Kindle First

[darryl]

What an awful selection. I skipped November and am tempted to skip this as well, but will probably go with Punishment.

[Manabi]

I went with Punishment myself, it does sound a lot like a Philip K. Dick story.

[Alohamora]

I got Twist of Fate. Like so many of these Freebies, it went into my "maybe I'll read this after I retire" list.

[Catlady]

I'm probably going to go with Tips for Living, if I can get past that stupid title and that awful cover. What were they thinking?

The only other book I'd consider is Twist of Faith, but the apparent religious aspect is a turnoff--I don't want to read something with an agenda.

[Wearever]

This must be the Bleak and Desolate Noir selection from Amazon this month.

[Manabi]

Originally Posted by Wearever

This must be the Bleak and Desolate Noir selection from Amazon this month.

Just wait, next month will be Bleak and Desolate Romance selections!

[Wearever]

Originally Posted by Manabi

Just wait, next month will be Bleak and Desolate Romance selections!

Lol !" Zombie's in love tragedy, they met today but have no future. " or something like that. Nothing up lifting, only doom & gloom. I want to read about adventure or the underdog who wins. Oh well maybe next month.

[Alohamora]

Originally Posted by GlenBarrington

My problem is, I'm attracted to all of them! I selected "The Honest Spy", since I like fictionalized true stories, and stories about WWII, of which I am particularly vulnerable to these days.

The Honest Spy (October selection) turned out to be an excellent read.

I bought the $2 whisper sync audiobook, the narrator was very good. But I got so involved in the story that I stayed up late one night to finish reading the ebook instead of waiting to get through the audio during my commute.

[JSWolf]

I chose Punishment by Scott J. Holliday.

[Manabi]

Just a reminder that today is the last day to select a book this month.

[Manabi]

This month's Amazon First Reads selections are out, they are:

Bone Music (The Burning Girl Series Book 1) by Christopher Rice [Genre: Thriller]

There’s more than one way to stoke the flames of revenge…

Charlotte Rowe spent the first seven years of her life in the hands of the only parents she knew—a pair of serial killers who murdered her mother and tried to shape Charlotte in their own twisted image. If only the nightmare had ended when she was rescued. Instead, her real father exploited her tabloid-ready story for fame and profit—until Charlotte finally broke free from her ghoulish past and fled. Just when she thinks she has buried her personal hell forever, Charlotte is swept into a frightening new ordeal. Secretly dosed with an experimental drug, she’s endowed with a shocking new power—but pursued by a treacherous corporation desperate to control her.

Except from now on, if anybody is going to control Charlotte, it’s going to be Charlotte herself. She’s determined to use the extraordinary ability she now possesses to fight the kind of evil that shattered her life—by drawing a serial killer out from the shadows to face the righteous fury of a victim turned avenger.

Editor Notes:

Spoiler:

The Burning Girl. That is the nickname Charlotte “Charley” Rowe has been trying to forget since adolescence. Orphaned and abducted by serial killers, Charley was tasked with burning the personal belongings of their victims. When federal agents rescued her, it didn’t take long for the press to dub her “the Burning Girl.” And it stuck for a long time.

As an adult, Charley goes into hiding, building walls around her—both literally and figuratively. She lets in one person: her doctor, Dylan Thorpe. When he offers her an experimental drug to combat anxiety, she is reluctant at first. But he is very persuasive. And charismatic. And maybe not exactly “prescribing” it for the right reasons.

When the drug takes effect, Charley has an all-over feeling of strength—mentally and physically. Fearless, she is empowered to go after predators not unlike the people who abducted her.

So what happens when a woman becomes a weapon? If Charley is judge, jury, and executioner, what happens to her soul? And is it worth the sacrifice to rid the world of monsters? These are the central questions of Bone Music. I read the more than four hundred terrifying and thrilling pages in one sitting. I hope you will, too. — Liz Pearsons, Editor

White Rose, Black Forest by Eoin Dempsey [Genre: Historical Fiction]

In the shadows of World War II, trust becomes the greatest risk of all for two strangers.

December 1943. In the years before the rise of Hitler, the Gerber family’s summer cottage was filled with laughter. Now, as deep drifts of snow blanket the Black Forest, German dissenter Franka Gerber is alone and hopeless. Fervor and brutality have swept through her homeland, taking away both her father and her brother and leaving her with no reason to live.

That is, until she discovers an unconscious airman lying in the snow wearing a Luftwaffe uniform, his parachute flapping in the wind. Unwilling to let him die, Franka takes him to her family’s isolated cabin despite her hatred for the regime he represents. But when it turns out that he is not who he seems, Franka begins a race against time to unravel the mystery of the airman’s true identity. Their tenuous bond becomes as inseparable as it is dangerous. Hunted by the Gestapo, can they trust each other enough to join forces on a mission that could change the face of the war and their own lives forever?

Editor Notes:

Spoiler:

Trust, like so many things, was a bygone notion in World War II–era Germany. The bonds that united friends—or even family—were tested by unimaginable atrocities and a government that demanded unwavering loyalty, stripping citizens of any sense of security in an already fraught time. Who or what was safe to trust, if anyone or anything?

That’s a question Franka Gerber, the woman at the center of Eoin Dempsey’s riveting historical novel, has to ask repeatedly in day-to-day life—which makes her decision to rescue an injured airman she knows nothing about all the more remarkable. Broken by the deaths of her family and boyfriend and recently released from jail for affiliating with the White Rose resistance, Franka is adrift when she discovers the unconscious pilot in the Black Forest. She resolves to take him in, the nurse in her unable to dismiss his grievous wounds, her conscience unable to ignore its moral duty. Even so, it’s not without a great deal of reluctance and fear that she drags him to her cabin. Just who is this mysterious man in uniform? Why is he here, in the middle of the mountains?

As he recovers, Franka learns there is more to him than appearances would suggest, and her ability to trust is put to the ultimate test as they embark on a covert mission that builds to a breathless conclusion. Few characters may embody the unease and isolation of living in wartime Germany as vividly as Franka, but it’s her perseverance, and especially her humanity, that make her truly unforgettable. — Chris Werner, Editor

Neighborly by Ellie Monago [Genre: Suspense]

A not-to-be-missed novel of suspense about the secrets hidden in a young couple’s new neighborhood.

Kat and Doug felt like Aurora Village was the perfect community. Minutes from the city, affluent without pretension, low crime with a friendly vibe—it’s everything Kat never had, and that she’s determined to provide for her infant daughter. Snagging a nice bungalow in this exclusive enclave was worth all the sacrifice. But everything changes overnight when Kat finds a scrawled note outside their front door.

That wasn’t very neighborly of you.

As increasingly sinister and frighteningly personal notes arrive, each one stabs deeper into the heart of Kat’s insecurities, paranoia, and most troubling, her past. When the neighbors who seemed so perfect reveal their open secret, the menace moves beyond mean notes. Someone’s raising the stakes.

As suspicious as she is of every smiling face and as terrified as she’s become of being found out, Kat is still unprepared for the sharp turn that lies just ahead of her on Bayberry Lane.

Editor Notes:

Spoiler:

There are few things more exciting, or terrifying, than moving into a new home. How will I decorate my new space? What will the neighbors be like…and will they like me? Those are precisely the type of questions that I faced a few months ago when I moved across the country and that Kat faces in Ellie Monago’s chilling novel Neighborly.

In an attempt to make a good first impression on her new neighbors, Kat decides to distribute the mounds of cardboard piled in front of her home into her neighbors’ bins before morning collection. She doesn’t want her house to be an eyesore for the block party welcoming them the next day, and what the neighbors don’t know won’t hurt them. But when pieces of that cardboard start showing up on her doorstep with menacing notes written on them, notes that threaten to expose secrets from Kat’s past that she’s worked hard to keep hidden, Kat must decide if living in her dream neighborhood is worth the price.

After reading this story in my new house, in my new neighborhood, at night, I’ll admit I double-checked my door locks before going to sleep. In a similar vein to Shari Lapena’s The Couple Next Door, this suspenseful novel left me asking, How well do I really know the people living right next door to me? And what lengths would they be willing to go to in order to keep their secrets secret?

One thing I can promise you—after you read this book, you’ll never look at your neighbors the same way again, either. — Alicia Clancy, Edito

Tough Tug by Margaret Read MacDonald (Author), Rob McClurkan (Illustrator) [Genre: Children's Book]

Tough Tug is a brand-new boat. He likes to swirl and twirl—and run and race. He wants everyone to see what he can do. But when he sails to Alaska for the first time, he finds out what being a tug really means…

Editor Notes:

Spoiler:

One of the things that struck me as I first read Tough Tug was how childlike the main character is. A brand-new boat, Tough Tug has to learn everything—how to move forward and backward, how to speed up, and how to stop…even the thrill of twirling. But beyond mastering physical skills, like young children, Tug is also figuring out who he is, how he should act, and what being tough is really all about.

In this wonderful read-aloud book, text couplets that evoke the rhythm of ocean waves alternate with Tug’s confident voice, carrying readers from his very first splash through a harrowing rescue. With a nod to classic tugboat books such as Little Toot and Scuffy the Tugboat, the spirited illustrations capture Tough Tug’s personality and the calm and chaos of the ocean with a fresh sensibility.

While I think kids will find a lot to relate to, they may just be excited about an adventure story with a brave boat. And that’s part of what’s so great about children’s books—different layers of storytelling offer different points of accessibility or meaning for whoever is reading them. — Kelsey Skea, Editor

Go by Kazuki Kaneshiro (Author), Takami Nieda (Translator) [Genre: Literary Fiction]

Two young lovers…one little secret.

As a Korean student in a Japanese high school, Sugihara has had to defend himself against all kinds of bullies. But nothing could have prepared him for the heartache he feels when he falls hopelessly in love with a Japanese girl named Sakurai. Immersed in their shared love for classical music and foreign movies, the two gradually grow closer and closer.

One night, after being hit by personal tragedy, Sugihara reveals to Sakurai that he is not Japanese—as his name might indicate.

Torn between a chance at self-discovery that he’s ready to seize and the prejudices of others that he can’t control, Sugihara must decide who he wants to be and where he wants to go next. Will Sakurai be able to confront her own bias and accompany him on his journey?

Editor Notes:

Spoiler:

I, like every other human being presumably, encountered misunderstanding and bigotry growing up, which is doubtless why I connected so powerfully with narrator Sugihara’s coming-of-age story.

Sugihara’s voice is intelligent, wickedly humorous, and fresh. He captured my attention and sympathy on the first page of the book, when he asserts, “First, let’s get one thing straight. The story that follows is a love story. My love story. And communism—or democratism, pacifism, otakuism, vegetarianism, or any other -ism for that matter—has got nothing to do with it. Just so you know.” Sugihara’s story is profoundly his own, deriving in equal parts from a dominant culture that devalues Korean immigrants, an aggressive father with his own disappointments, and the intoxicating headiness of first love.

And isn’t this just the way that all of us view our love stories? As essentially only our own, even if they are also representative in some way of specific demographic groups that we belong to?

A contemporary classic in its native Japan and winner of the Naoki Prize, this book stands alongside Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Sandra Cisneros’s The House on Mango Street, or Haruki Murakami’s Kafka on the Shore in showing how much we lose when we define those around us as “other”—and how much we have to gain when we approach each other as individuals, with love rather than fear or aggression. — Elizabeth DeNoma, Editor

Silent Victim by Caroline Mitchell [Genre: Psychological Thriller]

Emma’s darkest secrets are buried in the past. But the truth can’t stay hidden for long.

Emma is a loving wife, a devoted mother…and an involuntary killer. For years she’s been hiding the dead body of the teacher who seduced her as a teen.

It’s a secret that might have stayed buried if only her life had been less perfect. A promotion for Emma’s husband, Alex, means they can finally move to a bigger home with their young son. But with a buyer lined up for their old house, Emma can’t leave without destroying every last trace of her final revenge…

Returning to the shallow grave in the garden, she finds it empty. The body is gone.

Panicked, Emma confesses to her husband. But this is only the beginning. Soon, Alex will discover things about her he’ll wish he’d learned sooner. And others he’ll long to forget.

Editor Notes:

Spoiler:

For Emma, life couldn’t be better. Together with her husband, Alex, and their four-year-old son, she has the perfect family. But there is a terrible secret lurking in Emma’s past, and it’s clawing to break free: Emma is a murderer.

Nevertheless, her story, and the endearing compassion she shows for her loved ones, drew me in completely. I thought I could trust her, that she was a good person at heart—despite her admission from the first page that she killed her manipulative schoolteacher, who seduced her at the age of fifteen. Although Emma gets her revenge, Caroline Mitchell’s intricately drawn hints of suspicion made me feel that there was something hidden from view. A truth even more sinister than I thought—and one that made me doubt who the victim really was until the last page.

As a former detective who investigated violent crimes, Mitchell is no stranger to the most depraved elements of human nature—that much is clear in this Gone Girl-esque thriller. Incredibly suspenseful, with a fast-paced style that does not relent until the final word, Silent Victim vocalizes the dreaded question inside all of us: “What are my loved ones capable of?”

Sometimes murder isn’t the worst answer… — Jack Butler, Editor

[Dngrsone]

Hrm. The Burning Girl is intriguing... I may just get that one.

[Manabi]

I went with Bone Music myself. Probably a good month for thriller fans, since two are definite thrillers and Neighborly is similar as well.

[HLS]

If you have anything samsung Kindle for samsung app gives you one free book a month

[GlenBarrington]

I went with "Silent Victim". It sounds like it has a nice 'twisty-turny' plot.