📚 Free Kindle Books: 11 Stories from Retired Soldiers to Space Station Sabotage 📚
Featuring PTSD mechanic vs. mercenaries, panther shifters with kittens, supernatural speakeasy murders, space sabotage survivor, tattoo studio enemies-to-lovers, fake boyfriend revenge, and assassin s
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The Mechanic: A Gritty Action Thriller (John Tyler Action Thrillers Book 1)
Author: Tom Fowler
FREE
Military Thrillers
**John Tyler just wanted to be a mechanic. Life had other ideas.** Eight years retired from the army, John Tyler manages his PTSD and begins a job as a classic car mechanic—the quiet life he’s dreamed about since leaving combat behind. He’s a single dad to Lexi, who’s about to enter college and represents everything good he’s built from the ruins of war. Life is finally looking up. For the first time in years, Tyler can breathe. 🔧
Then everything comes crashing down. **Tyler’s former commanding officer is out of prison early.** Years ago, Tyler exposed the man’s war crimes—atrocities committed against civilians that the officer tried to cover up—and sent him to Leavenworth. Tyler thought justice had been served, that the nightmare was over. But while inside, the disgraced officer built a private military company filled with mercenaries loyal only to money and revenge. Now he’s free, and **he hasn’t forgotten who destroyed his career.** 💀
When he comes for Tyler, **he strikes where it hurts most. He kidnaps Lexi.** Tyler wanted to be just a father and a mechanic, working on vintage engines and helping his daughter pick a college major. Now, to get his daughter back alive, he’ll need to use every deadly skill he thought he’d left behind and take down an entire organization of trained killers who know exactly how dangerous he is. Between infiltrating a private military company, facing the man whose war crimes he exposed, and racing against time before his daughter is killed, Tyler discovers that some skills never rust—they just wait for the moment when everything you love is on the line. ⚔️
What makes this intense: Retired army mechanic John Tyler managing PTSD while raising daughter about to enter college, former commanding officer released early from Leavenworth after Tyler exposed his war crimes, disgraced officer building private military company in prison and not forgetting who destroyed career, and kidnapping Lexi forcing Tyler to use every deadly skill against trained killers.
Making Fried Rice: Learn the Secret Ingredients
Author: BookSumo Press
FREE
Cooking Rice & Grains
**Here is a Preview of the Fried Rice Recipes You Will Learn:** How to Make Fried Rice from scratch, 3-Vegetable and 3-Steps in 15 Minutes (perfect for busy weeknights), Rising Sun Shrimp and Chicken (restaurant-quality at home), Fried Rice for Lunch that transforms leftovers into something special, 6-Ingredient Fried Rice (minimal ingredients, maximum flavor), Teriyaki Fried Rice with that sweet-savory glaze everyone loves, and Filipino Breakfast fried rice that’ll change your mornings forever. 🍚
**Plus:** Ming Lao’s Award Winning Basmati (there’s a reason it won awards), Fried Rice in Jakarta bringing Indonesian street food to your kitchen, 3-Ingredient Onion fried rice proving simplicity works, Hawaiian Fried Rice I with pineapple and ham, Fried Rice Cauliflower for the low-carb crowd, Easy Hibachi Style that tastes like the restaurant without the theatrics, and **much, much more!** Between mastering restaurant techniques, learning secret ingredient combinations, and discovering international variations from the Philippines to Indonesia to Hawaii, you’ll never look at leftover rice the same way again. 🥢
This isn’t just another recipe collection—**it’s your passport to fried rice mastery.** Whether you’re using day-old rice (the secret to perfect texture), creating quick weeknight dinners, impressing guests with award-winning techniques, or exploring global variations, BookSumo Press delivers recipes that actually work. From 3-ingredient simplicity to complex flavor profiles, from vegetarian options to protein-packed meals, from traditional Asian techniques to fusion innovations, this guide transforms humble rice into extraordinary dishes. Stop ordering takeout. Start making fried rice that’s better than the restaurant. 🌟
What makes this essential: BookSumo Press teaching secret fried rice ingredients, 3-vegetable in 15 minutes and 6-ingredient minimal recipes, Ming Lao’s Award Winning Basmati and Rising Sun Shrimp combinations, Filipino Breakfast and Jakarta street food variations, Easy Hibachi Style and Hawaiian Fried Rice options, plus much more recipes transforming leftover rice.
Pet Rescue Panther (Bodyguard Shifters)
Author: Lauren Esker, Zoe Chant
FREE
Werewolves & Shifters Romance
What’s hotter than a sexy man holding an adorable kitten? **A sexy, protective panther shifter cop holding five adorable kittens!** Curvy cat-rescue volunteer Tessa Davelos can’t fix her wounded soul, so she’s out to save the world instead, one kitten at a time. She’s spent years pouring love into animals because it’s safer than risking her heart with people. But when her tragic past comes back to haunt her in the form of **an unstoppable dragon assassin** sent to finish what started years ago, a drop-dead gorgeous cop cruises through the door of the cat shelter and into her broken heart. 🐱
Ben Keegan knows **his panther can’t fight a dragon and survive.** The power differential is ridiculous—dragons are apex predators, and panthers, while formidable, are outmatched. But he doesn’t care, not with Tessa in harm’s way. **She’s his mate, whether she’ll believe it or not,** and any dragon that wants to hurt her is going to have to go through Ben first. He doesn’t care about the odds. He doesn’t care that it’s suicide. His panther has chosen, and panthers mate for life. 💕
Between rescuing kittens, dodging a dragon assassin with impossible powers, learning that her traumatic past wasn’t random bad luck but a targeted attack, and falling for a cop whose panther insists she’s his destined mate, Tessa discovers that sometimes the most dangerous thing isn’t the supernatural killer stalking you—**it’s opening your heart again.** Ben will protect her with his life. The question is: will she let him into her wounded soul, or will fear of loss keep her isolated forever? And can a panther really defeat a dragon, or will love be the weapon that makes the impossible possible? 🔥
What makes this adorable: Sexy protective panther shifter cop holding five adorable kittens, curvy cat-rescue volunteer Tessa saving world one kitten at a time with wounded soul, tragic past returning as unstoppable dragon assassin, Ben Keegan knowing his panther can’t fight dragon and survive but not caring, and she’s his mate whether she’ll believe it or not.
The Hexorcist (Supernatural Speakeasy Book 1)
Author: Lily Harper Hart
FREE
Cozy Mystery
Ofelia Archer has a full life running New Orleans’ premier supernatural speakeasy—**which only gets fuller when a dead body lands in her backyard.** As owner of a bar that serves vampires their preferred blood types, werewolves their raw meat appetizers, and witches their hexed cocktails, Ofelia is always in the thick of things when the witch hits the fan. That’s no exception now, even when the local police start breathing down her neck and treating her establishment like a crime scene instead of the neutral ground it’s supposed to be. 🍸
Zach Sully has a colorful background. **As a panther shifter, he keeps his true origins secret** while walking the colorful streets of the French Quarter keeping law and order among both human and supernatural communities. A tourist murder draws him into new and uncharted territory, and **a feisty witch is at the center of it.** Sully and Ofelia circle one another warily as they both try to solve a mystery that revolves around an outsider who somehow had ties to their little corner of the supernatural world. Eventually, they’re going to have to join forces, and it’s not exactly a comfortable meeting of the minds. 🐾
**Chemistry is one thing. Trust is another.** Ofelia and Sully will be forced to get over their inner misgivings and unite if they want to solve the crime and stay alive in the process. Between running a speakeasy that serves the supernatural elite, investigating a murder that threatens to expose their hidden world, partnering with a panther shifter cop who’s annoyingly attractive, and navigating French Quarter politics where vampires, werewolves, and witches all want a say, Ofelia discovers that mixing drinks is easier than mixing with murder. Welcome to a magical world, where the characters are colorful, the magic is fantastical, and **the drinks are poured strong. It’s Bourbon Street, baby, and you’ll never be the same again.** 🎭
What makes this magical: Ofelia Archer running New Orleans supernatural speakeasy when dead body lands in backyard, panther shifter cop Zach Sully keeping true origins secret in French Quarter, feisty witch at center of tourist murder mystery, chemistry being one thing and trust another, and Bourbon Street magic where drinks poured strong and characters colorful.
The Earthburst Saga (Complete Box Set)
Author: Craig A. Falconer
FREE
Colonization Science Fiction
**I wasn’t supposed to survive.** The station has been hit—sabotaged, destroyed, turned into a tomb floating in the black. Everyone around me is dead. Engineers, scientists, friends—all gone in seconds. I have 11 hours of life support left and no way of contacting Earth. The communication array is destroyed, the escape pods are gone, and every system I check shows the same message: critical failure. I’m alone. I’m stranded. I’m desperate. **But I’m alive.** 🚀
The more of the station I explore, the surer I get that **this was no accident.** Someone did this, and the evidence is everywhere once you know what to look for—sabotaged systems, deliberately disabled backups, targeted destruction of specific modules. This wasn’t a random catastrophe. This was murder on a massive scale. And I don’t think they’re finished yet. Making it home feels like an impossible task, but **I’m not just fighting for my own life. I have to protect my family—whatever it takes.** 💀
And as long as I’m breathing, this isn’t over. Because whoever did this almost pulled it off, they planned it perfectly, they executed it flawlessly... **but they made one big mistake: They left the wrong man standing.** Between surviving on dwindling oxygen, investigating who sabotaged the station and why, evading whoever’s still hunting survivors, piecing together a conspiracy that reaches from orbit to Earth, and finding a way home against impossible odds, I discover that sometimes the most dangerous place in space isn’t the vacuum—it’s a space station full of secrets. They wanted everyone dead. They’re going to regret leaving me alive. ⚡
What makes this gripping: Man not supposed to survive space station hit with everyone dead, 11 hours of life support and no way contacting Earth, exploring station revealing this was no accident, fighting not just for own life but to protect family whatever it takes, and whoever did this making one big mistake—leaving the wrong man standing.
Hate You: A Steamy Enemies to Lovers British Romance (Rebel Ink Book 1)
Author: Tracy Lorraine
FREE
Contemporary Romance
**I loved to hate her...** She made it so easy. She was everything I wasn’t—everything I didn’t want to be. A reminder that from the moment I was born, I was the outcast, the rebel who didn’t fit the mold my family tried to force me into. I went against everything that was expected of me and created a life on my terms. **I built my own empire, carved out my own destiny** running a successful tattoo studio where creativity matters more than pedigree. 🎨
Then **she shows up at my tattoo studio,** representing everything I tried to escape—the upper-class world of expectations, judgment, and people who think money makes them better. She expects to just fit in, like she ever could with her designer clothes and posh accent. Tabitha Anderson. **The posh girl trying to prove everyone wrong... that she can be something else—someone else.** She hates me because she knows I’m right about her. Or so I think. Turns out this isn’t the first time we’ve met, and **our hate has history.** We have history I don’t remember, and she’s never forgotten. 💔
I might not have remembered, but I damn sure won’t forget now. Won’t forget how **her smile is always directed at everyone but me,** how she fits in better than I expected, how the posh exterior hides someone more complex than I gave her credit for. If everything changes and she proves she does fit in with my world of ink and rebellion, will it still be hate I’m feeling or something else entirely? Between running my tattoo empire, confronting forgotten history, watching her transform from posh outsider to someone who belongs, and fighting feelings that started as hate but might be turning into something dangerous, I discover that sometimes the person you hate most is the one you needed all along. ✨
What makes this steamy: Loving to hate her as everything he wasn’t representing outcast rebel past, posh girl Tabitha Anderson showing up at his tattoo studio trying to prove she can be someone else, hate having history they share but he doesn’t remember, smile always directed at everyone but him, and questioning if it’s still hate or something else entirely.
White Horse Black Nights (The Godkissed Bride Book 1)
Author: Evie Marceau
FREE
Dark Forbidden Fantasy Romance
**We still worship the sleeping fae, though their magic only remains within a few of us.** Locked away for twelve years in a tower where her only companions are the animals she communicates with using forbidden magic, Sabine Darrow’s childhood ended the day they discovered her powers. Now, **sold as a bride to a villainous high lord** known for his cruelty and ambition, her greatest fear is trading one prison for another—replacing stone walls with a gilded cage, isolation with degradation. 🏰
But a potential escape lies in the form of **her gruff yet achingly handsome guard,** whose loyalty she is determined to break with every weapon in her limited arsenal. A huntsman with heightened senses, Basten “Wolf” Bowborn has more important things to do than transport his master’s new bride across dangerous territory. **With ancient creatures reawakening along the kingdom’s border wall,** he is torn between his duty to deliver Sabine and his desire to investigate why things that should stay sleeping are stirring—until a forbidden attraction becomes an unyielding obsession that threatens everything he’s sworn to protect. 🐺
Welcome to Astagnon—**a kingdom of cruel games and corrupted courts, where the only thing more dangerous than the secrets slumbering underground is falling for the one person you can’t have.** Between surviving as a bride to a villain, manipulating her guard’s loyalty, discovering why ancient fae creatures are awakening, and fighting an attraction that could destroy them both, Sabine learns that some prisons are made of duty and desire, not stone. And some guards are more dangerous than any high lord—especially when their loyalty starts shifting from their master to you. ✨
What makes this dark: Kingdom worshipping sleeping fae with magic remaining in few, Sabine Darrow locked away twelve years sold as bride to villainous high lord, escape lying in gruff achingly handsome guard Wolf whose loyalty she’s determined to break, ancient creatures reawakening along border wall, and Astagnon being kingdom where only thing more dangerous than secrets underground is falling for forbidden person.
Best Served Cold (Babes of Brewing Book 1)
Author: Angela Casella
FREE
Spicy Romantic Comedy
**The best revenge is falling for his brother.** Sophie’s dream of opening a crafting business for kids has slid into a dead-end job at a brewery, but she fools herself into thinking everything’s going well because she’s engaged to a gorgeous, ambitious catch of a man who’s crazy about her. Or so she thinks until they accidentally swap phones and **she realizes he’s been cheating on her with three other women, none of whom know about each other.** Talk about organizational skills applied to the wrong endeavor. 💔
She breaks up with him, but she’s devastated until she befriends the other women he wronged—sisterhood forged in betrayal is the strongest kind. **I want revenge for all of us,** and she finds the perfect opportunity when he confronts her at the brewery. He and his brother Rob hate each other, and Rob’s playing a set at the bar. **One stolen kiss later, she has a fake boyfriend who’s just as invested in getting back at her ex as she is.** Rob’s pollyanna personality has always driven him crazy, but he’s seeing a whole new side of Sophie—opinionated, fierce, and eager to experience everything she’s missed. 😘
This Sophie is ready to stop being agreeable and start living. **Rob is all too willing to help.** His brother ruined his life years ago, so it seems only fair to steal his girl—even if it’s just pretend. Between plotting elaborate revenge schemes, helping each other discover what they’ve been missing, working together at the brewery where the ex keeps showing up, and realizing the fake relationship feels suspiciously real, Sophie and Rob discover that **the best way to get over someone is to get under his brother.** Wait, that came out wrong. Or did it? 🍺
What makes this spicy: Best revenge being falling for his brother when Sophie discovers fiancé cheating with three other women, befriending women he wronged and wanting revenge for all, one stolen kiss creating fake boyfriend just as invested in getting back at ex, Rob willing to help steal brother’s girl, and discovering fake relationship feels suspiciously real.
Awakening
Author: Tracy Higley
FREE
Historical Fantasy
**Kallie Andreas is a mystery, even to herself.** Seven years ago Kallie woke up in a New York City museum, injured and traumatized, with no memory of who she was or how she got there. Alone and unclaimed by anyone who recognized her, the hospital gave her a name, social services gave her a fresh start, and she gave herself a new life. Despite her shattered memories and the persistent feeling that something crucial is missing, she’s made a quiet life for herself as museum curator—safe, controlled, predictable. 🏛️
But then **the blackouts start.** Lost time where hours disappear, stranded in terrifying danger she doesn’t remember entering, frantic visions of ancient places that can’t be real but feel like memories. And now **Kallie’s journal has morphed into something else**—what began as her attempt to track her amnesia symptoms becomes a romantic fairy tale she doesn’t remember writing, then transforms into the tale of a woman plunged into crisis in the ancient misty islands of Minoan Greece, home to myth and legend. Is she writing fiction or remembering something impossible? 📖
When **a mysterious billionaire invites Kallie to scour the black market with him for the most valuable of all Minoan treasures,** Kallie can’t resist despite every rational voice screaming danger. Dimitri is wealthy, charming and good-looking, but she’s not interested—not in someone who’s clearly hiding secrets of his own while asking her to help track down artifacts that shouldn’t exist. Between investigating her blackouts, deciphering her impossible journal, partnering with a billionaire who knows more than he’s saying, and discovering that Minoan Greece might not be as mythical as she thought, Kallie learns that sometimes amnesia isn’t about forgetting the past—it’s about surviving it. ✨
What makes this mysterious: Kallie Andreas waking up seven years ago in NYC museum injured with no memory, making quiet life as curator despite shattered memories, blackouts starting with lost time and terrifying danger, journal morphing into tale of woman in ancient Minoan Greece, and mysterious billionaire Dimitri inviting her to scour black market for most valuable Minoan treasures.
Final Look (Christine Lane Book 1)
Author: Dianne Scott
FREE
International Crime
On an island full of intrigue, a killer’s identity is the best-kept secret. **Policewoman Christine Lane felt the humiliation like a slap.** Transferred to a sleepy island station after a career-ending mistake on the mainland, she could almost hear her professional ambitions screeching to a halt. Toronto Island was supposed to be punishment disguised as reassignment—dealing with noise complaints and lost tourists instead of real police work. 🏝️
During a violent protest on Toronto Island, **a resident is found dead and Christine is hurt** trying to intervene. Her boss threatens to sack her for incompetence, using the incident as proof she doesn’t belong in law enforcement at all. She vows to maintain a low profile, to keep her head down and survive this exile without making things worse. But when the homicide leads dry up and investigators move on to their next case, **Christine is shocked when they close the file.** So she secretly gathers information on suspects, digging up local dirt that tourists never see. 🔍
When Christine is ambushed while pursuing the investigation alone, she knows **she is closing in on the perpetrator.** Can she flush out the murderer before she is shut down for good by superiors who think she’s obsessed, before the killer eliminates the one cop who won’t let the case die, and before her career ends in disgrace? Between navigating island politics where everyone protects their own, investigating a murder her bosses want forgotten, surviving an ambush that proves someone’s watching her investigation, and deciding whether solving the case is worth her badge, Christine discovers that on a small island, the most dangerous secret is the one everyone’s determined to keep. 🚨
What makes this tense: Policewoman Christine Lane feeling humiliation like slap transferred to sleepy island station, resident found dead during violent Toronto Island protest with Christine hurt, boss threatening to sack her for incompetence, shocked when homicide investigators move on, and ambushed proving she’s closing in on perpetrator before shut down for good.
How to Shield an Assassin (Unholy Trifecta Book 1)
Author: AJ Sherwood
FREE
Heist Crime
**It’s not stealing if you’re stealing it back...** Ari had a game plan for life that was working perfectly: shoot people for money, get paid handsomely for his assassin skills, and hang out with fellow criminal friends who understand that morality is negotiable. He saw absolutely no reason to change that plan—**until one dark night in Memphis, when a little girl reached out to him with pocket change and a desperate plea for help.** The kid was bruised, terrified, and offering him everything she had (seventy-three cents) to save her from the man who’d been hurting her. 💰
**Adopting an abused little girl off the streets was, needless to say, not part of the plan.** Ari has no idea what to do with an eight-year-old who’s never had a bedtime story, doesn’t know what safety feels like, and thinks assassins are normal father figures. Things get more complicated when **a mercenary, Carter Harrison, approaches him with a job.** He needs Ari’s expertise to get into the very high-security museum and steal back Monet’s *Bridge Over a Pond of Water Lilies*—yes, steal it *back*, because apparently someone stole it from Carter’s client first. 🎨
**The job isn’t an easy one.** It will take more than the two of them to make it happen—they’ll need a whole crew of specialists. The situation is further complicated because Ari’s not sure what to do with his new daughter while working this job (daycare for assassins isn’t a thing). **And for that matter, how’s he supposed to handle the sexy mercenary** who keeps looking at him like Ari’s more interesting than the Monet? Between raising an eight-year-old, assembling a heist crew, stealing back a priceless painting, and not falling for Carter, Ari discovers that the most dangerous job isn’t breaking into museums—it’s letting people into your heart. 💕
What makes this unique: Not stealing if you’re stealing it back when assassin Ari’s game plan disrupted by little girl with pocket change and desperate plea, adopting abused eight-year-old off streets not part of plan, sexy mercenary Carter Harrison needing expertise to steal back Monet from high-security museum, and handling new daughter while working job and not falling for mercenary.
4 Bodies and a Funeral (A Body Movers Novel)
Author: Stephanie Bond
Regularly $8.99, Today $1.99
Amateur Sleuths
One cadaver, two cadaver, three cadaver, four... Ever had one of those days? **A surprise visit from her father—who’s on the run from the law—has given Carlotta Wren a lot to think about.** Should she join her former fiancé Peter in proving her father is innocent? If she does, are her body-moving days over? Working for a service that transports corpses has been weird enough, but now everything’s about to get exponentially more complicated. 🚑
And then... a close friend’s behavior begins to spin out of control, **the cops turn up the heat on her father’s case,** Carlotta discovers that her brother Wesley’s gambling debts are child’s play compared to his new vice (which might actually get him killed), and the Charmed Killer, a serial murderer, unleashes his wrath on Atlanta. Now the bodies are piling up faster than Carlotta can move them—and her father is the number one suspect! Between clearing her fugitive dad’s name, keeping Wesley alive despite his self-destructive tendencies, and dodging a serial killer who’s making Atlanta his personal hunting ground, Carlotta’s got her hands full. 💀
The pressure is mounting from all sides: Peter wants her help with the investigation, the police want her father behind bars, her brother’s new addiction is spiraling dangerously out of control, and bodies keep turning up with disturbing connections to her family. **When you work moving bodies for a living, you expect to see death. You don’t expect it to follow you home.** Between family loyalty, romantic confusion, a brother headed for disaster, and a killer who might be closer than anyone realizes, Carlotta must figure out who’s behind the murders before she becomes the next body that needs moving. 🔍
What makes this thrilling: Carlotta Wren’s fugitive father on the run from law making surprise visit, deciding whether to prove his innocence, brother Wesley’s gambling debts child’s play compared to new vice, Charmed Killer serial murderer unleashing wrath on Atlanta, bodies piling up with father as number one suspect.
The Complete Language of Herbs: A Definitive and Illustrated History
Author: S. Theresa Dietz
Regularly $22.99, Today $4.59
Gardening & Horticulture Herbs
**The Complete Language of Herbs is a comprehensive encyclopedia providing the meanings, powers, facts, and folklore for over 500 herbs and spices.** Along with a beautiful visual depiction, each entry provides the herb or spice’s scientific and common names, characteristics, and historic meanings and powers from mythology, medieval legends, folklore, and flower poetry. This isn’t just a gardening guide—it’s a journey through centuries of human belief about the plants we’ve cultivated, feared, and revered. 🌿
Did you know that **allspice can be added to herbal mixtures to attract money or luck?** Or that sprinkling arrowroot at the doors of your home will keep guests’ negative energy from entering? Reaching the height of popularity during the Victorian era, floriographies—dictionaries of symbolic flower meanings—were an amusing pastime and art to subtly communicate unspoken emotions when direct speech was considered too forward. To complement the success of *The Complete Language of Flowers*, author S. Theresa Dietz has scoured historic sources and compiled an equally beautiful compendium. 💐
**In *The Complete Language of Herbs*, revealing the secrets and powers of hundreds of common and forgotten herbs and spices from around the world.** Between learning which herbs attract prosperity, which protect against evil, which communicate hidden messages, and which have been used in rituals for millennia, readers discover that every plant in their kitchen cabinet has a story to tell. From basil’s association with love to rosemary’s connection to remembrance, from sage’s reputation for wisdom to mint’s powers of hospitality, this beautifully illustrated volume transforms ordinary herbs into gateways to history, magic, and meaning. 📚
What makes this essential: Comprehensive encyclopedia of over 500 herbs and spices with meanings, powers, facts and folklore, allspice attracting money and arrowroot keeping negative energy out, Victorian-era floriography for communicating unspoken emotions, and S. Theresa Dietz revealing secrets of common and forgotten herbs from around world.
Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto
Author: Chuck Klosterman
Regularly $3.99, Today $1.99
Popular Culture in Social Sciences
From the author of the highly acclaimed heavy metal memoir *Fargo Rock City* comes another hilarious and discerning take on massively popular culture—set in Chuck Klosterman’s den and your own—covering everything from **the effect of John Cusack flicks to the crucial role of breakfast cereal to the awesome power of the Dixie Chicks.** Countless writers and artists have spoken for a generation, but no one has done it quite like Chuck Klosterman, who somehow makes you care deeply about things you didn’t know mattered. 📺
**With an exhaustive knowledge of popular culture and an almost effortless ability to spin brilliant prose out of unlikely subject matter,** Klosterman attacks the entire spectrum of postmodern America: reality TV, Internet porn, Pamela Anderson, literary Jesus freaks, and the real difference between apples and oranges (of which there is none). And don’t even get him started on his love life and the whole *When Harry Met Sally* situation that’s ruined romance for an entire generation. Between deconstructing *Saved by the Bell* episodes and the artistic legacy of Billy Joel, the symbolic importance of *The Empire Strikes Back* and the Celtics/Lakers rivalry, Chuck will make you think, he’ll make you laugh, and he’ll drive you insane—usually all at once. 🎬
*Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs* is ostensibly about art, entertainment, infotainment, sports, politics, and kittens, but—really—**it’s about us.** It’s about why we obsess over certain things, why pop culture matters (or doesn’t), why we assign meaning to breakfast cereals and romantic comedies, and how everything from MTV to cereal mascots has shaped who we are. Whether examining why *The Real World* is more important than you think, analyzing the cultural impact of tribute bands, or explaining why soccer will never work in America, Klosterman proves that sometimes the deepest insights come from the shallowest sources. This isn’t just pop culture criticism—it’s a mirror held up to a generation raised on sitcoms and breakfast cereal. 🥣
What makes this brilliant: Chuck Klosterman’s exhaustive pop culture knowledge spinning brilliant prose from unlikely subjects, covering John Cusack flicks to breakfast cereal to Dixie Chicks, attacking postmodern America spectrum from reality TV to Internet porn, deconstructing *Saved by the Bell* and Billy Joel’s artistic legacy, and revealing book is really about us.
From One Widow to Another: Conversations on the New You
Author: Miriam Neff
Regularly $10.49, Today $2.99
Christian Death & Grief
“Widow” is one title women do not want to have. Yet, according to the Surgeon General’s office, **800,000 people become widows or widowers every year in the United States alone.** Every aspect of a widow’s existence changes—like it or not, ready or not. Your identity shifts overnight from “we” to “I,” from someone’s wife to someone alone. These changes add to the emotional roller coaster that most women experience after losing their husband, compounding grief with practical challenges and social isolation that nobody prepares you for. 💔
Miriam Neff understands the ride. As she struggled to understand and accept her new role after her husband’s death, she recognized **the need for women to hear from others about their experiences and what helped them transition to this new stage of life.** *From One Widow to Another* offers practical advice for those facing the loss of a spouse, speaking with the authority of someone who’s walked this painful path herself. Drawing from her own loss, Neff walks with the reader through practical issues—finances, household management, social situations, holidays, dating again—to a sense of encouragement and hope. 🕊️
Between navigating questions nobody wants to answer (”So, are you still married?”), handling financial matters you never had to think about before, dealing with well-meaning friends who don’t understand, and figuring out who you are when half of your identity is gone, widowhood requires rebuilding yourself from the ground up. **Neff provides the roadmap for that journey,** offering not just sympathy but concrete strategies for survival and eventual thriving. This isn’t a book that promises everything will be okay tomorrow. It’s a book that acknowledges the devastating reality of loss while insisting that life, different though it may be, can continue with meaning and even joy. ✨
What makes this compassionate: 800,000 people becoming widows or widowers yearly in United States alone, every aspect of existence changing like it or not, Miriam Neff recognizing need for women to hear from others about transition, offering practical advice from own loss walking readers through issues to encouragement.
Witch’s Guide to the Paranormal: How to Investigate, Communicate, and Clear Spirits
Author: J. Allen Cross
Regularly $17.99, Today $3.99
Occult Supernatural
Flex investigative methods that only witches can wield. **As a witch, your ability to manipulate energy allows you to interact with ghosts in ways that other investigators can’t.** While paranormal investigators bring EMF meters and voice recorders, witches bring something far more powerful—the ability to actually communicate with, influence, and cleanse spiritual presences. Discover how to use your magical toolkit to identify and resolve the four main types of haunting—residual, poltergeist, human earthbound, and inhuman entity. 🔮
J. Allen Cross guides you through the basic principles of a haunting while building a foundation of paranormal investigation, witchcraft, and mediumship skills. **You will learn how to craft a seal, open and close portals, perform an exorcism, and help spirits cross over.** This isn’t theoretical magic—these are practical techniques for dealing with actual hauntings, from the relatively benign (residual energy replaying like a broken record) to the genuinely dangerous (inhuman entities that were never human to begin with). Between understanding what attracts spirits, identifying different types of manifestations, and learning protective measures before engaging with the paranormal, this guide prepares witches for real-world spiritual work. 👻
**With more than forty exercises and rituals,** this book shows you how to make the most of your talents so you can bring peace to restless spirits and those they haunt. From cleansing your own space to helping earthbound humans find their way to the other side, from sealing portals that allow unwanted entities through to performing full exorcisms when necessary, Cross provides step-by-step instructions for every scenario. The exercises progress from basic protection to advanced spirit communication, ensuring witches develop skills safely and effectively. For practitioners ready to combine their craft with paranormal investigation, this is the essential manual. 🕯️
What makes this powerful: Witch’s ability to manipulate energy allowing interaction with ghosts in ways other investigators can’t, using magical toolkit to identify four main haunting types, J. Allen Cross teaching how to craft seals and perform exorcisms, over forty exercises and rituals bringing peace to restless spirits and those they haunt.
Bean by Bean: A Cookbook
Author: Crescent Dragonwagon
Regularly $17.99, Today $2.99
Cooking, Food & Wine Reference
**Has there ever been a more generous ingredient than the bean?** Down-home yet haute, soul-satisfyingly hearty, valued, versatile, deeply delectable, healthful, and inexpensive to boot—there’s nothing a bean can’t do. And there’s nothing that Crescent Dragonwagon (yes, that’s her real name) can’t do with beans. From old friends like chickpeas and pintos to rediscovered heirloom beans like rattlesnake beans and teparies, from green beans and fresh shell beans to peanuts, lentils, and peas, *Bean by Bean* is the definitive cookbook on beans. 🫘
It’s **a 175-plus recipe cornucopia overflowing with information, kitchen wisdom, lore, anecdotes, and a zest for good food and good times.** Consider the lentil, to take one example. Discover it first in Lentil Tapenade, then in half a dozen soups including Sahadi’s Lebanese Lentil Soup with Spinach, Kerala-Style Dahl, and Crescent’s Very, Very Best Lentil, Mushroom & Barley Soup. It then turns up in Marinated Lentils De Puy with Greens, Baked Beets, Oranges & Walnuts, plus Jamaica Jerk-Style Lentil-Vegetable Patties, Ethiopian Lentil Stew, and Lentil-Celeriac Skillet Sauce. 🍲
Do the same for black beans—from Tex-Mex Frijoles Dip to Feijoada Vegetariana to Maya’s Magic Black Beans with Eggplant & Royal Rice. Or shell beans—Newly Minted Puree of Fresh Favas, Baked Limas with Rosy Sour Cream, Edamame in a Pod. And on and on—from starters and soups to dozens of entrees. **Even desserts: Peanut Butter Cup Brownies and Red Bean Ice Cream!** Between exploring every bean variety imaginable, learning preparation techniques that maximize flavor, discovering global bean traditions, and mastering recipes from simple to spectacular, this cookbook proves that beans deserve celebration, not relegation to boring side dish status. 🌱
What makes this definitive: Bean as most generous ingredient—down-home yet haute, hearty and inexpensive, Crescent Dragonwagon’s 175-plus recipe cornucopia with kitchen wisdom and lore, covering chickpeas to heirloom rattlesnake beans, lentils prepared dozen ways from tapenade to Ethiopian stew, and even bean desserts like Peanut Butter Cup Brownies and Red Bean Ice Cream.
How to Write a Damn Good Thriller: A Step-by-Step Guide for Novelists and Screenwriters
Author: James N. Frey
Regularly $23.99, Today $3.99
Fiction Writing Reference
From the internationally bestselling author of books on the craft of writing comes **James N. Frey’s *How to Write a Damn Good Thriller*.** This book will help the aspiring novelist or screenwriter to design, draft, write, and polish a thriller that is sure to grab readers by the throat and not let go until the final page. Frey uses examples from both books and movies—analyzing what works, what doesn’t, and why—to teach the fundamental principles of thriller writing. ✍️
Frey addresses the following hot topics: germinal ideas that hook readers from page one, **breathing life into great thriller characters** (heroes who compel us, villains we love to hate), crafting a gripping opening that makes it impossible to put the book down, maintaining tension throughout (the holy grail of thriller writing), creating obstacles and conflicts that escalate relentlessly, writing mean, lean thriller scenes with no fat, adding surprise twists that readers don’t see coming but feel inevitable in retrospect, building a smashing climax that delivers on every promise, and many more essential techniques. 📚
**In his trademark approachable and humorous style,** Frey illuminates the building blocks of great thrillers and gives the reader the tools to write his or her own page-turner. Between learning how to structure three-act thriller arcs, understanding the ticking clock device, mastering the art of red herrings, creating compelling stakes that matter, and studying examples from masters like Michael Crichton, Lee Child, and Gillian Flynn, aspiring thriller writers get a comprehensive education. This isn’t theory—it’s practical instruction from someone who’s taught thousands of writers how to craft stories that keep readers up all night. For novelists and screenwriters ready to write thrillers that actually thrill. 🎬
What makes this essential: Internationally bestselling author James N. Frey’s step-by-step thriller guide, breathing life into great characters with gripping openings, maintaining tension while creating relentless obstacles, adding surprise twists and building smashing climax, and trademark approachable humorous style illuminating building blocks with tools to write page-turners.
We Two: Victoria and Albert: Rulers, Partners, Rivals
Author: Gillian Gill
Regularly $3.99, Today $1.99
Biographies of Royalty
**It was the most influential marriage of the nineteenth century—and one of history’s most enduring love stories.** Traditional biographies tell us that Queen Victoria inherited the throne as a naïve teenager when the British Empire was at the height of its power, and seemed doomed to find failure as a monarch and misery as a woman until she married her German cousin Albert and accepted him as her lord and master. Now renowned chronicler Gillian Gill turns this familiar story on its head, revealing a strong, feisty queen and a brilliant, fragile prince working together. 👑
The epic relationship **began poorly.** The cousins first met as teenagers for a few brief, awkward, chaperoned weeks in 1836. At seventeen, charming rather than beautiful, Victoria already “showed signs of wanting her own way”—an understatement for a girl who would become one of history’s most powerful monarchs. Albert, the boy who had been groomed for her since birth, was chubby, self-absorbed, and showed no interest in girls, let alone this princess. So when they met again in 1839 as queen and presumed prince-consort-to-be, neither had particularly high hopes. **But the queen was delighted to discover a grown man, refined, accomplished, and whiskered. “Albert is beautiful!” Victoria wrote, and she proposed just three days later.** 💍
The love affair that emerges is far more captivating, complex, and relevant than depicted in any previous account. Between building a family based on support, trust, and fidelity (qualities neither had seen much of as children), navigating the politics of a powerful queen married to a prince with no official role, dealing with Albert’s frustration at being sidelined, and Victoria’s struggle to share power she’d fought to claim, their marriage was partnership, rivalry, passion, and political maneuvering all at once. This is the real story of two extraordinary people creating an extraordinary union. 💕
What makes this revelatory: Most influential nineteenth-century marriage as history’s enduring love story, Gillian Gill turning familiar story on its head revealing strong feisty queen and brilliant fragile prince, cousins’ relationship beginning poorly with awkward 1836 meeting, Victoria discovering grown refined Albert and proposing three days later, and building family based on support and trust.
The Good Goodbye: A Novel
Author: Carla Buckley
Regularly $3.99, Today $1.99
Women’s Crime Fiction
**The first thing you should know is that everyone lies. The second thing is that it matters.** How well do we know our children? Natalie Falcone would say she knows her daughter Arden very well. Despite the challenges of running a restaurant and raising six-year-old twin boys, she’s not too worried as she sends her daughter off to college—until she gets the call that Arden’s been in a terrible fire, along with her best friend and cousin Rory. **Both girls are critically injured and another student has died. The police suspect arson.** 🔥
**Arden and Rory have always been close, but they have secrets they’ve never shared,** secrets that reel all the way back to their childhoods, and which led them to that tragic night. Who set the fire, and why? As the police dig deep into both the present and the past, Natalie realizes that in order to protect her daughter, she’ll first have to find out who Arden really is. The girl she thought she knew might be a stranger hiding behind familiar features. Every parent believes they understand their children—until the moment proves otherwise. 🚨
In order to protect her daughter, she’ll first have to find out who Arden really is, **even if it means risking everything—and everyone—she loves most.** Between uncovering decades-old secrets the cousins kept buried, discovering what really happened the night of the fire, navigating police investigation while both girls remain hospitalized, and confronting the possibility that Arden might be responsible for another student’s death, Natalie faces an impossible choice. The more she learns, the more she realizes that the lies started long before college, and the truth might destroy her family completely. Some secrets burn hotter than any fire. 💔
What makes this gripping: Everyone lies and it matters when mother gets call daughter Arden critically injured in terrible fire with cousin Rory, another student dead with police suspecting arson, always-close cousins having secrets never shared reeling back to childhood, and mother risking everything to protect daughter by discovering who Arden really is.
The Typewriter and the Guillotine: An American Journalist, a German Serial Killer, and Paris on the Eve of WWII
Author: Mark Braude
NEW RELEASE
Biographies of Journalists
In 1925, the Indianapolis-born **Janet Flanner took an assignment to write a regular “Letter from Paris” for a lighthearted humor magazine called *The New Yorker*.** She’d come to Paris with dreams of writing about “Beauty with a Capital B”—art galleries, fashion shows, literary salons, all the glamorous surface of 1920s Paris. Her employer, self-consciously apolitical, sought only breezy reports on French art and culture. But as she woke to the frightening signs of rising extremism, economic turmoil, and widespread discontent in Europe, Flanner ignored her editor’s directives, reinventing herself, her assignment, and *The New Yorker* in the process. 📰
While working tirelessly to alert American readers to the dangers of the Third Reich before most Americans cared, Flanner became gripped by the disturbing crimes of **a man who embodied all of the darkness she was being forced to confront. Eugen Weidmann, a German con-man and murderer, and the last man to be publicly executed in France—mere weeks before the outbreak of WWII.** Flanner covered his crimes, capture, and highly politicized trial, seeing the case as a metaphor for understanding the tumultuous years through which she’d just passed and to prepare herself for the dangers to come. ⚖️
Between documenting Weidmann’s brutal murders across France, witnessing the spectacle of his public guillotining in June 1939, covering the rise of fascism her editors didn’t want to acknowledge, and transforming from society columnist to serious political journalist, Flanner’s parallel coverage of a serial killer and a continent descending into war revealed uncomfortable truths. **Mark Braude weaves together true crime, journalistic history, and the gathering storm of WWII** in this gripping account of how one woman’s determination to tell the truth changed American journalism forever. The typewriter and the guillotine—tools of truth and tools of death—defined an era. 🗼
What makes this fascinating: Janet Flanner taking 1925 assignment writing “Letter from Paris” for lighthearted *New Yorker*, ignoring editor’s directives to alert Americans about Third Reich dangers, becoming gripped by German serial killer Eugen Weidmann’s crimes, last man publicly executed in France weeks before WWII, and Mark Braude weaving true crime with journalistic history and gathering war storm.
Wuthering Heights: In Modern English
Author: Emily Brontë
NEW RELEASE
Classic Romance Fiction
Yes, it’s that book. The one everyone says you should read. **The original toxic love story that spawned entire genres of dark romance.** Here’s the thing: *Wuthering Heights* is unhinged, devastating, and has been absolutely wrecking readers for 175 years. It’s a masterpiece of obsessive passion, revenge that spans generations, and love that destroys everything it touches. The Victorian prose, though? That’s the part that makes it feel like homework instead of the emotional rollercoaster it actually is. 📖
**This edition fixes that.** Same gothic moors where the wind never stops howling. Same obsessive passion between Heathcliff and Catherine that makes modern toxic relationships look healthy. Same “wait, did that just happen?” moments that make you question everything you thought you knew about love. Just in language that doesn’t require you to stop and decode every other sentence or keep a dictionary handy. No scenes cut. No plot watered down. No study guide summary pretending to be the actual novel. **Every chapter, every character, every devastating moment, just written so you can actually experience why this book has been breaking hearts since 1847.** 💔
You get the full story without “hitherto,” “countenance,” and sentences that take three reads to figure out. **You get Brontë’s genius without the barrier.** Between Heathcliff’s all-consuming obsession, Catherine’s impossible choices, revenge plots spanning two generations, the haunting atmosphere of the Yorkshire moors, and emotional devastation on every page, this is the *Wuthering Heights* that reads like the page-turner it always was. For readers who want to understand what the fuss is about without needing a literature degree to get through it. The toxic love story that invented toxic love stories, now accessible to everyone. 🌪️
What makes this essential: Original toxic love story spawning entire dark romance genres, unhinged and devastating masterpiece wrecking readers for 175 years, same gothic moors and obsessive passion in modern language without Victorian prose barrier, every chapter and character preserved, and Brontë’s genius accessible without “hitherto” and undecipherable sentences.
Just Breaking The Rules
Author: Lauren Blakely
NEW RELEASE
Romantic Comedy
**She’s the one who got away. He’s always been off-limits.** A secret romance with my brother’s hockey star best friend wasn’t part of my plan when I desperately asked him to invest in my bakery. I just needed a business partner before my dream shop went under, before years of perfecting recipes and building a customer base disappeared because of bad luck and worse timing. And when the bossy, protective single dad athlete said yes, I didn’t think that one knee-weakening time he’d kissed me senseless (and then some) would get in the way of us baking cakes. 🏒
But just try working with **a sinfully handsome, incredibly generous, and dangerously flirty hockey player who’s good with his hands in and out of the kitchen.** We set a rule: don’t mix business with pleasure. Again. Except Corbin doesn’t do anything halfway. When he’s not scoring goals on the ice, he stays up late with me to test tempting recipes, braids my hair before we bake like it’s foreplay, gives me his jersey to wear to games, and looks at me like I’m the answer to his dreams instead of his business partner and best friend’s little sister. 🧁
**Falling for my business partner—my brother’s best friend—could cost me everything:** the bakery we’re building together, our friendship that’s lasted years, and the family who’s already doubting me. But when Corbin shows up after closing one night and tells me he can’t stop thinking about me and hasn’t been able to for years? I’m ready to break every rule. Between late-night recipe testing, hair braiding as foreplay, wearing his jersey, and fighting feelings that could destroy everything, we discover that some rules are made to be broken. Especially when breaking them tastes this sweet. 💕
What makes this delicious: Secret romance with brother’s hockey star best friend who invested in failing bakery, bossy protective single dad athlete good with hands in and out of kitchen, rule not to mix business with pleasure again, Corbin staying late testing recipes and braiding hair like foreplay, and showing up after closing admitting he can’t stop thinking about her for years.