Daily deals · Oct 29, 2026
Good morning and happy Thursday. The weekend is almost in sight, so it's a good day to line up something to read.
Every book below comes with what readers actually say about it, the good and the gripes. Today: a haunted-house romantasy, a free three-book dragon series, a Stand anthology and a crime thriller that costs nothing.
Prices were checked when this issue went out. Some deals may have ended since.
Today's picks
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Fantasy
Phantasma
Wicked Games #1
$0.99 checked Oct 28
Nine circles of hell, one wish, and a devilish host
A haunted New Orleans manor, a game built on nine deadly trials, and a heroine who can't afford to lose: that's the hook, and hundreds of thousands of readers took it. Fans single out the gothic atmosphere, the trials modeled on Dante's circles, and the sparky banter between Ophelia and her charming, untrustworthy guide. Her OCD, written as a whispering shadow voice, earns real praise for feeling honest. We picked this one as the perfect October read for 99 cents: moody, fast and properly spicy. Some readers wanted more plot between the steamy scenes, and the middle trials can sag.
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Fantasy
The Dragon Blood Collection, Books 1-3
Dragon Blood
Free checked Oct 28
Fighter pilots, a waking sorceress and a sarcastic sword
Dragon Blood opens with Ridge, a cocky fighter pilot exiled to run a remote prison mine, who crosses paths with Sardelle, a sorceress waking after three centuries into a world that now hunts her kind. Readers keep coming back for the banter, the mix of propeller planes and old magic, and Jaxi, a snarky sentient sword who steals scenes. It's light, quick and funny rather than deep: the romance moves fast and the magic rarely costs much. We picked this free three-book bundle because it's the easiest way to test-drive an author with a long, finished backlist.
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Sci-Fi
The End of the World As We Know It
$2.99 checked Oct 28
Thirty-four new walks through Captain Trips country
Stephen King signed off on letting other writers back into the world of The Stand, and this big anthology is the result: stories set during the superflu, in the long aftermath, and in places the novel never went, from Pakistan to Puerto Rico to orbit. Readers single out entries by Lansdale, Cosby, Ward, Lebbon and Cargill, and the mix of viewpoints, kids and animals included, keeps it fresh. We think it's a smart buy for King fans at this price, best read a few stories at a time. Expect some unevenness across 600-plus pages.
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Adventure
The Girl from Silent Lake
Detective Kay Sharp #1
Free checked Oct 28
A profiler comes home to a killer's backyard
FBI profiler Kay Sharp is back in her small California mountain hometown when a mother and her six-year-old vanish near the lake, a week after a stranger's body turned up wrapped and ritually braided. Readers love Kay's sharp read on the killer, her prickly partnership with a local deputy and the fast, short-chapter pace, and with nearly 18,000 Goodreads ratings this series has a big following. We'd hand it to anyone who wants a free, fast serial-killer procedural for a weekend. The killer's point-of-view chapters give away a lot, and some readers guessed the culprit early.
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