Julie Arduini’s Favorite Free-at-the-Time Kindle Reads for 2012

Julie Arduini’s Favorite Free-at-the-Time Kindle Reads for 2012

It’s that time of year again! I take a few days to let you know what my favorite reads of 2012 were. For fiction and non fiction, I choose from the books I reviewed. For my Kindle read, that comes from the free read (at the time of my purchase) that may or may not have been published in the year I read it.

The deeper into the writing process I dive, the more I look forward to announcing posts like this. A lot of casual readers are under the impression that it takes one draft to write a novel. That’s not even true for Karen Kingsbury or Stephen King.Writing is a lonely, hard job. Most authors also have a “day job,” so the book many of us hold come from early morning and late night writing sessions.

Today I share my favorite fiction and non fiction free Kindle read picks.

Phew.

Remember,  I received these free at the time, was not required to review them, they might not have been published this year but they were simply my fun Kindle reads as I probably waited in doctor offices. Which in 2012, was a lot.

First up, non fiction.

The Secret Holocaust Diaries by Nonna Bannister.

Nonna Bannister carried a secret almost to her Tennessee grave: the diaries she kept as a young girl experiencing the horrors of the Holocaust while learning compassion and love for her fellow human beings. Nonna’s writings tell the remarkable tale of how a Russian girl, born into a family that had known wealth and privileges, was exposed to the concentration camps and learned the value of human life and the importance of forgiveness.

This book should be required reading for high school students. We forget as time goes by the tragedies that came from WWII. Nonna’s recollection are haunting, sad, and yet beautiful. Beautiful perhaps because although she kept this period of her life quiet, her words capture a generation.

Purchase on Kindle here.

My fiction choice is Jenna’s Choice by Sharon Gillenwater.

Jenna Callahan has a young son and rewarding work on her father’s ranch. She’s content. But she never expected to see Nate Langley back in town–the first guy she noticed, the one her father sent away all those years ago. And she never thought the attraction they felt would be as strong as ever. Jenna’s cowboy has some healing of his own to do, though, after two tours of duty in the armed forces. With the help of good friends, strong faith, and a loving family, he hopes to put the horrors of the past behind him–and become the man Jenna deserves. With an emphasis on simple acts of love, Jenna’s Cowboy gives romance readers what they want most: a love story with a Texas touch.

I write contemporary romance, so it’s fun for me in my reading to pick up a love story. When the hero wears a cowboy hat, that’s always a bonus. Besides a well-written romance, the characters were well developed and the cowboy is battling something very real in many American families–PTSD. This tugged at my heart because there is nothing easy or cheesy about PTSD and I know romances can sometimes be too simple to be believed. This was agonizing because I knew this is a real struggle for many, and to use it as part of the conflict here was well done.

Purchase on Kindle here. (As I type this, it is free again. I hope it is for you, too.)

What were your favorite e-reader books in 2012?

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