Mailbox Monday - Oct 3

Mailbox Monday is a meme started by Marcia of To Be Continued. Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came in their mailbox during the last week. It now has a permanent home at the Mailbox Monday blog.

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

Here we are again. Hope you all had a nice weekend. Ours was busy.

My youngest niece got married this weekend. She was a lovely bride and we all had a fun time. Food was great.

It was also a soccer weekend. The Lil' Princess was waiting for play to start in that photo. She's having a good year, but her team isn't winning any games. At least she is enjoying herself. 

As far as books go, all the books that arrived were not requested, but they are all books I would like to read.

This first one is from a series I've read in the past. Haven't read the last few, but they are in my pile.

The terrorist organization ISIS is after a deadly toxin that could be the ultimate weapon of mass destruction. The same toxin holds the potential to eradicate cancer. There is a frantic race to see who can get to it first, even as Caitlin Strong begins to assemble the disparate pieces of a deadly puzzle.

At the center of that puzzle is an Indian reservation where a vengeful tycoon is mining the toxin, disguising his effort as an oil-drilling operation. This is the same reservation where Caitlin’s great-great-grandfather, also a Texas Ranger, once waged a similar battle against the forces of John D. Rockefeller.

In her highest-stakes adventure yet, Caitlin Strong faces off against a host of adversaries that just might include the beautiful Comanche girl with whom the son of her ex-outlaw boyfriend Cort Wesley Masters has fallen in love, along with a mythic monster culled from Native American folklore that the tribe believes has risen to protect its land. The lives of those Caitlin loves most are threatened by the villains she’s pursuing; her own moral code is challenged. The fate of both the country and the state she loves are dangling on the precipice of a strong cold death.

For as long as Lottie can remember, the only people who seem to care about her have been her best friend, Eliot, and the mysterious letter-writer who sends her birthday gifts. But now strange things and people are arriving on the island Lottie calls home, and Eliot's getting sicker, with a disease the doctors have given up trying to cure. Lottie doesn't know what she can possibly do—until a door opens in the apple tree. Down through the roots is another world—a world of treacherous, beautiful, impossible magic that just might lead to a cure for Eliot.

Even after escaping from the Southerly Kingdom, Lottie Fiske and her best friend Eliot have returned to the magical Albion Isle, despite the fact that she is a wanted criminal there, because she is seeking answers about her abilities, and her parents--but war is threatening Limn, and the answers she needs seem to lie in the Northerly Kingdom, along a road full of dangers.

Jane Austen's family is eager to secure her future by marrying her off. But Jane is much more interested in writing her novels, and finds every suitor lacking—until the mysterious Mr. Lefroy arrives. Could he be the one? Before Jane can find out, she must solve a murder, clear her family's name, and face a decision that might cost her true love.

That's it for now. I'll be away at a conference part of the week, so not sure how much blogging I'll do. Make it a great one.

Mailbox Monday - September 29

Mailbox Monday is a meme started by Marcia of To Be Continued. Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came in their mailbox during the last week. It now has a permanent home at the Mailbox Monday blog.

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

Sometimes I wonder if I'm a bit crazy. In addition to all that is going on in our daily lives, I decided to sign up for two online courses through Canvas Network. They are both Laura Ingalls Wilder related courses. I'll have a chance to re-read some of the Little House books and also read a book I bought a while ago, Laura Ingalls Wilder: A Writer's Life by Pamela Smith Hill.

In other book news, I received Strong Darkness in the mail last week. This is the latest Caitlin Strong novel by Jon Land.

Texas Ranger Caitlin Strong returns in her most thrilling adventure yet

1883: Texas Ranger William Ray Strong teams up with Judge Roy Bean to track down the Old West’s first serial killer, who’s stitching a trail of death along the railroad lines slicing their way through Texas.

The Present: Texas Ranger Caitlin Strong finds herself pursuing another serial killer whose methods are eerily similar to the one pursued by her great-grandfather almost a century-and-a-half before.

But that’s just the beginning of her problems. The son of her boyfriend is nearly beaten to death at Brown University. The investigation leads back to Texas and to the Chinese high-tech company awarded the contract to build the US’s 5G network. Li Zhen, the company’s founder, counts that as the greatest achievement of his career, but it hides his true motivations—nothing less than China’s total domination of the United States.

His plan is backed by elements of the Chinese underworld. Up against an army at Li’s disposal, Caitlin blazes a violent trail across country and continent in search of secrets hidden in the past, but it’s a secret from the present that holds the key. Darkness is coming, and only Caitlin Strong can find the light before it’s too late.

This will be the second Caitlin Strong book I've read and the third one by Land. I hope to get to it in November.

What did you receive last week?