The Printed Page

Title: The Dead and the Gone (The Last Survivors, Book 2) Author/website: Susan Beth Pfeffer Release date: June ’08

An asteroid knocks the moon closer to Earth, and every conceivable natural disaster occurs. Seventeen-year-old Alex Morales’s parents are missing and presumed drowned by tsunamis. Left alone, he struggles to care for his sisters Bri, 14, and Julie, 12. Things look up as Central Park is turned into farmland and food begins to grow. Then worldwide volcanic eruptions coat the sky with ash and the land freezes permanently. People starve, freeze, or die of the flu. Only the poor are left in New York—a doomed island—while the rich light out for safe towns inland and south.

Book 1

Book 3

Wow I’m suddenly on a roll with YA fiction which almost never happens. My cover attractions this week and last were YA novels. I’ve read two books from last week’s post, The Luxe & Rumors, and I’m currently reading a YA historical fiction novel, The Queen’s Soprano which of course caught my attention due its cover. I spotted The Dead and Gone about a year ago, fell in love with cover back then and it still holds my attention every time I see it.

*** Please feel free to leave a link to a cover that caught your eye.

• In the “Your name:” box, please enter either your name or your blog’s name.

• In the “Your URL:” box please enter the URL/link that will lead directly to the post you are submitting (also called the permalink). This is not the URL to the blog’s home page.

Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week. Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists.

If you’re new to Mailbox Monday welcome! Thank you to everyone who stops by Mailbox Monday. Whether you comment or visit I appreciate your taking the time to drop in.

*** Another bookless week for me but I’ll bet not for most of you.

***

What books came into your house last week? You have the choice of using inlinkz or Mr. Linky. With inlinkz you can include a book cover if you’d like along with the link to your Mailbox Monday post (clicking on the image takes you to the blog post.) Duplicate links will not count toward the fundraising efforts.

Don’t forget to fill out either inlinkz or Mister Linky or leave a comment with a list of books if you don’t blog. If you’re interested in Read It Forward you will need to leave a comment in addition to filling out a link feature.

• In the “Your name:” box, please enter either your name or your blog’s name.

• In the “Your URL:” box please enter the URL/link that will lead directly to the post you are submitting (also called the permalink). This is not the URL to the blog’s home page.

***

Read It Forward details

Title: The Rivers Run Dry (Raleigh Harmon, book #2) Author/website(s): Sibella Giorello 317 pages Publisher: Thomas Nelson Publication date: March ’09 Genre: Police procedural/faith-based author Review book or pleasure reading: Pleasure reading New-to-me author: No Would I recommend this book: Yes Would I read more from this author: I do have book #3 in this series, The Clouds Roll Away sitting on the review shelf. Notes to myself: I was very hesitant to read The Rivers Run Dry as I thought the first book in this series, The Stones Cry Out, was just OK – slow and mostly uninteresting. But I was determined to make my way through this book as I have book #3 in this series and I prefer reading series in order. The worry was for nothing as The River Runs Dry is a much better story and held my interest along the way. I believe this series may have found its footing. I’m actually looking forward to reading The Clouds Roll Away.

When Raleigh Harmon, geologist and special agent for the FBI, is suddenly transferred from the Richmond field office to Seattle, she finds herself in strange territory. The Pacific Northwest has a whole different pace than the South does, her new boss seems determined to prove she can’t handle the work, and she’s desperately trying to keep her mother’s sanity from crumbling altogether. But a missing hiker, a ransom note, an underground card game, and a “friend” with deadly intentions all ensure that there’s no time for an easy transition. Raleigh will need all her skills and a little help—to keep the missing girl and herself alive.

Title: The Luxe Author/website(s): The Luxe 438 pages Publisher: HarperCollins Publication date: November ’07 Genre: YA Review book or pleasure reading: Pleasure reading New-to-me author: Yes Would I recommend this book: Undecided; I thought the book was just OK Would I read more from this author: I’m just curious enough about the story line to read books 2-4 which I’ve placed on hold at my local library but not curious enough to spend approx. $9 per eBook for Kindle editions. The Luxe was a free eBook Kindle download. Notes to myself: Pleasure reading – no review. I used The Luxe as a historical book solely based on the year, 1899.

The beautiful young Holland sisters, Elizabeth and Diana, rule Manhattan society. Or so it appears. When they discover their status is far from secure, everyone—from the ambitious socialite Penelope Hayes, to the debonair bachelor, Henry Schoonmaker, to the Holland’s dour maid, Lina Broud—threatens the girls’ golden future. When Elizabeth’s carriage overturns near the East River, her glittering life, well-known for lighting up the city’s gossip pages, is swallowed by the rough current. Then the question on everyone’s lips is this: Who will take Elizabeth’s enviable place?

Title: The Luxe Author/website: The Luxe Release date: September ’08

THE LUXE

The beautiful young Holland sisters, Elizabeth and Diana, rule Manhattan society. Or so it appears. When they discover their status is far from secure, everyone—from the ambitious socialite Penelope Hayes, to the debonair bachelor, Henry Schoonmaker, to the Holland’s dour maid, Lina Broud—threatens the girls’ golden future. When Elizabeth’s carriage overturns near the East River, her glittering life, well-known for lighting up the city’s gossip pages, is swallowed by the rough current. Then the question on everyone’s lips is this: Who will take Elizabeth’s enviable place?

Book 2

Book 3

Book 4

I’m by no means a girlie girl. There isn’t a dress to be found in my closet but I’ve admired these covers since the books first appeared. The dresses its all about the dresses. And the shoes, the purse, the hair, the makeup, so on and so forth. The Luxe was offered free earlier this week for Kindle owners so I snagged a copy which I’m currently reading. Usually I don’t read YA fiction but I’ve decided to make an exception to that rule .

*** Please feel free to leave a link to a cover that caught your eye.

• In the “Your name:” box, please enter either your name or your blog’s name.

• In the “Your URL:” box please enter the URL/link that will lead directly to the post you are submitting (also called the permalink). This is not the URL to the blog’s home page.

Title: The Skull Ring Author/website(s): Scott Nicholson (I love his website address: hauntedcomputer.com because I think all the computers in my life are possessed and evil ) 149 pages (pdf file) Publisher: Ghostwriter Publications/Haunted Computer Books Publication date: March ’10 Genre: Psychological suspense Review book or pleasure reading: Review book New-to-me author: Yes Would I recommend this book: Yes Would I read more from this author: Yes; I have The Red Church downloaded to my Kindle Notes to myself: Lock the doors, check the windows, play music or TV loudly to block out all unexplained noise, turn on all the lights so the house is blazing bright and no shadows lurk in the corners. Then get settled in for an adventure in psychological suspense that leaves you reading way into the night because you really don’t want to crawl under covers and into the cover of darkness, both real and imagined. Be very careful who you place your trust in because they’re more than ready to lead you down the path of evil. Stay the course and good will overcome all. If you’re a fan of psychological suspense and don’t mind a scary ride with heart stopping jolts pick up The Skull Ring.

Julia Stone will remember, even if it kills her.

Dr. Pamela Forrest is determined to bring Julia’s memories to the surface, hoping to heal Julia’s panic disorder. The therapist keeps returning Julia to a night twenty-three years ago when Julia was four. A night of hooded figures, strange chants, pain, and blood. The night her father disappeared from the face of the earth.

Julia rebuilds the past a piece at a time during the mind-wrenching therapy sessions. But the line between the past and the present begins to blur. Julia finds a silver skull ring that bears the name “Judas Stone.” The same ring had been worn by one of the hooded figures who scarred her both mentally and physically on that long-ago night.

Someone is leaving strange messages inside her house, even though the door is locked. The religious handyman, who has a key, spends a lot of time in the woods behind her house. Her boyfriend Mitchell becomes distant and violent. And the cop who investigated her father’s disappearance has followed her to the small Appalachian town of Elkwood.

Now she has a head full of memories, but she doesn’t know which are real and which are the creations of Dr. Forrest. The shadows of Julia’s panic are growing larger and darker. But succumbing to madness seems safer than heeding the whispers of the master who claims ownership of her body and soul.

(The Skull Ring was provided to me by the author Scott Nicholson. I was not paid and the pdf file has been removed from my Kindle )

I’m giving away my ARC of The Bride Collector. This giveaway is open to entries worldwide. So if you have a mailing address anywhere on planet earth this might be your opportunity to snag a copy of The Bride Collector.

It’s pretty easy: Simply leave a comment on this post letting me know you’d like to be entered in the giveaway. You don’t have to tweet, post about the giveaway, sign up to follow or any of those other things you might do somewhere else as I’m not taking multiple entries. Please only one entry per reader. I will select a winner Wednesday, 4/13 (updated Friday, 4/9).

If you pre-order a copy of The Bride Collector get Ted’s first never before published novel for FREE.

FBI Special agent Brad Raines is facing his toughest case yet. A Denver serial killer has killed four beautiful young women, leaving a bridal veil at each crime scene, and he’s picking up his pace. Unable to crack the case, Raines appeals for help from a most unusual source: residents of the Center for Wellness and Intelligence, a private psychiatric institution for mentally ill individuals whose are extraordinarily gifted.

It’s there that he meets Paradise, a young woman who witnessed her father murder her family and barely escaped his hand. Diagnosed with schizophrenia, Paradise may also have an extrasensory gift: the ability to experience the final moments of a person’s life when she touches the dead body.

In a desperate attempt to find the killer, Raines enlists Paradise’s help. In an effort to win her trust, he befriends this strange young woman and begins to see in her qualities that most ‘sane people’ sorely lack. Gradually, he starts to question whether sanity resides outside the hospital walls…or inside.

As the Bride Collector picks up the pace-and volume-of his gruesome crucifixions, the case becomes even more personal to Raines when his friend and colleague, a beautiful young forensic psychologist, becomes the Bride Collector’s next target.

The FBI believes that the killer plans to murder seven women. Can Paradise help before it’s too late?

Title: The French Mistress: A Novel of the Duchess of Portsmouth and King Charles II Author/website(s): Susan Holloway Scott 390 pages Publisher: NAL Trade Publication date: July ’09 Genre: Historical fiction Review book or pleasure reading: Pleasure reading New-to-me author: No Would I recommend this book: Yes Would I read more from this author: Anxiously awaiting September for her newest release, The Countess and the King: A Novel of the Countess of Dorchester and King James II Notes to myself: Ms. Holloway one of my favorite historical fiction authors.

1668: The daughter of a poor nobleman, Louise leaves the French countryside for the glittering court of the legendary King Louis XIV. As a baby-faced maid of honor, the innocent Louise attracts little notice––until she catches the eye of the visiting English king, Charles II. Before long, she is sent by the scheming Louis to London as a royal “gift” for Charles. There she is expected not only to please the tastes of the jaded English king, but to serve as a spy for France.

Alone in a foreign land with few friends, many rivals, and ever-shifting loyalties, Louise soon learns the perils of her new role. Yet she is too clever—and too ambitious—to be merely a pawn in the intrigues of others. With the promise of riches, power, and even the love of a king, Louise dares to create her own destiny in a dangerous dance of intrigue between two kings—and two countries.

Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week. Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists.

If you’re new to Mailbox Monday welcome! Thank you to everyone who stops by Mailbox Monday. Whether you comment or visit I appreciate your taking the time to drop in.

*** As you can see no books for me this week. Don’t be surprised if my mailbox is fairly empty this year as I’ve cut way back on requesting/receiving books and my Kindle is holding about a gazillion eBooks so I’m not buying much right now either. But don’t stay away as there are plenty of other overflowing mailbox posts to visit.

***

What books came into your house last week? You have the choice of using inlinkz or Mr. Linky. With inlinkz you can include a book cover if you’d like along with the link to your Mailbox Monday post (clicking on the image takes you to the blog post.) Duplicate links will not count toward the fundraising efforts.

Don’t forget to fill out either inlinkz or Mister Linky or leave a comment with a list of books if you don’t blog. If you’re interested in Read It Forward you will need to leave a comment in addition to filling out a link feature.

• In the “Your name:” box, please enter either your name or your blog’s name.

• In the “Your URL:” box please enter the URL/link that will lead directly to the post you are submitting (also called the permalink). This is not the URL to the blog’s home page.

***

Read It Forward details

Here are this week’s tour stops for the The Bride Collector by Ted Dekker. My tour stop is Tuesday, 4/6. Be sure and stop back as I’m giving away my ARC of The Bride Collector. My giveaway will be open to entries worldwide. So if you have a mailing address anywhere on planet earth this will be your opportunity to possibly snag a copy of The Bride Collector.

If you pre-order a copy of The Bride Collector get Ted’s first never before published novel for FREE.

Saturday, 4/3 ~ Drey’s Library Sunday, 4/4 ~ Books and Needlepoint Monday, 4/5 ~ The Christian Critic Tuesday, 4/6 ~ Right here at The Printed Page (ARC giveaway) Wednesday, 4/7 ~ Back to Books Thursday, 4/8 ~ Cheryl’s Book Nook Friday ~ 4/9 ~ Booksie’s Blog