Yvonne
Mailbox Monday is a gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house during the last week.
Be warned that Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists.
Your host for March 2013 is: Caitlin over at ’Chaotic Compendiums’
This is a great way to plan out your reading week and see what others are currently reading as well… you never know where that next “must read” book will come from!
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My mailbox this week, is largely thanks to Stephanie Taylor, of Astraea Press. Astraea was formed in 2010 when Stephanie saw the need for a non erotic, e-publisher that offered wholesome reads but still maintained the quality of mainstream romance.
The first titles for Astraea were launched in February 2011, with just a handful of participating authors, (some of whom I reviewed for) representing a scant one or two genres of fiction writing. Now, in February 2013, celebrating its second birthday, Astraea has gone from strenth to strength, boasting a healthy stable of authors, representing seven individual genres of non erotic titles.
As part of the birthday celebrations and to thank their loyal customers and authors, Astraea have been giving away two books every day for the entire month of February, courtesy of Mark Coker and the gang at ‘Smashwords’, the world’s largest distributor of indie books.
Clutz that I am, I didn’t discover this great daily offering until well into the month, however I have still managed to acquire some excellent titles over the last few days … in fact I shall need two ‘Mailbox Monday’ posts to let you know about them all!
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Day 21 – ‘The Trouble With Charlie’ by Catherine Bennett
Love. Desire. A psycho bent on revenge. But can Charlie Reynolds recognize the most dangerous of the three? Since being out on her own at eighteen, Charlotte “Charlie” Reynolds is a street-smart “good” girl who hides her desire for love and security behind her feisty and independent personality. She just never expected a more noxious hero than wealthy, self-consumed Evan Gardner, the CEO and founder of Valley Tech., a successful software company in Los Angeles. From the moment Evan rescues her from an apparent random attack, their attraction for each other bubbles just below the surface of all-out passion.
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Day 23 – ‘Jordan’s Battle’ by E.A. West.
My last new arrival this week is a book which I featured on my ‘New Titles’ pages a couple of weeks ago. After seeing the published post, the author contacted made contact and has since sent me a Kindle copy for review:
‘Blood Money’ by Doug Richardson
The disillusioned Marine’s plan seems simple enough: steal a refrigerated tractor trailer loaded with frozen blood product; drive the pirated cargo from Reno, Nevada to the Port of Long Beach; collect a million dollars. Yet even the most deliberate plans can go sideways. On his campaign south, the Marine’s “inner idiot” takes charge, leaving a smattering of dead bodies in his wake.
In the dark before dawn, a telephone rings. Kern County Sheriff’s detective Lucas “Lucky” Dey, no stranger to being awakened with bad news, answers the call. But this time, the voice on the phone tells Lucky that his ill-fated younger brother has been gunned down on a blackened desolate highway.
As Lucky chases the former Marine and his black semi-rig into the bowels of Los Angeles, he’s thrust into a landscape of competing agendas. Conrad Ellis, the multi-millionaire entertainment mogul, demands justice for the murder of his starlet daughter. Ambitious federal attorney Lilly Zoller is determined to turn any opportunity into her personal spotlight. Rey Palomino, the morally-challenged contractor, colludes with the former Marine hoping to crawl out from under a crushing debt. LAPD detective and dedicated single mom Lydia “Gonzo” Gonzales, reluctantly accepts her assignment to “babysit” the unrestrained Kern County detective hell-bent on avenging his brother’s death at any cost.
A knee-breaking private detective, some unwitting feds, and a coterie of gang-busting L.A. Sheriffs deputies further complicate the scenario and round out the cast of characters in this explosive and unpredictable thrill ride.
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You really scored last week!! They all look good, especially Hawthorne!
Hi Vicki,
I managed to bag most of these titles a week or so ago, however a nasty bout of ‘norovirus’ has delayed my posts a little, so I am busy playing catch-up.
The author of ‘Hawthorne’, Sarah Ballance, describes the book as a paranormal romance, on her website, so I am keen to try this one, as this is a genre which I am not too familiar with.
Thanks for stopping by, your visits are always appreciated and I hope that you have had a good weekend. We have been busily visiting family all weekend, as it is Mother’s Day, here in England.
That’s nice of Astraea Press giving away free titles last month. Looks like you got some good ones! The Trouble With Charlie land Vidal’s Honor’ look great. Happy reading 🙂 I was just working on my Mailbox Monday’s post myself.
Hi Naida,
Stephanie, over at Astraea, did the same thing last year on the company’s first brithday, so I wasn’t really expecting such generosity again a year later, especially not extending the offer to two free books each and every day!
I have to say that not all the titles were of interest to me, so naturally I only bagged the ones I really wanted to read …. particularly ‘Vidal’s Honor’ by Sherry Gloag, as I have had the opportunity to review two of the author’s previous books, which were both excellent.
https://www.fiction-books.biz/reviews/my-thoughts-about-his-chosen-bride-by-sherry-gloag/
https://www.fiction-books.biz/reviews/my-thoughts-about-from-now-until-forever-by-sherry-gloag/
Thanks for stopping by and I hope that you also received some great ‘goodies’ this week!
I’ll take a look at some of the free ones to see if they’re still available, as they sound rather good. Thanks for the tip-off.
Hi Cath,
It was certainly too good an offer to refuse, although I wish I had found out about it earlier in the month, as the links only seem to stay live and valid for 24 hours!
Still, I bagged some great titles nonetheless and I wasn’t too greedy and only downloaded the ones I knew I would enjoy! Mind you, there are still enough to fill two ‘Mailbox Monday’ posts!
One can never have too many books as back-up stock .. just in case!!
Thanks for taking the time to stop by, it is good to catch up with you and I hope that you are well.
Wonderful selection, how lucky were you to receive all these.
Hi Tracy,
I was escpecially pleased that Doug Richardson was prepared to afford me the opportunity to read a second of his books, as I thoroughly enjoyed the first one …
https://www.fiction-books.biz/reviews/my-thoughts-about-the-safety-expert-by-doug-richardson/
… and the mystery / thriller genre will probably always be my favourite.
Thanks for stopping by, your comments are always appreciated.
ENJOY your new books.
Elizabeth
Silver’s Reviews
My Mailbox Monday
Hi Elizabeth,
Like I really needed to download so many great ‘free’ books, when I already have a toppling TBR mountain …. yet who amongst us could have refused some of these great sounding reads!!
I shall definitely enjoy them all and thanks for taking the time to stop by.
Wow, Stephanie was good to you! I like the idea behind her press and I like the fact that the books all seem to have a different feel to them.
Hi Kathy,
Astraea sounds like quite a thriving operation and one with a seemingly strong ethos supporting its integrity. I have noticed a steady increase in the number of authors signing up and therefore an increase in the genres which are now offered to their readers.
I must admit that I didn’t take up the free offer for any of the paranormal romance titles, however as you point out, I do still have quite an eclectic mix of storylines, which I am looking forward to diving into!
There are even enough titles left over to make another ‘Mailbox Monday’ post!
Thanks for stopping by and for stepping into the breach today, as it appears that Caitlin migt have been having a few problems with her ‘Linky’ software.
So glad you got to take advantage of the free books and thank you for all of your compliments here on the site! We love our authors and I love my job. It doesn’t get much better than this!
Hi Stephanie,
Thank you so much for taking the time to stop by, your comments are valued and appreciated.
I took so much advantage of your generous February offer, that I had to allocate a second ‘Mailbox Monday’ post, in order to share my good fortune with my fellow bloggers.
I have followed your site with interest over the last year or so and it is so good to see you adding more authors and book genres on a regular basis.
The next best thing to actually being able to work with books, is to read them and share my thoughts, so I can fully appreciate what it must feel like, when you say that you love your job.
Keep up the good work and have a good week.