Jennifer Connors- Romance Author Review

Borrowed from
GoodReads.com

Jennifer Connors- Romance Author Review

Series: Lesson Series

Author: Jennifer Connors

Genera: Romance Novels

If you watch a horror movie and yell at the tv character to run out of the house, do you find yourself yelling at the romance heroine in books to stop whining and be stronger? Well Jennifer Connors has a great series that allows historical romance fans to have a modern woman as the heroine. Sometimes that completely changes the stories, but isn’t that what the readers want? Less cheesy and more mystery?

I found the Lesson Series on Amazon.com offered for free and took a chance. Since then I have read the rest of the series (at a reasonable price of $2.95 each from the author’s website) and joined Jennifer Connors’s Facebook Page. 

Although the time period changes with each story line the main character, played by the original heroine Ginny, helps the reader transition from one story to the next. Which is true for romance writers. It is hard to create a following unless the writers are able to adapt to the needs of the readers. Connors is a good example of how authors can flourish in an ebook environment. The books are also available in paperback.

Complete list of books in Lesson Series (as of 01/21/13):

A Lesson in Passion (available for ebook download for free on Author’s Website)

A Lesson in Forgiveness

Miles' Lesson

A Lesson in Patience

A Lesson in Friendship

A Lesson in Presumption
A Lesson in Trust (updated 5.18.12)
A Lesson in Sacrifice (published October 16, 2012)

The above books can all be purchased on the Author’s Webpage:

“Pay once and get four formats:
epub(iPad/iPhone/iPod Touch, Nook/Nookcolor), mobi(kindle-compatible), LRF, and pdf.”

Links:

Author’s Webpage

Facebook Fan Page

Smashwords

My previous post for finding free e-books: http://thespiritedlibrarian.blogspot.com/2011/08/free-ebooks-and-lending-from-libraries.html.

Kindle eBooks Available @ Public Libaries

On Wednesday, September 21, Amazon announced that they have kept their promise. Public libraries can now allow patrons to borrow ebooks onto their Kindles. To read the full announcement, click here.

"You can check out a Kindle book from your local library and read it on any generation Kindle device or free Kindle reading app. 

When you borrow a Kindle public library book, you'll have access to all the unique features of Kindle books, including real page numbers and Whispersync technology that synchronizes your notes, highlights, and last page read. After a public library book expires, if you check it out again or choose to purchase it from the Kindle store, all of your annotations and bookmarks will be preserved.

Kindle books are available at more than 11,000 libraries in the U.S."

As a Kindle owner I am excited that that Amazon has allowed Kindle to borrow books from public libraries, as the Nook, tablets, and other eReaders have had this option for some time. Part of the drive to allow Kindle to borrow books from libraries is not only because of Barnes and Noble's Nook but also because of a new Sony e-Reader that is coming out next month. 

From a Library Journal article, author David Rapp states: 

"Sony unveiled its latest ereader device today, Reader Wi-Fi, which will be the first dedicated ereader—though not the first device—to offer wireless borrowing of OverDrive library ebook titles. The Reader Wi-Fi, which the company calls "the lightest touch screen 6" eReader device ever" in the announcement, will be available for purchase in October.

According to Sony Electronics spokesperson Maya Wasserman, the ereader will feature a dedicated icon on its touch screen's main menu to connect to the OverDrive system, in a similar manner as the OverDrive Media Console app currently available for other devices.

Sony has had a cross-promotion deal with OverDrive since 2009, but this is the first time that Sony has offered direct wireless OverDrive borrowing with its Reader device; previously, a physical connection and sync with a computer was required."

For more information about eReaders and free ebooks, please read my previous blog. Library card will be needed to borrow books onto the Kindle and currently only in the United States at this time.

More information can be found on Amazon's Help page for Kindle, which includes Frequently Asked Questions. To find a location of a library in your area that uses OverDrive, use this link: http://search.overdrive.com/classic/default.asp.

Free eBooks and Lending from Libraries

In the battle of e-readers, Kindle (from Amazon.com) may have come out first for the general population but Nook (from Barnes and Noble) has become preferred due to their colored screen and ability to borrow books from libraries. Regardless if you have a Kindle, a Nook, or another e-reader, everyone is able to download ebooks. Including those of you that do not have e-readers. This can be done by downloading an application for smart phones or computers to read free books via Amazon and Barnes and Noble. More good news for Kindle owners- later this fall Kindle will allow books to be borrowed from libraries through OverDrive. The information about this news announcement can be found here from Amazon.com (from April). Use this link to see if there have been any further updates, or to read what Amazon is currently saying about their Kindle Library Lending.

Please ask your local libraries about their rules and policies, as it will vary by e-reader, library, and distributor (whether the library is going through OverDrive or another company). Below is a list of websites that can be used to download free ebooks. Remember to make sure:

• The price is still at $0.00 because pricing may be free for a limited time only.
• Some libraries are able to lend e-readers. Feel free to ask if your local library have this available or suggest that they consider this option.  
• When buying an e-reader make sure it is what’s best for you. Here are two reviews that can help before purchasing: From PC World, Top E-readers and from TopTen Reviews, eBook Reader Review.

Further tips can be found on Cnet.com here for "How to get books for your Kindle or Nook".

“2. Swap books with strangers. Some books are equipped with a "lending" feature. Amazon and B&N probably intended that lending would be used among friends, but clever Web sites like BookLending.com and eBookFling.com let users list their ebooks and swap inventory with anyone else.”

For information about lending Kindle books, click here.

And finally, if you do find a free ebook and wish to have it converted from one format to another, so you can read the book on your eReader, you can use converters such as Calibre. However, this will not work for all types and circumstances. For an understanding of the various formats of e-books please read Wikipedia's explanation, found in "Comparison of e-book formats". Warning: Wikipedia may not be a completely reliable source, please remember to use this link as a jumping point for research, as it is an open source that could change at any time).

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Free Kindle:

Amazon’s Free eBook Collections

            Limited Time Offers: Limit search on the right by clicking: Kindle ebooks under Department -> Kindle Store -> Limited Time Offers.

            Most Popular Classics

            Public Domain: Books that do not have copyright protection, usually older books.

           Top 100 list of Kindle and Free Kindle books by Amazon


Kindle on Facebook

Pixel of Ink

World Library

SmashWords’s- Free Indie Books:

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Free Nook:

Barnes and Nobel

Nook Deals on Facebook

Pixel of Ink

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Free eBooks (for various e-readers):

Internet Archive - Over 2.5 million free titles

Internet Archive is a non-profit dedicated to offering permanent access to historical collections that exist in digital format. Provides over 2.5 million free ebooks to read, download, and enjoy.

Open Library - Over 1 million free titles

“Open Library is an open project: the software is open, the data are open, the documentation is open, and we welcome your contribution. Whether you fix a typo, add a book, or write a widget--it's all welcome.”

Project Gutenberg - Over 36,000 free titles

“Free ebooks to download to your PC, Kindle, Android, iOS or other portable device. Choose between ePub, Kindle, HTML and simple text formats…We carry high quality ebooks: All our ebooks were previously published by bona fide publishers.”

ManyBooks.net- Over 29,000 free titles

“Browse through the most popular titles, recommendations, or recent reviews from our visitors. Perhaps you'll find something interesting in the special collections. There are more than 29,000 eBooks available here and they're all free!”

Google’s eBookstore

Like is to the eBookstore’s Best of the Free (ebooks).

FeedBooks: Free Original Works. *Parental Guidance may be required for some titles or collections.

            Public Domain

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OverDrive: search for libraries in your area that use this distributor.

Kindle Apps

Nook Apps