Content FREE (and bargain) books for the Kindle - July 2010

[koland]

Free:

All in Time, Stone, Ciana, part of The Hussies series

Book Description
Sara's life is filled with mysteries. Why did her parents abandon her as a baby? What's behind the baffling blackouts she suffers and the frightening images she creates while she's out? Who is the strange woman claiming to hold the answers, and why does she keep calling Sara a Hussy?Morgan's got a few mysteries of his own. What was his father going to give him on the day he died - the gift he said would change Morgan's life? Who is this bewitching woman who keeps passing out and creating pictures of his past and future - and why was she sent to save his life? All they both know from the moment they meet is that the bond between them is stronger - and more passionate - than anything either has ever known. And that fate has brought them together for a very important reason. If only they knew what it was.

[koland]

Bright of the Sky, by Kay Kenyon, the first title in her Entire and the Rose scifi series.

Book Description
Kay Kenyon, noted for her science fiction world-building, has in this new series created her most vivid and compelling society, the Universe Entire. In a land-locked galaxy that tunnels through our own, the Entire is a bizarre and seductive mix of long-lived quasi-human and alien beings gathered under a sky of fire, called the bright. A land of wonders, the Entire is sustained by monumental storm walls and an exotic, never-ending river. Over all, the elegant and cruel Tarig rule supreme.

Into this rich milieu is thrust Titus Quinn, former star pilot, bereft of his beloved wife and daughter who are assumed dead by everyone on earth except Quinn. Believing them trapped in a parallel universe--one where he himself may have been imprisoned--he returns to the Entire without resources, language, or his memories of that former life. He is assisted by Anzi, a woman of the Chalin people, a Chinese culture copied from our own universe and transformed by the kingdom of the bright. Learning of his daughter's dreadful slavery, Quinn swears to free her. To do so, he must cross the unimaginable distances of the Entire in disguise, for the Tarig are lying in wait for him. As Quinn's memories return, he discovers why. Quinn's goal is to penetrate the exotic culture of the Entire--to the heart of Tarig power, the fabulous city of the Ascendancy, to steal the key to his family's redemption. But will his daughter and wife welcome rescue? Ten years of brutality have forced compromises on everyone. What Quinn will learn to his dismay is what his own choices were, long ago, in the Universe Entire. He will also discover why a fearful multiverse destiny is converging on him and what he must sacrifice to oppose the coming storm. This is high-concept SF written on the scale of Philip Jose Farmer's Riverworld, Roger Zelazny's Amber Chronicles, and Dan Dimmons's Hyperion.

[koland]

Out of Water: From Abundance to Scarcity and How to Solve the World's Water Problems, by Colin Chartres & Samyuktha Varma

Book Description
From cities to biofuels, competition for water is accelerating. Climate change threatens to intensify the onset and severity of the water crisis in several regions of the developing world: this is already happening throughout much of Asia, the Mediterranean, southwestern Australia, and the southwestern US. Along with water shortages, unsafe water becomes an increasingly widespread problem, too. As water crises trigger food and health crises, billions may slip further into poverty, leading to greater social and political unrest, new wars, and worsening national security. Out of Water doesn't just illuminate the coming global water crisis: it presents innovative solutions in agriculture, engineering, governance, and beyond, including state-of-the art techniques for integrated water management. This book will help raise the level of debate about water to the highest levels of government, and identify workable reforms and incentives to help water users utilize this crucial resource far more efficiently.

[captcrouton]

Thanks for putting this list together!

[koland]

Autobiography of a Yogi, by Paramhansa Yogananda. This is a reprint of original 1946 edition and was offered free last year in the Topaz format. This edition is in the more standard Amazon mobi format, but otherwise appears to be the same content and is from the same publisher.

Book Description
Designated One of the 100 Most Important Spiritual Books of the 20th century, here is a verbatim reprinting of the 1946 first edition, with all its inherent power intact.Read about real-life saints and masters, how yogis perform miracles, the science of kriya yoga, and much more.

THIS is the first time that an authentic Hindu yogi has written his life story for a Western audience. Describing in vivid detail his many years of spiritual training under a Christlike master--Sri Yukteswar of Serampore, Bengal--Yogananda has here revealed a fascinating and little-known phase of modern India. The subtle but definite laws by which yogis perform miracles and attain complete self-mastery are explained with a scientific clarity.

There are colorful chapters on the author's visits to Mahatma Gandhi, Sir Jagadis Chandra Bose, and Rabindranath Tagore. The section dealing with Yogananda'sWestern experiences includes a chapter on his great friend, Luther Burbank, and an account of the author's pilgrimage to Bavaria in 1935 to meet Therese Neumann, the amazing Catholic stigmatist.

After establishing a high school with yoga training at Ranchi, India, Yogananda came to America in 1920 as the Indian delegate to the International Congress of Religious Liberals. He has lectured extensively in the United States and abroad, and is the founder of a Yoga Institute at Encinitas, California.

Yogananda is a graduate of Calcutta University; he writes not only with unforgettable sincerity but with an incisive wit.

From the Publisher
Autobiography of a Yogi is not an ordinary book. It is a spiritual treasure. To read its message of hope to all truthseekers, is to begin a great adventure. This is a verbatim reprinting of the original, 1946 edition of "Autobiography of a Yogi". Although subsequent printings, reflecting revisions made after the author's death in 1952, have sold over a million copies and have been translated into more than 19 languages, the few thousand of the original have long since disappeared into the hands of collectors. Now, with this reprint, the 1946 edition is again available, with all its inherent power, just as the great master of yoga first presented it.

Editions past the third have been prepared since the author's passing in 1952. In 1953, Self-Realization Fellowship, acquired the rights to "Autobiography of a Yogi" from Philosophical Library; it has been the publisher of all subsequent editions, until this original reprint put out by Crystal Clarity, Publishers. In order to be faithful to the original edition, we have not corrected errors of spelling, grammar, or punctuation.

From the Back Cover
What you hold in your hand is not an ordinary book. It is a spiritual treasure. To read its message of hope is to begin a great adventure.

Paramhansa Yogananda was the first yoga master of India whose mission it was to live and teach in the West. In the 1920s, enthusiastic audiences filled the largest halls in America to hear him speak. His initial impact was truly impressive. But his lasting influence is greater still. This book, first published in 1946, helped launch, and continues to inspire, a spiritual revolution in the West.

Only rarely does a sage of Paramhansa Yogananda's stature write a firsthand account of his life experiences. Followers of many religious traditions have come to recognize Autobiography of a Yogi as a masterpiece of spiritual literature. Yet, for all its depth, it is full of gentle humor, lively stories, and practical common sense. This is a verbatim reprinting of the original edition, nowalso with previously unreleased bonus materials. This is the only available edition that contains:

* The original, unedited text, as written by Yogananda himself, free from posthumous changes introduced by others
* The final chapter, written five years after this edition was first published, presented free from all changes made afterYogananda's death
* An all-new foreword and afterword, written by Swami Kriyananda, one of Yogananda's best-known direct disciples

[koland]

Seducing Jane Porter by Dominique Adair, is free once again in the Kindle store, courtesy of Samhain Publishing. This is another one where you should read the warning before one-clicking.

Book Description
Being bad never felt so good-

After being jilted by her former master, Jane Porter looks to end her year-long celibacy by attending a bondage-themed event. Thanks to her ex-boyfriend-s stunning betrayal, she isn-t looking for happily-ever-after, just a master who-s willing to explore the depths of her passion and teach her what the BDSM lifestyle is all about.

Antonio Villareal was a wanted man. Single, rich and good looking, he-s on the hunt for a submissive to share his world. The moment he sees Jane on the arm of another man, he wants to possess her body and soul. The only problem is; Jane makes it clear she isn-t a forever kind of girl.

Can Antonio convince Jane to give him a chance?

Warning: Graphic sex, bondage scenes and the use of masks.

[koland]

Three decent looking freebies this morning, all from Kensington Books:

Calling Home, by Janna McMahan

Book Description
From an extraordinary new voice in fiction comes a haunting, powerful novel about mothers and daughters, choice and regret, the mistakes we make and the ones we hope we can correct before it's too late.

Nothing much ever happens in Falling Rock, Kentucky. So when Virginia Lemmons' husband takes off in his Trans Am to take up with a beautician, there's not much to do but what people in rural Kentucky have always done--get on with it. Now, overwhelmed and unsure, Virginia's got her hands full trying to keep it together, body and soul, while raising her two teenage kids--eighteen-year-old son, Will, and her spirited fourteen-year-old daughter, Shannon.

But Shannon has her own ideas for breaking free of Falling Rock, and in her reckless, wild-child daughter, Virginia sees echoes of herself and her own painful past. She'll do whatever it takes to keep her daughter from making the same tragic mistakes, and saving what's left of her fragile family just may be the biggest fight of Virginia's life.

In this compelling, heartbreaking first novel, Janna McMahan brings to authentic life the dreams, passions, and troubles of one southern town, where choice isn't always easy to come by, and living the hand you're dealt with is a grace all its own.

Once Around The Track, by Sharyn Mccrumb, is not part of a series, but is again in the car racing world of St. Dale (free last week, now $5.11)

Book Description
Racing fans have never seen anything like it -- and they've seen plenty -- the first all-women's team in stock-car racing history. Already a national sensation, the spotlight heats up when financial challenges force Team 86 to hire a male "wheel man." And Badger Jenkins is a man all right -- a sweet-faced Georgian who oozes aw-shucks charm off the track and unleashes blistering speed in competition. But the real Badger is a hard man to know. Just ask the women whose job it is to keep both car and driver in one piece. From crew chief and team manager Tuggle to engine specialist Rosalind Manning, publicist Melanie Sark and diehard fan Taran Stiles, this asphalt sisterhood will power through a racing season of dizzying highs and terrifying lows to prove that women can do a man's job. And when the unthinkable happens, each will realize that they've been hurtling at breakneck speed toward a moment that will change them forever.

Revenge of Innocents, by Nancy Taylor Rosenber, is the fourth and latest in her Carolyn Sullivan series.

Book Description
In her novels featuring California probation officer Carolyn Sullivan, New York Times bestselling author Nancy Taylor Rosenberg brilliantly fuses gripping plotlines with a razor-sharp portrayal of a single woman in a world of shattered lives, hard-core criminals and flickering hopes. In her new novel, Carolyn confronts the brutal death of her best friend-and the dark mystery that surrounds it. Carolyn knew everything about Veronica Campbell. She knew about the case of murder and retribution that haunted her life and career. About her stormy relationship with her husband Drew. About the emotional darkness that was overwhelming Veronica's fragile seventeen-year-old daughter Jude. But seeing her friend laid out on a cold hard slab of steel in a morgue, and hearing the initial judgments of the investigators, Carolyn also knows this: there's no way Veronica would have ever taken her own life. And when Carolyn receives a note threatening her away from the case, she knows a killer is at large. Carolyn must separate lies from truths in a world of complex relationships and battered psyches. As a hidden side of Veronica's life emerges, including the stunning possibility that Veronica had taken a lover, Carolyn becomes increasingly involved with Veronica's daughter, who claims her father has been abusing her for years. Trusting a person she doesn't truly know, putting her own upcoming marriage with wealthy, charming Marcus Wright in jeopardy, Carolyn investigates the brutal murder of another young woman. With danger and deceit swirling all around her, Carolyn is determined to lure her prime suspect out of the shadows. But all the while a killer is coming straight after her... Relentlessly paced with revealing insights into the criminal justice system, Revenge Of Innocents showcases Nancy Taylor Rosenberg at the height of her riveting storytelling talent.

[koland]

Several freebies this morning, mostly non-fiction.

Rorey's Secret, by Leisha Kelly, is the first in her Country Road Chronicles and free courtesy of Christian publisher Revell in the Kindle store. Two more titles in the series, Till Morning Is Nigh (#3) and Sarah's Promise (#4), are also marked down to $5.99 as part of the same promotion, leaving the second in the series still at $9.99 (Rachel's Prayer).

Book Description
The Worthams and Hammonds are as close as two families could be, sharing almost everything on their Depression-era Illinois farms. So when a raging fire breaks out and threatens to destroy the Hammond farm, both families are affected by the tragedy. But how did the fire start? Several of the kids know the truth, but no one is talking. As the families try to overcome aching loss, misplaced blame, troubled relationships, and an upsetting secret, they once again find themselves clinging desperately to their trust in God. In this compelling tale of faith, hardship, and community, acclaimed author Leisha Kelly continues the much-loved story of the Wortham family, who with courage and determination discover the power of forgiveness to restore and heal.


Curious Folks Ask: 162 Real Answers on Amazing Inventions, Fascinating Products, and Medical Mysteries, by Sherry Seethaler

Book Description
Prepare to Be Fascinated!

* Why does the flu change every year?
* What makes glue sticky?
* What causes out-of-body experiences?
* Are all brands of gas the same?
* Will adult stem cells work as well as embryonic stem cells?
* Is one “horsepower” really equal to the power of one horse?
* Why can’t you sneeze with your eyes open?
* How much does a cremated body weigh?

These are just a few of the fascinating science and health questions real people have asked top science writer and San Diego Union-Tribune columnist Sherry Seethaler. Curious Folks Ask brings together 162 of her best answers–all crystal-clear, accurate, quick, and a pleasure to read. Seethaler knows exactly how to cut through jargon, confusion, and myths. She’s passionate about sharing what scientists have learned and what they still don’t know. She explores everything from our bodies to our best inventions: what makes us healthy, what makes us human, and plenty more. Prepare to be surprised, intrigued, and amazed!


The Truth About Managing People, by Stephen P. Robbins, is a new edition of what appears to be a full business management book (there are two more with the same title and different covers, which are approximately the same file size and selling for $8 to $10).

Book Description
You can succeed brilliantly as a leader and overcome the “killer” problems faced by every manager!

* The truth about building winning teams and designing high-productivity jobs
* The truth about why “happy” employees aren’t always more productive
* The (surprising) truth about what behaviors you really want to reward

This book reveals 53 Proven Principles for handling virtually every management challenge.

The Truth About Managing People offers real solutions for the make-or-break problems faced by every manager. You'll discover: how to overcome the true obstacles to teamwork; why too much communication can be as dangerous as too little; how to improve your hiring and employee evaluations; how to heal "layoff survivor sickness"; even how to learn charisma. This isn't someone's opinion; it's a definitive, evidence-based guide to effective management: a set of bedrock principles you can rely on throughout your entire management career.


Your Credit Score, Your Money & What's at Stake (Updated Edition): How to Improve the 3-Digit Number that Shapes Your Financial Future, by Liz Pulliam Weston

Book Description
In post-crash America, it’s tough to get credit...and even tougher to get rates and terms you can afford. That makes your credit score more important than ever before. Now, MSN Money/L.A. Times personal finance columnist Liz Pulliam Weston has updated her best-selling book on credit scores to show how you can maximize your score right now–and save yourself a fortune!

Weston reveals the tough new realities of borrowing and credit scoring, and shows why they aren’t going to change any time soon. She rips away the mystery surrounding credit scoring, including the FICO 08 overhaul, and tells you exactly how to use the new system to maximize your score.

You’ll learn how to fight back against lenders who want to lower your limits or raise your rates...bounce back from bad credit and bankruptcy...choose the right credit solutions and avoid options that only make things worse. One step at a time, Weston will help you build (or rebuild) your credit score–so you can get the credit you need and deserve!


Marketing in the Moment: The Practical Guide to Using Web 3.0 Marketing to Reach Your Customers First, by Michael Tasner

Book Description
This is the complete, practical, no-fluff desk reference to next generation online and mobile marketing. Drawing on his extensive experience helping companies of all sizes successfully utilize the web, mobile marketing, and social media, Michael Tasner helps marketers, entrepreneurs and managers move beyond hype and high-level strategy to proven tactics and successful ground-level execution. Tasner distills all of today’s new options into the key trends that offer the greatest opportunities for today’s marketers. Coverage includes: Identifying the new marketing technologies that are most likely to drive value — and avoiding those that won’t. Capitalizing on today’s fastest-growing online marketing trend. Utilizing “Web 3.0” approaches to increase leads, traffic, and sales, reach new markets, and grow share in existing markets. Prioritizing your online marketing initiatives for maximum impact. Collaborating virtually with your entire marketing team to accomplish more at lower cost. Creating focused action plans for the next three, six, and twelve months.


How Zappos Shoes In Success, from the editors of New Word City, is a business short (not a sample, but a very short read).

Book Description
How did Zappos grow 20 percent in the midst of the worst recession in decades? It used super service to build a huge and loyal customer base. It brought in some fresh air-and fresh ideas. And it got social. Here's how you can follow in Zappos' footsteps.

Whenever he meets someone, Tony Hsieh asks whether the person has ever shopped at Zappos.com, the online shoe store he heads. One day, Hsieh's question triggered a harangue. The man's wife had spent $60,000 in one year on Zappos. "I should pay you to remove [her] name from your database," he said. Hsieh was inspired. Soon afterward, he announced that his shoe store would offer a "Cease and Desist" service. For the modest sum of $50,000, Zappos would agree to permanently disable the account of a wife, husband, or significant other. No one has accepted that tongue-in-cheek offer. But the whole caper was of a piece with a company that has put having fun at the heart of its public image and corporate culture. That, along with a smart, ever-evolving business plan anchored in superlative customer service, has made Zappos one of the rarest of business phenomena-an enterprise that thrives by breaking nearly every rule of retailing, online and off.

[koland]

Two new freebies, both categorized as contemporary fiction:

The Goddess Of Fried Okra, by Jean Brashear

Book Description
Grief. Hope. Love. Sword fights. And the crisp glory of fried okra. Ex-cocktail waitress and "convenience story professional" Eudora "Pea" O'Brien is filled with grief and regret, low on cash and all alone. Headed down the hot, dusty back roads of central Texas, Pea is convinced she'll find a sign leading her to the reincarnated soul of the sister who raised her. A sign that she's found her place in the world of the living again. At least that's what the psychic promised. In an unforgettably funny and poignant journey, Pea collects an unlikely family of strays-a starving kitten, a pregnant teenager, a sexy con man trying to go straight, and a ferocious gun dealer named Glory, who introduces Pea to the amazing, sword-wielding warrior goddesses of Texas author Robert E. Howard-creator of the Conan the Barbarian novels-and celebrated in festival every year. Six foot tall, red-headed Pea looks good with a sword in her hand. Glory, the goddesses, and a grandmotherly café owner become Pea's unlikely gurus as she struggles to learn swordplay and the art of perfect fried okra. She'll have to master both if she's going to find what matters most-her own lost soul.


A Flower Blooms on Charlotte Street, by Milam McGraw Propst, was originally written as a children's book, but changes were made to target adults as well before it went to print, on the recommendation of the publisher Mercer University Press.

Book Description
A special family story that will make you laugh outloud and quietly cry. Girls and boys who enjoy the Dear America series and American Girl books would like this book, and adults would enjoy reading it aloud to chilren. Based on Milam Propst's own Mississippi born grandmother whose mother died when she was nine, A Flower Blooms on Charlotte Street is a true coming of age story set at the turn of the century, primarily in Asheville. There is enough emotional authenticity and fun in Ociee whether it is her fear of the gypsies or playfulness with her brothers to keep this book from being too sugary sweet. It reads well and ends well and stands alone as quality children's literature.

Ociee triumphs over the sadness, fear, and anxiety of the painful occurrences of her early life. In doing just that, she will bloom in a new garden and weave her charm into the fabric of those who come to know her in a new home on Charlotte Street.

[koland]

free:

Face of Betrayal, by Lis Wiehl & April Henry, is the first in their Triple Threat series from Christian publisher Thomas Nelson.

Book Description
While home on Christmas break, a seventeen-year-old Senate page takes her dog out for a walk and never returns.

Reporter Cassidy Shaw is the first to break the story. The resulting media firestorm quickly ensnares Federal Prosecutor Allison Pierce and FBI Special Agent Nicole Hedges. These three unique women, life-long friends, call themselves The Triple Threat--a nickname derived from both their favorite dessert and their uncanny ability to crack cases using their three positions of power.

At first, the authorities think Katie might have been kidnapped or run away, but those theories shatter when Nicole uncovers Katie's blog. Posts reveal a girl troubled by a mysterious relationship with an older man . . . possibly a U.S. Senator.

There are many faces of betrayal, but they must find one face in a crowd of growing suspects before they become the next victims.

[koland]

The Sari Shop Widow, by Shobhan Bantwal, is a repeat from August of last year.

Book Description
Pungent curry. . .sweet fried onions. . .incense. . .colorful beads. . .lush fabrics. Shobhan Bantwal's compelling new novel is set on the streets of Edison, New Jersey's Little India, where a young businesswoman rediscovers the magic of love and family. . .

Since becoming a widow at age twenty-seven, Anjali Kapadia has devoted herself to transforming her parents' sari shop into a chic boutique, brimming with exquisite jewelry and clothing. Now, ten years later, it stands out like a proud maharani amid Edison's bustling Little India. But when Anjali learns the shop is on the brink of bankruptcy, she feels her world unraveling. . .

To the rescue comes Anjali's wealthy, dictatorial Uncle Jeevan and his business partner, Rishi Shah-a mysterious Londoner, complete with British accent, cool gray eyes, and skin so fair it makes it hard to believe he's Indian. Rishi's cool, foreign demeanor triggers distrust in Anjali and her mother. But for Anjali, he also stirs something else, a powerful attraction she hasn't felt in a decade. And the feeling is mutual. . .

Love disappointed Anjali once before and she's vowed to live without it-though Rishi is slowly melting her resolve and, as the shop regains its footing, gaining her trust. But when a secret from Rishi's past is revealed, Anjali must turn to her family and her strong cultural upbringing to guide her in finding the truth. . .


In The Warrior's Bed, by Mary Wine, is another repeat freebie, this one from January, when it was only free for a day.

Book Description
In this irresistible follow-up to her captivating debut, In Bed With a Stranger, Mary Wine revisits the McJames clan--their loves, their battles, their conquests. . .

Cullen McJames will not have his honor sullied, certainly not by his clan's nemesis Laird Erik McQuade. So when McQuade tells the Court of Scotland that Cullen has stolen his daughter's virtue, Cullen steals the daughter instead.

Since his brother wed a fetching lass, Cullen's been thinking he too needs a wife. A marriage could end the constant war between the clans. And looking on Bronwyn McQuade but once has put her in his dreams for a week. . .

But Bronwyn won't go quietly. She won't be punished for what she did not do. Nor is she eager to live among the resentful veterans of McQuade wars. And however brave and beautiful a man Cullen may be, he has much to learn about a woman's fighting spirit. But as Bronwyn will discover, he has much to teach her as well. . .

[koland]

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