New York Times bestselling author Julie Kenner tops today’s Buffet with Carpe Demon: Adventures of a Demon-Hunting Soccer Mom, a fun and original (sub) urban fantasy novel loaded with humor, action, adventure, horror and a romantic triangle.
The book is in development as a feature film with Warner Brothers and 1492 Pictures. As Romantic Times put it, “Kenner scores a direct hit with this offbeat and humorous adventure, which has an engaging cast of characters. Car pools and holy water make an unforgettable mix.” Carpe Demon was a Booksense pick and a Target “break-out book” among many honors.
Julie writes a range of stories including quirky romances, sexy contemporaries, young adult novels, suspense, paranormal mommy lit, and darker urban fantasy. She lives and writes in central Texas with her husband, two daughters, and several cats.
As usual, each book here has gone FREE within the past 24 hours, except for the Bargain books in the yellow section below. 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.)
Carpe Demon: Adventures of a Demon-Hunting Soccer Mom
Romantic Comedy
Author: Julie Kenner, J. Kenner
Kate Connor is your average, everyday mom with two kids, a husband, and one very big secret … she used to be a Demon Hunter for a secret arm of the Vatican. Now retired, she’s more interested in the domestic than the demonic. So when she catches sight of a demon in Wal-Mart, she tells herself it’s some other Hunter’s problem. But when that demon attacks her in her kitchen, retirement is no longer an option.
Now Kate has to kick a little demon butt, figure out why the creatures are trying to take her out and take over her home town, and at the same time take care of her 2 year old, deal with a hormonal 14 year old, get the family to Catholic mass on time, and try to keep her past a secret from her daughter and her husband.
She’s a little out of practice, but hey … if she can juggle two kids and an impromptu dinner party, ridding the town of demons should be a piece of cake. Like the saying goes, Carpe Demon … and Kate intends to do just that.
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Fade Route (Burnside Mysteries, Book 2)
Mystery > Hard Boiled
Author: David Chill
A local politician is murdered and there’s one obvious suspect. But everything seems too cut and dried for Burnside’s taste. While the police quickly pinpoint a likely culprit, Burnside — the former USC football star turned private eye — pushes forward into an investigation that reveals more and more possible suspects, all with their own motives. With little more to go on than his gut feeling, Burnside pokes at everything around him as he tries to untangle a web of deceit that threatens to take down an entire community.
The story is set on the outskirts of Los Angeles, in a seaside town that is both serenely gorgeous and brutally stark. It is a community that is home to the very rich and the very poor, a place that contains more than its share of wealth, sin, beauty and despair.
A Texas Legacy Christmas
Christian Fiction > Romance
Author: DiAnn Mills
This Christian historical romance by best-selling author DiAnn Mills is set in the early 1900s. In this fourth and last book of the Texas Legacy series, Zack Kahler thinks he is leaving New York City for home in Texas to publish his own newspaper, but a pair of six-year-old twins and a young woman from his past complicate the situation. What will this Christmas bring to this group of strangers now thrown together?
A Touch of Midnight: A Midnight Breed Novella
Romance > Paranormal > Vampires
Author: Lara Adrian
Savannah Dupree is a freshman studying at Boston University on a full scholarship. But academic excellence is only one of her gifts. Savannah possesses something even more remarkable than her quick mind and insatiable curiosity for learning. With a simple touch, she can see an object’s past—a skill that puts her life in danger, when her studies bring her into contact with a centuries-old English sword and the terrible secret hidden within the blade’s history.
In all his three hundred years of living as one of the Breed, vampire warrior Gideon never dreamed he’d see the blade again that spilled his young brothers’ lives ages ago in London. Ever since the boys’ deaths, Gideon’s been on a personal quest to rid the world of Rogue vampires, but now he can’t help wondering if the brutal slaying was something more sinister—an act perpetrated by an unknown enemy. An enemy who is apparently living in hiding somewhere in Boston.
There’s one certain way to prove Gideon’s suspicion, but it will mean using innocent, gifted Savannah to help uncover the full truth—a truth that will shatter everything she knows about herself and the world around her.
Rock and Roll Never Forgets (The Rock and Roll Trilogy)
Romance > Contemporary
Author: Barbara Stewart
Beth Morgan is a young woman who’s just been given the ‘once in a lifetime’ opportunity to meet her favorite band, Traveler. That meeting leads to a chance encounter with her idol, the band’s lead singer, Andy Stevens.
What follows is a love story. A journey through the peaks, valleys and trials of a relationship lived in the public eye; the miles they traveled together through his career in the music business, and her struggles to stay obscure in a world she never really settled into comfortably. In the end it’s all about love, fate, and what the heart can’t hold back.
SLEEPY HOLLOW: Rise Headless and Ride (Jason Crane)
Teen & Young Adult > Science Fiction & Fantasy
Author: Richard Gleaves
Jason Crane just turned 17 years old. He’s a STAR WARS fan and a history geek. He doesn’t believe in ghosts or the afterlife. He doesn’t believe in psychic powers or tarot cards. He doesn’t believe in the Headless Horseman.
But Sleepy Hollow will change all that. Because Jason Crane has a heritage to claim. Jason Crane has a Gift to discover. And Jason Crane has an old enemy who will RISE HEADLESS AND RIDE.
Death of an Old Git (Falconer Files, Book 1)
Mystery > British Detectives
Author: Andrea Frazer
In the village of Castle Farthing a mean-spirited, spiteful, curmudgeonly old man is found drugged and strangled in the kitchen of his cottage, with no obvious clues to the perpetrator of the crime.
DI Falconer and Acting DS Carmichael are summoned from the police headquarters in the nearby town of Market Darley and begin to uncover a web of grudges against the old man and a sea of familial connections between those who knew him.
As the heat of July continues relentlessly, tempers flare, disturbing the usual rural calm of the village, and the normally imperturbable Harry Falconer. Faced with a crime with no obvious prime suspect and the idiosyncrasies of his new partner,Carmichael, he feels that he is gradually losing his grip on the case as the body count rises.
Mom of the Year
Humor & Entertainment > Parenting & Families
Author: Denise Pischinger
Janie Parker rules the school at Parkside Elementary, though she’s not even a student. She’s a volunteer room mother, tirelessly pouring her blood, sweat and tears into every perfect detail of every party and project for her daughter’s class. Her over-the-top antics alienate her daughter, Kelsey, who is nothing like her mother.
So when Janie’s husband, Greg, announces the family must relocate to Houston in the middle of the school year, Kelsey sees the opportunity to start over. Janie, however, sees the end of her legacy as the most fabulous, glorified volunteer in the history of public schools.
When they arrive at Kelsey’s new school, Bear Branch Elementary, Janie discovers some silver lining – their new school district annually crowns a “Mom of the Year.” Janie soon meets her match in Lanette Middleton, the class room mother and reigning Mom of the Year. Lanette makes it clear there is no room for Janie at Bear Branch. After one too many insults, Janie fights back…and the competition is ON!
Return to Order: From a Frenzied Economy to an Organic Christian Society
Politics & Government > Commentary & Opinion
Author: John Horvat
In times of crisis, we are forced to reexamine our ways and ponder our future. It is in this framework that we need to consider our present economic plight and the charting of our path forward.
In his penetrating analysis of contemporary society, author John Horvat focuses on the present crisis with great insight and clarity. He claims modern economy has become cold, impersonal, and out of balance. Gone are the human elements of honor and trust so essential to our daily lives. Society has discarded the natural restraining influence of the human institutions and values that should temper our economic activities.
Easy Cake Mix Bar Cookies: 25 Tried and True Recipes
Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Baking > Cookies
Author: Martha McKinnon
Discover how quick, easy and delicious it is to make bar cookies and brownies with cake mix.
Easy Cake Mix Bar Cookies is a favorite collection of tried and true recipes from family, friends and favorite community cookbooks. Inside you’ll find 25 sweet and delicious recipes for easy bar cookies and brownies that all begin with a box of cake mix.
Are you a fresh baked from the oven cookie lover? Can’t you just smell the tantalizing fragrance of vanilla and sugar wafting from your oven? Do you see yourself and your loved ones drooling over a pan of sweet and chunky cookie bars cooling on the kitchen counter?
The recipes are all simple and delicious. Just keep a few boxes of cake mix on hand. Stock up when they are on sale and you can whip up the most amazing bar cookies and brownies in minutes.
TODAY’S BARGAINS……………What’s this?
Warriors #1: Into the Wild
Children’s Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy
Author: Erin Hunter
Regularly $6.99, Today $1.99
Fire alone can save our Clan…
For generations, four Clans of wild cats have shared the forest according to the laws laid down by the powerful ancestors. But the warrior code is threatened, and the ThunderClan cats are in grave danger. The sinister ShadowClan grows stronger every day. Noble warriors are dying — and some deaths are more mysterious than others.
In the midst of this turmoil appears an ordinary housecat named Rusty . . . Who may yet turn out to be the bravest warrior of them all.
Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency
Science Fiction & Fantasy
Author: Douglas Adams
Regularly $7.99, Today $1.99
There is a long tradition of Great Detectives, and Dirk Gently does not belong to it. But his search for a missing cat uncovers a ghost, a time traveler, AND the devastating secret of humankind! Detective Gently’s bill for saving the human race from extinction: NO CHARGE.
There is a long tradition of Great Detectives, and Dirk Gently does not belong to it. But his search for a missing cat uncovers a ghost, a time traveler, AND the devastating secret of humankind! Detective Gently’s bill for saving the human race from extinction: NO CHARGE.
Long Division
Coming of Age > African American
Author: Kiese Laymon
Regularly $15.00, Today $1.99
Long Division includes two distinct but tightly interwoven stories–one called “All Things Considered,” the other “Long Division.” In the first, it’s March 2012: 14-year-old Citoyen “City” Coldson and his nemesis, LaVander Peeler, become the first black male duo to win the state of Mississippi’s Can You Use This Word in a Sentence” contest finals. Both boys are asked to represent Mississippi at the televised national competition. (Hours before the contest begins, City is given a book without an author called “Long Division.”) Turmoil and misunderstanding ensue, as City and LaVander learn they have reason to doubt the merit of their presence at the contest. They want us to win,” City says to LaVander moments before the contest starts. After being assigned, and then misusing, the word niggardly” in the first round of the contest, City has a remarkable on-stage meltdown in front of a national television audience. LaVander, on the other hand, though incredibly shaken, advances to the finals and has the chance to win the contest.
Through the Ever Night (Under the Never Sky)
Teen & Young Adult > Love & Romance
Author: Veronica Rossi
Regularly $9.99, Today $1.99
In this second book in her spellbinding Under the Never Sky trilogy, bestselling author Veronica Rossi combines fantasy and dystopian elements to create a love story as perilous as it is unforgettable.
It’s been months since Aria last saw Perry. Months since Perry was named Blood Lord of the Tides, and Aria was charged with an impossible mission. Now, finally, they are about to be reunited. But their reunion is far from perfect. The Tides don’t take kindly to Aria, a former Dweller. And with the worsening Aether storms threatening the tribe’s precarious existence, Aria begins to fear that leaving Perry behind might be the only way to save them both.
Threatened by false friends and powerful temptations, Aria and Perry wonder, Can their love survive through the ever night?
The Single Woman: Life, Love, and a Dash of Sass
Self-Help > Christian Living
Author: Mandy Hale
Regularly $9.99, Today $2.99
Smart, strong, independent—single women can live a fabulous life. Husband not required.
Mandy Hale, also known by her many blog readers and Twitter fans as The Single WomanTM, shares her stories, advice, and enthusiasm for living life as an empowered, confident, God-centered woman who doesn’t just resign herself to being single—she enjoys it! Being single has had its stigmas, but Mandy proves it has its advantages too, and she uses wisdom and wit to inspire her fellow single ladies to celebrate and live fully in the life God has given them.
Mandy encourages her readers on subjects such as taking chances, building friendships, letting go, and finding a greater purpose. With her help, readers can stop worrying about happily ever after and discover a happy life instead.
… See the rest of today’s Editor’s Picks here on page 2