Mark Twain (the pen name for Samuel Langhorne Clemens, 1835 – 1910), was an American author and humorist most famous for his novels The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (which tops today’s Buffet) and its sequel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, often called “the Great American Novel.”
Twain grew up in Hannibal, Missouri, which provided the setting for Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer. After an apprenticeship with a printer, he worked as a typesetter and contributed articles to the newspaper of his older brother Orion.
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, set in the fictional town of St. Petersburg, is about a young boy growing up along the Mississippi River. Tom is infatuated with classmate Rebecca “Becky” Thatcher. He lives with his half brother Sid, his cousin Mary, and his stern Aunt Polly.
Although Twain earned a great deal of money from his writings and lectures, he invested in ventures that lost more money, notably the Paige Compositor, which failed because of its complexity and imprecision. In the wake of these financial setbacks, he filed for protection from his creditors via bankruptcy.
As usual, each book listed 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.)
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Fiction Classics > Adventure > Coming of Age
Author: Mark Twain
Dripping with Mark Twain’s iconic wit and wisdom, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer chronicles young Tom and his best friend Huckleberry Finn. This childhood classic relates a small-town boy’s pranks and escapades with timeless humor and wisdom. In addition to his everyday stunts (searching for buried treasure, trying to impress the adored Becky Thatcher), Tom experiences a dramatic turn of events when he witnesses a murder, runs away, and returns to attend his own funeral and testify in court.
space
From Manhattan with Love and Revenge (Boxed Set) (The Fifth Avenue Series)
Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Technothrillers
Author: Christopher Smith
NOTE: This is the boxed set for the best-selling novella “From Manhattan with Love” and its sequel, the best-selling full-length novel, “From Manhattan with Revenge.”
An outcast billionaire’s daughter is caught at the wrong place at the wrong time.
An international assassin questions her sanity when she falls in love with the very assassin she’s charged to assassinate.
What happens when each collide? Chaos. Murder. Love. Revenge.
And redemption.
Fifth Avenue
Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Technothrillers
Author: Christopher Smith
Book One in the Fifth Avenue Series.
Look beneath all the power and all the wealth that represents New York City’s Fifth Avenue, and you’ll find greed, blood, revenge. In the international best-selling thriller “Fifth Avenue,” each intermingles within a revered society that is unprepared for what’s in store for it when one man finally strikes in an effort to destroy another man for murdering his wife thirty-one years ago.
Louis Ryan is that man. George Redman, his wife, two daughters and their close friends are his targets. Both men are self-made billionaires who came from nothing to stake their claim to Fifth Avenue. But when Louis Ryan hires an international assassin to literally rip the Redman family apart, a series of events that can’t be stopped catapults them all through a fast-paced, hard-edged thriller in which nobody is safe.
Secrets are revealed. Sex lives are exposed. The Mafia get involved. And George’s two daughters, Celina and Leana Redman, come to the forefront. More than anyone, it’s they who are caught in the throes of their father’s past as Louis Ryan’s blind desire to kill them all takes surprising turns in his all-out effort to see them dead.
Running of the Bulls (A Wall Street Thriller)
Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Technothrillers
Author: Christopher Smith
In the second book in the “Fifth Avenue Series,” a former Wall Street titan who robbed the world of billions is now out of prison. Good for him, but not for those who put him there. Now, they are dying grisly deaths by the hands of two hired assassins.
Investigating is private investigator Marty Spellman, who soon learns that all isn’t what it seems as the twists pile up along with the sheer number of the dead.
Spellman’s life is put on the line. His family is threatened. No one is who they appear to be. Who can he trust as the bulls of Wall Street start to run as the two assassins–Vincent Spocatti and Carmen Gragera–fully ignite their killing spree?
From Manhattan with Revenge
Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Technothrillers
Author: Christopher Smith
Book 4 in the Fifth Avenue Series.
Carmen Gragera is a gifted international assassin. So was her lover, Alex Williams, before he was savagely murdered by a powerful syndicate who considered each end-of-cycle.
Carmen escaped their wrath while within her, with Alex dead, her own wrath grew. Now, through unusual means, she’s seeking her revenge against the syndicate for Alex’s death.
Assisting her is an eccentric, Park Avenue-based seasonings heiress and a 103-year-old former psychiatrist whose contacts run deep. Also joining
her is fellow assassin Vincent Spocatti, with whom Carmen has worked before, and for whom she has the utmost respect.
But is the respect mutual?
Night of the Living Dead Christian: One Man’s Ferociously Funny Quest to Discover What It Means to Be Truly Transformed
Christian Fiction > Science Fiction
Author: Matt Mikalatos
What does a transformed life actually look like?
In his follow-up to the critically acclaimed Imaginary Jesus, Matt Mikalatos tackles this question in an entertaining and thought-provoking way—with monsters! While Christians claim to experience Christ’s resurrection power, we sometimes act like werewolves who can’t control our base desires. Or zombies, experiencing a resurrection that is 90 percent shambling death and 10 percent life. Or vampires, satiating ourselves at the expense of others. But through it all we long to stop being monsters and become truly human—the way Christ intended. We just can’t seem to figure out how.
Night of the Living Dead Christian is the story of Luther, a werewolf on the run, whose inner beast has driven him dangerously close to losing everything that matters. Desperate to conquer his dark side, Luther joins forces with Matt to find someone who can help. Yet their time is running out. A powerful and mysterious man is on their trail, determined to kill the wolf at all costs . . .
Burned
Romance > New Adult & College
Author: Krista Lakes
Sometimes the deepest burns are hidden from view…
All 20-year-old Holly ever wanted to do was escape the boring Colorado mountain town where she was born. However, when she arrived at college, she found herself having too many wild nights. Worse yet, she had one too many mornings of waking up in an unfamiliar bed, and she couldn’t keep her scholarship. Now that’s she’s back in Conifer, she has no idea what she is going to do with her life and no hope for the future.
Andrew’s father died a couple years ago in an electrical accident, and while Andrew wants nothing more than to leave town, his mother’s mental instability makes it impossible for him to go. He feels trapped in a no-win situation and his options are slipping away.
When a mutual friend has a crisis, Holly comes up with a plan, a plan that will change all their lives for the better. She knows that, despite previously being burned, all it takes to start a fire is a spark. However, she realizes that once again, she may have stood too close to the flame, and the torch she carries for Andrew burns brighter than ever.
A Better Way to Think: Using Positive Thoughts to Change Your Life
Self-Help > Personal Transformation > Christian Living
Author: H. Norman Wright
All of us talk to ourselves, carrying on inner dialogues much of the day. Some of this self-talk frees us, but much of it keeps us captive to negative patterns that have a corresponding negative impact on our emotions and actions. But we do not have to remain prisoners of fear, anxiety, despair, disillusionment, regret, or stress.
Wright shows readers how to truly bring every thought captive under Christ, thereby freeing themselves from the negative patterns of self-talk that have stymied their personal and spiritual growth for years. Biblically based and full of practical, proven strategies, this book helps readers harness the positive and creative power of their thought lives in order to experience lasting freedom from negativity.
Departed
Mystery > Private Investigators
Author: Nick Stephenson
Expert criminology consultant Leopold Blake is having yet another bad week. While tracking a psychopathic serial killer through the streets of London, the reclusive investigator realizes with chilling certainty that history is about to repeat itself – with devastating consequences. Where Scotland Yard and MI5 have failed, Leopold must find a way to hunt down and apprehend a ruthless maniac before he strikes again.
Now Blake and his team must face their greatest challenge yet: an unseen force, intent on wreaking havoc throughout the city, is hunting on its home turf – and Leopold is about to realize that the good guy doesn’t always win.
Abandoned Hearts
Romance > Mystery & Suspense
Author: Regina Tittel
Stranded by flood waters in the heart of the Ozarks, Ann McHaven’s forced to stay with a rugged farmer, Jacob Durham. Her annoyance with him turns to attraction; followed by romantic temptations that test her faith.
Independent and stubborn, Jacob’s eyes and heart are opened to all he has to lose when a fearless mountain lion turns him into the hunted. Will his life be spared long enough to restore his trust in God, and admit his love for Ann?
Coming Clean
Memoirs > Family Relationships
Author: Kimberly Rae Miller
Regular Price $12.99, Today $1.99
Kim Miller is an immaculately put-together woman with a great career, a loving boyfriend, and a tidy apartment on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. You would never guess that Kim grew up behind the closed doors of her family’s idyllic Long Island house, navigating between teetering stacks of aging newspapers, broken computers, and boxes upon boxes of unused junk festering in every room—the product of her father’s painful and unending struggle with hoarding.In this moving coming-of-age story, Kim brings to life her rat-infested home, her childhood consumed by concealing her father’s shameful secret from friends, and the emotional burden that ultimately led to an attempt to take her own life. And in beautiful prose, Miller sheds light on her complicated yet loving relationship with her parents that has thrived in spite of the odds.
The Last Camellia
Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Detective
Author: Sarah Jio
Regular Price $9.99, Today $2.99
On the eve of the Second World War, the last surviving specimen of a camellia plant known as the Middlebury Pink lies secreted away on an English country estate. Flora, an amateur American botanist, is contracted by an international ring of flower thieves to infiltrate the household and acquire the coveted bloom. Her search is at once brightened by new love and threatened by her discovery of a series of ghastly crimes.
More than half a century later, garden designer Addison takes up residence at the manor, now owned by the family of her husband, Rex. The couple’s shared passion for mysteries is fueled by the enchanting camellia orchard and an old gardener’s notebook. Yet its pages hint at dark acts ingeniously concealed. If the danger that Flora once faced remains very much alive, will Addison share her fate?
Highlander Betrayed
Romance > Historical > Scottish
Author: Laurin Wittig
Regular Price $9.99, Today $1.99
Hidden deep in the rugged Scottish Highlands lies the Highland Targe, an ancient relic guarded for centuries by clan MacAlpin. It is said the Targe can shield the heart of the Highlands from invaders and now, as part of his plan to crush the Scottish rebellion, the English king wants the Targe for himself…Rowan MacGregor, orphaned niece to the chief of the MacAlpins and the rock her family depends upon, is worried.
Nicholas fitz Hugh is not what he seems. Half-English, half-Scottish, he turned his back on his Scottish heritage early in his life, giving his loyalty to England instead. Now he is a talented and cunning spy charged with finding and stealing the Highland Targe for his king.
But when Nicholas finds himself falling for the bonny Rowan and wanting to protect the family she holds so dear, he is forced to choose between his king’s will and his own: Will he betray his king and his mission? Or will he turn his back on the woman he has come to love?
Interrupt
Science Fiction > High Tech
Author: Jeff Carlson
Regular Price $9.99, Today $1.99
In the distant past, the leader of a Neanderthal tribe confronts the end of his kind.Today, a computational biologist, a Navy pilot, and an autistic boy are drawn together by the ancient mystery that gave rise to Homo sapiens.
Planes are falling from the sky. Global communications have ceased. America stands on the brink of war with China—but war is the least of humankind’s concerns. As solar storms destroy Earth’s electronics and plunge the world into another Ice Age, our civilization finds itself overrun by a powerful new species of man…
Being Henry David
Teen & Young Adult > Literature & Fiction
Author: Cal Armistead
Regular Price $9.99, Today $1.99
Seventeen-year-old “Hank” has found himself at Penn Station in New York City with no memory of anything—who he is, where he came from, why he’s running away. His only possession is a worn copy of Walden, by Henry David Thoreau. And so he becomes Henry David—or “Hank”—and takes first to the streets, and then to the only destination he can think of—Walden Pond in Concord, Massachusetts.
Cal Armistead’s remarkable debut novel is about a teen in search of himself. Hank begins to piece together recollections from his past. The only way Hank can discover his present is to face up to the realities of his grievous memories. He must come to terms with the tragedy of his past to stop running and to find his way home.
Unglued Devotional: 60 Days of Imperfect Progress
Christian Living > Devotionals
Author: Lysa TerKeurst
Regular Price $9.99, Today $2.99
This companion devotional to the bestselling book Unglued provides encouragement to help readers handle emotional struggles. Including a daily opening Scripture, Thought for the Day, devotion, and closing prayer, this book helps readers begin a 60-day journey in learning to positively process raw emotions, such as fear, anger, and regret.
… See the rest of today’s Editor’s Picks here on page 2