Mailbox Monday is hosted by Marcia at The Printed Page.
We share what books that we found in our mailboxes last week.
Mercy Kill: A Mystery
by Lori Armstrong (Review & Giveaway)~ Former Black Ops 
army sniper Mercy Gunderson isn’t adjusting well to the laid-back rhythm of civilian life on her family’s ranch in South Dakota. To fill her time, Mercy accepts a temporary bartending gig at a local watering hole. Yet her attempts to settle in back home are tested when Titan Oil, a Canadian company proposing to run an underground pipeline through Eagle River County, sends Jason Hawley, Mercy’s former army buddy, to the area to convince ranchers to get behind the project. While local business owners support the pipeline, Hawley’s presence riles the landowners, and Mercy is torn. After ugly threats and multiple altercations escalate tensions in the county, Mercy discovers Hawley’s brutally mutilated body in the bar parking lot. When it appears Sheriff Dawson cares more about campaigning for reelection than investigating the case, Mercy vows to find Jason Hawley’s killer — even if she has to run against Dawson for sheriff to ensure justice is served. But Mercy soon learns her former military pal had plenty of secrets. Her search for the truth brings unwanted exposure to the county’s dark side and risks deadly repercussions for the entire community. 
Inspirations: Selections from Classic Literature (Penguin Classics)
by Various authors & Paulo Coelho 
(review) ~ From the author of The Alchemist, a unique and edifying literary journey inspired by the four elements. One of the world's best-loved storytellers, Paulo Coelho has brought joy and wisdom to millions. In Inspirations, his arrangement of his personal favorite literary classics is as selective as a bouquet of flowers, a gift to his readers. This compendium of works will becomes a perennial gift and perfect companion to Coelho's own bestselling classic, The Alchemist. Coelho's inspiration draws from each work' affinity to the four elements. Earth includes Oscar Wilde and D.H. Lawrence Air includes Nelson Mandela and Gabriel Garcia Marquez Fire includes Rumi and Mary Shelley. Water includes Hans Christian Andersen and Niccolo Machiavell. 
To Have Not
by Frances Lefkowitz (review & guest post) ~ Poverty has many guises: a lack of money, of 
course, but it can also be a lack of love or choice, pleasure or safety, faith or confidence or possibility. Poverty seeps into the soul and deadens the spirit. In To Have Not, Frances Lefkowitz reflects on her own life of poverties. A poor white girl from 1970s San Francisco, Lefkowitz tries to escape her upbringing through an Ivy League scholarship, only to realize that upward mobility is not all it s cracked up to be: being a Have Not and not having aren't necessarily the same thing. Crashing headfirst into boundaries of class, race, and sex, Lefkowitz emerges scarred but whole, humor intact. To Have Not speaks to anyone who has ever battled the feeling of being cut off from the world s abundance, and then settled, eventually, somewhere between resignation and appreciation for all they do have. 
Love Me to Death: A Novel of Suspense
by Allison Brennan (Kindle) ~ Six years ago, Lucy Kincaid was attacked and nearly killed by an online predator. She survived. Her attacker did not. Now Lucy’s goal is to 
join the FBI and fight cyber-crime, but in the meantime, she’s volunteering with a victim’s rights group, surfing the Web undercover to lure sex offenders into the hands of the law. But when the predators she hunts start turning up as murder victims, the FBI takes a whole new interest in Lucy. With her future and possibly even her freedom suddenly in jeopardy, Lucy discovers she’s a pawn in someone’s twisted plot to mete out vigilante justice. She joins forces with security expert and daredevil Sean Rogan, and together they track their elusive quarry from anonymous online chat rooms onto the mean streets of Washington, D.C. But someone else is shadowing them: A merciless stalker has his savage eye on Lucy. The only way for her to escape his brutality may be another fight to the death.
Sweet Little Lies
by J.T. Ellison (Kindle) ~ J.T. Ellison’s bestselling Taylor Jackson novels have garnered 
praise from many quarters and have been published all over the world. Her short stories have been aptly described as Hitchcockian in nature. Sweet Little Lies is an anthology of short (short) stories, a collection of Ellison’s published and anthologized work from 2005 - 2010, including her award-winning story Prodigal Me. This collection also includes excerpts of Ellison’s previously published novels. 
Live Wire
by Harlan Coben (ARC) ~ Harlan Coben has risen to the top of bestseller lists worldwide, attracting voracious audiences for his peerless novels of domestic suspense as well as those featuring his fan-favorite sports agent, Myron Bolitar. Now, in Live Wire, he offers a knock-your-socks- off novel that will electrify all his fans: Myron's family takes center stage. Myron Bolitar has always dreamed about the voluptuous femme fatale walking into his office and asking for help. The woman standing in his doorway has killer curves, all right: She's eight months pregnant, which kind of ruins the fantasy. Former tennis star Suzze T and her rock star husband, Lex, are both clients, and over the years Myron has negotiated his share of contracts for the power pair. But now Lex has disappeared and a very pregnant Suzze is in tears, fearing the online rumors questioning the baby's paternity have driven away the man she swears is the child's father. For Myron, questions of fatherhood couldn't hit closer to home, as his dad, Al, clings to life, and the brother who abandoned the family years ago resurfaces-with danger following close behind. Myron is soon forced to confront deep secrets in Suzze's past, his family's mortality-and before Live Wire is over, his own. Release date March 22
by Harlan Coben (ARC) ~ Harlan Coben has risen to the top of bestseller lists worldwide, attracting voracious audiences for his peerless novels of domestic suspense as well as those featuring his fan-favorite sports agent, Myron Bolitar. Now, in Live Wire, he offers a knock-your-socks- off novel that will electrify all his fans: Myron's family takes center stage. Myron Bolitar has always dreamed about the voluptuous femme fatale walking into his office and asking for help. The woman standing in his doorway has killer curves, all right: She's eight months pregnant, which kind of ruins the fantasy. Former tennis star Suzze T and her rock star husband, Lex, are both clients, and over the years Myron has negotiated his share of contracts for the power pair. But now Lex has disappeared and a very pregnant Suzze is in tears, fearing the online rumors questioning the baby's paternity have driven away the man she swears is the child's father. For Myron, questions of fatherhood couldn't hit closer to home, as his dad, Al, clings to life, and the brother who abandoned the family years ago resurfaces-with danger following close behind. Myron is soon forced to confront deep secrets in Suzze's past, his family's mortality-and before Live Wire is over, his own. Release date March 22
The Lake of Dreams: A Novel
by Kate Edwards (ARC) ~ With revelations that prove as captivating as the 
deceptions at the heart of her bestselling phenomenon The Memory Keeper's Daughter, Kim Edwards now gives us the story of a woman's homecoming, a family secret, and the old house that holds the key to the true legacy of a family. At a crossroads in her life, Lucy Jarrett returns home from Japan, only to find herself haunted by her father's unresolved death a decade ago. Old longings stirred up by Keegan Fall, a local glass artist who was once her passionate first love, lead her into the unexpected. Late one night, as she paces the hallways of her family's rambling lakeside house, she discovers, locked in a window seat, a collection of objects that first appear to be useless curiosities, but soon reveal a deeper and more complex family past. As Lucy discovers and explores the traces of her lineage00from an heirloom tapestry and dusty political tracts to a web of allusions depicted in stained-glass windows throughout upstate New York-the family story she has always known is shattered, Lucy's quest for the truth reconfigures her family's history, links her to a unique slice of the suffragette movement, and yields dramatic insights that embolden her to live freely. 
Undertow
by Cherry Adair (Review) ~ SHE TAKES THE PLUNGE. Teal Williams is content with her career as a ship’s master mechanic—until Zane Cutter, the “Casanova of the Caribbean,” makes her an offer she can’t refuse: to climb on board with him for a real-life treasure hunt. Teal must help him dredge up a 
shipwrecked vessel containing an abundance of gold, silver, and emeralds—and she’ll claim part of the prize.HE’S BLOWN OFF COURSE. Zane needs a mechanic—not a lover—and Teal, who can also dive, is perfect for the job. So it suits him just fine that Teal is completely immune to his charms…or so he tells himself. But with a deadly enemy in their midst—one who’s silently edging closer—Zane and Teal sink into troubled waters. Trapped in the middle of a perilous sea, they have no one to turn to but each other as they face down a danger that runs unfathomably deep—and a passion that runs even deeper…
Ascension
by Caris Roane (Review) ~ Kerrick is a vampire warrior on a mission—to protect powerful 
mortal Alison Wells as she goes through the rite of ascension, or transformation into a vampire. But along the way, Kerrick gets caught in a feirce, forbidden attraction to the woman he been assigned to watch over. After his beloved wife was murdered by evil blood vampires, Kerrick took vows never to get involved with a woman again, for he knows that he’ll risk her life if he gets too close. But when a powerful army of blood vampires learns about Alison's extraordinary powers, they're determined to take her down. Now Kerrick has no choice but shadow her where ever she goes--even if it means losing his heart for eternity.
Killing Rocks
by D.D. Barant (Review) ~ FBI profiler Jace Valchek’s ticket home from the twisted parallel universe where she’s been called to duty hinges on the capture of serial killer Aristotle Stoker—and an alliance with a sorcerer known as Asher. The problem: Asher has joined forces with some of the most 
dangerous creatures Jace has ever encountered. The solution: There is none, without Asher’s help… Jace’s goal seems simple enough—to get her man, like always. But just hours after she arrives in Vegas, she’s abducted…and she isn’t even sure who the real enemy is. Now Jace has to wonder if she’s the predator or the prey in a very dangerous game that could change not only her fate, but the world’s…Meanwhile, a serial killer is still on the loose. And time has already run out…
Letters From Home
by Kristina McMorris (ARC, review) ~ Chicago, 1944. Liz Stephens has little interest 
in 
attending a USO club dance with her friends Betty and Julia. She doesn't need a flirtation with a lonely serviceman when she's set to marry her childhood sweetheart. Yet something happens the moment Liz glimpses Morgan McClain. They share only a brief exchange--cut short by the soldier's evident interest in Betty--but Liz can't forget him. Thus, when Betty asks her to ghostwrite a letter to Morgan, stationed overseas, Liz reluctantly agrees.Thousands of miles away, Morgan struggles to adjust to the brutality of war. His letters from "Betty" are a comfort, their soul-baring correspondence a revelation to them both. While Liz is torn by her feelings for a man who doesn't know her true identity, Betty and Julia each become immersed in their own romantic entanglements. And as the war draws to a close, all three will face heart-wrenching choices, painful losses, and the bittersweet joy of new beginnings. Release date March 1st.
Stir Until Thoroughly Confused
by Heather Wardell (review & giveaway) ~ Mary's given up everything, including an unsatisfying marriage, to become a chef. But the career comes with a side dish: Kegan, her sexy but controlling new boss. They're soon in a relationship, and in all-too-frequent arguments, and when it becomes clear they can't work together and be together Mary faces a dilemma: keep her dream job or her dream man?
Sugar & Spice
by Saffina Desforges (Kindle) ~ When you've got two young children, and you think the unthinkable, where do you turn? Sugar & Spice is a ground-breaking new crime-thriller set against the background of Britain’s fragmented criminal justice system, with the key protagonists the mother and partner of a murdered child. Inspired by a news story of a man who begged a Judge to give him a longer sentence, 
because he knew he would harm another child if released without treatment, Sugar & Spice is meticulously researched, asking the questions society prefers not to have answered. At once disquieting and challenging, Sugar & Spice is car-crash reading. It’s every parent’s worst nightmare: A child fails to return home. As hours turn to days, all they can do is hope. Some children never come back... The story opens when two boys find the severed arm of a missing child. For the distraught mother, Claire Meadows, and her partner Matt Burford, the arrest of local sex-offender Thomas Bristow seems to offer closure. But doubts soon emerge. The Met officers who “interview” Bristow are from the Gene Hunt school of policing, and the confession appears worthless when another child is killed while Bristow is on remand awaiting trial. Driven by a mother’s need to know, Claire visits Bristow in prison. H presents a compelling defence, convincing Claire not only that he is innocent of harming her daughter, but that his previous convictions were not what they seemed. Running parallel to this we meet Greg Randall, respectable accountant and utterly devoted father of six year old twins. But for Randall, the murder has brought to the fore private demons he has long been struggling to cope with: Fearing he might one day lose control, Randall seeks counselling at a prestigious private clinic, licensed by the Home Office to treat sex-offenders. Randall’s struggle to balance his family life as he undergoes “therapy,” runs alongside the hunt for the child-killer, until eventually the two story-lines inexorably converge. With the Police inquiry floundering, Matt and Claire embark on their own investigation, teaming up with a second-year psychology student and a fourteen year-old truant schoolboy to bring one man’s reign of terror to an end. Warning: The research is meticulous, and the characters based on real-life studies. This is a novel every parent should read. But be warned: In Sugar & Spice not all things are nice...
Not What She Seems
by Victoria Lieske (Kindle) ~ Steven Ashton, a billionaire from New York, and Emily 
Grant, on the run from the law... and when they meet he can’t help falling for her. What he doesn’t know is that interfering in her life will put his own life in danger. Not What She Seems holds you in suspense from the moment you begin down the path of murder and romance.When billionaire Steven Ashton couldn’t stand his high society social life anymore, he left the stress of New York on a vacation for his soul. The need to meet real down to earth people lead him to a small Nebraska town he remembered visiting as a child. He didn’t want to lie about who he was, but he couldn’t exactly tell them the truth. Emily could have easily fallen in love with Steven, under different circumstances, but her past was catching up with her and she needed a new life. If the authorities found out about her, she could lose the one thing that meant everything, her four year old son.
Ascension by Caris Roane (Review) ~ Kerrick is a vampire warrior on a mission—to protect powerful mortal Alison Wells as she goes through the rite of ascension, or transformation into a vampire. But along the way, Kerrick gets caught in a feirce, forbidden attraction to the woman he been assigned to watch over. After his beloved wife was murdered by evil blood vampires, Kerrick took vows never to get involved with a woman again, for he knows that he’ll risk her life if he gets too close. But when a powerful army of blood vampires learns about Alison's extraordinary powers, they're determined to take her down. Now Kerrick has no choice but shadow her where ever she goes--even if it means losing his heart for eternity.Killing Rocks by D.D. Barant (Review) ~ FBI profiler Jace Valchek’s ticket home from the twisted parallel universe where she’s been called to duty hinges on the capture of serial killer Aristotle Stoker—and an alliance with a sorcerer known as Asher. The problem: Asher has joined forces with some of the most dangerous creatures Jace has ever encountered. The solution: There is none, without Asher’s help… Jace’s goal seems simple enough—to get her man, like always. But just hours after she arrives in Vegas, she’s abducted…and she isn’t even sure who the real enemy is. Now Jace has to wonder if she’s the predator or the prey in a very dangerous game that could change not only her fate, but the world’s…Meanwhile, a serial killer is still on the loose. And time has already run out…Letters From Home by Kristina McMorris (ARC, review) ~ Chicago, 1944. Liz Stephens has little interest in attending a USO club dance with her friends Betty and Julia. She doesn't need a flirtation with a lonely serviceman when she's set to marry her childhood sweetheart. Yet something happens the moment Liz glimpses Morgan McClain. They share only a brief exchange--cut short by the soldier's evident interest in Betty--but Liz can't forget him. Thus, when Betty asks her to ghostwrite a letter to Morgan, stationed overseas, Liz reluctantly agrees.Thousands of miles away, Morgan struggles to adjust to the brutality of war. His letters from "Betty" are a comfort, their soul-baring correspondence a revelation to them both. While Liz is torn by her feelings for a man who doesn't know her true identity, Betty and Julia each become immersed in their own romantic entanglements. And as the war draws to a close, all three will face heart-wrenching choices, painful losses, and the bittersweet joy of new beginnings. Release date March 1st.Stir Until Thoroughly Confused by Heather Wardell (review & giveaway) ~ Mary's given up everything, including an unsatisfying marriage, to become a chef. But the career comes with a side dish: Kegan, her sexy but controlling new boss. They're soon in a relationship, and in all-too-frequent arguments, and when it becomes clear they can't work together and be together Mary faces a dilemma: keep her dream job or her dream man?Sugar & Spice by Saffina Desforges (Kindle) ~ When you've got two young children, and you think the unthinkable, where do you turn? Sugar & Spice is a ground-breaking new crime-thriller set against the background of Britain’s fragmented criminal justice system, with the key protagonists the mother and partner of a murdered child. Inspired by a news story of a man who begged a Judge to give him a longer sentence, because he knew he would harm another child if released without treatment, Sugar & Spice is meticulously researched, asking the questions society prefers not to have answered. At once disquieting and challenging, Sugar & Spice is car-crash reading. It’s every parent’s worst nightmare: A child fails to return home. As hours turn to days, all they can do is hope. Some children never come back... The story opens when two boys find the severed arm of a missing child. For the distraught mother, Claire Meadows, and her partner Matt Burford, the arrest of local sex-offender Thomas Bristow seems to offer closure. But doubts soon emerge. The Met officers who “interview” Bristow are from the Gene Hunt school of policing, and the confession appears worthless when another child is killed while Bristow is on remand awaiting trial. Driven by a mother’s need to know, Claire visits Bristow in prison. H presents a compelling defence, convincing Claire not only that he is innocent of harming her daughter, but that his previous convictions were not what they seemed. Running parallel to this we meet Greg Randall, respectable accountant and utterly devoted father of six year old twins. But for Randall, the murder has brought to the fore private demons he has long been struggling to cope with: Fearing he might one day lose control, Randall seeks counselling at a prestigious private clinic, licensed by the Home Office to treat sex-offenders. Randall’s struggle to balance his family life as he undergoes “therapy,” runs alongside the hunt for the child-killer, until eventually the two story-lines inexorably converge. With the Police inquiry floundering, Matt and Claire embark on their own investigation, teaming up with a second-year psychology student and a fourteen year-old truant schoolboy to bring one man’s reign of terror to an end. Warning: The research is meticulous, and the characters based on real-life studies. This is a novel every parent should read. But be warned: In Sugar & Spice not all things are nice...Not What She Seems by Victoria Lieske (Kindle) ~ Steven Ashton, a billionaire from New York, and Emily Grant, on the run from the law... and when they meet he can’t help falling for her. What he doesn’t know is that interfering in her life will put his own life in danger. Not What She Seems holds you in suspense from the moment you begin down the path of murder and romance.When billionaire Steven Ashton couldn’t stand his high society social life anymore, he left the stress of New York on a vacation for his soul. The need to meet real down to earth people lead him to a small Nebraska town he remembered visiting as a child. He didn’t want to lie about who he was, but he couldn’t exactly tell them the truth. Emily could have easily fallen in love with Steven, under different circumstances, but her past was catching up with her and she needed a new life. If the authorities found out about her, she could lose the one thing that meant everything, her four year old son.
