FREE/BARGAIN - Audiobooks - 2016

[GtrsRGr8]

I haven't been able to vet this as much as I would like, so I can give you few guarantees.

A website called free-ebooks.net is offering some free audiobooks, during the month of May.

There are hundreds of audiobooks. Free-ebooks.net says that they are professionally narrated. I downloaded one (short) one; it is professionally narrated, no doubt about it, and otherwise sounded fine.

Don't expect free audio of current bestsellers or anything like that. I didn't recognize very many of the titles (and I was looking at non-fiction titles, my preference). But if someone has gone to the time, trouble, and expense of producing professionally-narrated audiobooks, there's got to be something going for them, don't they?

You must be a member in order to download, but I think that all is involved is providing a valid email address and creating a password. Alternatively, I think that you can join using your Facebook account credentials. Once you have an account, free-ebooks.net will send you emails, on a regular basis, offering some of their free ebooks.

I think, from some things that free-ebooks.net says, that you are allowed up to 5 freebies (using any combination of audiobooks and ebooks) this month, and each month thereafter you will be allowed to download up to 5 ebooks (no free audiobooks after this month's promotion, unless you upgrade to the "V.I.P." membership, which you have to pay for and it looks like they will repeatedly nag you to do).

The webpage at this URL looks like a good place to start: https://www.free-ebooks.net/audiomonth.

[GtrsRGr8]

That turns out to be 23% of the price of the audiobook alone at Audible!

Title: Five Conversations You Must Have with Your Daughter.
Genre: Non-Fiction (Family/Religious).
Author(s): Vicki Courtney.
Price: $3.98 ($0.99 ebook (marked down) + $2.99 Whispersync audio).
Regular Price of Audio, by Itself, at Audible: $16.95 (1 credit).
Ebook Rating/Number of Reviews: 4.4 stars/96 reviews (Amazon).
Audio Rating/Number of Ratings: 4.00/29 ratings.
Pages/Audio Length: 291/8 hours and 12 minutes.
Narrator(s): Pam Ward.
Audible URL: http://www.audible.com/pd/Self-Devel...ok/B0036IOXP6/.
Amazon URL (can get the whole Whispersync deal here): https://www.amazon.com/Five-Conversa.../dp/B004HFS2LS.
Comments:
Book Description (Amazon):
"For mothers with girls ages zero to eighteen, Five Conversations You Must Have with Your Daughter is indeed a must-have book. In it, bestselling author and youth culture expert Vicki Courtney helps moms pinpoint and prepare the discussions that need to be ongoing from cradle to college so their daughters will know the truth about life before they believe the culture’s lies. To fully address the dynamic issues and influencers at hand, several chapters are written for each of the conversations, which are: 1. You are more than the sum of your parts 2. Don’t be in such a hurry to grow up 3. Sex is great . . . and worth the wait 4. It’s OK to dream about marriage and motherhood 5. Girls gone wild are a dime a dozen—dare to be virtuous The book also includes invaluable tips on having each conversation across the various stages of development: five and under, six to eleven, twelve and up."

[GtrsRGr8]

Title: The Pursuit of Lucy Banning, A Novel (Avenue of Dreams Book 1).
Genre: Fiction (Historical Romance/Religious).
Author(s): Olivia Newport.
Price: $3.49 ($0.00 ebook (marked down) + $3.49 Whispersync audio).
Regular Price of Audio, by Itself, at Audible: $20.95 (1 credit).
Ebook Rating/Number of Reviews: 4.2 stars/433 reviews (Amazon).
Audio Rating/Number of Ratings: 4.4/11 ratings.
Pages/Audio Length: 306/7 hours and 8 minutes.
Narrator(s): Eleni Pappageorge.
Audible URL: http://www.audible.com/pd/Romance/Th...ook/B008MOXTC2.
Amazon URL (can get the whole Whispersync deal here): https://www.amazon.com/Pursuit-Banni.../dp/B0073UPR6C.
Comments: The source where I learned about the ebook says that it will be marked down until June 30. There are currently 3 books in the Avenue of Dreams series; this is the first.
Book Description (Amazon):
Lucy Banning may live on the exclusive Prairie Avenue among Chicago's rich and famous, but her heart lies elsewhere. Expected to marry an up-and-coming banker from a respected family, Lucy fears she will be forced to abandon her charity work and squeeze herself into the mold of the well-dressed wife who spends most of her time and money redecorating.

When she meets Will, an unconventional young architect who is working on plans for the upcoming 1893 World's Fair, Lucy imagines a life lived on her own terms. Can she break away from her family's expectations? And will she ever be loved for who she truly is?

Get swept away into the lavish world of Chicago's high society as Olivia Newport brings to life an age of glitz and grandeur, stark social contrasts, and one woman who dares to cross class lines for what she believes.

[GtrsRGr8]

Save 91% from the price of the audio (alone) at Audible, by getting the Whispersync deal on the ebook. Wow!

Title: Stained.
Genre: Fiction (Horror).
Author(s): Lee Thomas.
Price: $1.99 ($0.00 ebook (marked down) + $1.99 Whispersync audio).
Regular Price of Audio, by Itself, at Audible: $21.95 (1 credit).
Ebook Rating/Number of Reviews: 4.1 stars/14 reviews (Amazon); 3.76/55 ratings (GoodReads).
Audio Rating/Number of Ratings: 3.0/1 rating.
Pages/Audio Length: 348/11 hours and 37 minutes.
Narrator(s): Sean Lenhart.
Audible URL: http://www.audible.com/pd/Sci-Fi-Fan...ok/B00UZL2TOY/.
Amazon URL (can get the whole Whispersync deal here): https://www.amazon.com/Stained-Lee-T.../dp/B00QXWYF0A.
Comments:
Book Description (Amazon):
A madman. A secret, generations old. Another missing boy. They called the sadistic killer The River Rat, and he'd struck again. In a desperate search for his neighbor's son, Ted Lewis came face to face with the killer and survived, but his life was irrevocably altered. The residents of Marchand, Louisiana believed they were safe. The murderer had been captured and was behind bars. But the nightmare wasn't over yet. Because on that summer night, something passed between the two men. Memories of brutality and phantoms of countless victims torment Ted. His normal life is shattered, and he struggles to fight a growing presence that threatens to leave his soul stained forever. Author Lee Thomas's debut novel won the Bram Stoker Award and returns to print in a fine anniversary edition complete with new introduction by the author and an afterword by Steve Berman.

[tubemonkey]

Audible Daily Deal -- exp 09 May @ 11:59pm ET

$2.95 -- City of Echoes -- Robert Ellis/ Nick Podehl --> 9.4 hrs/ R-3.8 --> mystery

City of Echoes --> Detective Matt Jones (book 1 of 2)

Whispersync: the Audible book is $1.99, if you own or borrow the Kindle ebook ($6.99)

On Detective Matt Jones's first night working Homicide in LA, he's called to investigate a particularly violent murder case: a man has been gunned down in a parking lot off Hollywood Boulevard, his bullet-riddled body immediately pegged as the work of a serial robber who has been haunting the Strip for months. Driven by the grisliness of the crime, Jones and his hot-tempered partner, Denny Cabrera, jump headfirst into the investigation. But as Jones uncovers evidence that links the crime to a brutal, ritualized murder that occurred eighteen months prior, he begins to suspect that there's more going on beneath the surface. When Jones discovers shocking, deep-seated corruption; a high-level cover-up; and his own personal ties to the rising body count, he's no longer sure he can trust anyone, even himself.

[tubemonkey]

Nook Daily Find -- exp 09 May

$3.99 -- A Dangerous Place -- J Winspear/ O Cassidy --> 9.8 hrs/ R-4.3 --> historical mystery

A Dangerous Place --> Maisie Dobbs (book 11 of 12)

Whispersync: the Audible book is $12.99, if you own or borrow the Kindle ebook ($10.99)

Four years after she set sail from England, leaving everything she most loved behind, Maisie Dobbs at last returns only to find herself in a dangerous place....

In Jacqueline Winspear's powerful story of political intrigue and personal tragedy, a brutal murder in the British garrison town of Gilbraltar leads Maisie into a web of lies, deceit, and peril.

Spring 1937. In the four years since she left England, Maisie Dobbs has experienced love, contentment, stability - and the deepest tragedy a woman can endure. Now all she wants is the peace she believes she might find by returning to India. But her sojourn in the hills of Darjeeling is cut short when her stepmother summons her home to England; her aging father, Frankie Dobbs, is not getting any younger.

But on a ship bound for England, Maisie realizes she isn't ready to return. Against the wishes of the captain, who warns her, "You will be alone in a most dangerous place," she disembarks in Gibraltar. Though she is on her own, Maisie is far from alone: the British garrison town is teeming with refugees fleeing a brutal civil war across the border in Spain.

Yet the danger is very real. Days after Maisie's arrival, a photographer and member of Gibraltar's Sephardic Jewish community, Sebastian Babayoff, is murdered, and Maisie becomes entangled in the case, drawing the attention of the British Secret Service. Under the suspicious eye of a British agent, Maisie is pulled deeper into political intrigue on "the Rock" - arguably Britain's most important strategic territory - and renews an uneasy acquaintance in the process. At a crossroads between her past and her future, Maisie must choose a direction, knowing that England is, for her, an equally dangerous place but in quite a different way.

[GtrsRGr8]

Is everyone aware that Spotify, the popular online streaming music provider, not only offers almost every imaginable music track available in English, but also provides streaming audiobooks?

Well, I confess that I wasn't, even though I've used Spotify for quite a few years now. That is, until a few minutes ago when I ran across a little information about audiobooks on Spotify.

I did a little looking around on Spotify. I first located a short list of playlists--four for Shakespeare--The Poetry, The Tragedies, The Histories, The Comedies. One for Audiobooks. And one for Guided Meditation.

Then, I decided to do a search. It happens to be Dante Alighieri's birthday (he was born a mere 750 years ago. ha). So, I looked for his epic poem from the middle ages, the Divine Comedy. Sure enough, Spotify has it, and in several different versions. The most prominent version, or at least the one that looks like it occurs first, is one narrated by Joe J. Thomas.

I don't know what else Spotify may have in the way of audiobooks. All of the ones that I mentioned above are available "everywhere" on the Internet, although there may be some particular advantage (e.g., a better narrator) to a Spotify offering. Spotify may have many works still in copyright (like they do for the songs and other music that they offer), I just don't know.

In case you're not familiar with Spotify, it is free. That is, unless you want to eliminate the ubiquitous advertisements (they don't particularly bother me--I grew up partly in the days of AM radio's dominance. Ack!!!) and, supposedly a little bit better sound quality (that shouldn't matter with audiobooks). And, as far as I know, you can (legally) only stream the audiobooks, you can't download any.

Go here to learn more about Spotify and/or to download their software. If, once you've downloaded and installed the software, you want to start by exploring the playlists, here's what to do: click on "genres & moods" on the menu bar near the top of the screen. Scroll down until you see the last box, which is labelled "Word." Then, click on it. Frankly, if you want to find other audiobooks, the only way that I know how to do it is to search for a title and/or artist (author and/or narrator).

[GtrsRGr8]

The great Whispersync deal ($5.98) is thanks to a $10 drop in the price of the ebook.

Title: Switching Time.
Genre: Non-Fiction (Psychology).
Author(s): Richard Baer.
Price: $5.98 ($1.99 ebook (marked down) + $3.99 Whispersync audio).
Regular Price of Audio, by Itself, at Audible: $23.95.
Ebook Rating/Number of Reviews: 4.4 stars/135 reviews (Amazon).
Audio Rating/Number of Ratings: 4.1/439 ratings.
Pages/Audio Length: 368/12 hours and 58 minutes.
Narrator(s): Lloyd James.
Audible URL: http://www.audible.com/search/ref=a_...ywords&x=0&y=0.
Amazon URL (can get the whole Whispersync deal here): https://www.amazon.com/Switching-Tim.../dp/B000W9176A.
Comments: The ebook is #1 in these Kindle categories: Counseling & Psychology > Pathologies > General and Counseling & Psychology > Mental Health > Mental Illness.
Book Description (Amazon):
One afternoon in 1989, Karen Overhill walks into psychiatrist Richard Baer’s office complaining of vague physical pains and depression. Odder still, she reveals that she’s suffering from a persistent memory problem. Routinely, she “loses” parts of her day, finding herself in places she doesn’t remember going to or being told about conversations she doesn’t remember having. Her problems are so pervasive that she often feels like an impersonator in her own life; she doesn’t recognize the people who call themselves her friends, and she can’t even remember being intimate with her own husband.

Baer recognizes that Karen is on the verge of suicide and, while trying various medications to keep her alive, attempts to discover the root cause of her strange complaints. It’s the work of months, and then years, to gain Karen’s trust and learn the true extent of the trauma buried in her past. What she eventually reveals is nearly beyond belief, a narrative of a childhood spent grappling with unimaginable horror. How has Karen survived with even a tenuous grasp on sanity?

Then Baer receives an envelope in the mail. It’s marked with Karen’s return address but contains a letter from a little girl who writes that she’s seven years old and lives inside of Karen. Soon Baer receives letters from others claiming to be parts of Karen. Under hypnosis, these alternate Karen personalities reveal themselves in shocking variety and with undeniable traits—both physical and psychological. One “alter” is a young boy filled with frightening aggression; another an adult male who considers himself Karen’s protector; and a third a sassy flirt who seeks dominance over the others. It’s only by compartmentalizing her pain, guilt, and fear in this fashion—by “switching time” with alternate selves as the situation warrants—that Karen has been able to function since childhood.

Realizing that his patient represents an extreme case of multiple personality disorder, Baer faces the daunting task of creating a therapy that will make Karen whole again. Somehow, in fact, he must gain the trust of each of Karen’s seventeen “alters” and convince them of the necessity of their own annihilation.

As powerful as Sybil or The Three Faces of Eve, Switching Time is the first complete account of such therapy to be told from the perspective of the treating physician, a stunningly devoted healer who worked selflessly for decades so that Karen could one day live as a single human being.

From the Hardcover edition.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by GtrsRGr8

Is everyone aware that Spotify, the popular online streaming music provider, not only offers almost every imaginable music track available in English, but also provides streaming audiobooks?

It's been mentioned before, but not in any detail. I should add it as another source for audiobooks. Thanks for mentioning it again.

Edit: Starbucks is sponsoring a free 3-month trial to Spotify Premium until 15 May --> details here.


TuneIn Radio also offers rental audiobooks. They have over 40,000 titles to choose from and there are no limits on how many you can listen to. It's part of their $8/mo premium plan --> details here.
.

[tubemonkey]

Downpour -- Last Day -- exp 09 May

• $1.99 -- Rental of Week --> The Red Parts --> details
• $4.95 -- Deal of Week --> One Hundred Years of Solitude --> details
• SALE -- Weekly Deals (7 titles) details

[GtrsRGr8]

Originally Posted by GtrsRGr8

<snip>
Go here to learn more about Spotify and/or to download their software. If, once you've downloaded and installed the software, you want to start by exploring the playlists, here's what to do: click on "genres & moods" on the menu bar near the top of the screen. Scroll down until you see the last box, which is labelled "Word." Then, click on it. Frankly, if you want to find other audiobooks, the only way that I know how to do it is to search for a title and/or artist (author and/or narrator).

D'oh!

If you will scroll down after you click on "Word," you will see gazilions of categories in addition to the six that I mentioned. If you will then click on the title of one of the collections, there will be a list of audios on that subject to appear.

Awesome.

[rgeorg]

Originally Posted by sufue

I did too, and some of the many others you post too...



(Now I need to actually find time to listen to some of these...)

I also bought it - thank you for posting the deal!

[tubemonkey]

Audible Daily Deal -- exp 10 May @ 11:59pm ET

$3.95 -- Farthing -- Jo Walton/ multiple --> 9.8 hrs/ R-3.9 --> historical mystery

Whispersync: the Audible book is $3.95, if you own or borrow the Kindle ebook ($9.99)

Farthing --> Small Change (book 1 of 3)

One summer weekend in 1949 - but not our 1949 - the well-connected "Farthing set", a group of upper-crust English families, enjoy a country retreat. Lucy is a minor daughter in one of those families; her parents were both leading figures in the group that overthrew Churchill and negotiated peace with Herr Hitler eight years before. Despite her parents' evident disapproval, Lucy is married - happily - to a London Jew. It was therefore quite a surprise to Lucy when she and her husband, David, found themselves invited to the retreat. It's even more startling when, on the retreat's first night, a major politician of the Farthing set is found gruesomely murdered, with abundant signs that the killing was ritualistic.

It quickly becomes clear to Lucy that she and David were brought to the retreat in order to pin the murder on him. Major political machinations are at stake, including an initiative in Parliament, supported by the Farthing set, to limit the right to vote to university graduates. But whoever's behind the murder, and the frame-up, didn't reckon on the principal investigator from Scotland Yard being a man with very private reasons for sympathizing with outcasts and looking beyond the obvious. As the trap slowly shuts on Lucy and David, they begin to see a way out - a way fraught with peril in a darkening world.

[tubemonkey]

Nook Daily Find -- exp 10 May

$6.95 -- Showtime -- Jeff Pearlman/ Malcolm Hillgartner --> 18.6 hrs/ R-4.5 --> sports history

Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley, and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s

Whispersync: the Audible book is $4.49, if you own or borrow the Kindle ebook ($9.99)

The New York Times best-selling author of Sweetness delivers the first all-encompassing account of the 1980s Los Angeles Lakers, one of professional sports’ most-revered - and dominant - dynasties.

The Los Angeles Lakers of the 1980s personified the flamboyance and excess of the decade over which they reigned. Beginning with the arrival of Earvin “Magic” Johnson as the number-one overall pick of the 1979 draft, the Lakers played basketball with gusto and pizzazz, unleashing their famed “Showtime” run-and-gun style on a league unprepared for their speed and ferocity - and became the most captivating show in sports and, arguably, in all-around American entertainment. The Lakers’ roster overflowed with exciting all-star-caliber players, including center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and they were led by the incomparable Pat Riley, known for his slicked-back hair, his Armani suits, and his arrogant strut. Hollywood’s biggest celebrities lined the court and gorgeous women flocked to the arena. Best of all, the team was a winner. Between 1980 and 1991, the Lakers played in an unmatched nine NBA championship series, capturing five of them.

Best-selling sportswriter Jeff Pearlman draws from almost 300 interviews to take the first full measure of the Lakers’ epic Showtime era. A dazzling account of one of America’s greatest sports sagas, Showtime is packed with indelible characters, vicious rivalries, and jaw-dropping, behind-the-scenes stories of the players’ decadent Hollywood lifestyles. From the Showtime era’s remarkable rise to its tragic end - marked by Magic Johnson’s 1991 announcement that he had contracted HIV - Showtime is a gripping narrative of sports, celebrity, and 1980s-style excess.

[tubemonkey]

Downpour -- Rental of the Week -- exp 16 May

$1.99 -- No Dream Is Too High -- Buzz Aldrin, et al/ Traber Burns --> 5.8 hrs/ R-4.8 --> memoir

No Dream Is Too High: Life Lessons from a Man Who Walked on the Moon

Whispersync: the Audible book is $4.49, if you own or borrow the Kindle ebook ($10.99)

Everywhere he goes, crowds gather to meet Buzz Aldrin. He's a world-class hero, a larger-than-life figurehead, and the best known of a generation of astronauts whose achievements surged in just a few years from first man in space to first men on the moon. Now he pauses to reflect on and share what he has learned, from the vantage point not only of outer space but also of time: Still a nonstop traveler and impassioned advocate for space exploration, Aldrin will be 86 in 2016.

No Dream Is Too High whittles down Buzz Aldrin's event-filled life into a short list of the principles he values, each illustrated by fascinating anecdotes and memories, such as:

* Second comes right after first. NASA protocol should have placed Buzz Aldrin on the moon first, but rules changed just before the mission. Buzz discusses how he learned to be proud of being the second man on the moon.

* Look for opportunities, not obstacles. Buzz was rejected the first time he applied to be an astronaut. Failure is an opportunity to learn to do better.

* Always maintain your spirit of adventure. For his 80th birthday, Buzz went diving in the Galapagos and hitched a ride on a whale shark. He stays fit, energetic, and fascinated with life.

No Dream Is Too High is a beautiful memento, a thought-provoking set of ideas, and a new opportunity for Buzz Aldrin to connect with the masses of people who recognize his unique place in human history.