USA Today bestselling author Kathryn Shay spent five years riding fire trucks with a large city fire department, eating in their firehouses, and interviewing hundreds of firefighters to research her contemporary romance After The Fire, which tops today’s Buffet. This book “grabs you in the prologue and won’t let go until you’ve read the final page,” says The Romance Readers Connection.

Kathryn submitted her first manuscript in the early 1990s and sold it to Harlequin Superromance in 1994. Since then, she has written 25 books for Harlequin, nine mainstream contemporary romances for the Berkley Publishing Group, one mainstream novel with Bold Strokes Books, and two online novellas.

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.)

After The Fire (Hidden Cove Series Book 1)

 Romance > Contemporary

After The Fire (Hidden Cove Series Book 1)

Three firefighters from the Malvaso family are trapped in a burning building and almost lose their lives. After they are rescued, they decide to change the way they’ve been living. Mitch, the eldest, wants to make some decisions about his dysfunctional marriage and spend more time with his kids. Jenn decides to have a baby—with her best friend, Grady. And Zach, the bad boy of the group, vows to make up for his past sins and become a better man.

“This powerful, emotionally realistic book is the first of Shay’s new trilogy about the men and women who put their lives on the line every day and how that dedication and commitment affect all those around them. Poignant and compelling, this novel reinforces Shay’s well-earned reputation as a first-rate storyteller.” — Shelley Mosley, American Library Association.

The Practice Proposal: A Suddenly Smitten Novel

 Romantic Comedy

The Practice Proposal: A Suddenly Smitten Novel

Liza Sutherland isn’t looking for love. Not from a charity-auction date she didn’t even bid on and especially not with Nationals first baseman Cole Collins, the guy she obsessed over as an awkward teenager. She won’t get involved with a notorious player, no matter how attractive Cole is.
Cole Collins is up for contract renegotiation, but after too many late-night parties, he’ll need some positive publicity before he can make the roster. His agent, Frank, pitches Liza as the perfect prop…only Cole didn’t account for Liza no longer being just a teenager with a crush. She’s gorgeous and smart and he’s instantly hooked.
When Frank makes Liza a deal she can’t refuse—a bet she will fall in love with Cole or a cool half mil goes to charity—the game is on. But neither bet on the real feelings that surface. Could a fake fling turn into an official forever?

Texas Outlaw (Wild Texas Nights, Book 1)

 Historical Romance

Texas Outlaw (Wild Texas Nights, Book 1)

Fancy Holleday has more nerve than the average cardsharp. No man can resist her smoky voice and violet eyes—and that includes the federal tinstar, Cord Rawlins.

Cord may have tracked her all the way to Texas to recover the U.S. minting plates that she stole, but the Nevada penitentiary is a long ride north, giving her plenty of time to charm, seduce, or just plain outsmart the handsome Texas lawman.

Deputy U.S. Marshal Cord Rawlins is sworn to bring renegades to justice—including the brazen lady train robber who turned the tables on him near Carson City.

Tracking Fancy down is Cord’s job, but resisting her persistent persuasions is a matter of personal honor. With Fancy’s life in his hands, Cord begins to wonder if his clever prisoner is really as shameless as she pretends. Could her wicked smile be hiding a desperate secret—one that can steal his heart?

Singularity (The Archon Sequence Book 1)

 Science Fiction > High Tech

Singularity (The Archon Sequence Book 1)

June 30th, 1908 — In the remote Tunguska region of Siberia, the most violent cosmic collision in recorded history flattened ancient forests over an area half the size of Rhode Island. Yet after a hundred years of international scientific research the cause of this impact remains a mystery.

A MAVERICK ASTROPHYSICIST
Jack Adler thinks he’s fingered the culprit: a submicroscopic black hole, smaller than an atom, heavier than a mountain, older than the stars. What’s more, that fantastic object is still down there, deep inside the Earth, burrowing through the mantle in an ever-decaying orbit that will end only when it has devoured the entire planet.

A ROOKIE SECRET AGENT
Marianna Bonaventure is tracking three missing scientists suspected of involvement in weapons of mass destruction research. The trail leads to Rusalka, the luxurious floating corporate headquarters of billionaire Russian industrialist Arkady Grishin. Determined to prove herself, Marianna creates an elaborate ruse in order to infiltrate the megayacht — a dangerous gambit that requires the coerced cooperation of a rather special civilian …

AN UNCANNY CONSULTANT
Jonathan Knox is one of the country’s most sought-after analysts; his knack for intuiting hidden relationships among seemingly disparate events serves his Fortune-50 clients well. But when Marianna compels the reluctant Knox to join her undercover mission, he must grapple with puzzles of a whole different order of magnitude.

Against violent and cunning opposition, the three of them unearth a scheme to capture the submicroscopic black hole that caused the Tunguska Event and use its awesome power to transform the world — or end it altogether.

The Garden on Sunset (Hollywood’s Garden of Allah novels Book 1)

 Historical Fiction

The Garden on Sunset (Hollywood's Garden of Allah novels Book 1)

Right before talking pictures slug Tinsel Town in the jaw, a luminous silent screen star converts her private estate into the Garden of Allah Hotel. The lush grounds soon become a haven for Hollywood hopefuls to meet, drink, and revel through the night. George Cukor is in the pool, Tallulah Bankhead is at the bar, and Scott Fitzgerald is sneaking off to a bungalow with Sheilah Graham while Madame Alla Nazimova keeps watch behind her lace curtains.

But the real story of the Garden of Allah begins with its first few residents, three kids on the brink of something big.

Marcus Adler has a lot to prove after his father catches him and the police chief’s son with their pants down. He flees Pennsylvania for Hollywood with his mouth shut and his eyes open, and begins to write the lines all those starlets will say out loud. Can a smart, sensitive guy find his own voice in a town that’s just learning to talk?

Kathryn Massey’s childhood was a grinding routine of auditions, but she couldn’t care less about being a movie star. When she takes off with her typewriter, determined to become a newspaper reporter, she finds that breaking into the boys’ club is tougher than breaking free of her bossy mother. To make it in this town, she’ll need some serious moxie.

Gwendolyn Brick is a sweet Southern beauty who’s come a long way to try her luck on the big screen. She’s hoping the same succulent lips the guys want to kiss will land her more than a bit part on a casting couch. She’s going to need some help keeping everyone in line.

Nobody gets a free pass in Hollywood, but a room at the Garden on Sunset can get your foot in the door.

Presidential Shift: A Political Thriller (Corps Justice Book 4)

 Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Presidential Shift: A Political Thriller (Corps Justice Book 4)

The vice president killed…
The first lady attacked…
A president on the edge…

Cal Stokes, former Marine and owner of Stokes Security International (SSI), has had a busy year. Trying to calm his inner demons and forget the tragic loss of his men, Cal dives headlong into his work, taking the battle to the enemy. Now the president needs his help to uncover a leak in his administration and start the long road to cleaning up Washington, and wrestling power back from corrupt officials who threaten to plunge the American government further into the abyss. Will Cal uncover the truth before it’s too late?

The Journey (The Adventures of Jecosan Tarres, #1)

 Christian Fiction > Historical

The Journey (The Adventures of Jecosan Tarres, #1)

His father killed in war before he was three, his mother unexpectedly dying when he was eight, Jecosan Tarres is young and poor, yet he has something not many men have: a faithful heart, a strong spirit, and the knowledge of truth taught to him by his mother and Priest Shaledan. Alone for a year, but later befriended by Dalian the blacksmith, he has already beaten the odds of being destitute and forgotten, but clearly something or someone is at work in his life. With his faithful dog Gart and his friend Dalian, he sets out on a life defining journey after a messenger visits him with a commission to go to Kanavar, the ancient capital of Meoria, where he is to enter the king’s service and somehow prevent the war that is about to break out in his country. There are powerful forces interested in his journey, both to fail and succeed. Join young Jecosan as he struggles along, escaping sudden traps, facing prison and captivity, fighting pain and despair, losing and making friends.

The Theory Of Invisibility

 Women’s Fiction > Romance

The Theory Of Invisibility

We see… who we want to see
We believe… in what we want to believe
When we stop believing… we stop being seen
Set against the backdrop of California’s beautiful Venice Canals The Theory of Invisibility is a modern day fable that uses magical realism as an expression of one’s loss of faith. Emme Taylor, haunted by the death of her husband and son, and unable to interact with the world as she’s known it, slips into a state of invisibility.

When Emme seemingly disappears, Morgan, Emme’s sister, immediately fears the worse and shines a spotlight of suspicion on Phil, Emme’s co-worker. As Emme struggles through her haze of grief she must decide if she should sacrifice her cloak of invisibility in order to save the ones she loves.

TODAY’S BARGAINS……………What’s this?

Helen of Pasadena

 Romantic Comedy

Helen of Pasadena

Helen Fairchild finds her life turned upside-down after her husband leaves her for another woman and promptly dies in a freak accident during Pasadena’s famed Rose Parade. To make matters worse, Helen discovers that they were on the verge of bankruptcy and she’s forced to sell their beautiful home and find a job in order to pay her son Aiden’s private school tuition. This makes Helen re-examine the choices she’s made, noting “I happily traded in my grad-student status for membership in the young mothers’ club of Pasadena.”
Helen finds employment with Dr. Patrick O’Neill, a Pasadena archeologist studying the journals of an excavator of Troy. He also happens to be handsome, charming, and unattached. In addition to her role as research assistant, Helen must help Patrick navigate the Pasadena social scene, which includes a bevy of beauties all trying to get their hands on him. Dolan (of Public Radio’s popular Satellite Sisters) has created a compelling narrative and a memorable cast ideal for the woman who enjoys a quick read, likeable characters, and frequent descriptions of what everyone is wearing.

The Mongoliad (The Mongoliad Cycle Book 1)

 Science Fiction > Alternative History

The Mongoliad (The Mongoliad Cycle Book 1)

The first novel to be released in The Foreworld Saga, The Mongoliad: Book One, is an epic-within-an-epic, taking place in 13th century. In it, a small band of warriors and mystics raise their swords to save Europe from a bloodthirsty Mongol invasion. Inspired by their leader (an elder of an order of warrior monks), they embark on a perilous journey and uncover the history of hidden knowledge and conflict among powerful secret societies that had been shaping world events for millennia.

But the saga reaches the modern world via a circuitous route. In the late 19th century, Sir Richard F. Burton, an expert on exotic languages and historical swordsmanship, is approached by a mysterious group of English martial arts aficionados about translating a collection of long-lost manuscripts. Burton dies before his work is finished, and his efforts were thought lost until recently rediscovered by a team of amateur archaeologists in the ruins of a mansion in Trieste, Italy. From this collection of arcana, the incredible tale of The Mongoliad was recreated.

Defining Moments: Stories of Character, Courage and Leadership

 Biographies & Memoirs > Political

Defining Moments: Stories of Character, Courage and Leadership

I was born the year Hitler came to power. There was no Israel. There was a Holocaust. Six million Jews were slaughtered for the crime of being born, and hardly a blip registered on the world’s conscience. The world was indifferent-it pretended not to know. Israel was created in 1948, and I decided I wanted to be part of the rebirth of the Land and the redemption of the People of Israel. That has been my passion . . . and my purpose.

That was my defining moment.I have had the privilege to work with some extraordinary and courageous people who taught me valuable lessons about leadership and life. These stories are first-hand accounts of how people-some famous, some not-followed their passion, lived their purpose, and aspired to be part of something greater than their selves. These people had the courage to seize their moment and make the world a better place, revealing valuable lessons on the path to a more rewarding life.

Ice Cold: A Rizzoli & Isles Novel

 Thrillers > Medical

Ice Cold: A Rizzoli & Isles Novel

A spur-of-the-moment ski trip becomes a bone-chilling nightmare when a wrong turn leaves Boston medical examiner Maura Isles marooned—far from home and help—in the snowbound Wyoming mountains. Seeking shelter from the cold, she and her traveling companions stumble upon Kingdom Come—a remote village of identical houses that seems to have become a ghost town overnight. But the abandoned hamlet has dark secrets to tell, and Maura’s party may not be as alone as they think. Days later, word reaches Boston homicide cop Jane Rizzoli that Maura’s charred remains have been found at the scene of a car crash. But the shocking news leaves Jane with too many questions, and only one way to get answers. Determined to dig up the truth, she heads for the frozen desolation of Kingdom Come, where gruesome discoveries lie buried, and a ruthless enemy watches and waits.

Jungle Bullies

 Children’s Books > Animals

Jungle Bullies

Even bullies can learn to shareWhy should a large animal get away with bullying a smaller one? That’s what happens when Elephant takes Hippo’s spot in the pond, which causes Hippo to pick on Lion, Lion to pick on Leopard, and Leopard to pick on Monkey. Vincent Nguyen’s illustrations-a mix of watercolor, charcoal pencil, and digital techniques-enrich the story as Monkey asks his mother for advice, and she comes up with just the right solution to solve the problem.

… See the rest of today’s Editor’s Picks here on page 2

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