Mailbox Monday
Mailbox Monday & Mister Linky links
Hi all,
Just a minor oops on the blog owner’s part with Mailbox Monday posts and Mister Linky. I didn’t realize with the just the basic linky service that only one set of linkies would show at a time and you wouldn’t have access to other linkies associated with MM posts. In attempting to make MM posting easier I actually made it more difficult to visit other blogs! I discovered this browsing my own blog this evening. The linky issue has now been resolved or should be resolved soon. I upgraded my membership so all linkies in all MM posts will now be visible. 
My upgrade also has some other linky features that I will be playing with once I return from vacation.
Marcia
Posted in 
Mailbox Monday ~ October 26th
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.
- 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.
Powered by… Mister Linky’s Magical Widgets.
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Mailbox Monday ~ October 19th
Yes you’re see things – Mailbox Monday is posted waaaaaaaaay early. Last week Renee suggested using Mister Linky so that visiting each others posts is easier and I’m all for easier. Because I’ve never used Mister Linky before and wanted to have time to work out any possible kinks before Monday I’ve posted my MM now. If you want to post early feel free to do so.
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.
One of my vacation traditions is buying books to read while we’re lounging on the beach or by the pool. So I’ve gone on a major book buying spree as we’re leaving next month on our annual winter vaca. Though my hubby did remind that isn’t our typical two weeks in Mexico and when in heavens name did I think I’d have time to read?! Oh well I’m still buying and there’s no stopping me. Here’s hoping I get in a chapter a day. I’ll be posting my goodies right up until we leave. They’re all Kindle books and not available for Read It Forward, sorry gang.
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Breakneck by Erica Spindler (Kindle eBook – not available for Read It Forward)
Detective MC Riggio can’t wait to get married. She is desperately in love with her fiance Dan, and is counting down the days until the wedding. Best of all, her big Italian family have welcomed Dan with open arms, her mother ecstatic at the thought of more grandchildren. But MC never does marry Dan or have his children. A few weeks before the wedding day he is shot dead ? and MC’s world crumbles into pieces. Detective Kitt Lundgren is there to support her colleague. She knows grief only too well ? her only daughter has recently died ? and she knows that MC’s only concern now will be to find out who killed her fiance. So the two women work day and night to discover what happened to Dan. But there is a ruthless killer on the loose, a killer who knows no fear. And Kitt and MC have put themselves right in the firing line…
Pursuit of Honor by Vince Flynn (Kindle eBook – not available for Read It Forward)
Rapp had traveled to New York City to decide the fate of a man. He had debated the wisdom of handling it himself. In addition to the inherent risk of getting caught, there was another, more pressing, problem. Just six days earlier a series of explosions had torn through Washington D.C., killing 185 and wounding hundreds. Three of the terrorists were still at large, and Rapp had been unofficially ordered to find them by any means necessary. So far, however, the investigation had been painfully complicated and had yet to yield a single solid lead. The three men had up and disappeared, which suggested a level of sophistication that few of them thought the enemy capable of. The last thing Rapp expected, though, was that he would still be dealing with this other issue. In light of the attacks in Washington, he thought the fool would have come to his senses.
The Calligrapher’s Daughter by Eugenia Kim (Kindle eBook – not available for Read It Forward)
This debut novel, inspired by the life of the author’s Korean mother, is a beautiful, deliberate and satisfying story spanning 30 years of Korean history. The tradition-bound aristocratic calligrapher Han refuses to name his daughter because she is born just as the Japanese occupy Korea early in the 20th century. When Han finds a husband for Najin (nicknamed after her mother’s birthplace) at 14, her mother objects and instead sends her to the court of the doomed royal Yi family to learn refinement. Najin goes to college and becomes a teacher, proving herself not only as a scholar but as a patriot and humanitarian. She returns home to marry, but her new husband goes without her to study in America when she is denied a visa. As the Japanese systematically obliterate ancient Korean culture and the political climate worsens, so do Najin’s fortunes. Her family is reduced to poverty, their home is seized and Najin is imprisoned as a spy while WWII escalates.
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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. Please let me know what you think about using Mister Linky for MM posting.
- 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.
Powered by… Mister Linky’s Magical Widgets.
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Mailbox Monday ~ October 12th
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.
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Children of Dust: A Memoir of Pakistan by Ali Eteraz (new-to-me author/FSB Associates) (Claimed by Karissa)
Ali Eteraz’s Children of Dust is a spellbinding portrayal of a life that few Americans can imagine. From his schooling in a madrassa in Pakistan to his teenage years as a Muslim American in the Bible Belt, and back to Pakistan to find a pious Muslim wife, this lyrical, penetrating saga from a brilliant new literary voice captures the heart of our universal quest for identity.
Children of Dust begins in rural Islam at the lowest levels of Pakistani society in the turbulent eighties. This intimate portrayal of rustic village life is revealed through a young boy’s eyes as he discovers magic, women, and friendship.
After immigrating with his family to the United States, Eteraz struggles to be a normal American teenager under the rules of a strict Muslim household.
In 1999, he returns to Pakistan to find the villages of his youth dominated by the ideology of the Taliban, filled with young men spouting militant rhetoric, and his extended family under threat. Eteraz becomes the target of a mysterious abduction plot when he is purported to be a CIA agent, and eventually has to escape under military escort.
Back in the United States, with his fundamentalist illusions now shattered, Eteraz tries to find a middle way within American Islam. At each stage of Eteraz’s life, he takes on a different identity to signal his evolution. From being pledged to Islam in Mecca as an infant, through Salafi fundamentalism, to liberal reformer, Eteraz desperately struggles to come to terms with being a Pakistani and a Muslim.
Astonishingly honest, darkly comic, and beautifully told, Children of Dust is an extraordinary adventure that reveals the diversity of Islamic beliefs, the vastness of the Pakistani diaspora, and the very human search for home.
The Queen’s Mistake: In the Court of Henry VIII by Diane Haeger (new-to-me author/Kindle eBook – not available for Read It Forward)
When the young and beautiful Catherine Howard becomes the fifth wife of the fifty-year-old King Henry VIII, she seems to be on top of the world. Yet her reign is destined to be brief and heartbreaking, as she is forced to do battle with enemies far more powerful and calculating than she could have ever anticipated in a court where one wrong move could mean her undoing. Wanting only love, Catherine is compelled to deny her heart’s desire in favor of her family’s ambition. But in so doing, she unwittingly gives those who sought to bring her down a most effective weapon-her own romantic past.
The Queen’s Mistake is the tragic tale of one passionate and idealistic woman who struggles to negotiate the intrigue of the court and the yearnings of her heart.
Evidence of Murder by Lisa Black (Kindle eBook – not available for Read It Forward)
Eight months ago, forensic investigator Theresa MacLean lost her fiancÉ in a bank robbery gone wrong, and she’s had trouble concentrating on her work ever since. But now a particularly difficult case may just be what she needs to regain her focus by demanding all her skill, intelligence, and attention.
Jillian Perry has been found dead in the woods, leaving behind a husband of three weeks and a young daughter. The police can’t determine how she died—her body shows no visible marks, and the autopsy reveals nothing suspicious—and the leading theory is that she purposely wandered into the forest and succumbed to the freezing weather. But something doesn’t feel right to Theresa, and she can’t let it go.
To complicate matters, a former boyfriend of Jillian’s unexpectedly petitions for custody of the daughter. Obsessed with Jillian, he also suspects foul play in Jillian’s death, and now he and Theresa believe Jillian’s daughter may be in danger of meeting a similar fate. With a child’s life at stake, Theresa must search for evidence of murder—evidence that doesn’t seem to exist—before it’s too late.
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What books came into your house last week? Don’t forget to leave a link to your Mailbox post or a list of books if you don’t have a blog.
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Mailbox Monday ~ October 5th
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.
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Am I Not A Man? The Dred Scott Story by Mark L. Shurtleff (new-to-me author/publicist contact)
An illiterate slave, Dred Scott trusted in an all-white, slave-owning jury to declare him free. But after briefly experiencing the glory of freedom and manhood, a new state Supreme Court ordered the cold steel of the shackles to be closed again around his wrists and ankles. Falling to his knees, Dred cried, “Ain’t I a man?” Dred answered his own question by rising and taking his fight to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Dred ultimately lost his epic battle when the Chief Justice declared that a black man was so inferior that he had “no rights a white man was bound to respect.”
Dred died not knowing that his undying courage led directly to the election of President Abraham Lincoln and the emancipation proclamation.
Dred Scott’s inspiring and compelling true story of adventure, courage, love, hatred, and friendship parallels the history of this nation from the long night of slavery to the narrow crack in the door that would ultimately lead to freedom and equality for all men.
Across the Endless River by Thad Carhart (new-to-me author/publicist contact) (Claimed by Katy)
Born in 1805 on the Lewis and Clark expedition, Jean-Baptiste Charbonneau was the son of the Voyage of Discovery’s translators, Sacagawea and Toussaint Charbonneau. Across the Endless River evokes the formative years of this mixed-blood child of the frontier, entering the wild and mysterious world of his boyhood along the Missouri. Baptiste is raised both as William Clark’s ward in St. Louis and by his parents among the villages of the Mandan tribe on the far northern reaches of the river.
In 1823 eighteen-year-old Baptiste is invited to cross the Atlantic with the young Duke Paul of Württemberg, whom he meets on the frontier. During their travels throughout Europe, Paul introduces Baptiste to a world he never imagined. Increasingly, Baptiste confronts the limitations of life as an outsider; only Paul’s older cousin, Princess Theresa, understands the richness of his heritage. Their affair is both passionate and tender, but Theresa’s clear-eyed notions of love, marriage, and the need to fashion one’s own future push Baptiste to consider what he truly needs. In Paris he meets Maura Hennesy, the beautiful and independent daughter of a French-Irish wine merchant. Baptiste describes his life on the fast-changing frontier to Maura, and she begins to imagine a different destiny with this enigmatic American. Baptiste ultimately faces a choice: whether to stay in Europe or to return to the wilds of North America. His decision will resonate strongly with those who today find themselves at the intersection of cultures, languages, and customs.
Even Money by Dick & Felix Francis (new-to-me authors/publicist contact)
Bookmaker Ed Talbot is struggling with his wife’s mental illness, even as technology threatens to give the big bookmaking outfits an insurmountable advantage over his small family business. Soon after a man shows up at Ascot and identifies himself as Ed’s father, Peter, whom Ed believed long dead, a thug demanding money stabs Peter to death. Ed is in for even more shocks when he learns his father was the prime suspect in his mother’s murder—and that Peter’s killing, rather than a random act of violence, may be linked to a mysterious electronic device used in some horse-racing fraud. Ed must juggle his amateur investigations into past and present crimes with his demanding family responsibilities.
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What books came into your house last week? Don’t forget to leave a link to your Mailbox post or a list of books if you don’t have a blog.
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Mailbox Monday ~ September 28th
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.
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Memoir ~ Lift by Rebecca K. O’Connor (new-to-me author/author contact) (Kindle eBook; not available for Read It Forward)
The culmination of a ten-year career in falconry, Lift is a memoir that illustrates the journey and life lessons of a woman navigating a man’s ancient sport. Captivated by a chance meeting with a falconer’s peregrine as a child, the indelible memory eventually brings the author’s life full circle to flying a peregrine of her own. Exploring themes of predator and prey, finding tribe, forgiveness and femininity, the memoir asks universal questions through a unique backdrop. Lift illustrates the beauty and meaning the sport of falconry can add to a falconer’s life, echoing the challenges and triumphs of being human.
Legal thriller ~ Nibble & Kuhn by David Schmahmann (new-to-me author/publicist contact) (Kindle eBook; not available for Read It Forward)
An unraveling law firm. An unwinnable case. An unworkable love.
Derek Dover has it all.
Derek’s up for partner at Nibble & Kuhn just as that most proper of Boston law firms comically tries to `rebrand’ itself for the Google era. Pompous and arbitrary, the ruling junta of partners saddles him with a high visibility lawsuit just weeks before trial. The diligent young attorney arranges things so that Maria Parma, a new associate in the firm for whom he’s fallen hard, also gets named to the case. Maria, in turn, can’t keep her hands off Derek, but it’s complicated because she’s engaged to someone else.
As Derek prepares his case on behalf of seven young victims of an industrial polluter, his anxieties about his career and his torments over Maria’s mixed messages only increase. Have his eccentric WASP superiors handed him a `toxic’ case to ruin his chances of becoming a partner? How can he get his opponents to settle – an outcome the presiding judge all but demands – unless his unorthodox `expert witnesses’ perform with enough gravitas to match that of the other side with its Harvard Medical School scientist? Will Nibble & Kuhn survive the partners’ spectacularly bad business judgments? Does it even matter to Derek, given that his looming fiasco of a trial and his indiscretions with Maria seem set to sink any chance he ever had at partnership?
Ultimately, Derek sets into motion a line of inquiry that spins events entirely out of the control of the judge, jury, and any and all attorneys.
Non-fiction ~ The Apple by Penelope Holt (new-to-me author/publicist contact) (Kindle eBook; not available for Read It Forward)
Oprah called the tale of love in a concentration camp that lies at the heart of holocaust survivor, Herman Rosenblat’s controversial memoir, “The greatest love story every told.” But when his story is attacked and his memoir cancelled, Rosenblat must defend his narrative. The Apple first tells the story of his struggle to survive the camps and the girl he says helped him by tossing apples over the fence. It then uncovers the story behind the story: Why did an old man weave real love with a dream of love into an account that touched and inspired many, but also ignited a firestorm of criticism?
Non-fiction ~ Dracula Is Dead by Sheilah Kast and Jim Rosapepe (new-to-me author/publicist contact) (Kindle eBook; not available for Read It Forward)
The book, a remarkable exploration of the country of Romania, is called Dracula Is Dead: How Romanians Survived Communism, Ended It, and Emerged since 1989 as the New Italy.
It follows former ambassador to Romania Jim Rosapepe and his wife, journalist Sheilah Kast, on a journey through the Romania of yesterday, today, and tomorrow.
Part travelogue and part memoir, Dracula Is Dead goes beyond the perceptions of Romania—Dracula, orphans, Communism—to present an amazing land, from Orthodox Christianity to information technology, from the Roman Empire through World War II through the fall of Communism, to Transylvania and the entire nation.
Jim and Sheilah have an unparalleled perspective on the country of Romania, and are sharing it just in time for the twentieth anniversary of the fall of Communism.
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What books came into your house last week? Don’t forget to leave a link to your Mailbox post or a list of books if you don’t have a blog.
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Mailbox Monday ~ September 21st
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.
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Police procedural ~ 9 Dragons by Michael Connelly (Hachette) (Claimed by Zeb)
LAPD Detective Harry Bosch is off the chain in the fastest, fiercest, and highest-stakes case of his life.
Fortune Liquors is a small shop in a tough South L.A. neighborhood, a store Bosch has known for years. The murder of John Li, the store’s owner, hits Bosch hard, and he promises Li’s family that he’ll find the killer.
The world Bosch steps into next is unknown territory. He brings in a detective from the Asian Gang Unit for help with translation–not just of languages but also of the cultural norms and expectations that guided Li’s life. He uncovers a link to a Hong Kong triad, a lethal and far-reaching crime ring that follows many immigrants to their new lives in the U.S.
And instantly his world explodes. The one good thing in Bosch’s life, the person he holds most dear, is taken from him and Bosch travels to Hong Kong in an all-or-nothing bid to regain what he’s lost. In a place known as Nine Dragons, as the city’s Hungry Ghosts festival burns around him, Bosch puts aside everything he knows and risks everything he has in a desperate bid to outmatch the triad’s ferocity.
Fiction ~ The Private Papers of Eastern Jewel by Maureen Lindley (new-to-me author/Shelf Awareness)
An electrifying epic, based on the incredible true story of a Chinese princess turned spy.
Peking, 1914. When the eight-year-old princess Eastern Jewel is caught spying on her father’s liaison with a servant girl, she is banished from the palace, sent to live with a powerful family in Japan. Renamed Yoshiko Kawashima, she quickly falls in love with her adoptive country, where she earns a scandalous reputation, taking fencing lessons, smoking opium, and entertaining numerous lovers. Sent to Mongolia to become an obedient wife, Yoshiko mounts a daring escape and eventually finds her way back to Peking high society—this time with orders from the Japanese secret service.
Based on the true story of a rebellious woman who earned a controversial place in history, The Private Papers of Eastern Jewel is a vibrant reimagining of a thrilling life—a rich historical epic of palace intrigue, sexual manipulation, and international espionage.
Fiction ~ Light of the Desert by Lucette Walters (new-to-me author/publicist contact) (Claimed by Kimm)
Within some very wealthy and elite Middle Eastern families, there is a secret ancient practice rarely heard of in the Western world: honor killing. This unspoken law allows men the right to kill their daughters or female relatives without consequences, if it is believed that they have dishonored their family name. Noora Fendil, the favorite daughter of an influential Middle Eastern businessman, is the victim of such a crime.
Shortly before marrying her childhood sweetheart, Noora is framed by her jealous sister who has devised a diabolical plot to destroy Noora’s happiness. Believing she has shamed him and in order to preserve his family name, Noora’s father attempts to drown her. Unbeknownst to him, she survives and the courageous and remarkable story of Noora, Light of the Desert, begins. Noora’s dangerous path takes her from Jordan to a Bedouin village in the desert, on to Egypt, crossing the Mediterranean to France and eventually, to California. All along her path, she must hide her true identity in the hope of one day returning to prove her innocence, as she is relentlessly stalked by a fundamentalist ex bodyguard who vows to bring her back to “justice.
Action/adventure ~ The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown (Kindle eBook; not available for Read It Forward) (It took me 2 tries to read The Da Vinci Code and I loved Angels and Demons so I figured why not. I know I got sucked in but the eBook was only $9.99)
As the story opens, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is summoned unexpectedly to deliver an evening lecture in the U.S. Capitol Building. Within minutes of his arrival, however, the night takes a bizarre turn. A disturbing object–artfully encoded with five symbols–is discovered in the Capitol Building. Langdon recognizes the object as an ancient invitation… one meant to usher its recipient into a long-lost world of esoteric wisdom.
When Langdon’s beloved mentor, Peter Solomon–a prominent Mason and philanthropist–is brutally kidnapped, Langdon realizes his only hope of saving Peter is to accept this mystical invitation and follow wherever it leads him. Langdon is instantly plunged into a clandestine world of Masonic secrets, hidden history, and never-before-seen locations–all of which seem to be dragging him toward a single, inconceivable truth.
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What books came into your house last week? Don’t forget to leave a link to your Mailbox post or a list of books if you don’t have a blog.
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Mailbox Monday ~ September 14th
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.
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Memoir ~ Detectives Don’t Wear Seat Belts by Cici McNair (new-to-me author/Hachette) (Claimed by Laura)
Growing up in Mississippi, Cici McNair was always more the tomboy her mother supported than the Southern belle her father demanded. She escaped her suffocating upbringing the first chance she had to travel the world. Whether working at the Vatican in Rome or consorting with a gunrunner in Haiti, she lived a life of international adventure. When Cici finds herself in New York, divorced, broke, and fashionably starving to death in a Madison Avenue apartment, she impulsively decides to become a private detective.
But, as Cici soon learns, the world of P.I.s is tight-knit and made up almost exclusively of former law enforcement officers. By nature, they are a highly suspicious group and are especially wary of a newcomer with an untraceable past. Diligently working her way through the Yellow Pages, doggedly pursuing the slightest lead, Cici is finally hired by a private investigator willing to take a chance. The next day she’s working side by side with a pair of seasoned detectives and a skip tracer who is scary to meet but like silk on the phone. She quickly realizes she’ll need all her energy and wits to succeed in this new world.
Being a private investigator is as exciting and liberating as Cici ever dreamed, from creating a false identity on the spot on her first case in the field to surviving adrenaline-rushing car chases. Working with law enforcement, she goes undercover, dealing with the ruthless Born to Kill gang in Chinatown and the Middle Eastern counterfeiters west of Broadway. A detailed account of the hidden world and real-life cases of a P.I., this action-packed memoir is as entertaining as any detective novel you’ve ever read.
Memoir ~ Vera and the Ambassador: Escape and Return by Donald and Vera Blinken (new-to-me authors/publicist contact)
The Blinkens alternate chapters to recount their years as the U.S. ambassadorial couple to Hungary during Bill Clinton’s first term as president. Vera Blinken escaped Hungary as a child with her mother after WWII as the iron curtain started its descent on central Europe. Donald Blinken, a former investment banker, was appointed at the dawn of Hungary’s nascent democracy and entry into the world economy, and negotiated its entry into NATO. Together they breathed new life into U.S.-Hungary relations, negotiated the opening of American military bases that contributed to the end of the Bosnian conflict and started health initiatives in the local community. Theirs is a candid behind-the-scenes look at the glamour and challenges of diplomatic life: along with consorting with the pope and Madonna came inevitable security concerns, death-defying trips in formerly Soviet helicopters and the struggle to reshape attitudes toward what was perceived as American cultural imperialism.
Memoir ~ Cult Insanity: A Memoir of Polygamy, Prophets and Blood Atonement by Irene Spencer (Hachette) (Claimed by Kim)
Life for Irene Spencer was a series of devastating disappointments and hardships. Irene’s first book, Shattered Dreams, is the staggering chronicle of her struggle to provide for her children in abject poverty and feelings of abandonment each time her husband left to be with one of his other wives. Irene was raised to believe polygamy was the way of life necessary for her ticket to heaven. The hard knocks of her environment were just the beginning of Irene’s shocking tale. CULT INSANITY takes readers into her story to uncover the outrageous behaviour of her brother-in-law Ervil – a self-proclaimed prophet who determined he was called to set the house of God in order – and how he terrorized their colony. Claiming to be God’s avenger and to have a licence to kill in the name of God, Ervil ordered the murders of friends and family members, eliminating all those who challenged his authority.
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4 Book Giveaways! Click on cover to enterClick on book cover to enter the giveaways.
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What books came into your house last week? Don’t forget to leave a link to your Mailbox post or a list of books if you don’t have a blog.
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Mailbox Monday ~ September 7th
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.
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Fiction ~ The Summer Kitchen by Karen Weinreb (new-to-me author/Authors on the Web) (Claimed by Zia)
When Nora Banks goes to answer the doorbell very early one November 1st, she thinks it must be a group of teen pranksters still out trick-or-treating. But it’s no prank—it’s the Feds, who have come to arrest her husband Evan for a white collar crime. Nora’s enviable, privileged life in the eighteenth-century house she’d quit her job to renovate to museum-quality perfection, is upended in an instant. The Bedford wives close ranks against Nora and her children. Nora’s only support comes from her children’s nanny Beatriz. The two women bond to raise the boys as smoothly as possible while Nora goes back to work. Baking has always been her biggest passion, so she launches a business of her own, the Summer Kitchen. Tempted by the offer of an affair with one of the local husbands and thwarted by an alpha wife who actively tries to shut down her business, Nora has to reach into reserves she didn’t know she had to support her family and change her way of thinking about life, family, money, and romance.
Fiction ~ Breaking the Bank by Yona Zeldis McDonough (new-to-me author/author contact) (Claimed by Carrie)
Mia Saul is down on her luck. Dumped by her husband, jettisoned from her job and estranged from her adored older brother, she and her young daughter Eden have had had to make a downscale move to a crummy apartment where their neighbors include a tough young drug dealer and a widower who lets his dogs use the hallways as their own personal litter box. Juggling a series of temporary jobs, wrangling with her ex-husband over child support and trying to keep pace with Eden’s increasingly erratic behavior have left Mia weary and worn out.
Then one evening a routine stop at her local bank’s ATM yields a surprise. The machine begins producing bills—quite a lot of them in fact—that are neither recorded nor debited from her account. At first Mia attributes the excess cash to a stroke of much needed luck. But when the machine continues to give her unaccounted for money and actually begins communicating with her, her life gets turned around in ways she never thought possible.
Contemporary/historical fiction ~ Receive Me Falling by Erika Robuck (new-to-me author/publicist contact) (Claimed by Shannan)
Every slave story is a ghost story. The haunting words of an historian and former cane worker on the Caribbean island of Nevis launch Meghan Owen on her quest to unlock the secrets of an abandoned sugar plantation and its ghosts. After Meg’s parents die in a car accident on the night of her engagement party, she calls off her wedding, takes leave of her job in Annapolis, and travels to land she’s inherited on Nevis. A series of discoveries in an old plantation house on the property, Eden, set her on a search for the truth surrounding the shameful past of her ancestors, their slaves, and the tragedy that resulted in the fall of the plantation and its inhabitants. Through a crushing phone call with her lawyer, Meg learns that her father’s estate was built on stolen money, and is being sued by multiple sources. She is faced with having to sell the land and plantation home, and deal with the betrayal she feels from her deceased father. In alternating chapters, the historical drama of the Dall family unfolds. Upon the arrival of British abolitionists to the hedonistic 19th century plantation society, Catherine Dall is forced to choose between her lifestyle and the scandal of deserting her family. An angry confrontation with Catherine’s slave, Leah, results in the girl’s death, but was it murder or suicide? Hidden texts, scandalous diaries, antique paintings, and confessional letters help Meghan Owen uncover the secrets of Eden and put the ghosts to rest.
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Book Giveaways! Click on cover to enter
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What books came into your house last week? Don’t forget to leave a link to your Mailbox post or a list of books if you don’t have a blog.
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Mailbox Monday ~ August 31st
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.
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Suspense/thriller ~ The Shimmer by David Morrell (new-to-me author/FSB Associates) (Claimed by Teddyree)
When a high-speed chase goes terribly wrong, Santa Fe police officer Dan Page watches in horror as a car and gas tanker explode into flames. Torn with guilt that he may be responsible, Page returns home to discover that his wife, Tori, has disappeared. Frantic, Page follows her trail to Rostov, a remote town in Texas famous for a massive astronomical observatory, a long-abandoned military base, and unexplained nighttime phenomena that draw onlookers from every corner of the globe. Many of these gawkers—Tori among them—are compelled to visit this tiny community to witness the mysterious Rostov Lights.
Without warning, a gunman begins firing on the lights, screaming “Go back to hell where you came from,” then turns his rifle on the bystanders. A bloodbath ensues, and events quickly spiral out of control, setting the stage for even greater violence and death.
Page must solve the mystery of the Rostov Lights to save his wife. In the process, he learns that the decaying military base may not be abandoned at all, and that the government may have known about the lights for decades. Could these phenomena be more dangerous than anyone could have possibly imagined?
Suspense/Thriller ~ Evil at Heart by Chelsea Cain (new-to-me author/LT Early Reviewers program) (Claimed by Carrie)
Gretchen Lowell is still on the loose. These days, she’s more of a cause célèbre than a feared killer, thanks to sensationalist news coverage that has made her a star. Her face graces magazine covers weekly and there have been sightings of her around the world. Most shocking of all, Portland Herald reporter Susan Ward has uncovered a bizarre kind of fan club, which celebrates the number of days she’s been free.
Archie Sheridan hunted her for a decade, and after his last ploy to catch her went spectacularly wrong, remains hospitalized months later. When they last spoke, they entered a détente of sorts—Archie agreed not to kill himself if she agreed not to kill anyone else. But when a new body is found accompanied by Gretchen’s trademark heart, all bets are off and Archie is forced back into action. Has the Beauty Killer returned to her gruesome ways, or has the cult surrounding her created a whole new evil?
Suspense/thriller ~ True Blue by David Baldacci (Hachette) (Claimed by Bree)
Mason “Mace” Perry was a firebrand cop on the D.C. police force until she was kidnapped and framed for a crime. She lost everything-her badge, her career, her freedom-and spent two years in prison. Now she’s back on the outside and focused on one mission: to be a cop once more. Her only shot to be a true blue again is to solve a major case on her own, and prove she has the right to wear the uniform. But even with her police chief sister on her side, she has to work in the shadows: A vindictive U.S. attorney is looking for any reason to send Mace back behind bars. Then Roy Kingman enters her life.
Roy is a young lawyer who aided the poor until he took a high-paying job at a law firm in Washington. Mace and Roy meet after he discovers the dead body of a female partner at the firm. As they investigate the death, they start uncovering surprising secrets from both the private and public world of the nation’s capital.
Soon, what began as a fairly routine homicide takes a terrifying and unexpected turn-into something complex, diabolical, and possibly lethal.
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What books came into your house last week? Don’t forget to leave a link to your Mailbox post or a list of books if you don’t have a blog.
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- File M for Murder (Cat in the Stacks, #3) by Miranda James February 7, 2012
- Mozart’s Last Aria by Matt Rees February 7, 2012
- Restless in the Grave (Kate Shugak, #19) by Dana Stabenow February 7, 2012
- A Dark Anatomy (Cragg & Fidelis, #1) by Robin Blake February 7, 2012
- Wish list | February ’12 selections February 1, 2012
- Blog update June 30, 2011
- No Rest for the Wiccan (Bewitching Mysteries, #4) by Madelyn Alt June 28, 2011
- On the Way to the Wedding (Bridgertons, #8) by Julia Quinn June 28, 2011
- The Witch Is Dead (Ophelia & Abby, #5) by Shirley Damsgaard June 28, 2011
- When He Was Wicked (Bridgertons, #6) by Julia Quinn June 22, 2011
- HF Giveaway | The Turning of Anne Merrick by Christine Blevins February 5, 2012
- Mailbox Monday | February ’12 (January’s books) February 5, 2012
- February happenings the Mailbox Monday blog January 31, 2012
- Server issues for January’s MM host At Home with Books January 11, 2012
- Mailbox Monday | January ’12 (December’s books) January 8, 2012