Displaying articles for: August 2012
If you’re looking for a good laugh to start your weekend off right, Pets in a Pickle by Malcolm D. Welshman—today’s Free Fridays selection—is the right place to start.
In this lighthearted novel, Welshman, a retired veterinarian, presents an irresistible cast of characters—four-legged, winged, and human. The story centers on Prospect House Veterinary Hospital, and the new veterinarian Paul Mitchell. Not only does Mitchell encounter every type of animal misadventure in his professional life, but when the day ends, he returns home to his own motley menagerie of assorted pets. You’ll squeal with delight as your watch Mitchell navigate the always entertaining world of animal antics. And you can continue the laughs in Welshman’s brand new book, Pets on Parade.
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 Malcolm recommends:
I've always been inspired by Gerald Durrell - his love of animals and his love of words - both providing strong threads through my aspirations to become a vet and write about the pets I've treated. The eight stories in Marrying Off Mother demonstrate Durrell's ability to observe the eccentricities of people, none more so than in his encounter with an aging Memphis belle. While his prize-truffling pig I fear will slip into my subconscious only to reappear in a variant form as I finish writing the third in my pet series. But then Durrell's writing, with its warmth and wit, has always had the ability to get under my skin. It may do the same for you. You have been warned.
NOOK owners: go to shop and search for “Malcolm D. Welshman” to download his animal adventures.
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Get a taste of Lynsay Sands’ USA Today-bestselling Argeneau Vampire Series with our latest $0.99 Spotlight offer: A Quick Bite.
Lissianna has been spending her centuries pining for Mr. Right, not just a quick snack, and the sexy guy she finds in her bed looks like he might be a candidate. But there's another, more pressing issue: her tendency to faint at the sight of blood . . . an especially annoying quirk for a vampire. Of course it doesn't hurt that this man has a delicious-looking neck. What kind of cold-blooded vampire woman could resist a bite of that?
Dr. Gregory Hewitt recovers from the shock of waking up in a stranger's bedroom pretty quickly—once he sees a gorgeous woman about to treat him to a wild night of passion. But is it possible for the good doctor to find true love with a vampire vixen, or will he be just a good meal? That's a question Dr. Greg might be willing to sink his teeth into . . . if he can just get Lissianna to bite.
A free sample excerpt from this book is available on the product page now.
NOOK owners: go to shop and search for ‘Lynsay Sands’ to download her delectable vampire series.
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Every generation has its own defining coming-of-age novel—be it Catcher in the Rye, or Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret. The pitfalls of adolescence—feelings of alienation, peer pressure, a distrust of societal norms—are always front and center in the books that young readers adopt as their all-time favorites. At a vulnerable time in life, a book can serve as a comforting friend.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower, published in 1999, is that book for the Millennial generation. In this complex and controversial novel, the narrator Charlie tells the story of his freshman year through a series of letters to an unnamed friend. Every modern teenage topic makes an appearance—suicide, loneliness, jealousy, experimentation—and the author’s nuanced and delicate style makes for a compelling read.
On September 21, the film version of Perks hits theaters, with a cast that will make young readers swoon. Emma Watson, of Harry Potter fame, and Logan Lerman, from the Percy Jackson franchise, star in this high school drama. Since the author, Stephen Chobsky, wrote the screenplay and is directing the film, it's sure to be true to the original story. Before you see the movie, reacquaint yourself with this modern classic—or delve in for the first time—on NOOK.
A free sample excerpt from this book is available on the product page now.
NOOK owners: go to shop and search for ‘Stephen Chobsky’ to download this modern classic.
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A plethora of Apps - Apps for little and “big” kids alike!
We’ve also made it easier for you to search for high-quality children’s educational apps by organizing apps designed for children ages 0 through 12 by subject matter, so you can search within math, science, language arts, and more, making it easier to find specifically what you need.
So don’t wait! Check out all the great apps for your kids on NOOK, and re-discover how fun it can be to learn and play together!
“Beautiful and haunting. Every page tore me apart—and I loved it.”
-Lauren Kate, bestselling author of Fallen
In Cold Kiss—today’s Free Fridays selection—adult romance author Amy Garvey delivers an emotional and complex young adult novel.
When her boyfriend is killed in an accident, Wren’s life is shattered—her first love is gone, and she’d do anything to bring him back. Unlike most teenagers, however, she actually has the power to change her circumstances, since she’s inherited paranormal abilities that allow her to bring Danny back to life.
Unfortunately Wren's perfect plan has a flaw—while Danny’s body is reanimated, the person she fell in love with has turned into a zombified shell. To complicate matters even further, Danny is now digging into the circumstances surrounding his death, and his actions could put Wren (and her family secret) in jeopardy.
Garvey’s delicate storytelling and compelling characters offer an emotional exploration of first love and loss, with a supernatural twist.
You can continue Wren’s captivating adventures in Glass Heart, the next book in Garvey’s series, available on NOOK 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 Amy recommends:
I'd like to recommend Nova Ren Suma's gorgeous Imaginary Girls. Its beautiful combination of dreamy, lyric language and gritty, realistic details combine into a kind of dream, and one that sometimes spirals close to nightmare. It's a novel about sisters and selves, life and death, and love in all of its curious, compelling forms. Ruby and Chloe are characters I won't soon forget."
NOOK owners: go to shop and search for “Amy Garvey” to download her wonderful novels for adults and young readers.
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Summer is waning fast, but there’s still time to load up your NOOK with some low-priced summer reading offers.
The venerable Algonquin Books is offering a collection of some of their most popular books for just $1.99 each for a limited time. One of the collection’s highlights is bestselling author Steve Almond’s hilarious and provocative The Evil B.B. Chow and Other Stories. Find all of the discounted titles here.
Likewise, Workman Publishing is hosting their own Blue Plate Special, featuring some of their bestselling cookbooks for only $2.99 each. If your kid is heading for college this fall, load The Healthy College Cookbook onto their NOOK, and save them from another semester of cereal for dinner and pizza delivery. See the full Blue Plate Special offer here.
It’s probably not surprising—based on his prodigious appetite for the less-healthy things in life—that Charles Bukowski didn’t live to see his 92nd birthday. But were the “laureate of American lowlife” still alive today, he would have celebrated his 92nd year last week. To celebrate, many of his best-loved books, including Ham on Rye, are available for just $1.99 each now.
If you prefer chronicles of extra-terrestrial lives over lowlives, Tor books has a deal you won't want to miss. Get dozens of short stories from popular science fiction authors like Harry Turtledove and Elizabeth Bear, for just $0.99 each here.
Looking for a break from the constant 2012 Election news cycle? Taft 2012 by Jason Heller is now available for just $3.99. A most extraordinary satire, Taft 2012 follows the strange re-emergence of William Howard Taft: a man who never even wanted the White House in the first place, yet finds himself hurtling toward it once more—this time, through the media-fueled madness of 21st-century America.
Also available for $3.99 for a limited time is the stirring Vietnam novel The Lotus Eaters by Tatjana Soli. The New York Times said, "Ms. Soli has done prodigious research about the Vietnam War, particularly about the role of female war photographers, and so is able to imbue an otherwise deeply romantic book with a strong sense of history." This is an excellent price for a moving debut novel.
Every day, we offer two NOOK Daily Finds—great books at a great price. You can sign up to receive the NOOK Daily Find email here, so you don’t miss one of these great deals ever again.
Today’s NOOK Daily Find Families offer is Misty to the Rescue, an adorable chapter book by Gillian Shields. This irresistible tale of a magical mermaid and her sea-worthy friends is just $1.99 today only.
The NOOK Daily Find offer is Yesterday's News by Kajsa Ingermarsson for only $1.99. Romance readers are always looking for the next big thing, and this book may just be it. This Swedish-import has been read by 1 in 4 women in its home country--a huge hit by any measure. For less than two bucks, you can find out what the buzz is all about.
NOOK owners: go to shop and search by author name to find these great deals.
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Is it just me, or does it feel like just yesterday that we were making Memorial Day plans? Now summer’s almost over, and students are gearing up for the new school year. We’ve put together a collection of must-read NOOK Books that will make the transition a little easier for kids.
Middle-grade readers will immediately see the humor in James Patterson’s Middle School series—starting with Middle School, the Worst Years of My Life. The trials and tribulations of middle school will seem a little easier (and funnier) thanks to the exploits in Patterson’s madcap series.
On a more serious note, A Smart Girl’s Guide to Starting Middle School offers tools and advice for building confidence—an important element to avoiding the pitfalls of the dreaded middle school years.
Younger kids who are hesitant about making the transition to school will feel a lot better after reading Llama Llama Misses Mama. This NOOK Kids Read to Me book follows the anxious Llama Llama as he prepares for the first day of preschool, and when he gets there, the other kids teach him that school can be fun too. A great lesson for young readers who are anxious about leaving their parents behind.
In another NOOK Kids Read to Me classic, Arthur’s Teacher Trouble, everyone’s favorite aardvark is dreading the new school year—it seems his teacher is one of the school’s toughest, and 3rd grade might just be the end of him. But Arthur, and young readers, learn that sometimes it’s the teachers who expect the most from students who help them achieve their true potential.
For more great recommendations, take a look at our back-to-school collection here.
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Debbie Macomber is one of the few writers who needs no introduction. Her charming novels have sold more than 160 million copies worldwide, and her devoted fans wait on pins and needles for each new release. In honor of the publication of The Inn at Rose Harbor—the first in a new series—we asked Debbie to share ‘3 Thing You Don’t Know About Me’ with our NOOK Blog readers. One thing we learned—it would be a whole lot of fun to be one of Debbie’s lucky grandchildren!
1. While in high school I was a hospital volunteer because I thought I wanted to be a nurse. Why I would even consider this occupation remains a mystery to me even now because I’m squeamish at the sight of blood. In fact, when our oldest son, Ted, got hit in the face with a baseball bat, I fainted. I won’t even tell you my reaction when Ted went through a plate glass window and sliced open his arm.
2. I like to work Sudoku puzzles. I try to work a puzzle every day, and after five years I still haven’t mastered the HARD section. I don’t even attempt the CHALLENGER ones. My husband, Wayne, can finish off a puzzle in a few minutes and my granddaughter, who is twelve, solved the puzzle the Internet declared as the most difficult one ever created. Meanwhile, I struggle with the medium section.
3. Wayne and I live on five acres, and I built a pirate fort for my grandchildren on our property. The fort has a large deck around the outside that holds a cannon and several barrels with nets. There is a cross and skull bones on the door, a pirates’ flag and black shutters. What I enjoy most is seeing their imaginations run wild, inventing stories while playing with their cousins.
A free sample excerpt from this book is available on the product page now.
NOOK owners: go to shop and search for “Debbie Macomber” to download her beloved bestsellers.
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“There's more than stuffing here, though, including questions of good vs. evil, life vs. death, and sanity vs. insanity. Skip that evening Scotch and read this one stone-cold sober—it's plenty trippy as is.”
—The Washington Post
This week’s Free Fridays selection is an inventive, one-of-a-kind hardboiled noir tale that just happens to feature a cast of stuffed animals: Tim Davys’ Amberville.
In this endlessly entertaining novel, Davys is able to take a bizarre premise, and create a world that mirrors our own. Eric Bear is a familiar character—a scared-straight criminal who’s trying to reinvent himself as an upstanding citizen. (Sure he’s a stuffed bear, but you’ll soon relate to him like you would any beleaguered protagonist.) Now the town’s mob boss—Nicholas Dove—coerces Eric into one last job. Dove’s life is in danger, and the resourceful Bear is his only hope. Eric Bear’s tenuous grasp on a normal life is slipping fast, as he delves back into the dark underworld he thought he’d left behind. Along the way, you’ll be captivated by the rich, complex world Davys’ creates, regardless of the fact that it’s populated by anthropomorphic plush toys.
I promise that Amberville is unlike any book you’ve read before. This free edition includes excerpts from the other three books in Davys’ Mollisan Town quartet, so you can continue the unique 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 Tim recommends:
If you are the type of person who reads a lot, you probably love a book with less than 200 pages because you know you will be able to finish it quickly. But sometimes you start to read something in the "really thick ones" category and it consumes you. You realize that you will feel miserable after the two months it'll take you to reach the end because your life will feel so much emptier then. Haruki Murakami's 1Q84 is one of the rare books that I read slower and slower until the very last page because of that very reason.
If you dislike science-fiction but still are not very fond of reality. If you dislike fantasy but still like to fantasize. If you dislike thrillers but still like to turn pages really fast, this book is written for you.
Murakami has his ups and downs. 1Q84 is way up there.
NOOK owners: go to shop and search for “Tim Davys” to download his refreshingly unique books.
Read more...“This is Cussler and Ludlum territory with a dash of Dan Brown, sure to please devotees of any of these authors.” – Publishers Weekly
Fans of smart, complex thrillers won’t want to miss our newest $0.99 Spotlight offer: James Rollins’ Black Order. It’s the perfect fast-paced read to complete your summer reading.
If you haven’t had the pleasure of reading James Rollins, this edge-of-your-seat adventure thriller is a great place to start. Rollins is a master at weaving historical mysteries and modern conspiracies together, and in Black Order, the plot leads from Charles Darwin’s stolen Bible, to a secret Nazi experiment, to a current-day massacre among formerly-peaceful monks. What ties these all together is the Sigma Force team—a group of special operatives who lurk in the shadows, and investigate the world’s darkest secrets. If they do their job right, no one will be the wiser. If they don’t, the world will never be the same.
In addition to this $0.99 Spotlight offer, many of Rollins' other Sigma Force Series titles are $3.99 for a limited time as well—so stock up while the price is right.
A free sample excerpt from this book is available on the product page now.
NOOK owners: go to shop and search for ‘James Rollins’ to download his bestselling adventures.
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Julia Child changed the way Americans think about food. It’s as simple as that. With her contagious enthusiasm for good food and home cooking, she inspired a whole generation of home cooks, and spawned an entire food TV industry. If she were still alive, Child would be celebrating her 100th birthday today (most likely with a perfectly-baked soufflé).
In Dearie: The Remarkable Life of Julia Child, bestselling biographer Bob Spitz recounts the fascinating and diverse life of this singular American icon. To herald the book’s publication and Julia’s 100th birth anniversary, we asked Bob to share his 5 favorite Julia Child quotes with NOOK Blog readers:
Julia Child was one of the most quotable sources since Will Shakespeare, so narrowing down my five favorite quotes was difficult. But here goes:
1. “I’m nothing more than a social butterfly.” Imagine – Julia in her thirties was a lost soul, nothing more than a pampered rich girl, a dilettante, with no goals, much less a job. Eventually she worked for the OSS, as a spy, but it wasn’t until her forties when she learned how to cook.
2. “If you are alone in your kitchen, whoooo is going to see?” During an early broadcast of The French Chef, while making a sautéed potato pancake, Julia accidentally flipped it onto the stove before fingering the whole mess back into the pan. Cooking became that easy!
3. “Never apologize for your cooking.” Julia believed that everyone was charmed by a homemade meal, even when she once served a dinner that resembled sheetrock and shoe leather. She simply smiled and pretended everything was fine as her guest wolfed down the food.
4. “Bon Appetit!” Believe it or not, this was never said in America until Julia used it as her sign-off for The French Chef. There is no English equivalent. “Good eating!” I think not.
5. “Save the liver!” Okay, Julia never originally said this. It was Dan Aykroyd as Julia Child on Saturday Night Live, but it became one of the funniest and most quotable Julia Child lines ever. In fact, Julia began to use it as she re-enacted Aykroyd’s skit in her own kitchen for friends, always breaking into laughter as she slumped over the counter.
Also, don’t forget to take advantage of the special birthday month offer on the Julia Child Mastering the Art of French Cooking NOOK App. For just $2.99, you’ll have access to 32 recipes from Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume 1, 30 video clips from The Way to Cook video series, audio anecdotes from Child’s longtime editor Judith Jones, audio pronunciations of the names of French dishes, grocery lists, rare photographs of Julia Child and more!
A free sample excerpt from this book is available on the product page now.
NOOK owners: go to shop and search for “Bob Spitz” to download his bestselling biographies.
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I definitely caught Olympic fever this summer, and the U.S. Women’s soccer team's gold medal run provided one of the most fascinating storylines of the London Games. The team’s incredibly talented and outspoken goalkeeper, Hope Solo, made headlines throughout this year’s competition. Now that the games are over, you’ll have plenty of time to catch up on your reading—starting with Solo’s memoir, available in both an adult and a young reader edition.
To celebrate this publication, we asked Hope Solo to tell NOOK Blog readers 3 Things You Don’t Know About Me, and here’s what she had to say:
1) I’m scared of flying, a difficult fear to deal with, considering my job and lifestyle. And I’m terrified of sharks, so I get nervous in the ocean.
2) The logo of my high school is the nuclear mushroom cloud. One of our school cheers was, “Nuke ’em, nuke ’em, nuke ’em till they glow!”
3) I was nominated for homecoming princess every year, and senior year, I won.
Free sample excerpts from each edition of this book are available on the product pages now.
NOOK owners: go to shop and search for “Hope Solo” to download both editions of her inspiring memoir.
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Thirty years ago, Glen Cook changed the face of Fantasy fiction forever with The Dread Empire series, crafting the novels that would eventually comprise the two Night Shade omnibus edtions, A Cruel Wind and A Fortress in Shadow, and the short fiction collection, An Empire Unacquainted with Defeat. A decade later, he would return to this singular and engrossing world to begin its sequel trilogy, The Last Chronicle of the Dread Empire. Two books in the sequel trilogy, Reap the East Wind and An Ill Fate Marshalling were published. The third and final novel remained unpublished… until now.
Today's Free Fridays selection, Reap the East Wind sets its fated, sundry characters on their entwining paths through the deep and dense wood of war, magic, blood-feuds, political intrigue, and revenge—paths that will lead them to heights above the Dragon’s Teeth, and to depths of dungeons and ruin, where spies and the agents of fear conspire through devious means of manipulation and betrayal to shake the Dread Empire down to its foundations. Reap the East Wind is the first step in a sprawling series of high-stakes adventure, continuing with An Ill Fate Marshalling, and culminating in an earth-shattering conclusion with the greatly anticipated A Path to Coldness of Heart—a climax fifteen years in the making.
Glen Cook is one of the most celebrated Science Fiction & Fantasy writers of the 20th Century—and with good reason: his unmatched ability to take twisted, multi-color threads of complicated plots, plans, and schemings of spies, wizards, kings, and necromancers alike, and to weave them on the same loom with the threads of gritty realism, honest human appraisal, and heartwarming (as well as heartrending) care for his characters. It is this talent that has led commentators to liken Cook’s style to “Vietnam War fiction on Peyote,” and has distinguished him as one of the most emblematic modern masters of post-Tolkien Fantasy fiction.
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 Glen recommends:
I recommend The Long Earth by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter. Pratchett heads my list of the quarter dozen authors whose new work brings on an instant cessation of all productive activity while the latest entree gets devoured. Not one of Pratchett's Discworld wonders, this nevertheless is one excellent, and often fun, work that does a finer job of exploring the parallel universes idea than I've ever seen before, pointing up logical paradoxes, social impacts, and putting some interesting spins on the physics.
NOOK owners: go to shop and search for ‘Glen Cook’ to download his breathtaking novels.
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If you’re struggling to find the perfect career, you’re not alone. Very few people had the good luck to seamlessly transition from school into their dream job. But once you’ve invested time, energy, and training, it’s often hard to conceive of finding something new.
What Color is Your Parachute 2013 Edition author Richard N. Bolles has been helping people make this difficult decision for decades, and his classic book was recently included in Time magazine's list of All-Time 100 Best Non-fiction Books. The newly-updated 2013 edition is available now for pre-order, and is an invaluable resource for any job-seeker.
Bolles combines personality tests that will help you determine the fields you’re best-suited for, as well as practical, step-by-step advice on finding your ideal profession. This newest edition features timely advice on using social media and other brand new tools in your employment search.
Whether you’re unemployed or currently employed in a less-than-satisfactory position, you’ll find countless helpful tips in What Color Is Your Parachute.
NOOK owners: go to shop and search for ‘Richard N. Bolles’ to pre-order the newest edition of this classic book.
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Our newest NOOK First collection—a chance for NOOK readers to be the first to get access to some hot new books—features everything from a captivating historical romance to a chilling, award-winning horror story. Late-summer reading never looked so good.
by Thomas Sullivan
Before the world was born, there was the Dust of Eden—blood-red earth from which all else was created. The last deposit of the mysterious dust became a viciously guarded secret...until the site was disturbed. A bit of Eden found its way into the hands of Ariel Leppa—an embittered elderly woman unaware of its ferocious power...for a time.
In the court of Charles II, being an intelligent, academically inclined woman is a liability, not a virtue. Lady Rose Ashcroft is acutely aware of this fact, and with her meddlesome matchmaking mother in-tow she sets off to fetch a wealthy, titled, husband. What Rose didn't anticipate was the arrival of Christopher "Kit" Martyn, a dashing, successful commoner with his sights set on landing the post of official Royal Architect.
by Greg Dinallo
When a New York ad executive pulls a vintage suitcase from the trash as inspiration for a campaign she is working on, it comes with some shocking revelations. The suitcase, like its owner, is a Holocaust survivor, and the documents held inside will reveal secrets that have been buried since the liberation of Dachau.
by Seth Kaufman
Being the brains behind a reality show about torture would be cause for concern to most people, but television executive Rick Salter has bigger problems than public disdain. One morning he finds himself trapped beneath his gigantic entertainment system with no idea how he got there and 48 hours until his cleaning lady is scheduled to arrive. Incidentally he discovers a strange book lying beside him titled "A History of Prisons" which seems conspicuously relevant given the circumstances.
by Laura Bradford
The idyllic Jersey Shore town of Ocean Point is the quiet quintessential family vacation spot. Things are off to a shaky start this season with the discovery of a young woman's body. When the body count starts to rise, it is up to detective Mitch Burns to crack the case and restore calm.
NOOK owners: go to shop and search by author name to be among the first to download these NOOK Books.
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Not for the faint of heart, #1 New York Times bestselling author Lisa Jackson’s standalone novel, You Don’t Want to Know, chillingly brings to life a mother’s worst nightmare--a missing child and a family who has given him up for dead. You’ll be riveted until the last page, thanks to Jackson’s perfectly-composed storytelling.
Have you ever wondered whether authors who write about such dark, disturbing themes have a troubled past they're drawing from? Today, Lisa stops by the NOOK Blog to put an end to any such speculation about her own family history
Let’s start with one basic fact: I’m not weird.
Fact number two: neither is my family.
Boring?
Maybe, but it’s the truth.
Why would I bring this up? Because of the books I write and the awful, twisted characters I bring to life, such as the characters in YOU DON’T WANT TO KNOW where no one is who they seem to be, and the heroine who’s worried she’s suffering from paranoia, or is being haunted, seeing things, or a victim of her own family. There it is again, that word: family.
Once I had someone ask me if I had a very dysfunctional family, or a really awful, distant father or a cruel, emotionless mother? I was horrified!!! Nothing could be further from the truth! Because I write of lousy fathers, icy deadly mothers and murderous siblings, the person who asked the question assumed I was “telling my own story” or “exorcising my demons.”
Nothing could be further from the truth. Just as I’ve never killed anyone, been a man in another lifetime, worked in a police department, had to make life or death decisions at the hand of a madman--I didn’t come from a dysfunctional family. My dad would be amused to have heard the question, let me tell you. Oh, my God, what a kind, fun-loving, and moral man (I know it sounds boring, but it’s just the way it was!). Mom was hard-working, earnest, and had a terrific sense of humor as well. Both of them: salt of the earth, and truth be told, I come from a long line of those kind of people; there are not many skeletons in my family’s closets, no matter how hard I look, and trust me, I’ve tried. Vigorously. To no avail.
Even my sister is great and oh, so normal. I only have one sibling, author Nancy Bush, who I refer to as Sister Nan, she’s my best friend. We work together, write together, walk together, and there’s not a lot of sibling rivalry, sorry. We “have words” from time-to-time, and as a teenager I thought Mom and Dad were so, so out of it, we had fights, but nothing out of the ordinary. No “Mommy Dearest” in my family.
Perhaps that might be one of the reasons I’m fascinated with highly dysfunctional families and write about them (besides, in a story, a lot of drama is necessary, right?). Sitting around the table eating peanuts and playing cards and joking…not so interesting! Now, put a knife in someone’s fingers when they get beaten at hearts, that’s a lot more interesting!
When I sat down to write YOU DON’T WANT TO KNOW, I wasn’t drawing from personal experience so much as fascination and imagination, tempered with a tiny bit of my own feelings. When I became a mother the first time, I felt real vulnerability and fear— I was responsible for another person’s well being and safety—so I took from that. While writing this story I tried to convey those raw emotions in Ava, my heroine, a mother who’s lost her young son and is fighting paranoia. Once a strong, determined woman who backed down at nothing, now she is afraid she’s going mad because of the hallucinations or visions of her missing son, standing alone at the edge of a pier in the fog. Noah disappeared during the Christmas holidays and she feels immense guilt and remorse. The not-knowing of what happened to him has eaten at her, and she’s become a shell of the woman she once was. Though she refuses to think the worst about her young son’s fate, her life and her sanity are unraveling because of it.
Or are they?
She can’t determine if it’s her own mind playing tricks on her, or if there’s something deeply evil in the house, someone who is playing upon her worst fears. Ava’s family is filled with relatives and in-laws she doesn’t know if she can trust or not, to the extent that she’s afraid she’s being gas-lighted. She can confide in no one including her own husband who seems worried sick that she’s truly losing her touch with reality. But is he? Or is his concern just an act? She loved him once, but now, her feelings have changed.
She questions everything and everyone, but senses she can’t trust her cousins, nor her once-best friend. Even the psychologist whom her husband has hired to help her appears to have her own, secret agenda. Ava is isolated in the midst of a huge, once tightly-knit family.
As I said, Ava Church Garrison’s world is far different from the one I grew up in. While Ava, privileged from the get-go, lives in a huge, beautiful mansion on an private island with a secretive family, I was raised in a small timber town in Oregon.
I’ve always felt that every member of my family, including my sister, cousins, aunts and uncles could be depended upon in times of stress and need. Not so with the Church clan. Ava believes they are all against her and she fears no one is whom he or she appears to be, including herself.
See–lots more interesting than my own family.
While some of the settings in the book are created from memories in my childhood (the fish market, marina, jagged coastlines of the Pacific Northwest), the motivations of the people who live on or about Anchorville and Church island are light-years from anyone I’ve ever known.
Someone once asked me if I patterned my characters after people I know. Another person even told me, they knew who a certain character was in real life. Really? I don’t think so. My characters come alive in my brain. Certainly people I create are an amalgam of the people I’ve met in my life, with characteristics and traits I’ve observed, but they are uniquely my own, their “own” fictitious people, if that makes any sense.
A free sample excerpt from this book is available for download on the product page now.
NOOK owners: go to shop and search for “Lisa Jackson” to download her bestselling novels.
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Say it with me…. USA! USA! USA! Are you as excited about the Olympics as I am? I promise no spoilers in this post, but let’s just say that this year has been great for my home country.
I am located on the east coast, which can make viewing the games live a bit difficult. That is why I am so thrilled that the official 2012 Team USA Road to London app is available on NOOK. It gives you all the information you could possibly want or need about our great American athletes - including news updates, Tweets, etc on the sport in general and the specific athletes - in one wonderfully designed app. If you are one of those people who records the events to watch at night when you get home - you may want to skip over this - I can’t promise that the rolling page of news feature will not spoil the outcomes!
If you are manic about following Michael Phelps beat those previously held records like me, then you will love that the app includes fantastic individual profiles of all of your favorite athletes. You can also search by particular sport if you prefer.
The best feature (in my opinion) is the cheer button, which actually lets you tweet at athletes that have accounts. I can cheer on Michael Phelps right from my NOOK! How cool is that?
For all you wannabe Olympians out there, this app is your one-stop guide for all the athletes on team USA. And it’s free! What a great addition to your NOOK library.
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“Mossanen’s magical tale recasts familiar material in a modern light and injects pathos into a historic tragedy.” – Publishers Weekly
Today’s Free Fridays selection, Dora Levy Mossanen’s The Last Romanov, captures the infamous Russian imperial tragedy in a fresh, evocative new way.
With a history of bloody murder and a missing heir, the Romanov dynasty has long captivated history fans. In this fictional tale, Massanen introduces an old woman, Darya, who reflects on long-ago painful events that she blames herself for. Her actions may have set into motion the deed that led to Romanov heir Prince Alexei’s disappearance. She’s never stopped believing she may have been at fault, and still maintains hope that the heir survived.
In an intricate tale that weaves past and present, Mossanen explores a fascinating historical event in human and personal terms.
Once you’ve finished The Last Romanov, be sure to explore Mossanen’s other wonderful 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 Dora recommends:
I am a voracious reader of well-researched historical novels that grab me by the hand and lead me on an authentic journey of discovery to exciting times and places. The Greatest Knight by Elizabeth Chadwick is such a book. From the first page, it felt as if I was living the gripping life of William Marshal, who was nearly hanged as a small boy. Yet, he managed to survive the dangerous political landscape of the court of Henry II, survive an accusation of having an affair with the young king’s wife, go on to conquer endless insurmountable obstacles to become the champion of the tourney circuits and one of the most admired Medieval Knights of the twelfth century. You will love this moving story of love, deceit, endless rivalries, and one man’s scandalous journey to rise to unimaginable ranks.
[Editors note: The Greatest Knight is currently just $2.99]
NOOK owners: go to shop and search for “Dora Levy Mossanen” to download her beautifully evocative books.
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“Hold on tight — a gritty new heroine has joined the pantheon of shoot-first, ask-questions-later protagonists. Despite the blistering pace and darkness of the plot, [Wells] neatly balances things with a deft smattering of humor. 4.5 Stars!”
-Romantic Times Book Lovers magazine
Our newest $0.99 Spotlight offer—Jaye Wells’ Red-headed Stepchild (Sabina Kane Series #1)—is a irresistible urban fantasy with a butt-kicking heroine.
In a world where being of mixed-blood is a major liability, Sabina Kane has the only profession fit for an outcast: assassin. But, her latest mission threatens the fragile peace between the vampire and mage races and Sabina must scramble to figure out which side she's on. She's never brought her work home with her---until now.
This time, it's personal.
A free sample excerpt from this book is available for download on the product page now.
NOOK owners: go to shop and search for ‘Jaye Wells’ to download her steaming hot bestsellers.
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SHARK! That one simple word can immediately strike fear into the heart of any beach-goer, thanks in large part to the cultural phenomenon of Peter Benchley’s blockbuster bestseller, Jaws, and the movie franchise it inspired. Now this classic summer read is available in a new NOOK edition containing bonus content from Peter Benchley’s archives, including the original typed title page for the novel, the author’s notes on the script for the movie adaptation, and two articles written on the twenty-fifth and thirtieth anniversaries of the release of the film.
To get a taste of the incredible archival material included in this edition, here’s a particularly amusing letter written by a polite but opinionated Peter Benchley to the film’s producer.
Letter from Peter Benchley to David Brown, Producer of the Film Version of Jaws
15 April, 1974
Dear David:
As I mentioned on the phone this morning, I am deeply troubled by some things in the
final draft screenplay of “Jaws.” I fear that if they were ever to appear on the screen, the picture
would be hooted at—not just by shark-freaks, but by general audiences, too—as an insane farce.
Furthermore, I think they detract for the suspense of the film.
I have several other, less important, reservations, and I’ll mention them in descending
order of concern.
First and most critical of all is the “rogue shark” concept. You said that Steve apparently
consulted some authority before taking this new tack. I, too, have consulted authorities, and my
sources agree with me that the concept is totally absurd. I’ll be glad to argue specifics any time,
but rather than write you a thesis here and now, I’d prefer to offer one artistic argument against
the rogue-shark thing: if you present this shark as a world-girdling maniac, responsible for nearly
every recorded shark-attack death, you destroy one of the central horrors of the story—namely
that a shark doesn’t have to be deranged to eat people. Eating people is normal, instinctual
behavior for great white sharks. There is profound terror in the normalcy of killing.
Also, to have Hooper claim to have tagged this shark reduces its menace and mystery. It
makes the shark approachable and familiar.
That leads me to Hooper, who, in general, strikes me as an insufferable, pedantic little
schmuck—not only pedantic, but ignorantly so, since many of the things he says about sharks are
either misleading or flatly wrong. He sounds like a textbook full of errors. Again, I’ll cite chapter
and verse to anyone who cares to listen.
Now, on to a few specific things that bothered me. I have tried to avoid picking nits
(things like the horseshoe crabs). And the things that trouble me least (which you may well
consider nits) I’ve saved for last.
Ellen’s gimmick with the travel brochures seems phony as hell. First of all, it’s a terrible
cliche. Second, if she’s married to Brody, she should realize what his position is. She comes off
as a nag, and since she vanishes almost immediately, we’re left with a vague, unresolved sense
that Brody has an unhappy marriage.
P. 13—Meadows’ speech about sharks and their swim bladders is wrong. He’s mixing
apples and oranges, and he compounds the felony by saying, “Don’t you know anything about
them?”
P. 40—Hooper would never be suckered into believing that a ten-foot blue shark killed
those people. Never.
P. 44—Brody seems here to be disbelieving the blue-shark theory. When did he change
his mind?
P. 48—And when did Hooper suddenly change his mind about the blue shark as a
possible killer?
P. 55—Hooper claims to have seen the white shark before, and at close range. So how
come he says it’s only 17 feet long?
P. 65—Hooper says of the shark, “It knows where you live.” He is anthropomorphizing,
something that he would be the first to argue against. God, he’s an inconsistent character!
P. 78—What suddenly changes Brody from a man terrified of the water to a man eager to
join Quint? I remember discussing this change-of-heart at great length. It seems to have been
resolved by ignoring it.
The following are relatively minor:
P. 5—The bloody billboard is still there, I see. I feebly repeat that it is way out of
character for the town.
P. 23—Someone named Denherder makes a reference to a sporting charter on
Valentine’s Day. I know of no one on the East Coast who would go fishing on February 14th,
for, among other reasons, there are no game fish around on February 14th.
P. 24—Brody says, “But nobody sport-fishes for sharks!” If this is intended to make him
seem stupid, it succeeds. If it is meant as a fact, it is wrong.
P. 30—If Hooper is a diver, he’s unlikely to be bearded. Beards get in the way. Bearded
divers exist, of course, but why even raise the question in the audience’s mind?
P. 35—This, I admit, is a nit, but I’ll pick it anyway. Here and on the following page it is
clear that Steve doesn’t know guns. Fine. I assume there will be someone on location who will
know that, for instance, a .30 caliber rifle doesn’t fire a ‘wad’ and couldn’t ruin rigging.
P. 76—Hooper refers to Ipswitch, Maine. There may be an Ipswitch, Maine, but a more
familiar Ipswich is in Massachusetts.
There you have it. I am aware that 1) film is a directors’ medium, 2) my part in the
entertainment has long since technically ended, and 3) you may well decide to make this letter
into a paper airplane and skim it off the top of the Tower. But I did want to convey these points,
if only to vent my spleen.
As I have said (and said, and said), I would be willing—nay, eager—to meet and work
with Steve, should he deem it helpful.
Yrs,
Peter Benchley
PS/ What makes me angriest of all is that you didn’t tell me you had already made and released
the movie of “Jaws.” I had to find out from the clipping I’ve appended below.
A free sample excerpt from this book is available for download on the product page now.
NOOK owners: go to shop and search for ‘Peter Benchley’ to download this American classic.
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