At Mailbox Monday, we encourage participants to not only share the books they received, but also to check out the books received by others. Each week, our team is sharing with you a few Books That Caught Our Eye from that week’s Mailbox Monday.
We encourage you to share the books that caught your eye in the comments.
EMMA:
A book deal to die for.
Five attendees are selected for a month-long writing retreat at the remote estate of Roza Vallo, the controversial high priestess of feminist horror. Alex, a struggling writer, is thrilled.Upon arrival, they discover they must complete an entire novel from scratch, and the best one will receive a seven-figure publishing deal. Alex’s long-extinguished dream now seems within reach.
But then the women begin to die.
Trapped, terrified yet still desperately writing, it is clear there is more than a publishing deal at stake at Blackbriar Estate. Alex must confront her own demons – and finish her novel – to save herself.
This unhinged, propulsive, claustrophobic closed-door thriller will pull you in and spit you out…
“A thriller I have seen in so many places. I may let myself be tempted.”
An irresistible murder mystery set at a remote hunting lodge where everyone is a suspect, including the erratic detective on the scene—a remarkable debut that gleefully upends the rules of the genre and marks the arrival of a major new talent.
An isolated hunt club. A raging storm. Three corpses, discovered within four days. A cast of monied, scheming, unfaithful characters.
When private detective Adam McAnnis joins an old college friend for the Bicentennial weekend at the exclusive West Heart club in upstate New York, he finds himself among a set of not-entirely-friendly strangers. Then the body of one of the members is found at the lake’s edge; hours later, a major storm hits. By the time power is restored on Sunday, two more people will be dead.
The elements of the classic murder mystery are all present in West Heart Kill, but it’s the daring structure and mischievously subversive narration that set this debut apart. This is no ordinary whodunit. Both an homage to the masters of the genre, and a wholly original spin on the form, it’s a sheer delight from start to finish.
“Both these books talk about a remote place. If nothing else, I guess my attraction speaks about my need for vacation, hopefully in a more quiet retreat place, lol”
He’s here to train her horses and then skip town. She’s keeping her true identity a secret. But their spark complicates both of their plans.
When Charlotte Honeycutt, owner of Stillwater Ranch, discovered her deceased mother’s safety deposit box, she was not expecting life-changing news inside—the long-hidden identity of her biological father and the location of her two half brothers, Gavin and Cooper Robinson. While her father’s location is unknown, her brothers have grown up in Riverbend Gap, just as she did. Charlotte is determined to know them, but she is unsure how the revelation of a new sister might be received. Fortunately, her plans to build a new stable on her horse farm coincide with this dilemma since Robinson Construction is the only game in town, and she jumps at the chance.
Horse trainer Gunner Dawson is averse to the idea of settling down—or having lasting connections of any kind. His time at Stillwater Ranch is only meant to be temporary, but the young woman he finds there isn’t at all who he expected. Despite an inner warning that she might threaten his peace of mind, he accepts the task of getting her training program off the ground. Before long, he’s not only working at the stables—Charlotte has somehow dragged him into a search for her biological father. And Gunner soon discovers he was right about his peace of mind. Meanwhile, an abused horse tugs at his heart, Charlotte’s brother becomes a loyal friend, and the town of Riverbend Gap is getting some kind of strange hold over him. He’s always run from connections before, but this time leaving seems harder than ever before.
Both Charlotte and Gunner will have to be honest with others and themselves if they have any hope of the future they’re both starting to long for.
Charming contemporary romance
Stand-alone novel featuring characters from the Riverbend Gap Romances
Perfect for fans of Rachel Hauck, Robin Lee Hatcher, Sherryl Woods, and Brenda Novak
Includes discussion questions for book clubs.
“This cover popped for me … and the story includes horses.”
She’s got to solve this—or her friends are sunk . . .
Kelly Jackson, manager of the Redwood Cove Bed and Breakfast, is fond of the Doblinsky brothers, Ivan and Rudy, members of the Silver Sentinels, a crew of crime-solving senior citizens in their Northern California seaside hamlet. After she discovers a jewel-encrusted dagger—with what appears to be dried blood on the blade—on their fishing boat, they share their family history with Kelly, and she learns that the knife may be part of a set from their long-ago childhood in Russia. Its sudden reappearance is eerie, but the mystery grows much more serious when a body is found on the boat. The victim was staying at Kelly’s inn, in town for a Russian Heritage Festival, and some of the organizers were clearly harboring some bitterness. But the story behind this murder seems as layered as a nesting doll—and Kelly’s feeling completely at sea . . .
“This cover and title caught my eye because my dad was a boater and we visited many marinas. I don’t see it that often as a book setting.”
SERENA:
Artificial intelligence is everywhere—it’s in our houses and phones and cars. AI makes decisions about what we should buy, watch, and read, and it won’t be long before AI’s in our hospitals, combing through our records. Maybe soon it will even be deciding who’s innocent, and who goes to jail . . .
But most of us don’t understand how AI works. We hardly know what it is.
In Is the Algorithm Plotting Against Us?, AI expert Kenneth Wenger deftly explains the complexity at AI’s heart, demonstrating its potential and exposing its shortfalls. Wenger empowers readers to answer the question—What exactly is AI?—at a time when its hold on tech, society, and our imagination is only getting stronger.
Kenneth Wenger is senior director of research and innovation at CoreAVI and chief technology officer at Squint AI. His work focuses on the intersection of artificial intelligence and determinism, enabling neural networks to execute in safety critical systems. Beyond the research, his interests lie in people and how technology affects society. He lives with his family in Mississauga, Ontario.
“At work AI has become a very hot topic, and this seems like something that would help me get a better handle on the subject.”
What books caught your eye this week?
Mailbox Monday 
Thank you for the shout out.
Nice looking books.