DAILY DEALS: Award winning book, A holiday romance, and more
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Eat Cake by Jeanne Ray $ 1.99
From the Jacket Copy:
Ruth loves to bake cakes. When she is alone, she dreams up variations on recipes. When she meditates, she imagines herself in the warm, comforting center of a gigantic bundt cake. If there is a crisis, she bakes a cake; if there is a reason to celebrate, she bakes a cake.
Ruth sees it as an outward manifestation of an inner need to nurture her family—which is a good thing, because all of a sudden that family is rapidly expanding. First, her mother moves in after robbers kick in her front door in broad daylight. Then Ruth’s father, a lounge singer, who she’s seen only occasionally throughout her life, shatters both wrists and, having nowhere else to go, moves in, too. Her mother and father just happen to hate each other with a deep and poisonous emotion reserved only for life-long enemies. Oh, yes indeed!
Add to this mix two teenagers, a gainfully employed husband who is suddenly without a job, and a physical therapist with the instincts of a Cheryl Richardson and you’ve got a delightful and amusing concoction that comes with its own delicious icing.
One of Jeanne Ray’s specialties is giving us believable, totally likable characters, engaged in the large and small dramas and amusements of life. Eat Cake is whimsical, warm, and satisfying. Eat Cake is Jeanne Ray at her best. Pull up a chair and eat cake!
Zeroes by Chuck Wendig $ 1.99
From the Jacket Copy:
Five hackers—an Anonymous-style rabble-rouser, an Arab Spring hacktivist, a black-hat hacker, an old-school cipherpunk, and an online troll—are detained by the U.S. government, forced to work as white-hat hackers for Uncle Sam in order to avoid federal prison. At a secret complex known only as “the Lodge,” where they will spend the next year working as an elite cyber-espionage team, these misfits dub themselves “the Zeroes.”
But once the Zeroes begin to work, they uncover secrets that would make even the most dedicated conspiracy theorist’s head spin. And soon they’re not just trying to serve their time, they’re also trying to perform the ultimate hack: burrowing deep into the U.S. government from the inside, and hoping they’ll get out alive. Packed with electric wit and breakneck plot twists, Zer0es is an unforgettable thrill ride through the seedy underbelly of “progress.”
Holly by Jude Deveraux $ 2.99
From the Jacket Copy:
Jude Deveraux, the dazzling New York Times bestselling author of Wild Orchids and Forever and Always delivers a delightful and passionate yuletide tale sure to become a classic this and every holiday season.
Hollander “Holly” Latham can’t believe her good fortune. After endless calls, letters, emails, and promises, she’s finally persuaded her parents to buy Spring Hill Plantation just outside beautiful, historic Edenton in eastern North Carolina — and strategically located near Belle Chere, the purest, most untouched plantation site in America.
At the tender age of thirteen, Holly fell in love with Lorrie Beaumont, who inherited the Revolutionary-period estate when his heiress mother died during childbirth. Though more than a decade has passed since Holly last locked eyes with her childhood love, the passion she felt in her young heart has never come close to extinguishing — that is, until charming, ruggedly handsome Nick Taggert unexpectedly waltzes into her life and treats her to an unforgettable weekend of laughter and intense passion.
Despite Holly’s undeniable attraction to this dazzling stranger, she knows he’s not marriage material. What Holly doesn’t know is that Nick Taggert is actually Dr. Nicholas Taggert. Having been with more than his share of women only interested in money and pedigree, Nick decides to test Holly and conceal his more refined qualities. Will Holly be seduced by Lorrie’s wealth and privilege, or will she choose the simple gift of love that Nick has offered her? The answer is unveiled on a starry Christmas night, when passion, hate, and greed collide to reveal bitter truths that will forever change the course of Holly’s charmed life.
With Holly, Jude Deveraux once again uses her golden touch to conjure up a tale full of dazzling intrigue and inspiring romance. It is a story for all seasons and one to remember always.
The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate $ 1.99
From the Jacket Copy:
Winner of the 2013 Newbery Medal and a #1 New York Times bestseller, this stirring and unforgettable novel from renowned author Katherine Applegate celebrates the transformative power of unexpected friendships. Inspired by the true story of a captive gorilla known as Ivan, this illustrated novel is told from the point-of-view of Ivan himself.
Having spent 27 years behind the glass walls of his enclosure in a shopping mall, Ivan has grown accustomed to humans watching him. He hardly ever thinks about his life in the jungle. Instead, Ivan occupies himself with television, his friends Stella and Bob, and painting. But when he meets Ruby, a baby elephant taken from the wild, he is forced to see their home, and his art, through new eyes.
The One and Only Ivan was hailed as a best book of the year by Kirkus, School Library Journal, and Amazon, demonstrating it is a true classic in the making. In the tradition of timeless stories like Charlotte’s Web and Stuart Little, Katherine Applegate blends humor and poignancy to create Ivan’s unforgettable first-person narration in a story of friendship, art, and hope. An author’s note depicts the differences between the fictional story and true events.
Sold! On The One and Only Ivan.
@Janine: I read this book before I gave it to niece. I liked a lot.
@Sirius: Good to know!
Eat Cake is a great read along with her other book Step Ball Change.
I loved Julie and Romeo. Step Ball Change is good too.
I read Holly – it was one of the last, if not the last Devereux I read before breaking up with her for good. I don’t remember much about it except that it made me angry – I didn’t like Nick’s deception and the bad guy was really over the top, iirc. I don’t remember her sleeping around (but I doubt that would have bothered me, tbh).
I listened to The One and Only Ivan during my commute, but had to turn it off and finish it at home at about the halfway point because I was crying so hard it was unsafe to drive. That book messed me up. (I still loved it.) Maybe it’s me, but I often find kids books more heart-wrenching than adult books.