"The Algorithm Design Manual", by Steven Skiena, is very readable and it's generously free to download. I was going to post the link, but I couldn't unmangle it from Google. It's easy to find.
I don't see any links to it from any of Skiena's or the publisher's webpages, so it's not clear how legitimate it is.
Incidentally, I wouldn't really suggest Skiena as an alternative to Cormen et al; they're extremely different in style and content, and in situations where you need one of them the other probably won't help you. I recommend getting both. (For more verbosity on this, see my review of the first edition of Skiena's book at https://www.mccaughan.org.uk/g/books/alg-design.html .)
CLR is information-dense and authoritative. I have a copy from my college algorithms course and I refer to it occasionally. Skiena is a lighter read, so, I figure, you're more likely to actually read it. Whatever algorithms text you read, you will want to continue to augment your knowledge if you're going to confidently adapt and engineer algorithms.
I don't see any links to it from any of Skiena's or the publisher's webpages, so it's not clear how legitimate it is.
Incidentally, I wouldn't really suggest Skiena as an alternative to Cormen et al; they're extremely different in style and content, and in situations where you need one of them the other probably won't help you. I recommend getting both. (For more verbosity on this, see my review of the first edition of Skiena's book at https://www.mccaughan.org.uk/g/books/alg-design.html .)