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.

If you’re new to Mailbox Monday welcome! Thank you to everyone who stops by Mailbox Monday. Whether you comment or visit I appreciate your taking the time to drop in.

Vacation book spree, part 2 is hold until next week because I had some review/Read It Forward books arrive this week. Read It Forward books will start mailing in January after vacation and the holidays.

I had some downtime at work so I went blog visiting. After reading some of your posts/comments I realized that many of you would like to post Sundays instead during the Monday morning rush hour. So starting with this MM post I will start publishing on Sundays. Starting next week it will be Sunday mornings (12AM Mountain time). Just as using Mister Linky made everyone’s lives easier maybe moving to posting on the weekends will do this same. Hopefully posting on Sundays will also take some of the hassle out of trying to squeeze in Monday visits to your fellow bloggers MM posts. I’m always open to new ideas for MM so don’t hesitate to suggest changes you’d like to see.

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Mennonite in a Little Black Dress: A Memoir of Going Home by Rhoda Janzen (new-to-me author/publicist contact) (Claimed by Beth)

At first, the worst week of Janzen’s life—she gets into a debilitating car wreck right after her husband leaves her for a guy he met on the Internet and saddles her with a mortgage she can’t afford—seems to come out of nowhere, but the disaster’s long buildup becomes clearer as she opens herself up. Her 15-year relationship with Nick had always been punctuated by manic outbursts and verbally abusive behavior, so recognizing her co-dependent role in their marriage becomes an important part of Janzen’s recovery (even as she tweaks the 12 steps just a bit). The healing is further assisted by her decision to move back in with her Mennonite parents, prompting her to look at her childhood religion with fresh, twinkling eyes. (She provides an appendix for those unfamiliar with Mennonite culture, as well as a list of shame-based foods from hot potato salad to borscht.) Janzen is always ready to gently turn the humor back on herself, though, and women will immediately warm to the self-deprecating honesty with which she describes the efforts of friends and family to help her re-establish her emotional well-being.

Out at Night (A Grace Descanso Novel) by Susan Arnout Smith (new-to-me author/Authors on the Web) (Donated to local library)

It’s the dead of night, and Professor Thaddeus Bartholomew is frantically crawling through a field to stay alive. With mere moments to act, he has only enough time to type out a text message—a name—before his stalker overcomes him. Later he’s found with a hole in his chest, shot with a crossbow, and burned to death.

Meanwhile, San Diego crime scene tech Grace Descanso has gone on vacation with her daughter, but the FBI feels far from guilty about interrupting them after her name turns up on the professor’s phone. Grace knows vaguely who he is, but can’t imagine why his dying act would involve her in any way—not that it matters. The FBI won’t let her walk away; she can either join the investigation or become a suspect in it. Soon, political leaders and extremists will converge at the world’s largest agricultural conference, and all signs indicate that Bartholomew’s brutal murder in a field of genetically modified soy is just the beginning of something much larger than one man’s death.

A gripping sequel to her heart-racing series debut, The Timer Game, Susan Arnout Smith’s Out at Night entangles Grace in a sweeping conspiracy that hits her dangerously close to home.

The Secret Mandarin by Sara Sheridan (new-to-me author/publicist contact) (Claimed by Serena)

Desperate to shield her from scandal, Mary’s brother-in-law, the ambitious botanist Robert Fortune, forces her to accompany him on a mission to China to steal tea plants for the East India Company. But Robert conceals his secret motives – to spy for the British forces, newly victorious in the recent Opium War.His task is both difficult and dangerous – the British are still regarded as enemies by the Chinese and exporting tea bushes carries the death sentence. In these harsh conditions Mary grieves for her London life and the baby she has been forced to leave behind, while her fury at Robert intensifies.As their quest becomes increasingly treacherous, Robert and Mary disguise themselves as a mandarin and man-servant. Thousands of miles from everything familiar, Mary revels in her new freedom and the Chinese way of life – and when danger strikes, finds unexpected reserves of courage.The Secret Mandarin is an unforgettable story of love, fortitude and recklessness – of a strong woman determined to make it in a man’s world and a man who will stop at nothing to fulfill his desires.

Supreme Courtship by Christopher Buckley (new-to-me author/Hachette)

President of the United States Donald Vanderdamp is having a hell of a time getting his nominees appointed to the Supreme Court. After one nominee is rejected for insufficiently appreciating To Kill A Mockingbird, the president chooses someone so beloved by voters that the Senate won’t have the guts to reject her — Judge Pepper Cartwright, the star of the nation’s most popular reality show, Courtroom Six.

Will Pepper, a straight-talking Texan, survive a confirmation battle in the Senate? Will becoming one of the most powerful women in the world ruin her love life? And even if she can make it to the Supreme Court, how will she get along with her eight highly skeptical colleagues, including a floundering Chief Justice who, after legalizing gay marriage, learns that his wife has left him for another woman.

Soon, Pepper finds herself in the middle of a constitutional crisis, a presidential reelection campaign that the president is determined to lose, and oral arguments of a romantic nature.

To Desire A Devil by Elizabeth Hoyt (new-to-me author/Hachette) (Donated to local library)

NOTHING IS MORE INTOXICATING-
Reynaud St. Aubyn has spent the last seven years in hellish captivity. Now half mad with fever he bursts into his ancestral home and demands his due. Can this wild-looking man truly be the last earl’s heir, thought murdered by Indians years ago?
OR DANGEROUS-
Beatrice Corning, the niece of the present earl, is a proper English miss. But she has a secret: No real man has ever excited her more than the handsome youth in the portrait in her uncle’s home. Suddenly, that very man is here, in the flesh-and luring her into his bed.
THAN SURRENDERING TO A DEVIL.
Only Beatrice can see past Reynaud’s savagery to the noble man inside. For his part, Reynaud is drawn to this lovely lady, even as he is suspicious of her loyalty to her uncle. But can Beatrice’s love tame a man who will stop at nothing to regain his title-even if it means sacrificing her innocence?

Doubleback by Libby Fischer Hellmann (new-to-me author/Librarything) (Claimed by Rebecca)

Little Molly Messenger is kidnapped on a sunny June morning. Three days later she’s returned, apparently unharmed. Molly’s mother, Chris, is so grateful to have her daughter back that she s willing to overlook the odd circumstances.

A few days later, the brakes go out on Chris’s car.

An accident? Maybe. Except that it turns out that Chris, the IT manager at a large Chicago bank, may have misappropriated three million dollars. Not convinced that his daughter is safe, Molly’s father hires PI Georgia Davis to follow the money and investigate Chris’s death.

Doubleback, the sequel to the acclaimed Easy Innocence, reunites PI Georgia Davis with video producer Ellie Foreman (An Eye For Murder, A Picture Of Guilt, An Image Of Death, A Shot To Die For). The two women track leads from Northern Wisconsin to an Arizona border town, where illegal immigrants, smuggled drugs, and an independent contractor called Delton Security come into play. Georgia and Ellie go to great lengths to find the truth, and Georgia discovers that you can cross a line, but sometimes you have to double back.

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What books came into your house last week? Don’t forget to fill out Mister Linky or leave a comment with a list of books if you don’t blog. If you’re interested in Read It Forward you will need to leave a comment in addition to filling out Mister Linky.

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