Kindle First Book Selections from December 2015
Out of Sorts (Kindle Edition)
by Aurélie Valognes (translated by Wendeline A. Hardenberg)Contemporary Fiction
Ferdinand Brun hasn't always been a grumpy old man. Many years ago, he was a grumpy young man. Now he'd much rather spend time with his canine companion, Daisy, than any of his nosy neighbors. But as his behavior becomes increasingly peculiar, his daughter grows concerned and begins to consider moving him into a retirement home.
In order to maintain his freedom, Ferdinand must submit to an apartment inspection by his longtime enemy, the iron-fisted concierge, Mrs. Suarez. Unfortunately, he's never tidied up a day in his life. His neighbors, precocious ten-year-old Juliette and vivacious ninety-two-year-old Beatrice, come to the rescue. And once he lets these two into his life, things will never be the same. After an eighty-three-year reign of grouchiness, Ferdinand may finally learn that it's never too late to start living.
Terms of Use (Kindle Edition)
by Scott Allan MorrisonThriller
Circles is the most popular social network in the world: vast, ubiquitous, and constantly evolving. Days before expanding into China, Circles suffers a devastating cyberattack—and a key executive is brutally murdered.
As he fights to save the company he helped build, top engineer Sergio Mansour uncovers evidence of a massive conspiracy that turns the power of Circles against its users. But as Sergio investigates, someone is watching his every move—someone ruthless enough to brand him a criminal and set a vicious hit man on his trail.
Desperate to clear his name, Sergio turns to Malina Olson, a beautiful and headstrong doctor who has an agenda of her own. Now, he and Malina must survive long enough to expose the truth in a world without hiding places, where a single keystroke can shift the global balance of power.
A Death in Sweden (Kindle Edition)
by Kevin WignallConspiracy Thriller
Dan Hendricks is a man in need of a lifeline. A former CIA operative, he is now an agent for hire by foreign powers on the hunt for dangerous fugitives. It's a lethal world at the best of times, and Dan knows his number is almost up. His next job could be his last—and his next job is his biggest yet.
The target sounds trackable enough: Jacques Fillon, who gave up his life trying to save a fellow passenger following a bus crash in northern Sweden. But the man was something of an enigma in this rural community, and his death exposes his greatest secret: Jacques Fillon never existed at all.
Dan is tasked with uncovering Fillon's true identity—but can he do so before his own past catches up with him?
Before Goodbye (Kindle Edition)
by Mimi CrossComing of Age Fiction
Music means more than anything to high school student Cate Reese; it's also what unites her with Cal Woods. Devoted classical guitar players, Cate and Cal are childhood friends newly smitten by love—until a devastating car accident rips Cal out of Cate's life forever. Blaming herself for the horrific tragedy and struggling to surface from her despair, Cate spirals downhill in a desperate attempt to ease her pain.
Fellow student David Bennet might look like the school's golden boy, but underneath the surface the popular athlete battles demons of his own. Racked with survivor's guilt after his brother's suicide, things get worse when tragedy darkens his world again—but connecting with Cate, his sister's longtime babysitter, starts bringing the light back in.
As Cate and David grow closer, the two shattered teenagers learn to examine the pieces of their lives…and, together, find a way to be whole again.
The King of Taksim Square (Kindle Edition)
by Emrah Serbes (translated by Mark David Wyers)Modern Fiction
Seventeen-year-old Çağlar is just another apathetic teenager—except when it comes to his sister, Çiğdem, who he believes is the world's most beautiful and brilliant nine-year-old. Determined to display her genius, Çağlar grooms Çiğdem's talent into a perfect Michael Jackson impersonation and pursues a sure route to fame: YouTube.
Tragically, Çağlar's efforts are sabotaged by a little incident internationally known as the Taksim riots. Now it seems that everyone's too busy watching the people's uprising unfold to click on Çiğdem's video. That leaves Çağlar only one recourse: he will have to use the riots to his advantage. After all, who wouldn't want to watch a child doing the moonwalk against the backdrop of political unrest? But as Çağlar strives to showcase his sister, he finds himself pulled into the heart of the uprising and discovers that he may just have talent of his own.
From bestselling author Emrah Serbes comes a hilarious, poignant story of a teen's struggle to find his place and launch his sister's star amid Turkey's real-life fight for freedom.
Grave of Hummingbirds (Kindle Edition)
by Jennifer SkutelskyLiterary Fiction
In a country that keeps secrets and buries sins, a stranger learns the price of both.
In the remote Andean village of Colibrí, a boy discovers what appears to be the body of an angel. But in the face and wounds of the dead, winged woman, Dr. Gregory Moreno sees something even more disturbing: an uncanny resemblance to his beloved late wife that cannot be mere chance. And in American anthropologist Sophie Lawson, still more echoes of the doctor's lost love stir…igniting the superstitions of the townspeople, and an elusive killer's deepest desires and despair.
When Sophie vanishes, her son and Dr. Moreno must navigate the streets, politics, and mysteries of a place where tortured ghosts and strange omens exist side by side with mortals both devout and corrupt. But they may need nothing less than a miracle to save her from sacrifice at the altar of a madman's twisted passion.
Conjuring shades of Gabriel García Márquez, Isabel Allende, or even Neil Gaiman, Grave of Hummingbirds is a mesmerizing novel of dreams and demons, beauty and blood.