New York Times bestselling Lucinda Brant tops today’s Buffet with Midnight Marriage, the standalone second book in her acclaimed “Roxton” series. The story is set in the opulent world of the 18th century aristocracy and inspired by real events.
Lucinda’s Georgian-era historicals have been described as from “the Golden Age of romance with a modern voice” and “heart-wrenching drama with a happily ever after.” If you enjoy BBC Classic Drama, Jane Austen, Georgette Heyer, 18th Century history, or romances with plenty of wit and adventure, you’ll feel right at home with Lucinda’s books. You’ll find a world of determined heroines and heroes, an eccentric character or two, and a weave of subplots to keep things interesting.
As usual, each book listed here has gone FREE within the past 24 hours (except for the “Bargains” at the bottom of this page). 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.)
Midnight Marriage
Two noble teenagers are married against their will.
Drugged, Deb has no recollection of events. Disgraced, Julian is banished to the Continent.
Nine years later, Deb falls in love with a wounded duelist, only to later discover it is her husband returned incognito!
Can Deb forgive his cruel deception? Can their marriage survive beyond seduction? Meanwhile, Julian’s nemesis plots to destroy them both…
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Leave It to Chance: A Novel
Christian Fiction > Romance
Author: Sherri Sand
Single mom of three, Sierra Montgomery is desperate to find a new job to keep from having to move back home and be smothered to death by her mother’s good intentions and overbearing love. So when Sierra inherits Chance, a quirky old gelding she doesn’t have a clue what to do with, she thinks her best bet may be to sell the horse to cover another month’s rent-a decision that devastates her children.
Enter Ross Morgan, a handsome landscaper who just happens to have an empty barn and fenced pasture, perfect for an old horse to live out his days as the pet of three wounded kids. Ross develops a soft spot for eldest child Braden and he just might have one for Braden’s mother. But what he doesn’t have is time for distractions-he’s got a landscaping business to run and nursery plants to tend.
But Sierra has a secret. She’s terrified of horses and—thanks to her past—wary of attractive men. Yet seeing the way her angry son idolizes Ross and adores that old horse forces Sierra to confront her fears. Will she remain distrustful and self-reliant, or will she seek help from God and those who love her?
Hard Duty: Merkiaari Wars 1
Science Fiction > Space Opera
Author: Mark E. Cooper
Humanity’s last encounter with aliens saw sixteen point two billion people killed in a war with the Merkiaari that had spanned decades.
Two hundred years later, the Alliance is cautiously exploring beyond its borders again, but the survey corp. is considered a mere gesture by some. General Burgton of the 501st Infantry Regiment believes a lack of expansion is leading the Alliance into stagnation. So when one small ship discovers a new alien race, it should be an easy decision to make contact, but what if the aliens are like the Merkiaari?
Captain Jeff Colgan of the survey ship ASN Canada is at the tip of the spear. His ship made the discovery, his crew’s lives are on the line, and his decisions will decide the outcome. Will the Alliance make new friends or will he be responsible for another sixteen billion deaths? When the aliens discover his ship and begin hunting him through their system, his mission changes from one of study to one of survival.
Death Never Sleeps
International Mystery & Crime
Author: E. J. Simon
The problem with Alex Nicholas is that he won’t stay dead. Alex Nicholas was the consummate Queens bookie: fast cars and even faster women, and friends in all the wrong places.
As an illegal sports betting and loan shark king in New York City, Alex was fearless-until the night his luck ran out and someone leveled the silver barrel of an automatic on him and pulled the trigger. Michael Nicholas was everything his brother Alex was not: a powerful, married straight-arrow corporate CEO living the American Dream.
Their two worlds collide when Michael discovers his brother’s secret laptop. As Michael crosses the globe to find his brother’s murder, can he avoid his brother’s fate? And can the information contained in the laptop help Alex reach out to help Michael-from beyond the grave.
Free Science Fiction Books On Kindle: Linked List of over 350 Free SciFi Classics
Science Fiction > Reference
Author: Morris Rosenthal
This linked list of over 350 free science fiction stories and novels in Amazon’s permanent collection was recently updated with hundreds of works from famous science fiction writers who wrote in the 1950’s and 1960’s and apparently forgot to extend their copyright protection. For the more recent authors SciFi fans will be familiar with, I just list the links (arranged by author) that will take you to their titles in the Kindle store for free download. For the earlier writers, I usually include a one or two line summary of their books.
I thought I read all the classic SciFi twenty years ago, but I found a couple dozen authors I’d never heard of while researching Amazon’s free collection. Most of the titles in this linked list of the free classic science fiction on Amazon were written before the “Golden Age” of science fiction, but influenced the authors who came later. I’ve included several early utopia/dystopia books, a popular subject in the late Victorian period. A few supernatural titles are included when the author also wrote other types of books. I didn’t include fairy tales, and I made judgment calls on skipping science fiction/fantasy that was written for children and young adults, or just included a few samples from those authors.
A Common Christmas
Historical Romance
Author: Sue London
Grace Ashman has lost everything: her mother five years ago, and now her father and her home just a week before Christmas. She lives on the streets until one kind man invites her inside for a meal before the holiday. What she couldn’t know is that his kindness will change her life forever.
Joshua Dibbs has been the butler at the Earl of Harrington’s London town home since 1809. If there is one thing Dibbs is known for, it is doing things properly. At least until now. Alas, when the earl arrives unexpectedly, the butler is reliant on help from a homeless woman to keep the household running until the staff returns!
Stupid Alabama
Literature & Fiction > Humor
Author: Michael Wines
So there’s this nerdy fifth-grader named Melvin. He lives in Brooklyn, and wants nothing more in life than to go to computer camp. There he can build the ultimate robot to thwart his enemies, do his chores, and make him look cool in front of girls. Instead, he gets his butt kicked by a bully and a guilt trip from his parents. Somehow, after an epic day of defeat, worry, and woe, he agrees to spend the summer in stupid Alabama with his stupid biologist Uncle Petro.
On the drive, Melvin and Petro pick up a couple of burping alligators from the Bronx Zoo, mistakenly become international terrorists, and somehow survive the fartapocolypse. Petro is attempting to save the Red Hills salamander from extinction and drags Melvin through the culture and wilderness of the deep, dirty South.
Along the way he encounters a freakish group of characters, including a horse-sized dog named Choopy, Melvin’s best friend Chucky (AKA DJ Chuck-N-Stuff), and a few other wierdos, including
TODAY’S BARGAINS……………What’s this?
Tamarack County (Cork O’Connor Mystery Series)
Mystery > Private Investigators
Author: William Kent Krueger
Regularly $9.99, Today $2.99
Tamarack County, Minnesota, the gateway to the pristine Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Within its borders lie a million acres of deep forest, a thousand crystal clear lakes, and a few quiet towns. This is the place that, for most of his life, sheriff-turned-private investigator Cork O’Connor has called home.
As a blizzard swells just days before Christmas, the car belonging to the wife of a retired local judge is discovered abandoned on a rural road. After days without any leads, the search-and-rescue team, assisted by O’Connor, has little hope of finding her alive, if at all.
Early on, Cork notices small details about the woman’s disappearance that tell a disturbing story. And when the beloved pet dog of a friend is found decapitated, he begins to detect a startling pattern of ominous incidents throughout the area. Then Cork’s son is nearly killed, and he knows this is no trick of his imagination. Someone is spinning a deadly web in Tamarack County. At the center is a murder more than twenty years old for which an innocent man may have been convicted. Cork remembers the case only too well. He was the deputy in charge of the investigation that sent the man to prison.
No Place for a Dame
Historical Romance > Regency
Author: Connie Brockway
Regularly $4.99, Today $1.99
Beautiful, bold, and brilliant Avery dreams of becoming a member of the Royal Astronomical Society—and the only way she can join the all-male society is to disguise herself as a boy. After helping Giles, Lord Strand, escape a disastrous engagement, she is certain he will assist in her daring masquerade. No lady would ever come up with such a preposterous scheme, and no gentleman would accept…but fortunately for Avery, Giles is no gentleman.
A bargain is struck between the stargazing adventuress and society’s most sophisticated lord. He will sponsor her as his prodigy and she will cover for him as he hunts London’s darkest warrens for a missing colleague from his shadowy past. But time and again, Giles finds his quest compromised by his fierce and unwise attraction to the lovely girl who, though no lady, may well be the one dame to finally unlock the secrets of his heart.
Zarrella’s Hierarchy of Contagiousness: The Science, Design, and Engineering of Contagious Ideas
Business & Investing > Marketing & Sales
Author: Dan Zarrella
Regularly $9.99, Today $1.99
Want to learn how to maximize social media? When to do it, what words to use, who to tweet at? Look no further. Social media master Dan Zarrella has amassed years of experience helping people negotiate the often mystical place of social media marketing.
Now, he has condensed those well-tried ideas into this concise and conversational book. Zarrella’s Hierarchy of Contagiousness demystifies and deconstructs how social media works, who it benefits and why we all depend upon it to help our good ideas spread.
Sleep, Big Bear, Sleep!
Children’s Books > Animals
Author: Maureen Wright, Will Hillenbrand
Regularly $9.99, Today $1.99
It’s time for Big Bear to hibernate, so Old Man Winter keeps telling him: “Sleep, Big Bear, sleep.” But Big Bear doesn’t hear very well. He thinks Old Man Winter has told him to drive a jeep, to sweep, and to leap. Big Bear just can’t seem to hear what Old Man Winter is saying. Finally, Old Man Winter finds a noisy way to get Big Bear’s attention. Cozy illustrations rendered in pencil and mixed media by Will Hillenbrand bring this bedtime story to a fitting conclusion.
Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants
Literature & Fiction
Author: Ann Brashares
Regularly $9.99, Today $2.99
Once there was a pair of pants. Just an ordinary pair of jeans. But these pants, the Traveling Pants, went on to do great things. This is the story of the four friends—Lena, Tibby, Bridget, and Carmen—who made it possible.
Each girl’s story is distinct and engrossing, told in a brightly contemporary style. Like the Pants, the reader bounces back and forth among the four unfolding adventures, and the melange is spiced with letters and witty quotes. Ann Brashares has here created four captivating characters and seamlessly interwoven their stories for a young adult novel that is fresh and absorbing.
… See the rest of today’s Editor’s Picks here on page 2