Today’s Free Fridays book selection is the chilling suspense novel, Head to Head by Linda Ladd.When homicide detective Claire Morgan moved from Los Angeles to Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri, she hopes to settle into a more peaceful, simpler life. But fate has other plans in store, as she soon finds out when a soap opera star turns up dead. The star’s trip to a posh “wellness resort” ended with her being taped to a chair at a fully set table and submerged at the bottom of the lake.
At first, the resort’s owner, Dr. Nicholas Black, seemed to be Claire’s ally in uncovering the killer, but as their lives become more intimately entwined, his motivations start to seem suspect. Could he know more about his famous guest’s demise than he’s letting on?
Claire Morgan’s Ozarks adventures continue in Ladd’s newest thriller, Remember Murder, available now for pre-order.
Today’s Free Fridays app selection, Animal Park Tycoon by Advanced Mobile Applications, is your chance to become the creator of your own zoo!
I’m lucky enough to live just a few blocks from my city’s zoo, so my family takes frequent trips all year long. While it’s a beautiful zoo, I have to admit that I’ve often daydreamed of ways it could be even better. That’s why I was so excited to play Animal Park Tycoon. This multi-layered game lets you build and run your own zoo, with the goal of attracting curious visitors from around the world. And nothing brings in a crowd like a real live unicorn on exhibit—something you can unlock with superb game play.
Once you’ve mastered the art of zoo keeping, put your newfound skills to the test with Animal Park Tycoon, just one of the great apps available from Advanced Mobile Applications.
Free Fridays app promotions refer specifically to the app in the NOOK Store.
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 Linda recommends:
First off, I’ve got to say that I really love the late great Beverly Barton’s books. She will be missed by so many readers and friends. Don't Cry is no exception. This story has all Barton’s usual ingredients—an intricate plot, a hunky hero, an endearing heroine, and a very scary villain. This time, the crime scenes are so unique, and frightening enough to give the reader cold chills.
Just imagine Cracker Barrel®, that wonderful country restaurant located all across the South with rocking chairs spread out across the front porch…but this time, there’s a woman sitting in one of them, young, dark-haired, pretty, and very dead. To Special Agent J.D. Cass and Chattanooga grief counselor, Audrey Sherrod, the worst part is what the victim is holding in her arms. Wrapped in a blue baby blanket, they find the skeletal remains of an infant, one reported missing years ago. So the hunt for the killer begins, the current homicide case closely entwined with a gruesome cold case. Audrey and J.D. circle each other at first, not quite sure they like each other very much, but as the case progresses with links to Audrey’s own tragic past, their initial distrust is replaced by a growing passion and respect for each other.
Barton’s plot is intricate and exciting enough to keep you glued to the pages long into the midnight hours. You won’t figure out the villain until the very last minute, trust me. Furthermore, there’s an equally good sequel available to continue the story called Don’t Say A Word. What more could you ask for? So sit back and enjoy yourself. I sure did!
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"Hard to think of it as a debut, better to think of it as the beginning of a massive new adventure.”
-The Daily Mirror (UK)
Today’s Free Fridays book selection is the sophisticated thriller Sanctus by Simon Toyne. [PLEASE NOTE: There are also foreign language versions of this book available for NOOK, but they are not free. Please make sure that you download the English language version here.]
Television veteran Simon Toyne’s debut novel is an ambitious conspiracy thriller that Brad Meltzer and Dan Brown fans will devour. The whole world is watching when a cloistered monk in modern day Turkey plunges to his death in front of television cameras. The monk’s act of defiance sets off a frenzy to discover what secrets lie behind the ancient walls, and why he sacrificed his life to put an end to them.
When the monk is identified, American journalist Liv Adamsen is shocked to discover that he’s the brother she’d written off as dead long ago. Her reporter’s instincts send her to investigate the secretive world her brother inhabited, and soon she’s battling a group of deadly monks who will go to any extreme to protect their millennia-old secret.
The second book in Toyne’s critically-acclaimed trilogy, The Key, is available for NOOK now.
Today’s Free Fridays app selection is Sherlock Holmes: The Blue Diamond - Hidden Object Game by SecretBuilders. I’m absolutely obsessed with Sherlock Holmes—especially the new BBC television series, Sherlock—so this challenging hidden object game is right up my alley. The puzzles are based on the Holmes story, The Blue Diamond, and each level brings players closer to discovering how a priceless blue diamond ended up in the throat of a goose. The added dimension of helping Sherlock solve a crime makes this one of my favorite hidden object games, and the audio narration is another feature that sets it apart. Once you’ve solved the case, lots more fun-filled apps from SecretBuilders are waiting for you.
Free Fridays app promotions refer specifically to the app in the NOOK Store.
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 Simon recommends:
I recommend The Dead Zone by Stephen King. It kind of gets overshadowed a little by the other books of his astounding early period (Carrie, The Shining, The Stand) but it was the first book of his I read and I still think about it today, even though I have not read it since. Partly this is because I still remember it so vividly - the terrifyingly plausible villain, the beautiful economy of his characterizations, the audacious central conceit - and partly it is because it's part of my childhood now and you should never go back unless it is disappointment you seek. Read it if you haven't. I guarantee you won’t be disappointed.Read more...
Moms might find today's Free Fridays selection, Wicked in Your Arms by New York Times bestselling author Sophie Jordan, the perfect excuse to steal some relaxation time on Sunday. But you don't have to be a mom to enjoy this unlikely romance.
While Grier Hadley is the daughter of an unsavory character, her father's fortune affords her a large dowry that would make any suitor swoon. Enter Prince Sevastian Maksimi, who is hot on the trail of a respectable bride-to-be who can give him an heir as well as a hefty dowry. While he knows that she would bring disrepute along with vast fortune, the beautiful and indepent Grier has captured the Prince's attention, and a stolen kiss has him yearning for more.
Will this star-crossed pair find true love against all odds?
Today’s Free Fridays app selection, Connect Me Puzzle from Agile Fusion, may look simple at first, but proves to be a challenging puzzle app the whole family will love. The concept is perfect for spring time and quite straightforward: draw lines connecting colored pairs of flowers. But there’s a catch—you can’t cross any of the lines as you continue to connect more pairs—making your task much more challenging. I’ve already spent hours honing my skills with this challenging puzzle game, and can’t wait to explore more Agile Fusion apps, too.
Free Fridays app promotions refer specifically to the app in the NOOK Store.
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 Sophie recommends:
I've been a fan of Sarah MacLean since her first historical romance, Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake, released in 2010. I didn't think it could get much better than that book. And then A Rogue by Any Other Name released.
Her voice, the seeming ease in which she makes a historical heroine so accessible to the modern woman has always left me in awe. Her books are like candy, ease to inhale ... but then you're left regretting that you didn't take it slowly and savor it. The hero in A Rogue by Any Other Name is one of the best alpha heroes I've ever come across. This could be just another damaged/wicked rake meets spinster tale, but MacLean adds depth and emotion by giving them a complex past. My FAVORITE moment is when the heroine sees him (and the cold-hearted man he has become) for the first time in years, and an exchange follows in which she says, "How sad.... He is gone ..." When the hero asks her who, she replies, all the while gazing at him so her meaning is clear, "My friend." Stop. My. Heart. In that moment I was hooked, anxious for the moment when he becomes not just her friend again, but her lover.
In today’s Free Fridays selection, Margaret Daley’s Saving Hope, a tireless Texas Ranger fights to save his town from the ripped-from-the-headlines threat of human trafficking.
Ranger Wyatt Sheridan is called in when a teenage girl at the Beacon of Hope school, which was founded to help former teen prostitutes find a way off the streets, is found dead. He and the school’s director Kate Winslow team up to find out who might be trying to disrupt the school’s worthy mission.
Sheridan has a teenage daughter of his own, so he’s extra-determined to bring justice to the human traffickers who are preying on young girls. And when Kate is kidnapped, and Sheridan’s daughter is terrorized, nothing will stop the tenacious Ranger from putting an end to the evil.
Explore more Texas Rangers series adventures in this continuing series here.
This week, I’m excited to tell you about another great way you can get a free NOOK Book every weekend with our NOOK Book Two-for-One Weekends Offer. Simply visit your local Barnes & Noble Store and buy one select NOOK Book and you can choose one free NOOK Book from that week’s list. Titles will change each week, but this Saturday and Sunday includes popular books like Life of Pi, Tina Fey’s Bossypants and Killing Lincoln by Bill O’Reilly. Learn more about this offer at www.nook.com/bogo.
Today’s Free Fridays App selection, Magician's Handbook: Cursed Valley, is an enchanting game that sets you on a journey to uncover the hidden secrets of a magical book. The fabled Magician’s Handbook has fallen into your hands, and to reveal the secrets found in its pages and lift an ancient curse, you’ll need to identify objects hidden among beautifully-spooky hand-painted backgrounds. If you love the challenge of hidden object games, and aren’t afraid of a little dark and mysterious fun, start your adventures today with this free offer—and then explore the full line of challenging games from G5 Entertainment.
Free Fridays app promotions refer specifically to the app in the NOOK Store.
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 Margaret recommends:
One of my favorite books I read is Amazonia by James Rollins. I love romantic suspense and adventure stories. This is fast paced with a great plot and set of characters. Also I love stories placed in the Amazon jungle.
“A riveting and intense debut…will keep fans of grim fantasy entirely enthralled.”
– Publishers Weekly
In today’s Free Fridays Book selection, Mazarkis Williams’ dark and complex debut fantasy novel The Emperor’s Knife, a plague that scars the bodies of its victims is ravaging the Cerani Empire. When its patterns start to cover a sufferer’s skin they know that death—or servitude to an evil Pattern Master—will soon befall them. To curb the Pattern Master’s power, Emperor Beyon decrees that anyone with the telltale marks be put to death.
But now the Emperor himself is afflicted with the disease, and once it reaches his face, his dangerous secret will be exposed. As he pushes the great minds of his empire to find a cure, powerful forces align to expose him and grasp power from his ailing hands.
Williams’ powerful series continues in the next book, Knife Sworn, available now for NOOK.
Today’s Free Fridays App, Ocean Adventures! Fun educational games for kids in Preschool & Kindergarten: Grammar & Vocabulary, prepares young NOOK users for school challenges ahead.
This free app is part of the iLearnWith program for kids ages 3 to 6 designed to get your child ready for school while having fun! There’s nothing quite as rewarding as seeing your child enjoy learning and making progress on crucial early milestones. When I set up my preschooler with Ocean Adventures!, she immediately gravitated to the Octopus hidden object game, where she grouped various hidden objects based on their similar characteristics. She laughed every time she saw the octopus juggling the objects she discovered. She’s also had a blast with the other undersea adventures, refining skills like listening comprehension and sentence formation.
With today’s free app, and all of the iLearnWith program apps, your little ones will be prepared to meet the challenges of preschool and kindergarten head on.
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In today’s Free Fridays Book selection, The Breath of God by Jeffrey Small, a religious scholar makes a groundbreaking discovery that could change the world but puts him in great personal danger.
Fans of Dan Brown and Preston & Child will love Jeffrey Small's award-winning debut novel, with its unique blend of suspense, spirituality, and ancient history. Graduate student Grant Matthews journeys to the Himalayas in search of an ancient mystery hidden in a remote monastery, but at every step of his quest he confronts a conspiracy of zealots who will go to any lengths to protect the secret: a secret that could change Grant's life, if he survives.
Joining Grant on his quest is photojournalist Kristin Misaki and together they must confront an assassin at the Taj Mahal, a kidnapping in a sacred city, and a desperate chase through a cliffside monastery—all in the pursuit of a legend that could link together the great religious faiths of the world.
If you enjoy fast-paced thrillers that explore ancient cultures, you won’t want to miss The Breath of God, or Small’s newest book, The Jericho Deception—available now for preorder.
Today’s Free Fridays App selection is the fun—and educational—Dora ABCs Vol 1: Letters and Letter Sounds.
In my experience, kids just can’t resist the adorable cartoon adventurer Dora the Explorer. I can’t blame them—she’s cute as a button and an enviable problem solver. With today’s irresistible free app, early readers learn important lessons about letter recognition and phonics, through a series of engaging activities. You’ll love watching your pint-sized reader tracing letters in the sky, as Dora’s friend Tico draws pictures and letters with his plane. Each activity reinforces different skills, keeping even the most energetic toddler engaged.
To keep them engaged even after they’ve mastered these new skills, explore the full range of Nickelodeon apps on NOOK 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 Jeffrey recommends:
International intrigue meets historical fiction in Steve Berry's latest thriller The King’s Deception. After his teen-aged son is kidnapped in England, Berry's returning super-operative Cotton Malone is plunged into a diplomatic showdown involving a Libyan terrorist and a centuries-old Tudor secret that brings into question the English occupation of Northern Ireland. As Malone learns how his son is caught up in a CIA operation known as the King's Deception, he must confront assassins, traitors, spies, and a mysterious secret society, playing one against the other in a lethal game that risks both his son's life and peace in Great Britain.
Today’s Free Fridays Book selection—Angel’s Ink by Jocelynn Drake—is a popular paranormal fantasy with a twist. Gage is a talented tattoo artist, but he’s not your typical ink jockey. His tattoos offer a little something extra—a small dollop of magic that can bring good luck, true love, or even a hex on an ex.The mysterious Gage is a warlock who’s escaped the cruel Ivory Tower, where witches and warlocks rule with an iron fist, and is in hiding in Low Town. Here he plies his trade, hoping to fly under the radar of the vengeful rulers who have vowed to track him down. Low Town is a unique place—a town where elves, faeries, trolls, werewolves and vampires walk among humans, and Gage has an unusual roster of clients and friends.
But when Gage goes one step too far in a desperate attempt to save a woman’s life, he’s suddenly exposed—risking the tentative freedom that his secret life has brought him.
More of Gage’s enchanting adventures await in the next Asylum Tales adventure, Dead Man’s Deal.
Today’s Free Fridays App is Hidden Object - Where Fairies Dwell, a whimsical puzzle game that’s great for all ages. The game’s objective is to find hidden objects among fantastical dreamscapes. While novice players and kids might want to play the casual mode, I love racing the ticking-clock in the challenge mode (but I admit I sometimes need to rely on hints when I get stumped). There’s also really nice, soothing background music that always helps draw me into the experience even more. As an added bonus, after you download the app you’ll continue to get free updates when they’re released!
Once you’ve mastered the puzzles in this challenging app, you can test your skills with dozens of other great apps from Difference Games 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 Jocelynn recommends:
How To Marry A Millionaire Vampire by Kerrelyn Sparks is one urban fantasy I find myself returning to again and again because I love her wonderful humor and interesting take on the hidden difficulties that come with being a vampire. She deftly puts two of man's greatest horrors together (vampires and dentists) and leaves you laughing in the end.
"A richly imagined world. Readers will enjoy the mind-bending fun of puzzling together small details."
-Booklist
What reader, young or old, hasn’t pictured themselves stepping into the pages of their favorite books? In today’s Free Fridays selection, Storybound by Marissa Burt, a young girl does just that.
Una Fairchild is a devoted reader, escaping her less-than-ideal life by losing herself in fairytales. So when she wakes up to find herself ‘written in’ to a sweeping fairytale, she’s initially excited for the adventures ahead. Her new world is populated by her favorite fictional characters, and Una’s delighted to learn about their world. But the plot of Una’s story soon takes a dangerous turn, and she must band together with her newfound friends to make sure they all live happily ever after.
Storybound is a wonderful book for instilling a passion for reading and storytelling in young readers, so make sure you share today’s Free Fridays selection with your favorite little NOOK readers. They’ll be so enthralled with Una’s journey, they’ll want to jump right into her next adventure in the pages of Story’s End, available now on NOOK.
IF YOU'RE LOOKING FOR MORE GREAT DEALS THIS WEEKEND, now through Sunday, save 50% on over 1000 NOOK Books like our new B&N Recommends selection Life After Life by Kate Atkinson, Alex Cross, Run by James Patterson, and Heaven is for Real by Todd Burpo here.
Mmmmmmm, donuts.
After you’ve achieved Michael Jordan-worthy dunking skills on all 50 levels, take on new challenges in dozens of other value-priced Beansprites apps.
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 Marissa recommends:
I think my readers will enjoy Jenn Reese's novel Above World, set in a future where the human race's survival is dependent on technology that enables them to live in otherwise uninhabitable places: colonies under water, mountain peaks, and scorching deserts. Everything is threatened when the technology begins to fail, and Aluna, a, brave thirteen-year-old girl from the underwater colony, sets out to determine why. I love the fierceness and courage of mer-heroine Aluna and the friendship she shares with Hoku as they journey together through the above world. The first in a series, Above World is sure to capture the imaginations of readers who love getting lost in a good book.Read more...
"[Black Hole Sun] rockets readers to new frontiers…action packed."
- Hunger Games author Suzanne Collins
Today’s Free Fridays selection is a fast-paced adventure novel for young adults that will have readers of all ages on the edge of their seats.
The first book in David Macinnis Gill’s popular science fiction series, Black Hole Sun is a masterful combination of great storytelling and impressive character-building. Young Durango is a disgraced mercenary, fighting battles on Mars while trying to save his imprisoned father from an even worse fate. He’s lost everything, and his desperation only makes him more dangerous to his enemies.
Durango and his crew are believable and compelling characters, making this more than just a shoot-em-up space adventure. But there’s plenty of fast-paced action, too. If you loved the nuanced complexity of the Hunger Games, this impressive series debut is for you.
Continue the adventures with the newest book in this critically-acclaimed series, Shadow of the Sun, available now for NOOK.
Today’s Free Fridays App – Monkey Word School Adventure by THUP Games – is an engaging, interactive way for young kids to develop spelling and reading skills. Designed for kids ages 3-7, Monkey Word offers a variety of difficulty levels so you can customize the experience for your child. The app features six games focusing on a specific skill—like uppercase and lowercase letter writing on a stone tablet, and a rhyming maze where kids guide a chinchilla by pairing rhyming words along the way.
This free offer is a great way to start your kids on an exciting learning adventure, and once they’ve mastered the word challenges, they’ll be ready for more skill-building fun in Monkey Preschool Lunchbox & Monkey Math School Sunshine.
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 David recommends:
Megan Whalen Turner’s debut novel, The Thief, is a Newbery Honor-winning masterpiece of beguiling plotting and sleight-of-hand narration. It would have been very difficult for a writer to top that success, but Turner did it with the second book in the Queen’s Thief series, The Queen of Attolia. A perfect balance of character, setting, prose, and plot twists that make a Rubik's Cube look like a preschooler’s jigsaw puzzle, The Queen of Attolia reunites the Thief, Eugenides, and his archrival, the cunning and ambitious Queen, who would love nothing more than to get her hands on the man who stole everything from her. But as the adage goes, be careful what you wish for . . .
With their good manners, decadent settings, and lush period detail, Regency romances have much to offer. Today’s Free Fridays selection, Lady Maggie's Secret Scandal by New York Times bestselling author Grace Burrowes, is an ideal read for devoted fans of historical romance, and anyone looking to expand their horizons.
Lady Maggie is the dignified, illegitimate daughter of the Duke of Moreland—and he’s eager to get her married off. Soon though, Lady Maggie’s personal letters go missing, and her reputation is in danger until they're safely returned. Enter the handsome and talented investigator Benjamin Hazlit.
Though Maggie would love to pursue the dashing Hazlit, she worries that the risks to her—and consequently to him—may not be worth the reward. Can their mutual passion overcome her fears?
You’ll find more romance and intrigue in the other books in Burrowe’s Duke’s Daughters series.
And in case you missed it: Dan Brown's blockbuster thriller, The Da Vinci Code featuring the prologue & first chapter of the upcoming Robert Langdon adventure, Inferno, is free for a limited time.
Today’s Free Fridays App selection is one of our favorite - and messiest - NOOK Apps: Fruit Ninja - Puss in Boots.
This action-filled game combines one of our most popular app franchises with the irresistible hero of the hit animated movie, Puss in Boots. Who better to slice & dice his way through a series of fruit-mutilating challenges than the swashbuckling bandito Puss?
Fans of the classic Fruit Ninja will recognize the gameplay, updated with new challenges and Puss in Boots graphics. It's fun for all ages, and better yet, it's FREE for a limited time. Once you've mastered Fruit Ninja - Puss in Boots, the classic version of Fruit Ninja awaits your impeccable blade-work.
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 Grace recommends:
A Lady's Revenge by Tracey Devlyn
Cora and Guy's tale is not your typical Regency drawing room drama, but rather, a story of high stakes, adventure, and the price paid by those who lived, fought and loved passionately in a world of clashing armies and ideals in flux. Tracey Devlyn's debut is a terrific read, and the start of a wonderful series.
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