In My Mailbox (5)

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme brought to you by The Story Siren.  It is a fun little way to share what books you've received over the last week, whether you bought them, borrowed them or were sent them!

I'm so excited this week!  I received my first two ARC books for review!

C.B. Murphy's compelling debut novel speaks cautiously with irony and humor to adults and adolescents about embracing black-and-white ideologies that can quickly spiral out of control.  Cute Eats Cute (North Star Press, 237 pages) follows the fragmenting family and the three Eco-Warrior high school friends of the book's 15-year-old narrator, Sam, who is forced to confront the ways and memes of the adult world in all of its many splintered shapes.  Set in the BT Before Texting dawn of the 21st century, the novel's major conflict arises when a herd of deer is slated to be culled in a large city park, shifting various factions into hyper-drive as the entire community literally goes up in arms!
 Cute Eats Cute the title taken from a speech Sam's dad makes at his high school defending the urban deer hunt encapsulates how animals eat one another for survival and defense.  And the food chain never sleeps.  The satirical jabs at the men's movement, the deafening but impressionable rhetoric of the gun-toting Christian right group, The Hunters of Men, and the fragile friendship of Sam's school chums (who are each facing down their own personal issues against their blind ecology crusade) all conspire to make Murphy's novel a page-turning delight.  But it's not without its carefully constructed messages. (From GoodReads).

When Katie Brashers announces to her friends that she's headed to Orlando, Florida, for spring break, no one thinks twice.  But when school resumes and Katie is nowhere to be found, her sixteen-year-old classmate and friend, Michelle Martin, grows suspicious.  The school staff claims that the family moved to Florida, but Michelle doesn't buy it.  First, Katie never said goodbye to her devoted boyfriend, Brad; and second Katie promised to return.  Something doesn't make sense.  Michelle and her best friend, Tami, team up with Brad to investigate the family's disappearance, but it's not easy.  Not only do they have to dodge Michelle's demanding, nosey mother, but they also have to sneak around the neighborhood while avoiding arrest for trespassing.  After talking to the neighbors and looking inside the house, they still have nothing but circumstantial evidence.  Michelle is about ready to give up-until she takes her dog for their daily walk and uncovers a concrete clue.  The clue leads her to the truth, but also thrusts her into dangerous circumstances beyond her control.  If she isn't careful, Michelle could end up like Katie - gone without a trace. (From GoodReads).

Borrowed Books:

Loretta Bowersock and her daughter, Terri, ran a multi-million-dollar furniture store based in Tempe, Arizona, where they were well-known and admired by many.  Together, these two women seemed to be living the American Dream...until one man decided to take it all away.  /  Over the course of two decades, Taw Benderly worked his way into Loretta's heart, home, and business.  Though the couple appeared to be happy, their lives behind closed doors told another story.  Terri had always known that the handsome, charming, and usually unemployed Taw was manipulating her mother - but she didn't know the extent of the abuse or how far he would go to defend her.  Then, just before Christmas in 2004, Loretta went missing.  It would be more than a year before Terri learned the shocking through: That, before killing himself, Taw murdered the 69-year-old Loretta and left her. (From GoodReads).

One week after fifteen-year-old Nick Markowitz vanished, his mother received the news: Nick's body had been found in a shallow grave.  Now she tells her own gripping story - the unbelievable motive for the murder, the shocking identity of the accused, and her own nine-year battle to bring her son's killers to justice.  (From GoodReads).

Happy Reading!