Cheryl Bolen is author of a dozen acclaimed Regency-set historical romance novels. Her books have placed in several writing contests, including the Daphne du Maurier, and Cheryl has won the Holt Medallion (Honoring Outstanding Literary Talent) for Best Short Historical Novel.
Cheryl tops today’s Buffet with The Bride Wore Blue, Book 1 in her “Brides of Bath” series set in Regency England. This steamy novel was first released as a Zebra paperback in 2001.
Cheryl holds a dual degree in English and journalism from the University of Texas, and she earned a master’s degree from the University of Houston. She and her professor husband are the parents of two sons, one who is an attorney, and the other a journalist. Her favorite things to do are watching the UT Longhorns, reading letters and diaries of Georgian Englishmen, and traveling to England.
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The Bride Wore Blue
Historical Romance > Regency
Author: Cheryl Bolen
For six long years, Thomas Moreland has dreamed of the beautiful young noblewoman who rescued him from death. While amassing his fortune in India, not a day passed he did not recall Felicity’s fair loveliness, did not recall the silken tones of her sweet voice, did not desire to possess her.
Now a widow, Felicity Harrison does not recognize the handsome nabob as the young man left for dead by highwayman years earlier. Though she wants nothing more than to snub the arrogant man who promises to rescue her family from financial ruin in exchange for presenting his sister to Society, she cannot snub him. She must force herself to bear his company. But the longer she is with him, the more she has to force herself to remain true to her dead husband’s memory.
Why is it the humbly born Thomas Moreland possesses more nobility that any man of her class? And why is it she finds it harder and harder to mourn a dead man when Thomas’s virility awakens her deepest desires?
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OPEN
Business & Investing > Leadership
Author: David Price
What makes a global corporation give away its prized intellectual property? Why are Ivy League universities allowing anyone to take their courses for free? What drives a farmer in rural Africa to share his secrets with his competitors?
A collection of hactivists, hobbyists, forum-users and maverick leaders are leading a quiet but unstoppable revolution. They are sharing everything they know, and turning knowledge into action in ways that were unimaginable even a decade ago. Driven by technology, and shaped by common values, going ‘open’ has transformed the way we live. It’s not so much a question of if our workplaces, schools and colleges go open, but when.
Packed with illustration and advice, this entertaining read by learning futurist David Price argues that ‘open’ is not only affecting how we are choosing to live, but that it’s going to be the difference between success and failure in the future.
Hoofprints
Mystery > Women Sleuths
Author: Laura Crum
In this second installment in the “Gail McCarthy” series, the young vet stumbles upon two murdered bodies in the course of a routine call. When a midnight emergency turns into an attempt on her life, Gail knows she must uncover the motive before its too late.
This story has plenty of authentic horse lore and an action-packed plot from an author who spent most of her life training cowhorses and knows whereof she speaks.
The Maze: Angels & Demons & Lost Souls
Religious Fiction > Science Fiction & Fantasy
Author: Jason Brannon
A near-death experience transports Jamie Burroughs into The Maze, a realm built by angels and demons and filled with traps and riddles for those haunted by their mistakes.
For Jamie, The Maze becomes a terrifying journey through a world of darkness where his soul and the lives of those he loves hangs in the balance. With his family in danger and his soul in peril, Jamie is forced to reevaluate the kind of man he truly is as he struggles to escape The Maze before it’s too late.
Stillwell: A Haunting on Long Island
Genre Fiction > Horror > Ghosts
Author: Michael Phillip Cash
Paul Russo’s wife just died. While trying to get his family’s life back in order, Paul is being tormented by a demon who is holding his wife’s spirit hostage on the other side. His fate is intertwined with an old haunted mansion on the north shore of Long Island called Stillwell Manor. Paul must find clues dating back hundreds of years to set his wife’s soul free.
Home to Walnut Ridge (Book 3 of The Teacup Novellas)
Christian Fiction > Romance
Author: Diane Moody
It seems everyone needs a second chance. Tracey Collins just left Washington, D.C., after her dream job became a personal nightmare. Back home in Jacobs Mill, Tennessee, she quickly realizes she’s not the only one needing a fresh start. Her sister Alex is in the midst of a career change, finding new inspiration restoring furniture. Their father, a former pastor who’s had his own share of disillusionment, now mentors a strange bunch of misfit bikers who do odd jobs around town as ministry. Among them, an intriguing former attorney named Noah, still running from a painful past, catches Tracey’s eye.
Secrets are uncovered and hearts are restored in Jacobs Mill as they all work together to renovate an old smokehouse into a new shop called Second Chances.
Uneasy Lies the Crown
Historical Fiction > British > Adventure
Author: N. Gemini Sasson
The story of Owain Glyndwr, the last Welsh Prince of Wales.
In the year 1399, Welsh nobleman Owain Glyndwr is living out a peaceful gentleman’s life in the Dee Valley of Wales with his wife Margaret and their eleven children. But when Henry of Bolingbroke usurps the throne of England from his cousin Richard II, that tranquility is forever shattered. What starts as a feud with a neighboring English lord over a strip of land evolves into something greater–a fight for the very independence of Wales.
After a harrowing encounter on the misty slopes of Cadair Idris, the English knight Harry Hotspur offers Owain a pact he cannot resist.
Peace, however, comes with a heavy price. As tragedies mount and temptations loom, Owain questions whether he can fulfill the prophecies and lead his people to freedom without destroying those around him.
For centuries, the bards have sung of King Arthur’s return, but is this reluctant warrior prince the answer to those prophecies?
Little Piano Book: 60-Lesson Song and Beginner Piano Guide
Music > Instruction & Study
Author: Damon Ferrante
Piano professor Damon Ferrante leads you from a beginner level to make you play better than ever. His step-by-step method on how to play the piano has been proven to be easy to follow and to reduce the effort, time, and expense of piano learning. Learn piano by playing songs. Thousands of pianists of all ages appreciate the fact that Ferrante’s methods enhance creativity and make piano playing fun! No music reading is required!
The Little Piano Book is a book and video course that follows a step-by-step lesson format for learning how to play the piano. It is designed for beginners (from children to grown-ups) and no music experience is necessary to use the book. Each lesson builds on the previous one in a fun, clear, and easy-to-understand manner. There are 60 lessons in the book. You learn how to play the piano and read music through famous songs and pieces. It is designed to work very well in Kindle, iPad, iPhone, Smart Phone, Tablets, and eBook platforms.
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot
Science Fiction > Post-Apocalyptic
Author: W. J. Lundy
A zombie war story, an introduction into the apocalyptic world of Staff Sergeant Brad Thompson.
The radio goes quiet while on convoy in Afghanistan, a lost patrol alone in the desert. With his unit and his home base destroyed, Thompson suddenly finds himself isolated and in command of a small group of men trying to survive in the Afghan wasteland. The local population has been afflicted with an illness that turns them into rabid animals. They pursue him and his men at every corner and stop. Struggling to hold his team together and unite survivors, he must fight and evade his way to safety.
Fateful
Teen & Young Adult > Love & Romance
Author: Cheri Schmidt
A huge fan of Jane Austen, Danielle hopes to find her own Mr. Darcy when she leaves Colorado to attend art school in London. Of course she knows it’s silly to wish for that, naive even. But she’s met enough males who lacked respect for women, a growing trend it seemed. And at nineteen…well…. However, on only her second night there she gets lost and is threatened by a stalker who proves to be immune to her martial arts training. Before she is completely overpowered, she is then saved by Ethan Deveroux.
While Danielle does find the romance she seeks in Ethan, he’s no Mr. Darcy. Her hero is held by a spell which fractures their chance at a happy ending. During the day Ethan is closer to mortal than immortal and can date her like any other man. Yet, as the sun sets, the powerful magic of an ancient curse returns and the evil of that spell is revealed. When that magic begins, Danielle’s fairytale romance ends because Ethan Deveroux is a vampire.
Little Green Men
Science Fiction > High Tech
Author: Peter Cawdron
A tribute to the works of Philip K. Dick, hailing back to classic science fiction stories of the 1950s.
The crew of the Dei Gratia sets down on a frozen planet and are attacked by little green men. Chief Science Officer David Michaels struggles with the impossible situation unfolding around him as the crew are murdered one by one. With the engines offline and power fading, he races against time to understand this mysterious threat and escape the planet alive.
Storm Warrior (The Grim Series)
Romance > Paranormal > Werewolves & Shifters
Author: Dani Harper
Regular Price $9.99, Today $1.99
Enslaved for millennia by the masters of the Welsh faery realm, the fierce Celtic warrior Rhys is doomed to wander the earth forever. But when a brave beauty unwittingly breaks the enchantment, he is drawn into a strange new world…and an all-consuming desire.
Sensible Morgan doesn’t believe in magic—until a mysterious being saves her from a fate worse than death, and life as she knows it changes forever. Now the man of her dreams has become flesh and blood, igniting a spark in Morgan’s soul which science cannot explain. But even a love that transcends time may not be strong enough to withstand the power of an ancient curse.
From the best-selling author of Changeling Moon, this stirring novel of passion and magic launches an addictive new series for fans of paranormal romance.
Rush Me
Romance > New Adult & College
Author: Allison Parr
Regular Price $2.99, Today $0.99
When post-grad Rachael Hamilton accidentally gate-crashes a pro-athlete party, she ends up face-to-face with Ryan Carter, the NFL’s most beloved quarterback. While most girls would be thrilled to meet the attractive young millionaire, Rachael would rather spend time with books than at sporting events, and she has more important things to worry about than romance. Like her parents pressuring her to leave her unpaid publishing internship for law school.
But when Ryan’s rookie teammate attaches himself to Rachael, she ends up cohosting Friday-night dinners for half a dozen football players.
Over pancake brunches, charity galas and Alexander the Great, Rachael realizes all the judgments she’d made about Ryan are wrong. But how can a Midwestern Irish-Catholic jock with commitment problems and an artsy, gun-shy Jewish New Englander ever forge a partnership? Rachael must let down her barriers if she wants real love—even if that opens her up to pain that could send her back into her emotional shell forever
Dirty Harriet (Dirty Harriet Mystery Series)
Mystery > Women Sleuths
Author: Miriam Auerbach
Regular Price $8.99, Today $1.99
Harriet “Dirty Harriet” Horowitz had it all. Money. Plastic Surgery. Servants. Then her husband raised his fist one time too many, and she shot and killed him. Now, she lives in the South Florida swamps, rides a Harley, and owns a private eye agency. Her best friend—the only friend who makes sense anymore—is an alligator named Lana.
Then the Contessa von Phul, a woman from Harriet’s society days, hires Harriet to investigate the death of a Mayan immigrant worker. With her assistant Lupe—an eccentric civil servant—and a .44 Magnum, Dirty Harriet hits the mean streets of Boca Raton to dig for clues. What won’t she do to uncover the truth? Her search for answers forces her to return to her old world of Boca Babes and McMansions. When she discovers scandal after scandal, will she be able to escape Boca with her life—yet again?
The Vampire Who Loved Me
Romance > Fantasy & Futuristic
Author: Teresa Medeiros
Regular Price $6.99, Today $1.99
Once, as a girl of seventeen, beautiful, headstrong Portia Cabot saved the cursed life of the dashing vampire Julian Kane—who marked her forever, then left to go in search of his soul. He returns five years later to find the enchanting young girl he left behind grown into a bewitching woman with a woman’s heart . . . and a woman’s desires.
Portia quickly discovers that Julian’s seductive and forbidden kiss can still make her crave the night . . . and his touch. But the Julian who has returned to London is not the vampire she remembers. His fruitless pursuit of his stolen mortality has reduced him to drunken debauchery. And a recent spate of murders makes Portia fear that the man she has always adored may truly be a monster.
Julian knows he must drive Portia away—but his passion and hunger for her grow more irresistible every time they touch. For years he has fought the temptation to embrace his dark gifts, never realizing that Portia’s love may give him the most dangerous gift of all . . . a reason to live.
Starvation Lake: A Mystery
Mystery, Thriller & Suspense
Author: Bryan Gruley
Regular Price $9.99, Today $1.99
In the dead of a Michigan winter, pieces of a snowmobile wash up near the crumbling, small town of Starvation Lake — the same snowmobile that went down with Starvation’s legendary hockey coach years earlier. But everybody knows Coach Blackburn’s accident happened five miles away on a different lake. As rumors buzz about mysterious underground tunnels, the evidence from the snowmobile says one thing: murder.
Gus Carpenter, editor of the local newspaper, has recently returned to Starvation after a failed attempt to make it big at the Detroit Times. In his youth, Gus was the goalie who let a state championship get away, crushing Coach’s dreams and earning the town’s enmity. Now he’s investigating the murder of his former coach. But even more unsettling to Gus are the holes in the town’s past and the gnawing suspicion that those holes may conceal some dark and disturbing secrets secrets that some of the people closest to him may have killed to keep.
The Bad Guys Won
Sports & Outdoors > Baseball > History
Author: Jeff Pearlman
Regular Price $9.99, Today $2.99
Once upon a time, twenty-four grown men would play baseball together, eat together, carouse together, and brawl together. Alas, those hard-partying warriors have been replaced by GameBoy-obsessed, laptop-carrying, corporate soldiers who would rather punch a clock than a drinking buddy. But it wasn’t always this way …
In The Bad Guys Won, award-winning former Sports Illustrated baseball writer Jeff Pearlman returns to an innocent time when a city worshipped a man named Mookie and the Yankess were the second-best team in New York. So it was in 1986, when the New York Mets — the last of baseball’s live-like-rock-star teams — won the World Series and captured the hearts (and other select body parts) of fans everywhere.
But their greatness on the field was nearly eclipsed by how bad they were off it. Led by the indomitable Keith Hernandez and the young dynamic duo of Dwight Gooden and Darryl Strawberry, along with the gallant Scum Bunch, the Amazin’s won 108 regular-season games, while leaving a wide trail of wreckage in their wake — hotel rooms, charter planes, a bar in Houston, and most famously Bill Buckner and the eternally cursed Boston Red Sox.
Five Seasons: A Baseball Companion
Regular Price $14.99, Today $1.99
Sports & Outdoors > Baseball > History
Author: Roger Angell
Roger Angell’s chronicle of baseball’s most fascinating and unforgettable years.
Classic New Yorker sportswriter Roger Angell calls 1972 to 1976 “the most important half-decade in the history of the game.” The early to mid-1970s brought unprecedented changes to America’s ancient pastime: astounding performances by Nolan Ryan and Hank Aaron; the intensity of the “best-ever” 1975 World Series between the Cincinnati Reds and the Boston Red Sox; the changes growing from bitter and extended labor strikes and lockouts; and the vast new influence of network television on the game. Angell, always a fan as well as a writer, casts a knowing but noncynical eye on these events, offering a fresh perspective to baseball’s continuing appeal during this brilliant and transformative era.
… See the rest of today’s Editor’s Picks here on page 2