Storytelling has always been a big part of Bonnie Leon’s life, starting with childhood legends and the family stories passed down from her Aleut ancestors. She dabbled at writing but never thought of becoming a published author until she returned to work when her youngest child reached nine years of age. Then in 1991 her life was altered by a horrific, debilitating traffic accident — a log truck hit the van she was driving.
After months of rehabilitation, doctors told her she’d never have a normal life again. Despite lingering pain, she accepted a scholarship to attend the Oregon Christian Writer’s Summer Conference, which ignited her passion for literature and writing.
“I felt like a dry sponge set adrift on a lake,” Bonnie told me yesterday. “I learned enough to begin work on my first novel.” A few short months after showing the manuscript to an editor at Thomas Nelson, she received a contract for The Journey of Eleven Moons, and today has 16 highly regarded historical-fiction and inspirational novels to her name.
Bonnie tops today’s Buffet with Touching the Clouds, Book 1 of her “Alaskan Skies” series. The story follows an unconventional woman living in an unusual time — Kate Evans leaves home to pursue her dream of being a bush pilot in Alaska during the Great Depression. Bonnie’s meticulous research, strong characters, and entertaining plot make this story shine against the spectacular backdrop of the Alaskan wilds.
She finds her story ideas while doing historical research, reviewing her family history, reflecting on her personal life, and sometimes even from newspaper stories.
“Sometimes they just appear in my mind,” she said. “I usually know where a story begins and where it ends, but all the life and drama in middle takes a lot of work and perseverance.” She begins her days with Bible reading and a devotional, then tends to her correspondence. She saves her afternoons for book writing and research, which often stretches into the evenings and weekends.
If there’s one drawback to finding fast success as a novelist, it’s that your first book or two are history before you’ve realized your full powers as a fiction writer. Bonnie believes that’s the case with her first, The Journey of Eleven Moons. Although it’s a delightful book that sold well, she now feels it’s not an example of her best writing. So Bonnie is currently revising the book for re-release on Kindle and other eBook formats.
Last summer Bonnie released Book 3 in her “Alaskan Skies” series, Joy Takes Flight, which is getting rave reviews.
As usual, each book listed here has gone FREE within the past 24 hours (except for the “Kindle Daily Deals” on page 3). Warning: Kindle book promotions can end without notice, so before downloading click the link “See Kindle price at Amazon” to verify that the book is still free. (Prices and availability may differ outside USA.)
Touching the Clouds (Alaskan Skies Book #1): A Novel
Historical Fiction
Author: Bonnie Leon
She went looking for adventure . . . and found more than she bargained for.
Kate Evans is an adventurous and independent young woman with a pioneering spirit. When she leaves her home in Washington State to follow her dream of being an Alaskan bush pilot, she knows it will be an uphill battle. But she never expected it to be quite like this. As the lone woman in a man’s world, she finds that contending with people’s expectations is almost as treacherous as navigating the wild arctic storms.
But even that seems easy compared to finding true love. She likes a fellow pilot and would even consider marrying him–if it weren’t for Paul, a mysterious man on her mail route with a gentle spirit and a past to hide. Can Kate break through the walls Paul has put up around his heart? And will her quest for adventure be her demise?
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Wearing the Cape
Comics & Graphic Novels
Author: Marion G. Harmon
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Who wants to be a superhero?
Hope did, but she grew out of it. Which made her superhuman breakthrough in the Ashland Bombing, just before starting her freshman year at the University of Chicago, more than a little ironic.
And now she has some decisions to make. Given the code-name “Astra” and invited to join the Sentinels, Chicago’s premier super-team, will she take up the cape and mask and become a career superhero? Or will she get a handle on her new powers (super-strength has some serious drawbacks) and then get on with her life-plan?
In a world where superheroes join unions and have agents, and the strongest and most photogenic ones become literal supercelebrities, the temptation to become a cape is strong. But the price can be high—especially if you’re “outed” and lose the shield of your secret identity.
Becoming a sidekick puts the decision off for awhile, but Hope’s life is further complicated when The Teatime Anarchist, the supervillain responsible for the Ashland Bombing, takes an interest in her. Apparently as Astra, Hope is supposed to save the world. Or at least a significant part of it.
Courageous: A Novel
Contemporary Fiction
Author: Randy Alcorn, Alex Kendrick, Stephen Kendrick
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From the creators of Fireproof comes an inspiring new story about everyday heroes who long to be the kinds of dads that make a lifelong impact on their children. As law enforcement officers, Adam Mitchell, Nathan Hayes, and their partners willingly stand up to the worst the world can offer. Yet at the end of the day, they face a challenge that none of them are truly prepared to tackle: fatherhood. While they consistently give their best on the job, good enough seems to be all they can muster as dads. But they’re quickly discovering that their standard is missing the mark.
They know that God desires to turn the hearts of fathers to their children, but their children are beginning to drift farther and farther away from them. Will they be able to find a way to serve and protect those who are most dear to them? When tragedy hits home, these men are left wrestling with their hopes, their fears, their faith, and their fathering. Can a newfound urgency help these dads draw closer to God . . . and to their children?
The Dead Room
Action & Adventure
Author: Robert Ellis
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A young woman is found, brutally murdered and left on gruesome display in the “safety” of her own home. The atrocity kicks off an investigation into a bizarre string of increasingly disturbing murders, all believed to be perpetrated by someone of unprecedented savagery and cunning. As the city’s panic rises, civil attorney Teddy Mack is thrown headlong into the grisly homicide case–and into a world of dirty politics and corrupt justice, where deceptions are as deadly as the killer’s twisted secrets. Now, another woman is about to meet the same horrific fate as the others. To end a madman’s reign, Teddy must enter his maze–a place of unimaginable terror and shocking revelations.
Taming Mighty Alaska: an RV Odyssey
Biographies & Memoirs
Author: William C. Anderson
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From the author of Bat-21, Anderson’s popular account of touring Alaska in an RV with his wife Dortha. Originally published in 1990, this book was a precursor to Anderson’s 1998 book, Please… Don’t Tailgate The Real Estate!, acclaimed as “The greatest invention for RVers since the kink-free sewer house.”
This edition contains all the photos from the original print publication.
Omegasphere
Science Fiction & Fantasy
Author: Christopher John Chater
Kurt Robbins always wondered where ideas came from. Then he found out. . . .
He just finished his first novel and his editor loves it. The only problem is that six other writers submitted the same manuscript, word for word. Is Kurt a plagiarizer or had something or someone seeded his mind with the idea?
Memeticist Ursula Stevens is Kurt’s only hope in finding out the truth. While being chased by an unknown government agency, Kurt and Ursula search out the other authors, hoping to figure out who infected them, and why, day by day, Kurt’s intelligence is growing by leaps and bounds.
The Devil’s Pitchfork (Derek Stillwater thrillers)
Mysteries & Thrillers
Author: Mark Terry
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It is called Chimera M13. It is the most dangerous biological weapon on the planet. It is locked away in a vault.
Terrorists calling themselves “The Fallen Angels” steal it. They intend to use it.
Only one man stands between The Fallen Angels and Armageddon. Dr. Derek Stillwater, troubleshooter for the Department of Homeland Security is that man.
All hell is about to break loose…
Gypsy Spirit: What My Boat Taught Me About Love And Life
Biographies & Memoirs
Author: Christine Bukruian
Follows a two-year voyage set amidst the tumultuous world of singlehanded sailing, recounting the true-life adventures and harrowing encounters of author Christine Bukruian’s initiation into the culture of boats, sailors, and the open sea.
Motivated by her mother’s passing, Christine purchases a used 36-foot sloop, renames it Gypsy Spirit and is soon “living the dream,” along with Kia, her 50-pound lab/golden mix. Through trial and misadventure, Gypsy Spirit and her crew are made seaworthy with the assistance of Ed, a seasoned South African sailor on his way to the Bahamas.
The Angry Woman Suite
Mystery, Thriller & Suspense
Author: Lee Fullbright
Raised in a crumbling New England mansion by four women with personalities as split as a cracked mirror, young Francis Grayson has an obsessive need to fix them all. There’s his mother, distant and beautiful Magdalene; his disfigured, suffocating Aunt Stella; his odious grandmother; and the bane of his existence, his abusive and delusional Aunt Lothian.
For years, Francis plays a tricky game of duck and cover with the women, turning to music to stay sane. He finds a friend and mentor in Aidan Madsen, schoolmaster, local Revolutionary War historian, musician and keeper of the Grayson women’s darkest secrets.
What is the truth, and whose version of the truth is correct?
Comfort Food
Contemporary Fiction
Author: Kitty Thomas
- $4.95 List Price
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Emily Vargas has been taken captive. As part of his conditioning methods, her captor refuses to speak to her, knowing how much she craves human contact. He’s far too beautiful to be a monster. Combined with his lack of violence toward her, this has her walking a fine line at the edge of sanity. Told in the first person from Emily’s perspective, Comfort Food is a tale of erotic surrender that explores what happens when all expectations of pleasure and pain are turned upside down, as whips become comfort and chicken soup becomes punishment.
Fancy Gap
Mysteries & Thrillers
Author: C. David Gelly
For travelers along the Blue Ridge Parkway at Fancy Gap, the fog often hangs like an azure dreamscape over the rolling green hills. But when a madman abducts two children and disappears into the wisps with the young brother and sister, the landscape becomes a nightmare for the children’s parents and local residents. The county sheriff remains under intense pressure to track down the predator, yet all leads come up cold and the officers are sickened when a horrific act at the Devil’s Den challenges them all to act quickly. To solve the crime before the Labor Day Flea Market and Gun Show, sleuths Quinn McSpain and Louisa Hawke are drawn into the mystery and head into the hills and hollows of the southwestern Virginia mountains.
The Leopard Tree
Children’s eBooks
Author: Lisa Brochu, Tim Merriman
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Three orphans from Kenya stow away on an airplane to embark on a desperate quest to meet the Secretary General of the United Nations in New York City and deliver a message they hope will help millions of homeless and hurting children in Africa. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz becomes their guidebook as they journey alone across the United States. The trio–one with HIV, one blind amputee, and one who hasn’t spoken for years after watching her family slaughtered–find themselves embroiled in a situation beyond their imaginations as they get close to meeting their goal.
Submission (The Plume)
Contemporary Fiction
Author: Ella Ardent
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Lifestyle reporter Joanna is prepared to do whatever is necessary to get the story about the notorious private club known as the Plume – even apply for membership. Rex will do anything to protect his club and the privacy of his membership – and he isn’t adverse to teaching Joanna a lesson about curiosity – and control. They both get more than expected when Joanna’s own secret desires are revealed.
Thin Wire: A mother’s journey through her daughter’s heroin addiction
Biographies & Memoirs
Author: Christine Lewry
Thin Wire is an honest and intimate account of heroin addiction told by both mother and daughter. Amber is introduced to drugs and becomes addicted without her mother’s knowledge. She meets a dealer who feeds her habit. Whilst living together, they are raided by the police. Bailed to her mother’s address with a £200-a-day addiction, Amber doesn’t think her family will accept her back when they discover the truth. When she’s charged by the police with dealing class A drugs and accepting stolen goods, she fears she’ll go to prison. Trying to feed her habit alone, Amber meets a fellow addict who offers to introduce her to prostitution. The prospect terrifies her, but will her mother help her.
From Manhattan with Love: A Novella (The Fifth Avenue Series)
Mystery, Thriller & Suspense
Author: Christopher Smith, Brandi Doane (Illustrator)
In this novella, a prequel to the upcoming third novel in the Fifth Avenue series, both women come together for the first time in an explosive story that threatens each of their lives, particularly when one woman breaks her own rules and dares to fall in love. She soon learns what she always feared. When it comes to real danger, there’s nothing more dangerous than love itself.
Fatty Patty (A James Bay Novel)
Romance
Author: Kathleen Irene Paterka
Small towns, long memories. Everyone in the exclusive summer resort of James Bay, Michigan remembers FATTY PATTY, the chubby little girl with the round face and wild red curls. All grown up now, Patty Perreault teaches at the same elementary school where the painful playground memories still taunt her. She hasn’t forgotten the cruel nickname—plus she still hasn’t lost those extra pounds. Convinced her weight is the biggest reason why she’s a four time loser in the semi-finals for Teacher of the Year, Patty resolves to make some changes in her body and her life.
First Chosen (Tears of Rage Series #1)
Horror
Author: M. Todd Gallowglas
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Blessed at birth by divine powers, Julianna lives as an unknowing centerpiece in the schemes and plots if the gods. On her twenty-first birthday, Julianna frees an ancient god from his thousand-year prison. This god, Grandfather Shadow rewards Julianna by naming her his high priest. He cares nothing that she doesn’t believe in him, nor that it is illegal for any of Julianna’s people to worship one of the five greater gods – the punishment is not merely death, but also the destruction of the her soul. Pursued by followers of the God of Death and Inquisitors of the Kingdom of the Sun, Julianna must come to terms with her new powers, evade her new enemies, and find a way to unite Grandfather Shadow’s fractured people.
War Stories: An Enlisted Marine In Vietnam
Biographies & Memoirs
Author: Stephen MacDonald
A memoir of my two years in the United States Marine Corps. It tells what it was like to enlist in the Marine Corps and serve as a field radio operator with an infantry battalion near the southern edge of the DMZ in Vietnam in 1967, a time and place of intense fighting.
Most of us believe that the world is less than ideal, and that there are people and countries from whom we need to defend ourselves. The Marine Corps is an important part of that defense, but war does have its costs. When we ask so much of our Marines, we owe it to them to try to understand their sacrifice. This book can help.
Confessions of a Prayer Slacker (Second Edition)
Religion & Spirituality
Author: Diane Moody
Let’s face it. Most of us are clueless when it comes to praying. Why is that? And how come we’ve never done anything about it?
Author Diane Moody traces her own personal prayer journey with a touch of humor and a healthy dose of transparency. She says: ”I want my readers to stop the merry-go-round of prayerlessness, quit acting like a bunch of spiritual babies, and get serious about this thing called prayer. Without it, we’ll never experience the warm, one-on-one relationship God desires to have with each one of us.”
Seer of Mars (The Vallar Series)
Science Fiction & Fantasy
Author: Cindy Borgne
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At sixteen, Ian Connors has only one real friend and no hope for the future. He also happens to be the secret weapon of a powerful military faction bent on conquering all humans who have colonized Mars. His job is to use his psychic ability to uncover secrets or hidden bases of other factions. Ian not only uncovers a valuable hidden mine through his visions, but also Kayla, a woman he sees himself with in the future.The only problem is she’s on the enemy side.
Ian heads out into a battle to save Kayla. Instead, he discovers the death and destruction his visions can bring when in the wrong hands.
Gateway to Heaven
Romance
Author: Beth Kery
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Life is rough when you’re gorgeous, rich, talented and so sexy that the media won’t leave you alone.It’s certainly the truth in Christian Lasher’s case. He returns to the neighborhood of his childhood to escape the spotlight, hungering for a change in his creative endeavors. In the midst of his soul searching he meets Megan and is captured by the tantalizing hint of her hidden fires. Megan knows nothing about his wild, rebellious youth or his career as a rock star–and Christian would prefer to keep it that way.
There was much, much more to her than the role of a fragile victim.
Escaping Destiny (Tapestry, Book 1)
Science Fiction & Fantasy
Author: Jeffrey Pierce
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There is a world beyond our own, a place that resides backstage to our own reality. In a realm where magic is woven into the very fabric of the land, an ancient prophecy promises that thirteen mortals will alter not only this hidden world, but that they are the keys that will change the future of all existence.
The forces of darkness and light search for the thirteen mortals, their desperate race against the other factions blurring the line between good and evil, between hero and villain. One by one, the thirteen mortals are swayed or captured.
The Mystery of Smugglers Cove (The Mystery Series, Book 1)
Children’s eBooks
Author: Paul Moxham
When twelve year old Joe and his two younger sisters visit Smugglers Cove for the summer holidays, they get caught up in a thrilling adventure that is beyond their wildest imagination.
Some Day Somebody (La Fleur de Love)
Contemporary Fiction
Author: Lori Leger
- $5.99 List Price
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Carrie Jeansonne wasn’t looking for trouble or love…but they found her anyway. Can she avoid trouble long enough to give real love a chance?
Her plan for the rest of her life: Education (check), Career (check), Provide for her three teenagers (check), Divorce controlling, horn-dog of a husband (somewhat nasty, but progressing), and find some happiness (not so easy it turns out). The thirty-six year old mother wants to concentrate on her new drafting career in Road Design with no added complications – is that too much to ask?
The Glimpsing
Horror
Author: James L. Black, Mary Byrnes
- $2.99 List Price
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An unusual combination of suspense, mystery, and breathtaking horror, The Glimpsing is the unsettling tale of Portia Childress, a former model who discovers that her playboy ex-boyfriend Jack is having an affair with her best friend Gabrielle. Enraged to the point of murder, she offers Jack the painting of a mysterious woman in a brilliant red dress. Soon the woman begins to haunt his bedroom, determined to lure him and his lover into a disturbing paranormal trap filled with vengeance and murder.
The Dragon Bone Flute (A Novella of Music and Magic)
Science Fiction & Fantasy
Author: M. Todd Gallowglas
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Elzibeth just wanted to be left alone to play her grandfather’s flute, but others in her village seem to think she needs a lesson in bringing her down from her soaring dreams and stand firmly on the ground like everyone else. Three brothers take it upon themselves to teach Elzibeth how dangerous dreams and fancies can be. Three brothers challenge her to seek out the dragon’s cave, even though the last man who went there never returned. While no one in Elzibeth’s village has seen any sign of a dragon in decades upon decades, yet they still have the good sense not to wander too close to the dragon’s cave for fear of stirring up old trouble. Elzibeth must accept this task or risk losing her music forever.
This one challenge sparks of events that change Elzibeth’s life forever. She learns that fancy and wonder can be both wonderful and terrifying, and that the magic of dragons is more than skin deep…
Blue Violet (Book #1 of the Svatura Series)
Romance
Author: Abigail Owen, Wendy Schirmer, Jason Vines
Book #1 of the Svatura Series
When Ellie Aubrey leaves her only remaining family and moves to Colorado, she knows she’s risking her life. But she can’t ignore the possibility of what she might find there. What she didn’t expect to encounter was a bewildering connection to one smolderingly sexy Alex Jenner. But when Ellie’s worst nightmare comes true and threatens to destroy everything she holds dear, she must fight to save those she loves most. Even if it means sacrificing herself by revealing a terrible truth… sometimes not all monsters are make believe.
Smitten at First Sight: A Contemporary Romance Novel
Contemporary Fiction
Author: Marie Astor
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Maggie Robin has been dating the irresistibly good-looking, successful Jeffrey Preston for two years. But when Jeffrey proposes marriage a week after Maggie’s college graduation, she is no longer sure if she wants to marry a workaholic TV producer.
Her doubts culminate when during a ski trip to British Columbia, Maggie meets Taylor Denton, a handsome, free-spirited big mountain skier who is the complete opposite of Jeffrey. It does not take Maggie long to realize that she has fallen in love with Taylor and she decides to break off her engagement with Jeffrey. But just when she thinks she has found the love of her life, an ill-fated misunderstanding tears Maggie and Taylor apart.
The Brothers Crunk
Humor & Entertainment
Author: William Pauley III
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Brothers Divey and Reynold Crunk are two traveling breakfast burrito salesman just trying to make a living in the post-apocalyptic world of Planet Japan. After discovering a mutilated robot corpse in the middle of the desert, Divey mysteriously transforms into something abominable, setting a bizarre series of events into motion. Reynold follows his brother into the dark underworld of Tokyo, where there are no rules and old video game accessories are used as real weapons.
Around the World in 80 Men
Contemporary Fiction
Author: Brandi Ratliff, Rebecca Ratliff
Morgan Holland is a beautiful, young, waitress who has struggled to find her way in life. Unlucky in love and unsure about her future, she has a chance meeting with someone who offers to change her life.
… See the rest of today’s Editor’s Picks and the Kindle Daily Deal here on page 2
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