Sep 4 2012
Daily Deals: Contemporary, SFR, Classic Pulp Fiction, and Newbery Award Winner
Unbreak My Heart by Teresa Hill. $2.99.
From Jacket Copy:
Allie Bennett’s heart is broken. Fifteen years ago, she and her mother abandoned the only home she’d ever known, leaving behind Allie’s loving father and the painful reminders of her sister’s unexplained death. But eventually, everyone has to stop running.
Years later, while cleaning out her recently-deceased mother’s things, Allie finds an anonymous letter that raises new questions about her sister’s fate. Determined to finally have the truth, Allie returns to the only place left to find answers: her hometown in the famed bluegrass region of Kentucky.
Memories haunt her there. It seems the whole town is keeping secrets from her. Especially Stephen Whittaker, a sexy, charismatic man from her past. Stephen swears he wants to help Allie solve the mysteries locked in her childhood, but is proving to be a dangerous mystery himself.
Will Stephen break her heart all over again? Or will he be the one who finally heals it?
The Grifters by Jim Thompson. $1.99.
From Jacket Copy:
To his friends, to his coworkers, and even to his mistress Moira, Roy Dillon is an honest hardworking salesman. He lives in a cheap hotel just within his pay bracket. He goes to work every day. He has hundreds of friends and associates who could attest to his good character.
Yet, hidden behind three gaudy clown paintings in Roy’s pallid hotel room, sits fifty-two thousand dollars–the money Roy makes from his short cons, his “grifting.” For years, Roy has effortlessly maintained control over his house-of-cards life–until the simplest con goes wrong, and he finds himself critically injured and at the mercy of the most dangerous woman he ever met: his own mother.
THE GRIFTERS, one of the best novels ever written about the art of the con, is an ingeniously crafted story of deception and betrayal that was the basis for Stephen Frears’ and Martin Scorsese’s critically-acclaimed film of the same name.
The Princess Academy by Shannon Hale. $1.99.
From Jacket Copy:
Miri lives on a mountain where, for generations, her ancestors have quarried stone and lived a simple life. Then word comes that the king’s priests have divined her small village the home of the future princess. Sent to an academy to learn how to become a princess, Miri soon finds herself confronted with a harsh mistress, bitter competition among the girls, and even bandits intent on kidnapping the future princess.
The $1.99 price might only be at Amazon.
Crimson City by Liz Maverick. $3.99.
From Jacket Copy:
Crimson City kicks off a paranormal romance series featuring a city full of vampires, humans, werewolves, demons and mechs. In this world of hot heroes and bad-ass heroines, desire meets danger when human cop Dain tangles with gorgeous vampire Fleur. With paranormal romance, unique world-building, a big ensemble cast and a dynamite love story, Crimson City’s got it all.
A DANGEROUS PAIR
“I’m not what you think,” Dain said. “I’m not a good man.”
“You wouldn’t be here if you were,” Fleur answered, her voice thick with emotion. “Neither would I.” Her eyes shone an intense blue that seemed to penetrate his soul. Dain imagined he saw love in their depth, but he didn’t dare ask. Not yet. Because he couldn’t be sure of what was to come. And because he had enough emotion for both of them tonight.
“I’m warning you,” he said, stalking her and pulling the jeweled combs from her hair. He crowded up to her. “I’m warning you.”
“No more warnings,” she barely had time to say. He pushed her down on the bed.
The price is $3.99 at Amazon and $4.99 at Barnes and Noble. The price is a bit high for a deal and for a self published digital backlist re-release, but it is book 1 and I have to start with book 1 or the world will implode.
Send to Kindle
Sep 04, 2012 @ 14:20:21
Well, I’m not the only one making sure the world doesn’t implode by always, consistently, having-to, start with book 1 ;)
Sep 04, 2012 @ 14:26:38
Jane, have you read The Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale? I bought it on a whim yesterday as I finished my vacation reading 1 hour into a 5 hour drive home from a friend’s cottage (don’t worry, I was a passenger not the driver) and it was $0.99 at Amazon. I chose it because of the price ($0.99!) and because the first sentence of the book blurb hit a bunch of my YA buttons. Non-western setting! Bonus points for a fantasy-ish Mongolia! Fairy tale retelling! Friendship and loyalty between women! I got about half way through it yesterday and really love what I’ve read so far, but have dramatically different expectations for the books I read on my phone than I do my other book purchases so am very curious to find out what other people think of the book.
Sep 04, 2012 @ 14:27:35
Well, color me disappointed. Princess Academy looks good and I wanted to get it for my daughters, but the ebook doesn’t appear to be available in Canada, although book 2 is. I can’t even see a Kindle version on the U.S. website and Book 1 isn’t listed at all on Kobo. (Okay, I wanted to get it for myself as well.)
Sep 04, 2012 @ 18:15:29
I remember really enjoying Crimson City and the rest of the books in that series. I discovered both Marjorie M. Liu and Carolyn Jewel through their books in that series. It had an interesting premise, if a bit “Underworld” in tone with the Vamps vs Werewolves dynamic.
Sep 04, 2012 @ 19:00:27
@Reneesance: I was going to ask if anyone had read the Crimson City series because multiple authors have contributed books to it. I have found this approach to be problematic in other series and wasn’t sure what to expect here.
@srs: I really hope the Kindle version of The Book of a Thousand Days has been debugged. The version I read several years ago was just about the worst ebook I have ever come across. It was a wonderful book, but the OCR errors nigh about ruined the experience for me.
Sep 04, 2012 @ 20:31:45
@srs – I’ve not read that one but it sounds like I need to.
Sep 05, 2012 @ 08:40:28
@Susan: I did notice some errors (i.e. “w” at the end of a word became “ve”, so instead of “saw” the text was “save”) but to be honest they haven’t detracted from my reading enjoyment. Part of the reason may be that the errors are consistent so my brain is able to automatically correct most of them, but I think mostly I’m not bothered because I have much, much lower expectations for the books I read on my phone. I’m primarily a print reader and, while I do have the Kindle and Kobo apps on my computer, most of my e-reading is done on my phone. I never pay more than $2.99 for any e-book, but will download anything if it’s free and almost anything for $0.99. All I ask is that it keep me entertained while waiting in line or for an appointment. I read MUCH less closely and, while I can be very nit-picky for print errors, I just don’t pay the same attention to the text of my phone-books. That’s one of the reasons I’m curious about other people’s reactions to The Book of a Thousand Days. I’m really enjoying it, but I’m reading with far less attention than I would in any other medium.
@jane_l: As mentioned above, the e-version does have errors that may annoy you, but on the other hand it is (or was) only $0.99. If you do read it, I’m very curious to know what you think. I’m a little more than ½ way through and find myself thinking about it a lot. I might finish reading it on my computer, which I rarely do, because I feel like it deserves a lot more attention than I’ve been giving it by reading on my phone.
Sep 05, 2012 @ 12:20:13
@srs: Wow, thanks for that rec! I devoured The Book of a Thousand Days last night. I saw the same typos- saw/save, but they didn’t bother me much. I loved the story and the pseudo-Mongolian setting.
Sep 05, 2012 @ 15:00:54
@jane_l: It is great! There are lovely drawings included even in the ebook edition. Princess Academy is my second favourite Shannon Hale book, but does not have an Asian setting.
Sep 05, 2012 @ 16:36:54
@Estara: @Suzanna Medeiros: @srs: I love Shannon Hale too. My mother was a middle school librarian for years and raved about how generous an author Shannon Hale is. I’ve never read any of her books in e-format so I’m bummed to hear about the errors in them. Her print books are error free.
My favorite of her books is the first in the Bayern series, “The Goose Girl.”
If you like her, I recommend “East” by Edith Pattou. It too has a strong female heroine who through her strength of mind, body and will remakes her destiny.