Good Reads

I took my own advice and decided to branch out. I am going to post books I like that I have read over the last few years along with a short synopsis of each.  Feel free to post your favorites. Typically, the fiction categories I read are Thriller, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Post-Apocalyptic, Medical Thriller, Disaster/Apocalyptic, Horror (usually zombies) and Urban Fiction. Generally, I don't read non-fiction as I get enough of that in the news. Most of my reading is via the Kindle App on my phone, Chromebook or Surface because all you can read for $9.99 a month is an incredible value. 

Immortal Vegas by Jenna Stark 

I discovered this series about a year or so ago. I thought people here might like it because most of the series is set in a fictionalized version of Las Vegas.  Sara Wilde is a treasure hunter/fortune teller for hire by trade and the books in this series chronicle her adventures. The first three books in the series take you to Rio de Janeiro, Rome and of course Las Vegas. Overall, it is a good entertaining read especially for those of you who like Urban Fiction/Action Adventure in general. I paid $3.99 for each book, but she has three-volume box set available for just 99 cents. 

Freaky Days - A Mystic Caravan Mystery Book by Amanda M. Lee

Poet Parker is fortune teller with the traveling Mystic Caravan Circus by day and a monster hunter by night.  People that like Mysteries or Urban Fiction will like this. I have read all the available books in the series.  The 5th book in the series, Freaky Games, is set in you guessed it Las Vegas. It is $3.99 or free if you are a Kindle Unlimited user. 

I like old, non-fiction, historical reads. 

I'm loving The Boys in the Boat, about the 1936 Berlin Olympics, the USA rowing team, working class boys who beat Germany's rowing team to win the Gold, a testament to determination against all odds.  You can't put it down.  You learn more about rowing than you ever thought possible.  Author is Daniel James Brown.

A wild and crazy novel is Sick Puppy by Carl Hiaasen.  Crooked land developer, crooked politicians, environmental exploitation, sabotage, sex, and there really is a dog in the mix.  Florida Keys real estate history interwoven.  Fun read.  Published in 2000. 

Both of these can be obtained for a couple dollars or less.   Thriftbooks.com is good.  Or your local library.

Thanks, Candy

Here are a few ways to get free/low-cost books in the digital age. 

Amazon Prime - If you are already an Amazon Prime member, they have what they call Prime Reading. At any given time there are a couple of thousand or more books that you can read at no cost and the program is already included the price of your prime membership. 

Amazon Kindle Unlimited -  This costs $9.99 a month. There are approximately 1.4 million books you can read in this program at no cost other than the $9.99 per month fee. Most people think of this as the "Netflix of Books."  The program encourages binge reading just like Netflix encourages binge watching. 

Totally Free or Bargain Books

Amazon allows authors to give away a free or promotionally priced book for three days every so often.  For the free books, there is no cost and you don't have to be a Prime Member or Kindle Unlimited member to get them. The challenge is finding them as the promotions only last three days and there are literally tens of thousands of books being given away free or deeply discounted every day. Amazon doesn't have a list of the free/discounted books on their platform, so unless you happen to find one via a genre bestseller list, they are difficult to find. However, there are few free services that specialize in finding these books. 

Book Bub - The absolute best in terms of the quality and desirability of the books being offered. I have found a ton of good books through this list.  They offer a daily list of discounted and free books by genre.  In addition to free and discounted books for the Kindle platform, they also have lists for iBooks.

Bargain Booksey  - The second best list.  It works about the same as Book Bub only this list is just for bargain books and not free ones. 

Free Booksey - The sister site to Bargain Booksey.  The difference being all the books here are free rather than discounted.