[arcadata]

The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe (Hyperion) is $2.99

Book Description:

A spellbinding, beautifully written novel that moves between contemporary times and one of the most fascinating and disturbing periods in American history-the Salem witch trials.

Harvard graduate student Connie Goodwin needs to spend her summer doing research for her doctoral dissertation. But when her mother asks her to handle the sale of Connie’s grandmother’s abandoned home near Salem, she can’t refuse. As she is drawn deeper into the mysteries of the family house, Connie discovers an ancient key within a seventeenth-century Bible. The key contains a yellowing fragment of parchment with a name written upon it: Deliverance Dane. This discovery launches Connie on a quest–to find out who this woman was and to unearth a rare artifact of singular power: a physick book, its pages a secret repository for lost knowledge.

As the pieces of Deliverance’s harrowing story begin to fall into place, Connie is haunted by visions of the long-ago witch trials, and she begins to fear that she is more tied to Salem’s dark past then she could have ever imagined.

Written with astonishing conviction and grace, The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane travels seamlessly between the witch trials of the 1690s and a modern woman’s story of mystery, intrigue, and revelation.

The January Dancer by Michael Flynn (Tor Books) is $2.99

Book Description:

A triumph of the New Space Opera: fast, complicated, wonder-filled!

Hugo Award finalist and Robert A. Heinlein Award–winning SF writer Michael Flynn now turns to space opera with stunningly successful results. Full of rich echoes of space opera classics from Doc Smith to Cordwainer Smith, The January Dancer tells the fateful story of an ancient pre-human artifact of great power, and the people who found it.

Starting with Captain Amos January, who quickly loses it, and then the others who fought, schemed, and killed to get it, we travel around the complex, decadent, brawling, mongrelized interstellar human civilization the artifact might save or destroy. Collectors want the Dancer; pirates take it, rulers crave it, and they’ll all kill if necessary to get it. This is a thrilling yarn of love, revolution, music, and mystery, and it ends, as all great stories do, with shock and a beginning.

Christmas 101 by Rick Rodgers (HarperCollins) is $2.99

Book Description:

100 easy, fun recipes–with menus and timetables for stress-free entertaining–to put you in the holiday spirit!

Your tree is up and decorated, the carolers are singing, and there’s just one thought on your mind: How am I going to get Christmas dinner on the table and still have enough energy to plan that New Year’s bash?

Rick Rodgers, cooking teacher and author of the bestselling Thanksgiving 101, once again takes you by the hand to help you entertain (and still be entertaining) during this hectic season. Christmas 101 features 100 of Rick’s never-fail recipes, from holiday classics such as egg nog, glazed ham, and gingerbread cookies, to contemporary ideas such as Shrimp Bisque with Confetti Vegetables, Prime Ribs, and Apple Shortcakes with Brandied Cream. And since the holiday season keeps going long after the last Christmas present is opened, there are plenty of New Year’s ideas, from an intimate dinner for four to an open house buffet for the entire neighborhood.

The Baking Answer Book: Solutions to Every Problem You’ll Ever Face; Answers to Every Question You’ll Ever Ask by Lauren Chattman (Workman Publishing Company) is $2.99

Book Description:

Every baker has pondered the wisdom of substituting one ingredient for another (“I don’t have any cake flour. Can I use all-purpose flour?”), using a square baking dish instead of the rectangular pan the recipe requires, or constructing a fancy dessert with frozen puff pastry rather than homemade.

Baking recipes require precision and attention — exact measurements, correct ingredients, and a confident hand — to mix, cream, froth, and whip. But surely there is some leeway? And if there really is no room for error or substitution, then the curious baker wants to know why.

Answering every question about common and specialty ingredients, finicky ovens, the best equipment for every recipe, the science behind the magic of baking, and the unique properties, quirks, and flavors of every kind of baked good, author Lauren Chattman reassures readers with commonsense solutions, foolproof, substitutions, and fun-to-know facts about the history and evolution of favorite baked goods. She even includes recipes that allow readers to practice new techniques and experiment with unfamiliar ingredients. Spelt Brownies, anyone?

Portable, browseable, and easy to use, The Baking Answer Book earns a place beside the recipe collections in bakers’ libraries, explaining the techniques that don’t make sense and solving the mysteries of soggy zucchini bread and cracked cheesecakes.

The One Hundred by Nina Garcia (HarperCollins) is $3.99

Book Description:

“Simply put, these items make me feel classic. And there is no substitute for feeling this way. Ever.”

In the wildly popular The Little Black Book of Style, fashion authority Nina Garcia showed women how to think about personal style in an entirely new way. Encouraging readers to creatively assert their style identities, Nina showed women of all ages how to hone and self-edit a distinct fashion voice.

With her style philosophy firmly out in the world, Nina decided to address the most popular question readers consistently ask her: Exactly what are fashion’s timeless pieces?

The One Hundred answers this question and provides women with a tangible style map to follow when planning a shopping trip and stocking one’s closet. With illustrations from world-renowned fashion illustrator Ruben Toledo, The One Hundred contains the 100 items that Nina believes will never go out of style, and that have become absolutely indispensible for any woman reaching for her own eternal fashion look.

Sweet Everlasting by Patricia Gaffney (Open Road) is $1.99

Book Description:

A young city doctor moves to the country, where a mute and beautiful local woman will change his life forever

Newly installed at his modest post in Wayne’s Crossing, Pennsylvania, Tyler Wilkes is a doctor, a hero of the Spanish-American War, and the heir to a great fortune. His wealthy family in Philadelphia doesn’t approve of his new station, but Tyler is sure of his calling. And the young ladies of Wayne’s Crossing can’t seem to get enough of their handsome young physician, exploiting every excuse to visit his offices with imagined maladies.

Tyler is most intrigued by Carrie Wiggins. Mute, sensitive, lovely, and troubled, Carrie lives with her abusive alcoholic stepfather, Artemis, in the mountains just outside of town. Her gentle nature and the loving care she bestows on injured animals in the woods quickly endear her to Tyler, though they belie the darkness in her life. Can she overcome her tortured past to give voice to her heart?