Kindle First

[Critteranne]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

Who says Amazon is making anything up? Family Life is a genre I've seen used by more than one religious or inspirational publisher and Saga (sometimes withe another word attached like Family Saga or Historical Saga) isn't an Amazon creation either. There are hundreds of genres or sub-genres out there beyond the few basic well known ones.

Yup. I remember that sagas were huge (in both sales and page length) in the 1960s and 1970s (and beyond). Many of the bestsellers were classified as family sagas -- some of the Taylor Caldwell books, James Michener novels, John Jakes series, Howard Fast books, Susan Howatch novels, The Thornbirds, etc. Before that, you had The Forsyte Saga, Poldark, the and other series.

While many had romantic elements, they were not romances. They often end miserably for everyone. And "family life" sounds more like a type of woman's fiction -- which of course is also not romance. When I look at the "Family Life" novels on Amazon, the vast majority are not what I'd consider romances.

[Wearever]

I finally went with Mutual Admiration society .

[ATDrake]

Just a reminder that this will probably be the last day to choose from one of the monthly selections if you haven't already.

[AnemicOak]

February's offers. Choose one of six...
https://www.amazon.com/kindle-dbs/kindlefirst


In Farleigh Field: A Novel of World War II by Rhys Bowen -- Historical Fiction

World War II comes to Farleigh Place, the ancestral home of Lord Westerham and his five daughters, when a soldier with a failed parachute falls to his death on the estate. After his uniform and possessions raise suspicions, MI5 operative and family friend Ben Cresswell is covertly tasked with determining if the man is a German spy. The assignment also offers Ben the chance to be near Lord Westerham’s middle daughter, Pamela, whom he furtively loves. But Pamela has her own secret: she has taken a job at Bletchley Park, the British code-breaking facility.

As Ben follows a trail of spies and traitors, which may include another member of Pamela’s family, he discovers that some within the realm have an appalling, history-altering agenda. Can he, with Pamela’s help, stop them before England falls?

Inspired by the events and people of World War II, writer Rhys Bowen crafts a sweeping and riveting saga of class, family, love, and betrayal.

Signature Wounds by Kirk Russell -- Thriller

While in Las Vegas on his way to a family Fourth of July celebration, FBI bomb expert Paul Grale hears a deep blast and sees the smoke rising. In an unfolding nightmare, Grale discovers his sister, brother-in-law, and many friends were caught up in the explosion. Grief stricken, he is pulled from the main bomb investigation to sift orphan leads. Quietly he begins a relentless search for the bomb maker.

When the FBI suspects his friend and disgruntled former drone pilot for the blast, Grale thinks they’re getting it all wrong. Propelled by deep personal loss and an intense need to do the right thing, he picks his way through the smallest of leads and into a maze of twists, turns, and sudden dead ends. When he uncovers another threat, time is already quickly running out. With the lives of so many at stake, Grale won’t let himself fail—and he won’t rest until there’s justice for his family.

Adrenalized, gripping, and all too timely, Signature Wounds brings terror to Vegas and introduces FBI special agent and bomb tech Paul Grale, a man whose specialized skill and fierce determination are a lethal combination.

Only the Truth by Adam Croft -- Suspense

He's not the perfect husband. But he is the perfect suspect.

Dan Cooper has never been the perfect husband to Lisa. He travels for work and plays the carefree bachelor when he can. But now, on a solo business trip, in a remote coastal hotel, he’s surprised to find Lisa in his bathroom. She’s dead.

He has no idea how she got there but one chilling fact is clear: everything points to Dan having murdered her. Someone is trying to frame him. Someone who might still be watching. In a panic, he goes on the run. But even as he flees across Europe, his unknown enemy stacks up the evidence against him.

Dan is determined to clear his name and take revenge on Lisa’s killer, but the culprit is closing in. And then there’s the agony of his own guilty conscience. No, he didn’t kill her—but is it all his fault?

Extracted (Extracted Trilogy Book 1) by RR Haywood -- Science Fiction

In 2061, a young scientist invents a time machine to fix a tragedy in his past. But his good intentions turn catastrophic when an early test reveals something unexpected: the end of the world.

A desperate plan is formed. Recruit three heroes, ordinary humans capable of extraordinary things, and change the future.

Safa Patel is an elite police officer, on duty when Downing Street comes under terrorist attack. As armed men storm through the breach, she dispatches them all.

'Mad' Harry Madden is a legend of the Second World War. Not only did he complete an impossible mission—to plant charges on a heavily defended submarine base—but he also escaped with his life.

Ben Ryder is just an insurance investigator. But as a young man he witnessed a gang assaulting a woman and her child. He went to their rescue, and killed all five.

Can these three heroes, extracted from their timelines at the point of death, save the world?

The Marvelous Misadventures of Ingrid Winter by JS Drangsholt -- Contemporary Fiction

Ingrid Winter is desperately trying to hold it all together. A neurotic Norwegian mother of three small children and an overworked literature professor with an overactive imagination, Ingrid feels like her life’s always on the brink of chaos.

Her overzealous attempt to secure her dream house has strained her marriage. She’s repeatedly reprimanded for eye rolling in faculty meetings. Petulant PTA parents want to drag her into a war over teaching children to tie their shoes. And an alarmingly persistent salesman keeps warning her of the potential dangers of home intrusion.

Clearly she needs to get away. But Russia? Forced to join an academic mission to Saint Petersburg to promote international cooperation, Ingrid finds herself at a crossroads while drinking too much cough syrup. Will this trip push her into a Siberian sinkhole of existential dread or finally give her life some balance and direction?

Duck and Hippo in the Rainstorm (Duck and Hippo Series Book 1) by Jonathan London, Andrew Joyner -- Children's Picture Book

Get ready for a rainy-day adventure with Duck and Hippo!

Duck and Hippo may be completely different, but they are best friends. When playful Duck invites careful Hippo to go for a walk in the rain, they have trouble sharing Duck’s umbrella. But Duck and Hippo won’t let that stop them. Soon they are puddle-jumping and sailing down the river! Until…WHOOOSH! A terrible wind sends the umbrella flying up, up, up into the air, with one friend holding on. What will Duck and Hippo do now? Jonathan London’s charming text and Andrew Joyner’s delightful art bring to life two lovable friends in this fun new series.

[Catlady]

Wow, two months in a row with a book I actually expect to read, by an author already familiar to me! Last month, Lesley Kagen; this month, Rhys Bowen! In Farleigh Field was even already on my radar.

[skinmaan]

It's not even a contest; I went with Extracted. I think this is the first Kindle First title I've picked up in months.

[badgoodDeb]

Yeah, I've read another book by Rhys Bowen, and I think I enjoyed it. Astonishingly, the first four books above *all* sound intriguing. I think I'll wait for other reviews!

[Wearever]

I went with Farleigh Field too. It's the first one I have by this author, although I have read many in this genre. Looking forward to reading it.

[wawasteele]

Originally Posted by Catlady

Wow, two months in a row with a book I actually expect to read, by an author already familiar to me! Last month, Lesley Kagen; this month, Rhys Bowen! In Farleigh Field was even already on my radar.

I also expect to read this book! In fact, as soon as I've finished a couple of library books, it will be next on my list. I think I've read all of her other books.

[sufue]

Yep, I too was amazed and happy to see the Bowen title. Like Catlady above, it was already sort of on my list. I especially like Bowen's Royal Spyness series, and look forward to seeing what this will be like.

Originally Posted by wawasteele

I also expect to read this book! In fact, as soon as I've finished a couple of library books, it will be next on my list. I think I've read all of her other books.

[ATDrake]

Just a reminder that this will probably be the last day to pick up one of the monthly selections if you haven't already.

[Manabi]

This month's Kindle First selections are out, they are:

The Halo Effect: A Novel by Anne D. LeClaire [Genre: Suspense]

In this tour de force, a father, shaken by tragedy, tries to avenge his daughter’s murder—and restore his family’s shattered life.

It was supposed to be a typical October evening for renowned portrait artist Will Light. Over dinner of lamb tagine, his wife, Sophie, would share news about chorus rehearsals for the upcoming holiday concert, and their teenage daughter, Lucy, would chatter about French club and field hockey. Only Lucy never came home. Her body was found, days later, in the woods.

The Eastern Seaboard town of Port Fortune used to be Will’s comfort. Now, there’s no safe harbor for him. Not even when Father Gervase asks Will to paint portraits of saints for the new cathedral. Using the townspeople as models, Will sees in each face only a mask of the darkness of evil. And he just might be painting his daughter’s killer.

As Will navigates his rage and heartbreak, Sophie tries to move on; Father Gervase becomes an unexpected ally; and Rain, Lucy’s best friend, shrouds herself in a near-silent fugue. Their paths collide in a series of inextricably linked, dark, dangerous moments that could lead to their undoing…or to their redemption.

From the Editor:

Spoiler:

A missing daughter. A fractured family. A father coming undone. This story of how an unpredictable, simmering anger can lead to rage-fueled vengeance lays bare our deepest, darkest instincts. The Halo Effect stole my heart as it kept me breathlessly guessing.

The Halo Effect first captured me several months ago as I was editing it—and I still don’t want to be released. I remember everything about this book: The way I held my breath as the story twisted both subtly and monumentally; the way the craggy New England town was etched on the pages; the unflinchingly tender ways parents navigated a daughter growing up; the way the bonds of family and marriage were made jagged. And how the insanely suspenseful buildup kept my eyes unnaturally widened in anticipation. (I’m sure I looked crazy as I was reading.) But most of all, I remember how beautifully LeClaire explores that even in our darkest, most despairing moments…love, and even life, can find their way.

Anne D. LeClaire is an astounding talent. Her masterful novel illuminates how saving family and protecting the ones we love can leave us raw and exposed…or give us comfort and healing. The Halo Effect is a story of trust. Of knowing whom we can trust, and discovering that some bonds are broken by those closest to us. It is heady, dazzling reading that reminds me that truly powerful storytelling is nothing less than a work of art.

- Kelli Martin, Editor

The Breaking Light (Split City Book 1) by Heather Hansen [Genre: Science Fiction]

In a stratified society where contact with the sun is a luxury reserved for the elite, those kept prisoner in the darkness will do anything to find the light. Arden—beautiful, street-smart, and cynical—is one of the citizens of the lowest Level, known as Undercity, of an off-world colony. A blackout band traps Arden in her district, but as sister to the leader of the most powerful gang in Undercity, she has access to Above.

There she meets Dade, one of the few lucky enough to be born into the sun-kissed families who reside in the Towers soaring above the rest of the city. But life isn’t perfect in the sky. Dade, desperate to escape his upcoming arranged marriage, has a secret of his own, and he’s willing to risk everything for it.

An unlikely romance develops between the two teens—but their love faces opposition from above and below. When her gang pressures Arden to help break the grip of the elite and end Dade’s interference with their drug trade, she is forced to make a deadly choice between love and family loyalty. But will the brewing class war destroy the world around them first?

From the Editor:

Spoiler:

I’m a pragmatist. But my favorite novels are in the science fiction and fantasy genres—books that transport me beyond my usual, earthbound life. They’re the kinds of stories that allow me to believe in ships that travel faster than the speed of light, distant planets, and love at first sight. With The Breaking Light, my craving for the imaginary was satisfied by a world wholly unlike any other I’ve experienced, and I was carried away from the very first words.

Debut author Heather Hansen starts her book with the star-crossed meeting of Arden, the sister of a gang leader, and Dade, a wealthy socialite, on a planet plagued by an ongoing class war fought over access to sunlight. The novel pulled me down to the dark underground, a place of phasers, grime, and illicit drugs, and then it lifted me up to the sun-kissed towers of a city full of fancy people basking in the warmth. In between I found an explosion of family obligation, societal expectations, love, and battle.

Arden and Dade should never have run into each other. But their encounter changes everything they thought they knew, giving them hope for a better life. And to paraphrase a favorite movie of mine, isn’t hope what rebellions are built on? In a divided world, that’s something worth fighting for.

- Adrienne Lombardo, Editor

A Criminal Defense by William L. Myers Jr. [Genre: Legal Thriller]

Losing the trial of his life could mean losing everything.

When a young reporter is found dead and a prominent Philadelphia businessman is accused of her murder, Mick McFarland finds himself involved in the case of his life. The defendant, David Hanson, was Mick’s close friend in law school, and the victim, a TV news reporter, had reached out to Mick for legal help only hours before her death.

Mick’s played both sides of Philadelphia’s courtrooms. As a top-shelf defense attorney and former prosecutor, he knows all the tricks of the trade. And he’ll need every one of them to win.

But as the trial progresses, he’s disturbed by developments that confirm his deepest fears. This trial, one that already hits too close to home, may jeopardize his firm, his family—everything. Now Mick’s only way out is to mastermind the most brilliant defense he’s ever spun, one that will cross every legal and moral boundary.

From the Editor:

Spoiler:

My favorite heroes are the complicated ones, the good guys with a touch of bad, the white hats whose brims sport a slash of grime. As I read William L. Myers Jr.’s page-turning debut, I quickly realized that Mick McFarland was just my kind of protagonist. The Philadelphia lawyer is known for his vigorous representation of all kinds of clients. When he is called upon to defend a longtime friend against charges of murder, his defense strategy quickly evolves from aggressive to unscrupulous. Mick’s desperate race to save his client—and his own family—results in one of the most compelling legal thrillers I’ve come across in years.

Who killed reporter Jennifer Yamura? The answer, at first, seems fairly clear: David Hanson was found at Yamura’s home hours after her death, cleaning the scene with her body lying nearby. But there’s much more to that fatal afternoon than meets the eye, and as Mick begins to unravel the web of sex, lies, and corruption surrounding the murder, we realize that everyone is compromised.

From the courtroom to the countryside, tony suburban mansions to rusting mobile home hideouts, Myers keeps us guessing until the story’s last shocking twist. It’s a testament to Myers’s skill that the identity of Yamura’s killer managed to take me by surprise—and reminded me why I love complicated heroes and stories.

- Gracie Doyle, Editor

The Last Paradise by Antonio Garrido (Author), Simon Bruni (Translator) [Genre: Historical Fiction]

Jack Beilis once lived the American dream: custom suits, new cars, and the best clubs. But by 1931, he has sunk so low he cannot feed himself or his ailing father. Now he barely has time to wipe the blood from his hands before he finds himself on a ship from New York to Moscow, running from a crime he never intended.

Desperate for an escape route, Jack wants to believe stories of a worker’s paradise in the Soviet Union. Maybe the distance between Ellis Island and Red Square will let him leave poverty—and his pursuers—far behind. Jack accepts an opportunity at the Gorky Ford Factory and embarks on a new life.

What he finds, though, is a surveillance society, empty store shelves, and a dangerous network of black markets. There seems to be no way out, until Jack meets Dr. Natasha Lobanova. Could this Russian beauty be his deliverance? When Natasha’s own dark history surfaces, Jack’s fate is threatened. With betrayals and secrets everywhere, Jack struggles to trust anyone or anything…even his own heart.

From the Editor:

Spoiler:

The Great Depression has Jack cornered. So he takes a leap of faith and moves to the Soviet Union, where the automotive skills he honed in Detroit make him an asset. What he finds there tests his mettle—and his moral compass. How can he celebrate his own success within a corrupt system?

With pitch-perfect period dialogue, clothing, and characterization that make the novel read like a Spielberg film, The Last Paradise hurtles forward, hugging the curves along the way. The Ford Model A Jack drives so wildly along the bumpy roads of the USSR symbolized freedom for those who could afford it, launching a global obsession and creating jobs for men like Jack. In many ways Jack is the Model A of heroes: elegantly appointed, dependable, ready to take off.

The simple things—love, friendship, work, purpose—bring people together, especially during times of enmity and desperation. The Last Paradise reminds us that the precious vision of the American Dream lives within, and the beliefs that drive us can connect us across any divide.

- Gabriella Page-Fort, Editor

Hemingway Didn't Say That: The Truth Behind Familiar Quotations by Garson O'Toole [Genre: Nonfiction]

How one man corrected hundreds of modern misquotations infecting the Internet, our books, and our minds.

Everywhere you look, you’ll find viral quotable wisdom attributed to icons ranging from Abraham Lincoln to Mark Twain, from Cicero to Woody Allen. But more often than not, these attributions are false.

Garson O’Toole—the Internet’s foremost investigator into the dubious origins of our most repeated quotations, aphorisms, and everyday sayings—collects his efforts into a first-ever encyclopedia of corrective popular history. Containing an enormous amount of original research, this delightful compendium presents information previously unavailable to readers, writers, and scholars. It also serves as the first careful examination of what causes misquotations and how they spread across the globe.

Using the massive expansion in online databases as well as old-fashioned gumshoe archival digging, O’Toole provides a fascinating study of our modern abilities to find and correct misinformation. As Carl Sagan did not say, “Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.”

From the Editor:

Spoiler:

Never have I been more delighted by a reference book. Put this on a shelf with Lies My Teacher Told Me and Between You & Me and try to go even a day without correcting the name-dropping pretensions of your teachers at the lectern, the politicians in your Twitter feed, your fellow partygoers, or our mass media.

In perhaps the least reliable, most disorganized, and insanely popular corner of our public consciousness, one researcher reigns supreme. A retired computer science professor with a pseudonymous byline, Garson O’Toole, the Quote Investigator, has made it his life’s mission to use the power of the Internet and online databases to meticulously research the historical origins of familiar quotations and to trace the surprising patterns that lead to erroneous attribution and mistaken ideas about our most culturally relevant figures. Perhaps, like me, you’ve read columns in the New York Times or Slate or the Chronicle of Higher Education that for all their factual authority still rely on (and quote) the QI to confirm the seemingly unconfirmable: Did Hemingway really write that six-word short story? Did Martin Luther King Jr. really invent the concept of the “arc of the moral universe” bending toward justice? Did Russell Brand use a real Kafka quote to start his memoir Booky Wook 2?

Designed to exhibit the pratfalls of our intellectual attraction to iconic personalities, thinkers, and artists, as well as the great capacity for knowledge contained in our once far-fetched digital libraries, Hemingway Didn’t Say That is a dip-in/dip-out encyclopedia for everyone who finds inspiration in quotable wisdom and strength in sound research.

- Barry Harbaugh, Editor

The Practice House by Laura McNeal [Genre: Literary Fiction]

Nineteen-year-old Aldine McKenna is stuck at home with her sister and aunt in a Scottish village in 1929 when two Mormon missionaries ring the doorbell. Aldine’s sister converts and moves to America to marry, and Aldine follows, hoping to find the life she’s meant to lead and the person she’s meant to love.

In New York, Aldine answers an ad soliciting a teacher for a one-room schoolhouse in a place she can’t possibly imagine: drought-stricken Kansas. She arrives as farms on the Great Plains have begun to fail and schools are going bankrupt, unable to pay or house new teachers. With no money and too much pride to turn back, she lives uneasily with the family of Ansel Price—the charming, optimistic man who placed the ad—and his family responds to her with kind curiosity, suspicion, and, most dangerously, love. Just as she’s settling into her strange new life, a storm forces unspoken thoughts to the surface that will forever alter the course of their lives.

Laura McNeal’s novel is a sweeping and timeless love story about leaving—and finding—home.

From the Editor:

Spoiler:

The Practice House is full to the brim with emotion and life. A strong-willed Scottish schoolteacher finds herself with no money or prospects in the desolation of dust bowl–era Kansas, stuck with a family who can barely afford to keep her under their roof. Even worse, she inadvertently falls in love with the man of the house. It’s a love triangle set in the harshest period of American history, and there’s no easy solution.

I was amazed by how personal the story felt to me and how deeply I commiserated with the characters and their dwindling economy. Laura McNeal, a National Book Award finalist, has magnetic storytelling abilities, and through her wonderful, complicated, flawed characters, I began to truly comprehend the devastation of the Great Depression. And in time, we come to understand all sides of the young schoolteacher’s predicament.

The book has so much heart and strength that I will always cherish it.

- Carmen Johnson, Editor

[Dngrsone]

I'll go with the non-fic; maybe I'll read it next.

[GA Russell]

Hemingway Didn't Say That is the first I've seen that I had a genuine interest to read.

I stopped "buying" them many months ago because I didn't think I would ever get to them.

[Dngrsone]

Originally Posted by GA Russell

Hemingway Didn't Say That is the first I've seen that I had a genuine interest to read.

I stopped "buying" them many months ago because I didn't think I would ever get to them.

Same here. In fact, I haven't 'bought' any of these freebies in so long, I had to find and install Kindle for Samsung on my new S7E just to buy one this month...