Mailbox Monday 2-16-09

I love Mondays - because I get to take a closer look at the books I got during the week! When I see the UPS man on our street, I am disappointed when he doesn't stop at our house. Does anyone else feel that way?

Here are the books I got this week -



Title: To My Senses
Author: Alexandrea Weis

I received this book directly from the author. Thanks Alexandrea!

From the back cover: Sometimes love is the inspiration that can awaken you to your destiny.

For Nicci Beauvoir, disillusioned New Orleans debutante, life is about practicalities until she meets a secretive struggling artist and part-time gigolo named David Alexander. In his arms she learns of passion and he finds his artistic muse. But jealous rivals and intrigues conspire against them and a broken hearted Nicci turns to the cold and manipulative Dr. Michael Fagles for comfort. Soon fate and family intervene to save Nicci from a life without love. But her salvation comes with a tragic price that changes the course of her life forever.

Title: Kill For Me
Author: Karen Rose
I received this from Hachette Books - thanks Renee!

(This is the third book in the Daniel Vartanian series - I read and reviewed book 2 Scream For Me here.)

Five teenage girls have been viciously attacked. One survived. Only she can reveal the secrets of a disturbing ring of people who kidnap and sell teenage girls on the black market. But those responsible for the crimes will do whatever it takes to maintain her silence.

Susannah Vartanian and Luke Papadopoulos have both sworn to stop the murderers for their own personal reasons. The investigation leads them to the shady realm of Internet chat rooms, where anyone can mask his or her identity. They soon discover a chain of deception so intricate they don't know whom to trust. Finding comfort in each other's arms, they begin to unravel the intricately knotted threads, but the killers are ruthless and determined, and won't hesitate to take extreme measures to insure their anonymity and keep their business intact. When Susannah proves to be inexplicably linked to the crimes, her life is soon in danger, and Luke will do everything he can to save the woman he loves.





I also received the first book in the series last week from Paperback Swap!

Title: Die For Me
Author: Karen Rose

COME TO ME - The first victim is found in a snow-covered Philadelphia field. Detective Vito Ciccotelli enlists the aid of archaeologist Sophie Johannsen to determine exactly what lies beneath the frozen ground. Despite years of unearthing things long buried, nothing can prepare Sophie for the matrix of graves dug with chilling precision. The victims buried there haunt her. But the empty graves terrify her-the killer isn't done yet.
SCREAM FOR ME - He is cold and calculating, the master of a twisted game. Even with Vito and Sophie hot on his trail, he will not stop. One more empty grave must be filled, and one last scream must be heard-the scream of an archaeologist who is too close for comfort and too near to resist...DIE FOR ME

Title: Unpolished Gem: My Mother, My Grandmother, and Me
Author: Alice Pung

I received this book through Penguin Group via Shelf Awareness.

From the back cover: Alice Pung's family fled the killing fields of Cambodia, arriving in Australia with only one empty suitcase and Alice in her mother's womb. Her father chose her name because he thought their new country was a Wonderland.

In this lyrical, bittersweet memoir - already hailed with several prestigious awards - Alice grows up straddling two worlds, East and West, her insular family and the Australia outside. With wisdom beyond her years and a keen eye for comedy in everyday life, she writes of the trials of assimilation and cultural misunderstanding, and of the tender but fraught relationships between three generations of women trying to live the Australian dream without losing themselves.

There is a Cambodian saying that states: "A girl is like white cotton wool - once dirtied it can never be clean again. A boy is like a gem - the more you polish it, the more it shines." Alice's memoir shows us the depths of beauty and untapped potential hidden just beneath the surface. Unpolished Gem is a moving vivid journey about identity and the ultimate search for acceptance and healing, delivered by a writer possessed of rare empathy, penetrating insight, and undeniable narrative gifts.




Title: Woman into Wolf: A True Crime Tale
Author: Alysse Aallyn

This book was offered to me by The Midnight Reader.

Short description: All is not right in the envied life of Persey Royall, trophy wife with a gift for unearthing cadavers. . . one of whom seems to be her husband's long dead twin brother. . . coming back with a vengeance.



Title: Ruby Among Us
Author: Tina Ann Forkner

I won this one off of Patty LeBlanc's blog - Thanks Patty and Tina!

From the back cover: Lucy DiCamillo is safely surrounded by her books, music, and art - but none of these reclusive comforts or even the protective efforts of her grandmother, Kitty, can shield her thoughts from the mother she can barely recall. Lucy senses her grandmother holds the key, but Kitty seems as eager to hide the past as Lucy is eager to find it.

From the streets of San Francisco and Sacramento to the lush vineyards of the Sonoma Valley, Lucy follows the thread of memory in search of a heritage that seems long-buried with her mother, Ruby.

What she finds is as enigmatic and stirring as it is startling in this redemptive tale about the power of faith and mother-daughter love.

Title: Daniel's Den
Author: Brandt Dodson

This book was received for a First Wild Card Tour coming up soon!

From the back cover: Daniel is a successful stock analyst in New Orleans. Laura operates a bed and breakfast in the Shenandoah Valley. He is wealthy, enjoys racquetball, and lives with Elvis, a black lab. She is a struggling single mother, works two jobs, and lives with her young son, Andy.

But when unseen forces send hit men after each of them, a twist of fate drives them together as they are forced to flee their common enemy. In a high stakes game of cat-and-mouse, they learn just how big the cat can be. And that it's no game.

Visit Mailbox Mondays over at The Printed Page and see what everyone else received!