Kindle Free Pick of the Week: The Big 5-OH

This books looks like fun.

Olivia Wallace has a birthday curse . . . or so she thinks. It was a broken heart on her 16^th, a car accident on her 21^st, pneumonia on her 30^th, and a fall down a flight of stairs on her 35^th. There were Ohio blizzards on her 38^th, 39^th, and 40^th; and six days before her 45^th, she lost the love of her life to a heart attack. Numbing grief stole that birthday and a couple more to follow and, on the morning of her 48^th birthday, she received the call she’d dreaded ever since losing her mom so many years ago…she was diagnosed with stage-3 ovarian cancer. The doctors didn’t hold out a lot of hope, but Liv survived and maintained her faith. Months of surgeries and chemotherapy and radiation treatments followed.

But now, as her 50^th birthday creeps up the icy Ohio path toward her, her hair has grown back, her energy level is up, and she is officially cancer free. It makes her nervous. After everything she’s gone through, Liv hates the idea of driving on icy roads and returning to work as an O.R. nurse in a local Cincinnati hospital.

Her best friend Hallie knows just the thing to break Liv out of the winter doldrums, while providing a safe haven of warmth, sunshine, and a time to regroup: a holiday in the Florida sunshine!

It's by Sandra D. Bricker and it's free right now in the Kindle Store.

Kindle Coming to Best Buy

Trying to distinguish itself from other eReaders, Amazon's Kindle will be sold at Best Buy stores this Fall.

Best Buy will be the third retailer to offer the Kindle, following Target and Staples, as Amazon continues to increase the e-reader's offline presence.

Making the Kindle more available offline has benefits for Amazon; for one, it's giving more potential customers access to the device before buying it, rather than forcing them to purchase a Kindle online, often sight-unseen.

Best Buy initially will offer the $139.99 Kindle With Wi-Fi and the $189.99 Kindle 3G, and will begin selling the 9.7-inch Kindle DX "later in the season." Amazon does not release Kindle sales statistics, but the company's e-readers were the first to reach mass-market popularity, and have been immensely popular since 2007.

Kindle Free Pick of the Week: Triple Exposure

Colleen Thompson's Triple Exposure is free right now in the Kindle Store.

Colleen Thompson  packs this well-paced thriller full of twists and the local color of a small Texas town. Photographer Rachel Copeland has been formally acquitted of the murder of Kyle Underwood, a young man who stalked her, but she remains disgraced in her adopted Philadelphia community, where many still believe she seduced and killed him. Rumors and harassment follow Rachel as she flees to her hometown of Marfa, Texas, where she butts heads with her stepmother, Patsy, and other locals. One of the few people willing to support Rachel is Zeke Pike, a woodcarver with a secret of his own, and they soon wrestle with romantic feelings for each other as mysterious stalkers threaten and try to separate them. Thompson's supporting characters and their tensions are believable, especially Patsy with her multilayered jealousy and unhappiness. The red herrings are exquisitely placed, and the climax will surprise even the most jaded of suspense readers.

Staples to Sell Kindles

Staples today announced plans to offer customers Kindle, Amazon's #1 best-selling, most-wished-for and most-gifted product for two years running. Staples is the only office superstore to carry the wireless reading device in all of its stores nationwide beginning this fall. Interactive displays will allow customers to experience the product before they buy and to learn more about the new generation Kindle which recently launched to rave reviews from the New York Times, Wired, CNET, PC World, PC Magazine, and more.

"Staples is not just bringing this incredible product to our 1,550+ US stores, but we are offering customers a chance to discover first-hand Amazon's revolutionary reading device," said Jevin Eagle, executive vice president of merchandising and marketing at Staples. "As part of our efforts to offer customers a wide range of top technology products and services at amazing values, the new Kindle is a natural fit."

Kindle is Amazon.com's best-selling product, a reading device that wirelessly downloads books, magazines, newspapers, blogs, and personal documents to a crisp, high-resolution electronic paper display that looks and reads like real paper, even in bright sunlight. The all-new Kindle has a new electronic-ink screen with 50 percent better contrast, is 21 percent smaller and 15 percent lighter, boasts 20 percent faster page turns, up to one month of battery life with wireless off, double the storage to 3,500 books, and more -- all for only $139.

Kindle offers the largest selection of the most popular books people want to read. The Kindle Store now has more than 670,000 books, including New Releases and 107 of 111 New York Times Best Sellers. Over 550,000 of these books are $9.99 or less, including 73 New York Times Best Sellers. Kindle lets you Buy Once, Read Everywhere -- on Kindle, Kindle 3G, Kindle DX, iPad, iPod touch, iPhone, Mac, PC, BlackBerry and Android-based devices. Amazon's Whispersync technology syncs your place across devices, so you can pick up where you left off.

Staples will carry the following new Kindle devices:

-- Kindle ($139.00) -- 6" diagonal

-- Kindle 3G ($189.00) -- 6" diagonal

-- Kindle DX ($379.00) - 9.7" diagonal (available at Staples late fall 2010)

New Kindles Are the Fastest-Selling Kindles Ever

Amazon.com today announced that more new generation Kindles were ordered in the first four weeks of availability than in the same timeframe following any other Kindle launch, making the new Kindles the fastest-selling ever. In addition, in the four weeks since the introduction of the new Kindle and Kindle 3G, customers ordered more Kindles on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk combined than any other product, continuing Kindle's over two-year run as the bestselling product across all the products sold on Amazon.com. The new Kindles started shipping to customers today--two days earlier than previously announced.

"Kindle is the best-selling product on Amazon.com for two years running and our new generation Kindles are continuing that momentum," said Steven Kessel, senior vice president, Amazon Kindle. "Readers are excited about all that the new Kindle has to offer--50 percent better contrast, 20 percent faster page turns, 15 percent lighter, up to one month of battery life--and a new price of only $139."

The all-new Kindle has an electronic-ink screen with 50 percent better contrast than any other e-reader, a new sleek design with a 21 percent smaller body while still keeping the same 6-inch-size reading area, 15 percent lighter weight at just 8.5 ounces, 20 percent faster page turns, up to one month of battery life with wireless off, double the storage to 3,500 books, no glare even in bright sunlight and built-in Wi-Fi--all for only $139. The all-new Kindle 3G with all of these new features plus the convenience of free 3G wireless is only $189.

Early reviews of the third-generation Kindle have been great.