Randomize ME

I don’t check Smashwords that often, but they do feature a lot of freebie downloads both from self-published indie authors and from mainstream publishers (check here for a list of the latest freebies). There’s a separate page where you can find several FREE e-Book downloads for children and young adults that you might want to check out this summer vacation. I don’t know if you let your kids borrow your ‘toys’, but I’ve learned that kids (i.e my nieces/nephews) can be very responsible with these gadgets and are quite capable of reading quietly in a corner if they’re interested enough. I just make sure that my ‘toys’ are appropriately swathed in protective casing just in case of accidental drops (which I’ve been guilty of myself, so can’t really blame the kids)!

* Smashwords offers downloads in multiple e-Book formats, so you’ll be likely to find a format that you can read on your Kindle, Nook, iPad/iPhone/iPod Touch and the soon to be available Kobo reader. By the way, in case you missed the news yesterday, there is a current price war with e-Readers! Barnes & Noble is now offering a $149 Nook Wifi eReader and reduced the Nook with 3G + Wifi eReader to 199.99. In response, Amazon Kindle promptly reduced it’s price to the rock bottom $189.00 (if you don’t mind refurbished units, you can even grab a Kindle for only $139.99!) And lastly, even though the Kobo eReader is listed as $149 in Borders, it’s actually reduced to $129 since Borders will be bundling a $20 gift card with each purchase! Just waiting on Sony to also jump into the fray! I’d say, if you’ve been wondering whether to get yourself an eReader or not, now is the time to take advantage of this price war! I’ve been reading eBooks for a long time now, and there’s never been such a deluge of legal free downloads, so take advantage of both the price war & the freebies!

So, like I said, there’s a ton of FREE children’s and young adult/teen eBooks found on Smashwords, just be patient enough to browse through and pick the ones that seem promising to you. I’m featuring some books that I thought would most appeal to the kids in my life I haven’t actually read the books, but I thought the synopsis were interesting to pick out from the crop.

‘The Misspellers‘ by Michael Martineck seemed to me to be the most interesting of the lot. Check out the author’s webpage for more info.

Photo Credit : Michael Martineck

‘The Misspellers‘ by Michael Martineck is available for FREE download on the Smashwords site. Just click here to download! The reviews for the book are pretty good!

Book Description:

They should have known not to nose around.

Outside, the house smelled of rotten cabbage, burnt onions and wet dogs. Inside, there was no phone, no television, not so much as a single electric light. Carlin and Jack didn’t like the place, but all they had to do was water plants while the owner was away.

No one told them to discover the house’s biggest secret: science and magic don’t mix.

Click on the next page for the other free books I picked out!

Pages: 1 2 3 4

The 11th stop for the Glam Nation tour – first night at the sold out Nokia Theater (New York, NY)!

Opening acts were Allison Iraheta and Orianthi as usual.

Hot! Hot! Hot!

Adam’s set list : Voodoo, Down The Rabbit Hole, Ring Of Fire (Yes! He’ll be playing this at the Ryman!), Fever, Sleepwalker, Acoustic set : WWFM, Soaked and Aftermath (Adam has said that the acoustic set may change from day to day & week to week), Sure Fire Winners, Strut, Music Again, Broken Open, If I Had You and Whole Lotta Love (Encore) and Mad World (Encore). Adam left the audience gasping for more, no wonder this NY Post review‘s main complaint was that Adam wasn’t controversial enough plus the short set length!

The night was especially marked by some major fan-shipping pandering from Adam and his bassist Tommy Joe Ratliff, what with open mouthed tongue licking in Fever, and Tommy returning the favor by a lick plus a cheek kiss of his own during If I Had You … those two are hot! Who cares if something is or isn’t going on behind the scenes, they’re still hot as hell on stage.

Thanks to the lovely fans who got video! (tuke18, 2010summeroflove – HD vid!, adamholicholic – HD also, TALCvids, EMandKAY2010, gossipcandy) Be sure to bookmark this post as I’ll update it with media periodically!

Check out VH1 Posted for exclusive videos, photos and blogs straight from the bossman himself! Check out the photos from tonight on this twitpic account and Flickr page! Another Flickr account with gorgeous pics!

ADAM VIDEOS

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Browse Inside this book Get this for your site

Product Description for The Poison Diaries By Maryrose Wood, The Duchess of Northumberland:

Hmmm… pretty interesting premise, and sounds like a pretty grim fantasy Young Adult novel. Check it out!

Click on the widget above or here to be able to read the novel, “The Poison Diaries”, in its entirety online (hurry, since it’s not indicated when this offer expires). Thank you to harperteens!

It’s not really a free e-book in the sense that you can download and read later at your leisure, but hey, beggars can’t be choosers, right?

The site uses “Browse Inside” technology and looks like pages of pdf actually. Very easy to use and the pages are set at 100% with clear font, so it’s no biggie And if you like it, buy a copy!

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Here’s a cool way to let your creative juice flowing! I like it, really easy to use and you end up with pretty little sketches Plus, it’s FREE for 36 hours only! So get it now!

The app LiveSketch is free for download from the iTunes app store and the App Shopper. GET IT NOW before the offer expires.

App Description:

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So, the Amazon MP3 Music Store has a bunch of new free songs available this week. Just pick and choose what appeals to you – it’s free after all – just download then delete if the free songs are not to your taste! Can’t complain too much since they are FREE.

** Check out ALL the FREE tracks of the WEEK on this Amazon MP3 FREE PAGE! **- I count around 11 free songs just on that page!

The track ‘Hold Me Down‘ by Sia is available for FREE download for a limited time!

Click here to download the FREE track!

MORE FREE MP3 DOWNLOADS AFTER THE JUMP!

Read more…

So, how many of you have bought a Kindle OR if you haven’t bought a Kindle yet, whataya waiting for? Due to a current price war with the $149 Wifi-enabled Nook backed by Barnes & Noble and the $149 Kobo eReader backed by Borders – the Amazon Kindle is now being sold for the rock bottom price of $189.00 (cheaper than what refurbished units were before!) I’d say now is the time to take advantage of this price war!

(If you don’t have a Kindle, don’t worry, you can still read the free books! Just download the Kindle for the PC, Kindle for the iPhone/iPod Touch, Kindle for the iPad or Kindle for BlackBerry!)

Well, time to fill your ereader up with freebies! This one is by a Christian publisher, and it’s a contemporary romance.

‘Critical Care‘ by Candace Calvert is available for FREE download on the Amazon Kindle site. Just click here to download!

Book Description:

After her brother dies in a trauma room, nurse Claire Avery can no longer face the ER. She’s determined to make a fresh start –new hospital, new career in nursing education — move forward, no turning back.

But her plans fall apart when she’s called to offer stress counseling for medical staff after a heartbreaking day care center explosion. Worse, she’s forced back to the ER, where she clashes with Logan Caldwell, a doctor who believes touchy-feely counseling is a waste of time. He demands his staff be as tough as he is. Yet he finds himself drawn to this nurse educator . . . who just might teach him the true meaning of healing.

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Photo Credit: Neiman Marcus

Just ordered this Laura Mercier Bronzing Duo and Neiman Marcus Cosmetic Bag for my sis and I! At just $15, it’s going for a steal since the Bronzing duo (without the free cosmetic bag) costs $32 at Sephora! My sis swears by the Laura Mercier bronzer for a natural summery-kissed look since it’s very sheer & goes well on our fair skin. I don’t know how other people use it, but my sis recommends to just swipe it once with one of those really fat blush brushes for that heathy glow.

Head on to the Neiman Marcus online store to order for only $15 – only while stocks last! And use this code: SHIPNM for free shipping! Note that if you order via Sephora, it’s $32 & you have to pay shipping too.

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Book Description:

A perfect murder, A faceless witness, A lone courtroom champion knows the whole truth . . . and he’s only thirteen years old . . . Meet Theodore Boone

In the small city of Strattenburg, there are many lawyers, and though he’s only thirteen years old, Theo Boone thinks he’s one of them. Theo knows every judge, policeman, court clerk — and a lot about the law. He dreams of being a great trial lawyer, of a life in the courtroom.

But Theo finds himself in court much sooner than expected. Because he knows so much — maybe too much — he is suddenly dragged into the middle of a sensational murder trial. A cold-blooded killer is about to go free, and only Theo knows the truth.

The stakes are high, but Theo won’t stop until justice is served.

John Grisham jumps into the very lucrative children/ young adult market with Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer. How did he do? I’d say he did just okay – not something to get excited about however. If he wants Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer to be a successful series (and given how this book ends abruptly as a set up for a sequel, I’d say that’s what he & his publisher is gearing up for), he’s gotta up the stakes. I’m pretty sure people will check this novel out for their kids just on the strength of John Grisham’s name, but I’m guessing there will be some disappointed people out there. But then, parents have to realize that the intended audience for this novel are children – and from the tone of it – I’d guess the pre-teen market. This means that nothing too scary or exciting happens, and a lot of pages are spent explaining concepts and terms.

Theodore Boone is a 13-year-old kid who is obsessed with the law (the way other kids might be about playing video games or baseball) and he wants to either be a trial lawyer or a judge when he grows up. In the meantime, his favorite hangout place is the local courthouse (where he counts the judge as a personal friend) and the most exciting thing in his life is a murder trial that he follows (as closely as another kid might follow a Lakers season or one of those cartoon series running on Nickelodeon).

Theo may not be a real lawyer (yet), but school friends approach him for ‘legal’ advise all the time & he’s called up by his teacher to explain legal concepts to the other students too. Personally, I think this is where John Grisham shines. Using Theo as his voice, he simplifies and breaks down difficult legal terms for his readers and walks us through a criminal trial, explains what the prosecution or defense does, and with the minor ‘cases’ that Theo handles for his friends, things like ‘foreclosure’, ‘bankruptcy’, ‘Animal court’ are explained very simply but thoroughly. I think the book would be a great starting off point for parents or teachers to discuss with kids – like the concept of ‘innocent until proven guilty’ for example.

Things start to get a little exciting for Theo when he learns about a possible surprise witness to the murder trial he is following. Theo is sworn to secrecy, but how can he in all conscience keep quiet while a cold-blooded killer might go free? I thought this was another thing that John Grisham handled well – how Theo was able to keep his promise while enlisting necessary adult (i.e. his uncle & parents) help.

The novel does come across as dated to me – there are elements that remind you that you are in present day America (i.e. Theo uses his laptop, hacks into websites, uses email, the witness is an illegal alien, etc) – but most of the time, it felt like the setting was sometime in the past – a more innocent era where a young kid is free to roam the city with his bike, and the characters (Theo and his parents) come across as idealized and a bit too-good-to-be-real. And like I said earlier, nothing too scary happens, so some kids who expect action ala Harry Potter may find it a boring read. Maybe, John Grisham should’ve broken it up into shorter segments or short stories – kinda like the Encyclopedia Brown: Boy Detective series.

But like I said, the book can be a good start-off point for conversations between kids and their parents or teachers. I wouldn’t write off John Grisham, children’s book writer, just yet.

‘Theodore Boone Kid Lawyer’ is available on Amazon as a Hardcover ($9.00), and Audio CD ($13.57). Surprisingly, there is no Kindle version. Over on Barnes & Noble, the hardcover goes for $9.34.

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