Free eBooks: 8/15/2011

At the start of every month, you can usually snag some pretty good books as free e-books from Amazon.com (for Kindle) and Barnes & Noble (for nook). The University of Chicago offers a free e-book each month as well. Read on to see the 23 freebies I've snagged so far this month, with book descriptions from the sites and links to purchase them.

Please Note: While all of these books were free at the time of my purchase, that does not guarantee that they are still free or that they will remain free. Make sure you check the price listed before purchasing any books.

Barnes & Noble: nook

Death of a Trophy Wife
(#9 in the Jaine Austen mystery series)
by Laura Levine

Freelance writer Jaine Austen is moving on up! A cushy new advertising gig promises champagne wishes and caviar dreams, but Jaine soon discovers she's not the only one in town who's making a killing...

Without a job or a date in sight, Jaine is equally out of luck in finance and romance. So when her friend Lance offers to treat her to brunch at the Four Seasons, Jaine leaps at the chance like a fashionista at a pair of half-price Louboutins. They've barely made it through the menu when Lance spots his friend Bunny. Dressed like a million bucks-and probably worth twice that-Bunny is the new trophy wife of mattress maven Marvin Cooper.

When Bunny generously offers Jaine a gig writing Marv's new advertising campaign, Jaine accepts the job, and an invitation to her upcoming soirée. But at the party Bunny cruelly rules the Cooper mansion with a fist full of martinis, abusing terrified staff and her browbeaten husband alike. It seems like this society girl could use a good kick in the assets. Indeed, before the evening is over, someone poisons the D-cup diva. Dead must be the new black.

Elliot and the Goblin War
(#1 in the Underworld Chronicles series)
by Jennifer Nielsen

WARNING!

As of today, there are only 7 CHILDREN who have ever read this book and lived to tell about it. 95 CHILDREN successfully read the first chapter, but upon beginning chapter 2, they started BLABBERING in some language known only as "flibberish." 38 CHILDREN made it halfway through this wretched book before they began SUCKING THEIR THUMBS THROUGH THEIR NOSES.

If you're VERY BRAVE, perhaps you are willing to TAKE YOUR CHANCES. Be sure that you have told your family who gets your favorite toys if you DO NOT SURVIVE this book. Read it now, IF YOU DARE. But don't say you haven't been warned, for this is the story that unfolds the MYSTERIES OF THE UNDERWORLD.

The Everything College Survival Book:
All You Need to Get the Most Out of College Life
(3rd edition)
by Susan Fitzgerald and J. Lee Peters

From handling studying and dorm life to parties and campus safety, this guide gives you straight answers to help you survive college life. Experts Susan Fitzgerald and J. Lee Peters show you how to: Ace your papers and exams, Deal with loud, rude, or eccentric roommates, Prepare for financial shock--and manage student loans, Plan an incredible study abroad experience, Take care of yourself and keep your sanity.

You will also find tips for packing for the big move, managing your money, making new friends, and balancing academics and your social life. With The Everything College Survival Book, you'll arrive on campus less stressed, ready for fun--and poised for success!

Footsteps in the Dark
by Georgette Heyer

What begins as an adventure soon becomes a nightmare . . .

Locals claim it is haunted and refuse to put a single toe past the front door, but to siblings Peter, Celia, and Margaret, the Priory is nothing more than a rundown estate inherited from their late uncle-and the perfect setting for a much-needed holiday. But when a murder victim is discovered in the drafty Priory halls, the once unconcerned trio begins to fear that the ghostly rumors are true and they are not alone after all! With a killer on the loose, will they find themselves the next victims of a supernatural predator, or will they uncover a far more corporeal culprit?

Georgette Heyer wrote over fifty books, including Regency romances, mysteries, and historical fiction. Her barrister husband, Ronald Rougier, provided many of the plots for her detective novels, which are classic English country house mysteries reminiscent of Agatha Christie. Heyer was legendary for her research, historical accuracy, inventive plots, and sparkling characterization.

Grammatically Correct:
The Essential Guide to Spelling, Style, Usage, Grammar, and Punctuation
by Anne Stilman

Revised and updated, this guide covers four essential aspects of good writing: Individual words, Punctuation, Syntax and Structure, and Style.

Filled with self-test exercises and whimsical literary quotations, Grammatically Correct steers clear of academic stuffiness, focusing instead on practical strategies and intuitive explanations.

Discussions are designed to get to the heart of a concept and provide a sufficient sense of when and how to use it, along with examples that show what ambiguities or misinterpretations might result if the rules are not followed. In cases where there is more than one acceptable way to do something, the approach is not to prescribe one over another but simply to describe the options.

Readers of this book will never break the rules of language again - unintentionally.

Harvard Envy: Why Too Many Colleges Overshoot
by Andrew S. Rosen

Exploring the limitations of the exclusive, tradition-bound world of higher education, innovator Andrew S. Rosen, chairman and CEO of Kaplan, Inc., delivers a vision for making a world-class college experience available to students of all backgrounds.

Little is known about John Harvard, who bequeathed his books and £779 to a fledgling college on the Charles River in the 1630s, but the institution that bears his name has become the gold standard for universities worldwide. Tracing this fascinating history, and the history of American higher education overall, “Harvard Envy” raises important questions about the effect of super-elite campuses on America’s educational landscape. Just as Congress hotly debated whether to approve land-grand colleges in the nineteenth century, opening the doors of higher education to farmers, we face a competitive new demand for a highly educated workforce. Yet many colleges continue to insist on limiting access, and many college applicants continue to believe that exclusive institutions deliver the highest quality.

With an eye-opening examination of the U.S. News and World Report college rankings and other barometers, “Harvard Envy” takes an enlightened look at how universities allocate resources and talent. Offering an inspiring alternative to the Ivory Tower playbook, Andrew S. Rosen presents a bold, cost-effective new vision for a truly competitive higher education system that serves both individual and national interests.

Lye in Wait
(#1 in the Home Crafting mystery series)
by Cricket McRae

Cocoa butter soap, check. Lemon lip balm, check. A dead body?

That's just what Sophie Mae Reynolds finds in her workroom: the corpse of Walter Hanover, the neighborhood handyman. He died from drinking lye, something she has in good supply. But the police don't suspect Sophie Mae, a thirty-something widow who makes and sells beauty products. Instead they call it a suicide. But why would a man with lottery cash and a loving fiancée kill himself?

No one can stop the impulsive Sophie Mae from answering this riddle, not her sensible best friend Meghan or Detective Ambrose, who incites annoyance as well as stomach flutters. Sophie Mae's big mouth and sharp nose lead her to a peppermint-scented trail of arson, bigamy, and a shocking family secret that reveals a personal connection to Walter... and his killer.

This crafty new series features real recipes and a blundering, yet lovable, amateur sleuth who brings a fresh face to cozy mysteries.

The Magnificent 12: The Call, with Bonus Material
(#1 in the Magnificent 12 series)
by Michael Grant

Free for a limited time with an excerpt of The Magnificent 12: The Trap, the second book in the action-packed series.

Twelve-year-old Mack MacAvoy suffers from a serious case of mediumness. Medium looks. Medium grades. Medium parents who barely notice him. With a list of phobias that could make anyone crazy, Mack never would have guessed that he is destined for a more-than-medium life.

And then, one day, something incredibly strange happens to Mack. A three-thousand-year-old man named Grimluk appears in the boys' bathroom to deliver some startling news: Mack is one of the Magnificent Twelve, called the Magnifica in ancient times, whatever that means. An evil force is on its way, and it's up to Mack to track down eleven other twelve-year-olds in order to stop it. He must travel across the world to battle the wicked Pale Queen's dangerous daughter, Ereskigal—also known as Risky. But Risky sounds a little scary, and Mack doesn't want to be a hero. Will he answer the call?

A laugh-out-loud story filled with excitement and magic, The Magnificent Twelve: The Call is the first book in bestselling author Michael Grant's hilarious new fantasy adventure series.

Restore My Heart
(#1 in the Mustang Sally series)
by Cheryl Norman

Leo Desalvo, a loving husband and father is dead. It appears he committed suicide, but nothing could be further from the truth. And Leo's wife knows it. Although he'd rather grieve in private, Joe Desalvo agrees to help his mother prove a murder occurred, not a suicide.

Sally Clay desperately needs her auto restoration business to succeed. Not only is it her livelihood, but she's caring for her father. She hopes the garage will lure him out of his self-imposed exile and back to the world of cars he once loved. But new competition, and the death of her best customer, auto dealer Leo Desalvo, leave her struggling.

When Joe approaches Sally to appraise his father's rare, classic sports car, she welcomes the business. There's something fishy about the car, however, and Sally is beginning to suspect shady dealings in Leo's business. Is Joe involved too? When her long-time friend and employee is murdered, Sally realizes it's too late to back out of the investigation she's inadvertently stumbled into. And it seems it's too late for her heart as well.

The Rhine Maiden
(#1 in the Rhine Maiden series)
by Erin Evans

Piper Cavanaugh is The Rhine Maiden, a descendent of the sirens who lured sailors to their deaths with beautiful singing.

After vowing never to use her supernatural power of command, she is more than happy to stay at home with her two little girls, but one little slip-up and her secret has come back to bite her – literally. Now she must win permission to join the United Supernatural Beings, or it’s open season on all of humanity.

While juggling toddlers, keeping her husband in the dark, and babysitting her rebellious kid sister, Piper finds herself befriending a vampire, stealing from murderous witches, and doing battle with Satan, otherwise known as her mother-in-law.

And she thought grocery shopping with her kids was hard!

Robert's Rules of Writing:
101 Unconventional Lessons Every Writer Needs to Know
by Robert Masello

The 101 Rules You Need to Know
*but no one has ever told you

You already have a million writing books. You know the principles, the lectures, the "expert" techniques. And you've discovered that sometimes tried-and-true just equals tired.

In Robert's Rules of Writing, successful author Robert Masello stomps out status quo writing advice and delivers 101 uninhibited techniques to improve your writing that include: Burn your journal (See rule 1), Strip down to your briefs (See rule 38), Spend time gossiping (See rule 61), Buy the smoking jacket (See rule 56), Skip the Starbucks (See rule 7), De-claim! De-claim! (See rule 63).

Whether you're a fiction writer, freelancer, memoirist, or screenwriter, Robert's Rules of Writing gives you the unorthodox advice to transform your writing life and get published!

The Slacker's Guide to U.S. History:
The Bare Minimum on Discovering America, the Boston Tea Party, the California Gold Rush, and Lots of Other Stuff Dead White Guys Did
by Don Stewart & John Pfeiffer

See cover image and description below.

Waterfall
(#1 in the River of Time series)
by Lisa T. Bergren

Lisa Tawn Bergren’s new YA series, River of Time, is romantic, historical fiction in which the plucky heroine doesn’t have to fear a vampire’s bite but must still fight for her life.

In Book One, American teenager Gabi Betarrini accidently finds herself in sixteenth-century Italy...
Knights. Swords. Horses. Armor. And Italian hotties.

Most American teens want an Italian vacation, but the Bentarrini sisters have spent every summer of their lives there with their archeologist parents. Stuck on yet another hot, dusty dig, they are bored out of their minds... until they place their hands atop handprints in an ancient tomb and find themselves in the sixteenth-century — and in the middle of a fierce battle between knights bent on killing one another.

And thus does she come to be rescued by the knight-prince Marcello Falassi, who takes her back to his father’s castle—a castle Gabi has seen in ruins in another life. Suddenly Gabi’s summer in Italy is much, much more interesting. But what do you do when your knight in shining armor lives, literally, in a different world?

What's Stopping You?
Shatter the 9 Most Common Myths Keeping You From Starting Your Own Business
by Bruce R. Barringer & R. Duane Ireland

Build the business you’ve always dreamed of! Take control of your future and achieve the breakthrough success that’s only possible when you’re working for yourself. You can do it–and this book will show you how.

Forget the myths that have been standing in your way. You don’t need to be rich. You don’t need extensive business experience. You don’t need to be a genius. You don’t need a revolutionary product or service. You can handle the risk, the competition, and the challenges.

The proof’s on every page of this book: case studies of “ordinary” people building great businesses and practical techniques you can use, too–every step of the way!

Amazon.com: Kindle

Death of a Trophy Wife
(#9 in the Jaine Austen mystery series)
by Laura Levine

See cover image and description above.

Dinners Made Easy
by Stonyfield Farm

Your dinner crisis, defused.

Take the stress out of your after-work dash. With this free e-cookbook from Stonyfield Farm, you'll always have healthy recipes on hand - and on your family's table.

Contains 2 to 3 recipes for each day of the week. The recipes all feature Stonyfield Farm organic yogurt.

Elliot and the Goblin War
(#1 in the Underworld Chronicles series)
by Jennifer A. Nielsen

See cover image and description above.

The Everything College Survival Book:
All You Need to Get the Most Out of College Life
(3rd edition)
by Susan Fitzgerald

See cover image and description above.

Fiske 250 Words Every High School Freshman Needs to Know
by Edward B. Fiske, Jane Mallison, & David Hatcher

Here are the 250 most important words students need to know to be successful in high school and beyond, from the former education editor of the New York Times and a leading educational authority.

Each entry contains a complete definition, word origin, and example sentences, making it both the perfect gift for eighth grade graduation and an effective tool for expanding a student's vocabulary, preparing them for standardized tests, and increasing their writing skills.

This is the perfect book for giving students who are entering high school a clear advantage before they begin.

Fiske 250 Words Every High School Graduate Needs to Know
by Edward B. Fiske, Jane Mallison, & David Hatcher

Here are the 250 most important words students need to know to be successful in college and beyond, from the former education editor of the New York Times and a leading authority on college admissions.

Each entry contains information on the word origin, a complete definition, and example sentences, making it both the perfect gift for high school graduation and an effective tool for expanding a student's vocabulary, increasing word comprehension, and honing their writing skills.

This is the perfect book for giving young adults entering college or starting a career a clear advantage before they begin.

God Save the Mark
by Donald Westlake

Donald E. Westlake's great comic suspense novel, won MWA's Edgar Award in 1967.

Con men descend upon its gullible hero when he comes into a $317,000 inheritance but Fred Fitch, as lovable as he is naive, stumbles to victory.

Donald E. Westlake is generally regarded as the greatest writer of comic crime fiction of all time. Many of his books have been made into movies, including The Hot Rock, Bank Shot, Cops and Robbers, and The Hunter, first filmed as the noir classic Point Blank with Lee Marvin and Angie Dickinson and then as Payback, starring Mel Gibson. He has won three Edgar Allan Poe Awards and has been named a Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America.

The Gods of Dream
by Daniel Arenson

What are dreams? Some think they are figments of our mind. But what if they were wisps of a distant, magical world... a world you could visit?

Twins Cade and Tasha discover Dream, the land dreams come from. It is a realm of misty forests, of verdant mountains, of mysterious gods who send dreams into our sleep. Cade and Tasha seek solace there; they are refugees, scarred and haunted with memories of war. In Dream, they can forget their past, escape the world, and find joy.

Phobetor, the god of Nightmare, was outcast from Dream. Now he seeks to destroy it. He sends his monsters into Dream, and Cade and Tasha find their sanctuary threatened, dying. To save it, the twins must overcome their past, journey into the heart of Nightmare, and face Phobetor himself.

Discover a world of light and darkness, of hope and fear, of dreams and nightmares. Discover The Gods of Dream.

Grammatically Correct:
The Essential Guide to Spelling, Style, Usage, Grammar, and Punctuation
by Anne Stilman

See cover image and description above.

Hollywood Scandals
(#1 in the Hollywood Headlines series)
by Gemma Halliday

Tina Bender is the gossip columnist at the infamous L.A. Informer tabloid. She knows everything about everyone who's anyone. And she's not afraid to print it. That is, until she receives a threatening note, promising, "If you don't stop writing about me, you're dead."

Now her managing editor, Felix Dunn (from the High Heels Mysteries), has her teaming with a built bodyguard, a bubbly blonde, and an alcoholic obituary writer to uncover just which juicy piece of Hollywood gossip is worth killing over.

Lye in Wait
(#1 in the Home Crafting mystery series)
by Cricket McRae

See cover image and description above.

The Magnificent 12: The Call, with Bonus Material
(#1 in the Magnificent 12 series)
by Michael Grant

See cover image and description above.

Restore My Heart
(#1 in the Mustang Sally series)
by Cheryl Norman

See cover image and description above.

The Rhine Maiden
(#1 in the Rhine Maiden series)
by Erin Evans

See cover image and description above.

Robert's Rules of Writing:
101 Unconventional Lessons Every Writer Needs to Know
by Robert Masello

See cover image and description above.

The Slacker's Guide to U.S. History:
The Bare Minimum on Discovering America, the Boston Tea Party, the California Gold Rush, and Lots of Other Stuff Dead White Guys Did
by Don Stewart & John Pfeiffer

What does Miley Cyrus have in common with Sacagawea? How could Steve Jobs have helped Eisenhower? What does the moon landing have to do with the Hilton sisters?

In less time than it takes to recite the preamble to the Constitution, most Americans can spout off all their U.S. history knowledge. (Hint: it starts with "In 1492" and ends with "sailed the ocean blue.") That's because most history books are as interesting as the phone book - and have the same number of pages. The average Joe (the guy who TiVo'd John Adams on HBO but won't make Colonial Williamsburg his next vacation spot) needs a witty and edgy history book - and he has it, with this guide.

Hysterical authors - and self-described slackers - Don Stewart and John Pfeifer give readers the bare minimum on important events such as: The Civil War (the war that pitted brother vs. brother-about the bruthas); The expedition of Lewis and Clark (the ultimate road trip); The Boston Tea Party (not much of a party unless that tea was from Long Island); and the assassination of JFK (one vacation that ended particularly badly). Combining current pop culture references and accessible historical information, this satirical book catches readers up on what they slept through in History 101.

Waterfall
(#1 in the River of Time series)
by Lisa T. Bergren

See cover image and description above.

What I Learned from Being a Cheerleader
by Adrianne Ambrose

Eleven-year-old Elaine Rewitzer is funny, smart and happy being a geek, but when she wins a spot on the Cross Creek Middle School Buccaneers cheerleading squad, she gets totally into her new life. Her mega-brain best friend Bethany warns that Elaine will just become “part of the herd,” and her best geek-guy-pal, Tim, (who's struggling with nose polyps) feels forgotten.

Will Elaine survive the roller coaster of pre-teen cheerleader fame? Will she win the heart of the cutest boy on the basketball team? Will she confess her “uncool” love for comic books? Will she lose Bethany and Tim's friendship for-evah?

What's Stopping You?
Shatter the 9 Most Common Myths Keeping You from Starting Your Own Business
by Bruce R. Barringer & R. Duane Ireland

See cover image and description above.

The Wheel Spins
by Ethel White

Best known as the basis for Hitchcock's classic early film, The Lady Vanishes, Ethel White's The Wheel Spins is a gripping and accomplished work in its own right.

The protagonist of the story is a young woman named Iris Carr, who suffers a blackout just before she is to board her train for a railway journey across Europe to London. It is an ominous beginning to what will be a very disturbing trip. On board, the still-woozy Iris befriends Mrs. Froy, a fellow Englishwoman who is a little eccentric, but who seems mostly agreeable and benign. Mrs. Froy is the "Vanishing Lady" of Hitchcock's title, and she mysteriously disappears while Iris is napping. Her inexplicable departure throws Iris into a mind-bending mystery that will make her alternately question her sanity and the designs of the people around her. For when she asks about the vanished Mrs. Froy, everyone on board the train adamantly denies ever having seen the old woman. Although Iris is tempted to believe that Mrs. Froy must have been merely a vivid hallucination, perhaps an aftereffect of sunstroke, a few stray, inexplicable details suggest that something much more sinister may be going on...

The University of Chicago

Spiral Jetta: A Road Trip Through the Land Art of the American West
by Erin Hogan

Erin Hogan hit the road in her Volkswagen Jetta and headed west from Chicago in search of the monuments of American land art: a salty coil of rocks, four hundred stainless steel poles, a gash in a mesa, four concrete tubes, and military sheds filled with cubes. Her journey took her through the states of Utah, Nevada, New Mexico, Arizona, and Texas. It also took her through the states of anxiety, drunkenness, disorientation, and heat exhaustion. Spiral Jetta is a chronicle of this journey.

Available free for the month of August 2011.