The Printed Page

Read: 15 books (8 eBooks) DNF’d: 5 Pages read: 5,802

Very good

Favorite author

Good/solid debut

DNF @ pg. 58

Favorite author, book #1

Favorite author, book #2

Favorite author, book #3

Very good

Good

Very good

DNF @ pg. 69

DNF @ pg. 92

Excellent

Good/solid debut

Good/very good

DNF @ pg. 105, book #4

Good/very good

DNF @ pg. 135

Very good/excellent

Very good/excellent

Updated Monday @ 11:51PM MT (I work the late shift and do my thing when you all are sleeping)

Book bloggers are a phenomenal group of people and I feel blessed right now. Mailbox Monday’s blog tour is booked through September of 2011!! I’m absolutely blown away by the response. More details and a MMBT page to come here at The Printed Page but I just wanted to say thank you. I hope you all have as much fun hosting as I’ve had.

And one other thing you need to know right from the start: hosting MM is and should be FUN (yep I’m shouting at you ). Life happens and there’s not a darn thing you can do to stop it from getting in the way sometimes. So if for any reason you can’t host you’re not to fret, panic, get in a tizzy or wonder how to tell me. I’m your built in backup and can host any month. Enjoy!

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Many of you have expressed how much you’ll miss Mailbox Monday as will I. Truly its been one of the most fun things that I’ve done here at The Printed Page. I spent lots of time debating with myself about ending my hosting duties and in the end finally decided that I needed a change. But all good things don’t have to come to an end. Just because I’m not hosting doesn’t mean that Mailbox Monday can’t go on and with a little help for our friends we’ll have years to enjoy one of our favorite MEMEs. Join Mailbox Monday’s blog tour!

OK so finally you can admit it out loud – secretly you’ve been wanting to host Mailbox Monday! There now that you’ve gotten that part out of way you too can join the fun of hosting Mailbox Monday for a month. No long term commitment, no contracts, no fine print. Just pick your month. I’ll handle the publicity, hosting sign up and host notification. You – one month of having everyone stop by your blog.

So… coming soon will be a Mailbox Monday Blog Tour page with all the details. My real job gets in the way of blogging so I’ll work on it at work when the boss is ignoring me. For now pick your month and leave me a comment with your selection(s). As months will fill up fast you better pick more than one in the order you’d like to host. Months will be awarded  first-come, first-served.

Mailbox Monday Blog Tour 2010 August – Shanyn @ Chick Loves Lit September – Kathy @ Bermudaonion Weblog October – Avis @ She Reads and Reads November – Julie @ Knitting and Sundries December – Lady Q @ Let Them Read Books

2011 January – Rose City Reader February – Laura @ Library of Clean Reads March – Laura @ I’m Booking It April – Amy @ Passages to the Past May – Mari @ Mari Reads June – Bluestocking July – Gwen @ A Sea of Books August – Staci @ Life in the Thumb September – Amused @ Amused by Books October – Serena @ Savvy Verse & Wit November – Holly @ Wonders and Marvels December – Lady Q @ Let Them Read Books

Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week. 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.

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Updated today @ 11:12AM MT – Mailbox Monday fans have spoken. Mailbox Monday is going on a blog tour! Now you can host a month of Mailbox Mondays – check out hosting details.

Mailbox Monday Announcement – Monday, July 26th (new date) I will post my last Mailbox Monday. While I have enjoyed everything about Mailbox Monday I’ve decided its time for me to move on.

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RIF: ARC – Adopt me Poison: A Novel of the Renaissance by Sara Poole (new-to-me author)

In the simmering hot summer of 1492, a monstrous evil is stirring within the Eternal City of Rome. The brutal murder of an alchemist sets off a desperate race to uncover a plot that threatens to end the Renaissance and plunge Europe back into medieval darkness. Determined to avenge the killing of her father, Francesca Giordano defies all convention to claim the position of poisoner serving Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia, head of the most notorious and dangerous family in Italy. She becomes the confidante of Lucrezia Borgia and the lover of Cesare Borgia. At the same time, she is drawn to the young renegade monk who yearns to save her life and her soul. Navigating a web of treachery and deceit, Francesca pursues her father’s killer from the depths of Rome’s Jewish ghetto to the heights of the Vatican itself. In so doing, she sets the stage for the ultimate confrontation with ancient forces that will seek to use her darkest desires to achieve their own catastrophic ends.

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What books came into your house last week? You have the choice of using inlinkz or Mr. Linky. With inlinkz you can include a book cover if you’d like along with the link to your Mailbox Monday post (clicking on the image takes you to the blog post.)

Don’t forget to fill out either inlinkz or 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 a link feature.

• In the “Your name:” box, please enter either your name or your blog’s name.

• In the “Your URL:” box please enter the URL/link that will lead directly to the post you are submitting (also called the permalink). This is not the URL to the blog’s home page.

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Read It Forward details

• My rating: Good/very good
• New-to-me author: Yes
• Would I read more from this author: Yes

Title: The Ninth Step: A Jack Leightner Crime Novel Author/website: Gabriel Cohen Publisher: Minotaur Publication date & page count: May ’10 & 274 pages

From page 137 of The Ninth Step

He continued up the driveway, then paused to dig in his pockets. He caught his reflection in the glass outer door; he looked exhausted and disheveled. With difficulty, he managed to locate his keys. After he pulled the key ring out, he accidentally dropped it on the asphalt. As he bent down to pick it up, he heard a sharp thwack overhead. A chunk of brick fell at his feet and some crumbs of it landed on his hair. He looked up, dazed with lack of sleep — had it fallen off the top of the building? He didn’t see anything up there. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a stranger moving up the driveway toward him, a stern fellow with severely short hair, holding up a long, thin wrapped bundle. Farther off, he saw the back door of the contractor’s van hanging open in the street. A flash and muffled sound came out of the front of the bundle and then Nadim heard another thwack on the wall next to him.

Homicide detective Jack Leightner’s brother was killed in a mugging in 1965, an incident Jack always blamed on himself. Now a stranger tells him that he was a member of a gang that had been hired by a local Mafioso to mug the two boys. The man doesn’t know why. The next morning, Jack is investigating a murder in a local deli by a Pakistani man. A security camera taped the assault, and Jack is confident he will soon wrap up the case. Then Homeland Security steps in, saying the man is an Islamic fundamentalist wanted for terrorist activity. Jack struggles to stay in the loop, while also seeking the true cause of his brother’s death.

• My rating: Good/solid debut for this author
• Would I read more from this author: Yes

Title: Saving Max Author/website: Antoinette van Heugten Publisher: MIRA Publication date & page count: September ’10 & 375 pages

From page 186 of Saving Max

The insignificance of the discrepancy reminds her that she has found nothing to disprove the overwhelming evidence that continues to stack up against Max. She studies the paper. Dr. Boris Jojanovich is probably some specialist Marianne took Jonas to. Maybe he can shed some light on whether or not Jonas was suicidal. The medical examiner did say that the angle of the wounds was such that they could have been caused by Jonas – even though it is an extremely remote possibility. If she can find some factual basis for this, perhaps it will counterbalance the preponderance of evidence against Max.

What would a loving mother not do for her child?

Lawyer Danielle Parkman is at her wits’ end. Her son Max, a whip-smart teen with high-functioning autism, has always been a handful. But lately he’s shutting down, using drugs and lashing out – violently.

Desperate, Danielle brings Max to a top-flight psychiatric facility for a full assessment. But rather than reassurance, Danielle receives an agonizing diagnosis describing a deeply damaged, dangerous boy – one she’s never met.

Then Danielle finds Max unconscious and bloodied at the feet of a patient who has been brutally stabbed to death. A fiercely protective mother instinct rears its head – and Danielle is arrested as an accessory to the heinous crime.

In a baffling netherworld of doubt and fear, barred from contacting her son, Danielle clings to the thought of Max’s innocence. But has she, too, lost touch with reality? Is her baby boy really a killer?

With the justice system bearing down on them both, Danielle steels herself to discover the truth – no matter how horrifying. It’s a path well on the wrong side of the law. But only finding the true killer will absolve her from having to choose between her son and her soul.

• My rating: Good/very good – recommended
• Would I read more from this author: Yes

Title: The King’s Mistress Author/website: Emma Campion Publisher: Crown Publication date & page count: July ’10 & 442 pages

From page 219 of The King’s Mistress

Seeing so clearly now that I had no choice, that he had chosen, I thought I might at least play with all my heart, as I rode, as I hawked. I prayed that I might also keep my wits about me. We had been approaching this moment for a long while, but in my wildest imaginings the Alice whom the king undressed and caressed was older, wiser, more experienced. I was but myself, uncertain and overwhelmed by the power this man, this king, wielded against mightier folk than I would ever be. In my daydreams I chose to lie with him. But I understood, I felt in his touch, his eyes, that the choice was really his, and I saw that he had been luring me for a long while, subtly, patiently, oh, so skillfully. If there was a way to refuse a king, I had not learned it. Nor would I.

Alice Perrers scholar Campion debuts with a dynamic fictionalization of the life of Alice Salisbury, who, at 14, leaves family and best friend Geoffrey Chaucer behind to marry Janyn Perrers, a prominent merchant who has the patronage of Isabella, the Queen Mother. Alice accustoms herself to the royal lifestyle, grows close to her husband, and bears a daughter. Her happiness is destroyed when royal fortunes shift, Janyn disappears, and Alice is summoned to court by Queen Philippa. To secure her daughter’s safety, Alice complies and is quickly drawn into the machinations and extravagance of Edward III’s mid-14th-century court, where she captures the king’s interest. Campion stays true to the facts of Alice’s life as the mistress of Edward III, the mother of his son John, and a successful businesswoman. This is a detailed rendering of Edward III’s court, one that provides an empathetic but realistic portrait of a colorful and, if Campion is to be believed, misunderstood woman.

Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week. 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.

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I have something this week I haven’t had in a while -ARCs! I’d also like to thank my wonderful friend Kathy of Bermudaonion’s Weblog. She sent me two wonderful ARCs I have listed this week – The King’s Mistress and The Professor of Secrets. Thank you Kathy for remembering me when you were wandering around the BEA convention gathering.

RIF: ARC – Adopt me The King’s Mistress by Emma Campion (new-to-me author)

Alice Perrers scholar Campion debuts with a dynamic fictionalization of the life of Alice Salisbury, who, at 14, leaves family and best friend Geoffrey Chaucer behind to marry Janyn Perrers, a prominent merchant who has the patronage of Isabella, the Queen Mother. Alice accustoms herself to the royal lifestyle, grows close to her husband, and bears a daughter. Her happiness is destroyed when royal fortunes shift, Janyn disappears, and Alice is summoned to court by Queen Philippa. To secure her daughter’s safety, Alice complies and is quickly drawn into the machinations and extravagance of Edward III’s mid-14th-century court, where she captures the king’s interest. Campion stays true to the facts of Alice’s life as the mistress of Edward III, the mother of his son John, and a successful businesswoman. This is a detailed rendering of Edward III’s court, one that provides an empathetic but realistic portrait of a colorful and, if Campion is to be believed, misunderstood woman.

RIF: ARC – Adopt me The Professor of Secrets: Mystery, Medicine, and Alchemy in Renaissance Italy by William Eamon (new-to-me author)

In the tradition of Galileo’s Daughter and Brunelleschi’s Dome, this exciting story illuminates the captivating world of the late Renaissance—in this case its plagues, remedies, and alchemy—through the life of Leonardo Fioravanti, a brilliant, remarkably forward-thinking, and utterly unconventional doctor. Fioravanti’s marvelous cures and talent for self-aggrandizement earned him the adoration of the people, the scorn of the medical establishment, and a reputation as one of the age’s most colorful, combative figures. Written by Pulitzer-prize nominated historian William Eamon, The Professor of Secrets entices readers into a dangerous scientific underworld of sorcerers and surgeons. Meticulously researched and engagingly written, this gripping narrative will appeal to those interested in Renaissance history, the development of science, and the historical thrillers so popular today.

RIF: ARC – Adopt me Lady of the Butterflies by Fiona Mountain (new-to-me author)

A lady lepidopterist may seem an unlikely real-life subject for historical romance, but Mountain (Bloodline) makes it work in this first-person account of the life of Eleanor Glanville, the late 17th-century naturalist accused of madness because of her devotion to studying butterflies. Daughter of a landowner, Eleanor grows up not just admiring the natural beauty of the marshy moors around her but also observing and collecting specimens according to the latest scientific methods. Butterflies become her passion even as she marries Edmund Ashfield, to whom she must cede control of her land, and it is Edmond’s lack of passion that drives her into the arms of his dashing friend, Richard Glanville, whom she later marries, though neither husband proves as steadfast as the London apothecary with whom she corresponds about science. In later years, Richard and Eleanor’s eldest son join forces to have her declared insane in order to gain control over her property so they can drain the wetlands. In fact, drainage—battles over it, the implications of it—is a huge piece of the novel and provides the most original passages of a lush and confidently plotted historical.

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What books came into your house last week? You have the choice of using inlinkz or Mr. Linky. With inlinkz you can include a book cover if you’d like along with the link to your Mailbox Monday post (clicking on the image takes you to the blog post.)

Don’t forget to fill out either inlinkz or 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 a link feature.

• In the “Your name:” box, please enter either your name or your blog’s name.

• In the “Your URL:” box please enter the URL/link that will lead directly to the post you are submitting (also called the permalink). This is not the URL to the blog’s home page.

***

Read It Forward details

Vicki has won a hardcover edition of Damaged by Pamela Callow

15 Timestamp: 2010-06-16 20:27:29 UTC

Title: Raiders from the North: Empire of the Moghul (book #1) Author/website: Raiders from the North (MacMillan) Publisher: MacMillan Publication date & page count: May ’10 & 431 pages

From page(s) 8 & 9 of Raiders from the North

As he wept, doubt and uncertainty, as well as grief, engulfed him. He was king now … Would he live up to his father’s hopes and his glorious ancestry? For some reason a leaner, older face with slanting cheekbones and cold, determined eyes ‘like candles without brilliance’ replaced his father’s image in his mind. As it did so, he seemed to hear his father’s much-repeated mantra: ‘Timur’s blood is my blood.’ His own lips began to repeat it softly at first but then with more conviction. He would make both Timur and his father proud. Pulling himself to his full height and wiping his tear-stained, dirty face with his sleeve, he turned. ‘I must be the one to tell my mother what has happened.’

The mighty Empire of the Moghuls burst out of Central Asia into India in the sixteenth century. The first in a compelling new series of novels, Raiders from the North tells the largely unknown story of the rise and fall of the Mogul dynasties.

It is 1494 when the ruler of Ferghana dies in an extraordinary accident. His only son, Babur, faces a seemingly impossible challenge. Babur is determined to live up to the example of his legendary ancestor, Tamburlaine, whose conquests transformed the face of the earth from Delhi to the Mediterranean, from wealthy Persia to the wildernesses along the Volga. But Babur is dangerously young to inherit a kingdom.

Before Babur can summon enough warlords to declare him the rightful king, plots against his crown, even his life, are hatching. And soon, he will discover that even the bravest and most fearless leader can be betrayed. With the wisest of advisers and most courageous of warriors by his side, Babur can achieve a great destiny and found an empire in India, but every step of his journey will be fraught with danger.

Set in a world of tribal rivalries, rampaging armies, and ruthlessly ambitious enemies, Raiders from the North is historical adventure at its very best.

Title: Think of a Number Author/website: Think of a Number (I’ve played the Numbers game a couple of times and its been right each time) Publisher: Crown Publishing Group Publication date & page count: July ’10 & 432 pages

From page 123 of Think of a Number

From where he was standing, Gurney couldn’t see the label on the can, but he guessed it was snow-print wax, a chemical used to stabilize snow prints sufficiently for the application of a dental casting compound. Prints in snow were extremely fragile, but when treated with care they provided an extraordinary level of detail. Although he’d witnessed the process often enough before, he couldn’t help but admire the specialist’s steady hand and intense concentration. Yellow police tape had been strung in an irregular polygon around most of the patio, including the back door of the house. Corridors of the same tape has been established on opposite sides of the patio – to enclose and preserve the arrival and departure routes of a distinct set of footprints that came from the direction of the large barn beside the house, proceeded to the area of the bloodstain, then headed away from the patio over the snow-blanketed lawn toward the woods.

Arriving in the mail one day is a taunting letter that ends with a simple declaration “See how well I know your secrets-just think of a number.” Eerily, those who comply find that the letter writer has predicted their random choice exactly. For Dave Gurney, just retired as the NYPD’s top homicide investigator and forging a new life with his wife, Madeleine, in upstate New York, the letters are oddities that begin as a diverting puzzle but quickly ignite a massive serial-murder investigation. Brought in as an investigative “consultant,” Gurney soon accomplishes deductive breakthroughs that have local police in awe. Yet, with each taunting move by his seemingly clairvoyant opponent, Gurney feels his tragedy-marred past rising up to haunt him, his marriage approaching a dangerous precipice, and, finally, a dark, cold fear building that he’s met an adversary who can’t be stopped.