[Free eBook] Sapphire Nights by Patricia Rice [Paranormal Romance]

Sapphire Nights by Patricia Rice, a recipient of the Romantic Times Reviewers Choice & Career Achievement Awards, is the 1st novel in her Crystal Magic series of f/m contemporary paranormal romance, free for a limited time courtesy of the author herself.

The series is set in the fictional small town of Hillvale in California, starring persons with empathic and psychic abilities who uncover and resolve secrets, mysteries, and the occasional murder rooted in the local history.

This installment stars a newcomer scientist with amnesia attempting to uncover the truth about herself, helped by a Chinese-American investigator from L.A. haunted by his father’s long-ago disappearance in the town, who struggles to cope with the expanded reality of spirits and other weirdness surrounding them both.

Offered DRM-free worldwide, probably until early October, available @ the Book View Café author consortium website.

[Free Audiobooks] The Music of What Happens by Bill Konigsberg & The Brontë Plot by Katherine Reay [YA LGBT & Literature-Inspired Travel Romance]

AudioFile’s SYNC Summer of Listening 2020 promotion for young adults offers 2 free audiobooks per week—1 classic or modern, 1 non-fiction or speculative—available worldwide for a limited time courtesy of participating major publishers, and you can see the planned release schedule here.

This week’s two selected titles, which have a theme of confronting secrets and romantic journeys of self-discovery, will be available to claim until 11:59 PM Eastern Time on June 25th.

• The Music of What Happens by Lambda Literary Award-winning author Bill Konigsberg, read by Joel Froomkin & Anthony Rey Perez from Scholastic Audio. A YA contemporary m/m romance set in Arizona over the course of a summer, as two gay high schoolers take on the dual challenges of reviving a vintage family food truck business and incidentally also falling in love, as they learn to navigate various personal and professional obstacles blocking their way.

• The Brontë Plot by Katherine Reay, read by Laura Kirman from Thomas Nelson (a HarperCollins imprint). A contemporary road trip journey of self-discovery with f/m romantic elements, starring a Chicago vintage bookseller with a dodgy background and her estranged boyfriend’s wealthy grandmother, who unexpectedly hires her as a consultant for an antiques-hunting excursion amidst the literary haunts of north-west England’s Lake District area which eventually takes them to Haworth, home of the Brontë sisters, to confront and come to terms with the secrets of their separate pasts and move forward into the future, with inspiration from the heroines of Victorian literature.

This year, they’ve switched over to requiring the Overdrive Sora app available for iOS and Android (previously, these were available as DRM-free MP3s with a time-limited download period to your computer/device), but once added to your in-app library, these will remain permanent titles that you can re-download at any time at your leisure.

You’ll need to signup with a valid email address on AudioFile’s front page for the promotion, and then enter the setup code audiobooksync in the Sora app when asked, and then claim each week’s featured title using the Borrow function on its page in the app, more details available on their FAQ page for the promotion.

Offered until just before midnight Eastern Time on Wednesday, June 25th, available worldwide.

[Free Audiobooks] Into White by Randi Pink & Like No Other by Una LaMarche [YA Contemporary Fantasy & Cross-Cultural Romance]

AudioFile’s SYNC Summer of Listening 2020 promotion for young adults offers 2 free audiobooks per week—1 classic or non-fiction, 1 modern—available worldwide for a limited time courtesy of participating major publishers, and you can see the planned release schedule here.

This week’s two selected titles, which have a theme of coming of age while confronting cross-cultural differences, will be available to claim until 11:59 PM Eastern Time on June 10th.

• Into White by Randi Pink, read by Adenrele Ojo, from Listening Library. A gritty YA contemporary fairy tale fantasy novel set in Alabama, starring a black teen attending a mostly white high school where she doesn’t fit in with her fellow students of either race, who in a case of “be careful what you wish for” magically finds herself appearing outwardly white and popular in a new reality which may not be nearly as improved as she had imagined.

• Like No Other by Una LaMarche, read by Phoebe Strole & Leslie Odom Jr., from Listening Library. A YA contemporary coming of age f/m cross-cultural romance novel set in Brooklyn, starring a fun-loving nerd from a Caribbean family and a Hasidic Jewish “good girl”, who meet by chance in a stuck elevator during a hurricane and come to understand each other, finding forbidden love blossoming in the aftermath as they try to navigate societal and cultural obstacles to be together.

This year, they’ve switched over to requiring the Overdrive Sora app available for iOS and Android (previously, these were available as DRM-free MP3s with a time-limited download period to your computer/device), but once added to your in-app library, these will remain permanent titles that you can re-download at any time at your leisure.

You’ll need to signup with a valid email address on AudioFile’s front page for the promotion, and then enter the setup code audiobooksync in the Sora app when asked, and then claim each week’s featured title using the Borrow function on its page in the app, more details available on their FAQ page for the promotion.

Offered until just before midnight Eastern Time on Wednesday, June 10th, available worldwide.

[Free Audiobooks] Serpent & Dove by Shelby Mahurin & In Search of Us by Ava Dellaira [YA Fantasy with Romance & Family Drama]

AudioFile’s SYNC Summer of Listening 2020 promotion for young adults offers 2 free audiobooks per week—1 classic or non-fiction, 1 modern—available worldwide for a limited time courtesy of participating major publishers, and you can see the planned release schedule here.

This week’s two selected titles, which have a theme of the complicated relationships linking previously separated strangers, will be available to claim until 11:59 PM Eastern Time on June 3rd.

• Serpent & Dove by Shelby Mahurin, read by Holter Graham & Saskia Maarleveld, from HarperAudio. This is the 1st novel in the eponymous YA fantasy duology with strong f/m romantic elements, set in a France-inspired world where the Church persecutes witchcraft covens, starring a hidden witch who has forsaken her magic in favour of survival, and an elite witch hunter, who are forced into a marriage due to circumstances and must learn to deal with their respective prejudices towards each other

• In Search of Us by Ava Dellaira, read by Adenrele Ojo, from Brilliance Audio. A YA contemporary fiction coming of age intergenerational family drama novel with f/m romantic elements, exploring the bonds between a white mother and her mixed-race daughter, as the latter discovers her hidden family history via exploration of her mother’s own teenaged years in the 1990s and the love affair with her absent and possibly deceased African-American father, embarking on a road trip in search of the truth.

This year, they’ve switched over to requiring the Overdrive Sora app available for iOS and Android (previously, these were available as DRM-free MP3s with a time-limited download period to your computer/device), but once added to your in-app library, these will remain permanent titles that you can re-download at any time at your leisure.

You’ll need to signup with a valid email address on AudioFile’s front page for the promotion, and then enter the setup code audiobooksync in the Sora app when asked, and then claim each week’s featured title using the Borrow function on its page in the app, more details available on their FAQ page for the promotion.

Offered until just before midnight Eastern Time on Wednesday, June 3rd, available worldwide.

[Free eBooks] 9 books from AmazonCrossing for World Book Day [International Literary & Genre Fiction & Non-Fiction]

As a special treat to celebrate the United Nations’ annual World Book Day event, 9 titles from assorted countries in various genres of fiction and non-fiction from the exclusive Amazon Crossing and Amazon Crossing Kids translation imprints are being given away, free for a limited time courtesy of publisher Amazon.

The selection includes a sampling of international goodies for all ages and genres, from kids’ picture books to literary fiction from award-winning authors as well as genre thriller, romance, and historical sagas, and also true crime and memoir.

All the titles are listed with their Kindle store links @ the special World Book Day promotion page (change your local store as applicable from the provided drop-down; selection may vary by country) and include:

Non-Fiction:

• Out of the Silence: After the Crash by Uruguayan rugby player Eduardo Strauch with Uruguayan-Argentinian author Mireya Soriano, a memoir about his experiences as a survivor of the famous 1972 plane crash carrying his rugby team in the snowbound Andes mountain, which left them stranded for months before rescue
• The Man Who Played with Fire: Stieg Larsson’s Lost Files and the Hunt for an Assassin by Swedish author Jan Stocklassa, a retrospective true crime recounting of the late bestselling Swedish crime novelist of the acclaimed “Millenium” trilogy’s pre-fame journalistic attempt at investigating Swedish prime minister Olof Palme‘s unsolved murder

Fiction:

• Along the Tapajós by Brazilian author Fernando Vilela, a children’s picture book recounting two siblings’ adventures along a river to rescue their pet tortoise
• Life by the late Mao Dun Literature Prize-winning Chinese author Lu Yao, a 1980s-era retro-historical contemporary literary novel about a stubbornly idealistic young man from a rural village trying to make it in the big city
• The Girl in the Tree by Yudus Nadi Literature Award-winning Turkish author Şebnem İşigüzel, a contemporary literary coming of age novel with f/m romantic elements about two young people in Istanbul during a time of violent unrest and political upheaval
• The First Mrs. Rothschild by Israeli author Sara Aharoni, a Steinmatzky Prize-winning epistolary historical biographical novel with f/m romantic elements about young lovers in starting in a Jewish German ghetto in the 1770s, who eventually rise to found the famous banking dynasty over the course of the ensuing decades, told in the form of the titular character’s journals
• The Price of Paradise by Spanish author Susana López Rubio, an historical f/m romantic saga, about the decades-long forbidden love affair between a young Spanish immigant and a local mobster’s wife, starting in 1940s Cuba
• Your Perfect Year by pseudonymous German author Charlotte Lucas, a heartwarming contemporary literary novel about second chances
• Hard Rain by South African author Irma Venter, 1st in the Rogue series of mystery/thrillers with f/m romantic elements starring a journalist and a photographer set throughout Africa, with this installment introducing to each other on an assignment in Tanzania as one of them becomes a suspect in the murder of an IT billionaire

Offered in most countries worldwide through just before midnight Pacific Time on Friday, April 24th, available at Amazon.

[Free eBook] Hooked on a Phoenix by Ashlyn Chase [Paranormal Romance]

Hooked on a Phoenix by Ashlyn Chase is the 1st novel in the Phoenix Brothers series of f/m paranormal romance, free for a limited time courtesy of publisher Sourcebooks’ Casablanca imprint.

The series is set in a version of our modern world where hidden supernatural creatures and psychics exist, centred around a family of phoenix shapeshifters.

This installment stars a phoenix firefighter, whose absent friend’s request to watch over his little sister, a bank teller still nursing a childhood crush but unaware of his secret heritage, takes a steamily suspenseful turn when robbers hold up her bank and they are locked in the vault together.

Offered worldwide, available at multiple retailers.

[Free eBook] Cowboy SEAL Homecoming by Nicole Helm [Contemporary Western Military Romance]

Cowboy SEAL Homecoming by Nicole Helm is the 1st novel in the Navy SEAL Cowboys series of f/m contemporary western military romance, free for a limited time courtesy of publisher Sourcebooks’ Casablanca imprint.

The series is set in Montana, starring former Navy SEALs injured in the line of duty, attempting to retire to a lower-key, less action-packed life and start over.

This installment stars the leader of the group, who has no place to return to but the former family ranch he spent his life running away from, now run by a woman who offers to turn it into a haven for disabled veterans.

Offered worldwide, available at multiple retailers.

[Free eBook] A Gentleman’s Game by Theresa Romain [Regency Historical Horse-Racing Romantic Suspense]

A Gentleman’s Game by Theresa Romain is the 1st novel in the Romance of the Turf series of f/m historical sports romance with suspense elements, free for a limited time courtesy of publisher Sourcebooks’ Casablanca imprint.

The series is centred around an aristocratic horse-racing family in Regency England, as various members find love and intrigue while dealing with rivalry, sabotage, scandals, disappearances, and suspected murder.

This installment stars a man looking into the suspicious illness of his family’s trained thoroughbreds just before the important Epsom Derby, who suspects his father’s new secretary, who has her own surprising reasons for a stake in their victory.

Offered worldwide, available at multiple retailers.

[Free eBook] The Infamous Heir by Elizabeth Michels [Regency Historical Romantic Suspense]

The Infamous Heir by Elizabeth Michels is the 1st novel in the The Spare Heirs series of f/m Regency historical romance with suspense elements, free for a limited time courtesy of publisher Sourcebooks’ Casablanca imprint.

The series is centred around the Spare Heirs Society, a group of younger sons and other socially less-prominent men who’ve banded together into a brotherhood, who sometimes find themselves embroiled in sticky situations due to changes in their individual status. NB: according to reviewer remarks, this seems to be a spin-off of one of the author’s previous series.

This installment stars a formerly-disinherited second son unexpectedly promoted by his older brother’s untimely death, which he must investigate even as he tries to win the heart of a debutante he’s secretly loved since childhood, who had her own heart set on marrying the deceased.

Offered worldwide, available at multiple retailers.

[Free eBook] Temptation in a Kilt by Victoria Roberts [Highlander Historical Romance]

Temptation in a Kilt by Victoria Roberts is the 1st novel in the Bad Boys of the Highlands series of f/m Scottish highlander historical romance, free for a limited time courtesy of publisher Sourcebooks’ Casablanca imprint.

The series stars the obligatory feistily irresistible women and stubbornly sexy men, with occasional clashes of culture between.

This installment stars a headstrong Lowlands lady traveling to seek refuge in the Highlands, and the clan Laird who may just regret his rash decision to agree to escort such a tempting challenge.

Offered worldwide, available at multiple retailers.