Mailbox Monday December 30, 2013

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) but is now hosted at Mailbox Monday and through various blog hosts.
For DECEMBER: the Mailbox Monday Tour host is Gilion @ Rose City Reader

[It looks like the idea now is to return Mailbox Monday to its permanent home, so check back there next week to make your first MM post of the New Year.]

Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists.

No review titles but I received three books as Christmas gifts and a package of lovely chocolates from a blog friend! 

Are your mailbox and TBR piles blooming?

GIFT Items

These are the wonderful books from my son and daughter-in-law - now I just have to get my DH to help cook with this in mind and I have to set up a fitness regime for the New Year!

The Whole-Food Guide for Breast Cancer Survivors: A Nutritional Approach to Preventing Recurrence (The New Harbinger Whole-Body Healing Series) Paperback
by Edward Bauman MEd PhD (Author) & 2 more

The Breast Cancer Survivor's Fitness Plan: A Doctor-Approved Workout Plan For a Strong Body and Lifesaving Results (Harvard Medical School Guides) Paperback
by Carolyn Kaelin (Author) , Francesca Coltrera (Author) & 2 more

 

The Cancer-Fighting Kitchen:
Nourishing, Big-Flavor Recipes for Cancer Treatment and Recovery Hardcover
by Rebecca Katz (Author) , Mat Edelson (Author)

Here is the lovely chocolate surprise and sweet letter gift that I received!
Thank you for your thoughtfulness, Miki!

Won

None this week.

Purchased

I did purchase a couple of Kindle books at $.99 but it would take too long to figure out which ones of  those downloaded I actually purchased. :-)

Free

I managed to find 90 (Yikes!) Kindle titles to download this week - some through Rachel at Bitten by Books who linked up a list of paranormals and others linked through Bookbub, Bookfun, Free Par-tay, Inspired Reads, Pixel of Ink or Kindle ebooks.

It's Monday What are You Reading? December 30, 2013

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.

The work week was pretty quiet with the Holiday time off. 

I read four books and posted four reviews, two with Giveaways. 
I added a couple of Christmas posts to most of the regular weekly memes and posts (except the Saturday Snapshot and SBB which is delayed): Mailbox Monday, Friday Pick Giveaway, and Sunday Words.

I did some nice visiting early in the week but then time slipped away.
I really am determined to make a change in this for the new year - just have to figure out how.
Thanks as always to all the nice people who visit me.

These were last week's posts:

• It's Monday What are You Reading? December 23, 2013.

• Mailbox Monday 12/23/13.

• Book Review: The Innkeeper of Bethlehem -The Story of Santa Claus by Scott Rolof, Family, Fiction; my rating 4.25.

• Book Review and Giveaway: Christmas in Lucky Harbor by Jill Shalvis, Contemporary Romance; my rating 4.25. US Print.  Ends 1/3/14.

• Happy Christmas Eve. 

• Merry Christmas to All.

• Book Review and Giveaway: Carving Angels by Diane Stringam Tolley, Inspirational Fiction, Children, Family, Christmas; my rating 5.0.  US Print, Worldwide ebook. Ends 1/3/14.

• Martha's Bookshelf***Friday Pick Giveaway December 27, 2013. Open Worldwide.  Ends 1/2/14.

• Audio Book Review: The New Space Opera 2 Collection, Sci Fi; my rating 4.25+.

• Sunday Words of Encouragement December 29, 2013.

Finished Reading:
1. Audible/MP4

Ten Things I Love About You
    by Julia Quinn
    Narrated by Rosalyn Landor
I do enjoy this author! This is a charming Historical Romance from my Audible library.
Click on book title for full description.

2. Audible/MP4

Hammered: The Iron Druid Chronicles, Book 3
by Kevin Hearne
Narrated by Luke Daniels
This is another fun offering in this series; 
from my Audible library.
Publisher's Summary
Thor, the Norse god of thunder, is worse than a blowhard and a bully - he’s ruined countless lives and killed scores of innocents. After centuries, Viking vampire Leif Helgarson is ready to get his vengeance, and he’s asked his friend Atticus O’Sullivan, the last of the Druids, to help take down this Norse nightmare.

One survival strategy has worked for Atticus for more than two thousand years: stay away from the guy with the lightning bolts. But things are heating up in Atticus’s home base of Tempe, Arizona. There’s a vampire turf war brewing, and Russian demon hunters who call themselves the Hammers of God are running rampant.

Despite multiple warnings and portents of dire consequences, Atticus and Leif journey to the Norse plane of Asgard, where they team up with a werewolf, a sorcerer, and an army of frost giants for an epic showdown against vicious Valkyries, angry gods, and the hammer-wielding Thunder Thug himself.
Listen to Iron Druid Chronicles

©2011 Kevin Hearne (P)2011 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

3. eBook/Kindle
 

Let Me Get This Off My Chest:
A Breast Cancer Survivor Over-Shares
by Margaret Lesh
This is entertaining and informative.
Click on book title for full description.

4. Print

Angel Christmas Anthology
by Patricia Rice, Mary Balogh & 3 more
I enjoyed all five stories.
I pulled this from my Christmas TBR box to read and share. I will post a review later with giveaway.
Click on book title for full description.

Line Edits/Releases:
I didn't get the proof copies in yet so still waiting to link up two new print releases.

Enter the bi-monthly drawings at eTreasures Publishing Facebook page.
This week's giveaway link:  to be linked.

Currently reading:
1. eBook/Kindle

The Double Life of Incorporate Things (Magic Most Foul)
by Leanna Renee Hieber
This is intriguing.
I'll be posting a review later this week.
Book Description
Publication Date: November 27, 2013
"Just when we think our nightmares are over, the Society has invented a new horror. Around every corner a shadow, behind every whisper a demon. If we don't end what the devils began, we will die haunted..."

The finale in the acclaimed Magic Most Foul trilogy: The trauma and the terror of the Master's Society has only escalated for the dashing Lord Denbury and brave, feisty Miss Natalie Stewart, and a new terror has been unleashed in Manhattan. Together with their stalwart friends and unlikely heroes, they take the fight directly to the Denbury estate, where new evils have awakened. But are they prepared for all the sacrifices that shall be asked of them? With their very lives and the sanctity of their mortal souls at stake, Natalie and Jonathon are past the point of no return...

2. Audible/MP4

The Harbinger: The Ancient Mystery that Holds the Secret to America's Future
by Jonathan Cahn
Narrated by Jonathan Cahn
I am so glad we are reading (listening) to this
for Ladies's Book Club.
The ladies are excited about the discussion next Saturday.

Publisher's Summary
Is it possible that there exists an ancient mystery that holds the secret of America's future? That this mystery lies behind everything from 9/11 to the collapse of the global economy? That ancient harbingers of judgment are now manifesting in America? That God is sending America a prophetic message of what is yet to come? Before its end as a nation, there appeared in ancient Israel nine specific warnings and omens of national destruction - these same Nine Harbingers are now manifesting in America with profound ramifications for America’s future and end-time prophecy.

Hidden in an ancient biblical prophecy from Isaiah, the mysteries revealed in The Harbinger are so precise that they foretell recent American events down to the exact days: the 3,000-year-old mystery that revealed the exact date of the stock market collapse of 2008… the ancient prophecy that was proclaimed from the floor of the US Senate and then came true…and more. The revelations are so specific that even the most hardened skeptic will find it hard to put down. Though it sounds like the plot of a Hollywood thriller - IT’S REAL.

The prophetic mysteries are factual but revealed through a riveting narrative the reader will find hard to put down. The Harbinger opens with the appearance of a man burdened with a message he has received from a mysterious figure called The Prophet. The Prophet has given him nine seals, each containing a message about America's future. As he tells of his encounters with the Prophet, from a skyscraper in New York City to a rural mountaintop to Capitol Hill to Ground Zero, the mystery behind each seal is revealed. As the story unfolds, each revelation becomes another piece in a larger and larger puzzle, the ramifications of which are, even now, altering the course of America and the world.

©2012 Jonathan Cahn (P)2012 Charisma House

3. eBook/Kindle

The Wanderers
by Cheryl Mahoney
Oops - Another week this was postponed.
I do expect to get to it this week.
It is written by a blog friend author.
Book Description
Publication Date: November 13, 2013
Click on book title for full description.

4. Print

In One Year and Out the Other
Cara Lockwood (Author), Pamela Redmond Satran (Author), Beth Kendrick (Author), Megan McAndrew (Author), Tracy McArdle (Author), Kathleen O'Reilly (Author), Eileen Rendahl (Author), Diane Stingley (Author), Libby Street (Author), Christina Delia(Author)
I had this pulled from my TBR last year but didn't get to it. 
Now I will.  It looks fun.
Book Description
Publication Date: November 28, 2006
Out with the old, in with the new, and on with the party!
Maybe it's just another midnight...or maybe there really is magic in the air when December 31st becomes January 1st, and confetti kisses and champagne toasts kick off a new year, a new romance, a new look, a new attitude.

Celebrate the start of something new with In One Year and Out the Other...a sparkling collection of all new stories by today's rising fiction stars:

Cara Lockwood puts self-improvement to the test with 528 resolutions -- not least of which is "Do not sleep with married men" -- in "Resolved: A New Year's Resolution List"...Pamela Redmond Satran instructs a single mom in the fine art of partying like the boys (have lots of sex, don't worry that you're too fat) in "How to Start the New Year Like a Guy"...Diane Stingley shows a twentysomething why there's more to life than waiting by the phone for a New Year's date in "Expecting a Call"...Megan McAndrew seizes the day -- or just a very special one-night stand -- for a single food stylist hungering for more in "The Future of Sex"...and more great tales from Kathleen O'Reilly, Beth Kendrick, Eileen Rendahl, Tracy McArdle and Libby Street.

I did not complete the Bible this year. I will start again in 2014 and try to keep up with daily reading with my DH.

Line Edits: We are finalizing several formats for two new eBooks.

I am still enjoying reading books from my own TBR. :-) I have a very open month for January but I have my eye on a couple of offered titles. 
My backlog for review is now five books so I might get caught up this week - but only if I double up.

January Scheduled-
1/2/14 The Double Life of Incorporate Things (Magic Most Foul)
1/4/14 Harbinger - Ladies Book Club

NetGalley:
  A couple requests I thought I made but have to renew this week.

Authors
I have numerous requests to respond to.

AudioBook Jukebox 
   More to be requested.

From TBR Collection -TBD
Won Book - TBD
Free Kindle/Nook or Smashwords: TBD

Sunday Words of Encouragement December 29, 2013

We face toward a new year!
Our Pastor's message this morning was to encourage us to look to the new year by abandoning the focus on self and instead strive to abandon ourselves to reliance on our God. We can come to Him for rest, relaxing in the secure, safe shelter of His arms.

It is in a way a simple message but also profound as we tend to busy ourselves and worry over our future. Yet Our Father will take care of us.  We are His children and He sees beyond our faults and our sins. He wants to spend time with us, lead us and bless us with good things if only we will trust Him.

This song was not in our program but was part of the same book.

It seems to me to fit perfectly now that we have celebrated the birth of the baby Jesus 

to see and recognize who He truly is and to give Him praise!

A Verse for Today:
Isaiah 41:10 (NIV)
10 So do not fear, for I am with you;
do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Thank you Lord for always being there for me. Thank you for a message that reminds me to begin each new day by giving thanks for all you have already given and by being content while 'leaning on the everlasting arms' of God!

Delay in Posting for Sharing Beyond Books

There will be a delay in posting SBB this week. My old faithful laptop has been begging to be retired. I have a new computer but haven't made the change over. Tonight old laptop plug connection decided to stop working and the battery died. Fortunately I am backed-up through Monday and there hasn't been too much more this week. My new computer and back-up drive however are in the office. So I'll pick them up tomorrow to get to my SBB spreadsheet etc. and can work on something other than a tablet/travel laptop.
Besides - for some reason I am very tired tonight and ready to head up to the bed.  So please watch tomorrow or Monday for the last SBB of 2013. :-)

Audio Book Review: The New Space Opera 2

This is a thoroughly engaging collection, as stated, "of interstellar adventure and wonder."
Title: The New Space Opera 2
Edited by Gardner Dozois and Jonathan Strahan
Read by various narrators
Length 23.4 hrs • Unabridged
2013 by Blackstone Audio, Inc. 
Genre: Science Fiction, Collection
My Rating: 4.25+ of 5.0

Publisher/Date: Blackstone Audio, 09/01/13
Following the success of their Locus Award–winning anthology The New Space Opera, editors Gardner Dozois and Jonathan Strahan up the ante with The New Space Opera 2, in which more of the most beloved names in science fiction spin stunning tales of interstellar adventure and wonder. Authors include: Neal Asher, John Barnes, Cory Doctorow, John Kessel, Jay Lake, John Meaney, Elizabeth Moon...

Review:
This is a wonderful mix of sci fi stories full of adventure, humor and an occassional bit of horror. Some of the tales make you ponder the universe, machines, aliens and control - human, godly or other. Some make you laugh while pondering. There are paradoxes of time, philosophical discussions, all too human issues of romance and betrayal. There are mostly unusual settings and some fantastical creatures although others deal with more recognizable or imaginable places, ships and beings.

When I started listening I intended to make a note on each story. That plan failed since I was often listening while traveling or doing chores and I didn't stop to make notes. There were two or three stories that were duds or “huh?s” for me. However the overall collection was wonderful listening.

Here are some highlight stories and authors I will look to read more from. Beyond the first, which is my favorite, there is no special order among these highlighted.

Chameleons by Elizabeth Moon http://www.elizabethmoon.com/
This was my favorite tale although it starts out as annoying as a skilled body guard is traveling with two rich and spoiled boys-a teen and a ten year old- who don’t think they need a glorified babysitter. When they become stranded on a seedy space station they begin to appreciate their chaperone and discover hidden depths in their own developing characters. There is a battle with past enemies and a very huge betrayal. This was a wonderful piece and I am going to look for more to read by this author.

From the Heart by John Meaney
This is a tale blending, espionage, double lives and space pilot training...but mostly a tale of how young pilots are awarded their ships and how dreams fall and relationships become divided by pride and choices.

Inevitable by Sean Williams
This engaging short tells of a twist in time paradox bringing two enemies together to see things from different point of views. It is a very good story and I didn’t want it to end when it did but...it was Inevitable.

Fearless Space Pirates of the Outer Rings by Bill Willingham
This fun story is filled with action, humor, piracy, betrayal and heroism — sort of.

Defect (Assassins Universe) by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Assassins have skills and enemies, including their bosses. Attempts to break free have consequences.

The Island by Peter Watts
This addresses issues in a far reaching galaxy where a newly discovered, greater life form is found that stands in the path of 'the mission'. There is an intriguing philosophical discussion of altruism versus manipulation, mission versus purpose, cold machine versus compassionate and curious humanity.

Audio Notes: Each story is read by a different narrator. Most of them do a ‘stellar’ job and the overall package makes for grand listening entertainment. I highly recommend this to sci fi fans and other readers as you may discover a new author or two to explore!

I received this for review from Blackstone Audio through Audiobook Jukebox.