Books On Sale

Books on Sale: Habits and Zen for Free, Fiction for a Few Dollars

Today I purchased the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People for $1.99, and downloaded a free book by a writer whose site I admire. If I can get both read by the end of the day, I'll be the most organized and zen person.

More likely I'll find two or three really useful things that will rock my world, thus making the two books for $2 way worth it. If you'd like mini reviews of the books here, though it's way outside the topic of romance, please let me know. I'm happy to oblige.

Zen to Done - Leo Babauta

Zen to Done by Leo Babauta is free for the Amazon Kindle.

Zen To Done takes the best aspects of a few popular productivity systems (Getting Things Done, 7 Habits and others) and combines them with the mandate of simplicity. It makes things as simple as possible, and no more.

Zen To Done is a simple system to get you more organized and productive, and keep your life saner and less stressed, with a set of habits. ZTD teaches you:

* The key habits needed to be productive, organized, and simplified… and no more than that.
* How to implement these key habits… tips on forming a habit.
* How to organize these habits into a simple system that will keep everything in your life in its place.
* How to simplify what you need to do.
* Includes an even simpler version called Minimal ZTD.

Dozens of readers have written to me with comments about how ZTD has changed their lives, made them more organized and less stressed, and has worked better than other productivity systems. It’s definitely worth a try.

Amazon.com: free.

 

 

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People - Stephen Covey

This is one of those books I've always been mildly curious about, and I figured for $2, why not give it a try. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey is $1.99 at Amazon.

In The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, author Stephen R. Covey presents a holistic, integrated, principle-centered approach for solving personal and professional problems.

With penetrating insights and pointed anecdotes, Covey reveals a step-by-step pathway for living with fairness, integrity, service, and human dignity — principles that give us the security to adapt to change and the wisdom and power to take advantage of the opportunities that change creates.

Amazon.com: $1.99

 

 

 

And now – fiction! 

Lisa Kleypas - Crystal Cove

Via Jane at DA, this book is on sale for $1.99 digitally – which is surprising since it came out February 5, 2013! Jane & I talked about this book at length in a recent podcast, and what I said then still stands. There is never anything wrong with Kleypas' writing – it's eloquent and lovely and truly a pleasure to read. But the plot of this book skips the romance almost entirely. If you go in expecting Wallflowers Kleypas, or even Smooth Talking Stranger Kleypas, you'll be disappointed by the high amount of paranormal and the low amount of courtship romance in this book. That said, the writing itself is exquisite.

Justine Hoffman has made a comfortable life for herself on the island of Friday Harbor. She is the proprietor of a successful boutique hotel, and she has the safe, predictable life she has always wanted. Growing up with her flighty, nomadic mother, Marigold, has instilled in her a deep longing for stability. But in spite of everything Justine has achieved, there is still something missing. Love. And after years of waiting and dreaming, she is willing to do whatever it takes to change her destiny.

What Justine soon discovers is that someone cast a spell on her when she was born, with the result that she will never find her soul mate. Determined to change her fate, Justine finds a way to break the enchantment, never dreaming of the dangerous complications that will follow.

And when Justine meets the mysterious Jason Black, she accidentally unleashes a storm of desire and danger that threaten everything she holds dear . . . because Jason has secrets of his own, and he wants more from her than fate will ever allow.

Goodreads | Amazon | BN | Kobo | iBooks

 

 

 

 

 

Book Stiltsville - Susanna Daniel

Stiltsville is $2.99, and would probably appeal to readers who love Anita Shreve or Maeve Binchey. It's less a romance than a saga centered on one woman's life in Miami.

When Frances accepts an invitation to visit Stiltsville, a community of houses built on pilings in Biscayne Bay, she has no idea that her simple “yes” to a new friend will determine the course of her life for the next two dozen years. Set in Miami from the late '60s to the 1990s, Stiltsville is a sweeping journey seen through the eyes of one woman as she experiences love, motherhood, friendship, hurricanes, racial tension, and finally, a tragic death in slow motion.

In her debut novel, Daniel describes the experiences of three generations in one family whose spiritual heart is centered in a modest bungalow built a few feet above the water. When Frances meets and marries Dennis, she learns to live her life on the water, from bay to ocean to everglade to bayou. She navigates through it all -— infidelity, empty-nest syndrome, and debilitating illness -— sometimes with grace and humor, sometimes with anger and bitterness, but always with the same people by her side. Daniel excels in capturing the flavor and decadence of Miami as it became a multicultural hotbed.

Goodreads | Amazon | BN | Kobo | iBooks

 

 

 

 

Book The Shoemaker's Wife - $2.99 - Adriana Trigiani

First, it looks to me like she's putting on deodorant, and it's distracting the hell out of me. Second, The Shoemaker's Wife, with or without deodorant, is $2.99 digitally.

The majestic and haunting beauty of the Italian Alps is the setting of the first meeting of Enza, a practical beauty, and Ciro, a strapping mountain boy, who meet as teenagers, despite growing up in villages just a few miles apart. At the turn of the last century, when Ciro catches the local priest in a scandal, he is banished from his village and sent to hide in America as an apprentice to a shoemaker in Little Italy. Without explanation, he leaves a bereft Enza behind. Soon, Enza's family faces disaster and she, too, is forced to go to America with her father to secure their future.

Unbeknownst to one another, they both build fledgling lives in America, Ciro masters shoemaking and Enza takes a factory job in Hoboken until fate intervenes and reunites them. But it is too late: Ciro has volunteered to serve in World War I and Enza, determined to forge a life without him, begins her impressive career as a seamstress at the Metropolitan Opera House that will sweep her into the glamorous salons of Manhattan and into the life of the international singing sensation, Enrico Caruso.

Goodreads | Amazon | BN | Kobo | iBooks

 

 

 

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  1. tikaanidog says:

    you’re right, that TOTALLY looks like she’s putting on deoderant!! LOL! Not the best cover look……

  2. Amara Royce says:

    Thanks for the heads up! I have a paperback of SEVEN HABITS from a leadership program I attended.  While I’m not a die-hard Covey disciple, I do think it’s an insightful book for anyone…and especially for people who tend to over-commit themselves.  So, thanks to you, I purchased the ebook just so I have it handy. 🙂 

  3. Lenorej says:

    Crystal Cove was the least romantic book I’ve read by a longshot, although I did learn a somewhat alternative meaning to the Japanese for tuna!

  4. larissa says:

    Three little words going on my list of all-time favorite romance descriptions: Strapping Mountain Boy. Yay!!

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