Diane Hale Moody tops today’s Buffet with Blue Christmas, which began a decade ago as a fan fiction story that became an Internet sensation. Diane has adapted the story into a heartwarming holiday novel filled with romance, drama and humor. She first wrote Blue Christmas as a gift for her then-teenage daughter in honor of her affection for a wildly popular band in the late 90s.
Born in Texas and raised in Oklahoma, Diane is a graduate of Oklahoma State University. She lives with her husband Ken in the rolling hills just outside of Nashville. They are the proud parents of two grown and extraordinary children, Hannah and Ben.
When she’s not reading or writing, Diane enjoys an eclectic taste in music and movies, great coffee, the company of good friends, and the adoration of a peculiar little pooch named Darby.
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.)
Blue Christmas
Religious & Inspirational Fiction > Romance
Author: Diane Moody
Working late on Christmas Eve, college senior Hannah Brooks is in the midst of a full-blown pity party. When a last-minute customer brimming with holiday spirit invites her to a candlelight service and a late-night family dinner, Hannah reluctantly accepts. She has no idea this kindhearted woman is the mother of Jason McKenzie – leader singer of Out of the Blue, the hottest band in the country – and Hannah’s childhood idol. The evening ends with an innocent kiss (sans mistletoe) as Hannah is swept away by Jason’s unpretentious manner.
Over the holidays Hannah and Jason’s relationship grows, but when turmoil and tragedy strike at the very heart of his famous band, their newfound love is put to the test in the glare of the paparazzi spotlight. Throughout her rollercoaster of experiences with Jason and his friends, Hannah comes face to face with her own beliefs. Who knew she could learn more about prayer and faith by hanging out with a bunch of rock stars than she ever learned in church?
Caroline (Beauvisage Novels, Book 1)
Historical Romance
Author: Cynthia Wright
The year is 1783, and rakish Alexandre Beauvisage is returning from the Revolutionary War when he discovers Caroline, unconscious in the Connecticut woods. Dressed as a boy, she has no memory of her past. Against his better judgment, he takes the lovely foundling with him to his home in Philadelphia and finds his life increasingly complicated as the fiery attraction between them builds and Caro’s dangerous past reaches out to her.
Sliding Beneath the Surface (The St. Augustine Trilogy Book I)
Teen & Young Adult > Science Fiction & Fantasy
Author: Doug Dillon
In America’s oldest and most haunted city, St. Augustine, Florida, teenager Jeff Golden is in trouble. Horrible dreams won’t let him sleep, and he is up to his eyeballs in terrifying, paranormal experiences.
Finally, Jeff turns to his girlfriend Carla, and Lobo, the mysterious Native American shaman, for help. But what he discovers is a lot more than he bargained for.
A ghostly presence linked to a local historic cemetery is not only threatening Jeff’s sanity but his life as well. And before he knows what’s happening, Jeff finds both himself and Carla pulled into one of the nastiest and most bloody events in Florida history. It is a place from which they may never escape.
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Nadia’s Hope
Romance > Contemporary
Author: Lisa Buffaloe
The nightmares continue. Memories won’t heal. Nadia must make a choice.
Nadia Minsky fled Israel to escape her past, but she can’t outrun her nightmares. The throbbing scars along her hip and stomach are cruel reminders of shattered dreams. Even though surgeons mended her body, her spirit still bleeds. Friends claim only God can heal her. For Nadia, trusting a God who allowed her to suffer is inconceivable.
Can close friends, a wild roommate, and a handsome medical student help Nadia learn to trust? Or will she chose to allow her past to forever cripple her future?
Pinterest Guide: The Ultimate Guide to Creative and Money Making Ideas
Self-Help > Creativity
Author: Maddie Alexander
Pinterest and the Pinterest App. Use them to ignite your creative thinking and creative inspiration!
Are you someone that is always looking for ways to be more creative and take your creativity to a new level? Do you like doing DIY projects, pictures, photos, and crafts? If so, this ultimate Pinterest guide is a MUST for you.
1.36 million users on average visit Pinterest, with over 10.4 million registered users. These users are sharing content at a unprecedented rate, and you for sure don’t want to miss out on this. Whether it’s Pinterest for beginners, Pinterest for businesses, or Pinterest marketing, we all must be unique and creative.
Gluten-Free Slow Cooker
Kitchen Appliances > Slow Cookers
Author: Amelia Simons
Take note: Amelia Simons has done it again! Now you can have slow cooker meals that are delicious, easy, and gluten-free!
When you are striving to eat a gluten-free diet, time is precious. Learning to eat differently takes time–time you don’t want to spend laboring in the kitchen over a hot stove.
Whether you have been diagnosed with celiac disease, have gluten intolerance, gluten sensitivity, have a wheat allergy, or are simply searching for a healthier way to eat, Gluten-Free Slow Cooker: Easy Recipes for a Gluten Free Diet can help you tremendously.
Paleo Slow Cooker Soups & Stews: Gluten-Free Recipes
Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Special Diet > Low Carb
Author: Amelia Simons
Do you want an easy way to cook soups and stews that are grain free AND gluten-free? Then Amelia Simons’ 2nd cookbook in her Paleolithic Slow Cooker series is just what you are looking for!
While a paleolithic diet has been shown to be a very effective low carb way for losing weight, spending time in the kitchen can be a challenge. That’s why Paleolithic Slow Cooker Soups and Stews: Healthy Family Gluten-Free Recipes will give you slow cooker recipes to satisfy your hungry family while making your kitchen smell divine in the process.
Claus of Death: A Myrtle Crumb Mystery
Mystery > Women Sleuths
Author: Gayle Trent
Myrtle Crumb, the sassy, sixty-something sleuth, is suspicious when the mall Santa is found dead “on the throne”–the Santa Land throne, that is. The police are saying it was suicide, but Myrtle knows no self-respecting Santa Claus would let himself die in front of the children! She goes undercover to investigate the suicide and uncovers more than she bargained for.
Fields of the Fatherless
Historical Fiction > Military & Wars
Author: Elaine Marie Cooper
In the early months of 1775, war is brewing in the American colonies. Although frightened, eighteen-year-old Betsy Russell of Menotomy Village, Massachusetts, wants to be prepared in case of attack by British troops. Her father, prosperous farmer Jason, is the fourth generation of Russells on this land yet their very rights as British Colonials are being stripped away one by one.
Will the King of England take their land as well? Tensions are growing here in the countryside west of Boston and the outbreak of battle seems a certainty. Jason desperately wants to protect his family his wife, children and grandchildren and their future.
Betsy makes every attempt to be prepared for the worst. But not even the American militia could have predicted the bloody massacre that was about to occur right on the Russells doorstep. If Betsy loses everything she holds dear, are the rights of all the Colonists endangered? Based on a true story.
Bread & Wine: A Love Letter to Life Around the Table with Recipes
Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Gastronomy > Essays
Author: Shauna Niequist
Regularly $9.99, Today $1.99
As a follow up to her two bestselling books, Bittersweet and Cold Tangerines, author and blogger Shauna Niequist returns with the perfect read for those who love food and value the community and connection of family and friends around the table.
Bread and Wine is a collection of essays about family relationships, friendships, and the meals that bring us together. This mix of Anne Lamott and Barefoot Contessa is a funny, honest, and vulnerable spiritual memoir. Bread and Wine is a celebration of food shared, reminding readers of the joy found in a life around the table.
Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook
Biographies & Memoirs > Culinary
Author: Anthony Bourdain
Regularly $9.99, Today $1.99
Medium Raw marks the return of the inimitable Anthony Bourdain, author of the blockbuster bestseller Kitchen Confidentialand three-time Emmy Award-nominated host of No Reservations on TV’s Travel Channel.
Bourdain calls his book, “A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook,” and he is at his entertaining best as he takes aim at some of the biggest names in the foodie world, including David Chang, Alice Waters, the Top Chef winners and losers, and many more. If Hunter S. Thompson had written a book about the restaurant business, it could have been Medium Raw.
Night Train to Memphis (Vicky Bliss Mysteries)
Mystery, Thriller & Suspense
Author: Elizabeth Peters
Regularly $7.99, Today $1.99
An assistant curator of Munich’s National Museum, Vicky Bliss is no expert on Egypt, but she does have a Ph.D. in solving crimes. So when an intelligence agency offers her a luxury Nile cruise if she’ll help solve a murder and stop a heist of Egyptian antiquities, all 5’11” of her takes the plunge. Vicky suspects the authorities really want her to lead them to her missing lover, the art thief and master of disguises she knows only as “Sir John Smythe.”
And right in the shadow of the Sphinx she spots him. . . with his new flame. Vicky is so furious at this romantic stab-in-the-back, not to mention the sudden arrival of her meddling boss, Herr Dr. Schmidt, that she may overlook a danger as old as the pharaohs and as unchanging. . . a criminal who hides behind a mask of charm while moving in for the kill.
Gone (Gone Novel)
Science Fiction & Fantasy
Author: Michael Grant
Regularly $9.99, Today $1.99
In the blink of an eye. Everyone disappears. GONE.
Except for the young. Teens. Middle schoolers. Toddlers. But not one single adult. No teachers, no cops, no doctors, no parents. Just as suddenly, there are no phones, no internet, no television. No way to get help. And no way to figure out what’s happened.
Hunger threatens. Bullies rule. A sinister creature lurks. Animals are mutating. And the teens themselves are changing, developing new talents—unimaginable, dangerous, deadly powers—that grow stronger by the day.
It’s a terrifying new world. Sides are being chosen, a fight is shaping up. Townies against rich kids. Bullies against the weak. Powerful against powerless. And time is running out: On your birthday, you disappear just like everyone else…
Memoirs Found in a Bathtub
Science Fiction & Fantasy
Author: Stanislaw Lem
Regularly $15.00, Today $1.99
The year is 3149, and a vast paper destroying blight-papyralysis-has obliterated much of the planet’s written history. However, these rare memoirs, preserved for centuries in a volcanic rock, record the strange life of a man trapped in a hermetically sealed underground community. Translated by Michael Kandel and Christine Rose.
… See the rest of today’s Editor’s Picks here on page 2