Sep 2 2012
Daily Deals: Inspiring memoir, romance, science fiction, and inspirational romance
Breaking Night by Liz Murray. $1.99.
From Jacket Copy:
In the vein of The Glass Castle, Breaking Night is the stunning memoir of a young woman who at age fifteen was living on the streets, and who eventually made it into Harvard.
Liz Murray was born to loving but drug-addicted parents in the Bronx. In school she was taunted for her dirty clothing and lice-infested hair, eventually skipping so many classes that she was put into a girls’ home. At age fifteen, Liz found herself on the streets when her family finally unraveled. She learned to scrape by, foraging for food and riding subways all night to have a warm place to sleep.
When Liz’s mother died of AIDS, she decided to take control of her own destiny and go back to high school, often completing her assignments in the hallways and subway stations where she slept. Liz squeezed four years of high school into two, while homeless; won a New York Times scholarship; and made it into the Ivy League. Breaking Night is an unforgettable and beautifully written story of one young woman’s indomitable spirit to survive and prevail, against all odds.
The Bounty Hunter And The Bride by Vickie McDonough. $1.99.
From Jacket Copy:
Katie Hoffman lost her husband after only four months of marriage. Pregnant and close to losing the farm, she advertises to sell it. When a handsome buyer offers to marry her and let her keep the farm, she hastily agrees, wanting to give her child a father. But rushing into another marriage proves to be a mistake when a rugged bounty hunter crashes the wedding to capture the groom. Will Katie slow down enough to hear God’s voice? Dusty McIntyre lost his wife to a heinous outlaw. After tracking the criminal for over a year, catching him doesn’t bring Dusty the satisfaction that he’d hoped for. Dusty feels compelled to help Katie. Will he stay and find the peace and love he is looking for?
The Works of Andre Norton by Andre Norton. $.99.
From Jacket Copy:
Illustrated with 10 unique illustrations.
The Defiant Agents
The Gifts of Asti
Key Out of Time
Plague Ship
Ralestone Luck
Rebel Spurs
Ride Proud, Rebel!
Star Born
Star Hunter
Storm Over Warlock
The Time Traders
Voodoo Planet
Confusingly there are several editions of Andre Norton’s works, particularly compilation editions and each compilation, while having a similar name, will have a different collection of works.
The Crossroads Cafe by Deborah Smith. $1.99.
From Jacket Copy:
The world’s most beautiful movie star is scarred in a firey car accident. Her career over and her self-esteem in shreds she hides in the magnificent home her grandmother left her in the mountains of North Carolina. But her motherly cousin refuses to let her become a recluse and a handsome neighbor with painful dilemmas of his own is lured into the mix. Romance family life drama humor and secrets.
We actually have two reviews of this book. One by Jayne (http://dearauthor.com/book-reviews/the-crossroads-cafe-by-deborah-smith/) and another by Janine (http://dearauthor.com/book-reviews/the-crossroads-cafe-by-deborah-smith-2/)
Send to Kindle
Sep 02, 2012 @ 12:30:28
I hadn’t realized Smith got a seven figure advance for her traditionally published books, or that the reason she parted ways with her publishers was over marketing. It’s a little odd — she was publishing women’s fiction at a time with some other big(ish) name romance authors were, and hers was better but she sort of disappeared.
I read some of her category romances way back when and liked them, and really loved a couple of other books (A Place to Call Home, When Venus Fell), but the last few traditionally published books she wrote were not keepers for me. The mermaid books she published through Belle Books seemed original and inventive but a little loosely written.
Sep 02, 2012 @ 14:58:25
The Andre Norton anthology shown above is a collection of all her works that are believed to be out of copyright and are free at Project Gutenberg. I think these were works published in 50s and early 60s, but the copyright on them was not renewed in a timely fashion (according to the law back then).
From what I can remember after Norton’s death in 2005, there was also some type of legal battle over her estate and the rights to her works. But I think that has been settled.
Sep 02, 2012 @ 15:03:34
Not sure if you highlighted this one already but Exclusively Yours By Shannon Stacey is on sale directly at the Carina Press website in anticipation of her new release!
Sep 02, 2012 @ 19:57:43
I didn’t even know about the will fight over Norton’s estate. It sounds horrible.
She was one of my favorite authors from grade school on, but I didn’t think much of the collaborations published late in her life and did not read them after trying one or two.
These books listed are the one that were available in my school library and many are early novels in series that she later expanded or incorporated into her future world. Ride Proud Rebel and Rebel Spurs are historicals. The characters are mainly male because they were written before she was able to prove with Ordeal In Otherwhere that young sf readers would accept female characters in a major role in books.
Sep 02, 2012 @ 20:25:54
Jane,
I saw yr note about Breaking Night as yr next audio book and thought YES! Memoirs really work for me in audio, too, but alas I couldn’t find this on audible. Their search function often lets me down (alternatively I’m a search-dunce.) Do you have a link?
Bron
Sep 02, 2012 @ 20:27:59
@Bron Jameson: Here is the link.
Sep 02, 2012 @ 20:48:07
@Jane Litte:
Tx, Jane. Unfortunately “Due to publishing rights restrictions, we are not authorized to sell this item in the country where you live.” Which is probably why my search failed. :-(
Sep 03, 2012 @ 11:42:34
I *loved* THE CROSSROADS CAFE. Such a touching book and the setting (Appalachian Mountains) was so wonderfully described. It had its flaws but I enjoyed it a great deal.