“I expect to die at 110, in a violent biological event, after winning the world hot dog-eating contest.”

The suspense is over (or should I say just beginning?)—Dean Koontz’s Odd Apocalypse is now available for NOOK. Protagonist Odd Thomas—the short order cook who can see the dead—is one of literature’s most beloved and original characters and his newest adventure gives the well-travelled haunted house story a clever and terrifying twist.

To herald the arrival of his new sure-to-be bestseller, we asked the always-affable Dean Koontz to reveal ‘3 Things You Don’t Know About Me.’ And boy are we glad we did!

When Barnes & Noble gave me the title of this piece, I was at first inclined to reveal my various criminal activities or my extraterrestrial origins, or my previous incarnation as a disgraced silent-film star, or the debilitating fear of mimes that keeps me homebound because of the dread that I will encounter one at the mall just when the battery in my Taser goes dead. But then I thought, no, that's the same old stuff that a thousand other novelists have revealed about themselves in essays like this.

So the first thing I will tell you is that I collect Bakelite radios from the Art Deco period. Bakelite was an early plastic, and many radios from the 1920s and '30s were beautiful works of art, made in numerous colorful designs. They sit among the books on the shelves in my office, like sculpture. Most of the radios I have still work, although after you switch on one of them, you have to wait for the vacuum tubes to heat up before you can tune in a station. I think I would like to have lived in that more quiet and elegant era—except that there was a Great Depression, Hitler was coming to power in Germany, Diet Coke hadn't yet been invented, and well-dressed men all wore hats. I hate hats.

Second: Since I was about ten or eleven, I have periodically dreamed of being killed by an airliner. Since it's widely known that I stopped flying many years ago, you might suppose that in those dreams I am aboard a plane, but that isn't the case. Sometimes I am walking along a highway when the airplane crashes and tumbles toward me. Sometimes I am waiting in a terminal to greet someone who is coming to visit, and the crashing plane dives straight toward the big terminal windows. At other times, I'm in the yard playing with my dog, a sudden roar arises, and I turn to see a 747 coming over the roof of the house, so low that it shears off the chimneys. I reliably have this dream at least five or six times a year. I don't know what it means, if it means anything. I think it's why plane crashes figure prominently in my novels Cold Fire and Sole Survivor. I don't really expect to die in such a fashion. I expect to die at 110, in a violent biological event, after winning the world hot dog-eating contest.

Third: Alfred Hitchcock read my novel Whispers in manuscript and wanted to make a movie of it. He was up in years at the time and ailing, and I was told that he couldn't get a studio to make a deal for the book on his behalf because of his age. I often think that my career might have caught fire faster than it did if that film could have been made, and it would have been a thrill to see what he would have done with it. I was―still am―a fan of Hitchcock's, which you'll discover when you read the fifth Odd Thomas novel, Odd Apocalypse.

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

NOOK owners: go to shop and search for “Dean Koontz” to download his bestselling books.

New this week is a champion game called Babel Rising 3D. The premise is that you are an angry god trying to smite his people for erecting a tower in honor of some heathen deity. Your tools are bolts of lightning, massive earthquakes, meteor showers or vengeful floods, a group of elements that they call “the perfect apocalyptic arsenal.”  A simple premise that unleashes you into a world of excitement, Babel Rising 3D get increasingly complex and difficult as you play with challenges that really keep you on the edge of your seat.

What I love most about the game are the refined graphics and complementary soundtrack. The music is top-notch and really adds another layer to the gameplay. Not to mention that the game is just beautiful– another reason why I can spend hours engaging with this on my NOOK wherever I need a filler in my real life adventures: during long commutes, waiting for a doctor appointment, at the car wash… 

This is a great looking app with tons of content and it flows well to boot …  Trust me on this, Babel Rising 3D will not disappoint!    

"Frank Deford is not just an immensely talented sportswriter, he's an immensely talented American writer. The Entitled is his wise and pleasurable portrait of a Willy Loman-like baseball manager finally getting his chance in the Bigs late in his career."
-David Halberstam, Pulitzer Prize-winning Author

Award-winning sports writer Frank Deford has covered every angle in athletics during his 50 year career. In today’s Free Friday’s selection, The Entitled, Deford turns his considerable talents to a fictional tale that mirrors the fascinating complexities of modern day Major League Baseball.

Howie Traveler never made it as a player—his one major league hit and .091 batting average attest to that. He was cursed with that worst of professional maladies, the ill fortune of ‘almost.’

Now after years of struggling up the coaching ladder, Howie's finally been given his shot: as manager of the Cleveland Indians. But America's pastime has changed. Whether Howie can spot a small flaw in a batter's swing won't matter if he can't manage his superstar outfielder Jay Alcazar, a slugger with enormous talent (and an ego to match).

No crisis on the field fazes Jay and no woman off the field ever rejects him. But one night at the hotel Howie sees something at Jay's door he wishes he hadn't...and it leaves Howie with an impossible choice.

Deford’s richly detailed, page-turning tale takes you deep into America's game. From the dugouts to the tabloid scandals, from the lights of the field to the glare of the media, The Entitled is the great novel of baseball's modern era.

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 Frank recommends:

The book I would suggest is THE BEAUTY AND THE SORROW: An Intimate History of the First World War, by Peter Englund. 

As the centennial of The Great War approaches, as we learn all the more about what a stupid and useless conflict it was –– especially since all it accomplished was to give us the Second World War –– this book shows more vividly than any other I've read the horrible true nature of those futile years of carnage.  Englund gives us a variety show of hell.

NOOK owners: go to shop and search for “Frank Deford” to download his impressive output of sports stories—both true and imagined.

With a Presidential election looming, there’s never been a better time to load up your NOOK with informative and engaging current affairs books. While summer reading often brings to mind lighthearted romances or dishy celebrity biographies, come fall you’ll want to be fully-informed on this year’s hot-button issues.

B&N’s current affairs expert Sallye, has new titles to suggest each month. This July, she’s highlighting The Dictator’s Learning Curve by acclaimed journalist William J. Dobson, about which she says:

“With despots toppled in Egypt and Libya and pro-democracy demonstrations convulsing Syria and Russia, the conflict between repression and liberation has reached new heights. This powerful work of reporting illuminates the challenges faced by advocates of free societies everywhere.”

To learn more about this book, and to see all of Sallye’s must-read recommendations for NOOK readers, visit her Bookseller’s Picks page here.

NOOK owners: go to shop and search for ‘William J. Dobson’ to download this impressive new book.

When Francine Pascal published Sweet Valley Confidential last year, readers who grew up with this iconic series (and who now had young daughters of their own), couldn’t wait to see where the Wakefield twins landed ten years later.

Now Pascal is continuing the adventures with 6 novella-length The Sweet Life stories, each only $1.99. The first Sweet Life installment begins three years after Sweet Valley Confidential left off. Elizabeth and Jessica are both enjoying fruitful careers, but are struggling with the same challenges that many Sweet Valley readers face—like balancing career, marriage and motherhood. You loved living a vicarious adolescence through these always-entertaining twins, and you’ll be drawn to their new adult storylines as well.

While the first two books are available now, each serialized story ends with a cliffhanger that will have you scrambling to pre-order the next adventure faster than you can say “Lila Fowler.”

NOOK owners: go to shop and search for ‘Francine Pascal’ to download all of her Sweet Valley adventures.

Bestselling author James Rollins is the consummate pro when it comes to building intrigue and suspense in his adventure thrillers. His newest book, Bloodline (Sigma Force Series), follows suit, detailing a conspiracy—surrounding a possible secret to immortality—that spans from the days of the Knights Templar to the doors of the modern day Oval Office.

To celebrate this latest publication, we asked the man who writes about ancient secrets to reveal a few of his own. Here, in his own words, are 3 Thing You Don’t Know About James Rollins:

1. I can neuter a cat in under 30 seconds.  Though I’ve forsaken my veterinary career for the written word, I still volunteer my surgical skills to the local shelter and continue to keep my scalpel sharp.

2. I was once trapped in a cave for half a day, pinned between two slabs of rock and hanging on a rope.  So when it comes to writing scenes of claustrophobia, I can now “write what I know” (and for some reason, I still go caving).

3. I have attended every Comicon in San Diego for the past 15 years. Including one year where I accidentally punched Quentin Tarantino in the stomach. Yes, I'm that much of a geek..

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

NOOK owners: go to shop and search for “James Rollins” to download his pulse-pounding adventures.

Do you ever have one of those moments when you're playing a game on your NOOK, take a look at the clock, and realize you've been playing non-stop for the past hour?! That is pretty much what just happened to me and the fantastic game app Bloons TD 4 by Digital Goldfish. There are hours and hours of fun to be had with this game that seems to never run out of challenges. The graphics are great, there's zero lag time, and its SO easy to learn how to play. Once you've mastered the basics and want more of a challenge, you can "up" the difficulty or switch game modes. I know you might be thinking “another tower defense game? What makes this one so special?” Well first off, there are lots of towers, way more than the average tower defense game, plus many different maps which equals a variety of strategies to keep things interesting. It’s also just silly and entertaining. The premise of the game is monkeys attacking balloons, which makes this a game I can easily share with my whole family. I ultimately believe that his game will be a classic. It’s one of the best apps you’ll find if you’re interested in tower defense/strategy games. You will never look at a balloon the same way again!

This week’s Free Fridays selection is the first book in Lory S. Kaufman’s inventive Verona Trilogy, The Lens and the Looker.

It's the 24th century, and humans, with the help of artificial intelligences (A.I.s) have finally created the perfect society. To make equally perfect citizens for this world, the elders have created History Camps: full-sized recreations of cities from Earth’s distant pasts. Here teens live the way their ancestors did, doing the same dirty jobs and experiencing the same degradations. History Camps teach youths not to repeat the mistakes that almost caused the planet to die. But not everything goes to plan.

Fans of speculative adventure, like The Hunger Games and The Giver, will love The Lens and the Looker.

Continue the Verona Trilogy adventure with The Bronze and the Brimstone, and keep your eyes peeled for the third book, coming sometime this fall …

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 Lory recommends:

Lord of the Flies by William Golding is the book that made me want to be a writer of futuristic fiction when I was 14. I’m now 61 and have re-read Flies several times over the years. Its influence is still with me in that I try to emulate how it appeals to almost every age group, be it precocious middle graders, young teens, young adults or adults. It’s just clean prose. The premise is so clearly stated at the beginning of the book. It’s the near future. There’s a nuclear war. A bunch of kids get stranded on an uninhabited tropical island with no adults. They have to survive. Boom. The story unfolds. Brilliant. Just brilliant.

NOOK owners: go to shop and search for “Lory S. Kaufman” to download his enthralling books.

When the Harry Potter series came to an end, young adventure fans turned their attention to several other mystical series to meet their needs. Among the best is Eoin Colfer’s Artemis Fowl series—featuring a beguiling teenage criminal mastermind with magical powers.

Now, after eight critically-acclaimed bestselling books, the Artemis Fowl series comes to its own conclusion with The Last Guardian. Artemis Fowl’s archenemy Opal Koboi has masterminded a way to simultaneously secure her release from prison and bring the human and fairy worlds to their knees. And, unless Artemis can stop her, the evil pixie’s next move will destroy all human life on earth.

Ground zero is the Fowl Estate, where Opal has reanimated fairy warriors who were buried there thousands of years ago. Their spirits have possessed any vessels they can find—corpses, Artemis’s little brothers, assorted wildlife—and they are bound to obey Opal’s every command. Defeating the motley troops and their diabolical leader will require all of Artemis’s cleverness—as well as Butler’s bravery, Holly’s skill, and Foaly’s gadgetry. But if their best efforts aren’t enough, Armageddon will surely follow.

Fans will be sad to see the series end, but with this crackerjack final adventure, Artemis Fowl goes out with style.

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

NOOK owners: go to shop and search for ‘Eoin Colfer’ to download this newest Artemis Fowl adventure.

Our newest $0.99 Spotlight offer features the first book in one of the best-loved young reader series ever—The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket.

The foreboding title—A Series of Unfortunate Events—sets the stage for this darkly humorous series. The adventures begin when the three young Baudelaire orphans are shipped off to live with Count Olaf—a grisly combination of the Smurf’s Gargamel and Annie’s Miss Hannigan. Olaf has the Baudelaire’s significant inheritance, and not their best interest, on his mind, and soon turns his charges into unpaid slave labor.

Lest you think this sounds like a dour story unsuitable for young readers, rest-assured that Snicket’s witty storytelling and tongue-in-cheek narration make for a highly-amusing read.  

Tens of millions of Snicket fans can’t be wrong! Take a chance on this engrossing series at an irresistible price.

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

NOOK owners: go to shop and search for ‘Lemony Snicket’ to download this series of unfortunate events.

With her relatable characters and heartfelt writing, Jennifer Weiner has established herself as one of her generation’s most beloved authors. Her newest novel, The Next Best Thing, has fans and critics raving once again (and with this summer’s oppressive heat, doesn’t that cover photo look incredibly inviting?). Weiner’s new novel features a young woman with big Hollywood dreams who thinks her fantasies have finally come true, only to find that reality is far-removed from her idealized version of Tinseltown glamour.

To celebrate this latest blockbuster release, we asked Jennifer to offer NOOK Blog readers 3 Things They Don't Know About Me (including a hilarious new vocabulary term that I can really relate to):

1. Nothing fills me with more impotent rage than biting into what I believe is a chocolate-chip cookie or scone, only to discover that it's been filled with RAISINS. I actually got Lizzie Skurnick, who writes the "That Should Be A Word" column for the New York Times Sunday Magazine, to come up with a word for that terrible, horrible feeling. It's "bitrayal."

2. I love reading to my daughters, and my favorite book to read to my four-year-old right now is I want my Hat Back by John Klassen. I do an excellent sad-bear voice. "YOU. YOU TOOK MY HAT."

3. I am currently re-reading the Game of Thrones books. I read the whole series last summer, just for pleasure, and now I'm re-reading with an eye toward structure and skill, and how on earth Martin keeps all those plots moving (not to mention all those names and titles straight!) I love speculative/sci-fi/whatever-we're-calling-it-now. Stephen King's Dark Towers books are also some of my favorites, and I cannot wait until my older daughter finally picks up A Wrinkle in Time, because it's going to ROCK HER 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 “Jennifer Weiner” to download her bestselling books.

Two New Books You Should Download Now (Why wait?)

Alloy Entertainment is known for producing hit books, TV shows, and films that never fail to entertain. They’re the creators of Pretty Little Liars and The Vampire Diaries. They’re also regulars on the New York Times best-sellers list. And today, the creative team at AE has released two new books by debut authors, only on NOOK. You can download them now for only $3.99 each.

The Art of Disappearing

This engrossing debut novel tells the tale of Delia Dark, a high school girl whose psychic dream predicts the death of one of her classmates. Being connected to the creepy death of an outcast will make Delia an outcast too—unless she plays by her best friend Ava's rules and ignores her premonitions. Delia can see the future, but if she denies her gift she will be powerless to change it.

The End of the World as We Know It 

The Breakfast Club meets War of the Worlds in this LOL debut about a group of mismatched high school seniors. They're invited to the biggest party of the year only to get locked inside the basement—and together, they become the only survivors of a massive alien attack. They wanted to party like it was their last night on earth. Now they just might get their wish . . .

NOOK owners: go to shop and search by author name to download these brand new NOOK Books.

Get Started on NOOK for Web with 6 Free Bestsellers!

Today, we’re excited to introduce NOOK for Web, an innovative and free new browser experience that offers readers the ability to explore the hottest digital titles and bestselling books right from their computer – no sign-in, software download or NOOK account required to begin reading. With fast and easy access from any PC or Mac^® browser, NOOK for Web seamlessly combines NOOK’s award-winning digital reading experience with access to Barnes & Noble’s expansive NOOK Store^™. Now, anyone who loves to read can browse, sample and become instantly immersed in a NOOK-like reading environment from any browser, with support coming this fall for Internet-enabled tablets, smartphones and other mobile devices.

 

Beginning today, Barnes & Noble is offering six bestselling NOOK Books in their entirety at no charge for readers to try NOOK’s award-winning digital reading experience online. With popular summer titles the entire family will enjoy, customers can visit www.nook.com/NOOKforWeb to browse the list of complimentary titles available, including Map of Bones by James Rollins, Sex and the City by Candace Bushnell, The Vow by Kim Carpenter, The Boxcar Children Summer Special by Gertrude Chandler Warner, Brave by Tennant Redbank and Perfect Island Getaways by Patricia Schultz, instantly read the sample, and then download the entire book for free on any browser now through July 26.

.

NOOK readers now have a new way to read instantly - and 6 great free books to get started!

Are you an Angry Birds superfan, like me? Constantly going in between sessions of Classic, Rio, Seasons, and Space? If so, you will be just as excited as I am to learn that Amazing Alex, the newest physics-based puzzle game from Rovio, is now available on NOOK.

Rovio delivers their first non-Angry Birds game with flying feathers! I'm happy to report (after three addictive hours of furious gameplay) Amazing Alex meets the bar set with the Angry Birds franchise with incredibly polished and fine-tuned gameplay, a great user interface, and engaging puzzles that keep you wanting more.  

The gist of Amazing Alex is to build a Rube Goldberg contraption out of various objects with the ultimate end goal of getting a soccer ball to land perfectly into the laundry basket. You are presented with crayons, trays, scissors, balloons, and other objects that you need to place carefully around the screen to achieve that perfect outcome and solve the puzzle. Sounds pretty simple right? Don’t get too confident – the game gets increasingly more challenging as you unlock new levels, especially since there isn’t always one solution to every problem.  

If you are looking for a fun, creative, and rewarding physics game for your NOOK, look no further than Amazing Alex. The only thing missing are those greedy, evil pigs! And honestly, I think I could use a break from them

Each one of Dale Brown’s blistering Dreamland thrillers is more exciting than the last. In today’s Free Fridays selection—Raven Strike —a ripped-from-the-headlines plot will keep you enthralled from start to finish.

When a band of CIA agents goes rogue—breaking all of the rules while on an anti-terrorist mission in the Sudan—a deadly drone falls into the wrong hands. Enter Director Jonathon Reid, who is suddenly in the dark about the details behind this catastrophic mistake. The closer he gets to uncovering what went wrong, the more he realizes that there’s something sinister going on at the CIA, and forces are aligned to make sure he doesn’t find out the truth.

In Raven Strike, find out why Clive Cussler calls Dale Brown “the best military adventure writer in the country,” then explore his other pulse-pounding adventures.

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 Dale recommends:

I've worked with [Raven Strike co-writer] Jim DeFelice for many years and enjoy his work tremendously, so I was excited when I got to read Jim's Omar Bradley: General At War. This biography of one of my favorite generals of World War Two doesn't read like a biography one bit. Jim obviously did his homework and weaves a personal story rather than just impart information. The best!

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

Load up on summer reading without breaking the bank with these NOOK Book Offers.

The first book in the bestselling Magic Tree House series for young readers, Dinosaurs Before Dark, is only $1.99. Kids ages 6-8 can escape the heat by jumping into the pages of this delightful adventure, featuring plucky siblings, a magic tree house, and DINOSAURS!

For other great books to get your kids interested in a new series—all under $3— check out Scholastic’s summer reading promotion here.

Open Road publishing is celebrating some of their favorite literary characters with a great summer sale. Follow the adventures of notable characters like the tragic and triumphant Celie in The Color Purple and the irresistible kids' favorite Franklin the Turtle. Explore the whole collection here - most titles are $3.99 or less!

Abingdon Press is also celebrating summer by slashing prices on some of their most popular books here. Take 80% off favorite titles like Richard L. Mabry M.D.'s thrilling Code Blue.

Emily Giffin’s blockbuster books have deservedly attracted legions of fans. One of her most-beloved novels, Heart of the Matter, is available for just $2.99—perfect for holding you over until the highly-anticipated release of Where We Belong.

Every day, the NOOK Daily Find offers two great books at a great price—one targeted at adult readers, and the other at young readers and families.

Today’s NOOK Daily Find offer is award-winning author Barbara Cameron’s Amish romance, Her Restless Heart, for only $3.99

Kids will love today's NOOK Daily Find Families offer, Garth Stein’s Racing in the Rain—an irresistible kid-friendly edition of his blockbuster The Art of Racing in the Rain—for just $1.99.

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

NOOK owners: go to shop and search by author to download these value-priced books.

NOTE: Prices are limited-time only, and are subject to change.

In her highly-anticipated upcoming book, Where We Belong, bestselling author Emily Giffin weaves a complex tale of two lives intersecting to cataclysmic effect. When an 18-year-old young woman arrives on the doorstep of successful New York TV producer Marian Caldwell, she brings with her a life-changing reminder of a life Marian thought she left behind long ago.

Where We Belong is available for pre-order now, and in anticipation of this huge release, readers now have two ways to dig into Giffin’s bestselling work. The short story, The Diary of Darcy J. Rhone, is now available for free. Filled with high school adventures of the beloved Darcy and Rachel from Something Borrowed and Something Blue, it gives readers a window into their lives before college, law school, and Dex. Plus, this special publication features an excerpt of Where We Belong—the perfect chance to get a sneak peek at Giffin’s highly-anticipated novel.

If you’re looking to delve into one of Giffin’s beloved bestsellers, Heart of the Matter is available for just $2.99 for a limited time. Like Where We Belong, this stirring novel explores what happens when one, momentous event changes everything, and lives are turned upside-down in a matter of a single moment. Giffin’s adept and complex storytelling will have you counting the days until Where We Belong’s release.

NOOK owners: go to shop and search for ‘Emily Giffin’ to download her bestselling books.

There’s still plenty of time left to do some serious summer reading. Our newest NOOK First collection is a chance for NOOK readers to be the first to get access to some hot new books.

Baby Bumps 

by Amy Sprenger

From the author of the award-winning blog Snarky Mommy comes a book that will make every woman who has ever been pregnant pee with laughter (not that that’s hard). Pregnant and confined to bed for the last four months of her pregnancy Amy Sprenger put pen to paper and wrote this hilarious memoir about the trials and travails of a difficult pregnancy.

The Roswell Conspiracy

by Boyd Morrison

In 1947, ten-year-old Fay Allen of Roswell, New Mexico, witnesses the fiery crash of an extraordinary craft unlike anything she's ever seen. More than sixty years later Fay is being pursued by competing interests all vying for an artifact she took from the crash on that fateful night in 1947.

The Awakening of Ren Crown 

 by Anne Zoelle

After the sudden death of her twin brother, Ren Crown illegally enrolls at a magic university with the sole intention of bringing him back to life. But caught in a time of war, and as a mage with abilities that both sides want to harness and use, Ren finds herself an unwitting pawn in a larger game.

The First Confessor

by Terry Goodkind

Bestselling author Terry Goodkind returns with this digital exclusive novel. In the time before the Confessors, when the world is a dark and dangerous place, where treason and treachery are the rule of the day, comes one heroic woman, Magda Searus, who has just lost her husband and her way in life. 

The Lost Heir (The Gryphon Chronicles, Book 1)  

by E.G. Foley

The streets of Victorian London can be an inhospitable place, even for paranormally gifted pickpocket Jake. When he is pursued by sinister henchmen, Jake is thrust into a world of magic and intrigue. Heir to a magical aristocratic family, Jake must discover what happened to his parents, and defeat his enemies.  

Unbreakable Bond  

by Gemma Halliday & Jennifer Fischetto

Former cover model Jamie Bond has finally decided to join the family business: The Bond Agency, a high-powered P.I. firm located in Los Angeles that specializes in domestic espionage. Armed with a team of former models "the Bond Girls" Jamie is out to catch a philandering judge, but when he turns up dead, things get complicated.  

Lost Things

by Melissa Scott & Jo Graham

In a world full of lost treasures, some are better left unfound. It's 1929 and Lake Nemi is being drained by archaeologists hoping to explore Caligula's lost ships that rest on the lake floor. What they discover is an ancient evil. Now it is up to a rag tag group of aviators to stop what has been conjured from the depths.  

The Wedding Song

by Lucy Kevin

Five years ago, wedding DJ Tyce Smith kissed the girl of his dreams. Left with only her first name and dreams of a second kiss, Tyce has been unable to finish writing a new song since. After Whitney Banning comes face to face with the man she’s never forgotten and knows she never will, how is she supposed to stop herself from dreaming again? Is a second kiss in their future? 

NOOK owners: go to shop and search by author name to be among the first to read these NOOK Books.

I have to be honest, although I like golf, I’m not the type of person who gets excited at the prospect of waking up at 6am on a Sunday to hit the links. I prefer to be a passive observer, and watch the game unfold from the comfort of my own home. But just because golf clubs and cleats aren’t my thing doesn’t mean that I can’t practice my strokes! With the new Flick Golf NOOK App, I can perfect the art of putting without ever having to fish my golf ball out of a pond. What I love most about the app is the fun twist on golf this game applies. Regular golf games aren't much fun when your accuracy depends on a single swipe of a small screen. This game fixes that by allowing you to frantically tweak the ball's motion after you shoot. It’s really addictive and fun, but still provides a healthy challenge! I love the different game variations too - they add variety and make the game last longer. The controls are easy and the graphics are superb, and like I mentioned before, this really is hard to master so it stays interesting! So, whether you're an avid golfer who needs a fix off course or if you like golf but not the golf cart, I would highly recommend this app. I'm willing to wager a round of 19th-hole refreshments that you'll love it!

“Dunn writes great entertainment. Fans of towering beehives and classic hip-swaying, harmony-driven pop will definitely want to take a look.”

-Publishers Weekly

Whether you danced to the Supremes in your high school gym, or your introduction to beehive harmonies came courtesy of Jennifer Hudson’s Oscar-winning Dreamgirls performance, everyone has a soft spot for 1960s girl groups. Today’s Free Fridays selection, Meet the Annas, is a fun nostalgia trip with a murder mystery mixed in.

Once a high-flying girl group, The Annas were at the top of the rock ‘n’ roll charts. But when the British Invasion knocked them off their perch, lead singer Anna Dubower fell hard. After mounting an unsuccessful comeback attempt, Anna winds up mysteriously dead, putting an end to the era of The Annas.

But songwriter Dink Stephenson still carries a torch for Anna 30 years later, and decides to dig into her murder and finally get to the bottom of her untimely demise. With a quirky cast of characters and a fast-moving plot, Meet the Annas is the book world’s answer to a catchy bubblegum tune.

Once you’ve finished Meet the Annas, take another trip down memory lane with one of Dunn’s other rock ‘n’ roll novels.

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 Robert recommends:

I love writing my musical fictions, but I also love reading as much as I can about the music I've always been enthralled with. My favorite group (somehow I don't think I'm alone): The Beatles. There's hardly a Beatles book that comes out I don't avidly dive into; I find their story always compelling, a tale I turn to when all other stories fail. Their rough-and-scuff beginnings in Liverpool, the wonder years in Hamburg, conquering America and the world, the ever-changing records, the tragic but perfect end ("the love you take is equal to the love you make") ... there's infinite magic there, and I just can't get enough.

There are many great Beatles books, but Jonathan Gould's Can't Buy Me Love is the one that first sprang to mind. Gould covers the lads' story every which way, as history, myth, literary crusade, and down and out rock n' roll. I highly recommend it.

By the way, John Lennon makes a cameo in Meet the Annas. In fact, all the Beatles worshipped the girl groups my novel is based on. Happy reading!

NOOK owners: go to shop and search for “Robert Dunn” to download his rock ‘n’ roll novels.

Ernest Hemingway is rightfully considered one of the 20^th century’s greatest writers. While his own writing continues to enthrall readers, there’s also a sizeable number of writers—both fiction and non-fiction—who have explored Hemingway’s life through their own work. In Hemingway’s Boat, award-winning author Paul Hendrickson focuses on the pivotal years of 1934 to 1961—beginning at the high point of the great writer’s life, and culminating in his suicide.

Hemingway: The 1930s through the Final Years

The late scholar’s final volume of his meticulously reported and yet still almost novelistic Hemingway biography. Like the work of Robert Caro on LBJ, this five-part opus amounts to nearly a career lifetime of effort.

Paris Without End: The True Story of Hemingway's First Wife 

by Gioia Dilberto

Long before Woody Allen put some of the Hemingway myth on the screen, the story of Ernest and Hadley in Paris, of their doomed love, when they were so young and broke and reputedly happy above the sawmill in Montparnasse, was brought fully alive in this 1992 biography.

The Paris Wife  

by Paula McLain

A hugely popular success (and somewhat less so critically) of roughly the same material mined by Dilberto—only here from the fictional side of things. McLain can hit a cliché but when you turn a page she’ll hit an emotional truth with some dialogue or an invented scene that the working biographer, constrained by his “art of fact,” is denied.

Chango's Beads and Two-Tone Shoes  

by William Kennedy

The old contemporary master, William Kennedy, known for his Albany cycle of novels, weaves a different kind of tale that starts with a night in the Floridita bar in Havana in 1957 when Hemingway walks in. It’s a send-up portrait that’s also dead-on. The novel moves through a gansterly Cuban revolutionary swirl and yokes in not only Hemingway but Bing Crosby and Fidel and the civil rights movement in America and the mayor of Albany—and that’s only to say a few.

The Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway 

by Ernest Hemingway

Oh, we have to hear somewhere in this list from the man himself, and to my mind there isn’t a better place to encounter Hemingway’s short work than in this full collection, which, when it came out, in 1987, a quarter century after Hemingway’s suicide, included seven pieces not previously published. In the brief foreword, to which all three Hemingway sons signed their name, you can hear the collective longing to have their lost papa beside them once again.

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

NOOK owners: go to shop and search for “Paul Hendrickson” to download award-winning non-fiction.

Our newest $0.99 Spotlight offer is a can’t-miss for fans of paranormal fantasy—City of Bones, the first book in Cassandra Clare’s #1 New York Times-bestselling The Mortal Instruments series.

When fifteen-year-old Clary Fray heads out to the Pandemonium Club in New York City, she hardly expects to witness a murder -- much less a murder committed by three teenagers covered with strange tattoos and brandishing bizarre weapons. Then the body disappears into thin air. It's hard to call the police when the murderers are invisible to everyone else and when there is nothing -- not even a smear of blood -- to show that a boy has died. Or was he a boy?

This is Clary's first meeting with the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the earth of demons. It's also her first encounter with Jace, a Shadowhunter who looks a little like an angel and acts a lot like a jerk. Within twenty-four hours Clary is pulled into Jace's world with a vengeance, when her mother disappears and Clary herself is attacked by a demon. But why would demons be interested in ordinary mundanes like Clary and her mother? And how did Clary suddenly get the Sight? The Shadowhunters would like to know. . . .

Exotic and gritty, exhilarating and utterly gripping, Cassandra Clare's ferociously entertaining fantasy takes readers on a wild ride that they will never want to end.

Cassandra offers new readers the Top 6 Things You Need to Know about the Mortal Instruments Series in a NOOK-exclusive video here.

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

NOOK owners: go to shop and search for ‘Cassandra Clare’ to download her bestselling books.

Author Susane Colasanti is an absolute pro when it comes to capturing the way teenagers talk and think. Her newest book, Keep Holding On, is another hit with young readers. It tackles the always-important subject of bullying, and Susane’s nuanced exploration of this difficult subject gives the story an authentic appeal.

Today, Susane stopped by the NOOK Blog to tell us how she learned to think like a teenager:

One of the questions I’m frequently asked is, “Why do you write for teens?” The answer is simple. My internal age is 16. Not the worst parts of 16 where you feel like no one understands you and every minor problem balloons into a Vital Matter of Importance and hormones are making you a crazy person. Just…being a teen. I don’t feel my age at all. Whenever someone asks me how old I am, I cannot believe the answer is 39. Dude. That’s almost 40. How did I get to be almost 40? The whole thing is absurd. Someone should really check their records.

Writing about the issues my characters deal with is like writing about my own life. I remember what it feels like to deal with most of those same issues. High school was the worst time for me. Trauma tends to impress emotions on your heart in a way that allows you to recall those experiences with ease. Eating lunch in the bathroom that semester my friends all had a different lunch period and I couldn’t stand eating alone in the cafeteria? Feels like yesterday. The rush of my heart pounding when a boy I liked suddenly appeared in the hall between classes, the agony of my stomach churning when my best friend was mad at me, the pride I felt when my English teacher selected my creative writing essay to read to the class…all of those experiences and emotions are easily accessible. All I have to do is play the Cure or R.E.M. and I’m right back at 16.

Dialogue is my thing. The books I love to read the most have tons of dialogue, so that’s the way I write. My friends will be the first ones to tell you that I say “like” and “dude” too much. I don’t even realize I’m doing it. Given my preferred vocabulary and annoying tendency to abbreviate (my friend Jim and I talked in abbreve way before people started throwing around terms like fro-yo, just FYI), writing for teens is not exactly a stretch. People who know me say I write the way I talk.

Any other way would be ridic.

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

NOOK owners: go to shop and search for “Susane Colasanti” to download her irresistible YA novels.