Today's Featured Books— Events

Free online tonight: An evening with Ross Gay, author of Inciting Joy. Presented by Illinois Libraries Present, best-selling essayist and award-winning poet Ross Gay will discuss the joy we incite when we turn our attention to what we love and what brings us together. Wednesday, January 11, 7 PM CST. 

"The more stuff you love the happier you will be." ~Ross Gay

This month, LitNuts is cosponsoring a new giveaway: Enter for a chance to win a bundle of 45+ literary,  historical, and book club fiction plus a brand new eReader, a $500 value! Open to readers worldwide. Deadline January 26. 

"Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year." ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Welcome to the January 2023 issue of LitNuts Deals: highly rated indie books PLUS the LitNuts Deals Giveaway.

This month, we're giving away $150 in books, coffee, and cash. Three winners will each choose a $50 gift card for books (from Bookshop.org, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, etc.), a $50 coffee shop gift card (from any coffee shop or café that sells gift cards online), or $50 in cash (payable via PayPal). Enter by January 21 for a chance to win! 

 

Lowcountry Boil by Susan M. Boyer
Genre: Cozy Mystery
4.4 stars, 1,440 ratings
$0.99

Private Investigator Liz Talbot is a modern Southern belle. She blesses hearts, takes names, carries her Sig 9 in her Kate Spade bag, and her golden retriever, Rhett, rides shotgun in her hybrid Escape. When her grandmother is murdered, Liz hightails it back to her South Carolina island home to find the killer. She’s fit to be tied when her brother—the chief of police—shuts her out of the investigation, so she opens her own. When her long-dead best friend pops in things really get complicated. Book 1 in the Liz Talbot Mystery Series.

"A simmering gumbo of a story." ~The Huffington Post. 

Edgewood by Karen McQuestion
Genre: Teen & Young Adult Thrillers & Suspense
4.4 stars, 1,472 ratings
$0.99

"Such a gripping story! I couldn't turn the pages fast enough." ~Five-star Goodreads Review. Wandering the dark streets at night is Russ Becker's way of dealing with his relentless insomnia and the angst of life. But that changes forever the night he witnesses a strange astronomical event, then discovers he's developed incredible superpowers. And he's not the only one...

"I devoured it in one sitting!" New York Times Bestselling Author Lesley Kagen ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

"Edgewood was mind-blowingly amazing." Olivia at Fictionally Obsessed ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 

 

Kingdoms of Sand: Books 1-3 by Daniel Arenson
Genre: Epic Fantasy
4.2 stars, 137 ratings
FREE

Game of Thrones meets Spartacus in an epic saga of sand and splendor. This bundle contains the first three novels of Kingdoms of Sand, a fantasy series from a USA Today bestselling author. That's over 1,000 pages of battles, intrigue, and magic.

Sweeping from snowy forests to cruel deserts, from bazaars of wonder to fields of war, here is a tale of legionaries and lepers, priests and paupers, kings and crows. Here a girl travels across endless dunes, seeking magic; a cruel prince struggles to claim a bloodstained throne; and a young soldier fights to hold back an overwhelming host. As the empire spreads, the fate of one family—and of all civilization—stands upon a knife's edge, for under the storm of war, even the greatest nations are but kingdoms of sand.

The Prodigal Returns by Miranda Rose Barker
Genre: Cozy Mystery
4.4 stars, 41 ratings
$0.99

Holly owns a small-town café. Her curiosity is piqued by the rich and powerful Montgomery family, who control the town. When the family patriarch dies, the police view it as murder, and the estranged son of the deceased who recently returned is a suspect.

Holly meets this young man at her café and tries to help solve the case to exonerate him. One thing is for sure—Holly will do whatever it takes to learn who killed the family patriarch…and, in the process, uncover any other secrets the family is hiding.

Book 1 of the Near-to-Home Mystery Series.

My Mother's Secret by Alina Adams
Genre: Historical Fiction
4.4 stars, 47 ratings
$0.99

New York Times Bestselling author Alina Adams draws on her own experiences as a Jewish refugee from Odessa, USSR, as she provides readers a rare glimpse into the world's first Jewish Autonomous Region. My Mother's Secret: A Novel of the Jewish Autonomous Region is rooted in detailed research about a little-known chapter of Soviet and Jewish history while exploring universal themes of identity, love, loss, war, and parenthood. Readers can expect a whirlwind journey as Regina finds herself and her courage within one of the century's most tumultuous eras.

"An eye-opening family saga...both exotic and chillingly familiar." ~Kyra Davis, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author

Blue Hydrangeas: An Alzheimer's Love Story by Marianne Sciucco

Genre: Fiction
4.6 stars, 227 ratings
$0.99

What if the person who knew you best and loved you most forgot your face and couldn't remember your name? In Blue Hydrangeas, a pair of retired Cape Cod innkeepers encounter Alzheimer's disease. 

"Blue Hydrangeas traces a couple's struggle with Alzheimer's in an effective story that doesn't pull its punches, but remains compassionate and absorbing." ~IndieReader

"By far the most tender love story I've read in a very long time." ~Story Circle

What's Not Said: A Novel by Valerie Taylor

Genre: Women's Domestic Life Fiction, Family Life Fiction 
4.2 stars, 193 ratings
$0.99

Kassie O’Callaghan’s meticulous plans to divorce her emotionally abusive husband, Mike, and move in with Chris, a younger man she met five years ago on a solo vacation in Venice, are disrupted when she finds out Mike has chronic kidney disease—something he’s concealed from her for years. Once again, she postpones her path to freedom—at least, until she pokes around his pajama drawer and discovers his illness is the least of his deceits.

But Kassie is no angel, either.  As she struggles to justify her own indiscretions, the secret lives she and Mike have led collide head-on, revealing a tangled web of sex, lies, and DNA. Still, mindful of her vows, Kassie commits to helping her husband find an organ donor. In the process, she uncovers a life-changing secret. Problem is, if she reveals it, her own immorality will be exposed, which means she has an impossible decision to make: Whose life will she save—her husband’s or her own?

"Highly recommended for readers who look for not just stories of marital relationships, but the unexpected revelations that revolve around life purpose and the immortality of love.” ~Midwest Book Reviews

A Conjuring of Ravens by Azalea Ellis
Genre: Fantasy
4.5 stars, 316 ratings
$0.99

In a world where magic is a science, Siobhan is a genius. But even geniuses need schooling.

Siobhan has just been banned from the country's only magic university. As the unwitting accomplice to the theft of a priceless magical artifact, she has suddenly become a wanted criminal. There are fates worse than death, and if caught, she will face them. Unwilling to give up on her dream of becoming the world's most powerful sorcerer, she resolves to do whatever it takes to change her fate—even if it means disguising herself as a man and indebting herself to a gang of criminals to pay for University tuition.

With the coppers after her, the pressure of trying to keep her spot in the devilishly competitive magic classes, and the gang calling in favors to repay her debts, Siobhan will need every drop of magic she can channel. Book 1 in the A Practical Guide to Sorcery series. 

One & Done by Kelly Jayne
Genre: Steamy Romance
4 stars, 62 ratings
$0.99

He's hot. Like smoldering on a 98-degree day hot! He looks like a man I could enjoy all night long!

When she looked into the camera, it felt like she was looking straight into my soul, and a jolt of electricity pulsed through me like I haven't felt in years.

Holly doesn't believe in love. She saw what it did to her parents and she wants no part of it.

Morgan had true love once and doesn't believe he will ever find it again.

Will they find in each other what they never thought possible? Or will their fears and flaws keep them apart? Book 1 in the United Front series.

Outrageous: Rise to Riches by Neal Katz
Genre: Historical Fiction 
4.3 stars, 89 ratings
$0.99

Women empowerment, overcoming adversity, social change, and hope were the cornerstones upon which Victoria Woodhull (1838–1927) and her younger sister Tennessee Celeste Claflin built their incredible lives in Victorian America. 

Winner of 12 literary awards, Outrageous: Rise to Riches, Book 1 of The Victoria Woodhull Saga, sets the psychological verity and traces Victoria from childhood poverty and horrific abuse to becoming one of the wealthiest women in America, founding the first women-owned brokerage firm on Wall Street, and the first women-owned newspaper. Victoria would stop at nothing to achieve her destiny.

"A compelling page-turning story that cleverly unfolds history while providing a wonderfully entertaining ride." ~Midwest Book Review

A Ring of Truth by Michelle Cox
Genre: Historical Mystery, Mystery/Romance
4.1 stars, 517 ratings
$2.99

“Downton Abbey meets Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries!” 

In this second book of the series, Henrietta and Clive delightfully rewrite Pride and Prejudice—with a hint of mystery. Newly engaged, Clive and Henrietta now begin the difficult task of meeting each other’s family. “Difficult” because Clive has neglected to tell Henrietta that he is heir to the Howard estate and fortune, and Henrietta has just discovered that her mother has been hiding secrets about her past as well. When Clive leaves his new fiancée with his wealthy family to return to the city, Henrietta stumbles upon a servant whose ring has been stolen. What begins as an innocent investigation quickly becomes very dangerous. 

“Henrietta and Inspector Howard make a charming odd couple in A Ring of Truth, mixing mystery and romance in a fizzy 1930s cocktail.” ~Hallie Ephron, New York Times bestselling author

Free online: The Blanche Ely House Museum sponsors Zoom Story Time for children the first Saturday of each month. This month, they are celebrating Chinese New Year with "Dragon Dance" as the main story. Saturday, January 7, 10 AM CST. 

"Always try to be a little kinder than is necessary." ~J.M. Barrie, The Little White Bird

Free online cultural event: Édouard Manet & Impressionism - The National Gallery of Art Livestream. The National Gallery of Art (NGA) in Washington, DC, is home to one of the world’s most important collections of Edouard Manet’s work. This online/virtual program will explore Manet's paintings and drawings at the NGA and compare and contrast Manet's art with that of other Impressionists, including Monet, Degas, Renoir, Cassatt, Van Gogh, and others. Wednesday, January 4, 8 PM EST.

“There are no lines in nature, only areas of colour, one against another.” ~Édouard Manet

Free online: Speaking Crow Poetry Open Mic from Winnipeg, Canada, featuring Sally Ito. Funded and facilitated by the Winnipeg International Writers Festival, this open mic series is held the first Tuesday of every month. Register to be part of the audience, or register to be one of the open mic readers (limit 25, first-come-first-served). Tuesday, January 3, 7 PM CST.

"To maintain culture, one must choose to practice it.” ~Sally Ito