Mailbox Monday

BOOKS RECEIVED THIS PAST WEEK

The One and Only Ivan,
by Katherine Applegate
Middle-grade
Published on 1/17/2012,
by HarperCollins

I won the monthly giveaway organized by Nicole at Feed Your Fiction Addiction.
I chose this one from her list, because I so enjoyed Home of the Brave, by the same author.  I read it in 2 hours, which ended up being 2 hours of crying at the same time!!

“Ivan is an easygoing gorilla. Living at the Exit 8 Big Top Mall and Video Arcade, he has grown accustomed to humans watching him through the glass walls of his domain. He rarely misses his life in the jungle. In fact, he hardly ever thinks about it at all.
Instead, Ivan thinks about TV shows he’s seen and about his friends Stella, an elderly elephant, and Bob, a stray dog. But mostly Ivan thinks about art and how to capture the taste of a mango or the sound of leaves with color and a well-placed line.
Then he meets Ruby, a baby elephant taken from her family, and she makes Ivan see their home—and his own art—through new eyes. When Ruby arrives, change comes with her, and it’s up to Ivan to make it a change for the better.
Katherine Applegate blends humor and poignancy to create Ivan’s unforgettable first-person narration in a story of friendship, art, and hope.”

The Return,
by Rachel Harrison
Horror/Thriller
To be released on 3/24/2020
by Berkley

I entered the giveaway and won.

However, when I read the synopsis, I had no idea it would be about horror. But that’s how Goodreads readers have mostly classified it in. And a review is also talking about supernatural elements, so I’m not sure I’m going to read it. Have you read it?

“An edgy and haunting debut novel about a group of friends who reunite after one of them has returned from a mysterious two-year disappearance.
Julie is missing, and the missing don’t often return. But Elise knows Julie better than anyone, and she feels in her bones that her best friend is out there, and that one day she’ll come back. She’s right. Two years to the day that Julie went missing, she reappears with no memory of where she’s been or what happened to her.”

The Missing Sister,
by Elle Marr
Thriller
To be released on 4/1/2020
by Thomas & Mercer

Received for review for Criminal Element
I accepted it because it’s set in Paris!

In Paris, her twin sister has vanished, leaving behind three chilling words: Trust no one.
Shayna Darby is finally coming to terms with her parents’ deaths when she’s delivered another blow. The body of her estranged twin sister, Angela—the possible victim of a serial killer—has been pulled from the Seine. Putting what’s left of her life on hold, Shayna heads to Paris. But while cleaning out Angela’s apartment, Shayna makes a startling discovery: a coded message meant for her alone…
Alive. Trust no one.
Taking the warning to heart, Shayna maintains the lie. She makes a positive ID on the remains and works to find out where—and why—her missing sister is hiding. Shayna retraces her sister’s footsteps, and they lead her down into Paris’s underbelly.
As she gets closer to the truth—and to the killer—Shayna’s own life may now be in the balance…

ARE YOU PLANNING TO READ ANY OF THESE?
WHAT BOOK(S) DID YOU RECEIVE?