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Pulitzer-winning writer and professor Alison Lurie dies at 94

From The Guardian: Alison Lurie, novelist known for satires of marriage and manners, has died… Support our news coverage by subscribing to our Kindle Nation Daily Digest. Joining is free right now! 

Few writers have shown such a commitment to their characters as the US novelist Alison Lurie, who has died aged 94. Her 11 works of domestic and academic black comedy are peopled with an interconnecting cast, who move from the sidelines to centre stage, often reassessed and redeemed on second appearance, sometimes transferred from childhood to adulthood.

Lurie’s most consistent character is the acerbic literary critic Leonard Zimmern, who pops up to extol the virtues of the single life in The War Between the Tates (1974), attack the study of children’s literature (his creator’s own specialism) in the Pulitzer-prize-winning Foreign Affairs (1984), undermine the theories of the feminist biographer in The Truth About Lorin Jones (1988), laugh at nature writers in The Last Resort (1998) and expose the pitfalls of early literary success in Truth and Consequences (2005).

Lurie accounted for his nearly ubiquitous presence by explaining that Zimmern was the hero of her first, rejected novel and so, sorry that he could not have a book of his own, she brought him back in a series of supporting roles. But his habit of revealing the self-delusion of others suggests that he functions as her alter ego, always ready with a pin to prick pretensions, much as Lurie was herself.

She began to write, she said, to amuse herself and other people, but described her inspiration as the desire to laugh at things. Often compared to the work of Jane Austen, Lurie’s satires of marriage and manners have a savage quality. Gore Vidal dubbed her “the Queen Herod of modern fiction” (a description Lurie herself disliked) for her portrayal of the Tates’ revolting adolescent children in The War Between the Tates; but the most shocking moment in the book is when the narrator comments, of the put-upon wife and mother Erica: “The fact that she hates her own children is her darkest, most carefully guarded secret.”

Read full post on The Guardian

Why is Santa sitting behind a clear protective barrier? Santa In A Snow Globe by A.H. Edelman

Santa in a Snow Globe

by A.H. Edelman
4.5 stars – 35 reviews
FREE with Kindle UnlimitedLearn More
Text-to-Speech and Lending: Enabled
Here’s the set-up:

Why is Santa sitting behind a clear protective barrier? And how can parents and caregivers explain to the children in their life that, even though some things will be different this year, Christmas magic remains the same?

That’s easy! Let Santa do it!

Santa in a Snow Globe is the origin story of how and why St. Nick will be found sitting “in a place that is clear and quite round” when families come to share their wish lists with him this holiday season.

Relayed straightforwardly by Santa to author AH Edelman and illustrated with inclusiveness by Serge Gall, Santa in a Snow Globe offers a starting point for grownups to talk about life’s new realities–including climate change, the Coronavirus and protests–with their kids.

So curl up with your children while Santa shares some recent observations, offers some timeless advice and concludes with a big dose of Christmas cheer.

Giveaway Time! Enter to win in our weekly giveaways where you pick the prize! Brought to you by… Letter To My 10-year-old-Self: A Heartwarming Anthology

Brought to you by:

Letter To My 10-year-old-Self: A Heartwarming Anthology

by Cathryn Mora, Ed.

5.0 stars – 1 reviews
Everyday Price: $9.99
Text-to-Speech: Enabled
Here’s the set-up:

“One day you will know that the world is a beautiful place to be and that you are so loved.”

A 10 year-old holds a letter to the light, trying to read the handwritten scrawl that looks so familiar. At the bottom of the lined page, finished with a confident flourish, is a similarly familiar signature. The realisation comes, with a shock – it’s a letter from the child’s future self. What does it say?

If you could write a letter to your childhood self, would it be a handbook of survival, a missive of near misses? Or a soul-lifting celebration of triumph over adversity?

In this heartwarming anthology, twenty-five extraordinary everyday people write to their 10-year-old selves, delivering wisdom, witticisms and warnings aimed to smooth the winding road into their future. Along with the lessons learned from the highs and lows of growing up, comes the reassurance of experience and the cumulative benefits of endurance, destined to pro
vide a guiding light to those looking for inspiration.

Growing up can be challenging, and there are so many obstacles we face. If you’re the type of person who is interested in self-improvement and invests time and effort into personal growth, you probably also want to find something which will provide motivation for your kids, as well as inspiration for your teens. This book is a brilliant tool, full of wisdom, and in addition to reading it for yourself, you can read it with (or to) your children. It does have warnings about what lies ahead, as well as precautions to take – in addition to the secrets and surprises which will come along during life’s journey – so that kids can take a balanced view of their future. Overall, we want you, and your children (if you have them) to have hope that there is a beautiful life ahead if they grab it with both hands, and pursue things bravely and wholeheartedly.

The book is truly written for those who are willing to learn from experiences of people who have opened new doors of reality about life. This book discusses concepts about teen and adult life and how the author would like to inspire their childhood self to prepare for them. Its a perfect treat for those who wanna learn about purpose of life , personal growth , self improvement , life challenges , transformation , spirit in life and passion in life. It is therefore written for adults, but we believe it’s also suitable for your children (mature 8+) and teens.

Go to Giveaway Central to enter and get the scoop on our weekly giveaways where you pick the prize!

And to say thank you here is a bonus entry word: letter

Betrayed. Sold. Tortured. Now she’s fighting to rebuild her life… Cracked Sapphire by Jane Blythe

Today’s Thriller of The Day:

Cracked Sapphire (Broken Gems Book 1)

by Jane Blythe
4.3 stars – 156 reviews
Everyday Price: $3.99
Text-to-Speech and Lending: Enabled
Here’s the set-up:

Detective Sapphire Hatcher was sold to human traffickers when she was sixteen. She was lucky. She was rescued, and now she has dedicated her life to saving others. When a criminal psychiatrist is brought in to work alongside her, she tries to ignore the way he makes her feel, but he won’t let her.

Gideon Barlow travels the country working with police departments on the most depraved of cases. When he meets Sapphire, the attraction is instantaneous, but if he can’t help her realize that there is more to life than her job, she might end up losing not just her chance at happiness but her life as well.

↝ Trigger warning – mature content, issues of sexual assault/abuse, violence ↜

CRACKED SAPPHIRE is the first book in the Broken Gems series by USA Today bestselling author Jane Blythe. Murder, mystery, suspense, and love in this thrilling romantic suspense! Each book in the series can be read as a standalone but reading in order is encouraged, a guaranteed HEA!

Freebies for your Kindle! Five free books you’ll love

Today’s Sponsor:

The Nurse’s Dilemma: A Lesbian Medical Romance Story (Heart The Nurse Book 1)

by R.M. Danney
3.4 stars – 25 reviews
Text-to-Speech and Lending: Enabled
Here’s the set-up:

Busy hospital corridors and medical research labs might seem like an unlikely place to find romance, but sparks are flying for two passionate Boston nurses.
New nurse Alice Ridgely is excited to be finally following the career of her dreams. When she begins work in the research labs at the Marshall Bower Hospital in Boston, she quickly falls in love with the hospital environment.

Engaged to marry George Desain, her wealthy childhood sweetheart, Alice isn’t prepared to be falling in love with anything: once she’s married, her nursing career will be over, and she will be destined to slip into her future as a traditional housewife.

But falling in love with nursing is the least of Alice’s problems… caring about her patients is one thing; the last thing she expected was to find love in the labs.

Jenna Perkins is confident, beautiful, and commands presence in every room she enters. But despite her energy, on the inside, she’s less secure than she seems.

Alice and Jenna spark an instant connection, and for the first time in her life, Alice feels like she belongs somewhere.

Jenna’s used to having anyone she wants, but rarely has she felt a connection this deep. There’s a problem though. Alice is keeping something from her, and until she can get to the bottom of it, she can’t see what their future will look like.

As Alice finds more and more happiness in her everyday life at the hospital, the dark shadow of her future looms ever closer. Jenna symbolizes everything she wants and can never have.

Can Alice admit her true feelings for Jenna? Will Jenna find out what’s really going on beneath Alice’s rosy cheeks and kind smile?

The Nurse’s Dilemma is a passionate story of love and identity. Alice and Jenna have something special, but it takes openness, honesty, and courage to follow your heart.

Check out our Free Book Search Tool for a boatload of free books or check here for the best deals today on Kindle!

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* * *

The Grimm Chronicles, Vol. 1 (The Grimm Chronicles Box Set)

by Ken Brosky
4.2 stars – 184 reviews
Text-to-Speech and Lending: Enabled
Here’s the set-up:

200 years ago, the Brothers Grimm unleashed their stories upon the world. Now the characters of the Grimms’ stories walk among us, cursed by a corrupting black magic. With every day that passes, they grow more evil. More dangerous.

For 18-year-old Alice Goodenough, summer vacation was supposed to mean part-time work at the local library. But when she comes across a mysterious creature and a magic pen, she finds herself suddenly thrust into the role of the Hero. It is now her responsibility to wipe out the Corrupted once and for all. She has no choice in the matter. The Corrupted are everywhere, and only Alice can see them for what they truly are.

* * *

Revenge is Sweet (A Samantha Church Mystery, Book 2)

by Betta Ferrendelli
4.0 stars – 339 reviews
Text-to-Speech and Lending: Enabled
Here’s the set-up:
Revenge is a dish best served with blood…
In Revenge is Sweet, the sequel to The Friday Edition, Samantha Church is back and the stakes are higher than ever.
In a sinister quest to settle the score, the drug dealers she thwarted are no longer motivated by money or politics, they want one thing and one thing only: Revenge…
Snow swirls on a cold February night when reporter Samantha Church and her publisher Wilson Cole Jr. are kidnapped. Days following the kidnapping, Sam wakes up in a hospital bed, dazed, bruised and confused. Why did they let her go? It makes no sense. It is only when the kidnappers make their next move does she realize why they let her go.
The kidnappers want to hurt Sam by harming those she loves most, her best friend and coworker, Wilson Cole Jr., and worse, her daughter, April. They taunt Sam, wanting to break her down mentally, physically and emotionally—pretty little April, watch her bleed, pretty little April, now we’ll have some fun. Say bye-bye, pretty little April will die before your eyes.
Revenge doesn’t come any sweeter. Or does it? Is all hope seemingly lost? Or is revenge a two-way street? Does Sam have a plan of her own for the kidnappers—one that will finally settle the score?

* * *

Enchanting Sebastian (Big Sky Royals Book 1)

by Kristen Proby
4.7 stars – 277 reviews
Text-to-Speech and Lending: Enabled
Here’s the set-up:

The first in an all new stand-alone trilogy set in Kristen Proby’s Big Sky world, Enchanting Sebastian will take your breath away!

Turning thirty-five doesn’t mean much to most men. For Sebastian Wakefield, it’s the end of life as he knows it.
When your father is the King of England, thirty-five is the year that a marriage will be arranged, a suitable bride cementing a future you didn’t choose. The obvious solution for escaping the archaic laws of the throne is for Sebastian to leave the country. And where better to go than America?

Nina Wolfe has spent her career avoiding scandal. As a Hollywood publicist and minor celebrity in her own right, she knows exactly what it takes to keep the media at bay—and what will send them into a frenzy.

Prince Sebastian hiding out in Cunningham Falls, Montana is an unlikely story. Ending up in his bed, even more so. And keeping their arrangement out of the press might just be impossible. The ring on her finger is about to spark a firestorm that will change her life, and no professional spin will help Nina fit into the world of royalty.

Only love could write an enchanting new beginning—if they’ll let themselves fall.

* * *

One Tequila (The Althea Rose series Book 1)

by Tricia O’Malley
4.5 stars – 1,011 reviews
Lending: Enabled
Here’s the set-up:

Tequila Key is just like any other small town and I’m just like any other small town psychic. Scratch that. Tequila Key is a world onto itself and some people might think that I am one crayon short of the box.

And, if we’re being totally honest, Tequila Key is just like any other small town – if that town boasts a voodoo priestess and a few white witches for flavor. Turquoise blue water and the best margaritas this side of Mexico make it hard to leave.

I’m Althea Rose, co-owner of Luna Rose Potions & Tarot Shop, and I’ve just stumbled into a love triangle while trying to save my best friend from being accused of murder.

See? Just like any other small town.

* * *

The Amazon #1 Bestseller in Children’s Folk Tales & Myth Collections with over 4,700 five-star reviews! The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien

Family eBook of The Day

The Silmarillion

by J.R.R. Tolkien
4.7 stars – 5,840 reviews
Everyday Price: $9.99
Text-to-Speech: Enabled
Here’s the set-up:

A number-one New York Times bestseller when it was originally published, THE SILMARILLION is the core of J.R.R. Tolkien’s imaginative writing, a work whose origins stretch back to a time long before THE HOBBIT.

Tolkien considered THE SILMARILLION his most important work, and, though it was published last and posthumously, this great collection of tales and legends clearly sets the stage for all his other writing. The story of the creation of the world and of the the First Age, this is the ancient drama to which the characters in THE LORD OF THE RINGS look back and in whose events some of them, such as Elrond and Galadriel, took part. The three Silmarils were jewels created by Feanor, most gifted of the Elves. Within them was imprisoned the Light of the Two Trees of Valinor before the Trees themselves were destroyed by Morgoth, the first Dark Lord. Thereafter, the unsullied Light of Valinor lived on only in the Silmarils, but they were seized by Morgoth and set in his crown, which was guarded in the impenetrable fortress of Angband in the north of Middle-earth. THE SILMARILLION is the history of the rebellion of Feanor and his kindred against the gods, their exile from Valinor and return to Middle-earth, and their war, hopeless despite all their heroism, against the great Enemy.

This second edition features a letter written by J.R.R. Tolkien describing his intentions for the book, which serves as a brilliant exposition of his conception of the earlier Ages of Middle-earth.

Today’s Kindle Deal is sponsored by this week’s Kids’ eBook of The Week:

Santa in a Snow Globe

by A.H. Edelman
4.5 stars – 35 reviews
Text-to-Speech and Lending: Enabled
Here’s the set-up:

Why is Santa sitting behind a clear protective barrier? And how can parents and caregivers explain to the children in their life that, even though some things will be different this year, Christmas magic remains the same?

That’s easy! Let Santa do it!

Santa in a Snow Globe is the origin story of how and why St. Nick will be found sitting “in a place that is clear and quite round” when families come to share their wish lists with him this holiday season.

Relayed straightforwardly by Santa to author AH Edelman and illustrated with inclusiveness by Serge Gall, Santa in a Snow Globe offers a starting point for grownups to talk about life’s new realities–including climate change, the Coronavirus and protests–with their kids.

So curl up with your children while Santa shares some recent observations, offers some timeless advice and concludes with a big dose of Christmas cheer.

Charlie discovers something has been missing. Something secret. Forbidden… UNFOLDING by New York Times bestselling author Selena Kitt

Unfolding

by Selena Kitt
4.0 stars – 50 reviews
Everyday Price: $4.99
Text-to-Speech and Lending: Enabled
Here’s the set-up:

I didn’t want to do this, in the middle of the restaurant, but there was nothing I could do. My body wasn’t under my own control and my response was involuntary, my thighs beginning to quiver, my breath coming faster.

———

FROM NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING & AWARD WINNING AUTHOR SELENA KITT

NOW A MOTION PICTURE FROM ADAM & EVE

———

Charlie is just an average woman—mother, wife, teacher—living an ordinary life in a typical American suburb, and she isn’t complaining. She loves her husband, Jack, and their children, and wouldn’t ask for more even if she could.

But Charlie discovers something has been missing. Something secret. Forbidden. Something that turns their intimate life from a mundane distraction into a mind-blowing, transcendent experience.

This is the story of a woman’s exquisite unfolding, as her discovery and yearning for something more pushes her marriage to the edge, testing boundaries and forcing her to surrender to something much deeper than herself.