Martha's Bookshelf***Friday Pick Giveaway November 23, 2018

Happy Friday and Welcome to a month of Thanksgiving and November Anniversary of Friday Pick! Every November I pick 4 random winners to celebrate the anniversary of Friday Pick.

The week turned out too disrupted to pull together another set of books at office. I thought I had a picture of some boxes that I had set aside but I didn't find the picture. I set together a box at home but the picture wouldn't email so it will have to wait. I have added titles to all existing lists though.

TO ENTER FRIDAY PICK

US Entrants: Leave a comment and tell me WHICH BOOK you would like to get from the Friday Pick lists.

INTERNATIONAL: Leave a comment indicating "Gift Card" (see further comments near the end of the post.)

CUT OFF TIME IS THURSDAY NIGHTS AT 9:00 PM CENTRAL so I do not have to stay up too late to do the winner post! I will randomly pick two winners to announce Friday mornings with the next Pick post.

Thank you to all who entered the November 16 Pick. There were no automatic wins this week. Automatic wins are those who requested the book four times without other people asking for that book during those weeks. No titles were blocked.

CONGRATULATIONS
to Random.org picked Winners from November 16 Pick:
ASHFA and MARYP each get a GC and
BN100 gets End Game and BECKY gets The Leopard's Woman/White Wolf

All winners please fill in the Winner's Acceptance Form or email me to confirm your win, send your snail mail address information and let me know if you would like bookmarks - sensual, sexy or sweet bookmarks. {The form is new because Google changed their forms and the old one wasn't letting me print out the responses.}

Of course this bulletin board fits for Thanksgiving week. :-).
Image found at Shopswell.

New Book Group #82 November 9, 2018

Pairs:
Stella Cameron: French Quarter and Key West
Jude Deveraux: Mulberry Tree and Wild Orchids
SINGLES:
Magic Strikes by Ilona Andrews
Unmasked Anthology - Jennifer Blake, Janet Dailey and Elizabeth Gage
Plum Lovin' by Janet Evanovich
Killing Time by Linda Howard
The Finer Things by Brenda Joyce
Wicked Promise by Kat Martin
Countess of Scandal by Laurel McKee
The Leopard's Woman by Linda Lael Miller and White Wolf by Lindsay McKenna
Eagle and the Dove by Victoria Morrow
To Love Again by Bertrice Small
The Wedding Night by Barbara Dawson Smith
Primal Obsession by Susan Vaughn

New Book Group #81 August 17, 2018

There are three audios at the top:

No One Left to Tell is MP3
Kisscut is Cassettes
Dark Summer is CDs
Pairs:
Kay Hooper and
Carla Neggers Red Clover Inn
SINGLES
Cold Pursuit by Carla Neggers
Best Laid Plans
Bound For Murder
Asking for Murder
Pretty Poison
Darkness Tell Us
Last Writes (A Jaine Austen Mystery Series Book 2) by Laura Levine
Don’t Tell a Soul by S. K. McClafferty - MSE has on Kindle 2013
Zombies of the Gene Pool
Cooking More Deadly


New Book Group #80 August 17, 2018

Note: The Final Judgment and
The Book of Fate are Audio Cassettes
PAIRS
Fern Michaels and James Patterson
SINGLES:
Summer’s Moon
The Green Trap
End Game
Night School
The Red Tent
The Final Judgment Audio Cassettes
Secrets of Paris
Linda Goodnight
Irish Charmers, the Mighty Quinns
Firebird
No Getting Over a Cowboy
The Book of Fate Audio Cassettes


New Book Group #79 July 13, 2018
I found this box of books buried under some other boxes.

The Vanishing Act of Esme Lenox by Maggie O’Farrell
P.S. by Helen Schulman
Her Sexiest Surprise by Dawn Atkins (personally autographed)
The Maverick Preacher by Victoria Bylin (personally autographed)
The Broken Window by Jeffery Deaver
The Doctor’s Forever Family by Marie Ferrarella
Dakota Child by Linda Ford
Branded by the Sheriff by Delores Fossen
The Italian’s Inexperienced Mistress
Calling the Shots by Ellen Hartman
Promises, Promises by Amber Miller
This Time for Keeps by Jenna Mills
Rhapsody in Time by Judith O’Brien
A Daughter’s Legacy by Virginia Smith
Another Man’s Baby by Kay Stockham
The Cowboy’s Christmas Miracle by RaeAnne Thayne


New Book Group #78 April 27, 2018

PAIRS
Johanna Lindsey Pair
Judith Krentz Pair
SINGLES
Midnight Rainbow
Blackberry Bush
Breaking Point
A Tangled Affair
To Wicked to Love
Betrayed
My Dark Prince
Roses are Red Audio Cassettes
Brothers of Gwynedd
Fatal Defect
Bones of the Sea and Other Stories
By a Spider's Thread



New Book Group #77 February 16, 2018- All gone

New Book Group #76 November 3, 2017
13 books remain of the original 37:

I finally Have them Listed!
Boots & Booties by Kristine Rolofson
Saucer the Conquest by Stephen Coonts
Echo Burning by Lee Child
The Scorpion Seducer by Bonnie Vanak
Hell On Earth by David L. Porter
Tempted All Night by Liz Carlyle
Day of the Dead by J.A. Jance
White Night by Jim Butcher
Five Gold Rings Anthology Constance O’Banyon and three others
Riders of the Purple Sage by Zane Grey
The Glimpses of the Moon by Edith Wharton
Depraved Heart by Patricia Cornwell
Crisscross by Harmon Henkin
Wizard’s Daughter by Catherine Coulter
Pearl Beyond Price by Claire Delacroix
Maelstrom by Anne McCaffrey
The Wedding by Nicholas Sparks
The Wicked Wyckerly by Patricia Rice
Inhuman Condition by Clive Barker
Night Whispers by Judith McNaught
101 Commonsense Rules for the Office by John R. Brinkerhoff

This shelf of 35 books are what is left from Groups #1 (11/27/09) through Group #75 September 29, 2017

(Title list reads left at bottom to right at top - 14 titles.)
Rehabilitation
Secret Blessing
Named of the Dragon
Daring
Aunt Erma's Cope Book
JoAnn Ross: Confessions
The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan
The New Birth Order Book by Dr. Kevin Leman
A Kiss Before Dawn by Kimberly Logan
The Fireman’s Fair by Josephine Humphreys (Hardcover)
Bound by Destiny by Rayka Mennen
Rainbow Mars by Larry Niven
There Was A Little Girl by Ed McBain (Audio Cassettes)
Love's Brazen Fire by Betina Krahn 

(Title list reads left at bottom to right at top - 21 titles.)
Plan of Attack by Dan Brown
(*Three more very old books from my Gothics box.)
*The Man in the Garden by Paule Mason (1969 - yellowed)
Fire Dancer by Ann Maxwell
*Four books are very old; pulled from a box of gothic novels I found.
*Maggie – Her Marriage by Taylor Caldwell (1953 very old, yellowed pages, some stain damage doesn't effect reading)
First Things First by Stephen R. Covey- Audio Cassette
Trilogy Of Mysteries Audio Book Shadow Prey, There Was A Little Girl, Smokescreen Audio Cassettes (NOT CDs)
Raintree Haunted by Linda Winstead Jones (spine creases)
The Shadowing by Joan Overfield
The Sweetheart Dance by Patti Ann Colt
BOX 4 2015 (reboxed from Boxes 47-53)
Undateable by Ellen Rakieten & Anne Coyle
Jezebel by Katherine Sutcliff
The Hidden Truth of Cytech's Randall Forty by Vickie Kennedy
Breakfast in Bed by Sandra Brown - Audio Cassette Tapes (link is for mass media version)
BOX 3 2015 (reboxed from Boxes 39- 47)
Shetland Summer by Janet Lynnford
BOX 2 2015 (reboxed from Boxes 24- 38)
The Trailsman: Texas Lead Slingers by Jon Sharpe
A Courtesans Guide to Getting Your Man by Susan Donovan and Celeste Bradley -- NOTE This book has dog bite damage; it is missing half back cover and the edges of pages in the back third of the book... it does not effect the text but I will understand if no one wants this one
An Honorable Man by Rosemary Rogers (spine creases)
The Willful Widow by Valerie King (spine wear)
Foundation (Foundation Novels) by Isaac Asimov
BOX #1 2015 (reboxed from Boxes 1- 23)
Ghost Writer (Shivers #3) by M.D. Spenser
Alien Chronicles - The Crimson Claw by Deborah Chester

If you saw the pictures posted of my bookshelves and boxes you know I do have lots of books! And that doesn't include the other eight or so boxes at my office!! And more books as I find deals too good to pass up! I am sharing my book bounty by these Friday Pick Giveaways.

I started Friday Pick on November 27, 2009 and in almost EIGHT years I have posted 82 groups of 16 plus an additional 21 totaling 1,333 books to find new homes! (as of November 9, 2018).

I am happy to say that so far about 1,198+ books have found new homes through this feature! YAY. [A year or so ago I posted I had reached 2000 books given away. As I calculated the numbers 11/2/17 I realized that had to be an error. I realized I went from 1098 to 2001 instead of 1101. Guess I was tired; sorry for the error.] I have to update my print out to check the exact number sent out - a few were never claimed. I periodically update the lists - deleting those won. You can still go to the Friday Pick list link to see older posts and the older lists book pictures if you want!

Note rules here regarding international entries.

Because postage to overseas can be prohibitive I am willing to give a $5.00 book certificate to international winners - Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Borders, ARe, TWRP, ClassAct Books, eTreasures, Desert Breeze, etc....you tell me where and I'll set it up. So for my overseas visitors your comment may indicate a smaller book and I'll check postage or note your choice of gift card.

I learned that The Book Depository does not ship to everywhere. The postage for some of the books to far away places runs between $7.00 and $10.00 and up. Since I would award $5.00 for The Book Depository to an international winner, as an alternative you may choose a smaller book and we will hope the postage will not exceed $6.00. If the postage is more, or if you want to pick a larger book and you are willing to pay any extra postage beyond the $6.00 I will work with you on that. This may not make a difference to many but if it helps one or two of you to give one of my books a home that will make me happy too. :o)

Repeating this helpful blog tip: You can right click on a link and you will be given the choice to open the link in a new window or tab so you do not navigate away from the screen you are on!! I use this all the time!

#NetGalley Book Review: Light’s Dawn: A Novella (Light in the Darkness) by Yvette Bostic

This is an interesting alternate history, fantasy prequel that sets up the series.

Light’s Dawn: A Novella (Light in the Darkness)
by Yvette Bostic

File Size: 358 KB
Print Length: 107 pages
Publication Date: April 24, 2018
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC
ASIN: B07C1WNLJ8
Genre: Alternate History, Fantasy
My Rating: 4.0 of 5.0

Mikel, a young merchant with the East India Trading Company, always considered fortune to be his mistress...until the Amboyan Massacre. The Dutch spare his life, but he’s forced into the deep jungles of South America to act as bait for a hidden menace picking off their scouts one by one. It works all too well: a demonic horde, drawn into the open, annihilates the entire Dutch battalion, leaving Mikel running for his life.
As he flees from the grisly battlefield, he falls in with the only other survivor of the demon attack, a Portuguese army scout named Raphael. Together, they scramble to escape the dangers of an impenetrable jungle, the pursuing demons, and their masters, a shadowy group of cultists intent on destroying the world.
Exhausted and disoriented, Mikel and Raphael are drawn to a mysterious stranger. But his gifts come with a choice: accept their destiny to fight against the darkness or allow it to consume humanity.
Light's Dawn is a stand-alone prequel to the Light in the Darkness historical fantasy series.

Review:
Mikel and a friend Harry are caught up in a massacre by the Dutch against the East India Trading Company and others on Ambon Island. Mikel and Harry are sent away as prisoners by ship then forced into military service in the jungles of South America. As a scout Mikel watches in total fear as demonic beasts wipe out the Dutch battalion.

Meanwhile, Raphael, an expert scout for the Portuguese army who were about to face off with the Dutch, witnesses the destruction of his army unit by the demons. Raphael and Mikel end up escaping together. The pair are reluctant to work together but a mysterious vision tells them that they must work together to survive and fight on a humanitarian mission.

The pair stumble into a village and a group of warriors fighting the demons. The Amazon leader of the warriors is drawn together on the ‘Godly’ mission and they all have to decide if they are willing to take the challenge to fight against an ancient evil cult.

There is plenty of action and interesting divine involvement in this historical fantasy. The story is presented in chapter scenes focused on the different characters. This was a little confusing at first but was an interesting technique once I understood what was happening. The characters are well developed, complete with strengths and weaknesses. I liked how the story climaxed, setting up the next books in the series. I recommend this to fantasy readers who enjoy good versus evil battles.

Source: NetGalley 2018. This qualifies for NetGalley Challenge.

Happy Thanksgiving 2018!

I have much to be Thankful for even after the storms!
Son and daughter and their families - all healthy. Our Daughter-in-law has received a clear diagnosis of the lung cancer spots after four months!
My Versa Note, which we liked, was totaled by the hurricane. The payment was enough to replace it with a almost the same financing on a 2015 Prius with 14,080 miles. The Prius is a Hybrid, 45+ miles to a gallon, and we love it!
We couldn't see sunsets because of the woods behind our house - we can now!

God is in control and He loves me.

I give thanks!

#NetGalley Book Review: For Us Humans by Steve Rzasa

I enjoyed this interesting and unique, Christian sci fi.
For Us Humans: A Tale of Alien Occupation 
by Steve Rzasa

File Size: 2888 KB
Print Length: 336 pages
Publisher: Enclave (August 14, 2018)
ASIN: B07DD52TMF
Genre: Aliens, Christian, Futuristic, Sci Fi
My Rating: 4.5 of 5.0

Caz Fortel is a great liar. In fact, he's a professional.
It's his job to lie to people who steal works of art, and to get the goods back. But when Caz gets the big call from the FBI—a million bucks to recover a stolen statue of significant cultural value—it comes with a downside. His assigned partner has more of an interest in Jesus than Caz is comfortable with. Oh, and he’s an alien with four arms and a tremendous sense of smell.
When aliens showed up fifteen years ago, Earth cut a deal to join the Panstellar Consociation as a protectorate, allowing their new neighbors to set up a warp tunnel in orbit, in exchange for advanced tech secrets. Now Caz is caught up in the retrieval of their missing statue, and they want the mission kept quiet.
Or Earth could be in very, very big trouble.

Review:
Fifteen years ago aliens arrived on Earth and peaceably took over as ‘protectors’. They needed a special portion of space near earth and it was worth their while to buy their way into corporate authority. Many Christians abandoned their faith when they learned that aliens existed. Caz felt deserted by other believers and he took off, leaving behind his college sweetheart who stayed in faith.

Caz is a consummate liar as he has worked undercover for years recovering stolen art. This keeps him from developing and keeping close friends. He leans on his vices – drinking, swearing, womanizing and generally being rude -- but tends to feel that he isn’t living the life he should.

Caz has now been assigned a very rare art recovery. Caz isn’t a fan of the aliens and is distressed to learn that alien Ghiqasu Hounder Prime Nil is assigned to work with him as the authorities represented Caz as a Christian. Yes, Caz still holds himself out as a Christian although he knows he doesn’t live like one. Nil is on board to recover the missing statute whose loss could instigate an alien war. But he requested working with a Christian because Nil is seeking a closer relationship with Qas, the ‘One Who Died for All’ according to myths of his race.

The partners come together with reluctance but soon discover they have diverse skills that make them a good team. They are both observant and Caz arranges believable personas to meet with crooked dealers. Meanwhile, Nil tracks suspects through a unique ability of smell. The investigation is more dangerous than expected when certain aliens betray their race and have to be stopped before triggering that war they want to complicate alien political intricacies.

Caz and Nil are very unique and engaging characters. I found it awesome that the author created an alien race that has (scoffed at) myths about the One Who Died for All, including the details of a birth on Earth. I found it dismaying that many would abandon their faith when they learned that aliens were real. In my thoughts, God has created an awesome world on Earth and H is certainly capable of creating other awesome worlds and races. Caz does have one Christian friend whom he works with and he gets the chance to reconnect with his college flame with some surprising revelations.

There is good action and intrigue in the investigation as well as some interesting scenes in jump space. I liked how Caz reacted to his superior’s cryptic texts and how the agent came through with assistance. This added good humor to a story already moving with sharp banter. The vices are attributed but not displayed directly; i.e. no swearing and no sex which was fine by me. I very much enjoyed this unique sci fi and would like to try more works by Rzasa. I recommend this to readers who like sci fi intrigue and find the thought of aliens seeking the hope of salvation an intriguing idea.

Source: NetGalley 2018. This qualifies for NetGalley Challenge.

#NetGalley Book Review: Unwritten by Tara Gilboy

This is a creative, engaging story.

Unwritten
by Tara Gilboy

File Size: 2297 KB
Print Length: 162 pages
Publisher: North Star Editions (October 16, 2018)
ASIN: B07GZXH9PQ
Genre: Children's Books, Fairy Tales, Folk Tales & Myths
My Rating: 4.25 of 5.0

Twelve-year-old Gracie Freeman is living a normal life, but she is haunted by the fact that she is actually a character from a story, an unpublished fairy tale she's never read. When she was a baby, her parents learned that she was supposed to die in the story, and with the help of a magic book, took her out of the story, and into the outside world, where she could be safe.
But Gracie longs to know what the story says about her. Despite her mother's warnings, Gracie seeks out the story's author, setting in motion a chain of events that draw herself, her mother, and other former storybook characters back into the forgotten tale.
Inside the story, Gracie struggles to navigate the blurred boundary between who she really is and the surprising things the author wrote about her. As the story moves toward its deadly climax, Gracie realizes she'll have to face a dark truth and figure out her own fairy-tale ending.

Review:
Gracie tries to live her normal life with her loving mother, but she is troubled. Her mother has told her that they are characters from a story until her parents rescued her with the help of a magic book. Gracie wants to know the full story but her mother refuses to tell her. Gracie knows the name of the author and sneaks out to meet her at a book event. Gracie meets the author and challenges her to tell her about story. The author tries to appease Gracie but things go strangely amiss and the characters are drawn back into the book. Once in the book, the characters have to try to remember who they are in the real world. Gracie especially struggles to determine if she can change her character and the story as written.

This is a creative modern day fairy-tale. The characters are well developed, and I enjoyed the comradeship between Gracie and her geeky scientist friend, Walter. There is a wicked queen who controls the magic but she doesn’t control all of the characters. The story is appropriate for middle age girls but a nice, quick read for adults too. I recommend this engaging tale to those who love ‘book’ stories and fairy tales.

Source: NetGalley 2018. This qualifies for NetGalley and Alphabet Challenges.