Last week, I learned that Barnes & Noble had released its eReader app for the iPad and iPhone. I wasn’t planning to download it since I’m so happy with the Kindle app, but was enticed by their “free book” promotion.

Simply put, as described here, B&N is offering 5 free eBooks if you download their free app. At first I thought that I could choose any book, but realized after I’d downloaded the app that B&N was offering 5 specific fiction novels and was releasing a different one each week over a five week period.

At that point I’d already downloaded the app and figured I’d collect my freebie, on the off-chance that the book was any good. And, surprise, surprise—it turned out to be great! I’ve now found a new series to read for the rest of the summer.

But, first things first—you have to actually go into a Barnes & Noble store to obtain a pamphlet that has your free eBook access code—for each book. Definitely inconvenient. Then you have to find the appropriate link via the B&N website on your iPad, which takes a few minutes to locate—I’ll save you the trouble. Just go here.

The eBook that I downloaded last week was Storm Front by Jim Butcher. I haven’t read any of the other books yet-I missed the first one—but I absolutely loved this book. Here’s a basic description of the premise of this series, taken from a review of this book:

Beginning an unusually successful adaptation, this volume covers the first part of the book that introduced Harry Dresden, a modern wizard who’s set up shop in downtown Chicago. Unlike Hellblazer ‘sJohn Constantine, Dresden is unambiguously heroic, cooperating with the police to solve gruesome magical murderers while also working solo as a supernatural PI.

It reminds me a bit of the Sue Grafton PI series beginning with “A is for Alibi” (another one of my favorites), except with a science fiction twist—perfect for a geek like me.

Even if you don’t download the B&N eReader app, I highly recommend this book. I already bought the second book in the series and am halfway done with it.

As for the B&N eReader app, I still like Kindle’s better. The B&N app feels clunkier to me and I don’t like the interface nearly as much as Kindle. But, for a few free books, it’s worth it to deal with the less-than-ideal interface.