Sunday Post August 2, 2015/It's Monday! What are You Reading? Plus Mailbox Monday August 3, 2015

Sunday Post - It's Monday! is still not up and linking while Sheila finds her way after her family tragedy.
Kathryn at Date Book suggested linking with Sunday Post at Caffeinated Book Reviewer.

This meme starts at Book Journey!

What Are You Reading, is where we gather to share what we have read this past week and what we plan to read this week. It is a great way to network with other bloggers, see some wonderful blogs, and put new titles on your reading list.

I fought the cough all week going to bed early in hopes I would sleep without coughing. It resulted in a lot of reading/listening!

I finished three ebooks and three audios. I just managed to post three reviews by squeezing two in at the end of the week. I also posted the usual memes.

I didn't get to do any visiting since I barely was online. I came home, ate something light and went to bed. I didn't have any energy to fight with the old computer. I hope to get the new one set up this week.
Thanks as always to all the nice people who visit me.

These were last week's posts:

• Sunday Post July 26, 2015/It's Monday! What are You Reading? Plus Mailbox Monday July 27, 2015.

• Audible Book Review: Sector 64: Ambush by Dean M. Cole; Sci Fi Suspense; my rating 4.0.

• Friday Pick Giveaway July 31, 2015. Open Worldwide. Ends 8/6/2015.

• Book Review: SEAL Team Six: Hunt the Fox by Don Mann, Ralph Pezzullo; Military Thriller; my rating 4.25.

• Sharing Beyond Books #213 Comment Giveaway for August 1, 2015. Open Worldwide. Ends 8/8/2015.

• Book Review: If My People . . .: A 40-Day Prayer Guide for Our Nation By Jack Countryman; Devotional; my rating 4.5.

• Sunday Words of Encouragement August 2, 2015.

Finished Reading:
1. eBook/Kindle (and Print)

Dying to Read (The Cate Kinkaid Files Book #1): A Novel 
by Lorena McCourtney 
This is a fun, easy read.
I picked up print copies at discount for our Ladies Book Club on August 1, which got postponed. Review and giveaway will post later this week.
Click on book title for full description.

2. Audible

Double Dip: A Davis Way Crime Caper
Written by: Gretchen Archer
Narrated by: Amber Benson
This was another great fun story continuing Davis' crazy antics.
I received this from Claire McKinneyPR.
I plan to post reviews for all three books this week.
Click on book title for full description.

3. eBook/Kindle

A Curse of Ash and Iron
by Christine Norris
This was rather unexpectedly good. 
I will post a review this week.
Click on book title for full description.

4. Audible

Steelheart: Reckoners, Book 1
Written by: Brandon Sanderson
Narrated by: MacLeod Andrews
This was Great Entertainment!
This was from 2013 in my Audible library.
Publisher's Summary
From the number-one New York Times best-selling author of the Mistborn Trilogy, Brandon Sanderson, comes the first book in a new, action-packed thrill ride of a series - Steelheart. Ten years ago, Calamity came. It was a burst in the sky that gave ordinary men and women extraordinary powers. The awed public started calling them Epics.
But Epics are no friend of man. With incredible gifts came the desire to rule. And to rule man you must crush his wills.
Nobody fights the Epics...nobody but the Reckoners. A shadowy group of ordinary humans, they spend their lives studying Epics, finding their weaknesses, and then assassinating them.
And David wants in. He wants Steelheart - the Epic who is said to be invincible. The Epic who killed David's father. For years, like the Reckoners, David's been studying, and planning - and he has something they need. Not an object, but an experience.
He's seen Steelheart bleed.
And he wants revenge.
©2013 Dragonsteel Entertainment, LLC (P)2013 Audible Inc.

5. eBook /Kindle

Footsteps in the Sky
by Greg Keyes
I was attracted by the cover and ended up enjoying this story.
I selected this at NetGalley.
The pueblo people who landed on the Fifth World found it Earthlike, empty, and ready for colonization . . . but a century later, they are about to meet the planet’s owners

One hundred years ago, Sand’s ancestors made the long, one-way trip to the Fifth World, ready to work ceaselessly to terraform the planet. Descendants of native peoples like the Hopi and Zuni, they wanted to return to the way of life of their forebears, who honored the Kachina spirits.

Now, though, many of the planet’s inhabitants have begun to resent their grandparents’ decision to strand them in this harsh and forbidding place, and some have turned away from the customs of the Well-Behaved People. Sand has her doubts, but she longs to believe that the Kachina live on beyond the stars and have been readying a new domain for her people.

She may be right. Humans have discovered nine habitable worlds, all with life that shares a genetic code entirely alien to any on Earth. Someone has been seeding planets, bringing life to them. But no other sign of the ancient farmers has ever been discovered—until one day they return to the Fifth World. They do not like what they find.

Originally written in 1994, Footsteps in the Sky is finally being released in digital form by Open Road Media.

6. Audible

Double Strike
Written by: Gretchen Archer
Narrated by: Amber Benson
I enjoyed this adventure too - hope for more.
I received this audio from the publisher through Audiobook Jukebox.
Publisher's Summary
Bellissimo Resort and Casino Super Spy Davis Way knows three things: Cooking isn’t a prerequisite for a happy marriage, don’t trust men who look like David Hasselhoff, and money doesn’t grow on Christmas trees. None of which help when a storm hits the Gulf a week before the most anticipated event in Bellissimo history: the Strike It Rich Sweepstakes. Securing the guests, staff, and property might take a stray bullet. Or two. Bellissimo Resort and Casino Super Spy Davis Way has three problems: She’s desperate to change her marital status, she has a new boss who speaks in hashtags, and Bianca Sanders has confiscated her clothes. All of which bring on a headache hot enough to spark a fire. Solving her problems means stealing a car. From a dingbat lawyer. Bellissimo Resort and Casino Super Spy Davis Way has three goals: Keep the Sanders family out of prison, regain her footing in her relationship, and find the genius who wrote the software for future gaming. One of which, the manhunt one, is iffy. Because when Alabama hides someone, they hide them good. Double Strike. A VIP invitation to an extraordinary high-stakes gaming event, as thieves, feds, dance instructors, shady bankers, kidnappers, and gold waiters go all in.
©2014 Gretchen Archer (P)2014 Audible, Inc.

Currently reading:
1. eBook/Kindle

Plantation Shudders: A Cajun Country Mystery (A Cajun Country Mystery)
by Ellen Byron
This is starting out to be a fun cozy. 
I selected this through NetGalley.
Check in for some Southern hospitality in Plantation Shudders, the Cajun Country series debut from Ellen Byron.
It's the end of the summer and Prodigal Daughter Maggie Crozat has returned home to her family's plantation-turned-bed-and-breakfast in Louisiana. The Crozats have an inn full of guests for the local food festival—elderly honeymooners, the Cajun Cuties, a mysterious stranger from Texas, a couple of hipster lovebirds, and a trio of Georgia frat boys. But when the elderly couple keels over dead within minutes of each other - one from very unnatural causes - Maggie and her family suddenly become suspects in a murder.
With the help of Bo Durand, the town's handsome new detective, Maggie must investigate to clear her name while holding the family business together at the same time. And the deeper she digs, the more she wonders: are all of the guests really there for a vacation or do they have ulterior motives? Decades-old secrets and stunning revelations abound in Ellen Byron’s charming cozy debut, Plantation Shudders.

2. Audible

14
Written by: Peter Clines
Narrated by: Ray Porter
I selected this from my own Audible Library.
Publisher's Summary
Audie Award Nominee, Science Fiction, 2013
Padlocked doors. Strange light fixtures. Mutant cockroaches.
There are some odd things about Nate’s new apartment. Of course, he has other things on his mind. He hates his job. He has no money in the bank. No girlfriend. No plans for the future. So while his new home isn’t perfect, it’s livable. The rent is low, the property managers are friendly, and the odd little mysteries don’t nag at him too much. At least, not until he meets Mandy, his neighbor across the hall, and notices something unusual about her apartment. And Xela’s apartment. And Tim’s. And Veek’s. Because every room in this old Los Angeles brownstone has a mystery or two. Mysteries that stretch back over a hundred years. Some of them are in plain sight. Some are behind locked doors. And all together these mysteries could mean the end of Nate and his friends. Or the end of everything....
©2012 Peter Clines and Permuted Press (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

3. eBook/Kindle

Dark Horse
by Michelle Diener
I selected this at NetGalley because it sounds really good.
Some secrets carry the weight of the world. Rose McKenzie may be far from Earth with no way back, but she's made a powerful ally--a fellow prisoner with whom she's formed a strong bond. Sazo's an artificial intelligence. He's saved her from captivity and torture, but he's also put her in the middle of a conflict, leaving Rose with her loyalties divided. Captain Dav Jallan doesn't know why he and his crew have stumbled across an almost legendary Class 5 battleship, but he's not going to complain. The only problem is, all its crew are dead, all except for one strange, new alien being. She calls herself Rose. She seems small and harmless, but less and less about her story is adding up, and Dav has a bad feeling his crew, and maybe even the four planets, are in jeopardy. The Class 5's owners, the Tecran, look set to start a war to get it back and Dav suspects Rose isn't the only alien being who survived what happened on the Class 5. And whatever else is out there is playing its own games. In this race for the truth, he's going to have to go against his leaders and trust the dark horse.

June 1, 2015- I am still up to date on Bible reading and greatly enjoying the readings-- It seems my eyes are open to more details and meaning.. I am reading The One Year Bible again along with my husband and others from our church. I am also listening to the companion commentary online.

I posted three reviews last week which left one and six new for this week. So it should be busy on reviews.
I am reading two NetGalley titles and added one. That brings my shelf down to five NetGalley titles.
I hope to do a few more TBRs in August. 

Welcome to Mailbox Monday.

Mailbox Monday is a gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week and explore great book blogs.  This Meme started with Marcia at A Girl and Her Books (fka The Printed Page) and after a tour of hosts has returned to its permanent home at Mailbox Monday. Thanks to the ladies sharing hosting duties: Leslie of Under My Apple Tree, Serena of Savvy Verse & Wit and Vicki of I'd Rather Be at the Beach. Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists. 

I didn't get to reply to the new author-offered books while I was crawling in bed.
I added just one NetGalley title and purchased one Kindle bundle. I am still trying to decide on my two Audible choices.
I downloaded the free Audio pair from SYNC and I added more free kindle titles to my library.

(Although I have gotten to a couple, I still have many author requests, old and new ones, to consider and reply to.)
Are your mailbox and TBR piles blooming?

Review Titles

I selected one title at NetGalley this week.

The Banished of Muirwood (Covenant of Muirwood Book 1)
by Jeff Wheeler
In a world full of magic and mystery, eighteen-year-old Maia is the exiled princess of Comoros and rightful heir to the throne.... Her powers threaten to steal not only her consciousness but also her sense of right and wrong. Can she set herself free and save the realm she loves—even if her people have forgotten her?

This author seems to have created a special fantasy world and the story was enticing.

Won

None.

Purchased

I purchased on .99 cent bundle. I think I will have to do another month of no purchases I have to force myself to resist these as there are so many that tempt me. 
Dying to Read Collection
by Susette Williams, Cynthia Hickey, Janice Thompson, Christy Barritt & Traci Tyne Hilton

Free

Free Downloads from AudioFile SYNC 2015 for week Twelve.



Courage Has No Color, The True Story of the Triple Nickles
by Tanya Lee Stone
Read by J.D. Jackson

John Ball’s In the Heat of the Night
by Matt Pelfrey
Read by Ryan Vincent Anderson, Michael Hammond, Kalen Harriman, Travis Johns, James Morrison, Darren Richardson, Tom Virtue

Over the past week I again added 45 free Kindle titles to my library this week. Titles found linked through Bookbub, Bookfun, Ereader News Today, Free Par-tay, Ignite Your Book, Inspired Reads, Pixel of Ink or Kindle ebooks.