Monday in my mailbox

We received these books this last week and are excited to get started reading them.
The post man and UPS seem to be dropping off books everyday.
WOW...that is a lot of stuff to read.

What did you read this week?

Thanks for stopping by...we love comments ;)

Introducing Detective ALEXANDRA WOLFE, a fresh, funny, tough cop who skates on the edge of the law in her quest for justice. A Mafia boss, a hunky bi-sexual nurse, Alex’s rescued mutt, Tessa, and her exuberant best friend, MEGAN, help Alex turn her everyday life as a detective upside down.

Six years ago, Brian McClelland was murdered, and his brother was convicted of shooting him. When Megan bullies Alex into reviewing the case, Alex discovers that her captain was the chief investigator who overlooked evidence that might have proved the brother’s innocence.

Against the captain’s orders and Alex’s better judgment, she unofficially re-opens the case and finds herself following a twisted investigative trail left by the murder victim. The problem is, she has no idea what he was investigating or whether his investigation ultimately led to his death.

As she digs into clues from the past, she finds herself at the doorstep of the beautiful and daunting Giannina Angelino, who just happens to be the head of the Angelino Crime Family. Things really heat up for Alex when she starts to receive unsolicited help from the mafia, and the police department, once again orders her to stay away from the murder investigation and from any connections with organized crime. This in itself proves difficult since Gianina doesn’t answer to Alex’s chain of command and continues to help wherever and whenever she sees fit.

Alex’s unorthodox methods blur her personal and professional lives and when her two worlds collide, keeping her day job becomes the least of her worries as Alex struggles to keep from following the dead man’s trail straight to her own demise.   Blog Hop Win.
A diverse collection of three short stories: The Marshmallow War, Peripheral Witches, and Parson's Song. 

The Marshmallow War is a humorous look at how organizations sometimes push aside older workers and their accumulated knowledge in favor of younger workers with "fresh perspectives." The story is set inside the Merryman Marshmallow Corporation's research and development department where management confuses youth with innovation.

Peripheral Witches combines elements of a fairy tale and the paranormal as a young working mother struggles to discern whether or not she's losing her mind. A trip home at the end of a long, stressful day has Miriam seeing witches that disappear whenever she looks directly at them. The witches reappear in her peripheral vision.

The last story in the collection, Parson's song, is based loosely on the legend surrounding the folk tune "MacPherson's Lament." Set in the rural south, a small town speculates on whether or not a young gentleman named Billy Parson will be a great man or great criminal. According to their superstitious beliefs, he would be legendary whether for positive or negative reasons. Billy also struggles to come to terms with the local superstition surrounding his fate.  Sent for review, stay tune for a chance to win a copy.
Love your work, work for what you love, and change the world—all at the same time.
 
What most matters to you? Should you focus on earning a living, pursuing your passions, or devoting yourself to the causes that inspire you? The surprising truth is that you don’t have to choose—and that you’ll find more success if you don’t. That’s the breakthrough message of TOMS’ One for One movement. You don’t have to be rich to give back. You don’t have to retire to spend every day doing what you love. You can find profit, passion, and meaning all at once—right now.  A Goodreads win for review.

  
“Say Not What If” is a short story about a man on death row. The story is written as a long rhyming poem, and its primary theme is that time is our most valuable commodity. As someone once said, “waste anything but time, because we really are promised no tomorrows.” This theme is explored through the life of the protagonist, a man who sacrifices his marriage and everything else for his career. He realizes much too late the terrible consequences of this decision, and then desperately tries to regain those lost years by making a much worse choice. The resolution of this latter choice involves an additional examination of the concepts of accountability and responsibility, redemption, and the morality of the death penalty. The story recognizes that regardless of the reason, feelings of regret and even bitterness for the loss of time are understandable. That is simply human nature. Time is a unique commodity that can never be recovered, regained, or replaced. It exists once and then never again. But excessive regret or bitterness about the loss of time simply magnifies the problem by ruining whatever time we have left. Life is about living. Dwelling on losses of any kind interferes with and can even destroy that purpose. Time moves forward and so must we. I myself have struggled with this dilemma. The story is a product of my own experiences. I lost a considerable amount of time because I grew up with a violent drunk, and then spent many years as the sole caregiver for two terminally ill parents. The story is therefore a reflection of my own struggles with this dilemma, and an attempt to provide an answer for me and anyone else in a similar situation. I have never seen or read an entire story written as a rhyming poem, let alone one that is nearly 10,000 words. The structure of the story is therefore unique, or at least extremely unusual. My hope is that this will help make the story worth reading, and you can in fact read the first five pages of it for free on my website, www.ascensionenterprise.com. But my greatest hope is that if you are experiencing a similar struggle about the loss of time or anything else, that the story provides you with some answers and some solace. We all occasionally need someone to show us a way out of our own darkness. Merely writing the story has been a light and a beacon for me. I hope it will be for you as well. Best wishes.  Sent for review.  Stay turned to win a copy of this book at the next blog hop.