Anne Frasier is a pseudonym for Theresa Weir, whose 23 bestselling books and numerous short stores have spanned romance, suspense, mystery, thriller, paranormal and memoir. Her 1988 debut was the cult sensation Amazon Lily, which won the “Best New Adventure Writer” award that year from Romantic Times.

Theresa is proof positive that a writer who truly believes in her characters can enjoy great success, despite publishers’ complaints when books “break the rules” of a genre.

appleBorn in the river town of Burlington, Iowa, after high school Theresa worked in a Levi jeans factory, sewing the Levi logo onto the back pocket of jeans. By age 19, she was working in a bar in Burlington when she met an apple farmer. Soon afterwards, the pair got married. Theresa moved to the farm and began writing.

Her first manuscript was rejected by numerous agents and publishers who complained that her hero was unlikable. But to Theresa, her characters were real people — people who made mistakes, persevered, and eventually triumphed.

Even after she had several bestsellers under her belt, Theresa still encountered resistance to her characters and the gruesomeness of her scenes. Editors asked her cut out the blood and bodies from her romance novels. Instead, Theresa decided to tone down the romance and focus more on mystery.

Nowadays, Theresa continues writing her stories just as she sees fit, although she’s stopped releasing new romance novels. Nevertheless, her thrillers still contain a thread of romance.

Today’s top pick is Play Dead, a 2004 thriller that shows Theresa at the height of her power to make readers’ skin crawl, right from the opening scene: a medical examiner discovers while performing an autopsy that the body he’s working on is actually alive.

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Play Dead

Horror

Author: Anne Frasier

No one understands the dark side of Savannah, Georgia, better than homicide detective Elise Sandburg. As an infant, she was thought to be the daughter of a famous root doctor-and was abandoned in an ancient Low Country cemetery. Growing up, she was haunted by her possible connection to the local Gullah culture-with its spells and voodoo. Now, however, there’s a twisted killer on the loose, and the city is gripped by terror. Someone is using a substance that leaves its victims in a state that mimics death. As their bodies slip into an irreversible paralysis, their minds remain fully, shockingly awake. Before you wake up dead.

Step by step, Elise’s relentless chase for the killer draws her straight back into the world she most fears. And now, to stop a murderer, she must confront the truth about her own past in ways she never could have imagined…

Scriber

Fantasy

Author: Ben S. Dobson

Scriber

Disgraced scholar Dennon Lark only wants to be left alone in his self-imposed exile—an exile that ends when a rebel army wielding impossible powers launches a series of brutal attacks on villages across the Kingsland.

Forced from his home, Dennon is drawn back into a world he wants nothing to do with. His research into the kingdom’s lost past—the very research that sent him into hiding—may hold the answers to a great many questions about the rebels. Following a trail of historical clues across the kingdom and pursued by forces they don’t fully understand, Dennon and Bryndine may be the realm’s only hope.

Somewhere in Time (The Crosse Harbor Time Travel Trilogy)

Romance

Author: Barbara Bretton

Somewhere in Time (The Crosse Harbor Time Travel Trilogy)

When her ex-husband Zane Grey Rutledge showed up at her door with a Revolutionary War uniform that was part of his grandmother’s estate, neither one suspected that their lives were about to change in ways they couldn’t possibly imagine.

Swept back in time to 1776 where a nation is struggling to be born, Emilie finds herself torn between two men: Zane, her ex who still holds the key to her heart, and Andrew McVie, the Patriot hero of her long-ago dreams . . . .

The Life We Dream

Literary Fiction

Author: JH Glaze

The Life We Dream

When Jack Bailey receives a call from an old friend, he discovers that the girl he has loved for most of his life is in hospice and only has a short time to live. Jack travels to see her one last time in this bittersweet tale of undying love.

Guitar Mastery Simplified: How Anyone Can Quickly Become a Strumming, Chords, and Lead Guitar Ninja

Arts & Entertainment

Author: Erich Andreas

Guitar Mastery Simplified: How Anyone Can Quickly Become a Strumming, Chords, and Lead Guitar Ninja

Would you like to know how to play the guitar like a guitar master and eliminate any disbeliefs that have been holding you back from truly mastering the guitar?

Sound impossible? Well it’s not… This book is packed with the most important guitar lessons that will help you take your guitar playing ability to the highest level it has ever been!  Erich has taught/played guitar professionally for almost 30 years.

The solutions you’ll discover inside Guitar Mastery Simplified will have you on your way to playing the guitar like a true strumming, chords and lead guitar ninja.

The Moose Jaw (The Fergus O’Neill Series)

Action & Adventure

Author: Mike Delany

The Moose Jaw (The Fergus O'Neill Series)

Strange things happen in the Alaska bush. The native Alaskans say that a white man, too long alone out there will go mad. Gus O’Neill suspects it may have happened to him. His two best friends, Hard Case Calis the old Alaska State Trooper, and Haywood Jennings the flying veterinarian think so too. Gus spends a summer on Moose Jaw Creek where he builds a cabin, finds a ravaged red-haired beauty he comes to love, and murders the man who had sexually molested her. When Haywood flies in to join Gus for a moose hunt he finds his friend alone and raving. There is no evidence that Gus’ redhead or the dead man he claims to have killed ever existed.

Cades Cove: The Curse of Allie Mae (Cades Cove Series #1)

Fantasy

Author: Aiden James

Cades Cove: The Curse of Allie Mae (Cades Cove Series #1)

Buried deep in a ravine in the picturesque Smoky Mountains is a very dark secret.  David Hobbs, vacationing with his wife Miriam, inadvertently stumbles upon a small cloth ‘keepsake’ bag and a broken tooth.  A human tooth.  Miriam begs David to hand the bag and tooth over to park officials, but he ignores his wife’s pleas and secretly keeps the ‘harmless’ items.  The action opens a doorway that had been closed for nearly a hundred years and unleashes hell on earth, or at least hell in the lives of David and Miriam.

Following the brutal murder of his best friend in Denver, and an aborted attack on his oldest son, David desperately seeks to understand why a mysterious teenage girl has chosen to terrorize him and the males closest to him.

Broken (A Paranormal Romance)

Romance

Author: David H. Burton

Broken (A Paranormal Romance)

Three days before her twenty-fourth birthday, Katherine Gregory receives a letter from her deceased mother. It details a faery curse in which the eldest child in each generation will die in their twenty-fifth year.

Three days before her twenty-fourth birthday, a new love interest comes knocking, and her first love has returned – neither men are what they seem, and Katherine may have to choose between them.Three days before her twenty-fourth birthday, Katherine must decide if this is all real, or if the strange visions she’s been having are just a figment of her imagination.

The race to unravel the mystery begins, and Katherine must solve it – for any day after her birthday could be her last.

Secrets of the Heart (The Ravensmoore Chronicles)

Religious Fiction

Author: Jillian Kent

Secrets of the Heart (The Ravensmoore Chronicles)

Madeline Whittington, daughter of the deceased Earl of Richfield, emerges from English society’s prescribed period of mourning in the winter of 1815. Madeline believes that she no longer belongs in a world of gossip and gowns; instead she wants to help the orphans living within the walls of Ashcroft Insane Asylum. Once there, she discovers a dark secret within the asylum walls.


The Insiders

Action & Adventure

Author: Craig Hickman

The Insiders

Wilson’s father, Charles Fielder, one of the richest men in the world, has just murdered two women and tried to kill himself. Or did he? Lying in a coma, Charles cannot help his only son understand the mysteries of his life nor his role in founding an exclusive club of the world’s most powerful CEOs–the ultimate insiders club with unparalleled perks. Wilson must face this cutthroat world of concealed machinations, corporate espionage, international finance, and economic conspiracy on his own–in order to uncover his father’s real agenda, expose the secret society of insiders, and fight to change the face of capitalism. That is, if he can stay alive.

30 Delicious Dump Cake Recipes

Cooking, Food & Wine

Author: Lori Burke, Lori Burke

30 Delicious Dump Cake Recipes

Dump Cakes are amazing cobbler desserts. In fact Dump Cakes combine the four qualities of the perfect dessert: Simple, Quick, Incredibly Delicious and Fun.

They are really simple to make and use fruit, spices, cake mix and butter. They are quick to make. The preparation time for a Dump Cake is 5 to 10 minutes. Baking is an additional 45 minutes to 1 hour. Delicious? A warm piece of Dump Cake cobbler with a scoop of ice cream melting over a buttery cake and mingling with vanilla and cinnamon and other spices is one of the most delicious desserts you can eat.

Speculation

Contemporary Fiction

Author: Edmund Jorgensen

Speculation

Andrew Wrangles has a decision to make. His best friend Sothum, a philosophical and financial genius, has just died and left him a choice in his will: ten million dollars or a sealed envelope.

Andrew’s wife Cheryl doesn’t see this as much of a choice. She wants Andrew to take the ten million, and what little patience she has for his speculating about what might be worth more than the money is wearing thin very quickly.

SONS OF CAIN

Drama

Author: Val Bianco

SONS OF CAIN

An ancient group of twelve unspeakably powerful men are prepared to implement mass suicide in the United States. Already in control of the Congress and the Presidency, all that they lack is the Supreme Court. The only thing standing between these SONS OF CAIN and the lives of the Court is a small group of dedicated warriors.

Yellow Crocus: A Novel

Historical Fiction

Author: Laila Ibrahim

Yellow Crocus: A Novel

In 1837, Lisbeth Wainwright is born to the white mistress of a sprawling Virginia plantation. Seconds later, she is delivered into the arms of her black wet nurse, Mattie. For a field hand like Mattie, her transfer to the big house is supposed to be considered an honor—except that the move tears Mattie away from her beloved grandfather and her infant son, Samuel. But Mattie is a slave, with no say in the matter, and so she devotes herself to her master’s daughter, though she longs to be raising her own child. Growing up under Mattie’s tender care, little Lisbeth adopts the woman’s deep-seated faith in God, her love of music and black-eyed peas, and the tradition of hunting for yellow crocuses in the early days of spring.

The Parent Pact (Book Three of The Return to Redemption Series)

Romance

Author: Laurie Kellogg

The Parent Pact (Book Three of The Return to Redemption Series)

When widower Tyler Fitzpatrick meets Annie Barnes at his daughter’s school, his libido goes tilt. The sexy single mother is everything he and his grieving little girl need. Unfortunately, Annie flatly refuses his dinner invitation. She wants a husband and a father for her son—not just a boyfriend. And the last time she checked, wealthy, summa-cum-laude lawyers didn’t marry high-school-drop-out housekeepers.

Mark of the Witch (Boston Witches)

Fantasy

Author: Jessica Gibson, Russ Turner

Mark of the Witch (Boston Witches)

Magic flows through Jillian Proctor’s veins as surely as blood, but so far her life outside Boston has been peaceful. William Morgan blows into Jilly’s life like a hurricane, unleashing her magic and sending her out of control. Unknowingly, William brings an enemy who only wants to posses the power of the witch. Jilly must learn to harness her magic before she loses it – and everything in her life is destroyed.

A Wolf Pup’s Tale (A Beautifully Illustrated Children’s Picture Book; Perfect Bedtime Story)

Children’s eBooks

Author: Rachel Yu

A Wolf Pup's Tale (A Beautifully Illustrated Children's Picture Book; Perfect Bedtime Story)

The story of a young wolf pup whose curiosity leads him to discovery, danger, and friendship.

Evie’s Knight (#1 The Knight Series)

Romance

Author: Kimberly Krey

Evie's Knight (#1 The Knight Series)

Evie always thought her eighteenth year would be magical, but so far it’s not what she hoped for. Her best friend has gone wild, her love life is void, and she misses her mom more than ever. But life for Evie is about to change. Calvin Knight, the object of her fascination, is about to fall madly in love with her. Just one problem: Their love conjures a murderous woman from beyond the grave who wants Evie dead. 

Rex Rising (Elei’s Chronicles)

Science Fiction

Author: Chrystalla Thoma

Rex Rising (Elei's Chronicles)

In a world where parasites create new human races, Elei leads a peaceful life — until a mysterious attack on his boss sends him fleeing with a bullet in his side. Pursued for a secret he does not possess and with the fleet at his heels, he has but one thought: to stay alive. His pursuers aren’t inclined to sit down and talk, although that’s not the end of Elei’s troubles. The two powerful parasites inhabiting his body, at a balance until now, choose this moment to bring him down, leaving Elei with no choice but to trust in people he hardly knows.

Fat Vampire

Horror

Author: Johnny B. Truant

Fat Vampire

When overweight treadmill salesman Reginald Baskin finally meets a co-worker who doesn’t make fun of him, it’s just his own bad luck that tech guy Maurice turns out to be a two thousand-year-old vampire.

And when Maurice turns Reginald to save his life, it’s just Reginald’s own further bad luck that he wakes up to discover he’s become the slowest, weakest, most out-of-shape vampire ever born, doomed to “heal” to his corpulent self for all of eternity.

Living Lies (Book 1 of the Agent Melanie Ward Novels)

Action & Adventure

Author: Kate Mathis

Living Lies (Book 1 of the Agent Melanie Ward Novels)

Meet secret agent Melanie Ward, who quits the spy game, after 10 years, when a justly earned promotion is snatched away by her nemesis, the arrogant and smug, Son-of-a-Senator, Agent Finn Parker. Melanie moves back home with her parents in La Jolla, where her mom, with the help of Melanie’s collage roommates, sets her up on a marathon of comical blind dates (is there another kind?).  Romance finally finds Melanie when she meets Adam, the tall dark and mysterious chef. She falls in love, but life once again becomes unstable when Melanie decides to return to the Agency.

The Pattern

Contemporary Fiction

Author: jt kalnay

The Pattern

Has one programming error killed hundreds of people in airplane crashes? A handful of west coast computer geeks know the answer. After reading The Pattern, you will too. Follow auto-pilot programmer Craig Walsh and his beautiful engineer girlfriend Stacey “Jack” Horner as they create, and then confront, a malicious computer virus that seems destined to destroy air travel as we know it…

… See the rest of today’s Editor’s Picks and the Kindle Daily Deal here on page 2