[ATDrake]

So, once upon a time, there was a little Canadian publisher named Harlequin, who started out with romances, and then expanded into non-romantic titles, while still keeping the core of their business romance.

And then they expanded into the UK as Mills & Boon, who published the Canadian Harlequin selection as well as recruiting UK authors whom they would pass back to the mothership for North American publication, and then they expanded again into the ebook age with their Carina Press imprint for digital-first publications from newer authors, and began to sell DRM-free ePubs directly to the public. (And then they got acquired by HarperCollins, but we're going to pretend that never happened, and hope that they do, too, so that they don't apply HC's more deleterious marketing decisions to their currently reader-advantageous e-book-selling workflow. But I digress.)

And with the advent of Carina Press, which had their digital-first tales for not just romance, but also other genres like steampunk and mystery and horror, apparently they decided to expand into the UK once more. With Carina UK, their digital-first UK imprint, patterned in the same vein.

Which, apparently, has absolutely no connection with the pre-existing Carina Press except in the usage of part of their name, does not sell DRM-free ePubs directly from their own website, does not have their authors listed on the Carina Press website where they could presumably garner sales from a pre-existing audience inclined to shell out money for DRM-free ePubs of the kind of books they write, and generally kind of seems to represent some sort of catastrophic breakdown in communications and marketing co-ordination between the two Carinas, who might as well be entirely separate entities run by entirely different and totally unrelated companies.

It's like one of those cases of not only the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing, but also the left hand being some kind of possessed demonic entity out of an episode of Angel: The Series.

Well, in any case, said possibly possessed left hand which is completely out of step with the right hand has seen fit to offer us no fewer than 24 27 free titles in the Kindle store, which are probably all glitch freebies which incidentally have not shown up free in any of the other standard stores, much less their originating country, that will disappear once they pay attention to what they're doing. But until then, they are free courtesy of publisher Carina UK, a division of Harlequin UK, a spin-off subsidiary which is like unto some sort of parallel-universe evil twin to Mills & Boon, which itself is a clone-sibling of Harlequin itself.

It's a mix of mostly chick-lit comedies, but also a few mystery/thrillers, some literary/contemporary fiction (both serious and humorous), a few dedicated romances, even an historical and a horror piece.

These are currently all free in Canada & the US, and seemed to be free in Australia, Japan, Brazil, Mexico, and possibly elsewhere when I spot-checked a few titles, but not in the European Kindle stores I tried. A few of them are pre-orders which will require having a credit card on file even to get the freebie.

And this has been the selected 3rd (non-repeat) free ebook thread of the day.

Because there's probably at least one thing for everyone in here. As long as you read fiction. And aren't particularly picky about your subgenres, I suppose.

Enjoy!

1. The Christmas Violin by Buffy Andrews, a festive heartwarming tearjerker literary fiction piece @ Amazon
2. A French Piroutte by Jennifer Bohnet, no description yet, but the cover suggests literary/women's fiction (maybe chick-lit), pre-order @ Amazon
3. The Midnight Rake by Anabelle Bryant, f/m historical romance @ Amazon
4. The Last Straw by Paul Gitsham, 1st in his DCI Warren Jones series of police procedural murder mysteries, @ Amazon
5. A Christmas Horror Story by Sebastian Gregory, Exactly What It Says In The Title (may be humorous, some of the blurb praise compares the author's previous writing to Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas), pre-order @ Amazon
6. How to Bake the Perfect Christmas Cake by Gina Henning, 2nd in her Home for the Holidays series of f/m romantic comedies (may be a chick-lit), @ Amazon
7. This Fragile Life by Kate Hewitt, an emotional literary/women's fiction drama novel @ Amazon
8. Second to Cry by Carys Jones, 2nd in their Avalon series of legal/crime thrillers starring lawyer Aiden Connelly, a married attorney who moved from Chicago to the eponymous small town and is apparently experiencing adjustment problems @ Amazon
9. Third to Die by Carys Jones, no description yet, but cover art with suited guy holding briefcase suggests it's another legal thriller, pre-order @ Amazon
10. Always Something There To Remind Me by Lilian Kendrick, a humorous contemporary literary/women's fiction journey of self-discovery novel, pre-order @ Amazon
11. Bad Bridesmaid by Portia MacIntosh, a chick-lit romantic comedy, 2nd in J.J. Stoner series, according to a customer review @ Amazon
12. A Rose in Flanders Fields by Terry Nixon, 2nd in their Oaklands Manor Trilogy series of WWI-set historical fiction with romantic elements, @ Amazon
13. The Little Christmas Kitchen by Jenny Oliver, a festive family-oriented comedic contemporary fiction novel (may be chick-lit-ish, but the blurb didn't give off quite the same vibe as her other one below), @ Amazon
14. The Parisian Christmas Bake off by Jenny Oliver, a festive chick-lit challenge comedy @ Amazon
15. Guilty Pleasures by Jane O'Reilly, no description or cover yet, your guess is as good as mine, pre-order @ Amazon
16. Christmas Wedding at the Gingerbread Café by Rebecca Raisin, the festive 3rd in her Gingerbread Café series of chick-lit/women's fiction romantic comedy novels following the same couple, @ Amazon
17. Secrets at Maple Syrup Farm by Rebecca Raisin, contemporary fiction involving a guy who inherits stuff with romantic elements, @ Amazon
18. Christmas is Cancelled by Aurelia B. Rowl, a festive f/m contemporary romance short @ Amazon
19. Ghost Writers by David Shaw, an experimental literary fiction novel that tries to blend in non-fiction styling as inspirational parables of some sort, kind of like magical realism but without the magic?, pre-order @ Amazon
20. Beneath the Moon and the Stars by Amelia Thorne, a women's fiction with romantic and suspense elements @ Amazon
21. Doubting Abbey by Samantha Tonge, a chick-lit romantic comedy involving a reality TV show identity switcheroo @ Amazon
22. From Paris, With Love by Samantha Tonge, a chick-lit romantic comedy with mystery elements, sequel to Doubting Abbey, @ Amazon
23. Mistletoe Mansion by Samantha Tonge, a standalone-looking festive probably chick-lit comedy with romantic elements (and possibly some ghostly supernatural ones) @ Amazon
24. A Most Improper Proposal by Molly Ann Wishlade, an f/m historical romance @ Amazon