Young readers have fallen head over paws for the wildly popular Warriors series. The newest Spotlight title, Into the Wild, offers a chance for new readers and longtime fans to own the first book in this feline-centric series for just $0.99.
Erin Hunter’s epic Warriors saga is comprised of 34 titles—including the newest title, The Forgotten Warrior—and features a cast of warrior cat clans who have ruled the forest for generations, maintaining a tenuous peace. In the series debut, an ordinary housecat named Rusty is pulled into the clans’ feud, and finds that he has powerful skills that make him a formidable warrior.
Young adults with active imaginations—and cat fanciers of all ages—will delight in the charms of this exciting fantasy series.
A free sample excerpt from this book is available for download on the product page now!
NOOK owners: go to shop and search for "Erin Hunter" to download this Spotlight offer.
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In honor of Presidents’ Day, we’re highlighting great deals on some fantastic Presidential NOOK Books. In fact, each of these nine books can be yours for less than a Lincoln – that is, for under $5! Whether you’re an early-American history buff, or prefer reading about the trials and triumphs of more recent office-holders, we have a great value-priced title that you’ll want to add to your collection.
To be honest, I cannot tell a lie—these are some can’t-miss deals.
Giants by John Stauffer: $1.99
Revolutionaries by Jack Rakove: $3.99
Everything American Presidents Book by Martin Kelly & Melissa Kelly: $3.99
Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter by E. Stanly Godbold, Jr.: $1.99
The Founding Fathers Reconsidered by R.B. Bernstein: $1.99
Guns or Butter: The Presidency of Lyndon Johnson by Irving Bernstein: $2.99
Washington's Crossing by David Hackett Fischer: $2.99
Free sample excerpts from these books are available for download on the product pages now!
NOOK owners: go to shop and search by author name to download these Presidential reads.
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Today's Free Friday's book, Bring on the Blessings by Beverly Jenkins, is a captivating and uplifting novel about a town on the brink of disaster that finds a very unlikely savior.
Bernadine Brown's husband may have thought he could pull one over on her - but when she finds out he's cheating on her, the $275 million divorce settlement she gets is a nice consolation prize. Now in her fifties, with plenty of money to burn, Bernadine looks for a worthy way to spend her sudden windfall.
Enter Henry Adams, Kansas, one of the last surviving townships founded by freed slaves after the Civil War. After falling on hard times, the town is now for sale on the internet, and Bernadine jumps at the chance to buy, and rebuild, this historic community. Bernadine, the town's mayor, and some enthusiastic residents join hands to bring a new vision to the town, and in the process, our heroine finds new strength and determination to rebuild her life as well.
Bring on the Blessings is a perfect read for Black History Month - a chance to explore an interesting era of post-Civil War history through the lens of a wonderful modern story.
Free Fridays Recommends
Each week, we ask our featured author to recommend a book or author that you may want to check out. Since authors are such passionate readers themselves, we thought you might like to find out what they love to read, too! Here’s what Beverly recommends:
Buy Black Gun, Silver Star by Art T. Burton! US Deputy Marshal Bass Reeves is one of America's unsung heroes. Art T. Burton's research is stellar!
NOOK owners: go to shop and search for “Beverly Jenkins” to download her bestselling books.
Read more...With books—as in life—anticipation is half the fun. Waiting days, months, years (we’re looking at you, George R.R. Martin) for your favorite author’s next book helps build excitement until publication day.
With that in mind, here are some upcoming NOOK Books that we can’t wait to read—perfect titles to pre-order now.
NOOK-reader favorite H.P. Mallory is back with a new paranormal romance featuring the sassy, self-deprecating witch Jolie Wilkins: Witchful Thinking.Jolie thinks she’s seen it all, but life continues to spring surprises. The latest shocker? She’s just been crowned Queen of the Underworld. Jolie may possess a rare gift for reanimating the dead, but she doesn’t know the first thing about governing disparate factions of supernatural creatures. She can barely maintain order in her own chaotic personal life, which is heading into a romantic tailspin. Jolie’s adventures continue on February 28!
Theodore Roosevelt is a biographer’s dream—hence, the many fascinating books that have explored every aspect of his life. In Island of Vice, available March 13, author Richard Zacks highlights Roosevelt’s adventures as the quixotic police commissioner of New York City.
When a young Roosevelt was appointed commissioner, he had the astounding gall to try to shut down the prevalent brothels, gambling joints, and after-hours saloons. This is the story of how TR took on Manhattan vice . . . and vice won.
Fans of ancient mythology will be captivated by The Song of Achilles, on-sale April 3 . Built on the groundwork of the Iliad, Madeline Miller’s page-turning, profoundly moving, and blisteringly paced retelling of the epic Trojan War marks the launch of a dazzling career.
Patroclus, an awkward young prince, has been exiled to the kingdom of Phthia to be raised in the shadow of King Peleus and his golden son, Achilles. “The best of all the Greeks”—strong, beautiful, and the child of a goddess—Achilles is everything the shamed Patroclus is not. Yet despite their differences, the boys become steadfast companions. Their bond deepens as they grow into young men and become skilled in the arts of war and medicine—much to the displeasure and the fury of Achilles’ mother, Thetis, a cruel sea goddess with a hatred of mortals.
When word comes that Helen of Sparta has been kidnapped, the men of Greece, bound by blood and oath, must lay siege to Troy in her name. Seduced by the promise of a glorious destiny, Achilles joins their cause, and torn between love and fear for his friend, Patroclus follows. Little do they know that the Fates will test them both as never before and demand a terrible sacrifice.
NOOK owners: go to shop and search by author name to pre-order these highly-anticipated titles.
Read more...To help celebrate February’s Black History Month, today we’re featuring a guest blog post by Peggielene Bartels—the author of the unique and inspiring memoir King Peggy—available now for pre-order. Bartels has led a storybook life that’s almost too surreal to believe. She grew up in Ghana, went to school in London, became a U.S. citizen while working in the Ghanian embassy, and finally, returned home to Ghana to serve as king of her village. I’ll turn this post over to King Peggy to expand on this improbable story.
As a child, I never knew I would grow up to become a king. I had hoped to become a caterer.
But life has a way of twisting and turning you into surprising paths, causing you to end up in places you never imagined. I studied catering, to be sure, leaving my family in Ghana to attend school in London. Then I had an opportunity to work in the Ghanaian embassy in Washington, DC, which I planned to do for a year or two before returning home to my sauce pans and measuring cups. But somehow, a year or two became almost thirty, and I was still there working as a secretary. I had found love in that time, and lost it when my husband realized I couldn’t have children and returned to Ghana.
I wasn’t unhappy, to be sure, and I was grateful to be a naturalized American citizen with reliable work, excellent health care, hot and cold running water, a car, all those things out of reach for most Africans. Yet having grown up in a large African family, I never imagined I would be living alone, with no husband, no children, and working seven days a week to pay bills. Sometimes I wondered if my life had a purpose. Did I, as so many Americans seemed to do, exist only to pay bills? Is that really a life’s purpose? I had an intense spiritual yearning to connect with something greater than myself and thought perhaps I could be a religious leader of some sort. But that sure didn’t look like it was going to happen.
The phone call that changed my life came at 4 a.m. in August 2008. It was a cousin from Ghana who informed me that my ninety-two-year-old uncle, who for 25 years had been king of a fishing community called Otuam, had died. The elders had taken the names of the late king’s relatives to a sacred shrine, conducted rituals, and determined that I was the next king!
I nearly hung up the phone, thinking my cousin was playing a weird joke on me. But what he said was true. When I went to my new kingdom three weeks later, I found that there was no running water, no ambulance, poor schools, a rutted bone-rattling road, thieving elders who pocketed the taxes to buy themselves whiskey, and a falling-down royal palace that I was expected to rebuild.
It was a mind-boggling challenge. But I have two great advantages that are helping me transform my kingdom. For one thing, my decades in the United States have given me a Yankee can-do attitude that cuts through the corrupt, chauvinistic nonsense that plagues so much of Africa and, quite frankly, most of the world.
Secondly, the fact that I am a woman king is a tremendous bonus. Women have a unique power to gather resources for the less fortunate. We usually have great compassion, rectitude, and selflessness. The world has been run by men for thousands of years and now it’s time to let the women have a chance.
In the three years since I became king, I’ve found in myself qualities I never knew I had: strength, resilience, unbeatable determination, and utter devotion to my people. My life has a purpose now, one that will last me to my dying day, and I feel strongly connected to a higher power.
Though I am an anointed king, with a real gold crown, and a palace, and a town where my word is law, I will never forget where I came from. On the contrary, I feel very humble that kingship was bestowed on an ordinary person like me, who as a girl had dreamed of being a caterer.
I had also dreamed of having many children. And now, by God’s grace, I have 7,000 of them, and I have to take care of them the very best I can.
NOOK owners: go to shop and search for "Peggielene Bartels" to pre-order this one-of-a-kind memoir.
Read more...Our Valentine's Day author guest blog comes courtesy of blogger Sarah Wendell, author of Everything I Know About Love I Learned from Romance Novels. Her charming book is a smart, heartfelt collection of life lessons that she and fellow fans and writers have learned from romance books over the years. In honor of this most romatic of holidays, Sarah's offering NOOK Blog readers a summary of her top 5 lessons. Enjoy!
It's Valentine's Day, when every available retail surface is red and pink and chocolate all over, when thoughts turn to plans and gestures to demonstrate affection, and romance novels get a slight uptick in consumer attention. They are the books of love, after all. You might think you know what romance novels are about, but unless you've read some, you're likely harboring some out of date ideas. Romances contain powerful messages about relationships, including the many different ways to achieve a happily ever after.
In Everything I Know about Love I Learned from Romance Novels , I, along with many romance readers and bestselling authors, outline the lessons we've learned from reading a marvelous number of romance novels. Here, in condensed format, are the top 5 lessons romance novels can teach you about achieving real-life happy endings.
5. Know yourself. Know what you want and what you like. Be the heroine of your own life. You can't find what makes you happy if you don't know what it is. It sounds really easy and obvious, but there can be a world of separation between what you want and enjoy, and what you might think you're supposed to want and enjoy.
4. Don't be afraid to ask for what you want! No romance novel featuring a psychic (and there are many!) ever featured a scene where the hero could telepathically determine the heroine's every wish and desire. How boring would that be? There's risk and danger in asking frankly for what you want, but there's ample reward and enjoyment when you get it.
3. Happy ever afters take work, attention, time, and caring. Happiness is not easy, but the effort is worth it. There's a reason many romances are 300+ pages long: the happy ever after is earned a thousand times over. The characters have to overcome conflict and fix a few pesky issues. That's true in real life, too. Author Teresa Medeiros said it best: never stop courting your spouse.
2. Value every relationship in your life, not just the romantic ones. Romance characters that readers love have more than just a romantic relationship: they have friends. Siblings. Parents. People who love them. Valentine's Day can be an overwhelming message about romance and couplehood, but it's also important to celebrate and value the people who love you, and the people who you love, every day - including Valentine's.
1. Happy endings are not about perfection. No romance character says, "I'd love you if you could change all these little things about yourself" - not without learning the error of that demand by the end of the story! Romance is about loving someone for who they are, right then, and knowing that you are loved in return, not in spite of but becauseof who you are.
Happily ever afters are not something that happens someday. They happen right now - to you. No matter what relationships you're celebrating this Valentine's Day, I hope we all live happily ever after.
Since Valentine's Day is a time to share your love with your kids as well, don't forget to explore our NOOK Kids' collection, with holiday books featuring Elmo, Dora the Explorer, Snuggle Puppy and more here.
A free sample excerpt from Sarah's book is available for download on the product page now!
NOOK owners: go to shop and search for "Sarah Wendell" to download her inspiring book.
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“Harvey's debut, launching the Drake Chronicles, is a refreshing take on the familiar teenage vampire drama.”
-Publishers Weekly
Nothing says Valentine’s Day like vampires in love. Right? In today’s Free Fridays selection, Alyxandra Harvey’s Hearts at Stake, 16 year-old Solange is facing even more stress than your average teenage girl. On top of the usual high school pressures, she’s turning into a vampire. While she joins her family’s centuries’-long feud with a band of vampire hunters, she’s also trying to blend in with her peers, with help from her supportive best friend Lucy. Whether you’re planning to spend Valentine’s Day at home with your NOOK, or planning to read Hearts at Stake right away, this is the perfect romantic adventure.
Once you fall in love (okay, I promise that’s my last Valentine’s reference) with the Drake Chronicles, watch for a series of three digital-only novellas available soon for NOOK. The first, A Killer First Day, will be available on February 14.
Free Fridays Recommends
Each week, we ask our featured author to recommend a book or author that you may want to check out. Since authors are such passionate readers themselves, we thought you might like to find out what they love to read, too! Here’s what Alyxandra recommends:
Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins because it made me laugh and I really, really love a good snarky heroine!
NOOK owners: go to shop and search for “Alyxandra Harvey” to download her bestselling books.
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