Mailbox Monday

Welcome to Mailbox Monday, a meme started by Marcia of  A Girl and Her Books.  The host for May’s Mailbox Monday posts will be Martha at Martha’s Bookshelf.

Mailbox Monday is a gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week and explore great book blogs.

Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists.

Books that came in my mailbox this week:

They Hypnotist’s Love Story by Liane Moriarty from Putnam Books/Amy Einhorn Books – Release date – June 14, 2012

“Ellen O’Farrell might be described as unusual – she’s a hypnotherapist, she’s never met her father, she was raised by her mother and her mother’s two best friends (it was like a lesbian commune, except they were all straight), and she can’t seem to sustain a long-term relationship (okay, that’s more normal than we want to admit).

So when Ellen meets Patrick, a man she likes – who actually seems to like her back – she can’t help feeling optimistic.  But after Patrick tells Ellen he has something he needs to talk to her about, she fears the worst.  So when he tells her his old girlfriend is stalking him, she thinks, Is that all?  Actually that’s kind of interesting.  She’s intrigued.  She’d love to meet this person.

She doesn’t know that she already has.”

Fearless by Eric Blehm from Random House/Waterbrook Press – Release date – May 22, 2012

“When Navy SEAL Adam Brown woke up on March 17, 2010, he didn’t know he would die that night in the Hindu Kish Mountains of Afghanistan – but he was ready: In a letter to his children, not meant to be seen unless the worst happened, he had written, ‘I’m not afraid of anything that might happen to me on this earth, because I know no matter what, nothing can take my spirit from me.’

But long before Adam Brown became a member of the elite SEAL Team SIX – the counter-terrorism unit that took down Osama bin Laden – there was a fun-loving country boy from Arkansas whose greatest goal had been to wear his high school’s football jersey.  an undersized daredevil, prone to jumping off roofs into trees and off bridges into lakes, Adam was a kid who broke his own bones but would never break a promise to his parents…until he grew older, and his family watched that appetite for risk draw him into a downward spiral that eventually landed him in jail.“

The Chronicles of Egg: Deadweather and Sunrise by Geoff Rodkey from Penguin Group/G. P. Putnam’s Sons – Release date – May 2012

“This book is for you if:

• You crave adventure (or enjoy a nice game of croquet)
• You like pirates
• You don’t like pirates. (A couple of them take a real thumping in this story.)
• You’ve ever wished your rotten older siblings would disappear in a mysterious accident, then found yourself regretting it when they actually do.
• You met your best friend when he tried to cave in your skull with a cannonball.
• You’ve ever fallen in love at first sight…with a person whose father is plotting to kill you.
• You want a story with humor, high adventure and heart…and sometimes all three on the same page.”

The four books on the top of my Mailbox Monday stack this week are a win from  The Hogarth Press, and included I Am Forbidden, The Kissing List,  The Watch, and The Dead Do Not Improve, along with a book bag.

I  Am Forbidden by Anouk Markovits – Release date – May 2012

“An extraordinary novel about the Satmar, the most insular Hasidic sect.  This affecting story of two sisters – one who believes and one who rebels – is profoundly moving and completely absorbing.”

The Kissing List by Stephanie Reents – Release date – May 2012

“Written with sparkling prose, witty dialogue, and unforgettable characters, this inventive debut follows a group of over-educated twentysomethings desperate to find meaning and connection in a world that seems to offer ever-diminishing returns.”

The Watch by Joydeep Roy-Bhattacharya – Release date – June 2012

“The first major novel about the Afghanistan War.  Told from the perspective’s of a wide cast of characters, this powerful and gripping novel authentically re-creates the chaos, intensity, and immediacy of war.”

The Dead Do Not Improve by Jay Caspian Kang – Release date – August 2012

“A fiercely original debut novel – at once hilarious, moody, and inventive – that tears through the streets of San Francisco with a tale of murderous intrigue, hippie detectives, and an MFA student on the run.”

I also got a few e-books this week:

The Remaining by D. J. Molle

“In a steel-and-lead-encased bunker 20 feet below the basement level of his house, a soldier waits for his final orders. On the surface, a plague ravages the planet, infecting over 90% of the populace. The bacterium burrows through the brain, destroying all signs of humanity and leaving behind little more than base, prehistoric instincts. The infected turn into hyper-aggressive predators, with an insatiable desire to kill and feed. Some day soon, the soldier will have to open the hatch to his bunker, and step out into this new wasteland, to complete his mission: SUBVENIRE REFECTUS.  TO RESCUE AND REBUILD.”

In Deep Voodoo by Stephanie Bond

“Start with bad mojo, add a pinprick of revenge, and watch things boil over…
A woman receives a voodoo doll of her lying cheating ex-husband as a gag gift at her divorce party, and vents her frustration by stabbing it with a pin. But later when he’s found stabbed to death, she doesn’t have to be told she’s managed to land herself In deep voodoo!”

Angel Sister by Ann H. Gabhart

“It is 1936 and Kate Merritt, the middle child of Victor and Nadine, works hard to keep her family together. Her father slowly slips into alcoholism and his business suffers during the Great Depression. As her mother tries to come to grips with their situation and her sisters seem to remain blissfully oblivious to it, it is Kate who must shoulder the emotional load. Who could imagine that a dirty, abandoned little girl named Lorena Birdsong would be just what the Merritts need?”

Pearl in the Sand by Tessa Afshar

“Can a Canaanite harlot who has made her livelihood by looking desirable to men make a fitting wife for one of the leaders of Israel? Shockingly, the Bible’s answer is yes.

Pearl in the Sand tells Rahab’s untold story. Rahab lives in a wall; her house is built into the defensive walls of the City of Jericho. Other walls surround her as well-walls of fear, rejection, unworthiness.

A woman with a wrecked past; a man of success, of faith … of pride; a marriage only God would conceive!  Through the heartaches of a stormy relationship, Rahab and Salmone learn the true source of one another’s worth and find healing in God.”

I Have a Secret by Cheryl Bradsha

“It’s been twenty years since PI Sloane Monroe has returned to her hometown of Tehachapi, California, but when a former classmate is stabbed and tossed overboard during the high school reunion cruise, Sloane isn’t about to allow a murderer to run free in her own backyard. But in a town where everyone is harboring secrets, how many more men will die before she discovers the truth?”

Mailbox Monday

Welcome to Mailbox Monday, a meme started by Marcia of  A Girl and Her Books.  The host for April’s Mailbox Monday posts will be Cindy from  Cindy’s Love of Books.

Mailbox Monday is a gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week and explore great book blogs.

Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists.

Books that came in my mailbox this week:

The Divorce of Henry VIII by Catherine Fletcher from Palgrave Macmillan (won from a ShelfAwareness contest)

“In 1533 the English monarch Henry VIII, married to Catherine of Aragon, fell madly in love with lady-in-waiting Anne Boleyn, the future mother of Elizabeth I.  No easy matter, procuring a divorce involved strenuous lobbying of the Pope in the exalted halls of the Vatican.  Henry’s lobbyist-for-hire in Rome was a wily Italian diplomat named Gregorio Casali who drew no limits on skullduggery – including kidnapping, bribery, and theft – to make his king a free man.

Set against the backdrop of a Rome recently sacked by the Spanish army and at the height of the Renaissance, winner of the Rome Fellowship Catherine Fletcher draws on hundreds of previously unknown Italian archival documents to revel the extraordinary true story behind history’s most infamous divorce, which led to the creation of the Church of England and changed the course of history.”

2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson from Hachette Book Group (also a win from ShelfAwareness)

“The year is 2312. Scientific and technological advances have opened gateways to an extraordinary future.  Earth is no longer humanity’s only home; new habitats have been created throughout the solar system on moons, planets, and in between.  But in this year, 2312, a sequence of events will force humanity to confront its past, its present, and its future.”

Books I got this week on my Kindle:

Rot & Ruin by Jonathon Maberry

“In the zombie-infested, post-apocalyptic America where Benny Imura lives, every teenager must find a job by the time they turn fifteen or get their rations cut in half. Benny doesn’t want to apprentice as a zombie hunter with his boring older brother Tom, but he has no choice. He expects a tedious job whacking zoms for cash, but what he gets is a vocation that will teach him what it means to be human.

Fifty Shades of Grey, Fifty Shades Darker and Fifty Shades Freed by E. L. James

I’m sure most of you have heard about these books, as I have, they’ve been all over social media outlets and news stations.  I had avoided them just because they didn’t really sound like my style of book.  Finally a couple of my good friends from college told me they were reading them, so I finally agreed to read them.  I’m refraining from final judgement here, because I’m only 15 chapters through the first book.  So far, I’m not impressed, and in fact, I dislike Christian Grey.  One of my friends has assured me that she felt the same way, but the books got better, so I’ve agreed to continue on with them.  If you have any opinions or thoughts, I’d be interested to hear from you!

What books made it into your home this week?

Mailbox Monday

Welcome to Mailbox Monday, a meme started by Marcia of  A Girl and Her Books.  The host for April’s Mailbox Monday posts will be Cindy from  Cindy’s Love of Books.

Mailbox Monday is a gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week and explore great book blogs.

Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists.

(I’m barely getting this in on Monday!  The day got away from me!)

Books I received in the mail this week:

The Tenth Saint by D. J. Niko – I received this autographed book from the author.

“Cambridge archaeologist Sarah Weston makes an unusual discovery in the ancient Ethiopian mountain kingdom of Aksum: a sealed tomb with inscriptions in an obscure dialect.  Seeking to ascertain the translation and the identity of the entombed man, she and her colleague, American anthropologist Daniel Madigan, stumble upon a lethal conflict.

Tracking down clues in Addis Ababa and the monasteries of Lalibela, Sarah and Daniel uncover a codex in a subterranean library revealing a set of prophecies about Earth’s final hours written by a man hailed by Coptic mystics as Ethiopia’s tenth saint.  Violently opposed by the corrupt director of antiquities at the Ethiopian Ministry of Culture and Tourism, they’re left for dead in the heart of the Simien Mountains.  Surviving to journey to Paris, Sarah is given another piece of the ancient puzzle: a fourteenth-century letter describing catastrophic events leading to the planet’s demise.

Connecting the two discoveries, Sarah faces a deadly intercontinental conspiracy to keep the secret of the tenth saint buried.  Risking her reputation and her life, Sarah embarks on a quest to stall the technological advances that will surely destroy the world.”

The Innocents by Frncesca Segal from Hyperion – releases June, 2012

“Newly engaged and unthinkingly self-satisfied, twenty-eight-year-old Adam Newman is the prize catch of Temple Fortune, a small, tight-knit Jewish suburb of London.  He has been dating Rachel Gilbert since they were both sixteen and now, to the relief and happinesss of the entire Gilbert family, they are finally to marry.  To Adam, Rachel embodies the hightest values of Temple Fortune; she is innocent, conventional, and entirely secure in here community – a place in which everyone still knows the whereabouts of their nusery school classmates.  Marrying Rachel will cement Adam’s role in a warm, inclusive family he loves.

But as the vast machinery of the wedding gathers momentum, Adam feels the first faint touches of claustrophobia, and when Rachel’s younger cousin Ellie Schneider moves home from New York, she unsettles Adam more than he’d care to admit.  Ellie – beautiful, vulnerable, and fiercely independent – offers a liberation that he hadn’t known existed; a freedom from the loving interference and frustrating parochialism of North West London.  Adam finds himself questioning everything, suddenly torn between security and exhilaration, tradition and indepednece.  What might he be missing by staying close to home?”

Books I downloaded for my Kindle that were FREE this week:

Promise Me This by Cathy Gohlke

“Michael Dunnagan was never supposed to sail on the Titanic, nor would he have survived if not for the courage of Owen Allen. Determined to carry out his promise to care for Owen’s relatives in America and his younger sister, Annie, in England, Michael works hard to strengthen the family’s New Jersey garden and landscaping business.

Annie Allen doesn’t care what Michael promised Owen. She only knows that her brother is gone—like their mother and father—and the grief is enough to swallow her whole. As Annie struggles to navigate life without Owen, Michael reaches out to her through letters. In time, as Annie begins to lay aside her anger that Michael lived when Owen did not, a tentative friendship takes root and blossoms into something neither expected. Just as Michael saves enough money to bring Annie to America, WWI erupts in Europe. When Annie’s letters mysteriously stop, Michael risks everything to fulfill his promise—and find the woman he’s grown to love—before she’s lost forever.”

Bloody Little Secrets by Karly Kirkpatrick

“Some secrets don’t stay buried. Neither did Vicky.

17-year-old Vicky Hernandez has a big problem. She’s dead. Or not quite. After discovering she’s been turned into a vampire, she tries to settle into a quiet suburb of Chicago and return to a normal life. If only she could stop wanting to bite her boyfriend. Not to mention she is dying to find out who turned her, and why. She doesn’t have to wait long before they come to her. “

The Vampire’s Warden by S. J. Wright

“It was a flash in the moonlight, a blur of motion like I’d never witnessed before. No human had the capacity to move like that. When I found myself face-to-face with him there in the meadow, I knew without a doubt that the journal was authentic. I knew that my grandfather hadn’t been crazy at all. Because a foot away from me stood a vampire.

Sarah reads her grandfather’s journal in stunned disbelief. What was once her grandfather’s responsibility has passed to her father and now to her. She has become the Warden. Her life will never be the same.”

The Glass Case by Kristin Hannah

“April Bannerman is a young mother of three, married to her high school sweetheart & living in the same small town in which she grew up.  Although she loves her children and husband, April is plagued by the growing doubt that she has not lived up to her mother’s expectations for her—until one day when something terrible and unexpected happens, and April must face the truth about her own life and discover what really matters.”

Stuck in the Middle by Virginia Smith

“Joan Sanderson’s life is stuck. Her older sister, Allie, is starting a family and her younger sister, Tori, has a budding career. Meanwhile, Joan is living at home with Mom and looking after her aging grandmother. Not exactly a recipe for excitement. That is, until a hunky young doctor moves in next door. Suddenly Joan has a goal–to get a date. But it won’t be easy. Pretty Tori flirts relentlessly with him and Joan is sure that she can’t compete. But with a little help from God, Allie, and an enormous mutt with bad manners, maybe Joan can find her way out of this rut.”

Paper Roses by Amanda Cabot

“Her future stretched out like the clear blue Texas sky. But a storm is coming. Leaving the past behind in Philadelphia, mail-order bride Sarah Dobbs arrives in San Antonio ready to greet her groom–a man she has never met but whose letters, her paper roses, have won her heart from afar. But there is a problem–Austin Canfield is dead, and Sarah cannot go back East. As Sarah tries to reconcile herself to a future that is drastically changed, Austin’s brother Clay wants nothing more than to shake the Texas dust from his boots, but first he must find his brother’s killer. And then there’s Sarah. Something is blooming out in the vast Texas landscape that neither Clay nor Sarah is ready to admit, and the promise of redemption blows like a gentle breeze through the prairie grasses. Book 1 of the Texas Dreams series, Paper Roses will sweep you away with a tale of love, loss, and tantalizing possibilities.”

 

What books made it into your home this week?

Mailbox Monday

Welcome to Mailbox Monday, a meme started by Marcia of  A Girl and Her Books.  The host for April’s Mailbox Monday posts will be Cindy from  Cindy’s Love of Books.

Mailbox Monday is a gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week and explore great book blogs.

Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists.

Books I received in the mail this week:

You Came Back by Christopher Coake from Hachette Book Group – Releases June, 2012

“Thirty-something Midwesterner Mark Fife believes he has moved past the accidental death of his young son, Brendan, as well as his subsequent divorce from his college sweetheart, Chloe.  Nearly seven years have passed; he’s successful, he’s in love again, and he believes he’s mastered his own memories.

But then he is contacted by a strange woman who tells him not only that she owns his old house, but also that she believes it to be haunted by Brendan’s ghost.  How will Mark, who knows that ghosts do not exist, deal with the reappearance of his beloved ex-wife, who accepts that the spirit of Brendan is real?  Is it possible for these two wounded parents to choose paths that allow happiness back into their lives?”

The Yard by Alex Grecian from Putnam.  Releases June, 2012

“Victorian London is a cesspool of crime, and Scotland Yard has only twelve detectives – known as “The Murder Squad” – to investigate thousands of murders every month.  Created after the metropolitan Police’s spectacular failure to capture Jack the Ripper, the Murder Squad suffers rampant public contempt.  They have failed their citizens.  But no one can anticipate the brutal murder of one of their own…one of the twelve…”

A Chance in the World by Steve Pemberton from Thomas Nelson.  This book released in January, 2012

“Taken from his mother at age three, Steve Klakowicz lives a terrifying existence.  Caught in the clutches of a cruel foster family and subjected to constant abuse, Steve finds his only refuge in a box of books gifted to him by a kind stranger.  In these books, he discovers new worlds he can only imagine and gains hope that one day he might have a different life – that one day he will find his true home.

A fair-complexioned boy with blue eyes, curly Afro, and a Polish last name, he is determined to unravel the mystery of his origins and find his birth family.  Armed with just a single clue, Steve embarks on an extraordinary quest for his identity, only to find that nothing is what it appears to be.”

Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore from Dial Books (an imprint of Penguin Books)  Releases May, 2012

(I may be more excited about this ARC than any other I’ve ever received!!!)

“When Bitterblue’s father, King Leck, was murdered, she became Queen of Monsea at ten years old.  Eight years later, Bitterblue is still learning how to rule the kingdom.  The influence of Leck – a violent psychopath with mind-altering abilities – lives on.  When Bitterblue begins sneaking outside the castle to walk the streets of her own city, she meets two thieves who hold a key to the truth of Leck’s reign.  And one of them, with an extreme skill called a Grace, holds the key to her heart.”

Here’s my tw0-cents – if you haven’t ever read the Graceling series, Graceling and Fire,  you have to at least give it a chance.  I love LOVE these books, and have been anxiously awaiting the release of Bitterblue, when I received the ARC in the mail.  I danced around the house, “Woohoo’d” at the top of my lungs, and waved the book around at my husband and daughter until they were concerned for my state of mind.  You can read Kristin Cashore’s blog here, or visit the site called Graceling Realm.

Into this World by Sybil Baker from the author, who was kind enough to sign the book for me!  Releases May 22, 2012

“On the day Allison Morehouse walks off her job, her sister Mina calls from Korea, frantic and in tears.  determined to discover the truth about her adopted sister, Allison flies to Seoul, yet Mina – and Korea – are nothing like Allison imagines.  Over the next three months, Allison and Mina will unearth thirty years of family secrets – and Allison will discover in Mina the sister she never embraced, and in herself, the stronger woman she can be.”

ARC E-books I received this week:

Sailor Twain by Mark Siegel from First Second – Releases Oct 2, 2012

“One hundred years ago. On the foggy Hudson River, a riverboat captain rescues an injured mermaid from the waters of the busiest port in the United States. A wildly popular–and notoriously reclusive–author makes a public debut. A French nobleman seeks a remedy for a curse. As three lives twine together and race to an unexpected collision, the mystery of the Mermaid of the Hudson deepens.

A mysterious and beguiling love story with elements of Poe, Twain, Hemingway, and Greek mythology, drawn in moody black-and-white charcoal, Sailor Twain is a study in romance, atmosphere, and suspense.”

Crazy Dangerous by Andrew Klavan from Thomas Nelson – Releases May 1, 2012

“You probably want to hear about Jennifer and the demons and how I played chicken with a freight train and—oh yeah—the weird murder . . . you’re definitely going to want to hear about that.”

Sam Hopkins is a good kid who has fallen in with a bad crowd. Hanging around with car thieves and thugs, Sam knows it’s only a matter of time before he makes one bad decision too many and gets into real trouble.

But one day, Sam sees them harassing an eccentric schoolmate of his named Jennifer. When Sam finds the courage to face the bullies down, he loses a bad set of friends and acquires a very strange new one.

Because Jennifer is not just eccentric. To Sam, she seems downright crazy. She has terrifying hallucinations involving demons and the devil and death. And here’s the really crazy part: Sam is beginning to suspect that these visions may actually be prophecies—prophecies of something terrible that’s going to happen very soon. Unless he can stop it.

With no one to believe him, with no one to help him, Sam is now all alone in a race against time. Finding the truth before disaster strikes is going to be both crazy and very, very dangerous.”

The Blood of Heroes by James Donovan from Little, Brown and Company – Releases May 15, 2012

“On February 23, 1836, a large Mexican army led by dictator Santa Anna reached San Antonio and laid siege to about 175 Texas rebels holed up in the Alamo. The Texans refused to surrender for nearly two weeks until almost 2,000 Mexican troops unleashed a final assault. The defenders fought valiantly-for their lives and for a free and independent Texas-but in the end, they were all slaughtered. Their ultimate sacrifice inspired the rallying cry “Remember the Alamo!” and eventual triumph.

Exhaustively researched, and drawing upon fresh primary sources in U.S. and Mexican archives, THE BLOOD OF HEROES is the definitive account of this epic battle. Populated by larger-than-life characters–including Davy Crockett, James Bowie, William Barret Travis–this is a stirring story of audacity, valor, and redemption.

James Donovan is the author of the bestselling A Terrible Glory: Custer and the Little Bighorn-the Last Great Battle of the American West. He lives in Dallas, Texas.”

Fabulous Friday!!!

I am just beside myself with excitement!  I just came home to a package on my front porch from Penguin – it’s the new/upcoming release “Bitterblue” by Kristin Cashore!!!  This may be the most excited I’ve been to receive an ARC!  I will talk about it more on Mailbox Monday, but I was so happy I had to share my excitement with other “bookish” people!  :)

For my fellow Graceling fan, Refuting the Intolerably Stupid, I thought of you as soon as I opened this package!!!  :)

Mailbox Monday

Welcome to Mailbox Monday, a meme started by Marcia of  A Girl and Her Books.  The host for April’s Mailbox Monday posts will be Cindy from  Cindy’s Love of Books.

Mailbox Monday is a gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week and explore great book blogs.

Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists.

Books I received in the mail this week:

The Orphan Master by Jean Zimmerman from Viking

“It’s 1663 in the tiny, hardscrabble Dutch colony of New Amsterdam, now present-day southern Manhattan.  Orphan children are going missing, and among those looking into the mysterious state of affairs are a quick-witted twenty-two-year-old trader, Blandine van Couvering, herself an orphan, and a dashing British spy named Edward Drummond.

Suspects abound, including the governor’s wealthy nephew, a green-eyed aristocrat with decadent tastes; an Algonquin trapper, who may be possessed by a demon that turns people into cannibals; and the colony’s own corrupt and conflicted orphanmaster.  Both the search for the killer and Edward and Blandine’s new found romance are endangered, however, when Blandine is accused of being a witch and Edward is sentenced to hang for espionage.  Meanwhile, war looms as the English king plans to wrest control of the colony.”

ARC E-books I received:

Swipe by Evan Angler from Thomas Nelson.

“Set in a future North America that is struggling to recover after famine and global war, Swipe follows the lives of three kids caught in the middle of a conflict they didn’t even know existed. United under a charismatic leader, every citizen of the American Union is required to get the Mark on their 13th birthday in order to gain the benefits of citizenship.

The Mark is a tattoo that must be swiped by special scanners for everything from employment to transportation to shopping. It’s almost Logan Langly’s 13th birthday and he knows he should be excited about getting the Mark, but he hasn’t been able to shake the feeling he’s being watched. Not since his sister went to get her Mark five years ago . . . and never came back.

When Logan and his friends discover the truth behind the Mark, will they ever be able to go back to being normal teenagers?”

Skylark by Meagan Spooner from Lerner Publishing Group – Releases Oct. 1, 2012

“In magic there is power, and in power, life.

For fifteen years, Lark Ainsley waited for the day when her Resource would be harvested and she would finally be an adult. After the harvest she expected a small role in the regular, orderly operation of the City within the Wall. She expected to do her part to maintain the refuge for the last survivors of the Wars. She expected to be a tiny cog in the larger clockwork of the city.

Lark did not expect to become the City’s power supply.

For fifteen years, Lark Ainsley believed in a lie. Now she must escape the only world she’s ever known…or face a fate more unimaginable than death.”

No Place Like Holmes by Jason Lethcoe from Thomas Nelson.  Released Dec 6, 2011

“A mystery is afoot at 221 Baker Street, but will Griffin Sharpe be able to figure out the clues before the future catches up with the past?

When Sherlock Holmes moves out of Baker Street, a new tenant moves in-a mysterious woman named Elizabeth who has long been a fan of Holmes. When she discovers that Griffin and his uncle are also detectives, she becomes very friendly. So when Elizabeth goes missing along with a special invention, Griffin sets out to rescue her.  But finding Elizabeth will take them on a race against the clock that bends time itself!

When Sherlock Holmes moves out of Baker Street, a new tenant moves in-a mysterious woman named Elizabeth who has long been a fan of Holmes. When she discovers that Griffin and his uncle are also detectives, she becomes very friendly. So when Elizabeth goes missing along with a special invention, Griffin sets out to rescue her.  But finding Elizabeth will take them on a race against the clock that bends time itself!”

The Last Free Cat by Jon Blake from Albert Whitman & Company – Releases Sept. 1, 2012

“Jade has always trusted the authorities, but now she begins to question the very society in which she lives.

Not far in the future, cat breeding is strictly controlled and cats are only for the rich in their private estates. When beautiful, sleek Feela turns up in Jade’s backyard, she cannot resist taking the cat in, even though it could cost her everything.

Soon the enforcement officials are raiding Jade’s house.

After her mother’s death, the only person left for Jade to turn to is Kris, the cynical school loner.

Soon Jade and Kris are on the run. . .”

 

What new books came into your house this week?

Exciting Upcoming Releases

I just read about an upcoming book release that makes me look forward to August!  Typically I don’t look forward to the hottest time of the year, but with a few good books, I might crank up the AC, drink a lime slush and forget it’s almost as hot as the surface of the sun outside!

This book just caught my attention, The Light Between Oceans by M. L. Stedman.  It’s release date is August 7, 2012.

From Indiebound:

A captivating, beautiful, and stunningly accomplished debut novel—the story of a lighthouse keeper and his wife who make one devastating choice that forever changes two worlds.

In 1918, after four harrowing years on the Western Front, Tom Sherbourne returns to Australia to take a job as the lighthouse keeper on remote Janus Rock. To this isolated island, where the supply boat comes only four times a year and shore leaves are granted every other year at best, Tom brings a young, bold, and loving wife, Isabel. Three years later, after two miscarriages and one stillbirth, the grieving Isabel is tending the grave of her newly lost infant when she hears a baby’s cries on the wind. A boat has washed up on shore carrying a dead man and a living baby. Tom, whose records as a lighthouse keeper are meticulous and whose moral principles have withstood a horrific war, wants to report the dead man and the infant immediately. But Isabel has taken the tiny baby to her breast. Against Tom’s judgment, they claim the child as their own and name her Lucy, but a rift begins to grow between them. When Lucy is two, Tom and Isabel return to the mainland and are reminded that there are other people in the world…and one of them is desperate to find her lost baby.

M.L. Stedman’s extraordinarily compelling characters, still trying to make sense of life in the wake of so much death in the war, are imperfect people seeking to find their north star in a world of incomprehensible complexity.

The book Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers is another book that I’m looking forward to – it released this week, but I haven’t had a chance to get it yet.  I’m not sure what about this book intrigues me so much, but I’m just beside myself waiting to get my hands on it.

From Indiebound:

Why be the sheep, when you can be the wolf?

Seventeen-year-old Ismae escapes from the brutality of an arranged marriage into the sanctuary of the convent of St. Mortain, where the sisters still serve the gods of old. Here she learns that the god of Death Himself has blessed her with dangerous gifts—and a violent destiny. If she chooses to stay at the convent, she will be trained as an assassin and serve as a handmaiden to Death. To claim her new life, she must destroy the lives of others.
Ismae’s most important assignment takes her straight into the high court of Brittany—where she finds herself woefully under prepared—not only for the deadly games of intrigue and treason, but for the impossible choices she must make. For how can she deliver Death’s vengeance upon a target who, against her will, has stolen her heart?

I am incredibly excited about this book – I loved Graceling and Fire, and have been waiting impatiently for Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore, the release date is May 1, 2012.  To be honest, tomorrow wouldn’t be soon enough for me!

From Indiebound:

Eight years after Graceling, Bitterblue is now queen of Monsea. But the influence of her father, a violent psychopath with mind-altering abilities, lives on. Her advisors, who have run things since Leck died, believe in a forward-thinking plan: Pardon all who committed terrible acts under Leck’s reign, and forget anything bad ever happened. But when Bitterblue begins sneaking outside the castle–disguised and alone–to walk the streets of her own city, she starts realizing that the kingdom has been under the thirty-five-year spell of a madman, and the only way to move forward is to revisit the past.

Two thieves, who only steal what has already been stolen, change her life forever. They hold a key to the truth of Leck’s reign. And one of them, with an extreme skill called a Grace that he hasn’t yet identified, holds a key to her heart.

Are there any books that are upcoming that you’re totally excited about?  I’d love to hear about them, I love having great books on my TBR list!

Mailbox Monday

Welcome to Mailbox Monday, a meme started by Marcia of  A Girl and Her Books.  The host for April’s Mailbox Monday posts will be Cindy from  Cindy’s Love of Books.

Mailbox Monday is a gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week and explore great book blogs.

Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists.

This week my mailbox wasn’t full, but I got several ARC E-books to add to my Kindle!

Veil of Pearls by MaryLu Tyndall from Barbour Publishing.

“She thought she could outrun her past. . .

It is 1811, and the prosperous port city of Charleston is bustling with plantation owners, slaves, and immigrants. Immigrants such as the raven-haired Adalia Winston. But Adalia has a secret: her light skin belies that she is part black and a runaway slave from Barbados. Skilled in herbal remedies, Adalia finds employment with a local doctor and settles into a quiet life, thankful for her freedom but still fearful that her owner will find her.

Born into one of Charleston’s prominent families, Morgan Rutledge is handsome, bored—and enamored of the beautiful Adalia, who spurns his advances. Morgan’s persistence, however, finally wins, and Adalia is swept into the glamorous world of Charleston high society.

But her new life comes at a high price—that of denying her heritage and her zeal for God. How far is Adalia willing to go to win the heart of the man she loves? And when her secret is revealed, will that love be enough, or will the truth ruin Morgan and send Adalia back into slavery?”

Making Piece by Beth M. Howard from Harlequin.

“A memoir of love, loss and pie.

“You will find my story is a lot like pie, a strawberry-rhubarb pie. It’s bitter. It’s messy. It’s got some sweetness, too. Sometimes the ingredients get added in the wrong order, but it has substance, it will warm your insides, and even though it isn’t perfect, it still turns out okay in the end.”

When journalist Beth M. Howard’s young husband dies suddenly, she packs up the RV he left behind and hits the American highways. At every stop along the way—whether fi lming a documentary or handing out free slices on the streets of Los Angeles—Beth uses pie as a way to fi nd purpose. Howard eventually returns to her Iowa roots and creates the perfect synergy between two of America’s greatest icons—pie and the American Gothic House, the little farmhouse immortalized in Grant Wood’s famous painting, where she now lives and runs the Pitchfork Pie Stand.

Making Piece powerfully shows how one courageous woman triumphs over tragedy. This beautifully written memoir is, ultimately, about hope. It’s about the journey of healing and recovery, of facing fears, fi nding meaning in life again, and moving forward with purpose and, eventually, joy. It’s about the nourishment of the heart and soul that comes from the simple act of giving to others, like baking a homemade pie and sharing it with someone whose
pain is even greater than your own. And it tells of the role of fate, second chances and the strength found in community.”

The Absolutist by John Boyne (of Boy in the Striped Pajamas) from Other Press.

“It is September 1919: twenty-one-year-old Tristan Sadler takes a train from London to Norwich to deliver a package of letters to the sister of Will Bancroft, the man he fought alongside during the Great War.

But the letters are not the real reason for Tristan’s visit. He can no longer keep a secret and has finally found the courage to unburden himself of it. As Tristan recounts the horrific details of what to him became a senseless war, he also speaks of his friendship with Will–from their first meeting on the training grounds at Aldershot to their farewell in the trenches of northern France. The intensity of their bond brought Tristan happiness and self-discovery as well as confusion and unbearable pain.

The Absolutist is a masterful tale of passion, jealousy, heroism, and betrayal set in one of the most gruesome trenches of France during World War I. This novel will keep readers on the edge of their seats until its most extraordinary and unexpected conclusion, and will stay with them long after they’ve turned the last page.”

The Book of Summers by Emylia Hall from Harlequin.

“For nine-year-old Beth Lowe, it should have been a magical summer—sun-kissed days lounging in rickety deck chairs, nights gathered around the fire. But what begins as an innocent vacation to Hungary ends with the devastating separation of her parents. Beth and her father return home alone, leaving her mother, Marika, behind.

Over the next seven summers, Beth walks a tightrope between worlds, fleeing her quiet home and distant father to bask in the intoxicating Hungarian countryside with Marika. It is during these enthralling summers that Beth comes to life and learns to love. But at sixteen, she uncovers a life-shattering secret, bringing her sacred summers with Marika abruptly to an end.

Now, years later, Beth receives a package containing a scrapbook, a haunting record of a time long forgotten.  Suddenly, she is swept back to the world she left behind, forced to confront the betrayal that destroyed her—and to  search her heart for forgiveness.”

 

Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan from Random House Children’s Books

“Kami Glass is in love with someone she’s never met—a boy she’s talked to in her head since she was born. This has made her an outsider in the sleepy English town of Sorry-in-the-Vale, but she has learned ways to turn that to her advantage. Her life seems to be in order, until disturbing events begin to occur.

There has been screaming in the woods and the manor overlooking the town has lit up for the first time in 10 years. . . . The Lynburn family, who ruled the town a generation ago and who all left without warning, have returned.

Now Kami can see that the town she has known and loved all her life is hiding a multitude of secrets—and a murderer. The key to it all just might be the boy in her head. The boy she thought was imaginary is real, and definitely and deliciously dangerous.”

 

 

22 Brittania Road by Amanda Hodgkinson from Penguin Group

“It has been six years since Silvana has seen her husband, Janusz, when she boards a ship that will take her from Poland to England with their eight-year-old son Aurek. Asked for her occupation, “housekeeper or housewife?,”  Silvana first responds softly, “survivor.”  She and Aurek spent much of the war hiding in the forests of Poland, and when they arrive in England, they will have to learn a new way of living, and face an intense emotional adjustment to the new place they will now have to call home.

Meanwhile, in small-town England, Janusz prepares for his wife and son’s arrival. He rents a little house at 22 Britannia Road and plants a quaint English garden. Determined to be an Englishman now, Janusz wants to forget the war, his memories of both his own bravery and his shameful cowardice. With the sweet albeit awkward reuniting, Janusz, Silvana and Aurek enter their new life. But six years apart have changed all of them.

A lifetime without a father and a wild, almost feral existence in the woods of Poland has made Aurek suspicious of this man who expects him to sleep apart from his mother, and he begins to think of Janusz as “the enemy.” Janusz still has the letters from a love in France whom he cannot forget. Silvana is skittish and struggles to play the role of proper English housewife, but the shattering secret she keeps-an act permissible in the midst of war but unthinkable during peacetime-stands between husband and wife. When the dashing father of Aurek’s only friend shows up and makes Silvana feel like a woman again for the first time since the war began, the charade of contented family on Britannia Road comes crashing down.

22 Britannia Road is an unforgettable story about maternal love, overcoming hardship, and ultimately, acceptance – a tour de force that will pierce your heart.”  

And I visited my library book store and scored Miss Julia Speaks her Mind by Ann B. Ross.

If you aren’t familiar with the Miss Julia series, you are missing some funny stuff!  I bought the first four of the series and sent them to my Mom and Granny, and I’m happy to say that we shared Miss Julia out-loud over Spring Break, and now my Mom is hooked!  :)  Here’s a summary of the book from the publisher, Harper Collins.

“After the unexpected death of her husband of 44 years, Julia Springer is more than just a grieving widow, she’s a rich one. She’s also a woman on the verge of finding herself. Freed at last from her husband’s sheltering, often suffocating gaze, Miss Julia realizes that she must learn to manage her money, to run her own household, and to carry on the substantial reputation that her husband built in their small Southern town.

It’s a tall order, and one she’s excited to take on. But just when she thinks she’s got her new life under control, an unexpected visitor arrives with news that would send anyone, let alone a proper Southern lady, into a tailspin. How Julia copes with the news of her husband’s secret life, and learns to rebuild her own, is the subject of this charming, often zany and always riveting novel.”

What new books came into your home this week?

Tuesday Releases

I’m doing a little bit better about my previously mentioned book slump.  As an avid reader and book lover, I feel like somethings wrong with me when I’m not devouring a book!  Several friends suggested books they liked, and I’ve picked them up.  One I really really enjoyed was A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkenss.  I loved it, couldn’t bear to put it down, and had that bittersweet feeling when I finished it.  I picked up a “brain candy” book, one that requires no great thought process to read, Nice Girls Don’t Have Fangs by Molly Harper, and that book made me really laugh out loud!  (I see lot’s of LOL’s on FB and texts, and I wonder if they are really laughing out loud or not).  I’m hoping to find another book that will grab me and pull me in.  Here are some new releases, maybe one of them will grab you! (or me).

Celebrity in Death (In Death Series #34)  by J. D. Robb (Released 2/21/12)

“Lieutenant Eve Dallas is no party girl, but she’s managing to have a reasonably good time at the celebrity-packed bash celebrating The Icove Agenda, a film based on one of her famous cases. It’s a little spooky seeing the actress playing her, who looks almost like her long-lost twin. Not as unsettling, though, as seeing the actress who plays Peabody drowned in the lap pool on the roof of the director’s luxury building. Now she’s at the center of a crime scene-and Eve is more than ready to get out of her high heels and strap on her holster and step into the role she was born to play: cop.”

(Maybe I should start at #1 of this series – with 34 out, this might keep me busy for a month or so!)

A Perfect Blood (Rachel Morgan Series #10) by Kim Harrison (Released 2/21/12)

“Ritually murdered corpses are appearing across Cincinnati, terrifying amalgams of human and other. Pulled in to help investigate by the I.S. and the FIB, former witch turned day-walking demon Rachel Morgan soon realizes a horrifying truth: a human hate group is trying to create its own demons to destroy all Inderlanders, and to do so, it needs her blood.

She’s faced vampires, witches, werewolves, demons, and more, but humanity itself might be her toughest challenge yet.”

I am not up to date on this series yet, but the ones I’ve read, I’ve really enjoyed!

 

 

The Garden Intrigue (Pink Carnation Series #9) by Lauren Willig (Released 2/16/12)

I’m only up to book #3 in this series, but it makes me happy that I have 6 more just waiting for me!!!

“Secret agent Augustus Whittlesby has spent a decade undercover in France, posing as an insufferably bad poet. The French surveillance officers can’t bear to read his work closely enough to recognize the information drowned in a sea of verbiage.

New York-born Emma Morris Delagardie is a thorn in Augustus’s side. An old school friend of Napoleon’s stepdaughter, she came to France with her uncle, the American envoy; eloped with a Frenchman; and has been rattling around the salons of Paris ever since. Widowed for four years, she entertains herself by drinking too much champagne, holding a weekly salon, and loudly critiquing Augustus’s poetry.

As Napoleon pursues his plans for the invasion of England, Whittlesby hears of a top-secret device to be demonstrated at a house party at Malmaison. The catch? The only way in is with Emma, who has been asked to write a masque for the weekend’s entertainment.

Emma is at a crossroads: Should she return to the States or remain in France? She’ll do anything to postpone the decision-even if it means teaming up with that silly poet Whittlesby to write a masque for Bonaparte’s house party. But each soon learns that surface appearances are misleading. In this complicated masque within a masque, nothing goes quite as scripted- especially Augustus’s feelings for Emma.”

 

 

What recent books have you been excited about?

Tuesday Releases

Happy Valentine’s Day, friends!  I hope you have a fabulous day, and spend it with the ones you love.  And, (per James Patterson), if you can’t be with the one you love, love the book you’re with!

Here’s a neat Valentine article you might enjoy – “5 Reasons Books Make the Best Valentine” from Book Club Girl.

On to new releases and movie news:

I am more likely to be excited by a new book release than I am new movies.  I would rather read the book than see the movie, and most of the time I like the book better.  However, I am excited to see “The Borrowers” in movie form, called “The Secret World of Arrietty”.  Did you read this book as a child?

There are some great book releases this week:

Private Games by James Patterson and Mark Sullivan

Click here to read the first 16 Chapters for free!

I’ve Got Your Number by Sophie Kinsella

Oath of Office by Michael Palmer

The Wolf Gift by Anne Rice

What books are you looking forward to this week?