I love Winnie the Pooh. Well, to be totally honest I’m a Tigger man, but that’s sort of splitting hairs. The world they live in, their adventures and their hopes and dreams – there is something genuinely sweet and special there. Winnie the Pooh: Puzzle Book by Disney Digital Books captures the inherent innocence and whimsy of the Hundred Acre Wood. What’s more, it does it with style and a breadth of features that will blow your socks off! There are multiple languages and multiple reading modes, featuring the ability to have the text read to you directly or to automatically turn the pages of the book. There are several different types of games, from puzzles to matching games that will challenge and delight. For the completists and those who love to explore every nook and cranny of an app, there are numerous surprises throughout the story – tap everywhere to find them all! And while everyone loves Winnie the Pooh, this puzzle book is a NOOK™ Android exclusive – not available for any other Android device. Grab this app and help Pooh in his seemingly never-ending search for hon… er, hunny today!

"The Wars of the Roses come spectacularly to life in Susan Higginbotham's compelling new novel about Kate Woodville, sister to Queen Elizabeth of England. A sweeping tale of danger, treachery, and love, The Stolen Crown is impossible to put down!"

-Michelle Moran, bestselling author of Cleopatra's Daughter

Today’s Free Fridays selection, The Stolen Crown by Susan Higginbotham, is a fascinating fictional take on England’s infamous War of the Roses.

Higginbotham’s protagonist, Katherine, is based on the little-known sister of Elizabeth Woodville—who secretly married King Edward IV. Much like the modern day Pippa Middleton, Katherine quickly learns that because of her sister's marriage, she'll never again lead a normal life.

With a front seat to the tumultuous civil conflict—the War of the Roses—that culminated in Tudor rule, Katherine is an astute and observant narrator, bringing to life one of the monarchy’s most fascinating periods.

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 Susan recommends:

Anne Tyler is my favorite living novelist, and Saint Maybe is one of my favorite novels. Tyler takes a grim premise--an irritated teenage boy's careless words lead to the deaths of two people--and turns it into a witty, compassionate, and moving tale about change, redemption, and love.When I feel like re-reading a novel, this is one I always turn to.

NOOK owners: go to shop and search for “Susan Higginbotham” to download her books.

In her irresistible new memoir, Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Anna Quindlen writes about looking back and ahead—and celebrating it all—as she considers marriage, girlfriends, our mothers, faith, loss, all the stuff in our closets, and more.

Quindlen recently offered the Barnes & Noble Review a list of three of her favorite memoirs written by women. Her picks are the perfect complement to her captivating new book.

Personal History

By Katherine Graham

"Kay Graham was used to being underestimated, so she would have found it unsurprising if people expected her memoir to be a vanity production. Instead, it is an illuminating look at a woman born on the cusp of a changing world, straddling roles of subservience and power. Graham was an only child, but when her father passed on the leadership of his newspaper, The Washington Post, he anointed her husband. Brilliant and mentally ill, Phil Graham committed suicide while on a visit home from the hospital. The shy and insecure mother of four took over and became one of the great newspaper publishers of the 20th century. Her beautifully nuanced telling of all this makes for an exceptional read."

 Wait for Me! 

By Deborah Mitford, Duchess of Devonshire

"It takes a certain sort of woman with a certain sort of life to put an exclamation point at the end of the title of her memoir. Deborah Mitford was the youngest of the fabled Mitford sisters, a gaggle of six girls that included the muckracker Jessica (The American Way of Death) and the novelist Nancy (Love in A Cold Climate). Debo vividly describes her antic family -- British aristocracy short on money but long on eccentricity -- and then her own long marriage into one of the great English titles and ancestral homes. With an eye for telling detail and a keen sense of both the ridiculous and the historic, she evokes a world that has largely vanished into the pages of novels and onto the TV screen."

Autobiography of a Face  

By Lucy Grealy

"At age 9, Grealy was diagnosed with a cancer that took an enormous chunk of her jaw. There followed one surgery after another, most designed to make her look more like other people. But Lucy -- charismatic, elfin, peripatetic, creative -- was nothing like other people. Her book details the parade of wrongheaded diagnoses, the almost medieval medical procedures, and the long recoveries, always followed by the ubiquitous question: 'What's wrong with her face?' In the process, it becomes a meditation on how the world assesses beauty and disfigurement, about being female and the things women do to fit in and to feel whole. Grealy was a lyrical stylist, a poet turned prose writer, but it is her unsparing honesty and lack of self-pity and bathos that elevates this book, published eight years before she died of a heroin overdose."

A free sample excerpt from Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake is available for download on the product page now!

NOOK owners: go to shop and search for “Anna Quindlen” to download her beautifully evocative bestselling books.

In anticipation of #1 New York Times-bestselling author Jeffrey Archer’s upcoming novel, The Sins of the Father, three of his best-loved books are available for only $2.99 for a limited time. As a special bonus, each of these value-priced books contains an excerpt of Sins of the Father.

Charles Seymour, second-born son, will never be the earl like his father, but he did inherit his mother's strength—and the will to realize his destiny...Simon Kerslake's father sacrificed everything to make sure his son's dreams come true. Now it is Simon's chance to rise as high as those dreams allow...Ray Gould was born to the back streets but raised with pride-a quality matched by a sharp intellect and the desire to attain the impossible...Andrew Fraser was raised by a soccer hero turned politician. Now it's his turn for heroics, whatever the cost.

From strangers to rivals, four men embark on a journey for the highest stakes of all-the keys to No. 10 Downing Street. Unfolding over three decades, their honor will be tested, their loyalties betrayed, and their love of family and country challenged. But in a game where there is a First among Equals, only one can triumph.

 It seems innocent enough. A disgraced British colonel bequeaths a mysterious letter to his only son. But the moment Adam Scott opens the yellowing envelope, he sets into motion a deadly chain of events that threatens to shake the very foundations of the free world.

Within days, Adam's lover is brutally murdered and he's running for his life through the great cities of Europe, pursued not only by the KGB, but by the CIA and his own countrymen as well. Their common intent is to kill him before the truth comes out. While powerful men in smoke-filled rooms plot ever more ingenious means of destroying him, Adam finds himself betrayed and abandoned even by those he holds most dear.

When at last he comes to understand what he is in possession of, he's even more determined to protect it, for it's more than a matter of life and death—it's A Matter of Honor .

With a will of steel, Polish immigrant Florentyna Rosnovski is indeed Abel's daughter. She shares with her father a love of America, his ideals, and his dream for the future. But she wants more to be the first female president.

Golden boy Richard Kane was born into a life of luxury. The scion of a banking magnate he is successful, handsome, and determined to carve his own path in the world—and to build a future with the woman he loves.

In The Prodigal Daughter , with Florentyna's ultimate goal only a heartbeat away, both are about to discover the shattering price of power as a titanic battle of betrayal and deception reaches out from the past—a blood feud between two generations that threatens to destroy everything Florentyna and Richard have fought to achieve.

Free sample excerpts from these books are available for download on the product pages now!

NOOK owners: go to shop and search for “Jeffrey Archer” to download his bestselling thrillers.

All systems contain parasites.  These include parasites in your digestive tract, thieves in a Medieval market, spammers on the Internet, and terrorists in society.  In Liars and Outliers, I explore how society ensures that its parasites don’t destroy its systems.

It’s all about trust, really. I trust airline pilots, hotel clerks, ATMs, restaurant kitchens, and the company that built the computer I’m writing this short essay on. I trust that they have acted and will act in the ways I expect them to.

My central metaphor is the Prisoner’s Dilemma, which nicely exposes the tension between group interest and self-interest. And the dilemma even gives us a terminology to use: cooperators act in the group interest, and defectors act in their own selfish interest, to the detriment of the group. Too many defectors, and everyone suffers -- often catastrophically.

The Prisoner’s Dilemma is not only useful in describing the problem, but also serves as a way to organize solutions. We humans have developed four basic mechanisms for ways to limit defectors: what I call societal pressure. We use morals, reputation, laws, and security systems. It’s all coercion, really, although we don’t call it that. I’ll spare you the details; it would require a book to explain. And it did.

In the book, I wander through a dizzying array of academic disciplines: experimental psychology, evolutionary psychology, sociology, economics, behavioral economics, evolutionary biology, neuroscience, game theory, systems dynamics, anthropology, archeology, history, political science, law, philosophy, theology, cognitive science, and computer security. It sometimes felt as if I were blundering through a university, kicking down doors and demanding answers. “You anthropologists: what can you tell me about early human transgressions and punishments?” “Okay neuroscientists, what’s the brain chemistry of cooperation? And you evolutionary psychologists, how can you explain that?” “Hey philosophers, what have you got?” I downloaded thousands -- literally -- of academic papers. In pre-Internet days I would have had to move into an academic library.

What’s really interesting to me is what this all means for the future. We’ve never been able to eliminate defections. No matter how much societal pressure we bring to bear, we can’t bring the murder rate in society to zero. We’ll never see the end of bad corporate behavior, or embezzlement, or rude people who make cell phone calls in movie theaters. That’s fine, but it starts getting interesting when technology makes each individual defection more dangerous. That is, fisherman will survive even if a few of them defect and overfish -- until defectors can deploy driftnets and single-handedly collapse the fishing stock. The occasional terrorist with a machine gun isn’t a problem for society in the overall scheme of things; but a terrorist with a nuclear weapon could be.

Also -- and this is the final kicker -- not all defectors are bad. If you think about the notions of cooperating and defecting, they’re defined in terms of the societal norm. Cooperators are people who follow the formal or informal rules of society. Defectors are people who, for whatever reason, break the rules. That definition says nothing about the absolute morality of the society or its rules. When society is in the wrong, it’s defectors who are in the vanguard for change. So it was defectors who helped escaped slaves in the antebellum American South. It’s defectors who are agitating to overthrow repressive regimes in the Middle East. And it’s defectors who are fueling the Occupy Wall Street movement. Without defectors, society stagnates.

We simultaneously need more societal pressure to deal with the effects of technology, and less societal pressure to ensure an open, free, and evolving society. This is our big challenge for the coming decade.

A free sample excerpt from this book is available for download on the product page now!

NOOK owners: go to shop and search for “Bruce Schneier” to download this timely and fascinating book.

Often, I write about games or sometimes even productivity apps in this space. However, I do love both variety and helping others, so I am proud that this week we're able to highlight iPrompts by HandHold Adaptive. It fills a very important niche in the NOOK Apps ecosystem – an app that provides direct communication assistance for people who need a little developmental help. It uses visual cues and prompts to bridge certain communication gaps and allow caregivers to design and present several different types of visual narratives to engage and empower their charges to make choices and communicate their own preferences, desires and needs.  There are picture schedules that can be used as templates to show how tasks are performed and in what order. There are also choice prompts that allow nonverbal selection of options that would otherwise be difficult to convey. The library of images is extensive, and can even be supplemented with pictures that can be downloaded from the internet without leaving the app! While it is often associated primarily with developmentally challenged individuals, iPrompts is also useful with preverbal infants and toddlers – it is never too early to build and reinforce communication and developmental skills. The app is on sale for $9.99 now in recognition of Autism Awareness Month so there is no better time to buy iPrompts!

Today’s Free Friday’s selection is The Devil's Cradle—the second entry in Sylvia Nobel’s award-winning southwestern Kendall O’Dell mystery series.

Always on the lookout for the next big scoop, reporter Kendall O’Dell jumps at the chance to help a young woman claim her intriguing inheritance—in exchange for an exclusive story. After her father’s death, it appears that Angela Martin is heir to an Arizona gold mining town, but she needs some help staking her claim. Kendall goes along for the ride, sniffing a chance at a unique story.

But the more the intrepid reporter finds out about the Martin family, the less likely it seems that everything about Angela’s acount is on the level. A single closet wouldn’t be big enough to hold all of the skeletons haunting the Martin clan, and soon Kendall wonders whether Angela’s father’s death may not have been an accident after all. Kendall might get the scoop, but now she’s wondering if she’ll live to tell the tale!

In her newest contemporary romance novel, A Scent of Jasmine, Nobel takes a step away from her popular mystery series, as she explores a strong friendship between two women that’s tested when an alluring man comes between them.

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 Sylvia recommends:

Perhaps because two of my Kendall O'Dell novels are set in southern Arizona and I spent many a day wandering through the high desert, crumbling ghost towns, listening to stories from long-time residents and soaking up the rich history of this amazing and beautiful state, I found Nancy Turner's novel, These Is My Words, to be an extraordinarily fascinating and captivating read.  This intricate tale, based on actual events written in an old diary, gives the reader a crystal clear picture of the incredible odds that early settlers to the Arizona Territory had to overcome.  In this well-written tale of a young woman called Sarah Prine, the reader experiences what it must have been like to deal with the unforgiving Arizona heat, the harsh desert landscape, bands of roaming Apaches and the day to day struggle to simply survive in such primitive living conditions. We feel Sarah's hunger, the pain of childbirth, her fear, her bravery, her joys and sorrows. The book is just simply wonderful and I highly recommend it and the two other novels that follow: Sarah's Quilt and The Star Garden.

NOOK owners: go to shop and search for “Sylvia Nobel” to download her books.

Emily Imbesi asks: "Several of your books have been made into movies... Do you write stories with the intention of them becoming a movie (does it influence your writing at all)?"

Because so many of my books have been turned into films, I do find myself writing these days with an eye toward stories and characters who will translate well into films. In that way, it probably influences my writing a little bit, even though books and movies are such different mediums. And in one instance, with my novel, THE LAST SONG, I actually wrote the screenplay for the movie first, and then wrote the book. But that’s the only time I’ve written a movie with the intention of turning into a book.

Michele Mahon asks: "The Lucky One's main characters and plot were much different than any of your prior novels, in a sense, darker. Did you have any specific events or subject that inspired you?"

With The Lucky One, I started with an image of a photograph half-buried in the sand, and I couldn’t get it out of my head. I wanted to explore that image and see where it took me. I also wrote the novel at the height of the Iraq War, and since I live in an area surrounded by so many military bases, I was influenced by the thousands of young men I saw leaving for and returning from active duty.

Donika Haddock wants to know: "What is your inspiration for your books? Actual life events?"

Well, a few of my stories have incorporated elements of my own family’s stories (for example, The Notebook was inspired by my wife’s grandparents), but my novels deal with universal themes and universal characters, so mostly I just try to conceive of an entertaining, interesting, and original story that hasn’t been told before.

And she also asks: "I know each of your books is its own story, but do any of your characters show up in multiple books? Is there any particular order your books should be read in order to understand one story from the next?

Generally, you can read my books in any order, and I’ve written them that way on purpose.  That said, The Wedding follows The Notebook, and Noah Calhoun also appears as a supporting character in the Wedding.  At First Sight is a sequel to True Believer, so the same characters appear in both novels.  All of my novels can be read on their own, however, and you don’t miss anything if you don’t read them all … although I certainly encourage you to!

Diane Thweatt Johnson wonders: "Do your characters ever seem to take on a life of their own, and do things (while you're writing) that are totally unexpected? Or do you plan and plot out characters before beginning your creative process?"
 

Once I’ve decided on the theme, I start to mentally outline the story and run through countless possible ideas—this is the most difficult and time-consuming aspect of the process. Before I start writing, I know how the story begins and ends, as well as five or six of the major events in the novel, which serve as turning points. Because the story has already been plotted out, the characters are also usually plotted out as well and rarely do things that are unexpected – in fact, if the writing is going well, they behave exactly as expected, although there are always details of their history, character and relationships that emerge in the writing process.

Tracy Skipton McEneaney asks: "Does it bother you when the movie ends differently than the book? Usually I love the ending of your books better than the movie- however I did like the ending to the Dear John movie better. :-)"

I’ve actually been very pleased with all of the films based on my novels. Films and novels are different mediums, and tell stories in different ways. What works well in novels doesn’t work well on film and vice versa. A typical novel runs 350 pages while a screenplay runs 120. In other words, two-thirds of any novel is automatically eliminated before the first page of a screenplay is even written. With that in mind, I tend to focus on the following: did the film follow the basic outline of the novel? Did the film capture the major theme of the novel? Were the characters consistent with those described in the novel? Was the film satisfying when compared to other films? Was the film successful? In that regard, I feel like all the films have succeeded, even if a few of the endings have been changed.  It is Hollywood, after all!

Sharon Woolsey wants to know: "Did you study to become a novelist, or was this originally simply your love and your passion?"

No, I was actually a Business Finance major in college, and I tried a couple of different careers, including being a pharmaceutical sales rep, before I became a novelist. I guess you could say I’m self-taught—someone who learned how to write by reading thousands of books.

Wendy Wendo McFarlane asks: "What or who inspired you to want to be a writer? How do you handle criticism when people write about your books? I personally think we all have our own favorite writer and their style of writing..."

 I was inspired to be a writer by two events in my life.  First, in the summer of 1985, after my freshman year of college, I injured my Achilles tendon and could no longer run (which was my passion).  My mother told me that I needed to stop moping around the house, so I decided to try to write a book, which I did, although that one has never been published. Then, years later, the television show Cheers went off the air after eleven seasons – my entire adult life at that point – and it made me think about how little I had accomplished in that same time frame. So I decided to sit down and write another book and really try to make a go of it. That book was The Notebook.  Generally, the response to my books has been far more positive than negative. But even with negative criticism, I agree with you that it’s a matter of personal taste.  I just try to write stories for myself and for those who enjoy my work.

Thanks so much to our fans for all of their insightful questions, and thanks to Nicholas Sparks for his thoughtful and revealing answers.

While NOOK owners might argue that reading is America’s Pastime, much of the country is preoccupied with the potential that this brand new Major League Baseball season brings. April is the time when every fan still clings to the hope that this is the year the home team will finally achieve immortal glory on the diamond.

Baseball has always been a cerebral sport, and there's no shortage of excellent books celebrating the game. To help pass the time on your team’s off days, we present a collection of baseball NOOK Books that range from an inspiring autobiography to a brand new John Grisham baseball tale.

From that first home run of 1923 to the storybook World Series matchup that pitted the Yankees against their nemesis from across the Harlem River—one so acrimonious that John McGraw forced his Giants to get to the Bronx in uniform rather than suit up at the Stadium—Robert Weintraub vividly illuminates the singular year that built a classic stadium, catalyzed a franchise, cemented Babe Ruth's legend, and forever changed the sport of baseball. The House That Ruth Built is available for $3.99 for a limited time.

The systematic analysis of baseball statistics, often called "sabermetrics," has evolved in recent years to resemble something of a science, attracting fans from diverse professional and educational backgrounds, all fascinated by the analysis itself and its insights into the game. But one problem has defied solution: estimating runs saved by fielders throughout history. Traditional statistics include errors and plays made, but not hits that could or should have been prevented. The latter can now be estimated using records of the location of every batted ball, but the underlying data exists only for recent seasons and has generally been withheld from the public. In Wizardry: Baseball's All-Time Greatest Fielders Revealed—available for $3.99 for a limited time—Michael Humphreys offers the long-awaited breakthrough.

Whatever happened to Calico Joe?

 
It began quietly enough with a pulled hamstring. The first baseman for the Cubs AAA affiliate in Wichita went down as he rounded third and headed for home. The next day, Jim Hickman, the first baseman for the Cubs, injured his back. The team suddenly needed someone to play first, so they reached down to their AA club in Midland, Texas, and called up a twenty-one-year-old named Joe Castle. He was the hottest player in AA and creating a buzz.
 
In the summer of 1973 Joe Castle was the boy wonder of baseball, the greatest rookie anyone had ever seen.  The kid from Calico Rock, Arkansas dazzled Cub fans as he hit home run after home run, politely tipping his hat to the crowd as he shattered all rookie records.
 
Calico Joe quickly became the idol of every baseball fan in America, including Paul Tracey, the young son of a hard-partying and hard-throwing Mets pitcher. On the day that Warren Tracey finally faced Calico Joe, Paul was in the stands, rooting for his idol but also for his dad. Then Warren threw a fastball that would change their lives forever…
 
In John Grisham’s new novel the baseball is thrilling, but it’s what happens off the field that makes Calico Joe a classic.

On an overcast September day in 1993, Jim Abbott took the mound at Yankee Stadium and threw one of the most dramatic no-hitters in Major League history. The game was the crowning achievement in an unlikely success story, unseen in the annals of professional sports. In Imperfect, the one-time big league ace retraces his remarkable journey.

 
Born without a right hand, Jim Abbott as a boy dreamed of being a great athlete. Raised in Flint, Michigan, by parents who saw in his condition not a disability but an extraordinary opportunity, Jim became a two-sport standout in high school, then an ace pitcher for the University of Michigan.
 
But his journey was only beginning...

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 spectacular seasonal reads.

Our newest limited-time $0.99 Spotlight title—The Mysterious Benedict Society—is a quirky adventure tale for young readers that brings to mind Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Lemony Snicket.

This first entry in a four-book series introduces readers to the world of The Institute of the Very Enlightened—a mysterious school that caters to only the most creative and brilliant students. A cryptic newspaper ad simply reads: "Are you a gifted child looking for special opportunities?” Unable to resist such an invitation, dozens of kids enlist in a challenge to select four bright youngsters to take on a secret mission. The select few will face a series of physical & mental tasks that lead them on a quest to uncover a nefarious plot that threatens the Institute.

Bright young readers will love the chance to play along with their talented fictional counterparts—solving clues and getting lost in Trenton Lee Stewart’s richly-imagined world.

A free sample excerpt from this book is available for download on the product page now!

NOOK owners: go to shop and search for “Trenton Lee Stewart,” to download this great deal.

I didn’t understand the fascination with physics-based puzzle games when they first caught on in mobile gaming. A buddy of mine didn’t get it until recently – he went so far as to snark “Right – because who doesn’t want to study physics when they’re trying to have fun?” I smiled, pulled out my NOOK Tablet™ and changed his mind. Where's My Water? by Disney grabbed him and didn’t let go until he was several levels in and smiling. The smooth graphics and lively soundtrack hide an expertly constructed physics engine used to solve the puzzles and help Swampy the alligator relax after a long day of doing… whatever it is sewer alligators do all day, I suppose! The controls are tight and responsive, and provide several ways to solve many of the challenges. The learning curve is gentle and before you know it you will be digging tunnels, avoiding traps and routing water through complicated channels of your own devising to beat your personal best times on each level. Titles like this are the hidden gems of gaming – fun and engaging, they sneak education and science into each and every level. If you haven’t played a game like this, give Where’s My Water? a try and discover a whole new world of fun!

This Sunday marks the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic--an international tragedy that's captivated the public imagination for generations. Kate Alcott's evocative new novel, The Dressmaker,  brings that era to life--imaging the experiences of a young survivor whose life is forever changed by that fateful voyage. In this exclusive guest blog post, Alcott reveals what inspired her to write a novel about the impact that the Titanic tragedy had on one fictional aspiring dressmaker.

My mother told me a story when I was a little girl about throwing her servant’s cap away and marching down to the Belfast docks to book passage to America.  I was enthralled.  It was my first realization of  how the yearning for a better life led many people – including my mother – to step away from all they knew and take a chance on a new life in America. In writing this book, mother was my model for the young dressmaker, Tess Collins.

I first heard about the Titanic in a book I picked up in the school library.  It had sunk many years before my mother set out across the sea in steerage on her own voyage, but my imagination leaped to all the people like her who died in the frigid waters of the Atlantic.  I wanted to know more; their stories drew me.

I searched through archives, read the newspapers reporting this tragedy; tried to imagine what the terror and confusion had been. When that doomed ship went down, all that was left of the known world for the survivors was a moonless night where water and sky blended.  With it went much of the hubris and arrogance of the era. The survivors floated in lifeboats, listening to the cries of the dying, left with the questions that would haunt many of them all their lives.  What did it mean to be brave?  Or cowardly?

It came as a jolt to realize how little most people know about what happened after the ship sank. People aren’t aware that the U.S. Senate held hearings at which many of the survivors testified –and soon I began reading their testimony.  And oh, how their raw voices break through, cutting sharp across the years.

I felt drawn into the lives of many of them, exploring their stories.  This brought me to Lady Lucile Duff Gordon, a famous designer who was the Chanel of her time. How could it be that she escaped in a lifeboat with twelve people; a life boat that could have held between forty and sixty?  Did she really order the crew not to go back for survivors flailing in the water?  In a time of hysterical press coverage, her actions ignited a firestorm in the newspapers. And caught in the aftermath, her fate bound tightly to that of Lady Duff Gordon,– is Tess, the servant girl determined to do the right thing, dreaming of being a dressmaker.

I know her.

A free sample excerpt from this book is available for download on the product page now!

NOOK owners: go to shop and search for "Kate Alcott” to download this captivating historical novel.

Today’s Free Fridays selection—The Rules of Life  by Richard Templar—is an international bestseller that has inspired millions of readers worldwide.

While many self-improvement books offer advice that seems overly abstract or too daunting to even take the first step, Richard Templar does an excellent job of distilling his wisdom into easy-to-execute common sense rules. Templar’s code focuses on building a better, happier, more successful life, both in business and your personal relationships. You can implement his easy, direct advice immediately, helping you master important skills like forgiving without being a pushover and having big dreams while still making practical steps to achieve them.

Once you’ve implemented Templar’s rules, you can explore his guides to more specific categories like Money, Management, Love and more here.

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 Richard recommends:

Jon M. Huntsman's Winners Never Cheat is much more than a book on business.  It's a book about how to business effectively, ethically, and generously. Huntsman teaches us that as times change, situations change, and our lives change, our basic values must never change. These values will see you through hard times and help make you, and the rest of the world, better off in the end.

NOOK owners: go to shop and search for “Richard Templar” to download his inspiring books.

Are you among the nearly half of Americans who have gone to sleep annoyed because your significant other was reading with a light on? Thanks to our newest member of the NOOK family— NOOK Simple Touch with GlowLight^TM—you’ll never have that problem again. Starting today, you can pre-order the first and only Reader designed to make bedtime reading perfect, online and in-stores. Learn more about our newest NOOK here.

It's National Poetry Month, which is always a reminder to expand my horizons and read some poetry on my NOOK. One book that really caught my eye this year is Poems After Midnight, a $0.99 collection of poems from a diverse group of poets like Frank O'Hara and Philip Levine. Poets have always been inspired by the mystery and poignancy of those dark nighttime hours when our imagination is most fertile, and the poems collected here celebrate that affinity.

If you’re ready to delve into some full poetry collections this month, we’ve created a list of titles that spans the entire canon—from Homer's The Iliad to Billy Collins' Horoscopes for the Dead. While Homer might be surprised to see his verse being devoured on an eReader, I’m pretty sure he’d just be happy to know his work is still being enjoyed almost 3000 years later. Check out these great NOOK poetry books here.

Free sample excerpts from these books are available for download on the product pages now!

There’s something about a great children’s picture book that just clicks—the perfect combination of engaging text and eye-catching illustrations can entertain a kid for hours. Like countless parents before me, the moment I opened up my first Sandra Boynton book, I knew her entire collection would soon become a staple in my house. Her goofy, endearing characters are relatable and funny, and her storylines offer the kinds of gags that kids—and parents—love.

The newest additions to our Sandra Boynton NOOK Book selection includes everything from celebrations of daily milestones (Tickle Time! ), to lessons about color and silly headwear (Blue Hat, Green Hat). The best part about these NOOK editions is that if you’re hoarse from your fourteenth re-reading of the night, you can turn to the built-in Read to Me narration to answer yet another encore request.

Free sample excerpts from these books are available for download on the product pages now!

NOOK owners: go to shop and search for “Sandra Boynton” to download her irresistible books now.

"I remember the moment when I said I’ve finished, and how I thought I had said goodbye to Precious Ramotswe and her little detective agency in Gaborone, Botswana."

Like many readers worldwide, I fell in love with Alexander McCall Smith's No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series from the first page of the first book.  The series’ newest edition, The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection, is every bit as charming as its predecessors. Since I already know what it's like to read
a long-running series, I was curious how it felt to write one. Today, Alexander McCall Smith stops by the NOOK Blog to give his perspective on sitting down one day to write a single book, and then realizing soon thereafter that you're brainstorming titles for the 14th in a series:

I suspect that not many authors who end up writing a multi-volume series of books do start by saying to themselves “I’m going to write a multi-volume series about …” Perhaps one or two do, but I certainly did not when I wrote the book in the No 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series over ten years ago. As I recall, I sat down and thought How about a short story about a woman in Botswana who starts a small business? I remember where I was when I expanded that short story into a full book – I was in the south of France, staying for a while in a small village near Montpelier. I remember the desk at which I wrote and how the strong midday sunlight streamed in through the window of the study. I remember taking a break from my writing and walking out into the village square, which was dusty and somnolent under a high Mediterranean sky. And then I remember the moment when I said I’ve finished, and how I thought I had said goodbye to Precious Ramotswe and her little detective agency in Gaborone, Botswana.

How wrong one can be. I remember later handing the manuscript over to an editor in Edinburgh. I remember how the first Scottish publisher said that perhaps they could risk a reprint and would I be interested in doing a sequel? I discovered how rewarding it can be to create a character with whom one feels comfortable, and who lives in a world that one likes. It was no chore for me to return to Precious Ramotswe and her daily life in Botswana – quite the opposite, in fact, as I found that I relished my time with these characters. They became very real. I was an observer, of course, not part of their life, but they felt like friends to me and spending time with them was like sitting about with old friends. More volumes appeared.

The series became established in Scotland before it came to the United States. But it was in the United States that it really took off, and so I have always been able to say that it was American readers who discovered Mma Ramotswe and her world. That is something for which I am very grateful, as this triggered the widespread publication of the books elsewhere and in many languages.

Now we have reached the thirteenth volume, The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection. In homage to my readers in this country there is an American character in this book. It would be discourteous to disclose here who it is, but I can reveal that it is a man whom Mma Ramotswe and Mam Makutsi have long admired. He comes, it turns out, from Muncie, Indiana. Why did I choose Muncie? Because they have a mystery convention there every year and some years back they were kind enough to invite me to attend. I discovered then how nice the people in that part of the world are and how welcoming – but that is another story.

Will there be more books in the series? As far as I am concerned, yes there will be. I am enjoying my long literary conversation with Mma Ramotswe and I think it would be premature to break it off now. She still has a lot to say, I believe, and it is my job to act as her scribe. So there will be another one next year and I already have the title for it. I love making up titles, which is a task in which I am always very ably assisted by my editor at Pantheon, Edward Kastenmeier. A call comes in from New York each year and I know that it’s time for a title discussion to begin. Unusually, we have already come up with next year’s title: The Minor Adjustment Beauty Salon. Please stand by.

A free sample excerpt from this book is available for download on the product page now!

NOOK owners: go to shop and search for "Alexander McCall Smith” to download his many irresistibly charming books now.

Puzzle games are fun, but sometimes I get tired of the same old formula – move a block, twist a knob or hop on a spring to move to the next level. New approaches are always welcome, and real innovation just makes me smile. I had a grin that stretched ear-to-ear after an extended session playing World of Goo by 2D Boy. In this game, the environment is the puzzle – but you solve the puzzles by becoming part of that same environment. You control “goo balls” that squirm, squish and stick to each other to build and flow into fluid extensions of the world. Arranging them to construct ingenious contraptions and structures is how you win, and the physics of the game make it both simple and challenging to grow towers that lean and twist in just the right way to solve the challenges of each level.

New and interestingly powered goo balls are unveiled as you progress, and that keeps the game fresh and new. I was captivated from my first try and played for longer than I care to admit right now. There’s something here for everyone – while it’s a single-player game, there are global leaderboards to track individual accomplishments for the gamers who crave competition. If you enjoy quirky puzzles and something new in the genre, you can’t go wrong with World of Goo!

This week’s Free Fridays book, Leaving Before It's Over by Jean Reynolds Page, is a compelling family drama that explores the difficult choices we make for love and family.

When Roy Vines married his second wife Rosalind, he paid a high price—forgoing his part of the family fortune, and severing ties with his parents and twin brother Mont. But when Rosalind falls ill, and he desperately needs money, Roy must return hat-in-hand to his hometown. The plot grows more intense when Roy’s son from his first marriage reappears and accuses him of abandoning his original family to chase after Rosalind.

The author excels at building a believable and sympathetic family facing everyday challenges that many readers will find familiar.

Jean Reynolds Page's upcoming family drama, Safe Within, is available for pre-order now.

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 Jean recommends:

City of Thieves by David Benioff is a book I keep buying and giving to friends. Lev and Kolya – a teenager and a soldier – are sent on a quest to find fresh eggs during the siege of Leningrad. The humor and compassion in this novel elevate a wartime adventure tale into something very special. The theme of basic human decency pulses under the surface on every page. Amazing.

NOOK owners: go to shop and search for “Jean Reynolds Page” to download her wonderful novels.

Air travel is always an adventure—any number of (often unpleasant) surprises await at every terminal. Imagine if your office were a commercial airplane, where every day you embark on a skyward adventure with an unpredictable group of fellow passengers. That’s the reality for veteran flight attendant Heather Poole. She recounts her many outlandish encounters in her hilarious bestselling memoir Cruising Attitude: Tales of Crashpads, Crew Drama, and Crazy Passengers at 35,000 Feet. Before you hop on your next flight, make sure to heed Heather’s advice in today’s guest author blog post:

Five Things Flight Attendants Don’t Want to Hear:

1. ON MY LAST FLIGHT...  The moment I smile and say I’m a flight attendant, I find myself holding my breath.  Without fail, there’s a two second pause, followed by those four little words: “On my last flight...” 90% of the time the story that follows is about a flight from hell. Let’s just stop and think about this for a minute. Upon meeting a doctor, would you tell him about the worst hospital stay you’ve ever had? Or would you tell a car salesman about the time you got sold a lemon? It’s never a good idea to start a conversation disparaging your new friend’s chosen profession.

2. ARE THERE ANY FIRST CLASS SEATS AVAILABLE? It’s okay to ask, but it’s probably not going to get you very far. What’s guaranteed to  get you nowhere, though, is demanding an upgrade because your reading light doesn’t work (this actually happened, on an afternoon flight, no less). One passenger demanded to be moved up front because his wife just had knee surgery and he had the X-rays to prove it! Just so we’re clear: Flight attendants do not upgrade passengers. Gate agents are the only ones with that power. But keep in mind there’s a standby list for those oh-so-precious premium seats, and each and every passenger on that list knows exactly how close to the top his or her  name is. Don’t believe me? Ask the top tier frequent fliers who didn’t score an upgrade and who are now seated in the most sought after coach seats; first row of coach or the exit row. Their names are all next on the list, and they know it. 

3. CAN YOU HELP ME GET MY BAG IN THE OVERHEAD BIN? Unless you’re an unaccompanied minor, elderly or handicapped and your bag is not too heavy, I will not put your bag in the bin. One of the most common misconceptions about flight attendants is that it’s our job to lift heavy passenger bags into the bin. We have no problem finding a space for your bag. We may even assist in lifting the bag.  But for the most part, you pack it, you lift it. 

4. DOES THAT MEAN THE ALCOHOL IS FREE? Whenever there’s an announcement about a delay, nine times out of ten passengers will start demanding free drinks. I’m sorry, but all you can drink free alcohol is not the answer to rain, snow or airplane mechanicals. The last thing we flight attendants want is to get trapped in a flying tube for hours on end with a bunch of passengers who will need barf bags as soon as it gets a little turbulent. Or worse, to clean out your seat back pocket after your neighbor mistakes it for hers. (It’s happened.)  Plus, what most people don’t realize is, like bartenders, we’re responsible if anything bad happens to passengers after they leave a flight if they’ve had a few too many.

5. YOU'RE HOLDING US HOSTAGE!  A friend of mine once found herself on a full Super80 flight with a three hour air traffic control hold in Chicago and three hysterical passengers - two were claustrophobic and one kept threatening to sue because the airline was “holding him hostage.” After a while my colleague just couldn’t hold it in any longer and announced, “And how do you think I feel?" No one likes a delay, especially flight attendants!  The fact is we’re all stuck in the flying tube together.  Let’s all try to get along until we’re safe and sound on the ground. 

A free sample excerpt from this book is available for download on the product page now!

NOOK owners: go to shop and search for "Heather Poole" to download this incredibly entertaining memoir.

Our newest crop of NOOK First titles—a chance for NOOK readers to be the first to get access to some hot new books—features everything from a chocolate shop murder mystery to a hypnotic psychological thriller.

In Just A Wish Away, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author, Barbara Freethy, takes us back to the beach in an emotional love story between two best friends who have been separated for a very long time.

Alexa Parker and Braden Elliott fell in love when they were twelve years old. On a summer day, while searching for sea glass on the beaches of Washington State, they discovered an unusually shaped blue bottle. The ever-imaginative Alexa declared it a Genie's bottle. Popping the cork, they were surprised by a rogue wave that sprayed them with a fine, cool mist. Closing their eyes, they each made a wish …

Before their love had a chance to grow, life, family and tragedy separated the two best friends. Now fifteen years later, Alexa returns to Sand Harbor after her grandmother is injured in a mysterious break-in at her antique store. Braden is also back, but he's not the innocent boy Alexa remembers. His military service has left him with physical and emotional scars.

Can the sweet love of youth be recaptured by two now cynical souls? Can solving the mystery of the past bring them to a new future? Or will it take a wish, maybe two …

Phoebe, the Rose Chalet’s florist, knows nothing is permanent—not the floral arrangements she creates, not the weddings she helps produce, and certainly not her parent’s marriage, which ended in a bitter divorce. Certain that all relationships come with strings attached, she has always worked to live for the moment and not to have any strings…ever.

Risking big is how Patrick left the family landscaping business, was the first Knight to go to college, and became an in demand architect. In California for a short while to work on a new home, from the very first moment he holds Phoebe in his arms, he knows he’s found his perfect match in the adventurous, alluring and intelligent florist.

But will Phoebe dare let herself risk her heart on the most fragile and precious bloom of all in Lucy Kevin’s The Wedding Dance? Especially when one dance with Patrick Knight is all it takes for her to start rethinking everything she’s ever believed to be true about love...

A secret hall of mirrors, a labyrinth of fear; Janek returns in a hypnotic thriller...this is Mirror Maze.

Nobody writes better psychological thrillers than award-winning author William Bayer. And no character in contemporary crime fiction is as compelling or complex as Lieutenant Frank Janek of the N.Y.P.D. Now Bayer and Janek are back--in a brilliant novel of terror and excitement.

A beautiful young woman meets her latest "pickup" in a Manhattan hotel bar and goes back with him to his room, where she drugs him, robs him, and humiliates him. Several hours later, the "mark" is found dead, the mysterious young woman is wanted for the murder, and Janek and his team of detectives are assigned to the case. Simultaneously, Janek becomes involved in the reopening of a grisly society-murder investigation that has plagued Internal Affairs for nine years. As he sets out to solve both puzzles, the present and past eerily dovetail, culminating with a deadly battle in a secret mirror maze hidden beneath a "ghost" amusement park.

Readers will be inspired by Joyce Anne Longfellow's compelling memoir,  I Could Never Say Goodbye: A Daughter's Journey to the End of Life with Mom and Dad, about the deaths of her parents--the quick, traumatic death of her father and the lengthy illness preceding her mother’s passing. The author wrote this book after sharing her experiences with many, many people. As she advised people who struggled with the dilemma of what to do and how to cope when their loved ones were dying, Ms. Longfellow realized that her experiences provided comfort and guidance that made a difference.  Eventually realized she had to write her story to motivate and inspire others to create their own rituals and learn to say goodbye in their own ways

If you had one day left to live, what would you do? What Do You Want to Do Before You Die? is an illustrated collection of your wildest dreams. Two hundred of the most moving, imaginative, amusing, and thought-provoking things to do before you die are brought to life by the founders of The Buried Life.

In her remarkable memoir American Chick in Saudi Arabia, Jean Sasson, who spent ten years at the Royal Hospital in Riyadh, relates the truth about the status of women in Saudi Arabia as observed from an outsider with unique access to a wide spectrum of the population.

A poorly matched blind date turns into a comically disastrous cross country road trip in Judith Arnold’s laugh out loud romance Trust Me . Chloe's brother has absconded to Minnesota with her most prized possession. Stuck in Boston with a fear of flying, and a car in the shop, she asks Will, her blind date, to drive her. Hilarity ensues in this open road romp.

In Amber, by Lauren Royal, Kendra Chase's family feels it is high time for her to marry and settle down. They have paraded a slew of wealthy and titled suitors in front of her and she has taken to none of them. It isn't until she is caught in a scandal with a highway robber that they decide to force her hand, and this rogue's true identity will turn out to have serious consequences.

Adding ''murder suspect'' to her resume was not part of the business plan when Ashley opened her chocolate shop. But when a dead body turns up and the sexy detective next door begins asking questions, business is anything but usual in Terry Odell’s Saving Scott.

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 NOOK First books.

Love him or hate him, for the past 15 years, Tiger Woods has been one of the biggest stories in golf. First, his unparalleled dominance of the PGA gained him worldwide notoriety on the scale of Michael Jordan and Bill Clinton. Then came his fall from grace, when his marriage publicly crumbled and alleged mistresses came forward one by one. Next Tiger’s golf game imploded and he faced a long drought of winless tournaments. Unprecedented schadenfreude ensued.

But when Wood recently won the Arnold Palmer Invitational, breaking his lengthy losing streak, the timing couldn’t have been better for an epic comeback. This week’s Masters tournament awaits—and the golf world will be watching to see if one of its greatest champions can regain his winning ways.

In his new book, The Big Miss: My Years Coaching Tiger Woods, legendary swing coach Hank Haney offers an intimate, revealing portrayal of a complex and fascinating man. In fact, the book created controversy before it hit shelves, as Woods lashed out against his former coach in the media.

When Haney started coaching Tiger, he was already one of—if not the—greatest golfers of all time. But Tiger wanted to attain perfection, and Haney is the best at what he does. Yet the most intriguing parts of Haney’s account aren't on the course. Haney spent hundreds of days coaching Tiger, but also regularly stayed at his home, shared meals with his family, and had an intimate view of the inscrutable athlete’s inner-workings.

Much like Walter Isaacson’s bestselling Steve Jobs biography, Haney’s book transcends his subject and should appeal to anyone who’s interested in what makes obsessive high-achivers succeed on the world's biggest stage.

A free sample excerpt from this book is available for download on the product page now!

NOOK owners: go to shop and search for “Hank Haney” to download his timely and fascinating book.

The goal and purpose of technology should be to help people – to make their lives better in some way. The beauty of mobile computing in general and apps in particular is their ability to provide a focused experience that can transform the way we live, think and play. This is Autism Awareness Month and I am proud to say that Barnes & Noble is helping to spread awareness and information about autism in every way we can. Autism is a part of the daily lives of millions of people worldwide. The best way to help is to understand. NOOK by Barnes & Noble offers a wide selection of apps that are designed to provide specialized assistance and support for both those living with autism and their caregivers or educators.

One of the most popular and useful apps is TapToTalk by Assistyx LLC. The concept is simple – pictures are arranged in albums, and text is read aloud when the pictures are touched. The execution is spot-on, and there is no clutter in the interface – kids think it’s fun and they understand how to use it almost immediately. A sample album is included, and others can be created with software from the developer. By giving their children a voice, this app has brought smiles to hundreds of parents.

TapToTalk and many other applications are available now on the NOOK Tablet™ and NOOK Color™. Take some time and visit the is Autism Awareness Month page for more information. Help shine a light on autism.