Free 60-Day Trial of Kindle Unlimited, and the Books Available

On Facebook, a friend shared a Groupon for a Free 60-Day Kindle Unlimited Membership (US $19.98 Value). I know nothing about Kindle Unlimited. I’m hoping that “borrowing” books through is like the way my libraries work – download books, and they get automatically deleted after a certain number of days, or you return them earlier. I’m hoping it’s not the “read for free” thing that publishers sometimes do on their websites where you can only read web-based – no downloads.

You’ll need an Amazon account, and will need to make sure the settings have your location as the United States. You’ll also need a Groupon account, for which I used my Facebook, and make sure that you’re not signed up to any of their newsletters if you’re treating this Groupon as a one-off deal.

Group will ask you for “payment”, but I clicked the PayPal button, so I wasn’t charged – because the deal is free, after all. There’s also an option for credit card info.

Once you’ve got your Amazon organised, click here and input the code from your email, to activate the deal.

And now comes the part for why you’re here – borrowing books for free. I don’t know if there are expiry dates or what kind of borrowing system it is (see above about publishers vs. libraries). I’m on the wrong machine right now, but tomorrow on my laptop, I plan to investigate the following links. I systematically checked my reading wishlist, and here are the Kindle Unlimited-eligible books I’m interested in. Some are “pre-orders”, so I doubt you’ll be able to borrow them now. Be sure to check that the ones you’re interested in have Kindle Unlimited on the page, just in case I included a non-eligible title or if the authors/publishers decide to take them off the programme.

Vicki Hendricks: Miami Purity
Cyn Balog: Drowned
Chris Beckett: The Peacock Cloak
Jenna Black: Sealed with a Curse
Rachel Caine: Stillhouse Lake (pre-order)
Amy Rose Capetta: Entangled
Naomi Clark: The Ungrateful Dead; Wild; Gone to the Dogs; Ice Ice Baby; Stakeout
Liz Coley: The Captain’s Kid
Suzanne Collins: The Hunger Games; Catching Fire; Mockingjay
Megan Crewe: Earth & Sky; A Clouded Sky; A Sky Unbroken
Deborah Halverson: Writing New Adult Fiction
Jen Estes: Fifteen; Sixteen
Christina Farley: Gilded; Silvern; Brazen
Megan Hart: The Resurrected Compendium; Clearwater; The Lies We Tell (pre-order); The Secrets We Keep (pre-order)
Erica Hayes: Hunter’s Heart
Anthology: Tick Tock
Karen Ann Hopkins: Lamb to the Slaughter; Embers; Whispers from the Dead; Rachel’s Deception; Gaia; Secrets from the Grave; Tempest; Hidden in Plain Sight
Lydia Kang: A Beautiful Poison (pre-order)
PD Martin: Coming Home; When Justice Fails; Missing; The Wanderer; Grounded Spirits
Liz Maverick: The Transporter (pre-order)
Seanan McGuire: Indexing; Reflections
Will McIntosh: Futures Near & Far
Tracey O’Hara: Once Upon a Moonlit Night
Jackson Pearce: Turn Here
Cheryl Rainfield: Stained; Parallel Visions
Dia Reeves: Rhymes with Vampire
Leah Rhyne: In the Land of the Blind
Carrie Ryan: A Game of Firsts
Holly Schindler: Fifth Avenue Fidos; Play It Again; Forever Finley
Jeri Smith-Ready: Bridge
Lila Veen: Burning for You
Jessica Verday: Flesh Which Is Not Flesh
M.D. Waters: Gemini’s Edge
Skyler White: Offerings
Susanne Winnacker: Between the Shadow & the Soul

19th March 2015 Releases

Happy Release Day to:

Tracey O’Hara
Darla (Secret Confessions: Sydney Housewives, Book 11)
Harlequin Escape (AU: 19th March 2015)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA)
Darla knows her place at the exclusive Diamond D dinners – she is comic relief, entertaining the rest of the women with tales of her dating woes. Since her divorce, she has been on one bad date after another, and not even a high-class dating agency can help. But a massive storm front brings a visit from an old neighbour – and suddenly being neighbourly takes on a whole new meaning. When it rains, it pours, and it looks like Darla’s dry spell is about to become a thing of the past.

March 2015 Releases

Done with February 2015 Releases? Here are March 2015 Releases. For future releases, check Reading Wishlist. (NOTE: If reading via a feed-reader, the formatting may be wrong. Click the blog post’s title to take you to my WordPress, where it should show up fine.)

4 New Covers (Gay, Grant, O’Hara, Roux)

Now Available for US Pre-Order

Carolyn Lee Adams: RUTHLESS: 2nd June 2015: Buy (US)
Sharon Cameron: ROOK: 28th April 2015: Buy (US)
Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff: ILLUMINAE: 7th July 2015: Buy (US)
Michele Lang: THE WITCH OF BUDAPEST: 30th September 2014: Buy (US)
Demitria Lunetta: IN THE END (paperback): 23rd June 2015: Buy (US)
Tracey O’Hara: SECRET CONFESSIONS: SYDNEY HOUSEWIVES: DARLA: 19th March 2015: Buy (US)
Anna Sheehan: NO LIFE BUT THIS: 18th December 2014: Buy (US)
Alexandra Sirowy: THE CREEPING: 18th August 2015: Buy (US)
Laurie Faria Stolarz: WELCOME TO THE DARK HOUSE (paperback): 23rd June 2015: Buy (US)
Carol Lynch Williams: SIGNED SKYE HARPER (paperback): 12th May 2015: Buy (US)
Brenna Yovanoff: FIENDISH (paperback): 11th August 2015: Buy (US)

[REVIEW] The Final Wish – Tracey O’Hara

Tracey O’Hara
The Final Wish
Macmillan Momentum (AU: 1st November 2012)
Buy (US) Buy (UK)

I don’t like how nowadays “erotic” simply means “graphic sex”. To me, erotica should be closer to psychological suspense than romance, but hey – this is why I’m not a writer; just a reader.

Maybe it’s the short form, but the story’s length (or lack thereof) means there’s not nearly enough conflict or character development. Caleb has more depth than Ishari, though – she’s more a symbolic dream woman rather than a true character.

Australian romance writers seem to be on a successful rock-star hero kick as of late – see works by Lexxie Couper and Jess Dee. The Final Wish goes along with this trend, but Tracey O’Hara makes the fictional band’s success more believable by having it as the result of a Djinn granting a wish. Unfortunately, this tactic is used to solve the major problem of Caleb’s self-destructive brother. That pat ending was just too much, and further proof why I believe epilogues should be scrapped.

Tracey O’Hara’s best work is her Dark Brethren series. The Final Wish just seems flat in comparison.

31st July 2012 Releases

Happy Release Day to:

Kelly Gay
Shadows Before the Sun (Charlie Madigan, Book 4)
Simon & Schuster Pocket (US & CA: 31st July 2012)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
Elysia may be a heavenly off-world destination, but beyond it, in the siren city of Fiallan, the Circe have punished Charlie Madigan’s partner, Hank, into a torturous state between life and death. With all the proper legal channels cleared, Charlie heads to Elysia, not knowing what she’ll find, or if she’ll ever see the siren again…while at home, jinn crime boss Grigori Tennin has begun an all-out hunt for the divine being Ahkneri. Tennin’s tactics set off a chain reaction that puts Charlie in the crosshairs of the shadowy creature known as Death, and stirs Ahkneri from her long sleep – and if Vengeance awakes, Atlanta will never be the same.

Nancy Holzner
Darklands (Deadtown, Book 4)
Penguin Ace (US & CA: 31st July 2012)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
They call it Deadtown: the city’s quarantined section for its inhuman and undead residents. Most humans stay far from its border – but Victory Vaughn, Boston’s only professional demon slayer, isn’t exactly human… Boston’s demons have been disappearing, and Vicky’s clients are cancelling left and right. While fewer demons might seem like a good thing, Vicky suspects foul play. A missing Celtic cauldron from Harvard’s Peabody museum leads her to an unwelcome conclusion: Pryce, her half-cousin and bitter enemy, is trying to regain his full powers. But Pryce isn’t alone. He’s conjured another, darker villain from Vicky’s past. To stop them from destroying everything she loves, she’ll have to face her own worst fear – in the realm of the dead itself.

Tracey O’Hara
Sin’s Dark Caress (Dark Brethren, Book 2)
HarperCollins Voyager (US: 31st July 2012)
Review
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
Forensic witch Bianca Sin has never seen anything like it: homeless teenage girls torn to pieces by dark magic in the cold shadows of the city. More terrifying still is the symbol written in blood on an alley wall – the unmistakable seal of the Dark Brethren. Teaming up with NYPD homicide detective Lancelot McManus and an elite task force headed by the shapeshifter Oberon DuPrie, Bianca knows her worst fears have finally come to pass. A new war of annihilation is looming that will plunge the worlds of vampire, shapeshifter, and human into chaos – and two adversarial tribes locked in uneasy truce will need to take up arms together to save the children. Trust will be essential for Sin and McManus, as the hunt forces them to confront their deepest terrors. For the ultimate evil is no longer approaching. It’s here.

July 2012 Releases

Done with June 2012 Releases? Here are July 2012 Releases. For future releases, check Reading Wishlist.

[REVIEW] Sin’s Dark Caress – Tracey O’Hara

Tracey O’Hara
Sin’s Dark Caress (Dark Brethren, Book 3)
HarperCollins Voyager (CA: 10th July 2012; US: 31st July 2012)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)

Pregnant young women are murdered, their foetuses removed, with the Dark Brethren’s mark left as a signature. The Womb Raider case has Detective Lancelot McManus and forensic thaumaturgist Dr Bianca Sin investigating the links between the victims, and predicting whom will be next.

It’s safe to say that the Dark Brethren series has entered bonkers territory. Weird shiz makes me laugh, keeps me entertained, so I’m happy to go along on this ride. But be warned – there are talking dragons. I’m used to this from animated TV comedies, not books, so in my mind the talking dragons sound like when Futurama‘s Nibbler pontificates. Hopefully the author meant this as comic relief, or else I’m laughing inappropriately. I do love Kedrax’s bond with Bianca’s cat, Vincent. I love that kitty! He’s not parahuman, but he’s a great little accomplice. There’s also mention of “erotic plant manipulation”, but we don’t see it in action. Still makes me laugh.

As for the serious stuff, the Dark Brethren are breaking through, but as this is the last contracted novel, we may not get closure. So if you want to learn more about the Dark Brethren, be sure to drum up sales of Night’s Cold Kiss, Death’s Sweet Embrace, and Sin’s Dark Caress, and hopefully we’ll get a Book 4 in the future.

8 New Covers (Arthur, Caine, Harrison, Marks, Merle, O’Hara, Ryan, Worth)