The latest NOOK First collection offers a wide range of books for every type of reader--from a madcap PI mystery to the true story behind a hit motion picture. Below are four highlights from the current collection, but make sure to explore the entire offering of NOOK First titles.

Good Night Sweet Angel by Clare McNally

After escaping her marriage, Jenn Galbraith hoped to start a new life with her four-year-old daughter, Emily. But Jenn’s ex-husband has other plans. Evan follows them to their new home in Vermont, determined to take their lives. He succeeds only in killing himself and hospitalizing Emily. Comatose and hovering between life and death, Emily meets Tara, a little girl who’s also searching for a way back to the world of the living. Upon waking, Emily is delighted to find Tara’s presence has followed her home.

Even in death, Evan seeks to stake his claim to Emily. His vengeful spirit pursues her and is repeatedly thwarted by Tara, the ghost of a child. Tara can hold Evan at bay, but she also has her own agenda: Emily is Tara’s last chance to live again.

The Girl in 6E by Alessandra Torre

“I am, quite possibly, the most popular recluse ever. Not many shut-ins have a 200-member fan club, a bank account in the seven-figure range, and hundreds of men lining up to pay for undivided attention.

I give them my attention - they give me money and secrets. The money I have grown used to. The secrets are getting harder to take.

Then, with one chance encounter, everything changes and I have to decide: Keep the secrets and my safety? Or risk everything to save someone else?”

Secret Bond by Gemma Halliday

Her name is Bond. Jamie Bond. And she is licensed to kill any pre-nup you can throw at her.

Catching cheating husbands became Jamie Bond's life when her father was shot and wounded on the job, forcing Jamie to take over the family business: The Bond Agency. But three years later, the PI is shocked when the gun that wounded her father surfaces during a high-profile murder trial. Is this the connection Jamie's been waiting for to finally nail her father's shooter? But, oddly enough, Derek Bond doesn't seem interested. In fact, if Jamie didn't know better she'd say he's even trying to stop her from looking into it. Along with her team of bombshell investigators, Jamie suddenly finds herself in the middle of a cold case that's heating up the media, dodging old grudges and new enemies, while questioning the motives of those closest to her. If she can live with the truth, the secrets Jamie uncovers may bring down more than a marriage this time.

Pain & Gain by Pete Collins

Daniel Lugo and Noel Adrian Doorbal were simple men: all they wanted—at first—was to be more pumped than the next guys, to own the workout floor, to look good. But then these pals, who worked as personal trainers at Miami’s Sun Gym, got a little itchy. The flash and cash flaunted by some of their clients was tempting….so tempting….and wouldn’t it be a piece of cake to get it for themselves?

Read the fascinating true story that became the hit motion picture starring Dwayne Johnson and Mark Wahlberg.

There’s nothing quite as exciting as discovering a great new author—it’s like making a new friend who you know will be around for a long time to come. The newly-launched self-publishing platform NOOK Press makes it easy to find your next great read from independent authors with great stories to tell. NOOK Press offers a wide range of authors a chance to reach readers like you: people who are looking for a fresh story from a talented writer. I really hope you’ll explore the NOOK Press Books collection here.

In addition to the exciting news about the NOOK Press launch, I'm also pleased to introduce the latest NOOK First collection. There are so many authors who you may not have heard of, but who deserve to be on your to-be-read list. Below are just a few that I think NOOK Blog readers will enjoy, but make sure you explore the whole collection here. 

Adera: The Soul Stone by R.H. Stavis

When Jane is summoned to the jungles of Thailand to investigate a ruined temple and an artifact rumored to have great power, the Soul Stone, she must enlist the help of helicopter pilot Matthew Hawk. She finds him equal parts intriguing and maddening, but he’s the only person brave enough – or crazy enough – to fly her in.  The only thing Jane knows for sure is that the stone is special … special enough that men have been killed over it. And Jane and Hawk could be next.

A Grand Day to Get Lost by Kris Radish

Is it really possible that the renowned author of The Yearling faked her own death in 1953?

A wrong turn down a remote Florida backwoods highway turns into the ride of a lifetime for Emily Weaver, a university librarian, when she mysteriously discovers a manuscript written by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, dated years after the beloved author’s death. Emily unwittingly begins a treasure hunt in a world that is as beautiful as it is dangerous, and it is a hunt that could not only change her life, but the landscape of the entire literary world.

Seduced at Sunset by Julianne MacLean

While setting out to play matchmaker for her mother, Lady Charlotte meets a rugged, handsome stranger who saves her from a thief in the street, but her heroic rescuer soon turns out to be more mysterious—and dangerously captivating—than any man she has ever known.

Moonlands by Aimee Carr

Fifteen-year-old Ashley has a complicated life. There’s no doubt her overachieving parents love her, but they are wrapped up in their own worlds for so much of the time it leaves her feeling like she’s alone.

Like a lot of teenagers, Ashley dreams of other worlds, but unlike a lot of teenagers her world is about to collapse as rifts to an ancient Fae Kingdom begin to open all around her. With the arrival of of a supernatural hit-squad intent on killing her, and an unexpected inheritance, Ashley’s London is about to become a magical and mysterious warzone where the prize is Ashley herself.

Destinations Unknown by Gary A. Braunbeck

Winner of the coveted Bram Stoker award, Gary Braunbeck’s Destinations Unknown is a collection of original dark fiction concerning itself with people, cars, and the open road.

A man is sent to deliver an old woman's body to her hometown, but when he arrives, the city is not on the map--and soon he finds out why. Another man who has hated cars all his life finds himself stuck in a traffic jam on a sweltering hot day...a very different type of traffic jam. Then a businessman on a long road trip comes to a long and lonely stretch of highway where every sign he passes orders him to MERGE RIGHT. There are no exits in sight, no other cars, no sign of civilization...and there is something very strange about the scenes appearing in his rearview mirror.

Readers have found a lot of compelling reads from emerging authors, thanks to our NOOK First collection. We’re constantly updating our featured titles, so there’s always something fresh to dig into. Some recent favorites are highlighted below, but don’t forget to explore the entire range of NOOK First selections.

Rontel by Sam Pink

Sam Pink’s Rontel, the first novel from innovative publisher Electric Literature, is a love letter to Chicago that's full of unrequited affection, brimming with contempt and admiration, gratitude and spite. Subversive and shamelessly honest, Rontel is Knut Hamsun's Hunger for the millennial generation, and deserves a place among the great works of loner fiction next to Céline, Fante, Camus, and Bukowski.

Zombie - A Love Story  by Patricia Lee Macomber

Life has been good to Paul Tremblay. He has a decent job, a beautiful girlfriend, and a devoted pal. It's just another average day for average joe, Paul. That is, until he wakes up on a table in the morgue. Now, his heart doesn't beat, he doesn't breathe, and he keeps forgetting things like his own name. Desperate to get to his girlfriend, Linda, before it's too late, Paul sets off on a cross-country journey to Los Angeles. It's a journey of discovery for Paul: who he was, what he is now, and just how far he's willing to go to get to Linda. Will Linda still love him even though he's joined the ranks of the undead? Can he still convince her to marry him?

The Miracle Girls by Anne Dayton and May Vanderbilt

Nowhere Slow by Jonathan Gourlay

n 1997, Jonathan Gourlay travels to the island of Pohnpei, in the western Pacific Ocean, to teach English at the College of Micronesia. He is a stranger in a strange land, unfamiliar with the language, the intricacies of Pohnpeian social life, and most of all, the mildly psychotropic drink sakau. But the society that he blunders into eventually becomes his adopted home for the next eleven years. Along the way, Gourlay endures plenty of minor embarrassments and one major heartbreak: his whirlwind marriage to a Pohnpeian woman comes apart and ends in tragedy, leaving him to pick up the pieces of his life and to raise his daughter alone.

Our latest batch of NOOK First titles offers a wide range of compelling reads. From a classic true crime novel newly available on NOOK, to a brooding novel of love, loss & Edgar Allan Poe. The four books below are just some of the great reads available now, so check out the full NOOK First collection here.

Breathe by Kate Bishop

Alex thought she had married the man of her dreams: successful, gorgeous, and delighted by her small-town charm. When he walks out six months later, proclaiming to have 'found himself' (with the help of a stunning yoga teacher), she 'finds herself' alone in an unfamiliar city, vengefully drinking through his prized wine collection, living on takeout, and refusing to answer the door. When this fails to cure her broken heart and bruised ego, she reluctantly allows her new friends to intervene. Slowly, Alex learns to define success on her own terms; she discovers the secret to love in all its forms, and the perfect flying crow pose, one breath at a time.

A March of Kings by Morgan Rice

A March of Kings, Book 2 in the Sorcerer’s Ring series, takes us one step further on Thor’s epic journey into manhood, as he begins to realize more about who he is, and what his powers are.

“A breathtaking new epic fantasy series. Morgan Rice does it again! This magical saga reminds me of the best of J.K. Rowling, George R.R. Martin, Rick Riordan, Christopher Paolini and J.R.R. Tolkien. I couldn’t put it down!” --Allegra Skye, Bestselling author of Saved

A Rose For Her Grave by Ann Rule

A classic true crime account, newly-available on NOOK.

Ann Rule's Crime Files books have delivered the very best in true crime reading since A Rose For Her Grave, first in the acclaimed series, made its debut. Distinguished by the former Seattle policewoman's razor-sharp eye for telling detail and her penetrating analysis of the criminal mind, this gripping collection of accounts drawn from her personal files features the twisting case of Randy Roth, who married -- and murdered -- for profit.

Nevermore by David Niall Wilson

A novel of love, loss & Edgar Allan Poe.

One dark, moonlit night, two artists met at The Lake Drummond Hotel, built directly on the borderline of North Carolina and Virginia. One was a young woman with the ability to see spirits trapped in trees and stone, anchored to the earth beyond their years. Her gift was to draw them, and then to set them free. The other was a dark man, haunted by dreams and visions that brought him stories of sadness and pain, and trapped in a life between the powers he sensed all around him, and a mundane existence attended by failure.

They were Eleanore MacReady, Lenore, to her friends, and a young poet named Edgar Allan Poe, who traveled with a crow that was his secret, and almost constant companion, a bird named Grimm for the talented brothers of fairy-tale fame.

Tell Me: What caught your eye about the last new author you discovered?

First things first. In this very first NOOK First post of the year, I want you to be among the first readers to find out about some really great new books.

The following are just a handful of the books currently available, so be sure to explore our full NOOK First collection.

Another Heaven by Renee Roszel

A wealthy, if dysfunctional, family sets out on a $600 million island treasure hunt, all at the behest of a vengeful deceased matriarch. Among the competitors is Rule Danforth, who left his rarefied family to pursue the protection of a rare zebra breed. But now he’s lost his land and needs a windfall in order to continue his worthy efforts. Along for the ride is a local woman, Mandy McRae, who vows to help Rule claim the reward, but may have other less-pure motives as well.

Tonight and Always by Linda Lael Miller

A classic  paranormal tale by bestselling author Linda Lael Miller—now available on NOOK.

Kristina's beauty befits a child of vampires, but she does not possess the seductive gifts of her parents. Her cursed bloodline remains, making her immortal. The one time she dared give her heart to a mortal man, she suffered the torment of his immortality, and vowed never to love again—until now.

The Ring Road  by Edward Weinman

A glacial volcano awakens with a series of eruptions, stranding ex-cop Hobson at 66 degrees north, where human behavior is as unpredictable as the weather. Hobson's quickly ensnared in a bizarre murder investigation involving Gummi, a road-weary homicide detective; Jon Kari, an amoral entrepreneur; Snorri, a brutal pimp; and Ulfar, a homicidal sheep farmer. As Hobson falls in with a group of enigmatic tourists trying to survive the volcanic aftermath, the chase for a killer pushes them all to the icy edge of the inhabitable world.

Aria by Susan Segal

Eve Miller has lost her husband and children and lies in an Australian hospital, wondering if there is anything to live for. Then she accepts an invitation from a flamboyant, aging opera diva to stay at her New York home, and finds herself drawn back into life in ways she never expected. This remarkable debut explores women's relationships, the nature of fame, and the forces that keep us going in the face of heartbreak.

Tell Me: Do you like discovering new writers, or sticking with your favorites?

This year readers have discovered lots of great new books and writers, thanks to our NOOK First collection. In our last round-up of the year, we're highlighting everything from a fictional Hollywood romance, to an insightful guide to hot trends for 2012. Four excellent NOOK First titles are featured below, but be sure to explore the full collection of new NOOK First books for even more great reads.

Mission Adulthood by Hannah Seligson

Gen Y has been picked apart by analysts, statistics, and trend reports, which often portray 20-somethings in negative, one-dimensional terms like "entitled" and "whiners." In this thought-provoking new book that aims to dispel these stereotypes, journalist Hannah Seligson chronicles the lives of seven individuals who embody this generation, exploring their challenges and ambitions in vivid detail and sketching a picture, through their eyes, of what life is actually like for young adults.

The Revolution Was Televised by Alan Sepinwall

These 12 shows started a revolution in TV drama: The Sopranos. Oz. The Wire. Deadwood. The Shield. Lost. Buffy the Vampire Slayer. 24. Battlestar Galactica. Friday Night Lights. Mad Men. Breaking Bad.

These 12 shows, and the many more they made possible, ushered in a new golden age of television — one that made people take the medium more seriously than ever before. Alan Sepinwall became a TV critic right before this creative revolution began, was there to chronicle this incredible moment in pop culture history, and along the way “changed the nature of television criticism,” according to Slate. The Revolution Was Televised is the story of these 12 shows, as told by Sepinwall and the people who made them, including David Chase, David Simon, David Milch, Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, Vince Gilligan and more.

Come A Little Bit Closer by Bella Andre

In the newest book in Bella Andre’s New York Times and USA Today bestselling series about the Sullivan family, movie star Smith Sullivan can't afford any distractions. He's staking his entire reputation on his new film...but he can't stop thinking about Valentina Landon and the fire he sees smoldering just beneath the surface.

Valentina isn't averse to sensual pleasure, or even to the idea of finding true love, but as a Hollywood business manager she's watched too many smart women fall for actors...only to be torn apart when the fairytale comes to its inevitable end. Will Smith convince Valentina to let down her guard and give him a chance?

What's Next? by Marian Salzman

Looking for new opportunities in 2013? In What’s Next?, Havas PR CEO Marian Salzman reveals her predictions for tomorrow’s trends. This dynamic trendopedia—aggregated from Salzman’s public and private forecasts—highlights what you need to know about how and where we will live, love, communicate, relate, work, relax, invest, learn, travel and prosper in 2013, and how to track these trends in order to generate opportunity, anticipate  risk and enjoy a savvier journey into tomorrow.

With our NOOK First collection, we bring you a diverse offering of compelling books for every type of reader. Today I'm highlighting four new NOOK First titles, ranging from a modern re-telling of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland to a firefighter romance.

Deadly Bones by Terry Odell

A dog finding a bone is no big deal—until it turns out to be human.

Mapleton Police Chief Gordon Hepler and the mayor can't agree about what being a cop means. To Gordon, it's keeping his citizens safe. To the mayor, it's generating revenue by issuing speeding and parking tickets.

When two runaway dogs waylay Gordon on the way to what he hopes will be an uneventful afternoon at a backyard barbeque, more than his afternoon is interrupted. As dogs will do, these have uncovered a bone. Trouble is, it turns out to be human. When it leads to the discovery of more human remains, Gordon needs to find out why they're on the property, when they got there, and who they belonged to. After all, somebody needs to care

Birdcage Walk by Kate Riordan

A London Murder Mystery Based on a True Historical Crime

George Woolfe is a young working class East London printmaker in the early 1900’s. Frustrated by the constraints of his class and station, he sees an opportunity to escape when he by chance meets Charles Booth, author of one of the most comprehensive social surveys of London ever undertaken. But this auspicious encounter has tragic consequences for George who, within six months, is charged with the murder of a young woman. But did he do it?

Set at the dawning of a new century, when the rigid class and gender boundaries of the Victorian age were soon to shift and realign, Birdcage Walk is a historical novel that vividly brings to life a real-life Edwardian murder and the possible miscarriage of justice that followed it.

It Had to Be You by Katherine Shay

Author Kathryn Shay spent five years riding fire trucks with a large city fire department, eating in their firehouses and interviewing hundreds of America’s Bravest. It Had to Be You is one of the novels that resulted from her experiences.

Army veteran Beckett Sloan is just trying to make it through the day.

After having spent twenty years in the service, he was given an opportunity to join the fire department in Hidden Cove, NY, on an elite crew called the Rescue Squad. There’s one catch. He has to attend a support group for firefighters, police officers and veterans with PTSD, a malady which caused the breakup of his marriage and the estrangement of his son.

At the first session, he meets Lela Allen, a former army medic, who’s divorcing her army husband because of his inability to manage his own post traumatic syndrome. Though Lela and Beck are attracted to each other, they resist it. When both their children show symptoms of PTSD, common in kids of sufferers, a lasting relationship between Lela and Beck seems doomed. But fate has other things in mind for them.

Alice in Wonderland by Elle Lothlorien

There's an ace in the (rabbit) hole in this fun reimagining of Lewis Carroll's classic.

When high school math teacher Alice Faye Dahl attends a Texas Hold'em poker tournament in Ft. Collins, Colorado, she doesn't know a royal flush from a toilet flush. Four months and dozens of "wins" later, she's one of the Final Nine--the championship table at the International Poker Tour in Surfer's Paradise, Australia--and way out of her depth. When a fluke shark attack throws her and sports reporter Rabbit Montgomery together in this modern-day twist on Lewis Carroll's "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland," it seems to challenge the saying “lucky at cards, unlucky at love.” A veteran of the poker scene (and gorgeous to boot), he offers to help her go all the way to win the multi-million dollar prize, a deal she readily accepts. Unfortunately, Alice may find out too late that when it comes to poker (and love), sometimes you win, sometimes you lose—and sometimes it's both.

Explore the entire NOOK First collection here.

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

The latest NOOK First collection is one of the most diverse yet - with an internationally bestselling thriller, a vampire love story, a true account of horrific abuse, and a Bruce Springsteen fan's adventures abroad.  

The Seventh Woman by Frédérique Molay

Winner of France's prestigious Prix du Quai des Orfèvres prize for best crime fiction, named Best Crime Fiction Novel of the Year, and already an international bestseller with over 150,000 copies sold.

Who is preying on women in the French capital? How can he kill again and again without leaving any clues? A serial killer is taking pleasure in a macabre ritual that leaves the police on tenterhooks. Chief of Police Nico Sirsky—a super cop with a modern-day life, including an ex-wife, a teenage son and a budding love story—races against the clock to solve the murders as they get closer and closer to his inner circle. The story grabs you and doesn’t let go until the last page, leading you behind the scenes with the French police and into the coroner’s office. You will never experience Paris the same way again.

Time Without End by Linda Lael Miller

In Our House by Marla Scott

 

This chilling true story of a successful family reveals the hidden reality behind appearances. Colin is a brilliant, handsome, and charming man to the outside world, recruited by both the CIA and IBM. With all his success, the perception is that he has it all. The reality is a hellish nightmare of atrocious verbal and physical abuse for his beautiful wife, Alley, and their six children.

Just when Alley feels most helpless to protect her children from Colin's constant attacks, three mysterious women visit her with a promise that he will never hurt them again - if she gives them what they want. For the sake of the children, she agrees. The women work their evil within her family, and Alley gains immense power against Colin, but that power comes at a terrible price, and now the children must find a way to survive both parents.

Raise Your Hand by Caryn Rose

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

The newest batch of NOOK First titles offers everything from an apocalyptic comedy of manners to a seaworthy pirate tale—in other words, there’s something here for just about everyone.

Dark Water

London Macabre  

A Fine and Dangerous Season  

by Keith Raffel

On an October morning in 1962 Nate Michaels receives a strange call requesting his presence in Washington DC. Hours later he is on a plane to meet with JFK to discuss top secret plans for defusing the situation in Cuba. Now it is up to Michaels to prevent the impending nuclear holocaust.  

Etiquette for the End of the World  

by Jeanne Martinet

In this apocalyptic comedy of manners Tess Eliot just got dumped and lost her job, she has to keep reminding herself that it isn't the end of the world, or so she thinks. When she is hired to write an etiquette guide for the end of the world, she bemoans the absurdity of her life, until she discovers a real plot for world destruction.  

Scarface

Ammey McKeaf

by Jane Shoup

 

At nineteen, Ammey McKeaf is a golden-haired beauty; daughter to the most revered General in Azulland. When the country is consumed by violence, Ammey is secreted away to the Vihlae Forest where she will discover powers she didn't know she possessed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Too Small for Tall

by Aaron Rosenberg

 

In this sequel to the hilarious science fiction novel No Small Bills, the aptly named DuckBob Spinowitz is settling into his new job as Guardian of the Matrix and his new friendship with the Man in Black he dubbed Tall. But when a gift/bribe from Tall has an unexpected effect on the dour government agent, it's up to DuckBob to figure out what's going on and save his friend and possibly the entire human race! Again! And all without leaving his couch! 

 

 

 

Once She Knew

by Sheila Connolly

 

Claire Hastings has retreated to an isolated cabin in Maine in midwinter to work on her book. Her solitude is disrupted when disgraced journalist and former fling Jonathan Daulton stumbles into her cabin late one night. Jonathan is suspected of killing an FBI agent, to protect Claire, he fakes her kidnapping in a desperate plot to save his name and prevent a terrorist attack. 

 

 

 

 

 

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

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.

The Braeswood Tapestry

Dust of Eden  

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. 

The Cipher

Rose

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.  

Take Me, I'm Yours

by Donna Fasano

 

The German Suitcase  

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. 

The King of Pain 

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. 

Deadly Readings  

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.