New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Ashley tops today’s Buffet with her popular historical romance Mackenzie Family Christmas: The Perfect Gift.
Jennifer also writes paranormal and contemporary romance as Jennifer Ashley; mysteries as Ashley Gardner; and paranormal romance and urban fantasy as Allyson James.
Jennifer’s/Allyson’s/Ashley’s 50-plus novels have won the RITA award, the Golden Quill, RT Reviewer’s Choice awards, and the Prism award, among others.
Jennifer enjoys writing and reading above all else, but her hobbies include cooking, hiking, playing flute and guitar, painting, and building miniature rooms and dollhouses.
As usual, each book listed here has gone FREE within the past 24 hours, except for the Bargain books in the yellow section below. Warning: Kindle book promotions can end without notice, so before downloading click the link “See Kindle price at Amazon” to verify that the book is still free. (Prices and availability may differ outside USA.)
Mackenzie Family Christmas: The Perfect Gift
Historical Romance > Scottish
Author: Jennifer Ashley
Revisit the Mackenzies in this heartwarming Christmas tale. Book 4.5 of the New York Times bestselling Mackenzies / Highland Pleasures Series, this short novel has fifteen chapters, 43,000 words.
The Mackenzies gather for a clan Christmas and Hogmanay in Scotland. In the chaos of preparations for the celebration–the first of Hart and Eleanor’s married life–one of Ian’s Ming bowls gets broken, and the family scrambles to save the day. Daniel busily runs a betting ring for everything from the hour Eleanor’s baby will arrive, to whether Mac’s former-pugilist valet can win a boxing match. Ian begins a new obsession, and Beth fears that the loss of one of his precious bowls has made him withdraw once more into his private world.
Events take place after the close of The Duke’s Perfect Wife (before the Epilogue).
Witness Chase
Mystery > Hard-Boiled
Author: R.J. Jagger
- $4.95 List Price
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When up-and-coming associate attorney Kelly Ravenfield discovers she is on a stranger’s murder list, she frantically searches for answers, not only to save her life but also to find out whether she was tricked into participating in a murder herself.
Deal with Your Debt: Free Yourself from What You Owe
Personal Finance > Credit Ratings & Repair
Author: Liz Weston
Struggling with debt? Get realistic help that’s actually useful, from Liz Weston, one of the most popular and respected personal finance experts.
Today, people struggling with debt have far fewer options: lenders are stingier, which makes it harder to avert disaster, or to recover from setbacks like foreclosure, short sales, or bankruptcy. (Meanwhile, people with good credit have more options than ever, including some of the lowest interest rates in decades.) You need an up-to-date guide that can help you assess options, find help, discover opportunities, and take action that works.
Weston reveals why most “conventional wisdom” about debt is just dead wrong. For most people, it’s simply impractical to pay off every dime of debt, and live forever debt free. In fact, doing that can leave you a lot poorer in the long run. You’re more likely to give up, or pay off the wrong debts.
Comeback
Memoirs > Sports & Outdoors > Baseball
Author: Dave Dravecky, Tim Stafford
In one of the most memorable moments of Major League Baseball, Dave Dravecky pitched a winning game—less than a year after undergoing cancer surgery on his pitching arm. But his comeback was short-lived. Just five days after his winning game, Dravecky broke his arm—and would later lose it entirely as the cancer returned.
Dave’s true comeback would come later—as a bestselling author and inspirational speaker offering strength, hope, and comfort inspired by Christian teachings and his own experience with suffering and loss. This book recounts the thrilling details of Dave’s two comebacks—from his early baseball career and brief return to the pitching mound to his ultimate triumph over adversity through unflagging determination and deep Christian faith.
The Habit
Biographies & Memoirs > Aging Parents
Author: Susan Morse
Regular Price: $16.99, Today $1.99
In this fresh, funny, utterly irresistible memoir, Susan Morse offers readers a look at a mother-daughter relationship that is both universal and unique. For anyone who’s wondered how they made it through their childhood with their sanity intact, for every multitasking woman coping simultaneously with parents and children, for those of us who love our parents come hell or high water (because we just can’t help it), Susan Morse’s story is surprising, reassuring, and laugh-out-loud funny. A beguiling journey of love, forbearance, and self-discovery, The Habit introduces two unforgettable women you’ll be glad to know—from a safe distance.
From the time she was conceived, Susan Morse was her mother’s “special” child. For Susan, special translated into becoming her incorrigible mother’s frazzled caretaker, a role that continued into adulthood. Now she finds herself as part of the sandwich generation, responsible for a woman whose eighty-five years have been single-mindedly devoted to identifying The Answer To Everything. And, this week’s Answer looks like it may be the real thing.
Susan’s mother is becoming a nun.
Mother Brigid is opinionated and discerning (Don’t call them trash cans. They’re scrap baskets!), feisty and dogmatic (Stop signs and No Parking zones are installed bybureaucratic pencil pushers with nothing better to do), a brilliant artist (truly, a saving grace), and predictably unpredictable, recently demonstrated by her decision to convert to Orthodox Christianity and join its holy order. Dressed in full nun regalia, she might be mistaken for a Taliban bigwig. But just as Mother Brigid makes her debut at church, a debilitating accident puts her in a rehab center hours from Susan’s home, where Susan’s already up to her neck juggling three teenagers, hot flashes, a dog, two cats, and a husband whose work pulls him away from the family for months at a time.
Lost Melody
Religious Fiction > Romance
Author: Lori Copeland, Virginia Smith
Regular Price $9.99, Today $1.99
The beautiful piano sitting in the corner of Jill King’s apartment begs to be played. For over a year, it has sat untouched, ever since a terrible accident shattered Jill’s ambition of becoming a concert pianist. The ragged scar on her left hand is a cruel and constant reminder of the death of her dream.
But another dream is about to come to life—an unexpected, horrifying dream that will present Jill with a responsibility she never wanted. And choices she never wanted to make.
Hundreds of lives depend on Jill’s willingness to warn her small, oceanside town in Nova Scotia of a nameless, looming disaster. But doing so could cost Jill her reputation, jeopardize the political career of the man she loves, and ruin their plans for a future together.
The fate of an entire community hangs in the balance as Jill wrestles with the cost of heeding one still, small voice.
Wizard’s First Rule
Science Fiction & Fantasy > Magic & Wizards
Author: Terry Goodkind
Regular Price $8.99, Today $1.99
- $8.99 List Price
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Wizard’s First Rule, the first novel by Terry Goodkind, was a phenomenon from the moment it was published by Tor Books in 1994, selling more than 100,000 copies in North America alone. It still sells more than 100,000 copies a year and has gone on to bestsellerdom in the United Kingdom and in more than twenty foreign translations as well as audiobook form.
It is now being developed as one of the most ambitious television miniseries of all time. Executive Producer Sam Raimi (director of the three Spider-Man movies), in collaboration with Disney/ABC, is creating a 22-episode adaptation of the book to be filmed in New Zealand.
Richard and Kahlan’s story unfolds over ten more novels, collectively known as the Sword of Truth series, concluding with Confessor in 2007. Placing Goodkind in the elite club of #1 New York Times bestselling authors, the series has sold more than twenty million copies to date worldwide.
In Wizard’s First Rule, Goodkind introduced the world to an ordinary forest guide, Richard Cypher, and the mysterious, powerful woman he comes to love, Kahlan Amnell. Learning his true identity, Richard accepts his destiny as the one man who can stop the bloodthirsty tyrant Darken Rahl. Hunted relentlessly, betrayed and alone, Kahlan calls upon Richard to reach beyond his sword and invoke something more noble within himself as the final confrontation with Darken Rahl looms.
The importance of Wizard’s First Rule is sourced in Goodkind taking on the toughest of all literary challenges: to tell an electrifying story of action, violence, and adventure that also makes people think, and that would influence the choices and actions of its readers.
Years after reading Wizard’s First Rule, Goodkind fans still ask themselves, “What would Richard do?” when confronted with life’s obstacles and challenges. “Your life is yours alone,” Richard says at a key moment. “Rise up and live it.”
The Not-Just-Anybody Family
Children’s Fiction
Author: Betsy Byars
Regular Price $7.99, Today $1.99
Newbery Award-winning author Betsy Byars’s heartwarming and timeless books about the irrepressible Blossom family are back. In this introduction to the one-of-a-kind clan, Pap, the Blossoms’ grandfather, has landed himself in jail for disturbing the peace. Even though Junior is laid up in the hospital with two broken legs after jumping off the barn roof to test his new homemade wings, he and his sister and brother, Maggie and Vern, have come up with a plan to rescue Pap. A new generation of readers will fall head over heels for this engaging, hilarious family.
The Cornbread Mafia: A Homegrown Syndicate’s Code of Silence and the Biggest Marijuana Bust in American History
True Accounts > True Crime
Author: James Higdon
Regular Price $24.95, Today $3.99
The true story of the largest homegrown marijuana syndicate in American history, a band of Kentucky farmers descended from Prohibition-era moonshiners versus the War on Drugs.
The Unreal Life of Sergey Nabokov: A Novel
Historical Fiction > Biographical > Gay & Lesbian
Author: Paul Russell
Regular Price $16.95, Today $3.99
In his novel based on the extraordinary life of the brother of Vladimir Nabokov, Paul Russell re-creates the rich and changing world in which Sergey, his family and friends lived; from wealth and position in pre-revolutionary Russia to the halls of Cambridge University and the Parisian salon of Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas. But it is the honesty and vulnerability of Sergey, our young gay narrator, that hook the reader: his stuttering childhood in the shadow of his brilliant brother, his opium-fueled evenings with Cocteau, his troubled love life on the margins of the Ballets Russes and its legendary cast, and his isolation in war-torn Berlin.
A meticulously researched novel, featuring an extraordinary cast of characters (including Picasso, Diaghilev, Stravinsky, Magnus Hirschfield, and of course the master himself, Vladimir Nabokov), this is ultimately the story of a beautiful and vulnerable boy growing into an enlightened and courageous man.
Dove Season (Jimmy Veeder Fiasco)
Mystery > Hard-Boiled > Action & Adventure
Author: Johnny Shaw
Regular Price $9.99, Today $0.99
- $9.99 List Price
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Twelve years have passed since Jimmy Veeder set foot in the Imperial Valley of southern California. The only person that could bring him back is his father, Jack, who is dying of cancer. Jimmy is prepared to spend Jack’s final days joking and reminiscing, but the old man has other plans. He needs Jimmy to cross the border into Mexico and find a prostitute named Yolanda. It’s a strange final request to be sure, but Jimmy’s not one to argue with a dying man.
With his childhood buddy Bobby Maves in tow, he heads south, looking for Yolanda among the seedy bars and neighborhoods along the Calexico/Mexicali border. Their search leads them to Tomás Morales, a rising star in the Mexican underworld. While dangerous to most, his childhood friendship with Jimmy brings out his loyalty and spurs him to help. But just when Jimmy thinks his quest has ended, an unexpected murder sucks him further into the violence and danger of Mexicali. In his fight for survival and search for truth, what he uncovers calls into question everything he thought he knew about his father—and will determine just what kind of man he himself truly is.
The Life and Loves of a She-Devil: A Novel
Thrillers > Psychological > Movie Tie-Ins
Author: Fay Weldon
Regular Price $11.99, Today $1.99
Fay Weldon takes “hell hath no fury like a woman scorned” to dazzling new heights in this quintessential novel about a wife’s revenge.
Ruth loves her husband, Bobbo, a handsome, successful accountant. But Bobbo has fallen in love with Mary Fisher, a bestselling romance novelist who lives in a high tower overlooking the sea, pampered by her young, virile manservant. Mary is petite, dainty, and lovely. He tells Ruth about his affair and when Ruth reacts badly, he promptly moves out. In turn, Ruth decides to orchestrate a fiendish and masterful revenge.
The Life and Loves of a She-Devil is a masterpiece about love, hate, infidelity, corrosive envy, and the best kind of revenge.
Running Cold (The Mick Callahan Novels)
Author: Harry Shannon
Regular Price $3.29, Today $0.99
- $3.69 List Price
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Media psychologist Callahan is a failed Navy Seal, a recovering alcoholic and a loyal friend. He’s also a man with a hot temper and a talent for getting himself into trouble. In this brand new adventure, the fourth book in the popular series, Callahan finds himself up against an angry young soldier just home from Afghanistan. Wes McCann’s father is a compulsive gambler and one of Mick’s clients. His brutal murder sets these two dangerous men on a collision course.
Glorious Ruin: How Suffering Sets You Free
Christian Living > Spiritual Growth
Author: Tullian Tchividjian
In this world, one thing is certain: Everybody hurts. Suffering may take the form of tragedy, heartbreak, or addiction. Or it could be something more mundane (but no less real) like resentment, loneliness, or disappointment. But there’s unfortunately no such thing as a painless life. In Glorious Ruin, best-selling author Tullian Tchividjian takes an honest and refreshing look at the reality of suffering, the ways we tie ourselves in knots trying to deal with it, and the comfort of the gospel for those who can’t seem to fix themselves—or others.
This is not so much a book about Why God allows suffering or even How we should approach suffering—it is a book about the tremendously liberating and gloriously counterintuitive truth of a God who suffers with you and for you. It is a book, in other words, about the kind of hope that takes the shape of a cross.
Encyclopedia of Operations Management
Management & Leadership > Production & Operations
Author: Arthur V. Hill
- $49.99 List Price
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This is the perfect “field manual” for every supply chain or operations management practitioner and student. The field’s only single-volume reference, it’s uniquely convenient and uniquely affordable. With nearly 1,500 well-organized definitions, it can help students quickly map all areas of operations and supply chain management, and prepare for case discussions, exams, and job interviews. For instructors, it serves as an invaluable desk reference and teaching aid that goes far beyond typical dictionaries. For working managers, it offers a shared language, with insights for improving any process and supporting any training program.
It thoroughly covers: accounting, customer service, distribution, e-business, economics, finance, forecasting, human resources, industrial engineering, industrial relations, inventory management, healthcare management, Lean Sigma/Six Sigma, lean thinking, logistics, maintenance engineering, and much more.
in Woolen Bikinis
Women’s Fiction > Humor
Author: Catherine Dougherty
Jean and Rosie are involved in a new adventure together—one they’re both excited about—and they’ll introduce you to some interesting characters along the way. While Jean is also busy dealing with numerous man issues, her best friend, Rosie, has plenty of issues of her own: she’s facing empty nest syndrome, her husband is recovering from heart surgery, and she’s finally prepared to solve a deep, dark secret from her past. Then, there’s the unexpected news that could shatter her optimism and faith.
The Broken Path
Christian Fiction > Romance
Author: Cami Checketts
Can a determined three-year old inspire them to love again?
Injured in a debilitating accident at age six, Ethan Searle believes women eye him with a mixture of pity and disdain. He’s tried love before. He won’t again. He meets his match in a precocious three-year old who loves him despite his disability, even while her mother seems bothered by everything about Ethan.
Autumn Reader escaped her abusive marriage with her beautiful daughter and a stack of fear. She can’t make the mistake of trusting a man again. Autumn’s daughter becomes enraptured by Ethan. Despite Autumn’s best intentions, she finds herself following her daughter’s example. When her ex-husband reappears, threatening everyone she loves if she won’t submit to his demands, Autumn has to learn to trust or lose her chance at real love.
35 Italian Recipes For Your Slow Cooker
Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Soups & Stews
Author: Pamela Kazmierczak
If you are trying to find a variety of Italian dishes to try this might be the cookbook for you. Using a slow cooker to prepare your meal will help make preparing delicious Italian food recipes much easier.
This book is all about Italian Cuisine. There are 35 different Italian recipes to choose from in this edition, I am sure you will find something you enjoy. Includes soups, pastas, stews and more.
A Southern Place
Women’s Fiction > Domestic Life
Author: Elaine Drennon Little
Mary Jane Hatcher– everyone calls her Mojo– is beat up bad. She’s in the ICU of Phoebe Putney, the largest hospital in South Georgia, barely able to talk. How Mojo goes from being that skinny little girl in Nolan, a small forgotten town along the Flint River, to the young woman now fighting for her life, is where this story begins and ends.
Mojo, her mama Delores and her Uncle Calvin Mullinax, like most folks in Nolan, have just tried to make the best of it. Of course, people aren’t always what they seem, and Phil Foster–the handsome, spoiled son of the richest man in the county–is no exception.
As the story of the Mullinax family unfolds, Mojo discovers a family’s legacy can be many things—a piece of earth, a familiar dwelling, a shared bond. And although she doesn’t know why she feels such a bond with Phil Foster, it is there all the same, family or not. And she likes to think we all have us a fresh start. Like her mama always said, the past is all just water under the bridge. Mojo, after going to hell and back, finally comes to understand what that means.
First to Find
Mystery > Women Sleuths
Author: Morgan C. Talbot
Margarita Williams escaped death at a young age, but its shadow has followed her all her life. Now, amidst the chaos of a new Australian roommate and mysterious, menacing neighbors, Death has set the puzzlemaker a puzzle of her own. Someone is killing her fellow geocachers, one by one.
Supersmeller Bindi Ryan left Australia to marry a man who abandoned her the minute her plane landed in Oregon. When thieves steal a local sculpture and a teenage friend is blamed, Bindi and her nose must prove him innocent and find the real culprits. But are she and Margarita working on two mysteries, or one?
If they can’t solve the final puzzle, the killer will strike one final, deadly blow.
… See the rest of today’s Editor’s Picks here on page 2