USA Today bestselling author Jennifer Coburn tops today’s Buffet with Field of Schemes, a laugh-out-loud story about a woman’s journey toward motherhood. As one reviewer put it, “Soccer Moms will laugh out loud (and cringe inwardly) in knowing agreement.”
Jennifer is an award-winning journalist who has written for magazines and newspapers in the United States, Canada, and Australia. A native New Yorker and a graduate of the University of Michigan, she has four published novels and is a contributing to four anthologies. Her next book, We’ll Always Have Paris, a mother-daughter adventure, will be published in April.
Jennifer currently lives in San Diego with her husband, William, and their daughter, Katie.
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Field of Schemes
Contemporary Fiction > Women’s Fiction
Author: Jennifer Coburn
Newly widowed Claire Emmett leaves Los Angeles so she and her eleven-year-old daughter, Rachel, can have a fresh start in the picture-perfect suburb of Santa Bella, California. But the simple, quiet life she seeks is nowhere to be found in the town where soccer is king and parents are far, far too involved in children’s sports.
When Rachel is scouted for an elite travel team, Claire is sucked into a world of high drama, backstabbing and deceit. The team manager plots a Wall Street-style hostile takeover. Parents sabotage players, serve as sports agents, and trade sexual favors for playtime.
Off the field, Claire must navigate her way through the brave new world of the suburbs and build a life that doesn’t revolve around the insanity of kids’ sports. Nothing is simple in Santa Bella, though. Claire’s married neighbor is an outrageous flirt. She stumbles upon some dark secrets and unwittingly becomes the target of a very powerful enemy.
As Rachel’s team moves to the State Cup championship, Claire must develop a game plan of her own. It’s time for her to fight back and show her daughter what it means to be soccer mom who plays to win when it matters most.
Domestic Enemies: The Reconquista
Mystery, Thriller & Suspense
Author: Matthew Bracken
A novel set in the not-too-distant future in the American Southwest, during a period of low-intensity civil war. The action takes place between Texas and California, but the story is mainly centered around New Mexico.
This book is a sequel to Enemies Foreign and Domestic, but it may be enjoyed on its own.
Broken Hart
Literature & Fiction > Adult
Author: Ella Fox
Sabrina Tyler is head over heels in love with her boss and best friend, Dante Hart. She thinks that Dante has no romantic interest in her but she’s wrong.
Dante doesn’t believe in love or commitment or any kind. Sabrina has gotten under his skin, but Dante has no intention of acting on it.
One wild night changes their relationship forever, but Dante lacks faith in love and doesn’t believe in Happily Ever Afters.
Can Sabrina break through and fix what’s broken in Dante Hart?
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Fresh Temptation
Family Saga > Romance > Contemporary
Author: Reeni Austin, Laurie Laliberte
Victor Barboza is a man who has everything but a good woman.
Cara Green has a young son, three part-time jobs, and a few extra pounds.
Their worlds collide as Cara serves Victor at an upscale party in Manhattan, upsetting Victor’s ex-fiancee, Alexis, in the process.
Victor pursues Cara, but Cara is not sure of his intentions: Is he using her to make Alexis jealous? Does he just want her for sex? Or is love Victor’s true aim?
She Belongs To Me
Romantic Suspense
Author: Carmen DeSousa
After secrets and a mysterious background leave a wife’s life hanging by a thread, a husband must look for answers in the only place he knows–the past.
When wealthy construction company owner and Charlotte detective, Jordan Monroe, meets Jaynee for the first time he is awestruck and determines to make her his wife. Jaynee, however, has a history she cannot easily overcome and is fearful to submit to love. Jordan succeeds in making her his wife, but five years into their marriage, he realizes she is keeping secrets. Before he can decipher her duplicity, he discovers her unconscious in their home from a gunshot wound only hours after giving her an ultimatum concerning their relationship.
With Jaynee’s life hanging in the balance, the mystery of her past drives Jordan to investigate. But what appears to be an attempted suicide turns out to be something far darker. Is someone from her past stalking her? Or worse, is someone close to Jordan trying to kill them both? As Jordan edges closer to the truth, it may be deadlier than he could ever have imagined.
Genosimulation
Science Fiction > Technothrillers
Author: Liron Fine
A genetic time bomb is ticking inside us. Only one man can disarm it.
A young computer genius, a former Haredi, is sent by his rabbi to infiltrate the most secret biological laboratory in Israel. When he discovers he is about to develop the same cancer that killed his father, he turns himself into a human lab rat, trying to find a genetic cure. Outwitting his superiors, betraying all he holds sacred, he unravels an even darker secret threatening to destroy all humanity. Can he save his own life? Can he save yours?
God’s Gonna Make You Laugh: Understanding God’s Timing for Your Life
Christian Living > Personal Growth
Author: Noel Jones
Everyone can relate to walking through very dark periods in life which seem will never end. Noel Jones is not speaking from a vantage point of one who has never suffered so his words of encouragement and promise carry weight and hope. Sorrow and adversity come, but they do not stay.
This book conveys the message that suffering and endurance are preparations for the reward that will come to the one who holds on to and trusts in the faithfulness of God. That one will experience the laughter of triumph. Joy comes in the morning to those who endure.
Love & The Goddess
Romantic Comedy
Author: Mary Elizabeth Coen
A woman’s voyage of self discovery begins on the internet leading all the way to Brazil and onto the Andean highlands of Peru.
Devastated from her relationship break- up, Kate Canavan is at a loss until she re-discovers a hidden painting of the triple Goddess from Greek mythology. Her interest in mythology and spirituality is re-ignited. A voyage of self discovery begins with internet dating using the names of each of the Goddesses in the triple myth.
When a health scare intervenes Kate and her friends go together to visit a famous healer in Brazil and a spiritual guru in Peru, where all three friends begin spiritual journeys of forgiveness, gratitude and learning to live in the now.
Quinoa Recipes: The Ancient Superfood Cookbook
Special Diet > Heart Healthy
Author: Stacy Michaels
Quinoa is a highly nutritious food from South America that was once considered “the gold of the Incas.”
The Incas of South America considered quinoa sacred and used it in their rituals. They referred to it as ‘chisaya mama’ or mother of all grains, with the Inca emperor sowing the first seeds of the season using ‘golden implements’. Quinoa is higher in amino acids and protein and can be easily substituted for almost any grain, as it is gluten free. Rich in proteins, iron, calcium, potassium, and copper, quinoa has been scientifically proven to help prevent type 2 diabetes, childhood asthma, heart diseases, gallstones and migraines.
Photo Composition Mastery
Photography > Reference
Author: Dan Eitreim
Artistic composition is where the rubber meets the road…it’s the difference between a snapshot and a photograph you would be proud to hang on the wall.
This book is easy and fast to read and will have you comfortable with composition tips, tricks and tactics in no time.
- Leading Lines – Leading lines are photo elements that will draw the viewers eye into the photo (and keep it there). Plus, they direct attention to the main subject in the photo and make it “read” the way you envisioned it.
- Diagonal Lines – Diagonal lines in a photo are powerful! If you want to denote power and dynamism in your photos, use diagonal lines.
- The Rule Of Thirds – The old standby…the rule of thirds is probably the most well known compositional rule. We cover it to be complete. Who knows, maybe this is the first photo book you’ve read!
Salads To Go
Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Salads
Author: Arnel Ricafranca
If you are like me, you probably have a busy lifestyle to keep up with which makes eating healthy pretty difficult. We all know that a good hearty salad is good for you. However, due to everyones busy demanding schedules, finding the time to prepare a good salad isn’t always possible. Yes, you can get salad in many fast food restaurants; unfortunately, most fast food salads are either not fresh, contains processed fillers, or their dressing contains more calories than their burgers.
What most people don’t know is that many fast food restaurants actually spray their salads with a substance made of propylene glycol to make their lettuce and other vegetables appear fresh, when they could actually be up to 3 days old! So all these reasons really defeat the purpose of trying to eat healthy. Here is an ingenious way to prepare a tasty, mouth watering and healthy salad in a mason jar that can last for up to 7 days — without the unwanted chemical spray.
A Rush of Wings: Book One of The Maker’s Song
Romance > Vampires
Author: Adrian Phoenix
Regular Price $7.99, Today $1.99
His name is Dante.
Dark. Talented. Beautiful. Star of the rock band Inferno. Rumored owner of the hot New Orleans nightspot Club Hell. Born of the Blood, then broken by an evil beyond imagination.
His past is a mystery.
F.B.I. Special Agent Heather Wallace has been tracking a sadistic serial murderer known as the Cross Country Killer, and the trail has led her to New Orleans, Club Hell, and Dante. But the dangerously attractive musician not only resists her investigation, he claims to be “nightkind”: in other words, a vampire. Digging into his past for answers reveals little. A juvenile record a mile long. No social security number. No known birth date. In and out of foster homes for most of his life before being taken in by a man named Lucien DeNoir, who appears to guard mysteries of his own.
His future is chaos.
What Heather does know about Dante is that something links him to the killer — and she’s pretty sure that link makes him the CCK’s next target. Heather must unravel the truth about this sensual, complicated, vulnerable young man — who, she begins to believe, may indeed be a vampire — in order to finally bring a killer to justice. But Dante’s past holds a shocking, dangerous secret, and once it is revealed not even Heather will be able to protect him from his destiny….
Counterclockwise: My Year of Hypnosis, Hormones, Dark Chocolate, and Other Adventures in the World of Anti-aging
Health, Fitness & Dieting > Personal Health > Aging
Author: Lauren Kessler
Regular Price $19.99, Today $1.99
In this age of lunchtime lifts, wrinkle-erasing injections, furrow fillers, and lip plumpers, there’s no question that anyone who aims to look younger easily can. But Lauren Kessler wants something more than to follow the cosmetic path to youthfulness. She wants to live with energy, stamina, vitality, resilience, and health for a very, very long time. Her goal: to reverse her biological age from the inside out.
Guided by both intense curiosity and healthy skepticism, a sense of adventure and a sense of humor, Kessler sets out to discover just what’s required to prolong those healthy, vital, and productive years called the “health span.” In her yearlong journey, Kessler investigates and fully immerses herself in the hope and hype of the anti-aging movement. She delves into the new science of “biomarkers”—objective, measurable indications of how old you really are on the inside—going as far as getting a muscle biopsy to determine the state of her mitochondria, the parts of cells that control metabolism. She tries Tabata training, calorie restriction, a diet centered on 20 superfoods, hCG (human chorionic gonadotropin), hypnosis to achieve a youthful mindset, and much more.
In a voice that speaks to every woman who feels her date of birth and sense of self have little in common, Kessler explores her own fears, attitudes, and assumptions about aging. The result is a thoughtful, hilarious, and informative tale of what’s really possible when you get serious about taking charge of how well and how quickly you age.
When Jesus Wept (The Jerusalem Chronicles)
Christian Fiction > Historical
Author: Bodie and Brock Thoene
Regular Price $9.99, Today $2.99
LAZARUS—the man Jesus raised from the dead in one of the most extraordinary encounters with The Living Savior in all of Scripture. But the life of Lazarus holds interest well beyond this miraculous event. Living in Bethany, near Jerusalem, Lazarus witnessed many of the most important events of Jesus’s life and ministry.
Lazarus owned a vineyard and devoted his life to caring for its vines and fruit. But he encountered another man—Jesus—whose vineyard was the world, its fruit the eternal souls of men. When Lazarus’s story and the story of Jesus’s crucifixion and resurrection touch in When Jesus Wept, we are offered a unique vision into the power and comfort of Christ’s love.
Brock and Bodie Thoene’s most powerful and climactic writing project to date, When Jesus Wept, captures the power and the passion of the men and women who lived through the most important days in the history of the world.
The Duchess Hunt
Historical Romance > Regency
Author: Jennifer Haymore
Regular Price $8.00, Today $1.99
Simon Hawkins, duke of Trent, is no stranger to scandal. Rumors and innuendo have darkened the House of Trent for decades, and it has fallen to Simon to restore his tattered family name. He lives by a strict code of honor, but when he is called home to investigate his mother’s disappearance, the distinguished duke will tangle with temptation. For there waits the only woman he has ever loved-and the last woman he should desire . . .
Sarah Osborne has spent her life dreaming of Simon’s touch. But dukes do not long for lady’s maids-or so Sarah believes, until a stolen kiss sparks a passion that could be her ultimate undoing. As the couple begins a forbidden romance, a cunning enemy plots to destroy the duke and everything he loves. Now, caught in a blackmailer’s web, Simon faces an agonizing choice: sacrifice his family’s future or break Sarah’s heart.
The Iron King
Historical Fiction
Author: Maurice Druon
Regular Price $9.99, Today $1.99
From the publishers that brought you A Game of Thrones comes the series that inspired George R.R. Martin’s epic work.
The Iron King – Philip the Fair – is as cold and silent, as handsome and unblinking as a statue. He governs his realm with an iron hand, but he cannot rule his own family: his sons are weak and their wives adulterous; while his red-blooded daughter Isabella is unhappily married to an English king who prefers the company of men. A web of scandal, murder and intrigue is weaving itself around the Iron King; but his downfall will come from an unexpected quarter. Bent on the persecution of the rich and powerful Knights Templar, Philip sentences Grand Master Jacques Molay to be burned at the stake, thus drawing down upon himself a curse that will destroy his entire dynasty…
Yellow Star
Historical Fiction > Holocaust
Author: Jennifer Roy
Regular Price $9.99, Today $1.99
“In 1945 the war ended. The Germans surrendered, and the ghetto was liberated. Out of over a quarter of a million people, about 800 walked out of the ghetto. Of those who survived, only twelve were children. I was one of the twelve.”
For more than fifty years after the war, Syvia, like many Holocaust survivors, did not talk about her experiences in the Lodz ghetto in Poland. She buried her past in order to move forward. But finally she decided it was time to share her story, and so she told it to her niece, who has re-told it here using free verse inspired by her aunt.This is the true story of Syvia Perlmutter — a story of courage, heartbreak, and finally survival despite the terrible circumstances in which she grew up. A timeline, historical notes, and an author’s note are included.
… See the rest of today’s Editor’s Picks here on page 2