Mailbox Monday, Meme

Mailbox Monday, Nov. 12, 2012

November’s host is Bermudaonion’s Weblog.

Just a one-book mailbox this week (much needed – I can’t read hardly at all anymore!)

For review:

For Lela White, a Houston sleep lab technician, sleep doesn’t come easy – there’s a price to be paid for a poor night’s sleep, and she’s the judge, jury, and executioner.

Everyone around Lela considers her a private woman with a passion for her lab work. But nighttime reveals her for what she is: a woman on a critical secret mission. Lela lives in the grip of a mental disorder that compels her to break into astronauts’ homes to ensure they can sleep well and believes that by doing so, she keeps the revitalized U.S. space program safe from fatal accidents. What began at the age of ten when her mother confessed to blowing up the space shuttle has evolved into Lela’s life’s work. She dreads the day when an astronaut doesn’t pass her testing, but she’s prepared to kill for the greater good.

When Zory Korchagin, a Russian cosmonaut on loan to the U.S. shuttle program, finds himself drawn to Lela, he puts her carefully constructed world at risk of an explosion as surely as he does his own upcoming launch. As Lela’s universe unravels, no one is safe.

Mailbox Monday, Meme

Mailbox Monday, October 29, 2012

Mailbox Monday is being hosted at the Mailbox Monday site for October.

Got another huge mailbox this week. I really need to stop this!

Okay … so Murder at the Lanterne Rouge and The Stranger You Seek are wins from Stacy’s Books

Father Night is a review book.

The other books are all from a Paperbackswap Box-of-Books swap.

 

 

Mailbox Monday, Meme

Mailbox Monday, October 22, 2012

Mailbox Monday is being hosted at the Mailbox Monday site for October.

I really need to stop bringing books into this house! It’s getting a little bit out of hand. The top four came from my grandmother; the Dick Wolf book is an ARC I received after seeing it on Shelf Awareness Pro; the two books on Anna Nicole Smith are from PBS.

[Hello, my name is Tara, and I am a book-a-holic.]

Mailbox Monday, Meme

Mailbox Monday, October 15, 2012

Mailbox Monday is being hosted at the Mailbox Monday site for October.

This past week I got 6 books in the mail – a trade from one of my Yahoo! groups 🙂

I’m super excited about these! Too bad it will be forever before I will be able to get to any of them, lol. I really need to cut back on my acceptance of review books – it’s killing my time spent with my own books!

Mailbox Monday, Meme

Mailbox Monday, October 1, 2012

Mailbox Monday is being hosted at the Mailbox Monday site for October.

One book this week, but one I’m super excited about!

From William Morrow through Shelf Awareness [So glad I found Shelf Awareness Pro!!]:

The summer of 1985 changed Reggie’s life. Thirteen, awkward, and without a father, she finds herself mixed up with her school’s outcasts Charlie, the local detective’s son, and Tara, a goth kid who harbors a dark secret. That same summer a serial killer called Neptune begins kidnapping women. He leaves their severed hands on the police department steps and, five days later, displays their bodies around town. Just when Reggie needs her mother Vera – an ex-model with many “boyfriends” and a thirst for gin – the most, Vera’s hand is found on the steps. But after five days, there’s no body and Neptune disappears.

Now a successful architect who left her hometown behind after that horrific summer, Reggie doesn’t trust anyone and lives with few attachments. But when she gets a call from a homeless shelter saying that her mother has been found alive, Reggie must confront the ghosts of her past and find Neptune before he kills again.

Mailbox Monday, Meme

Mailbox Monday – September 17, 2012

September’s Mailbox Monday stop is at BookNAround

Another Monday … another week of good books hitting my mailbox 🙂

Review Book … Part of Partners in Crime Tours … My review is scheduled for November 🙂
Saw a review of this on Caribousmom’s blog months ago and put it on my Paperbackswap wish list immediately. Finally got a copy 🙂
Review book from The Readiacs …. watch for my review on Sept. 25th 🙂

 

 

Mailbox Monday, Meme

Mailbox Monday, Aug. 6, 2012

 

Mailbox Monday’s August host is 5 Minutes For Books.

This week I got two books. The first one was from my grandmother and the other was a book from Paperbackswap that had been on my wish list forever!

The Jefferson Key by Steve Berry

Four presidents of the United States have been assassinated – in 1865, 1881, 1901, and 1963 – each murder seemingly unrelated. But what if those presidents were all killed for the same shocking reason: a clause contained in the United States Constitution? This is the question faced by former Justice Department operative Cotton Malone. When President Danny Daniels is nearly killed in the heart of Manhattan, Malone risks his life to foil the murder – only to find himself at odds with the Commonwealth, a secret society of pirates first assembled during the American Revolution. Racing across the nation and taking to the high seas, Malone and Cassiopeia Vitt must break a secret cipher originally possessed by Thomas Jefferson,unravel a mystery concocted by Andrew Jackson, and unearth a document forged by the Founding Fathers themselves – one powerful enough to make the Commonwealth unstoppable.


Anne Boleyn: A New Life of England’s Tragic Queen by Joanna Denny

No English queen has enjoyed such notoriety, and non has been so persistently vilified. In this powerful new biography, Joanna Denny reveals the truth about Anne Boleyn, presenting a picture of the woman – highly literate, accomplished, and a devout defender of her Protestant faith – that differs radically from the unsavory and unflattering accounts that have come down through history. A tragedy set in motion by her allure and her attraction of England’s violent and paranoid king. Anne’s life found her trapped in the vicious politics of the Tudor court, confined to a path that would lead to her execution.

Plunging into the intrigue, romance, and danger at the heart of King Henry VIII’s court, Anne Boleyn is a compelling account of the turbulent times that would change England forever, and a passionate portrait that will ultimately alter our perception of this much-maligned queen.

Mailbox Monday, Meme

Mailbox Monday, July 9, 2012

Mailbox Monday is on tour with July’s host being Mrs. Q: Book Addict.

Another week gone by and another absurd amount of books came into my house. Of course I’m blaming it on the fact that my birthday was on the 5th and I was treating myself 🙂

Thumbing across the scorched west Texas desert loner Jack Reacher has nowhere to go and all the time in the world to get there. Cruising the same stretch of two-lane blacktop is pretty Carmen Greer. But for Reacher the lift comes with a hitch. Carmen’s got a story to tell and it’s a wild one. All about her husband, her family secrets, and a hometown that’s pure Gothic. She’s also got a plan. Reacher’s part of it. And before the sun sets, this ride could cost them both their lives.

 


Somewhere off the coast of Alaska, a sunken cargo poses a threat of unthinkable proportions. Potentially, the lost shipment of chemicals could destroy all life in the ocean – and perhaps the world – unless Dirk Pitt can find it first. But time is running out for the NUMA agent and his team. Pitt’s main target is just one deadly component of a vast international conspiracy fueled by hijacking, bribery, and murder. And at the center of it all is a powerful Korean shipping empire with a chilling political agenda -to kidnap the President of the United States…

 


The luxury yacht had disappeared long ago, on its way to a secret meeting at the White House. Now, it has been discovered – within a millions-ton mass of ice. The only clue to the ship’s demise – and its missing cargo – are the corpses of its crew, and a set of ornately carved rings. The only man who can find the answer is Dirk Pitt…

 

 


     A former Secret Service agent turned high-tech entrepreneur, Kurt Ford couldn’t be more proud when his son Collin follows in his footsteps. But elation turns to despair when Collin is found dead in his apartment and the police rule the case a suicide. Knowing his son would never kill himself, Kurt searches for the truth – and uncovers shocking evidence that the person behind the murder is none other than the president of the United States. Now Kurt is about to attempt the impossible: to assassinate a leader who has spun out of control. But as he sets his plan in motion, he finds out how much he really has to lose – and what dark forces are lying in wait for his next move.

 



The dead body discovered in a Seattle dumpster was shocking enough – but equally disturbing was the manner of death. The victim, a high school coach, had been lynched, leaving behind a very pregnant wife to grieve over his passing, and to wonder what dark secrets he took to his grave. A Homicide detective with twenty years on the job, J.P. Beaumont knows this case is a powder keg, and he fears where this investigation will lead him. Because the answers lie on the extreme lethal edge of passion and hate, where the wrong kind of love can breed the most terrible brand of justice.

 


     The first evidence is found in the belly of a shark: a hand sporting a jade ring. The hand belongs to a Silicone Valley billionaire. When the rest of his bullet-ridden body washes up on shore, Dismas Hardy, assistant D.A., is suddenly plunged into San Francisco’s murder trial of the century.
A Japanese call girl with a long list of bigshot johns is the defendant. But a series of bizarre twists and turns blows the case wide open, making Hardy himself a target for everyone from the victim’s sexy daughter to the vengeful judge who wants Hardy to sizzle.

 



Once Dismas Hardy was a cop. Now he spends his days in a lawyer’s suit, billing hours to a corporate client in a downtown San Francisco office. Hardy’s wife and kids like it that way. Then one client changes everything. Graham Russo, a former baseball star, is charged with murdering his dying father. Was it suicide, the last desperate act of a dying man? Was it murder? Or mercy?
Now, as a carnival of reporters, activists, cops, lovers, and families throng around the case, Dismas Hardy is going to trial with a client he doesn’t trust, a key witness he cannot believe, and a system that almost destroyed him once. For Dismas, this case will challenge everything he believes about the law, about his family, and about himself. Because a chilling truth is beginning to emerge about an old man’s lonely death. And what Dismas knows could put him next in line to die…


     Matthew Mercer and Harris Sandler are playing a game almost no one knows about – not their friends, not their coworkers, and certainly not their powerful bosses, who are some of the most influential senators and congressmen on Capitol Hill. It’s a game that has everything: risk, reward, and the thrill of knowing that – just by being invited to play – you’ve become a true insider. But behind this game is a secret so explosive it will shake Washington to its core. And when one player turns up dead, a dedicated young staffer will find himself relying on a tough, idealistic seventeen-year-old Senate page to help keep him alive … as he plays the Zero Game to its heart-pounding end.


     Amid the sparkling snow-swept mountains of Lake Tahoe, Nina Reilly has made a home, juggling the demands of her one-woman law practice and raising a teenage son alone. Now Nina has taken on a case that will threaten everything she holds dear, drawing her into a tangled web of loyalties and alliances within one of Lake Tahoe’s most prominent families. Her client: a man accused of murdering his own brother – on the ski slopes of Tahoe. The law says Nina must give Jim Strong the best possible defense. But Strong’s family has turned violently against him, and suddenly Nina is at the center of the storm. As she works a flawed and troubling case and gets swept into an unexpected love affair, the two sides of Nina’s life come crashing together … in the ultimate act of malice.


A wealthy socialite has been murdered. Now the killer – a consummate professional – must tie up a few loose ends. One is a witness. The other is Lucas Davenport, the cop on the case. Of all the criminals Davenport has hunted, none has been as efficient or as ferociously intelligent as the woman who’s hunting him.

 

 


     When a new Protestant extremist group shatters the Good Friday peace accords with three savage acts of terrorism, Northern Ireland is blown back into the depths of conflict. And after his father-in-law is nominated to become the new American ambassador to London, retired officer Michael Osbourne is drawn back into the CIA.
Then Osbourne uncovers a dark plan that marks his father-in-law for execution, setting into motion a deadly chain of events that will thrust him back into the sights of the most merciless assassin the world has ever known. Osbourne escaped this ruthless killing machine once – but the elusive October will never allow him to slip through his crosshairs again…

Mailbox Monday, Meme

Mailbox Monday, July 2, 2012

Another week – another full mailbox. I really should restrain myself. But I just keep telling myself that I’d been good January-May and with my birthday just around the corner – like in 3 DAYS! – I’m treating myself 🙂

Anyhoo – July’s host is Mrs. Q: Book Addict.

Here’s what arrived for me last week:


On an isolated Greek island, a World War I fighter plane attacks a modern U.S. Air Force base…a mysterious saboteur preys on an American scientific expedition…and Dirk Pitt plays a deadly game of hunter and hunted with the elusive head of an international smuggling ring. Dirk Pitt, intrepid hero of Clive Cussler’s smash bestsellers Dragon, Sahara, and Inca Gold, is hot on the trail of a mammoth drug conspiracy controlled by a missing Nazi War criminal. On land and in the depths of the Aegean, Pitt trouble shoots his way through one of his most daring, desperate adventures!

 


1954. Vixen 03 is down. The plane, bound for the Pacific carrying thirty-six Doomsday bombs – canisters armed with quick-death germs of unbelievable potency – vanishes. Vixen has in fact crashed into an ice-covered lake in Colorado.
1988. Dirk Pitt, who heroically raised the Titanic, discovers the wreckage of Vixen 03. But two deadly canisters are missing. They’re in the hands of a terrorist group. Their lethal mission: to sail a battleship seventy-five miles up the Potomac and blast Washington, D.C., to kingdom come. Only Dirk can stop them…

 

When Lieutenant Jacqueline “Jack” Daniels receives a report of an excess of body parts appearing at the Cook County Morgue, she hopes it’s only a miscount. It’s not. Even worse, these extra limbs seem to be accessorized with Jack’s handcuffs. Jack must put her train wreck of a personal life on hold to catch a terrifying and brilliant maniac – a maniac for whom getting caught is only the beginning…

 


Meeting an anonymous client late on a sizzling summer night is asking for trouble. But trouble is Chicago private eye V.I. Warshawski’s specialty. Her client says he’s the prominent banker, John Thayer. Turns out he’s not. He says his son’s girlfriend, Anita Hill, is missing. Turns out that’s not her real name. V.I.’s search turns up someone soon enough – the real John Thayer’s son, and he’s dead. Who’s V.I.’s client? Why has she been set up and sent out on a wild-goose chase? By the time she’s got it figured, things are hotter – and deadlier – than Chicago in July. V.I.’s in a desperate race against time. At stake: a young woman’s life.

 

Mailbox Monday, Meme

Mailbox Monday, June 25, 2012

Mailbox Monday is on tour with June’s stop being at Burton Book Review.

This week I had four books come into my house. I purchased these from bookcloseouts.com. I had been extremely good all year, having not purchased a single book myself! Wow, I can’t believe I made it to June!! BUT! I couldn’t resist when I got an email from Bookcloseouts advertising Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith for $2.99! It’s only been on my wish list for ever! Plus I was able to get other books that had been on my wish list for a while as well! (This is me justifying buying more books). Anyway, on to the books:

     Hollywood, May 1962: Marilyn Monroe, the ultimate goddess of the silver screen, is at the peak of her popularity, internationally famous, universally admired by women and desired by men. But she’s also famously insecure and temperamental and is being pilloried in the press for delaying the production of Something’s Got to Give. When the head of Twentieth Century Fox threatens to cancel her contract, Marilyn hires “PI to the stars” Nathan Heller to tap her phones and record conversations that might prove to be important if there’s a lawsuit.
Less than three months later, Monroe is dead from an overdose and, officially, a suicide. But Heller isn’t buying it. He knows that in the weeks before, the star was anything but suicidal. He knows, too, about her affair with JFK, about the secret connections between the Kennedys and the Mob … and about Bobby Kennedy’s blood feud with Jimmy Hoffa. In short, Heller knows too much to accept this bum rap on a beautiful, gifted woman loved by the whole world … including Nathan Heller.
So he investigates, though his efforts might enrage some very famous, very powerful, very dangerous people. But they can’t keep Heller from finding out the astounding truth behind Marilyn Monroe’s untimely demise…

      For 140 years, Nathaniel Cade has been the President’s Vampire, sworn to protect and serve his country. Cade’s existence is the most closely guarded of White House secrets: a superhuman covert agent who is the last line of defense against nightmare scenarios that ordinary citizens can only dream of.
When a new outbreak of an ancient evil – one that Cade has seen before – comes to light, he and his human handler, Zach Barrows, must track down its source. The president suspects that the threat may have ties to a high-level defense contractor – a private, Blackwater-like security force whose hired mercenaries take a very dim view of being forced to work with the president’s men. “Protect and serve” often means settling old scores and confronting new betrayals … as only a century-old predator can.

     A Simple Act of Murder is the investigation that this case should have had from the beginning. America’s most famous detective, Mark Fuhrman – who has cracked some of the best-known and most puzzling crimes in American history – cuts through the myths and misinformation to focus on the hard evidence. He examines the ballistics and medical records, scrutinizes photographs from the crime scene and the famous Zapruder film, and weighs the testimony of hundreds of witnesses.
Filled with vivid photos, informative diagrams, and original drawings by Fuhrman himself that show the evidence in a new light and make complex forensic matters clear and easily understood, this book is the visual record of the JFK assassination.
In this gripping and highly personal account, Fuhrman unveils a major clue that had been ignored for forty years – a breakthrough that will change the debate over the assassination. Overturning accepted notions about the way the murder occurred, A Simple Act of Murder answers many questions that have plagued the American people ever since that fateful day in Dallas.

     Indiana, 1818. In a one-room cabin, nine-year-old Abraham Lincoln kneels at his mother’s bedside. “My baby boy …” she whispers before dying. Only later will the grieving Abe learn that his mother’s fatal affliction was actually the work of a vampire. Gifted with his legendary height, strength, and skill with an ax, young Lincoln sets out on a path of vengeance that will lead him all the way to the White House.
While Abraham Lincoln is widely lauded for saving the Union and freeing millions of slaves, his valiant fight against the forces of the undead has remained in the shadows for almost two hundred years – until Seth Grahame-Smith stumbled upon The Secret Journal of Abraham Lincoln. Now, using the journal as a guide, Seth reconstructs the true life story of America’s greatest president. For the first time ever, he reveals the hidden history behind the Civil War – and uncovers the role vampires played in the birth, growth, and near-death of the nation.