Mailbox Monday – 4/19

Mailbox Monday can be found at: The Printed Page

Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week (checked out library books don’t count, eBooks & audio books do). Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists. 

I only acquired one paper book this week and that  was “Underkingdom: Disco Goblins vs the Machine” by Jonathan Culverhouse.  I received this book directly from the author, so thanks to Culverhouse for sending it.

The rest of the books I got were e-books.  I downloaded a whole bunch of free classics to my Kindle consisting of: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, The Count of Monte Cristo, The Phantom of the Opera, Anarine Karenina, Great Expectations, and The War or the Worlds.  Then I also purchased a large variety of either free or $0.99 books that looked very interesting to me.

More information on all of the books can be found below.  Hope that you all have a great week of reading.

Underkingdom: Disco Goblins vs the Machine by Jonathan Culverhouse
 
First Sentence: “Something that looked almost exactly like the Klamp family cat crept in with the early morning mist.”
From Amazon.com: “An unexpected school trip leads Angelica into the strange and dangerous Underkingdom, where she meets a timid goblin whose passion for all things human includes 1970’s disco music and Earl Grey tea. How will this unlikely hero help her to defeat a ruthless king, rescue Angelica’s schoolmates before they become the filling in a giant pie, and stop a monstrous war machine, which rises from the earth taking the heart of central London with it? The answers lay somewhere inside Underkingdom: Disco Goblins vs The Machine. A light-hearted novel which should appeal to young adults and grown-ups who enjoy reading children’s fiction.”

eBooks:
Wistril Compleat by Frank Tuttle
 
First Sentence: “The torches hurled on the tiny inn’s wood-shingled roof, which should have touched off an inferno with the first lick of flame, merely guttered and went out.”
From Amazon.com: “All three of Wistril’s magical misadventures are included in this complete compilation of cantrips and catastrophes!

Wistril Besieged —
Wizard Wistril’s wants are simple — four meals a day, a steady supply of honey-gold Upland beer, and above all else, peace and quiet.
All but the latter are in plentiful supply at Castle Kauph. Despite secreting himself in the Wild, Wistril finds himself battling an army of relentless mercenaries while the entire population of the nearest village takes refuge in his home. Even Kern, Wistril’s long-suffering, sharp-tongued apprentice, isn’t sure whether the army or the houseguests will prove to be Wistril’s undoing!

Wistril Afloat —
Wistril doesn’t believe in lake monsters — until they invade the lake that just happens to provide Wistril’s favorite fish dinners. Faced with the choice of adjusting his menus or daring the wilderness around Lake Ovinshoon, Wistril and Kern soon have bigger problems than mere lake monsters on their hands.
Because while Wistril wishes only to study the beasts, others wish to hunt them and skin them. Will Wistril’s peaceful White Chair magics prevail against a ruthless band of wyvern-hunters who have only profit on their minds?

Wistril Betrothed —
If ever there was a determined bachelor, thought Kern, his name was surely Wistril.
So when Wistril’s wife-to-be shows up with a pursuing army on her heels, life at Castle Kauph is turned upside down. And when another suitor for Lady Emmerbee’s hand arrives, with a dark and menacing wizard of his own in tow, it’s up to Kern and the rest of Castle Kauph to get Wistril wed without losing his head!

Tiger’s Curse by Colleen Houck
 
First Sentence: “The prisoner stood with his hands tied in front of him, tired, beaten, and filthy, but with a proud back befitting his royal heritage.”
From Amazon.com: “Kelsey Hayes was just a freshman in high school when her parents were killed in an automobile accident, sending her into the foster-care system. After graduation, she takes a job at a circus in Oregon to earn money for college. There, she becomes fascinated with the star attraction, a white tiger named Dhiren. When the tiger is sold to the mysterious Mr. Kadam, Kelsey is heartbroken—until Mr. Kadam offers her a job as Dhiren’s traveling companion. Because of her strong affection for the tiger, she agrees . When their truck is hijacked on a dirt road outside of Mumbai, Dhiren leads Kelsey deep into the jungle. There, he reveals his true nature: he is a three-hundred-fifty-year-old Indian prince, cursed by an ancient magician to live out eternity as a tiger. Young-adult readers will be enthralled by this mystical adventure story of a girl who risks her life to save the man she comes to love.”

Sleepwalker: The Last Sandman by Brad Marlowe
First Sentence: “There were no shadows in the place some call Nod until the night he was created.”
From Amazon.com: “A dark force is born from the uncommon imaginations of young Sean and Cole Golden, casting a cold shadow over Nod, the ever-changing land of dreams. When the malevolent entity abducts the Sandman, and then snatches its own creators from their cozy beds in an Iowa farmhouse, Jake (the boys’ cynical father) is forced to resurrect the imaginative child within in order to cross the adult-proof barrier that separates the real from the surreal. In Nod, a world literally made of our dreams, the younger Jake must rescue Sean, Cole, and the Sandman before the sleep-deprived citizens of the world burn everything to the ground.

Jake faces physical manifestations of all manner of dreams, including a treacherous money forest, Lost Lake (where mankind’s collected regrets churn beneath black waters), They and Them (monochromatic Siamese twins who are the architects of The Rules for accountants and elementary school teachers), The Tree of Hope, and Death himself—who turns out to be a pretty nice guy. But despite the wondrous locales and characters contained in the story, there is a current of authentic emotion tethering the whimsical fantasy elements to a credible reality like the string of a bright red balloon tied around a child’s wrist.

SLEEPWALKER: THE LAST SANDMAN is a modern fantasy without wizards, faeries, dragons, or vampires. It is an exploration of the origin of dreams and the tale of a world-weary, brokenhearted father’s love for the sons he has neglected far too long. It is a fantastical journey through lost love and rediscovered hope that may lead to redemption—for one family, and the world entire.”

Celia and the Fairies by Karen McQuestions
 
First Sentence: “Every night after Celia was tucked into bed she tiptoed out of her room and sat quietly on the upstairs landing.”
From Amazon.com: “When Celia Lovejoy’s parents announce that her grandmother is coming to live with them, Celia is delighted. Now while her parents work at their toy company, she can spend time with Grammy instead of going to bossy Paul’s house.
When her grandmother tells stories about the fairies living in the woods behind Celia’s house, her parents are quick to dismiss it. “Just a lot of nonsense,” says her father with a wave of his hand. Her mother reminds her that a ten-year-old girl is too old to believe in magic. But if there are no fairies, how to explain the glimmers of light she sees from her balcony at night? And why does she dream of a fairy girl begging for help? All of the answers are in the woods, if only Celia is brave enough to find out.
An engaging story sure to delight readers everywhere.”

Bite Me by Parker Blue
 
First Sentence: “The stench of rotting garbage filled my nostrils as I scoured the dark streets of San Antonio for something to take off the edge.”
From Amazon.com: “An edgy book for teens that spans the gap between YA and adult fiction. Life after high school is tough enough without having to go 15 rounds with your inner demon. Val Shapiro is just your ordinary, part-demon, teenaged vampire hunter with a Texas drawl. And a pet hellhound named Fang. Soon enough she finds herself deep in the underbelly of the city, discovering the secrets of the Demon Underground and fighting to save those she loves. Whether they love her back or not. “

Mercury Falls by Robert Kroese
 
First Sentence: “The Apocalypse has a way of fouling up one’s plans.”
From Amazon.com: “Years of covering the antics of End Times cults for The Banner, a religious news magazine, have left Christine Temetri not only jaded but seriously questioning her career choice.

That is, until she meets Mercury, an anti-establishment angel who’s frittering his time away whipping up batches of Rice Krispy Treats and perfecting his ping-pong backhand instead of doing his job: helping to orchestrate Armageddon. With the end near and angels and demons debating the finer political points of the Apocalypse, Christine and Mercury accidentally foil an attempt to assassinate one Karl Grissom, a thirty-seven-year-old film school dropout about to make his big break as the Antichrist.

Now, to save the world, she must negotiate the byzantine bureaucracies of Heaven and Hell and convince the apathetic Mercury to take a stand, all the while putting up with the obnoxious mouth-breathing Antichrist.”