Archive for the ‘Reading apps’ Category
Free ebooks for Kindle & other ereaders – 5/13/2012 no comments
Please check and make sure that any of these you like are still free before you click the Buy button. Happy Mom’s Day!
Too Close to Miss by John Perich (4 1/2 stars/13 reviews) Mystery; Women sleuths. Also free at Kobo.
Paydirt by Paul Levine (5 stars/8 reviews) Crime fiction; Sports.
Death of a Serpent (A Serafina Florio Mystery) by Susan Russo Anderson (4 stars/30 reviews) Historical mystery; Women sleuths.
Ms America and the Offing on Oahu (Beauty Queen Mysteries No. 1) by Diana Dempsey (4 stars/24 reviews) Mystery; Women sleuths. Also free at Kobo.
Killer Twist (A Ghostwriter Mystery) by C.A. Larmer (5 stars/1 reviews) Mystery; Women sleuths. Also free at Barnes & Noble and Kobo.
Skin Deep (Simeon Grist #3) (Simeon Grist Mystery) by Timothy Hallinan (5 stars/11 reviews) Mystery; Hard-boiled.
Kill All the Lawyers (Solomon vs. Lord) by Paul Levine (4 stars/16 reviews) Legal thriller.
No Time To Run (Legal Thriller Featuring Michael Collins, Book 1) by J.D. Trafford (4 1/2 stars/29 reviews).
Let Us Prey (Book 1, Gotcha Detective Agency Mysteries) (Gotcha Detective Agency Series) by Jamie Lee Scott (4 1/2 stars/26 reviews) Mystery; Women sleuths.
The Valley of Shadows by Mark Terry (4 1/2 stars/6 reviews) Thriller; Terrorists.
Supreme Betrayal by Steve Nyman (5 stars/5 reviews) Thriller; Spies. Also free at Barnes & Noble and Kobo.
Truth’s Lair – Perils of the Dead Man’s Diary by J. Richard Knapp (5 stars/12 reviews) Historical thriller; WWII.
Natural Causes (The Inspector McLean Mysteries) by James Oswald (5 stars/2 reviews) Supernatural mystery. Also free at Kobo.
Loose Ends – A Mary O’Reilly Paranormal Mystery (Book 1) by Terri Reid (4 1/2 stars/150 reviews).
Life Descending (The Cry of Havoc) by John Hennessy (4 1/2 stars/5 reviews) Science fiction. Also free at Kobo.
Communion of Dreams by James Downey (5 stars/24 reviews) Science fiction; Post-apocalyptic; Alien artifact.
Terrene: the hidden valley by Eric Liu (5 stars/48 reviews) Science fiction. Also free at Kobo.
New World: a Frontier Fantasy Novel by Steven W. White (5 stars/1 reviews) Fantasy. Also free at Barnes & Noble and Kobo.
The Last Elf of Lanis by K. J. Hargan (4 stars/12 reviews) Fantasy. Also free at Barnes & Noble and Kobo.
Crossover (The Chosen One Trilogy: Book One) by Mireille Chester (4 1/2 stars/5 reviews) Fantasy. Also free at Barnes & Noble.
Shadow of the Sun (Timeless #1) by Laura Kreitzer (4 stars/48 reviews) Fantasy. Also free at Kobo.
The Hawk And His Boy (The Tormay Trilogy #1) by Christopher Bunn (4 stars/89 reviews) Fantasy. Also free at Kobo.
Bartemus Ammblin in the Old Forest (Prairie Adventures) by Jeffrey Scott Bishop (5 stars/3 reviews) Speculative fiction; Rabbits.
Terra Incognita: The Abyss by Joshua Mays (4 1/2 stars/9 reviews) Fantasy; Ancient evil book. Also free at Barnes & Noble.
A Cold Day In Hell by Denise M Main (4 1/2 stars/4 reviews) Fantasy; Demons.
Nordic Fairies (Novella Series, #1) (Nordic Fairies Series) by Saga Berg (4 stars/12 reviews) Fantasy; Short story. Also free at Barnes & Noble and Kobo.
The Sentient Fire (The Seven Signs) by D.W. Hawkins (5 stars/9 reviews) Epic fantasy. Also free at Kobo.
The Initiate (Cloud Prophet Trilogy, Prequel) by Megg Jensen (4 1/2 stars/7 reviews) Fantasy; Short story. Also free at Barnes & Noble.
The Mind Readers by Lori Brighton (4 1/2 stars/37 reviews) YA Paranormal fiction. Also free at Barnes & Noble and Kobo.
Sojourner (Book 1) (Sojourner Series) by Maria Rachel Hooley (4 stars/37 reviews) YA Paranormal fiction. Also free at Kobo.
Wilted (A Witching Pen Novellas Prequel) (The Witching Pen Novellas) by Dianna Hardy (4 stars/2 reviews) YA Paranormal; Short story. Also free at Barnes & Noble and Kobo.
Paradox – The Angels Are Here by Patti Roberts (4 stars/42 reviews) YA Fantasy. Also free at Barnes & Noble and Kobo.
The Amulet: A Faedra Bennett Custodian Novel by Alison Pensy (4 stars/57 reviews) YA Fantasy. Also free at Barnes & Noble and Kobo.
The Book of the King (The Wormling) by Jerry B. Jenkins and Chris Fabry (5 stars/8 reviews) YA Fantasy from a faith-based publisher. Also free at Barnes & Noble.
The League of Freaks and the Secret Key by Alberto Hazan (4 1/2 stars/36 reviews) YA Fantasy.
The Key of Kilenya (Kilenya Series) by Andrea Pearson (4 1/2 stars/37 reviews) YA Science fiction. Also free at Barnes & Noble.
Haven (War of the Princes) by A. R. Ivanovich (5 stars/24 reviews) YA Science fiction; Steampunk.
Survival, a YA paranormal romance (Book 1 of The Guardians of Vesturon Series) by A.M. Hargrove (4 stars/39 reviews). Also free at Barnes & Noble and Kobo.
Tangled Tides (The Sea Monster Memoirs) by Karen Amanda Hooper (4 1/2 stars/40 reviews) Paranormal romance; Merfolk.
Bound, An Arelia LaRue Novel #1 YA Paranormal (The Arelia LaRue Series) by Kira Saito (4 stars/51 reviews) YA Paranormal romance. Also free at Barnes & Noble.
Haunted on Bourbon Street (Jade Calhoun Series Book 1) by Deanna Chase (4 1/2 stars/39 reviews) Ghosts; Paranormal romance.
How to Date a Werewolf (Rylie Cruz Series) by Rose Pressey (4 stars/67 reviews) Paranormal romance.
Samson’s Lovely Mortal (Scanguards Vampires #1) by Tina Folsom (4 1/2 stars/168 reviews) Vampiric romance. Also free at Kobo.
Once Bitten (Alexa O’Brien Huntress Book 1) by Trina M. Lee (4 stars/5 reviews) Paranormal romance; Shifters & Vampires. Also free at Barnes & Noble and Kobo.
Cursed (The Devil’s Roses) by Tara Brown (4 stars/7 reviews) Paranormal romance. Also free at Barnes & Noble and Kobo.
Breathless: Book One of the Jason and Azazel Trilogy by V. J. Chambers (4 stars/47 reviews) YA Paranormal romance. Also free at Barnes & Noble and Kobo.
To Love A Witch (A Novel Nibbles title) by Debora Geary (4 1/2 stars/53 reviews) Paranormal romance; Short story.
Reunion by Jeff Bennington (4 stars/107 reviews) Paranormal romantic suspense.
Discovery – A Far Out Romance by T.M. Roy and Terran Moffat (4 stars/12 reviews) Sci-fi romance.
The Smoky Dragon by Brandon Berntson (4 1/2 stars/2 reviews) Fantasy; Romance.
A Timeless Love by Jeanne Savery (4 stars/4 reviews) Time travel romance.
‘Scuse Me While I Kill This Guy (Greatest Hits Mysteries) by Leslie Langtry (4 stars/19 reviews) Romantic suspense; Dark humor. Also free at Kobo.
Baby Kisses (Romance on the Ranch Series #3) by Verna Clay (4 1/2 stars/7 reviews) Contemporary Colorado romance.
Preservation by Rachael Wade and Susan Miller (5 stars/19 reviews) Contemporary romance.
Suite Nothings by J. M. Jeffries (4 stars/11 reviews) Contemporary romance.
Love Unlisted: A Novel by Stephanie Haddad (4 1/2 stars/7 reviews) Contemporary romance. Also free at Kobo.
Broken Hearts Damaged Goods by Jack Gunthridge (4 stars/13 reviews) Contemporary romance.
Walk in Beauty (Men of the Land) by Ruth Wind and Barbara Samuel (5 stars/4 reviews) Contemporary romance.
Georgia on My Mind by Marie Force (5 stars/26 reviews) Contemporary romance.
Friend and Lover (Cautious Women, Tempting Men) by Angela Benson (5 stars/5 reviews) Contemporary romance.
Until Forever (Women of Prayer) by Darlene Shortridge (4 1/2 stars/17 reviews) Contemporary romance; Religious.
Texas Roads (A Miller’s Creek Novel) by Cathy Bryant (4 1/2 stars/33 reviews) Contemporary romance; Religious.
Destiny Wears Spurs by Kari Lee Harmon (5 stars/7 reviews) Contemporary cowboy romance.
Cowboy Heat (Hell Yeah!) by Sable Hunter (4 1/2 stars/39 reviews) Contemporary western romance; Erotica.
Connections by Selena Kitt (4 stars/11 reviews) Erotica. Also free at Barnes & Noble and Kobo.
Lavender Vows (The Medieval Herb Garden Series 1) by Colleen Gleason (4 stars/13 reviews) Historical romance.
The Fragrance of Her Name by Marcia Lynn McClure (4 1/2 stars/22 reviews) Historical romance.
Forevermore (A Jewel Trilogy Novella) by Lauren Royal (4 stars/13 reviews) Historical romance.
Yorkshire: Richard and Rose, Book 1 by Lynne Connolly (4 stars/12 reviews) Historical romance. Also free at Barnes & Noble.
Candlelight Wish (Wishing For Love, Book One) by Janice Bennett (4 stars/1 reviews) Historical romance. Also free at Barnes & Noble and Kobo.
The Bedeviled Heart (The Highland Heather and Hearts Scottish Romance Series) by Carmen Caine (5 stars/26 reviews) Historical romance.
Wayfarer’s Promise by Sheila Raye (5 stars/2 reviews) Historical romance.
Fated Memories by Judith Ann McDowell (4 1/2 stars/15 reviews) Historical star-crossed romance.
Send Me A Lover by Carol Mason (5 stars/3 reviews) Contemporary fiction; Chic-lit.
Memoirs Aren’t Fairytales: A Story of Addiction by Marni Mann (5 stars/53 reviews) Contemporary fiction; Addiction.
Forever Silent by J.K. Drew (5 stars/2 reviews) YA Contemporary fiction.
I Called Him Dancer by G. Edward Snipes (4 1/2 stars/33 reviews) Contemporary fiction; Religious.
Joy by Anne L. Watson (5 stars/9 reviews) Literary fiction.
Fearless Heart by Gail Cauble Gurley (4 1/2 stars/12 reviews) Historical fiction.
Gold Under Ice by Carol Buchanan (5 stars/10 reviews) Historical fiction.
Rebooting My Brain: How a Freak Aneurysm Reframed My Life by Maria Ross (5 stars/15 reviews) Memoir.
Mother’s House Payment – A Memoir by Ronnie Schiller (5 stars/10 reviews) Bipolar Disorder.
Second-Chance Mother by Denise Roessle (5 stars/18 reviews) Memoir; Adoption.
Will Love For Crumbs – A Memoir by Jonna Ivin (4 1/2 stars/59 reviews).
For Animal Lovers by Kim Cano (5 stars/12 reviews) Children’s fiction; Short stories.
The Adventures of Marco and Carla: The Dark Castle by Shamara Davis (5 stars/2 reviews) Children’s fiction.
Behind the Desert Storm: A Secret Archive Stolen From the Kremlin that Sheds New Light on the Arab Revolutions in the Middle East by Pavel Stroilov (4 stars/4 reviews) History; Politics.
Etsy 101: Sell Your Crafts on Etsy, the DIY Marketplace for Handmade, Vintage and Crafting Supplies by Steve Weber (5 stars/22 reviews) How-to.
Raising Chickens In Your Backyard: A No-Fluff Guide To Chicken Breeds, Coops, Runs, Tractors And More by Anna Greenwood and Simple Self-Sufficiency (5 stars/5 reviews).
Let’s Get Digital: How To Self-Publish, And Why You Should by David Gaughran (5 stars/81 reviews) Self-publishing.
What’s Your Secret?: Freedom through Confession by Aaron Stern (5 stars/5 reviews) Religion. Also free at Barnes & Noble.
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Soulless (Parasol Protectorate Series #1) by Gail Carriger (4 1/2 stars/316 reviews) has been reduced to $0.99 to promote the author’s latest book, Timeless. Same price at Barnes & Noble and Kobo. Haven’t read the book yet (it’s been in the stacks for some time), but I do love the cover.
Alexia Tarabotti is laboring under a great many social tribulations. First, she has no soul. Second, she’s a spinster whose father is both Italian and dead. Third, she was rudely attacked by a vampire, breaking all standards of social etiquette.
Where to go from there? From bad to worse apparently, for Alexia accidentally kills the vampire — and then the appalling Lord Maccon (loud, messy, gorgeous, and werewolf) is sent by Queen Victoria to investigate.
SOULLESS is a comedy of manners set in Victorian London: full of werewolves, vampires, dirigibles, and tea-drinking.
Amazon’s Gold Box deal today is a selection of Kindle books that have been made into films priced at $0.99 each. Titles include I Am Legend, Wizard’s First Rule (first book in the Sword of Truth series), Who Goes There? (basis for The Thing movies) and more.
Scholastic has three new and free summer reading and math apps for children:
- The Scholastic Reading Timer app for iPhone, iPad and Android smartphones helps kids keep track of how much they’re reading;
- The Storia eReading app available for iPad and PC (with additional platforms rolling out soon) comes with five free ebooks and helps kids read and interact with favorite children’s eBooks;
- Sushi Monster for the iPad supports the development of math fact fluency for addition and multiplication facts.
All three are free at iTunes.
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Sony launches a new Reader app for Android no comments
Sony has updated its Reader app for Android. Perhaps ‘updated’ is not quite the word, since Sony has released a totally new Reader app – users are requested to delete the old app after installation of the new one. This appears to be a forced upgrade – the old app would not open on my phone, but would direct me to install the new version. On my Xoom I didn’t get the message to install the new app, but the old one would not sign into my account (actually, I don’t think I was ever able to successfully sign into the Reader Store on my Xoom).
Sony does not go into detail on the changes it has made to the app, other than to say that it has a new and improved interface and bug fixes. There are many user complaints about this new version, the most egregious being that some users apparently can no longer access the ebooks they have previously purchased at the Sony Reader Store.
I only have a few ebooks I’ve bought from the Reader Store, and they all are present and accounted for in the app’s bookshelves. In fact, and rather bizarrely, on my Xoom the app is even picking up Nook books that I’ve downloaded with the Nook app on that tablet, including a magazine that I subscribe to from Barnes & Noble, and displaying them in my Reader library, from which they can be opened and read. The magazine is presented differently than the manner in which the Nook app does it, and in my opinion not as nicely.
I have noticed some other odd misbehavior. Several times when trying to change font sizes on both my phone and Xoom the app dropped me at another page in the ebook – and not a nearby page, either. Why does it seem as though with Sony’s digital reading business it is often a case of two steps forward and one step back? Actually, this time the backwards to forwards ratio might be much worse than usual, especially for those who have lost access to their library.
On the plus side, the new home page on my tablet is quite nice, with a side scrolling panel of recommended ebooks and other panes showing what I’m now reading as well as recently added and opened titles. Another nice feature is a two page view in landscape mode. On the downside, there is no built-in dictionary.
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PressReader for iPad gets major update no comments
NewspaperDirect has released a major update for its PressReader for iPad app. PressReader 3.0 includes a number of new features including:
- Zoomed in view of article automatically positions itself at the beginning of the article.
- Tap and hold to enable contextually driven actions including: Printing of pages or articles, copy and paste, share on Facebook or Twitter, turn on text to speech and more.
- Pinch to adjust font and image sizes.
- Choice of font sizes.
- Keyword search across multiple publications.
But the biggest new feature is called SmartFlow, a new landscape reading mode that gives the user the ability to view articles as a continuous stream of stories that are optimally formatted. SmartFlow also eliminates the need to jump to the page where a story is continued as is required in the page replica viewing mode.
PressReader is a free app at iTunes and new users receive seven free newspapers with the app. Additional newspapers and magazines can be purchased on an a la carte basis or via a monthly subscription option. NewspaperDirect offers over 2,000 full-content newspapers from 95 countries.
NewspaperDirect has released the promotional video below which shows off some of the new features.
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Baker & Taylor to distribute ebooks from Gardners no comments
Baker & Taylor has reached an agreement to distribute ebooks from Gardners Books Limited. Gardners is Britain’s leading book wholesaler and currently offers ebooks from almost 1,000 publishers.
The new ebook selection will be available internationally over the Blio platform. As part of the agreement Gardners will manage the Blio ebookstore in the UK.
While Blio may not be my favorite ereading app, it is at least available for most devices.
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eBook Search for iPad/iPhone no comments
App developer Inkstone Software has several iOS ereading apps to its credit — MegaReader, Young Reader and QuickReader. QuickReader teaches speed reading and Young Reader is a version of QuickReader optimized for kids. Inkstone has just released a new app dubbed eBook Search that is quite interesting. 
eBook Search lets you search for, purchase and download free ebooks from several sources from within the app and will then transfer your ebooks to the installed ereading app of your choice. The app will, for example, load free ebooks you download with it into MegaReader, iBooks, the Kindle app, Nook or another ereading app that can read the format — obviously the Kindle app can’t handle ePub files — where you can begin reading it.
As you know, ereading apps from the ebooksellers (Kindle, Nook, Kobo, etc.) removed their in-app links to their ebookstores after Apple changed their rules for in-app purchases recently. This is irrelevant in this case as the app only lets you shop for free ebooks.
Out of the box eBook Search can access free ebooks from the following sources:
- Feedbooks
- Project Gutenberg
- Baen Books
- Smashwords
- Munseys
- Internet Archive
This is obviously a very convenient tool for getting public domain books, but several of the sources also have indie and contemporary titles. Baen Books specializes in Sci-Fi and Fantasy. There also appears to be the ability to add other sources, though I have not tried doing that yet.
I’ve had a few minutes to monkey around with the app and everything seems to function as advertised. You will see ads on the search pages for Inkstone’s other apps, but these don’t, of course, make their way into the books you download with the app. eBook Search is a free app at iTunes.
(via 148Apps)
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PBS and Jim Henson launch new children’s app no comments
PBS and the Jim Henson Co. have launched a new children’s edutainment iPhone app, Sid’s Science Fair, based on the animated preschool series Sid The Science Kid. The app is designed to interest children ages 3 to 6 in science.![Sids-Science-Fair-kids-learning-app_thumb[2]](file:///C:/Documents and Settings/Greenlee/Local Settings/Temp/WindowsLiveWriter-429641856/supfiles6877B6/Sids-Science-Fair-kids-learning-app[4].jpg "Sids-Science-Fair-kids-learning-app_thumb[2]")
Sid’s Science Fair includes three mini-games that help to improve science and math skills:
- Gabriela’s “Collection Inspection”: Choosing from several different exploration environments, children discover patterns in natural objects using an interactive magnifying glass.
- May’s “Chart It!”: Children use charts to explore a set of objects and then organize ten objects on a chart according to a shared trait, such as color, shape and orientation.
- Gerald’s “Time Machine”: Children explore how different objects – from food to plants – change over time. They first order the events in sequence, and then the events form into a timeline that players can move forward and backward in time to see the transformation.
Sid’s Science Fair is $2.99 at iTunes.
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Scholastic to launch children’s ereading app no comments
Scholastic will be launching a new ereading app for young readers this fall that will connect to the Scholastic Book Clubs for purchasing and downloading ebooks. Available content will include picture books, elementary series, middle grade chapter books and young adult novels.
Scholastic is negotiating with publishers to bring their catalogs on board, and today announced an agreement with indie publisher Sourcebooks. Both Sourcebooks’ frontlist and backlist of children’s titles will be offered in the Scholastic app.
Some of the first Sourcebooks titles to be available via the Scholastic ereading app when it launches will be the bestselling Horrid Henry series by Francesca Simon, Kristi Yamaguchi’s Dream Big, Little Pig and I Love You More by Laura Duksta.
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Google adapts to Apple’s rules no comments
Tonight Google sent out an email pertaining to Google Books on the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch. While purchasing ebooks from the Google eBookstore from within the Google Books iOS app is no longer possible thanks to Apple’s current rules (which would require Google to pay Apple 30 percent of all in-app sales), by following the instructions in the email you can install an icon on your homescreen that will take you directly to the Google bookstore via Safari:
- Open your Safari web browser
- Go to the address: books.google.com/ebooks
- Tap the bookmark symbol at the top (box with an outgoing arrow)
- Tap "Add to Home Screen"
- Tap "Add"
- To shop at the Google eBookstore, simply tap the bookstore icon. Any ebooks you purchase or download will automatically appear in your Google Books app for you to read.
Any ebooks you purchase will show up in your Google Books library on your iOS device or any Android devices you might have. Of course there is nothing groundbreaking here — you can add a bookmark to any Web page to the homescreen of your iPad or iPhone in the same manner.
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Read2Go – a new accessible ebook reading app for iOS no comments
Benetech, the nonprofit behind Bookshare, today announced the release of Read2Go, a DAISY (Digital Accessible Information System) accessible ebook app for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch. Read2Go is designed to be used by people with vision disabilities or physical disabilities that prevent them from holding physical books or turning pages. The app can also be helpful to those with learning disabilities like dyslexia.
The Read2Go app connects with Bookshare, a membership site with a collection of over 120,000 accessible books. Books can be read using text-to-speech with synchronized word-by-word highlighting or in a VoiceOver mode. A wide selection of font sizes and font and background colors are also offered.
Read2Go is $19.99 at iTunes.
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Amazon updates Kindle for Android no comments
Yesterday Amazon updated the Kindle for Android app again. Besides the usual bug fixes and performance enhancements v3.1.0 changed the home screen, adds a slider of Kindle book recommendations and editor’s picks when you visit the Kindle Store from your device and adds upgrade notifications in-app.
I’ve installed this on my Xoom. The library screen does look cleaner to me, though scrolling through the grid of thumbnails still does not work as smoothly as it does in the Kindle for iPad app. I think this is a problem with the app and not the hardware, as scrolling through the library in the Nook app works fine on my Xoom. True, I do have many more titles to scroll through in my Kindle library.
