This week’s IMM is very short because, sadly, there was only one new book that arrived this past week. This is probably a good thing though, as it will give me a chance to get caught up on my reviews. Here’s what arrived during the week of September 20 through September 26, 2009.

Received for Review:

Kill Me Twice by Jerry Bayne

“He hovered over the Senator for just a second; then, with surgical precision, placed an ice pick at the base of Franklin’s head, then pushed it through his cerebellum. The body twitched once; death was instantaneous. Showing no emotion, Cardiff sat in a winged back chair and looked at his handy work. He had three or so hours to relax before snaking his way back into his coiled cage. He closed his eyes, not to sleep, but to breathe in the smell of death oozing from Franklin’s inebriated corpse. The sensation fired up the smoldering embers of his memories of why he was there.” – an excerpt from Kill Me Twice

From the author of The Gatherer, which received four and five star reviews from the top 500 reviewers, acclaimed suspense novelist Jerry Bayne slays his readers with knock-down-drag-out action and nail-biting tension. In this, his latest thriller, there is but one short directive: You better watch your back. The fact is, it has never been more difficult to distinguish the good guys from the bad, but that’s the way life goes in the political cesspools of our nation’s capital. Prepare to be shocked, appalled, and entertained.

It sounds terribly interesting and I can’t wait to get to it. Must get caught up first though!

Monday, September 7th was Labor Day, and sadly, this meant that there was one less day to receive mail this week. Now, here are the books that I received this week from September 8th to September 12th, 2009.

Received for Review

Cracking the $$ Code: What Successful Men Know and You Don’t (Yet) by Attorney Patricia M. Annino

Cracking the $$ Code: What Successful Men Know and You Don’t (Yet) sets forth important code cracking lessons that successful men just know and women just don’t, but can easily learn. Whether you are a professional, have your own business, work for a corporation or are considering re-entering the workforce, this book provides practical getting-ahead lessons from a successful woman who learned it in the trenches.

This arrived on Tuesday and it sounds like a very promising and helpful read. I have high hopes for it.

The Great Mrs. Claus by Chris A. Shoemaker

The Great Mrs. Claus is told by Sparky, Santa’s senior elf, and his favorite nephew and niece, Rassle and Klee-Klee. Their surprising bedtime demonstration prompts their doting Uncle Sparky to share a seldom-told poem. It details how Santa first met Mrs. Claus and fell (literally!) in love with her.

At heart, The Great Mrs. Claus is a coming-of-age story that proves we’re never too old to show our true affections for one another. It features Mrs. Claus – an often overlooked but smart and fiercely independent-minded woman with an enormous sense of humor!

The Great Mrs. Claus reminds us to value our loved ones and practice those daily family rituals that make life special.

This book also arrived on Tuesday. The poor mailman looked a bit harried as he tried to unload all of the boxes and packages that arrived at the house that day. It looks absolutely cute, but came wrapped in plastic, so I haven’t opened it yet to take a sneak peek. This probably won’t last long though.

A Cat’s Eye View of Life and Love by Sterling With Gentle Self-Help for All Ages by Marta Felber

Look into a cat’s eyes. What is the cat thinking? What would the cat say if the cat spoke your language? Sterling the Cat answers these questions in sixty stories dictated to M, his co-author. In “Mewsings” at the end of each story, he seeks meaning in what happens to him in M’s world.

You first meet Sterling curled up on the top shelf of an animal shelter waiting in vain for someone to want him. He has given up hope until M reaches up a finger for him to smell and says, “I choose you.” Thus begins their live and love together. He faces his anger, M going away, a ghost cat in the house, having to lose weight, the night he causes a cat-astrophe, moving to a new home, the no-fun birthday party, and the intruder cat – he calls her Miss Fit – who joins them.

These stories and the others lead up to the last one where he reveals a secret. Photographs throughout this large-format paperback help bring Sterling the Cat – and his Mewsings – to life for readers of all ages.

As a cat lover I am very eager to read this. Any book that has to do with cats grabs my attention, doubly so when it’s told from the cat’s perspective. I hope to get a chance to read this one very soon.

The Smart One and the Pretty One by Claire LaZebnik

Smart, successful Ava Nickerson is closing in on thirty and has barely had a date since law school. When a family crisis brings her prodigal little sister Lauren back to Los Angeles, Lauren stumbles across a forgotten document – a contract their parents had jokingly drawn up years ago betrothing Ava to their friends’ son.

Frustrated and embarrassed by Ava’s constant lectures about financial responsibility (all because she’s a in a little debt. Okay, a lot of debt), Lauren decides to do some sisterly interfering of her own and tracks down her sister’s childhood fiance. When she finds him, the highly inappropriate, twice-divorced, but incredibly charming Russell Markowitz is all too happy to reenter the Nickerson sisters’ lives. And always-accountable Ava will soon realize just how binding a contract can be…

This arrived on Friday, and thankfully, our UPS man is good about leaving packages on the porch and protected from the elements. I say this because the dogs never barked nor did I ever hear the UPS man arrive that day and, worst yet, it was raining all day long on Friday.

Books from Giveaways & Contests

Shapeshifter: The Demo Tapes (Year 1) by Susan Helene Gottfried

A band’s demo tape is intended to introduce listeners to their music. Likewise, this collection of short pieces allows readers into the fictional world of Trevor Wolff and his band, Shapeshifter.

Originally published online between April 2006 and March 2007, the Demo Tapes: Year 1 brings together the moments that parallel – but never encounter – Susan Helene Gottfried’s debut novel, Trevor’s Song. Arranged chronologically and with introductions to each, this is a must-have volume for anyone who’s ever wanted to hang with a rock band.

A big THANK YOU goes out to owners of Down Under Views who hosted a giveaway where Year 1 or Year 2 (winner’s choice) were both up for prizes. And of course, to the author, Susan Helene Gottfried whose writings I have been stalking online for some time now (and of course) for autographing my copy as well!

Without further ado, here are the books I received for the week of August 31 to September 6, 2009.

Books Received for Review:

Lovers, Muggers & Thieves: A Boston Memoir by Jonathan Tudan

Back Cover Excerpt: In 1969, an eighteen-year-old college freshman is offered a free ride into Boston’s Combat Zone, the most bizarre neighborhood the city has ever known, to manage a flophouse renting rooms by the week to the purveyors of the neighborhood sex trade. Within a very short time he discovers the ride is anything but free. The seedy marquees of Boston’s notorious adult entertainment district, along with its strip clubs, triple-X peep shows and adult book stores have passed into history. Dancers, musicians, drug dealers, pimps, and prostitutes that once dominated these streets return to the scene to join a boy surrounded by a man’s world. Lovers, Muggers & Thieves – A Boston Memoir brings you through a convergence of extraordinary events inside one of America’s most infamous neighborhoods in this entertaining journey of friendship flirting with the dark side.

This one arrived on Monday (August 31) and is just sitting there in my TBR pile teasing me. Read me it screams!

Butcher by Gary C. King

Back Cover Excerpt: HIS GOAL: TO KILL AN “EVEN FIFTY”
They called him “Uncle Willie.” At night, Robert “Willie” Pickton visited the streets of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. The women he picked up never came back…

HIS METHODS: RAPE AND TORTURE
For years, police built a long list of missing prostitutes, women at the edge of society. Some people claimed there was a serial killer. One detective lost his job for saying so. But investigators didn’t have a single body…until someone found a skull sawed in half…

THE PIG FARM MURDERS
On land that had made his family millions, on a squalid pig farm near a school, a condo development, and a Starbucks, Robert Pickton ran a house of horrors for decades. What he did to his victims was unspeakable. What he did to the bodies was unimaginable. How he got away with it is the most shocking crime of all…

This one arrived on Thursday, and I must confess, I am very tempted to just drop everything else in order to read this one. I love reading true crime books (and watching television enactments and documentaries too) but this one is especially intriguing. I can’t wait to start it.

Awakening by K Lippi

Excerpt from Back Cover: For Emilia Miani, a fifteen year old girl from San Diego, CA, the supernatural world and its creatures only existed in books and movies. But when she went to visit her father in Japan and met Shin Kurosaki, a Japanese demon assigned by one of her ancestors 500 years ago to be her guardian angel and protect her from her destiny, supernatural events begin happening to Emilia and they continue escalating.

During her journey, Emilia discovered her family secrets. Her grandfather was a death angel hired by God and she is his heir and forced to step into his shoes by God and Lucifer to stop Markus, an ex-death angel set on destroying them to become a new god. She also discovers that she has a special blood – a divine blood – running through her veins. A blood that kills anything it comes into contact with, including her.

And this one arrived on Friday. A supernatural young adult story that appears to have its setting in Japan. Can it get any better? I sure hope so!

That’s it for this week folks! Now I must be going, I’ve got a stack of books to be read!

The UPS man probably got tired of having to deliver to me [since I'm out in the boonies] over this past week but since he was bringing me books I absolutely loved him. Even if he seems to be a perpetual grouch. Without further ado, these are the books that I received for the week of August 23 to August 30, 2009.

Books Received for Review:

Aurora of the Northern Lights by Holly Hardin

Back Cover Excerpt: Named for the Northern Lights, Aurora faces a woeful plight. To many lands she must roam, searching for her true home.

Come along as author Holly Hardin conjures a mystical world of adventure, sprites, and magical charms. After losing her parents, little Aurora sets off on her own. Because she’s different, Aurora finds it difficult to find anyone who will listen to her story, even at Christmas time. As her story continues, Aurora receives special gifts to keep her safe and important clues to find her new home.

Follow the journey as Aurora encounters a host of creatures along the way – including one very famous bearded man. What follows in this beautifully illustrated and delightfully written book is a heartwarming story of a home lost and found – and a Christmas lesson for us all.

I received this on Monday (August 24th) and immediately had to crack it open and read it! I meant to write a review for it, but then got side-tracked with Cult Insanity.

NurtureShock: New Thinking About Children
by Po Bronson and Ashely Merryman

Amazon.com Product Description: In a world of modern, involved, caring parents, why are so many kids aggressive and cruel? Where is intelligence hidden in the brain, and why does that matter? Why do cross-racial friendships decrease in schools that are more integrated? If 98% of kids think lying is morally wrong, then why do 98% of kids lie? What’s the single most important thing that helps infants learn language?

NurtureShock is a groundbreaking collaboration between award-winning science journalists Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman. They argue that when it comes to children, we’ve mistaken good intentions for good ideas. With impeccable storytelling and razor-sharp analysis, they demonstrate that many of modern society’s strategies for nurturing children are in fact backfiring–because key twists in the science have been overlooked.

This book also arrived on Monday and I am now in the process of reading it. Truth be told, I was beginning to think it had gotten lost in the mail as it was expected to have arrived awhile ago. Keep your eyes peeled for an upcoming review and giveaway for this book!

She Still Calls Me Daddy: Building a New Relationship with Your Daughter After You Walk Her Down the Aisle by Robert Wolgemuth

“Dad, I’m getting married!” – four little words that change everything, even for the most prepared father. Suddenly your daughter – the little, the awkward adolescent, the spirited teenager, the young woman – who once depended on you, now turns to a new man for strength and support. It’s enough to stagger even the strongest of men.

As the father of two married daughters, Robert Wolgemuth understands the roller coaster of emotions that you feel as you walk your precious girl down the aisle. He also understand that giving her away at the altar doesn’t mean completely giving up the relationship that you’ve so carefully built over the years – it just means that the relationship is going to need some substantial renovation.

This book will give you special insights and the tools you need to gracefully expand your family and continue to cherish the young woman who still calls you Daddy.

This book also arrived on Monday. I felt sorry for the UPS man who delivered it. It was raining and it was late and yet he still continued his rounds. Gotta love that kind of dedication.

Friends Like These: My Worldwide Quest to Find my Best Childhood Friends, Knock on Their Doors, and Ask Them to Come Out and Play by Danny Wallace

Jacket Excerpt: Danny Wallace has friends. He has a wife and goes to brunch, and his new house has a couch with throw pillows on it.

But as he nears thirty, he can’t help wondering about his childhood friends. His first friends. Where are they now – and where, really, is he?

When Danny finds an address book in which he’d inscribed the names and numbers of the twelve best friends he has as a kid, he comes to a stunning realization. They were probably all turning thirty, too! Were they also trying to cope with the confusing new fog of adulthood? Did they have a couch with throw pillows on it?

Journeying from London to Berlin, Tokyo, Australia, and California, he risks rejection and ridicule to show up on his old pals’ doorsteps. Memories of his 1980s childhood – from Michael Jackson and Michael J. Fox to Ghostbusters and Goonies – reappear as he meets former buddies who have blossomed into rappers and ninjas, time-traveling pioneers, chain-restaurant managers, and even Fijian royalty.

Proving that as things change they also remain the same, Danny re-befriends them all, giving remarkable new resonance to the age-old mantra “friends forever!”

This one, along with Cult Insanity arrived on Thursday. This memoir is by the same author as Yes Man so I have high hopes for this one as well.

Cult Insanity: A Memoir of Polygamy, Prophets, and Blood Atonement by Irene Spencer

Thoughts of sleep fled as I listened to my pounding heart. Whom would I grab if we had to flee for our lives? Would I take the baby and leave the other nine to fend for themselves? Whom would I take and where would I run?

My agitated mind could not keep facing death every moment I was awake. I had to come up with a plan. The next morning, I walked three blocks to my ex-sister-wife Helen’s rock home. In a rush of words, I told her of my concern for my children’s lives and that I needed help. She agreed, and we walked together out of the house and through her backyard. She unlocked a small feed room adjacent to the goat corrals. Once inside, I scoped out the space. I could move a few bales of hay and, by stacking them a little higher, make a little more room in the shed. Helen offered a twin-size mattress that was stored on top of the hay. With a promise from Helen to tell no one, I felt relief flood me. I had a hiding place for my brood of children. We would be safe. – from Cult Insanity

I actually already finished reading this book and reviewed it too.

Books from Giveaways & Contests

Grandville by Bryan Talbot

Inspired by the work of nineteenth-century French illustrator Gerad, who worked under the nom de plume J.J. Grandville, and the seminal science fiction illustrator Robida – not to mention Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Rupert the Bear and Quentin Tarantino – Grandville is a steampunk masterpiece in which Detective Inspector LeBrock of Scotland Yard stalks a gang of ruthless killers through belle epoque Paris…Audacious, fantastical, beautifully drawn and coloured, it confirms Bryan Talbot’s reputation as one of the best graphic novelists in the world.

I’d like to thank @Vintagebooks for hosting this awesome giveaway! You guys are awesome!

In My Mailbox is a weekly feature hosted by The Story Siren. Each Sunday (or whatever day suits the blogger in question) bloggers post about all of the books or book-related merchandise they received over the past week. Whether they bought it (online or in-store), received a review-copy, or received it as a gift, it can be listed!

Now, considering the fact that I really don’t have that much money to be buying books right now, I suspect that this will not likely be a weekly feature on this blog. One can hope, however, that it’s a semi-regular occurrence though!

Books Received for Review:

Playing House by Fredrica Wagman

Back Cover Excerpt: When Playing House appeared in 1973, Publishers Weekly hailed it, “A probing descent into madness that will fascinate the same audience that appreciated I Never Promised You a Rose Garden.” This nationally best-selling story of one woman’s struggle with the lasting effects of a childhood sexual relationship with her brother shocked American readers; it remains a literary work of enduring quality and value. In his foreword Philip Roth writes, “The traumatized child; the institutionalized wife; the haunting desire; the ghastly business of getting through the day – what is striking about Wagman’s treatment of those contemporary motifs it the voice of longing in which the heroine shamelessly confesses to the incestuous need that is at once her undoing and her only hope.”

On Friday (August 21st) I received a copy of Fredrica Wagman’s Playing House for review in my mailbox. It’s a book I’ve been eagerly waiting for and I’ve already started reading it. In fact, I took it with me to court today and sat reading it while waiting in the courtroom for the proceedings to begin.

No purchased books this week!

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
  BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

I’ve been following the Teaser Tuesday meme for a while now, and even though I have never participated in it before today, I have found quite a few good reads from the participants of this meme. I thought it was high time I got into the game myself.

Envy’s sleek leg exited the car like she was a movie star stepping out of a stretch limo. Clad in a pair of classic black pumps that matched her one piece black dress with butter cream buttons, Envy got out of the car and closed the door behind her.

p.21 of Beautiful Ugly by Shelia E. Lipsey

Here’s a teaser from another book I’m currently reading as well:

Even if he hadn’t been a vampire, with a vampire’s hypnotic stare, I wouldn’t have wanted to meet those hard, fierce eyes. I swallowed and hoped my voice worked.

“In my world, loyalty is earned, not given away.”

p.169 of Kitty Raises Hell by Carrie Vaughn

Went a little long with the teaser on the second book, but I couldn’t help it! I’m just loving this book to pieces.

The rules for this meme are as follows:

This is a weekly meme hosted by Sassy Brit of Alternative-Read.com (in case you haven’t seen it going around the blogs yet). So here is the deal: Grab a camera and take a photo of your desk! Or anywhere you stack your books/TBR pile. And no tidying! Tag at least 5 people! That’s it.

However, for those without digital cameras or blogs of your own, you can do this instead: (or both if you are keen!)

• List at least 5 BOOKISH things on your desk (I’m thinking your TBR pile or books you haven’t shelved…)
• List at least 5 NON BOOK things. (I’m thinking some of the more unusual items on your desk/table?)

Tag at least 5 people to do the same.

Come back and leave your link, so we can come and visit your blog. Or add your answers in the comments.

Please don’t feel pressured in any way at all. I just want everyone to have fun!

First off, here’s a snapshot of my desk:

Heh, ya’all are actually lucky it was semi-tidy today. If you look closely you can see a bit of dust on top of the desk’s bookshelf. Now for the lists aspect of the meme.

List at least 5 BOOKISH things on your desk:

1. Then Man Created God by D.G. McLeod
2. Unsigned Hype by Booker T. Mattison
3. Dark Harvest by Norman Partridge
4. 8 Ball Chicks by Gini Sikes
5. My Big Fat Supernatural Wedding Sherrilyn Kenyon et al.

List at least 5 NON BOOK things:

1. black cauldron-ish potpourri burner
2. coffee mug filled with bookmarks
3. anime plushes (left to right) Gabumon from Digimon, Sabaku no Gaara from Naruto, and Sesshoumaru from InuYasha
4. bottle of Suave lavender-vanilla body lotion (behind left speaker)
5. preserved specimens in jars (fetal pig brain and a lizard) on top of the desk’s bookshelf

Now to tag five people: Melissa’s Bookshelf, J Kaye’s Book Blog, Puss Reboots, Breeni Books, and Keep on Booking.

Please don’t feel pressured to participate in this meme, but it would be great to see what everyone’s desks look like!