NOTE TO READERS: Kindle Buffet will be on vacation tomorrow, Sunday, July 27. See you Monday!
Dead on Demand (A DCI Morton Crime Novel Book 1) (affiliate link)
He had the perfect life. He’ll kill to get it back.
A career man, Edwin Murphy has always put more effort into his work than his family. Everything changes for Edwin when his wife files for divorce. On the brink of losing his home, his job and his daughter, Edwin orchestrates an intricate plan to eliminate his wife and regain his former lifestyle.
The police are baffled when bodies begin to appear all over London with no apparent connection between them. Detective Chief Inspector David Morton must think outside the box as he investigates the deadly web of deceit behind the murders.
Laynie Portland has masqueraded as Swedish citizen Linnéa Olander for more than two decades, the last seven years as companion to Vassili Aleksandrovich Petroff, senior technology advisor to the Secretary of the Russian Federation’s Security Council.
Life as Petroff’s mistress is lonely and difficult, even brutal, for Petroff has a pathological need to master what is “his.” But the woman Petroff knows as “Linnéa” is not the compliant, deferential woman he believes her to be. She is Laynie Portland—spy extraordinaire—and Laynie has stolen a wealth of secrets from Petroff and fed the treasure to her Marstead agency handlers.
As Petroff’s abuse intensifies, Laynie fears for her life, and she petitions her agency to pull her out. Instead, her agency declares that she is too well-placed to decommission. Laynie is dismayed to learn that her Marstead chain of command would rather risk her death under Petroff’s hand than lose the valuable intel she provides.
A Child Far from Home (The Wartime Evacuees) (affiliate link)
England 1939. I desperately push my way through the crowded platform and try to find my darling daughter’s face in the fogged-up windows. As the train pulls away I frantically wave and force a smile. I’m sending her away to protect her but it’s only ever been the two of us. My heart breaks at not knowing when I’ll see her again…
With the country on the brink of war, single mother Jean embraces her ten-year-old daughter, Valerie, before she puts her on a train to Somerset alongside hundreds of other evacuees. Jean promises Valerie that the war won’t last long and that they’ll be together again soon. But as the bombing gets closer to home, she realises this might be a promise she can’t keep…
Wrenched away from her mother and everything familiar, little Valerie soon discovers that life in the countryside isn’t as idyllic as she first thought. Every night she dreams of returning home to the arms of her mother. But when she learns her old street has been devastated by the Blitz, it’s like her heart is torn in two. With no home to go to, where does this little girl belong?
I never thought I could love a monster. Then I met Machi.
I shouldn’t have been there that night. I shouldn’t have seen that man die–or the face of his killer.
Every part of me wanted to run and hide, to escape and forget what I saw. But then he caught me.
He stole me and pushed me into his world. He said if I listened to him, he could give me what I wanted… My freedom.
He forgot to mention that freedom comes with a price. I’m going to be auctioned off, and there’s nothing I can do to change that. He wants me to believe that he isn’t the bad guy. But I know better.
Except… his hard jaw and full lips are hard to ignore, his voice makes my heart flutter, and his hands—his hands are purely toxic, unfurling my body with one touch.
He’s a monster, and monsters lie. They lurk in the dark and rain hell on your soul.
I never thought that loving one was possible… Until I met him.
The Budding Detective (affiliate link)
Grace Thompson thought her biggest challenge this spring would be keeping up with floral orders for the annual Bloomsville Flower Festival. But when she opens her shop’s storage room and finds a dead man lying among the tulip crates, everything changes. Suddenly, the town is buzzing with suspicion, and Grace’s once-wholesome reputation is under fire.
Refusing to wilt under pressure, Grace teams up with her best friend Chloe, an eccentric forensic specialist who thrives on puzzles and late-night theories. As the two dig deeper, they uncover secrets buried beneath Bloomsville’s sunny exterior—secrets that someone is desperate to keep hidden.
With Rosie the Westie always one paw ahead and tensions blooming faster than peonies, Grace is about to prove that solving a murder might just be her real calling.
Life After War Books 1-3 (affiliate link)
“War was uglier than we’d imagined. The Draft was reinstated, taking our men and boys. Troops stripped the shelves as they came through. Within days, stores were empty; people began to starve. Hospitals closed due to a lack of staff and supplies. Police stopped answering calls, stopped coming to work at all. Production halted. Communications faded. Then the power went off…and it didn’t come back on.
“The fall of society triggered a hard, new life where survival became our only focus. We reverted to primitive behaviors, using the war as an excuse to commit unspeakable atrocities and humanity slipped deeper into the abyss of possible extinction. Lawlessness blanketed the post-apocalyptic lands with hatred and violence that seemed to have no end. The future, cold and dark, offered little comfort. The only chance we had for peace, for safety, came from a tired voice on the radio.”
“This is Safe Haven. We offer food, shelter, and protection to all survivors. Does anyone copy? …hello? Is anyone alive out there?”
Recruited (The Rayna Tan Series) (affiliate link)
A suicide bomber
A funeral
A new beginning
When Islamic terrorists take four US and Canadian forward air controllers hostage during a blistering battle in Iraq, Captain Rayna Tan from elite Canadian Special Forces JTF2 and American Navy SEAL Captain Jonathan Rogers are tasked to head the rescue mission.
A murderous assault breaks out as they enter the house containing the hostages. Jon sacrifices himself to save Rayna, tackling a young girl with a suicide vest. He drives the two of them out a window as the charges detonate.
When Rayna attends Jon’s memorial service in California, Jon’s father approaches her about taking the position designated for Jon – covert operative in his shadowy vigilante organization.
Rayna wants to say no… but then a cartel kills the man she loves.
Murder and a Sunflower (Sunrise Flower Shop Book 1) (affiliate link)
In Sunrise City, the flowers are killer, the secrets are thorny, and laughs are always in season.
Running a flower stand was never in my life plan—especially since I always assumed “full sun” was a vacation preference, not a plant’s growing condition.
But here I am, Dove Davis, back in my hometown after trading designer fashion for dirt-covered gardening gloves. My grandma Sharon—a persnickety powerhouse of sass and stubbornness—recently acquired a run-down campsite, and somehow, I got roped into managing the flower stand. I figured it’d be a quiet life. Peaceful. Low stakes.
Then my dog, Ladybug, sniffed out a body in a sunflower patch. So much for that.
The victim? A talented florist who was last seen crafting boutonnieres for an extravagant high-society wedding. Now, the only thing blooming faster than town gossip is my suspect list. With the help of my new friend Rose—who is definitely…not…a jewel thief—we crash the wedding to root out a killer hiding among the guests.
Plantation Trilogy: Deep Summer, The Handsome Road, and This Side of Glory (affiliate link)
Published in the late 1930s by New York Times–bestselling author Gwen Bristow, the Plantation Trilogy is an epic series of novels that bring to life the history of Louisiana—from its settlement in the late eighteenth century to the realities of slavery and poverty to the post–World War I era—via the intertwined lives of the members of three families: the Sheramys, the Larnes, and the Upjohns.
Deep Summer is the story of Puritan pioneer Judith Sheramy and adventurer Philip Larne, who marry and strive to build an empire in the Louisiana wilderness during the American Revolution.
The Handsome Road tells the story of plantation mistress Ann Sheramy Larne and poor seamstress Corrie May Upjohn, who forge an unlikely bond of friendship as they struggle to survive the cataclysms of the Civil War and Reconstruction.
This Side of Glory presents the story of Eleanor Upjohn, a modern young woman in the early twentieth century who marries charming Kester Larne and struggles to save the debt-ridden plantation that her husband’s ancestors founded more than one hundred years ago.
The Road Home (affiliate link)
The Best Ice Cream Maker Cookbook Ever (affiliate link)
Exciting flavors include an assortment of vanillas of varying degrees of richness, several great chocolates, Butter Pecan, Sensational Strawberry, Peaches ‘n’ Cream, Utterly Peanut Butter and Double Ginger to mention only a sampling. For an extra flourish, there’s a collection of ice creams with add-ons — swirls and twirls, sauces and toppings. There is even an entire chapter of great reduced-fat light ice creams and nonfat frozen yogurts with names like Creamy Banana, Cappuccino, Date Rum and Maple Crunch.Many completely fat-free frozen delights are covered in the chapter called “Sorbets, Granitas and Other Ices.” Enticing and refreshing, they come in flavors such as Kiwi-Lime, Mango Margarita, Spiced Rasberry and Strawberry Daquiri. And for showstopping, truly fabulous desserts, made completely in advance, turn to the last chapter, which contains ice cream cakes, pies and other frozen desserts.
Mika in Real Life (affiliate link)
One phone call changes everything.
At thirty-five, Mika Suzuki’s life is a mess. Her last relationship ended in flames. Her roommate-slash-best friend might be a hoarder. She’s a perpetual disappointment to her traditional Japanese parents. And, most recently, she’s been fired from her latest dead-end job.
Mika is at her lowest point when she receives a phone call from Penny—the daughter she placed for adoption sixteen years ago. Penny is determined to forge a relationship with her birth mother, and in turn, Mika longs to be someone Penny is proud of. Faced with her own inadequacies, Mika embellishes a fact about her life. What starts as a tiny white lie slowly snowballs into a fully-fledged fake life, one where Mika is mature, put-together, and successful in love and her career.
The details of Mika’s life might be an illusion, but everything she shares with curious, headstrong Penny is real: her hopes, dreams, flaws, and Japanese heritage.
The Aviator (affiliate link)
MY HEAD SPINS. I’M LYING IN A BED. WHERE AM I? WHO AM I?
A man wakes up in hospital. He has no idea who he is or how he came to be there. The doctor tells him his name, but he doesn’t remember it. He remembers nothing.
As memories slowly resurface, he begins to build a picture of his former life. Russia in the early twentieth century, the turbulence of the revolution, the aftermath. But how can this be possible when the pills beside his bed are dated 1999?
In the deft hands of Eugene Vodolazkin, author of the multi award-winning Laurus, The Aviator paints a vivid, panoramic picture of life in Russia at the beginning of the twentieth century, richly evoking the sights, sounds and political turmoil of those days. Reminiscent of the great works of Russian literature, and shortlisted for the Russian Booker Prize, it cements Vodolazkin’s position as the rising star of Russia’s literary scene.
Hotter Than Hell (The Hollows) (affiliate link)
A collection of paranormal urban fantasy stories of erotic desire and couplings both human and supernatural, from some of the genre’s bestselling authors.
Beyond the boundaries of the everyday is an unseen realm where anything you imagine is possible. Your demon lover is waiting for you in the shadows, ready to fulfill your secret wishes and most dangerous fantasies. Here passion has a face and form both titillating and terrifying—and love has teeth and claws. Get ready to give in to your craving for something exquisitely dark . . . and different.
Hotter Than Hell gathers together a baker’s dozen of today’s boldest and best authors of supernatural fiction and paranormal romance in a breathtaking anthology that blends black magic with red-hot desire. From the tantalizing tale of a conflicted psychic vampire driven by a powerful, savage love to the strange saga of a Greek warrior woman battling to save the world, these are stories outside the limits, as hypnotic as the full moon . . . and hotter than the sun.
… See the rest of today ‘s Book Picks here on page 2Page 2