:

This new expanded edition of AFN Clarke’s bestselling and controversial book CONTACT is a raw, visceral, “no-holds-barred” account of combat from one of the men we paid to kill. When first published it caused a furor for its devastating honesty and chilling revelations.

Clarke vividly recounts his experiences of two tours in Northern Ireland (in Belfast and Crossmaglen) as a Platoon Commander with Britain’s elite Parachute Regiment during the blood soaked 1970′s. Soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan comment on how relevant the book still is today, as the dangers, political agendas and religious roots underlying the conflict are eerily and heartbreakingly similar to their own more recent experiences.

Clarke takes us to heart of the action. We feel what it’s like to live each day with senses on high alert, waiting to be ripped apart by the accuracy of a sniper or a well-hidden bomb. We enter the private world of soldiers ordered to hold the lines in an ancient quarrel they have little affinity for, but whose consequences are deadly. We experience their emotions, fear, courage, humor, bravado and the anguish of death.

This expanded edition continues from where the print version ended, revealing the untold nightmare Clarke lived through having nearly died, with half his insides missing, suffering from PTSD and being expected to return to a “normal life”. A story of the scars of war that affect generations. Of heartache, courage and hope for peace.

“I am an ex soldier who served in Northern Ireland during the Troubles and this is an excellent account of what it was like. I only wish we had an officer like Captain Clarke.” pm, 5 Stars Amazon UK

“.. its honesty and passion cannot be denied .. Mr. Clarke has sent out a powerful and disturbing early warning signal.” Maurice Leitch, Daily Telegraph.

“..a major contribution to our understanding of war and how people act .. Contact is the work of a brave writer.” Kevin Toolis, Irish News.

“As a civilian it’s hard to imagine what’s it’s really like to be a soldier in combat but this book opened my eyes. I highly recommend it …” KTHuffy, 4 Stars Amazon USA.

CONTACT was reviewed by soldiers who served with Captain Clarke as verification of his recollections. It was first published in the UK in 1983 by Martin Secker & Warburg, was serialized for 5 days in The Mirror and became an instant best seller. In 1984 it was published in paperback by PAN Books, by Schocken Books New York and made into an award-winning BBC TV film. And in 2012 came the expanded ebook edition, which all these years later is still selling strong. Readers outside the UK are invited to visit Amazon.co.uk for soldier’s reviews and comments. (Book length approx. 200 pages.)

AFN Clarke is a full-time author and writes fiction of various genre – fast-paced thrillers (An Unquiet American), poignant human drama (Dry Tortugas), humorous satire (The Book of Baker Series – Dreams from the Death Age; Armageddon; Genesis Revisited), psychological horror (Collisions); and the Thomas Gunn suspense series (The Orange Moon Affair) with more coming soon. Visit the Amazon Kindle Store or afnclarke.com for further information.

Click here or type in http://smarturl.it/17362t into your web browser to pick up your copy of CONTACT .

About the Author:

I’ve been fortunate as a writer to have written the best seller CONTACT and the screenplay for the award winning BBCTV film of the same name. The success of CONTACT was a turning point in my life and I now count myself lucky to be pursuing my passion and writing full time – with 6 works of fiction on sale on Amazon and more on the way. I enjoy writing in various genres – from suspense, intrigue and politically charged thrillers with controversial and provocative themes to literary fiction, humorous satire and books that explore the complexity of human relationships.

Apart from my many lives as a racing car driver, Captain in Britain’s elite Parachute Regiment, screenwriter, pilot, yacht skipper, and proud father of four daughters I’ve lived in Hong Kong, India, Libya, Iran, the UK, USA and travelled extensively. Favorite things to do? Write, sail, listen to opera, rock music, cook gourmet meals, drink wine, have heated discussions and travel off the beaten path.

Having had a near death experience, lost half my insides and made it back from the trauma of war, all I can say is that tends to change how a person looks at life and maybe in a strange way it’s made me a better writer. For me – and I suspect for most of my readers – good books are a great way to shut out every day life, suspend normal ways of thinking, and allow yourself to be transported to another world. I love a good story, enjoy laughing out loud, being challenged by thought provoking ideas, sitting on the edge of my seat in anticipation of what’s to come and the thrill of unexpected endings. And so I hope that’s what my readers get – the thrill, suspense, drama, intrigue, humor, mystery, danger, poignancy, love and laughter of life seen through different eyes.

Published works include CONTACT, COLLISIONS, AN UNQUIET AMERICAN, THE BOOK OF BAKER SERIES (Dream from the Death Age; Armageddon; Genesis Revisited- release 2013), DRY TORTUGAS and THE ORANGE MOON AFFAIR the first of the Thomas Gunn thriller series. For more information I invite you to visit www.afnclarke.com or email author@afnclarke.com. Comment on my blog, connect on Facebook and Twitter and I thank you sincerely for taking the time to write a review of any books you have read.

You can visit AFN Clarke’s Amazon author page if you click here or type in http://smarturl.it/afn into your web browser.

 
 Want to have this blog sent wirelessly to your e-Ink Kindle vs. reading it on your computer? Try out the free two-week trial subscription! Click here for the Amazon page of the Kindle Books and Tips blog or type in http://smarturl.it/fkblog into your web browser.

Organize your books on your Kindle Fire with the Collections and Categories App! Click Here or type in http://smarturl.it/firecollections into your web browser to get it now!

I didn’t mention a free Kindle book in today’s posts as the ratio of free downloads to paid downloads is above 80% – please remember that is not my rule but Amazon’s rule! While I’ve written about this rule a couple of times, if you don’t know what I’m talking about you can read about it in a prior post if you click here or type in http://smarturl.it/xbqyfr into your web browser.

What does that mean to you? Well, that means a lot of you are downloading a lot of free Kindle books after clicking over from a link on the blog – that’s ok, but I need to get the ratio back down below 80% before I can post more free Kindle book offers!

So, here’s a request I’d like to make for each of you who has downloaded a free Kindle book after clicking through from one of the links on the blog this month – please buy a Kindle book after clicking one of my links! To make it as painless as possible for you, all I am asking is for you to invest one penny – hopefully, just one penny won’t break any of you and it will help with me being able to continue doing what I’m doing.

Actually, I’d like for you to buy this book I mention below – and I’ll throw in a challenge: if everyone who reads this post will invest just one cent and purchase this book below, not only will you help out the blog but let’s see if we can make this book reach the #1 paid title in the entire Amazon Kindle store! I’m certain it would happen – pass this message and link on to your Kindle-owning friends, and let’s see if we can get this book to the #1 spot: you’ll not only make my day, but I will bet you will make the author’s year!

Pacific Avenue, by Anne L. Watson, is regularly $1.99 but has been discounted 99% to just $0.01 in the Amazon Kindle store (that’s right, it’s just a penny today), and this book has received an average user rating of 4 out of 5 stars based on 54 customer reviews.

Category: Romance / Literary Fiction

Here is the book’s description from the Amazon website:

Where do you go from the end of the line? This is the question facing Kathy Woodbridge as she steps off the bus in the port city of San Pedro, California. Nineteen years old, from Louisiana, she is running away from her past. There’s a lot to run away from.

What do you do when there’s no one to do for? That’s what Lacey Greer wants to know, with her only child off at college. When Kathy gets a job at the office where Lacey works, she can tell that Kathy’s in trouble. Lacey’s husband advises her to stay out of it — but what’s she supposed to do, buy a rocking chair?

Set in San Pedro, Baton Rouge, and New Orleans in the early seventies, Pacific Avenue explores themes of love, belonging, helpfulness, hope, forgiveness, reconciliation, interracial marriage, and healing from the trauma of war. At the end of the line, will Kathy find a way to return home?

Click here or type in http://smarturl.it/3houi6 into your web browser to pick up your copy of Pacific Avenue .
Want to have this blog sent wirelessly to your e-Ink Kindle vs. reading it on your computer? Try out the free two-week trial subscription! Click here for the Amazon page of the Kindle Books and Tips blog or type in http://smarturl.it/fkblog into your web browser.

Organize your books on your Kindle Fire with the Collections and Categories App! Click Here or type in http://smarturl.it/firecollections into your web browser to get it now!

Continuing our “Meet the Authors” series, here is a guest blog post from best-selling author Laurel Osterkamp…

Are My Books Literary Fiction?

The other day I entered a contest with my most recent book, November Surprise, and I had to pick a genre. None of them really fit, but I was torn between romance and literary fiction. November Surprise is a love story, but it’s also about self-discovery, set against six recent presidential campaigns. Does that make it literary instead?

When I think literary, I think James Joyce, Jane Austen, or Louise Erdrich. I think of a novel that is made to challenge and enlighten the reader. I certainly wouldn’t classify my own books as literary. I’d like to believe they are quality work, and hopefully they occasionally challenge and enlighten whoever has picked them up. But ultimately they are meant to entertain. They’re not timeless, as literary fiction ought to be. But they are relevant.

So here’s my question: What ever happened to popular fiction? To me, a book that is entertaining, easy to read, and relevant should fall into the “popular fiction” category. But I don’t see many books advertised as popular fiction anymore.

Around a year ago independent author, Darcie Chan, rose to the top of the New York Times bestseller list with her novel, The Mill River Recluse. She was one of the first independent authors to achieve this feat, and she received a lot of press. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal (12/9/11) Chan described her early challenges with marketing her book.  “It didn’t really fit any genre. It has elements of romance, suspense, mystery, but it falls into the catch-all category of literary fiction, and of course that’s the most difficult to sell.”

I haven’t read Ms. Chan’s novel, so my aim here is not to disparage it. But since reading that article I have noticed a lot of authors have classified their own work as “literary.” Whether that’s by choice or because they aren’t able to classify it as something else, I’m not sure. But I do have a theory. Mainstream authors who are published by big name publishers often don’t want to be branded as “literary fiction” because it makes their work sound boring. But indie authors welcome the title, because it gives them an air of credibility. Like it or not, there is still a bit of stigma in being self-published, but calling our work “literary” makes it sound more impressive.

I teach English at a public high school, so I could talk for hours about what is literature and what is not. But when it comes down to it, I think the whole concept of “literary fiction” is over-rated. If an author has something to say, and he or she says it well, then it’s worthwhile even if it isn’t literary. Yet I also hesitate to brand November Surprise as a romance. I don’t have a shirtless guy on the cover, there are no real sex scenes, and while love is a theme, it doesn’t follow the formula of a “romance”.  I know there are a ton of well written (perhaps even literary) romance novels out there, but there are certain expectations that come with romance novels that November Surprise just doesn’t meet.

In the grand scheme of things, classifying my books into a genre is not a huge problem. But as self-published works continue to grow both in amount and in esteem, independent authors will have to realize some sort of system for labeling their work. It’s the first, and probably the most important step in marketing our books to readers.  And finding readers is way more perplexing than writing the book itself, whether it’s literary or not.

Thank you, Laurel!  You can check out Laurel’s Amazon Author page and check out her books if you click here or type in http://smarturl.it/laurel into your web browser, her blog at http://www.laurelosterkamp.blogspot.com/, and her personal website at http://www.laurelosterkamp.com/

Here are four additional Kindle book offers for your consideration from highly-rated independent authors who have discounted the pricing for a limited time just for members of the blog.

Midnight Reflections, by Pamela M. Richter, is regularly $2.99 but has been discounted 67% to just $0.99 in the Amazon Kindle store, and this book has received an average user rating of 4 out of 5 stars based on 34 customer reviews.

Category: Romance

Here is the book’s description from the Amazon website:

MIDNIGHT REFLECTIONS – What really happens at Midnight?

Julia’s midnight reflections actually happened at four in the morning. Tragedy had struck her family. She was far from home, lonely, watching a handsome man sleeping in her bed at the Beverly Hills Hotel. Robin, the handsome sleeping man had put himself in terrible danger so she could solve a mystery. Now she was feeling guilty as well as heart broken.

Robin himself is obsessed by Julia, knowing something besides her attractiveness enchanted him; an illusive mixture of sweetness and intelligence that beckons. He’s playing a role, hiding his true identity.

Julia is playing a dangerous role herself, working for a man she believes is a murderer. She also suspects that Robin is much more than the simple man he proclaims himself to be. Can she trust him?

Together they uncover inflammatory information and are forced on the run by a dangerous and angry politician.

Click here or type in http://smarturl.it/v5kz6v into your web browser to pick up your copy of Midnight Reflections .

_____

Armored Hearts, by Pauline Creeden and Melissa Turner Lee, is regularly $2.99 but has been discounted 67% to just $0.99 in the Amazon Kindle store, and this book has received an average user rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars based on 12 customer reviews.

Category: Fantasy / Romance

Here is the book’s description from the Amazon website:

When a crippled young lord rescues a girl falling from a tree, it reveals a secret about himself and his mother’s side of the family that could put him at the center of a war with beings he thought only existed in fairy tales.

Tristan Gareth Smyth lived his entire life stuck at home at Waverly Park and left behind while his Grandfather makes trips to London, all because of his blasted wheelchair.

Then an American heiress falls in his lap, literally, and he must find a way to keep her at a distance to protect not only his secret, but everyone around him from an assassin sent to kill him.

Click here or type in http://smarturl.it/q47pvk into your web browser to pick up your copy of Armored Hearts .

_____

The Madams of Mischief, by Sherry Siska, is regularly $2.99 but has been discounted 67% to just $0.99 in the Amazon Kindle store, and has received an average user rating of 4.1 out of 5 stars based on 17 customer reviews.

Category: Mystery / Humor

Here is the book’s description from the Amazon website:

“I practically skipped over toward the green ninety gallon trash tote. I lifted the hinged lid of the trash can, swung it open, and tossed in the diaper. That’s when Destiny not only called my name, she also spit in my face, thumbed her nose, and blew me a big old raspberry. Lucky me.”

Those crazy Madams of Mischief, Destiny, Lady Luck, and Fate seem to be out to get Marty Sheffield! Marty just wants to live her quiet life in her quiet town while recovering from being left at the altar by up-and-coming country music star, Ricky Ray Riley. The Doom Divas seem to have other ideas, though. While babysitting her sister’s kids, Marty finds the body of a former classmate wedged in a ninety-gallon trash container at a local park. With the help of her sister, Marty sets out to solve the mystery and save her own hide before it’s too late.

Click here or type in http://smarturl.it/madams into your web browser to pick up your copy of The Madams of Mischief .

_____

Swimming with Maya: A Mother’s Story, by Eleanor Vincent, is just $2.99 today in the Amazon Kindle store, and this book has received an average user rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars based on 35 customer reviews.

Category: Memoir

Here is the book’s description from the Amazon website:

Previously available only in hardcover, Swimming with Maya demonstrates the remarkable process of healing after the traumatic death of a loved one. Eleanor Vincent raised her two daughters, Maya and Meghan, virtually as a single-parent. Maya, the eldest, was a high-spirited and gifted young woman. As a toddler, Maya was an angelic tow-head, full of life and curiosity. As a teenager, Maya was energetic and independent – and often butted heads with her mother. But Eleanor and Maya were always close and connected, like best friends or sisters, but always also mother and daughter.

Then at age 19, Maya mounts a horse bareback as a dare and, in a crushing cantilever fall, is left in a coma from which she will never recover. Eleanor’s life is turned upside down as she struggles to make the painful decision about Maya’s fate.

Ultimately Eleanor chooses to donate Maya’s organs. Years later, in one of the most poignant moments you will ever read about, Eleanor has the opportunity to hear her daughter’s heart beat in the chest of the heart recipient. Along the way, Eleanor re-examines her relationship with her daughter, as well as the experiences that shaped Eleanor as a woman and as a mother to Maya.

In a story that has been called “heartbreaking and heart-healing,” Eleanor Vincent illuminates the kind of courage, creativity, faith, and sheer tenacity it takes to find one’s balance after unthinkable tragedy.

Click here or type in http://smarturl.it/cv1q3g into your web browser to pick up your copy of Swimming with Maya: A Mother’s Story .

Want to have this blog sent wirelessly to your e-Ink Kindle vs. reading it on your computer? Try out the free two-week trial subscription! Click here for the Amazon page of the Kindle Books and Tips blog or type in http://smarturl.it/fkblog into your web browser.

Organize your books on your Kindle Fire with our Collections and Categories App! Click Here or type in http://smarturl.it/firecollections into your web browser to get it now!

Here are four Kindle book offers for your consideration from highly-rated independent authors who have discounted the pricing for a limited time just for members of the blog.

Atticus for the Undead, by John Abramowitz, is regularly $2.99 but has been discounted 67% to just $0.99 in the Amazon Kindle store, and this book has received an average user rating of 4.1 out of 5 stars based on 53 customer reviews.

Category: Urban Fantasy / Thriller

Here is the book’s description from the Amazon website:

The next chapter in the struggle for equal rights begins!

Hunter Gamble is an idealistic young attorney in a very special area of the practice: arcane defense. Funded by enigmatic billionaire Charles McClain and aided by shy-but-energetic research attorney Kirsten Harper, he’s making the world a better place–one vampire, zombie, or werewolf client at a time. After all, they deserve their day in court too, right?

When a young zombie walks into Hunter’s office accused of murder (by brain-eating), Hunter’s idealism is tested as never before as he struggles to secure the man’s freedom. To do so, he must square off against a savvy and ambitious district attorney, contend with a judge who is deeply biased against arcanes, and stand up to a human-supremacist group which will stop at nothing–not even Hunter’s own death–to see his client convicted.

Click here or type in http://smarturl.it/atticus into your web browser to pick up your copy of Atticus for the Undead .

_____

Betrayal of Magic, by Brian Dockins, is regularly $3.99 but has been discounted 75% to just $0.99 in the Amazon Kindle store, and this book has received an average user rating of 4.3 out of 5 stars based on 14 customer reviews.

Category: Fantasy / Young Adult

Here is the book’s description from the Amazon website:

Our world seems normal, one governed by logic, science, and natural laws.

But we don’t realize that magic exists in many forms all around us.

The US Government does however, and they will go to any lengths to hide all evidence of magic’s existence to protect the citizens from the sinister forces that lurk in the dark periphery of our vision.

Cadan Johnson lived a seemingly ordinary life. He was on the soccer and cross country teams and had a loving family. But one thing about the Johnsons made them very unordinary- they could perform magic.

When a mysterious spell on his school counselor backfires, Cadan is faced with the realization that everything he thought he knew about his family has been a lie. He leaves his home to search out the identities of his real parents, but before he can discover the truth, he is tracked down by another group of magic-wielders, this time sent by the government.

The top-secret Department of Magic was set up in the 1930s when the U.S. government became aware of the existence of mages and fantastical creatures. For the last eighty years, the agency has been commissioned with searching out and detaining these magical beings, and making sure everyone else believes they are no more than myth.

Now a detainee within the Department, Cadan quickly realizes the truth – that not everything in this world is quite as it seems. The Femme Fatales, a world famous all-female pop group is actually a troupe of fairies. And Tyler Knox, the teen heartthrob, is secretly an elf who has had to alter his ears before appearing in movies.

Now a rookie agent, Cadan begins to train with his new team of misfit operatives, among them one boy with four arms who is afraid of the dark, another with black wings, and an elf with anger management issues. The group fights constantly, their training sessions are disasters, and to top it off, the leader of the team hates him. But when one of the leaders initiates a plan to destroy the Department, the only thing that stands in his way is Cadan and his ragtag band. With the fate of the Department at stake, will they be able to stop the rogue agent and his forces?

Click here or type in http://smarturl.it/3f7ght into your web browser to pick up your copy of Betrayal of Magic .

_____

The Secret of Getting Things Done: Think Less, Achieve More, by Sri Vishwanath, is regularly $2.99 but has been discounted 67% to just $0.99 in the Amazon Kindle store, and has received an average user rating of 4.1 out of 5 stars based on 19 customer reviews.

Category: Self-Improvement

Here is the book’s description from the Amazon website:

Enables readers to think less to achieve more bridging the gap between thoughts and actions

Breakthrough process to quickly simplify your thoughts, and transcend from a state of confusion and indecision to calmness and right action.

Click here or type in http://smarturl.it/qtiul3 into your web browser to pick up your copy of The Secret of Getting Things Done: Think Less, Achieve More .

_____

Shadow on the Rose, by Laura Jane Leigh, is just $2.99 today in the Amazon Kindle store, and this book has received an average user rating of 4 out of 5 stars based on 15 customer reviews.

Category: Romantic Suspense

Here is the book’s description from the Amazon website:

Marion is thrilled when she and her husband, James, buy a lovely, old mansion with a rose garden. After they move in, however, she falls ill and must stay at home to rest. Alone and depressed, she begins to have strange dreams which seem to take her back into the past. Although James is skeptical, Marion believes that when she sleeps, she is leading the life of a young Victorian woman, Mariana.

Mariana used to visit the house as a guest of her friend Rosamund, whose mother is thought to have drowned while rowing on the river with her husband. During her stays with the family, Mariana comes to suspect that the death was not an accident. She investigates, but meets with obstacles that prevent her from finding the full truth.

Eighty years later, Marion takes up the search. The scene shifts back and forth from the nineteenth century to the twentieth, as her discoveries push forward those of her Victorian alter ego. The latter, after she accuses someone of murder, is never entirely free from doubt: she thinks she may have persecuted an innocent person. By determining what really happened, Marion thinks she can drive away the guilt that has been hovering about the house like a ghost. What she fails to see is that her obsession is damaging her relationship with James. If she’s not careful, she’ll destroy her marriage and her future happiness.

Note: Canadian spelling is used throughout.

Click here or type in http://smarturl.it/ldlusr into your web browser to pick up your copy of Shadow on the Rose .

Want to have this blog sent wirelessly to your e-Ink Kindle vs. reading it on your computer? Try out the free two-week trial subscription! Click here for the Amazon page of the Kindle Books and Tips blog or type in http://smarturl.it/fkblog into your web browser.

Organize your books on your Kindle Fire with our Collections and Categories App! Click Here or type in http://smarturl.it/firecollections into your web browser to get it now!

Today’s Featured Kindle Book of the Day is Better Off Dead in Deadwood, by Ann Charles, and this book is just $3.99 in the Amazon Kindle store; this book has received an average user rating of 4.7 out of 5 stars based on 261 customer reviews.

Category: Mystery / Thriller / Horror

Here is the book’s description from the Amazon website:

***IT’S FINALLY HERE! The 4th book in the award-winning Deadwood Mystery Series!!***

Praise for BETTER OFF DEAD IN DEADWOOD…

“Flirty, Frisky, Frantic and Frightening…Better Off Dead is just plain Fun!!!!” ~Terri Reid, Bestselling Author of the Mary O’ Reilly Paranormal Mystery Series

“Better Off Dead is a wonderful blend of sizzle and sleuth-juggling murder, men and mayhem on every page!” ~Mary Buckham, Award-winning Author

Overview of BETTER OFF DEAD IN DEADWOOD…

One dead body. One century-old haunted opera house. One zombie musical. One pissed-off detective.

Will Violet “Spooky” Parker keep her tail out of trouble or will she end up as one of Deadwood’s walking dead?

Click here or type in http://smarturl.it/vjhxb3 into your web browser to pick up your copy of Better Off Dead in Deadwood.

About the Author:

Ann Charles is an award-winning author who writes romantic mysteries that are splashed with humor. Her book Nearly Departed in Deadwood won the 2010 Daphne du Maurier for Excellence in Mystery/Suspense Award and the 2011 Romance Writers of America Golden Heart Award for Best Novel With Strong Romantic Elements.

Currently, she has several fiction books available: Nearly Departed in Deadwood, Optical Delusions in Deadwood, Dead Case in Deadwood (selected as one of Suspense Magazine’s BEST OF 2012 books), and Better Off Dead in Deadwood, which are all part of her ongoing Deadwood Mystery Series. The fifth book in this series will be out in late 2013/early 2014.

Also available from Ann are the first two books in her Jackrabbit Junction Mystery Series: Dance of the Winnebagos and Jackrabbit Junction Jitters. The third book in this series will be out in mid-2013.
She has a couple of short stories as well– Seeing Trouble (a short story from her Deadwood Mystery Series) and The Old Man’s Back in Town (a short story from her upcoming Goldwash Mystery Series, the first of which will be out in 2014).

She also has two non-fiction book available: Nail It! The Secret to Building an Effective Fiction Writer’s Platform and Growing Your Audience: Workbook for Published, Unpublished, and Under-published Writers. Both books are co-written with Jacquie Rogers.

A member of Sisters in Crime and Romance Writers of America for many moons, Ann has a B.A. in English with an emphasis on creative writing from the University of Washington. She is currently toiling away on her next book, wishing she was on a Mexican beach with an ice-cold Corona in one hand and her Kindle in the other. When she is not dabbling in fiction, she is arm wrestling with her two kids, attempting to seduce her husband, and arguing with her sassy cat. Most nights, you can find her hanging out over at www.anncharles.com, on Facebook as Ann Charles, or as DeadwoodViolet on Twitter–especially around midnight when her quirky fictional world comes to life.

You can visit Ann’s Amazon author page if you click here or type in http://smarturl.it/ann into your web browser.

Want to have this blog sent wirelessly to your e-Ink Kindle vs. reading it on your computer? Try out the free two-week trial subscription! Click here for the Amazon page of the Kindle Books and Tips blog or type in http://smarturl.it/fkblog into your web browser.

Organize your books on your Kindle Fire with the Collections and Categories App! Click Here or type in http://smarturl.it/firecollections into your web browser to get it now!

Each day, Amazon sponsors the Kindle Daily Deal and the Free App of the Day.

Amazon’s Kindle Daily Deal is a one-day only offer where a specific Kindle book for adults, one for young readers (children or young adults), a romance, and a science fiction / fantasy title have been hand-selected by the editors at Amazon and significantly discounted for today only.

Amazon’s free App of the Day can be utilized on a Kindle Fire and Android-based smartphones and tablet computers, and the app can be a game, utility, or who knows? Each app is offered free for 24 hours and, after that period is over it goes back to paid status and a new app is the Free App of the Day.

Kindle Daily Deal

Today’s Kindle Daily Deal for adults is all three books in the Star Trek: The Next Generation: Cold Equations series, by David Mack, and each of these books was $7.99 yesterday but have been discounted 70% to just $0.99 for today only.

Today’s Kindle Teens Daily Deal is It’s a Mall World After All , by Janette Rallison, and this book was $5.99 yesterday but has been discounted 67% to just $1.99 for today only. This book has received an average user rating of 4.4 out of 5 stars based on 21 customer reviews.

Today’s Kindle Sci-Fi / Fantasy Daily Deal is Dawn , by Octavia E. Butler, and this book was $14.99 yesterday but has been discounted 80% to just $2.99 for today only. This book has received an average user rating of 4.4 out of 5 stars based on 107 customer reviews.

Today’s Kindle Romance Daily Deal is Caught on Camera , by KimLaw, and this book was $9.99 yesterday but has been discounted 80% to just $1.99 for today only. This book has received an average user rating of 4.3 out of 5 stars based on 94 customer reviews.

You can check each of them out if you click here or type in http://smarturl.it/dailydeal into your web browser.

In the interest of time and space (pun intended), I am not going to list out each of the Star Trek books. However, you can check each of them out if you click here or type in http://smarturl.it/dailydeal into your web browser to pick up your copy of The Demands .

Here is the It’s a Mall World After All book description from the Amazon website:

Charlotte’s job as a perfume spritzer at the mall is perfect for spying on her classmates who hang out there. So when she see her best friend’s boyfriend flirting with another girl, a series of hilarious, often foiled attempts to catch him in the act of cheating follow. Through it all, the gorgeous and infuriating Colton is there laughing at her. But when Charlotte and Colton dress up as Santa and his elf for a charity event at the mall, they get more attention than they bargained for-leading to a mall brawl, a moment of truth, and the realization that being right isn’t always a one-size-fits solution.

Click here or type in http://smarturl.it/dailydeal into your web browser to pick up your copy of It’s a Mall World After All .

Here is the Dawn book description from the Amazon website:

Rescued from Earth’s destruction, one woman is called upon to revive mankind

Lilith Iyapo has just lost her husband and son when atomic fire consumes Earth—the last stage of the planet’s final war. Hundreds of years later Lilith awakes, deep in the hold of a massive alien spacecraft piloted by the Oankali—who arrived just in time to save humanity from extinction. They have kept Lilith and other survivors asleep for centuries, as they learned whatever they could about Earth. Now it is time for Lilith to lead them back to her home world, but life among the Oankali on the newly resettled planet will be nothing like it was before.

The Oankali survive by genetically merging with primitive civilizations—whether their new hosts like it or not. For the first time since the nuclear holocaust, Earth will be inhabited. Grass will grow, animals will run, and people will learn to survive the planet’s untamed wilderness. But their children will not be human. Not exactly.

This ebook features an illustrated biography of Octavia E. Butler including rare images from the author’s estate.

Click here or type in http://smarturl.it/dailydeal into your web browser to pick up your copy of Dawn .

Here is the Caught on Camera book description from the Amazon website:

Beautiful Vega Zaragoza was poised to become fashion’s next “it girl” when she learned the hard way that sex and politics don’t mix. Now the former model spends her days behind the camera, working as a videographer to hide from public scrutiny. Her life is on autopilot until a promising new job sparks her ambition. There’s just one catch: she must land an exclusive interview with JP Davenport, the golden boy of American politics and first in line for Georgia’s open senatorial seat.
Charming and gorgeous, JP is also fiercely private, a charismatic enigma with his fair share of secrets—not to mention a string of romantic conquests a mile long. He could make Vega’s career, or destroy what credibility she has left—because JP has made it very clear that his interest in Vega is anything but professional. Vega should know better than to trust a man like him. But kiss by heated kiss, she discovers this man may be worth the risk.

Click here or type in http://smarturl.it/dailydeal into your web browser to pick up your copy of Caught on Camera .

Free App of the Day

Today’s Free App of the Day is Crazy Tanks , and this game app is normally $0.99 in the Amazon App Store but is free for today only.

Here is the app’s description from the Amazon App Store website:

CrazyTanks is an insanely fun game. Drive your crazy tank. Shoot at enemy tanks and enemy towers. Collect yummy powerups.

Game has 30 different levels. There are 4 types of enemy tanks and 2 types of turrets. More levels are in development.

A tank! A tank! My kingdom for a tank!

You can pick up your free copy of Crazy Tanks by clicking here or typing in http://smarturl.it/appdeal into your web browser.

Want to have this blog sent wirelessly to your Kindle vs. reading it on your computer? Try out the free two-week subscription! Click here for the Amazon page for Free Kindle Books Plus a Few Other Tipsor type in http://www.tinyurl.com/fkblog into your computer’s web browser.

Download the Free Kindle Books and Tips blog app for your Kindle Fire or Android-based smartphone or tablet – for free, of course – by clicking here or type in http://smarturl.it/fkbtfreeapp into your computer’s web browser from the Amazon App Store or click here or type in http://bit.ly/fkbtgoogle into your computer’s web browser for the Google App Store.

Here are six discounted and free Kindle book offers for your morning consideration from highly-rated independent authors who have discounted the pricing for a limited time just for members of the blog. While the pricing of the free status is valid at the time of this posting, please make sure you check the pricing carefully before you press the “buy” button as it could change at any time!

Together Again: Spirit Travel Novel , by Mimi Barbour, is regularly $5.25 but has been discounted 81% to just $0.99 in the Amazon Kindle store, and this three book collection has received an average user rating of 4.9 out of 5 stars based on 11 customer reviews.

Category: Paranormal Romance

Here is the book’s description from the Amazon website:

She’s sixteen, pregnant and terrified.

He’s a reporter after a story and has no time for anything else.

Her spirit invades him and tears apart his calm world.

Go figure – they fall in love!! Now she needs to leave him and go back to her own time…

Click here or type in http://smarturl.it/x40ens into your web browser to pick up your copy of Together Again: Spirit Travel Novel .

_____

The Boy Who Lit Up the Sky , by J. Naomi Ay, is regularly $2.99 but has been discounted 67% to just $0.99 in the Amazon Kindle store, and this book has received an average user rating of 4.8 out of 5 stars based on 12 customer reviews.

Category: Science Fiction / Fantasy

Here is the book’s description from the Amazon website:

Lydia Kalila, the Princess Royal of Mishnah, is forced into marriage with the son of her country’s mortal enemy for the sole purpose of producing an heir. Duty comes before personal choice for a princess especially when her country has been at war for more than a thousand years. Lydia’s pregnancy removes her brother and new husband from their respective lines of succession placing her yet unborn infant at the head of the both queues. No one is happy about this, especially Lydia who dies during childbirth from wounds caused by the talon-like toenails of her very strange newborn son.

Grief stricken at the loss of his daughter, the Mishnese King hastily sends Senya, his infant grandson off to a decrepit inner city orphanage with the intent to retrieve him much later when things got sorted out. At the orphanage, Senya is protected by the invalid Sister Meri who instantly falls in love with the little fellow. She’s not bothered at all by his strange telekinetic and telepathic powers, flickering pupil-less silver eyes or wicked clawed toenails. The House Father takes a shine to the lad too and when Senya is six years old, he is summoned to the Father’s chamber. The Father ends up in flames forcing Meri and Senya out into a snow storm running for their lives.

Thus begins the tale of Senya, a prince created to be king of a planet but then tossed aside until his twelfth birthday when Lt. Taner, a Royal Guard detective is sent to retrieve him. It is unclear to all whether Senya is the product of something good or something evil but in either case, it is very apparent that he is something more than just Lydia Kalila’s son.

Click here or type in http://smarturl.it/bbyyng into your web browser to pick up your copy of The Boy Who Lit Up the Sky .

_____

Deception Peak , by Diane Lynn Gardner, is regularly $3.99 but has been discounted 75% to just $0.99 in the Amazon Kindle store, and has received an average user rating of 4.7 out of 5 stars based on 30 customer reviews.

Category: Young Adult / Adventure / Fantasy

Here is the book’s description from the Amazon website:

The first book of a trilogy, Deception Peak is a young adult adventure fantasy about a teenager, Ian Wilson, who follows his father through a portal that magically appears on their computer screen. They travel into a deceptively beautiful Realm, where horses run free, the wind sings prophetic melodies, and their computer avatars come to life.

But when the two are separated, Ian is abducted by a tribe of dragon worshipers and is forced to find his courage. As he struggles for his freedom and embarks on a perilous search to find his father, Ian meets the true peacekeepers of the Realm. It’s then that he learns there is a greater purpose for being there.

Click here or type in http://smarturl.it/ddn3ko into your web browser to pick up your copy of Deception Peak .

_____

Twisted Justice , by Diane Capri, is regularly $3.99 but has been discounted 75% to just $0.99 today in the Amazon Kindle store, and this book has received an average user rating of 4.6 out of 5 stars based on 10 customer reviews.

Category: Mystery / Thriller

Here is the book’s description from the Amazon website:

Bestselling Author Diane Capri’s Legal Thriller Delights John Grisham fans!

War hero General Randall Andrews has been nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court and George Carson leads the fight to defeat him. Before the final Senate vote on his nomination, Andrews is found shot to death in his Tampa home and George is arrested for murder. Judge Willa Carson believes with all her heart that her husband is the victim of twisted justice, but why won’t he defend himself? George Carson could kill a man. But he didn’t kill Andrews. Or did he?

Realistic twists and turns keep readers engaged and guessing until the finale of this tense political thriller!

Click here or type in http://smarturl.it/32985r into your web browser to pick up your copy of Twisted Justice .

_____

After the Ending , by Lindsey Pogue and Lindsey Fairleigh, is free today in the Amazon Kindle store, and this book has received an average user rating of 4.3 out of 5 stars based on 84 customer reviews. I received a note from the author saying this book would be free through May 18th.

Category: Science Fiction / Romance

Here is the book’s description from the Amazon website:

The Virus spread. Billions died. The Ending began. We may have survived the apocalypse, but the Virus changed us.

When people started getting sick, “they” thought it was just the flu. My roommate, my boyfriend, my family…they’re all gone now. I got sick too. I should have died with them—with the rest of the world—but I didn’t. I thought witnessing the human population almost disappear off the face of the earth was the craziest thing I’d ever experience. I was so wrong. My name is Dani O’Connor, I’m twenty-six-years-old, and I survived The Ending.

The Virus changed everything. The world I knew is gone, and life is backwards. We’ve all had to start over. I’ve been stripped of my home, my dreams…all that is me. I’m someone else now—broken and changed. Other survivors’ memories and emotions haunt me. They invade my mind until I can no longer separate them from my own. I won’t let them consume me. I can’t. My name is Zoe Cartwright, I’m twenty-six-years-old, and I survived The Ending.

We’ve been inseparable for most of our lives, and now our friendship is all we have left. The aftermath of the Virus has stranded us on opposite sides of the United States. Trusting strangers, making sacrifices, killing—we’ll do anything to reach one another. Fear and pain may be unavoidable, but we’re strong…we’re survivors. But to continue surviving in this unfamiliar world plagued by Crazies and strange new abilities, we have to adapt. We have to evolve.
And more than anything, we have to find each other.

Click here or type in http://smarturl.it/qcx2da into your web browser to pick up your copy of After the Ending .

_____

Strange Magic , by Gord Rollo, is free today in the Amazon Kindle store, and this book has received an average user rating of 4.6 out of 5 stars based on 9 customer reviews. I received a note from the author saying this book would be free through May 19th.

Category: Horror

Here is the book’s description from the Amazon website:

A MAN HIDING FROM A TERRIBLE PAST…

Wilson Kemp is a man living a lie in Billington, Pennsylvania. He’s been in hiding for a long time, running from a dreadful secret that has forced him to change his name, move to this small secluded town, and abandon what had once been a stellar career. Once, he’d been a talented escape artist on the brink of fame and fortune, but now he’s a broken down alcoholic scared of his own shadow. Mind you, he has good reason to be scared because his worst fear has finally caught up with him, and the sleepy little town of Billington is about to be declared a war zone.

HIS DARK SECRET ABOUT TO BE REVEALED…

With the aid of a malevolent entity trapped within an old wooden trunk, a stranger from Wilson’s past has hunted him down; an insane fellow magician who will stop at nothing to get his twisted, bloody revenge. To survive, Wilson will have to conquer his own inner demons to fight his old enemy in a battle that will lead to the gates of death and beyond. To live, Wilson will have to accomplish the greatest magic trick of all time: escaping from the dark pit of Hell itself…

Special Bonus Content: The short story Every Magician has to Start Somewhere by Gord Rollo

Click here or type in http://smarturl.it/nox4fl into your web browser to pick up your copy of Strange Magic .

Want to have this blog sent wirelessly to your e-Ink Kindle vs. reading it on your computer? Try out the free two-week trial subscription! Click here for the Amazon page of the Free Kindle Books and Tips blog or type in http://smarturl.it/fkblog into your web browser.

Download the Free Kindle Books and Tips blog app for your Kindle Fire or Android-based smartphone or tablet – for free, of course – by clicking here or type in http://smarturl.it/fkbtfreeapp into your computer’s web browser from the Amazon App Store or click here or type in http://bit.ly/fkbtgoogle into your computer’s web browser for the Google App Store.

Here are ten discounted and free Kindle book offers for your consideration from highly-rated independent authors who have discounted the pricing for a limited time just for members of the blog. While the pricing of the free status is valid at the time of this posting, please make sure you check the pricing carefully before you press the “buy” button as it could change at any time!

Looking for Love, by Rita Herron, is a three book box set that is regularly $2.99 but has been discounted 67% to just $0.99 in the Amazon Kindle store, and this book has received an average user rating of 4.3 out of 5 stars based on 18 customer reviews.

Category: Contemporary Romance

Here is the book’s description from the Amazon website:

A boxed set of three of Rita’s romantic comedies:
3 single women looking for love – but are they looking in all the wrong places?
HUSBAND HUNTING 101 – a woman takes a class to find a husband and is suddenly attracted to a commitaphobic advertising executive she just hired to create a new ad for her sexy lingerie store!

HERE COMES THE BRIDE – a twin switch leaves Marci Turner playing fake fiancé to a sexy man at his best friend’s wedding. But his parents decide to throw them an impromptu wedding and the fireworks begin!

UNDER THE COVERS – a marriage therapist hires an actor to play her husband for publicity purposes when her husband leaves her for a man!

Click here or type in http://smarturl.it/d34mvq into your web browser to pick up your copy of Looking for Love .

_____

St. Matthew’s Passion: A Medical Romance, by Sam Archer, is regularly $2.99 but has been discounted 67% to just $0.99 in the Amazon Kindle store, and this book has received an average user rating of 4 out of 5 stars based on 15 customer reviews.

Category: Romance

Here is the book’s description from the Amazon website:

A NOVEL ABOUT ROMANCE, ABOUT PASSION, AND ABOUT THE CHOICES A MAN AND A WOMAN ARE FORCED TO MAKE BETWEEN LOVE AND THEIR CAREERS

Melissa Havers is one of the brightest rising young stars in the ultra-competitive world of trauma surgery. When she lands a position at the prestigious St Matthew’s Hospital in London, she’s determined to beat the odds as a woman and become the best in her field.

But Melissa didn’t expect her boss, Daniel Finmore-Gage – Fin, as he’s known, and the most brilliant surgeon in the city – to have quite such an impact on her from the start.

And she certainly didn’t expect to fall in love with him.

Fin, though, has his reasons for not returning Melissa’s feelings. He’s been married before, he’s too professional to abuse the authority he has over her – and he harbours a dark secret which he can’t reveal to Melissa, and which has made him vow he’ll never put anything before his work.

Not even love…

As the powerful forces which bind these two strong, vital personalities threaten to disrupt the very functioning of the service to which they’ve both dedicated their professional careers, a crisis occurs which will test not only the bond between them, but also their commitment to the lives they’ve chosen for themselves.

Breathtaking in its suspense, and heartbreaking in its portrayal of a love affair that appears at once inevitable and doomed to failure, ST MATTHEW’S PASSION is a thrilling novel by a practising doctor which blends authentic specialist medical detail with a universal story of the complexities of the human heart.

Click here or type in http://smarturl.it/7s0o3o into your web browser to pick up your copy of St. Matthew’s Passion: A Medical Romance .

_____

The Afterlife Series Box Set, by Willow Rose, is a three book box set that is usually $4.99 but has been discounted 80% to just $0.99 in the Amazon Kindle store, and has received an average user rating of 4 out of 5 stars based on 62 customer reviews.

Category: Fantasy

Here is the book’s description from the Amazon website:

Book 1 – BEYOND
Death is only the beginning …

Meghan is 16 when she dies.

She wakes up on a flying steamboat on her way to a school run by Angels in a white marble castle.

On the boat she meets Mick who has been dead for more than a hundred years but still looks like a teenager. He helps her past the difficult beginning at the new school in a new world filled with magic.

One day some of Meghan’s roommates find a mirror in the cellar of the school and they persuade her to go through it with them – well knowing it is strictly against the rules of the school. Meghan ends up back on earth where she meets Jason. But Jason is in danger and Meghan knows something important. Something that is a matter of life and death. Soon she is forced to choose between the two worlds. The one she belongs to now and the one she left.

Click here or type in http://smarturl.it/q0qm6j into your web browser to pick up your copy of The Afterlife Series Box Set .

_____

Leaving the Hall Light On, by Madeline Sharples, is normally $2.99 but has been discounted 67% to just $0.99 today in the Amazon Kindle store, and this book has received an average user rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars based on 130 customer reviews.

Category: Memoir

Here is the book’s description from the Amazon website:

Leaving the Hall Light On: A Mother’s Memoir of Living with Her Son’s Bipolar Disorder and Surviving His Suicide charts the near-destruction of one middle-class family whose son committed suicide after a seven-year struggle with bipolar disorder. Madeline Sharples, author, poet and web journalist, goes deep into her own well of grief to describe her anger, frustration and guilt. She describes many attempts — some successful, some not — to have her son committed to hospital and to keep him on his medication. The book also charts her and her family’s redemption, how she considered suicide herself, and ultimately, her decision live and take care of herself as a woman, wife, mother and writer.

Click here or type in http://smarturl.it/vs998h into your web browser to pick up your copy of Leaving the Hall Light On .

_____

The Last Stoic, by Morgan Wade, is free today in the Amazon Kindle store, and this book has received an average user rating of 4 out of 5 stars based on 22 customer reviews. I received a note from the author saying this is the last day for this book to be free.

Category: Historical Fiction

Here is the book’s description from the Amazon website:

The Last Stoic is a story of appetite and fear, both modern and ancient. Half of the story’s narrative occurs in the time and place of the ancient Roman Empire; the other half occurs in the present-day United States. The parallels between the two eras are so strong that the narrative continues uninterrupted as the setting shifts from historic Rome to modern America, alternating from chapter to chapter.

Marcus, a young man from a northern provincial border town, journeys deep into the heart of the empire and witnesses first-hand the excesses that can lead to ruin, both personal and political. His story offers an ancient commentary on the preoccupations of our own turbulent times. Shortly after his arrival, the empire is thrown into a panic by an unprecedented barbarian attack on the capital. Suspicion and paranoia abound. A young Roman/American runaway named Patrick, disillusioned with his own life and the state of his country, becomes convinced that Marcus is a dangerous traitor. Culminating in a public accusation made by Patrick, Marcus is wrongfully imprisoned, exiled and tortured as an enemy of the state. In prison, he confronts the many contradictions he has found in his adopted home, and in himself.

Throughout the story, in both eras, the writings of the philosopher-emperor Marcus Aurelius (The Meditations) insinuate themselves unexpectedly into Marcus’ life. In prison, he is saved by a chance meeting with Sextus Condianus, the “last Stoic” of the title, a cell-mate who is able to fully recite Aurelius’ words and impart their wisdom. Ultimately, it is this unanticipated and unbidden instruction that gives the young man the strength he requires to survive. It becomes evident that the words of the venerable Stoic emperor have as much relevance to our own era as they did to his.

Click here or type in http://smarturl.it/1olodi into your web browser to pick up your copy of The Last Stoic .

_____

The Devil of Light, by Gae-Lynn Woods, is free today in the Amazon Kindle store, and this book has received an average user rating of 4.9 out of 5 stars based on 33 customer reviews. I received a note from the author saying this book would be free through May 18th.

Category: Mystery

Here is the book’s description from the Amazon website:

A BIZARRE MURDER

When young Detective Cass Elliot responds to a report of domestic violence at the home of a prominent businessman, she finds him violently murdered in the barnyard with his battered wife unconscious near the tool that killed him. Still raw from her own unsolved attack six years ago, Cass is stunned when confronted with graphic photographs scattered across their kitchen floor, and she wonders if the wife might’ve had cause to kill her husband.

A COVERT WEB OF LIES AND EXPLOITATION

Cass and her partner Mitch Stone delve into a cunning world of blackmail and violence – and find a cult concealed for nearly a century beneath the genteel, small town façade of Arcadia in East Texas. Their investigation triggers a brutal response from powerful men who will protect their identities at any cost. They unleash a ruthless killer whose actions create a media frenzy and destroy the fabric of trust within the police department.

A PERVASIVE EVIL
Cass and Mitch circle closer to the cult’s few members, following a slim lead into a night lit by fire. A night that begins with a blood ritual and ends with Cass holding a man’s life – or death – in her hands and struggling to walk the fine line between vengeance and justice.

Click here or type in http://smarturl.it/cl6mrg into your web browser to pick up your copy of The Devil of Light .

Want to have this blog sent wirelessly to your e-Ink Kindle vs. reading it on your computer? Try out the free two-week trial subscription! Click here for the Amazon page of the Free Kindle Books and Tips blog or type in http://smarturl.it/fkblog into your web browser.

Organize your books on your Kindle Fire with our Collections and Categories App! Click Here or type in http://smarturl.it/firecollections into your web browser to get it now!