Today’s top pick, a horror novel, is A Warm Place to Call Home, “A well-spun, engaging…supernatural tale…with a devilishly ambiguous ending,” according to Kirkus Reviews.
Author Michael Siemsen has also written four other bestsellers, including The Dig and Exigency. He is currently at work on Frederick & Samuel, which continues today’s top book.
Michael lives in Northern California.
As usual, each book listed here has gone FREE within the past 24 hours (except for the “Bargain Books” at the bottom of this page). 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.)
A Warm Place to Call Home (A Demon’s Story Book 1)
Frederick is a demon. Born in Maryland in the early 1980’s, he hasn’t a clue where he came from or why, but feels an irresistible desire to occupy a human body. Once inside, he finds the previous occupants’ consciousness and memories forever erased, an inevitable side effect that gives Frederick pause when switching bodies, but not so much as to truly halt his ongoing enjoyment of human lives. In various bodies he travels the world for decades–aimless–sampling cultures and experiencing life from the points of view of males, females, young, old, rich, poor.
Now, Frederick has an urge to return to his roots in America, explore the mystery of his origin, find someone to love, and settle down for a while. In his hometown, his mission bears fruit much faster than he expected. After seemingly chance encounters lead him to a thrilling romance, an unexpected adversary casts a suspicious eye upon him. Increasingly aware of the unique nature of this town and its people, Frederick follows his impulses, finding not only answers to lifelong questions, but also love and tragedy.
HER SWEETEST DOWNFALL (Forever Girl Series Prequel)
Ophelia’s been successful at hiding her true identity, until the mark of the serpent appears on her neck—a death sentence, should it be seen by anyone in her town. Hiding the mark might save her from falling victim to the witch hunts of her era, but the scorching sensation it carries can’t be ignored.
When the mysterious Ethan is sent to collect her for a life of something more, she learns concealing the mark is the least of her worries. She’s destined to don a new mask—to join a dark, supernatural world and protect the future of people she may never meet.
What she doesn’t know—what she learns too late—is that her initiation won’t be complete until she kills the man she loves.
Set in an alternate Regency England, “Her Sweetest Downfall” is a standalone novella in the “Forever Girl” series, written as a gift to fans of the Forever Girl series.
Cache 72 (A Jaxon Jennings’ Detective Mystery Thriller Series)
72 hours. That’s what the note said. 72 hours and the girl would be dead. Jaxon held the paper in one hand and the severed finger in the other. It was not a hoax. A day with his new hobby had turned into something he hadn’t seen coming.
GeoCaching—a modern scavenger hunt—was now a race against time. A woman he had never met was praying he wouldn’t fail.
72 hours. Three days. A life hanging in the balance and the clock ticking. The killer’s game deadly. Jaxon Jennings, retired cop and private eye, knew the girl had only one chance…
And he was it.
Leaving Liberty
At eighteen, Daisy McConnell left Liberty, Colorado and never looked back. The only bright spot in a childhood of neglect and loneliness was the town librarian, Marie. Now settled as a teacher in sunny Fresno, Daisy does her best to forget everything about Liberty including her drunk father, her MIA mother, and the town she hated with every beat of her heart.
Lane Bennett’s life as a small town cop is pretty close to perfect. He’s got his dog, a pretty date when he needs one, and plenty of time to fish on the weekends. No other place can compare to his hometown and he’s happy to devote his life to keeping the folks of Liberty safe. When Marie passes away, Lane knows one of the best parts about living in Liberty is gone, along with the old Carnegie library. It needs repairs the city can’t afford and the city managers won’t pay the new flood insurance. It’s too bad but safety comes first.
When Daisy comes home for Marie’s funeral and hears the only safe place she knew as a child is going to close, she refuses to let it happen. She hatches a plan to save the old library, run the summer reading program, and keep Marie’s legacy alive.
The Waiting Booth (Whispering Woods Book 1)
A missing boy, government agents, an interdimensional portal…
Mia has one goal for her senior year at Whispering Woods High—find her missing older brother. But when her science project reveals a portal into another dimension, she learns that travelers are moving in and out of her woods in the most alarming way and government agents Regulus and Arizona are policing their immigration. Mia’s drawn to the mysterious, aloof Regulus, but it’s no time for a crush. She needs to find out what they know about her brother, while the agents fight to save the world from viral contamination. But when Regulus reveals that he knows Mia’s secrets, she begins to wonder if there’s more going on than she thought…and if she was wrong to trust him…
The Before Now and After Then
Danny Goldstein has always lived in the shadow of his identical, twin brother Sam. But when a hurricane of events forces him into the spotlight, he starts to realize that the only thing he’s truly afraid of is himself. With the help of his costume changing friend Cher, a famous gay uncle with a mysterious past of his own, two aging punk rocker parents and Rusty, the boy who will become his something to live for, Danny begins to realize that the music of the heart is truly the soundtrack for living.
The Song of the Mockingbird (Jack McNamara Chronicles Book 1)
Reynolds and Ryan Publishing paid best-selling author, Jack McNamara, more than a million dollars in advanced royalties for three action-adventure novels. Only one problem: Jack cannot write a single word. Devastatingly depressed and hopelessly blocked Jack embarks on a personal journey back to the summer of 1961 when three childhood events created a psychological time-bomb that, thirty-five years later, threatened to destroy his marriage and end his writing career.
Vibrant characters, settings like Charleston, Savannah and Key West and a tightly wound plot make this novel a “must read.” The Song of the Mockingbird is Bill Cronin’s second novel following five-star reviews for his first novel “Dial Tone.”
The Second Revolution
What if a Rogue President took Control of America?
Jake McKinley moved to Pittsburgh after his divorce. After being attacked in his home, he buys a handgun for protection. Meanwhile, things are going crazy in Washington DC. The president dies and is replaced by his vice president. Opponents of the new president are assassinated. Liberty is threatened. The situation escalates until Americans must decide whether to fight for freedom, or forfeit it. Jake decides to fight, along with millions of others, in The Second Revolution.
The Art of Hearing Heartbeats
A poignant and inspirational love story set in Burma, The Art of Hearing Heartbeats spans the decades between the 1950s and the present. When a successful New York lawyer suddenly disappears without a trace, neither his wife nor his daughter Julia has any idea where he might be…until they find a love letter he wrote many years ago, to a Burmese woman they have never heard of. Intent on solving the mystery and coming to terms with her father’s past, Julia decides to travel to the village where the woman lived. There she uncovers a tale of unimaginable hardship, resilience, and passion that will reaffirm the reader’s belief in the power of love to move mountains.
Love (Vows)
Was it her biker boots, her belligerent blue jeans…or her mean left hook? Jason Halloran never knew what hit him. But just as his perfectly predictable life seemed to be going nowhere, sassy, street- smart Dana Roberts began driving him up a wall!
Dana Roberts had been on her own since age sixteen, and she intended to keep it that way. The last thing she wanted was some sexy, rich corporate VP playing Prince Charming and making her his helpless Cinderella. But what would she do if the shoe fit?
Vows: Love, Honor and Cherish—words that three generations of Halloran men vowed to live by.
The Gift
When high-level governmental programmer Sam Steele is called into his office on his day off, he quickly finds himself at the center of a battle for humanity itself. An alien entity is heading straight for Earth, and an elite team of specialists has been assembled to attempt to make first contact. But despite Steele’s expertise, Colonel Eric Web, his superior and longtime thorn in his side, makes it clear he doesn’t want him there.
The aliens that arrive represent a long-dead race and say they’ve come to help humans defend themselves against an imminent threat, but their help will come with a price. Now the future of humanity hangs in the balance between two men: Web, the regimented, hubristic military man, and Steele, a brilliant man broken by loss and tragedy.
As the team races the clock to try to divine their visitors’ complex instructions, they struggle with infighting and, ultimately, the question of what it means to be human.
Called Again: A Story of Love and Triumph
In 2011, Jennifer Pharr Davis became the overall record holder on the Appalachian Trail. By hiking 2,181 miles in 46 days — an average of 47 miles per day — she became the first female to ever set that mark. But this is not a book about records or numbers; this is a book about endurance and faith, and most of all love. The most amazing part of this story is not found at the finish, but is discovered through the many challenges, lessons and relationships that present themselves along the trail. This is Jennifer’s story, in her own words, about how she started this journey with a love for hiking and more significantly a love for her husband Brew. Together, they were able to overcome rugged mountains and raging rivers, sleet storms and 100 degree heat, shin-splints and illnesses.
They made new friends and tested old friendships; they shared together laughter, and tears — a lot of tears. But, through it all, they fell more in love with one another and with the wilderness. By completing this extraordinary amateur feat, Jennifer rose above the culture of multi-million dollar sports contracts that is marked by shortcuts and steroids. This is the story of a real person doing something remarkable. Jennifer Pharr Davis is a modern role-model for women — and men. She is an authentic hero.
The I.P.O.
A tragic accident. An opportunistic CEO. A shocking announcement at the opening of a bizarre new stock market.
Seven year-old Ryan Tyler, Jr. has just been adopted. By a corporation.
Ticker symbol RTJ is the initial public offering on James Prescott’s Avillage Exchange, a market that trades in the financial futures of exceptionally gifted orphans.
Before the brilliant first-grader has even had a chance to catch his breath, he is whisked off to live with seemingly perfect new parents he’s not sure he can trust. And he’s got a sinking feeling that the only ally he has from his previous life is somehow conspiring with the corporation.
With Prescott and a board of directors pulling strings behind the scenes, Ryan’s only chance at freeing himself from his shareholders may be to team up with his fellow Avillage orphans: an embittered computer-programming savant, a once-in-a-generation NBA prospect, and a show-stopping Latin American model.
Koontz’s fast-paced yet introspective writing style is sure to keep your mind whirring and the pages turning, right to the explosive final page.
… See the rest of today’s Editor’s Picks here on page 2