In My Mailbox

This weekly meme is hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren! Check out her blog to see what others are reading.

My summer kind of fell a part on me and it has been a very long time since I participated. I have received many books since then but I will stick to some of the more recent.

I received Testimony by Anita Shreve courtesy of Hachette Books

Pub. Date: October 2008
Publisher: Little, Brown & Company
Sold By: HACHETTE BOOK GROUP

Synopsis (B&N):
At a New England boarding school, a sex scandal is about to break. Even more shocking than the sexual acts themselves is the fact that they were caught on videotape.

A Pandora's box of revelations, the tape triggers a chorus of voices--those of the men, women, teenagers, and parents involved in the scandal--that details the ways in which lives can be derailed or destroyed in one foolish moment.

Writing with a pace and intensity surpassing even her own greatest work, Anita Shreve delivers in TESTIMONY a gripping emotional drama with the impact of a thriller. No one more compellingly explores the dark impulses that sway the lives of seeming innocents, the needs and fears that drive ordinary men and women into intolerable dilemmas, and the ways in which our best intentions can lead to our worst transgressions.

From Librarything Earlier Reviewers I have received the following

The Dissemblers by Liza Campbell

Paperback 200 pp
Publisher: The Permanent Press
Publication Date: October 2010

Synopsis (LT):
The Dissemblers is the story of a woman searching for greatness and beauty, only to find that neither greatness nor beauty are exactly what she thought. Ivy Wilkes always assumed she would achieve greatness as a painter. She moves to Santa Fe in search of the light and landscape that inspired her idol, Georgia O’Keeffe. At first, Ivy embraces life in the artsy desert town, working in the O’Keeffe museum by day and spending her evenings with Omar, the seductive cousin of her upstairs neighbors. But when Ivy’s own painting stagnates, she finds herself paralyzed by the fear that she will never paint anything of worth. Unable to create anything original, she begins imitating Georgia O’Keeffe’s work and is enticed by an offer to create O’Keeffe forgeries to sell on the black market. The paintings sell, but Ivy’s secrets isolate her from those she loves, who have secrets of their own. When a mysterious man appears at the museum, asking questions about O’Keeffe forgeries, Ivy’s bonds of love and friendship are tested. In her struggle to find her own artistic voice, she navigates the space between pride and guilt, love and selfishness, with devastating consequences. Rendered in concentrated prose, The Dissemblers explores themes of isolation and misunderstanding. The emotions are subtle, and the characters continually thwart their own best intentions while harboring mutually exclusive desires.

and

The Mistress of Abha by William Newton

Paperback: 320 pages

Publisher: Bloomsbury USA
(August 31, 2010)

Synopsis(LT):
The year is 1930 and the British are in Arabia. Ivor Willoughby, a young orientalist, embarks on an ambitious quest to find his father, an officer abroad with the British Army. In all Ivor's life, Robert has returned to England only once, bedraggled and wild-eyed with tales of As'ir, a land of sheikhs and white-turbaned bandits, where he is fighting alongside Captain Lawrence and is known by the name Ullobi.

After that single meeting, Robert is never heard from again. Ten years on, Ivor must find out what became of him. So he sets out on the journey of a lifetime. Traveling to Cairo to join the Locust Bureau, then circuitously to Abha, Yemen, and along the Red Sea coast, Ivor searches everywhere for clues about Ullobi, but no one appears to remember him. Or perhaps they are afraid to admit to it. Along the way Ivor hears whispers of a woman warrior called Na'ema who was once a slave. Her story seems tantalizingly connected with his father's, and Ivor finds himself in the misty heights of Ayinah looking for an Abyssinian seer who was carried on the same slave ship as Na'ema in 1914 and might unlock the mystery.


I purchased the following books:

The Weight of Silence by Heather Gudenkauf

Pub. Date: July 2009
Paperback: 384pp
Publisher: MIRA

Synopsis (B&N):
It happens quietly one August morning. As dawn's shimmering light drenches the humid Iowa air, two families awaken to find their little girls have gone missing in the night.

Seven-year-old Calli Clark is sweet, gentle, a dreamer who suffers from selective mutism brought on by tragedy that pulled her deep into silence as a toddler.

Calli's mother, Antonia, tried to be the best mother she could within the confines of marriage to a mostly absent, often angry husband. Now, though she denies that her husband could be involved in the possible abductions, she fears her decision to stay in her marriage has cost her more than her daughter's voice.

Petra Gregory is Calli's best friend, her soul mate and her voice. But neither Petra nor Calli has been heard from since their disappearance was discovered. Desperate to find his child, Martin Gregory is forced to confront a side of himself he did not know existed beneath his intellectual, professorial demeanor.

Now these families are tied by the question of what happened to their children. And the answer is trapped in the silence of unspoken family secrets.

Alice I Have Been by Melanie Benjamin

Pub. Date: January 2010
Hardcover: 351pp
Publisher: Delacorte Press

Synopsis (B&N):
 Few works of literature are as universally beloved as Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Now, in this spellbinding historical novel, we meet the young girl whose bright spirit sent her on an unforgettable trip down the rabbit hole–and the grown woman whose story is no less enthralling.

But oh my dear, I am tired of being Alice in Wonderland. Does it sound ungrateful?

Alice Liddell Hargreaves’s life has been a richly woven tapestry: As a young woman, wife, mother, and widow, she’s experienced intense passion, great privilege, and greater tragedy. But as she nears her eighty-first birthday, she knows that, to the world around her, she is and will always be only “Alice.” Her life was permanently dog-eared at one fateful moment in her tenth year–the golden summer day she urged a grown-up friend to write down one of his fanciful stories.

That story, a wild tale of rabbits, queens, and a precocious young child, becomes a sensation the world over. Its author, a shy, stuttering Oxford professor, does more than immortalize Alice–he changes her life forever. But even he cannot stop time, as much as he might like to. And as Alice’s childhood slips away, a peacetime of glittering balls and royal romances gives way to the urgent tide of war.

For Alice, the stakes could not be higher, for she is the mother of three grown sons, soldiers all. Yet even as she stands to lose everything she treasures, one part of her will always be the determined, undaunted Alice of the story, who discovered that life beyond the rabbit hole was an astonishing journey.

A love story and a literary mystery, Alice I Have Been brilliantly blends fact and fiction to capture the passionate spirit of a woman who was truly worthy of her fictional alter ego, in a world as captivating as the Wonderland only she could inspire.


Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin

Pub. Date: October 2010
Hardcover: 274pp
Publisher: William Morrow

Synopsis (B&N):
A powerful and resonant novel from Tom Franklin—critically acclaimed author of Smonk and Hell at the Breech—Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter tells the riveting story of two boyhood friends, torn apart by circumstance, who are brought together again by a terrible crime in a small Mississippi town. An extraordinary novel that seamlessly blends elements of crime and Southern literary fiction, Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter is a must for readers of Larry Brown, Pete Dexter, Ron Rash, and Dennis Lehane.







and Freedom A Novel by Jonathan Franzen

Pub. Date: September 2010
Hardcover: 562pp
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Synopsis (MacMillan):
Patty and Walter Berglund were the new pioneers of old St. Paul—the gentrifiers, the hands-on parents, the avant-garde of the Whole Foods generation. Patty was the ideal sort of neighbor, who could tell you where to recycle your batteries and how to get the local cops to actually do their job. She was an enviably perfect mother and the wife of Walter’s dreams. Together with Walter—environmental lawyer, commuter cyclist, total family man—she was doing her small part to build a better world.

But now, in the new millennium, the Berglunds have become a mystery. Why has their teenage son moved in with the aggressively Republican family next door? Why has Walter taken a job working with Big Coal? What exactly is Richard Katz—outré rocker and Walter’s college best friend and rival—still doing in the picture? Most of all, what has happened to Patty? Why has the bright star of Barrier Street become “a very different kind of neighbor,” an implacable Fury coming unhinged before the street’s attentive eyes?

In his first novel since The Corrections, Jonathan Franzen has given us an epic of contemporary love and marriage. Freedom comically and tragically captures the temptations and burdens of liberty: the thrills of teenage lust, the shaken compromises of middle age, the wages of suburban sprawl, the heavy weight of empire. In charting the mistakes and joys of Freedom’s characters as they struggle to learn how to live in an ever more confusing world, Franzen has produced an indelible and deeply moving portrait of our time.

In My Mailbox, It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme is hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren! Check out her blog to see what

*

The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, And the History of the World From the Periodic Table of Elements by Sam Kean

Received from Hachette Book Group

Synopsis:

Why did Gandhi hate iodine (I,53)? Why did the Japanese kill Godzilla with missiles made of cadmium (Cd, 48)? How did radium (Ra, 88) nearly ruin Marie Curie's reputation? And why did tellurium (Te, 52) lead to the most bizarre gold rush in history?

The periodic table is one of our crowning scientific achievements, but it's also a treasure trove of passion, adventure, betrayal, and obsession. The fascinating tales in The Disappearing Spoon follow carbon, neon, silicon, gold, and every single element on the table as they play out their parts in human history, finance, mythology, conflict, the arts, medicine, and the lives of the (frequently) mad scientists who discovered them.

Why did a little lithium (Li, 3) help cure poet Robert Lowell of his madness? And how did gallium (Ga, 31) become the go-to element for laboratory pranksters?* The Disappearing Spoon has the answers, fusing science with the classic love of invention, investigation, discovery, and alchemy, from the big bang through the end of time.

*Though solid at room temperature, gallium is a moldable metal with a unique property: it melts at 84 degrees Fahrenheit. So a classic prank for scientists is to fashion gallium spoons, serve them with tea, and watch as guests recoil when the Earl Grey makes their utensil disappear.

*

Shadows in Summer: A Novel in Six Voices by Crescent Varrone

Received Through Bostwick Communications

Synopsis  (from back cover):

The house was older than the other homes in the area, and more exposed. While they were hidden, protected by ivy, hedges, walls, #18 was on display. No gates, and not even a fence, just a few tall trees on the left-hand side and a handful of shrubs. Even its innards were laid bare in a huge picture window; though from where I was standing on the opposite sidewalk, all I could see were reflections of the gray clouds behind me.

The house disclosed nothing......

When injured ballet dancer Katrina Nielsen and her American husband, Richard, purchase Sound House, they hope that the charming home will ease their transition from New York to Copenhagen. Katrina was just nineteen when she fled gloomy Denmark, leaving behind her mother, Ingrid, and her grief over her father's death. Seven years later, she returns home to face the ghosts of the past. Yet when weird events begin to occur at Sound House--inexplicable smoke and footsteps, a ghostly face at the window--she starts to think she is being haunted by the ghost of Karl Damsgaard, the original owner. After she's "attacked" by an unseen force, Katrina becomes convinced that something is trying to drive her out of the house...or out of her mind.

Shadows in Summer: A Novel in Six Voices is told by multiple narrators who keep readers reassessing whether the haunting is real, psychological or the result of purposeful manipulation. Inspired by actual events, this deliciously scalp-prickling tale will haunt readers long after the final page.

*

The Eighth Scroll by Dr. Laurence B. Brown

Received through Bostwick Communications

Synopsis:

An ancient scroll has been unearthed....

Nineteen hundred years after the Essene Jews hid their most precious scrolls in the caves at Qumran, a Catholic priest working on the Dead Sea Scrolls Project discovers a text that describes the final edict of the Dead Sea Scrolls, but hides it in fear of the heresy it contains. When a prominent archaeologist Frank Tones unearths a reference to the hidden scroll, he wonders if this scroll could be the long-lost Gospel of James, or even of Jesus himself. But before he can act, those who know of the scroll's existence become mysteriously silent or dead, leaving only a father and son team to find the scroll and tell its secrets to the world. In an epic, multigenerational story that spans the globe, they must outwit the Mossad, the CIA, and the Vatican's secret weapon--the Italian Mafia--to bring the truth to light. No matter the cost.

The author of two books of comparative religion, MisGod'ed  and God'ed, physician and religious scholar, Laurence B. Brown provides a thrilling read, while at the same time reviving critical religious controversies. Powerful and revealing, this book makes you think, feel, react and wonder--what if we knew the truth about Jesus.

*

The Strange Case of the Composer and his Judge by Patricia Duncker

Received through Librarything's Early Reviewers

Synopsis (Barnes and Noble):

The thrilling tale of a secret European sect and the musical mastermind at its center, from a critically acclaimed novelist at the top of her form.

The bodies are discovered on New Year’s Day, sixteen dead in the freshly fallen snow. The adults lie stiff in a semicircle; the children, in pajamas and overcoats, are curled at their feet.

When he hears the news, Commissaire André Schweigen knows who to call: Dominique Carpentier, the Judge, also known as the “sect hunter.” Carpentier sweeps into the investigation in thick glasses and red gloves, and together the Commissaire and the Judge begin searching for clues in a nearby chalet. Among the decorations and unwrapped presents of a seemingly ordinary holiday, they find a leather-bound book, filled with mysterious code, containing maps of the stars. The book of the Faith leads them to the Composer, Friedrich Grosz, who is connected in some way to every one of the dead. Following his trail, Carpentier, Schweigen, and the Judge’s assistant, Gaëlle, are drawn into a world of complex family ties, seductive music, and ancient cosmic beliefs.

Hurtling breathlessly through the vineyards of Southern France to the gabled houses of Lübeck, Germany, through cathedrals, opera houses, museums, and the cobbled streets of an Alpine village, this ferocious new novel is a metaphysical mystery of astonishing verve and power.

The Passage by Justin Cronin

Bought this at Barnes and Noble

Synopsis (The Passage Website):

“It happened fast. Thirty-two minutes for one world to die, another to be born.”

First, the unthinkable: a security breach at a secret U.S. government facility unleashes the monstrous product of a chilling military experiment. Then, the unspeakable: a night of chaos and carnage gives way to sunrise on a nation, and ultimately a world, forever altered. All that remains for the stunned survivors is the long fight ahead and a future ruled by fear—of darkness, of death, of a fate far worse.

As civilization swiftly crumbles into a primal landscape of predators and prey, two people flee in search of sanctuary. FBI agent Brad Wolgast is a good man haunted by what he’s done in the line of duty. Six-year-old orphan Amy Harper Bellafonte is a refugee from the doomed scientific project that has triggered apocalypse. He is determined to protect her from the horror set loose by her captors. But for Amy, escaping the bloody fallout is only the beginning of a much longer odyssey—spanning miles and decades—towards the time and place where she must finish what should never have begun.

With The Passage, award-winning author Justin Cronin has written both a relentlessly suspenseful adventure and an epic chronicle of human endurance in the face of unprecedented catastrophe and unimaginable danger. Its inventive storytelling, masterful prose, and depth of human insight mark it as a crucial and transcendent work of modern fiction.

And now......

A book meme by Shelia at One Persons Journey Through a World of Books.

Last time I posted It's Monday I was reading The Caliphate by Andre Le Gallo and Happy Hours by Michele Scott both of which I have finished.  I have received so many good books that it is hard to decide where to start next.

I have Based on Availability by Alix Strauss sitting next to me and I may start The Reapers Are the Angels by Alden Bell (Zombies!) just to change things up. I am also going to pick up Parting River Jordan by ML Barnes so I can add a little fun to the mix.

It should be a fun week, drama, zombies, and fun! I promise to not let the projects get in the way. I am planning a beach day tomorrow weather permitting. That means some good reading! I am also going to post those reviews!

In My Mailbox and It's Monday! What are you Reading?

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme is hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren! Check out her blog to see what others are reading.

This week I received these books for review:

Vexation by Elicia Clegg

Synopsis:

For him power and glory are not enough, immortality is the only possibility. His vanity consumes him, forcing his actions to capture, control, and twist her very reality. He will make her like him, in this he will not yield. Welcome to Devin Sinclair's world... A world where each move is watched, each move is carefully controlled, and trusting your eyes can be a fatal mistake. She is alone, terrified of even her own deteriorating sanity. She must find the truth which hides in the book, the book that reviles what really happened the few months she was held captive, locked in a game he directs. Devin must unravel the truth and learn to trust her mind if she is ever to find freedom for her and her fellow captives.

Duckegg & Persons of Interest by NovaMelia

Synopsis:

A Small Town Goes Mad

A large pharmaceutical company begins operations in a small outlying community in New England. Interdependence, intrinsic distrust, confused rumors and local ethics all become part of the mix. A local school teacher leads a group of concerned citizens who are suspicious about the research being conducted by the company. Honesty and morality and a menagerie of animals become part of the debate.

There are the weak and the strong and sometimes there is bullying in the Company and among townspeople. In all of this Duckegg moves between his sense of not belonging to his often dysfunctional family and the pride of being a hero. He is honest with himself but sometimes blatantly dishonest with others. He suffers the sorrow of loss and the shame of unintentional harm done by him.

The balancing act between the Company and the Town's people, the personal conflicts and the clashing of personalities, the bullies and the bullied, the clever and the not so smart; the conniving and the innocent, ultimately culminates in a town gone mad, at least for a day.
 
These books sound so interesting. I am looking forward to reading them. Yea Me! I won a book this week. Beguiled by Deeanne Gist and J. Mark Bertrand! I am excited. I will let you know when the book arrives. Thank you Lucie at http://luciesbookreview.blogspot.com/
 

 
 

So that is my week. I haven't gotten much reading done as I was working on completing some projects: knitting a baby blanket for my first grandchild expected in August. I am too young to be a grandma but I am very excited. I also am completing a plastic canvas tote just for fun. Next up a crocheted produce bag. I love new projects and new books. I will be furiously reading over the next few weeks. I also have several completed books that I need to write up and post the reviews. Sorry for the delay. Hope your July 4th was awesome.

 
 
 

A book meme by Shelia at One Persons Journey Through a World of Books.

Last time I posted It's Monday I was reading A Great Deliverance by Elizabeth George and Happy Hour by Michele Scott. I stated that I was getting ready to start The Caliphate by Andre Le Gallo.

 I finished up A Great Deliverance by Elizabeth George and did started on The Caliphate by Andre Le Gallo. I am still working on Happy Hour by Michele Scott I just got distracted by projects as stated above.

In My Mailbox

This weekly meme is hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren! Check out her blog to see what others are reading.

Fishers of Men: The Gospel of an Ayahuasca Vision Quest by Adam Elenbaas

Synopsis

This harrowing, poignant, and deeply memorable true story of a minister's son escaping his anguished youth in the American heartland, to gain spiritual awareness through the uses of mind-expanding native plants and shamanic rituals in South America, is the most evocative tale of psychedelic experience since Jeremy Narby, Terence McKenna, and Daniel Pinchbeck.

In the tradition of memoirs like Daniel Pinchbeck's 2012 and Jim Carroll's The Basketball Diaries, Adam Elenbaas's Fishers of Men chronicles his journey from intense self-destruction and crippling depression to self-acceptance, inner awareness, and spiritual understanding, through participation in mindexpanding-and healing ayahuasca ceremonies in South America and beyond.

From his troubled and rebellious youth as a Methodist minister's son in Minnesota, to his sex and substance abuse-fueled downward spiral in Chicago and New York, culminating in a depressive breakdown, Elenbaas is plagued by a feeling of emptiness and a desperate search for meaning for most of his young life. After hitting rock bottom at his grandfather's house in rural Michigan, a chance experience with psychedelic mushrooms convinces him that he must change his ways to achieve the sense of peace that he has always desired. Several subsequent psychedelic experiences inspire him to embark on a quest to South America and take part in a shamanic ceremony, where he consumes ayahuasca, a jungle vine revered for its spiritual properties.

Over the course of nearly fifty ayahuasca ceremonies during four years, Elenbaas discovers the truth about his own life and past, and begins to mend himself from the inside out.

Wired Kingdom by Rich Chesler

Synopsis

When a Blue Whale tagged with a web-cam as part of a television nature program broadcasts a brutal murder at sea, an FBI agent with a fear of water finds herself in a deadly race to reach the animal before an unknown killer can destroy the digital evidence it carries. For Special Agent Tara Shores, the many possible suspects each present obstacles as unique and perilous as the sea itself. Is the murderer one of the web viewers vying for the controversial reality show’s million-dollar prizes? The extremist environmental group threatening violence unless the whale is liberated from its high-tech tracking device? The wealthy Hollywood power-couple who own the show? Or the troubled, young inventor of the whale-cam? And just who was the beautiful woman slaughtered live on the web?

Navigating an ocean of manipulation and deceit, the detective’s best hope for a solid piece of evidence is the original murder video, still attached to the back of the 100-ton creature which roams the Pacific tethered to its electronic leash. But when the tag’s GPS locator mysteriously fails, it seems that finding the beast will prove impossible.

As the Special Agent dives deeper into the case, what she initially dismisses as a publicity stunt for the glitzy reality series soon sweeps her out to sea in a riptide of greed, sex, and high-tech crime.

Angel of Death Row: My Life as a Death Penalty Defense Lawyer by Andrea D. Lyon

Synopsis

Nineteen times, death penalty defense lawyer Andrea D. Lyon has represented a client found guilty of capital murder. Nineteen times, she has argued for that individual’s life to be spared. Nineteen times, she has succeeded.

Dubbed the “Angel of Death Row” by the Chicago Tribune, Lyon was the first woman to serve as lead attorney in a death penalty case. Throughout her career, she has defended those accused of heinous acts and argued that, no matter their guilt or innocence, they deserved a change at redemption.

Now, for the first time, Lyon shares her story, from her early work as a Legal Aid attorney to her founding of the Center for Justice in Capital Cases. Full of courtroom drama, tragedy, and redemption, Angel of Death Row is a remarkable inside look at what drives Lyon to defend those who seem indefensible—and to win.

There was Annette who was suspected of murdering her own daughter. There was Patrick, the convicted murderer who thirsted for knowledge and shared his love of books with Lyon when she visited him in jail. There was Lonnie, whose mental illness made him nearly impossible to save until the daughter who remembered his better self spoke on his behalf. There was Deirdre, who shared Lyon’s cautious optimism that her wrongful conviction would finally be overturned, allowing her to see her grandchildren born while she was in prison. And there was Madison Hobley, the man whose name made international headlines when he was wrongfully charged with the murder of his family and sentenced to death.

These clients trusted Lyon with their stories—and their lives. Driven by an overwhelming sense of justice, fairness,and morality, she fought for them in the courtroom and in the raucous streets, staying by their sides as they struggled through real tragedy and triumphed in startling ways. Angel of Death Row is the compelling memoir of Lyon’s unusual journey and groundbreaking career.

In My Mailbox

This weekly meme is hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren! Check out her blog to see what others are reading.

I am back at last: have been recovering and am now ready to move forward. Thank you all for your patience. It has been a fun week--my first book tour! Thank you Silvio Sirias and CondorTours. I also want to say Happy Father's Day, especially to my great husband Paul.

My mailbox was full this week after a slight hiatus. Lots of new material means a lot of reading time will be required. I had to turn The Poisonwood Bible back into my library(only overdue by a month-shame on me). So I ventured out and purchased the book for the 4th or 5th time-I don't know who I keep lending it too but this one will stay home. I will read it in between the books I have received for review. And now to the list.


This week I received:

Shoulder Bags and Shootings by Dorothy Howell courtesy of FSB Media

In Shoulder Bags and Shootings you will meet Haley, who’s life is beyond fabulous. She just spent two amazing weeks in Europe with her boyfriend Ty Cameron, owner of Holt’s Department Store where Haley works. But, events turn for Haley when she finds the body of her nemesis in the trunk of Ty’s grandmothers Mercedes. Topping the list of suspects, Haley must solve this murder quickly before she becomes a killer’s next fashion fatality!

Parting River Jordan by ML Barnes

Deanna "Dee" Ramsey is NOT nosy; she's just concerned. And the happenings at church are giving her lots of reason to keep her eyes and ears open. Then the retirement of Rev. Amanda Alden, founder of River Jordan Full Gospel Church, initiates a power struggle between the smooth-talking Rev. Albert Beem and the formidable Mother Marva Jessup, long-time president of the Mothers Board. Things go from bad to worse when the feuding factions separate into TWO churches and try to share the building they've literally split down the middle. After the separation, the Mothers Board quickly hires a handsome young single minister for their church. Pastor Darnell Davis's energy and attitude bring out the worst in Rev. Beem. Despite his best intentions, Pastor Darnell finds that Rev. Beem has the same effect on him. While the two ministers battle for the hearts and minds of the members, Pastor Darnell finds himself doing Romeo and Juliet with Rev. Beem's only daughter! After an electrical fire disrupts the "Stupid Bowl Service," Deanna overhears part of a conversation and learns that the fire was no accident. Someone is plotting to destroy River Jordan. Can Dee uncover the plan and save the church or will Parting River Jordan be the end of everything?

Shadow of the Swords: An Epic Novel of the Crusades by Kamran Pasha

An epic saga of love and war, Shadow of the Swords tells the story of the Crusades—from the Muslim perspective.

Saladin, a Muslim sultan, finds himself pitted against King Richard the Lionheart as Islam and Christianity clash against each other, launching a conflict that still echoes today.

In the midst of a brutal and unforgiving war, Saladin finds forbidden love in the arms of Miriam, a beautiful Jewish girl with a tragic past. But when King Richard captures Miriam, the two most powerful men on Earth must face each other in a personal battle that will determine the future of the woman they both love—and of all civilization.

Richly imagined, deftly plotted, and highly entertaining, Shadow of the Swords is a remarkable story that will stay with readers long after the final page has been turned.

 

The Nobodies Album by Carolyn Parkhurst courtesy of Doubleday Book Giveaway

 

 

From the bestselling author of The Dogs of Babel comes a dazzling literary mystery about the lengths to which some people will go to rewrite their past.

Bestselling novelist Octavia Frost has just completed her latest book—a revolutionary novel in which she has rewritten the last chapters of all her previous books, removing clues about her personal life concealed within, especially a horrific tragedy that befell her family years ago.

On her way to deliver the manuscript to her editor, Octavia reads a news crawl in Times Square and learns that her rock-star son, Milo, has been arrested for murder. Though she and Milo haven’t spoken in years—an estrangement stemming from that tragic day—she drops everything to go to him.

The “last chapters” of Octavia’s novel are layered throughout The Nobodies Album—the scattered puzzle pieces to her and Milo’s dark and troubled past. Did she drive her son to murder? Did Milo murder anyone at all? And what exactly happened all those years ago? As the novel builds to a stunning reveal, Octavia must consider how this story will come to a close.

Universally praised for her candid explorations of the human psyche, Parkhurst delivers an emotionally gripping and resonant mystery about a mother and her son, and about the possibility that one can never truly know another person.
 
The Castaways by Elin Hilderbrand courtesy of Hachette Book Group

Greg and Tess MacAvoy are one of four prominent Nantucket couples who count each other as best friends. As pillars of their close-knit community, the MacAvoys, Kapenashes, Drakes, and Wheelers are important to their friends and neighbors, and especially to each other. But just before the beginning of another idyllic summer, Greg and Tess are killed when their boat capsizes during an anniversary sail. As the warm weather approaches and the island mourns their loss, nothing can prepare the MacAvoy's closest friends for what will be revealed. Once again, Hilderbrand masterfully weaves an intense tale of love and loyalty set against the backdrop of endless summer island life.

The next 6 books are all courtesy of Henry Holt and Company

everything lovely, effortless, safe by Jenny Hollowell

A young woman caught at the turning point between success and failure hopes fame and fortune will finally let her leave her old life—and her old self—behind

Birdie Baker has always dreamed of becoming someone else. At twenty-two, she sets off to do just that. Walking out on her pastor husband and deeply evangelical parents, she leaves behind her small-town, small-time life and gets on a bus to Los Angeles.

Nine years later, Birdie's life in Hollywood is far from golden, and nothing in the intervening years—the brutal auditions, the tawdry commercials—has brought her any closer to the transformation she craves. Caught between success and failure, haunted by guilt about a tragedy in her long-forsaken family, Birdie is at the brink of collapse when she meets Lewis, a beautiful but naive young actor with his own troubled history, whose self-destructive impulses run dangerously parallel to her own.

When her big chance finally comes, Birdie must reconcile the wide-eyed girl she once was with the jaded starlet she has become and try to find herself and her future somewhere in between. Everything Lovely, Effortless, Safe is the story of a young woman's struggle to make her own way in the Technicolor land of make-believe.

The Reapers Are The Angels by Alden Bell

Zombies have infested a fallen America. A young girl named Temple is on the run. Haunted by her past and pursued by a killer, Temple is surrounded by death and danger, hoping to be set free.

For twenty-five years, civilization has survived in meager enclaves, guarded against a plague of the dead. Temple wanders this blighted landscape, keeping to herself and keeping her demons inside her heart. She can't remember a time before the zombies, but she does remember an old man who took her in and the younger brother she cared for until the tragedy that set her on a personal journey toward redemption. Moving back and forth between the insulated remnants of society and the brutal frontier beyond, Temple must decide where ultimately to make a home and find the salvation she seeks.

In The Name of Honor by Richard North Patterson

Home from Iraq, a lieutenant kills his commanding officer—was it self-defense or premeditated murder? An enthralling novel of suspense about the high cost of war and secrets

The McCarrans and the Gallaghers, two military families, have been close for decades, ever since Anthony McCarran—now one of the army's most distinguished generals—became best friends with Jack Gallagher, a fellow West Pointer who was later killed in Vietnam. Now a new generation of soldiers faces combat, and Lt. Brian McCarran, the general's son, has returned from a harrowing tour in Iraq. Traumatized by wartime experiences he will not reveal, Brian depends on his lifelong friendship with Kate Gallagher, Jack's daughter, who is married to Brian's commanding officer in Iraq, Capt. Joe D'Abruzzo. But since coming home, D'Abruzzo also seems changed by the experiences he and Brian shared—he's become secretive and remote.

Tragedy strikes when Brian shoots and kills D'Abruzzo on their army post in Virginia. Brian pleads self-defense, claiming that D'Abruzzo, a black-belt martial artist, came to his quarters, accused him of interfering with his marriage, and attacked him. Kate supports Brian and says that her husband had become violent and abusive. But Brian and Kate have secrets of their own, and now Capt. Paul Terry, one of the army's most accomplished young lawyers, will defend Brian in a high-profile court-martial. Terry's co-counsel is Meg McCarran, Brian's sister, a brilliant and beautiful attorney who insists on leaving her practice in San Francisco to help save her brother. Before the case is over, Terry will become deeply entwined with Meg and the McCarrans—and learn that families, like war, can break the sturdiest of souls.

This Must Be The Place by Kate Racculia

A sudden death, a never-mailed postcard, and a long buried secret set the stage for a luminous and heartbreakingly real novel about lost souls finding one another

The Darby-Jones boardinghouse in Ruby Falls, New York, is home to Mona Jones and her daughter, Oneida, two loners and self-declared outcasts who have formed a perfectly insular family unit: the two of them and the three eclectic boarders living in their house. But their small, quiet life is upended when Arthur Rook shows up in the middle of a nervous breakdown, devastated by the death of his wife, carrying a pink shoe box containing all his wife's mementos and keepsakes, and holding a postcard from sixteen years ago, addressed to Mona but never sent. Slowly the contents of the box begin to fit together to tell a story—one of a powerful friendship, a lost love, and a secret that, if revealed, could change everything that Mona, Oneida, and Arthur know to be true. Or maybe the stories the box tells and the truths it brings to life will teach everyone about love—how deeply it runs, how strong it makes us, and how even when all seems lost, how tightly it brings us together. With emotional accuracy and great energy, This Must Be the Place introduces memorable, charming characters that refuse to be forgotten.

The Transformation of Bartholomew Fortuno by Ellen Bryson

Water for Elephants meets Geek Love in this riveting first novel, an enchanting love story set in P. T. Barnum's American Museum in 1865 New York City
Bartholomew Fortuno, the World's Thinnest Man, believes that his unusual body is a gift. Hired by none other than P. T. Barnum to work at his spectacular American Museum—a modern marvel of macabre displays, breathtaking theatrical performances, and live shows by Barnum's cast of freaks and oddities—Fortuno has reached the pinnacle of his career. But after a decade of constant work, he finds his sense of self, and his contentment within the walls of the museum, flagging. When a carriage pulls up outside the museum in the dead of night, bearing Barnum and a mysterious veiled woman—rumored to be a new performer—Fortuno's curiosity is piqued. And when Barnum asks Fortuno to follow her and report back on her whereabouts, his world is turned upside down. Why is Barnum so obsessed with this woman? Who is she, really? And why has she taken such a hold on the hearts of those around her?

Set in the New York of 1865, a time when carriages rattled down cobblestone streets, raucous bordellos near the docks thrived, and the country was mourning the death of President Lincoln, The Transformation of Bartholomew Fortuno is a moving novel about human appetites and longings. With pitch-perfect prose, Ellen Bryson explores what it means to be profoundly unique—and how the power of love can transcend even the greatest divisions.

The Good Son by Michael Gruber

New York Times bestselling author Michael Gruber, a member of "the elite ranks of those who can both chill the blood and challenge the mind" (The Denver Post), delivers a taut, multilayered, riveting novel of suspense

Somewhere in Pakistan, Sonia Laghari and eight fellow members of a symposium on peace are being held captive by armed terrorists. Sonia, a deeply religious woman as well as a Jungian psychologist, has become the de facto leader of the kidnapped group. While her son Theo, an ex-Delta soldier, uses his military connections to find and free the victims, Sonia tries to keep them all alive by working her way into the kidnappers' psyches and interpreting their dreams. With her knowledge of their language, her familiarity with their religion, and her Jungian training, Sonia confounds her captors with her insights and beliefs. Meanwhile, when the kidnappers decide to kill their captives, one by one, in retaliation for perceived crimes against their country, Theo races against the clock to try and save their lives.

And finally, I  bought the following book from Books A Million

Warning At One (A Lois Meade Mystery) by Ann Purser

The tenants of Lois Meade's terrace house in Tresham are frustrated by their neighbor's feisty pet cockerel, Satan. His owner, Clem Fitch, refuses to part with his feathery companion-making Lois's tenants fly the coop. Luckily, her son Douglas agrees to rent the house.

But when Clem and Satan are found dead, Douglas-who is involved with Clem's daughter-becomes a prime suspect in some foul business.

I hope everyone has a great week! May the sun shine on you, the breeze caress you, and your cup never be empty.

In My Mailbox

This weekly meme is hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren! Check out her blog to see what others are reading.

I have finally made it back. It has been a tough two weeks. The loss of someone so unexpected is numbing and surreal. Thank you all for being patient with me.

Below is a list of the stash I received the past couple of weeks.







I received Based on Availability by Alix Strauss courtesy of Librarything early reviewers

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Harper Paperbacks (June 8, 2010)

Synopsis: Based Upon Availability is the story of eight women, each exploring the basic need for human connection while seeking to understand themselves better. They are lonely, strong and driven women who, when pushed to the edge, must fight for their lives as they struggle to become the women they wish to be.
Meet Trish, a gallery owner struggling to deal with the wedding and the dramatic weight loss of her best friend, changes that lead her down a self-destruction path; Robin, a realtor, who, after experiencing a lifetime of abuse by her older sister, is forced to take revenge; Anne, a lonely, single woman who suffers from obsessive-compulsive disorder, and searches for normalcy and love; Louise, a drug-addicted rock star, who is sent away to dry out by her just as famous publicist; Franny, a Southerner turned wanna-be Manhattanite, who is envious of her neighbors’ lives and their nesting habits and becomes unhealthily attached to them; Sheila, a single teacher who is driven to punish her boyfriend when he informs her he’s returning to his wife; and Ellen, a married, childless woman so desperate to have children she insists she’s pregnant.
Morgan, a manager at the swanky Four Seasons in Manhattan—who is haunted by the memory of her dead sister—is the thread who weaves these women together. The hotel offers sanctuary to each—for an hour, for several days—and while some find solace, others find only despair.
Based Upon Availability examines the walls we put up as we attempt intimacy, while inspecting the ruins once they're knocked down.

Remembering the Ladies by Ann Covell

Synopsis:  

WHERE DID INSPIRATION FOR THIS BOOK COME FROM?

During the period of the 2008 American presidential election, when the whole world was held spellbound, I overheard a group of British college students discussing their latest study project. They were required to write an essay comparing any modern American First Lady with one who had served within the first century of the presidency. They quickly discovered that the early First Ladies lived in a complex world and that their role in that era was difficult. Pulling the overwhelming jigsaw of facts together from internet research was proving to be laborious and wearisome. The students would have preferred one compilation of First Ladies stories from the 19th century, which could be discussed with each other and /or their tutor at anytime, anywhere. Enthusiasm for the project was dampened by an apparent dearth of such volumes and by the lack of time available to study long individual biographies. The idea for this compendium was born!
WHAT'S IT ALL ABOUT?
In this 21st century, America's First Lady is as well known as her husband due to world-wide modern technology. In the 19th century, however, it was difficult for the public to even know who the president's wife was. Even today it is not easy to call to mind those pioneering First Ladies, many of whom were burdened with more than their fair share of misfortune and some almost forgotten
This book provides an insight into the lives of the 19th century First Ladies, in an undemanding, easy-to-read style, and aims to raise awareness of the historical significance of these women. Their abridged stories, sometimes joyful, sometimes sad, range from slavery, bigamy, duels, royal snubs, European conflicts, American wars, assassinations and suffrage, and demonstrate how the Ladies might be seen as victims of history. The text includes a basic review of the restricted evolution of the First Lady role during the first hundred years. The aim is that the book will encourage foundational study in colleges and schools, and inspire anyone who is interested in presidential history to deeper levels of publications and study.

 Sophie Redesigned by Karen Dahood

A Sophie and Sam Mystery

Synopsis:
Why Not Live Dangerously For a Change? She knows she's smart, but she's bored. When Sophie meets "Sam," a pre-Internet police detective who depends on her professional skills at the Dorado Bay Public Library, she decides to retire and go freelance. He's reluctant to hire her as a consulting researcher until she beats him to the murder scene and know the victim. They awkwardly proceed to solve the crime with opposing techniques, uncovering a decades-old killing corporation and a religious cult, all in the same dysfunctional family.
Sophie Redesigned is the first in a series of Sophie and Sam collaborations to solve crimes committed under Sophie's sharp nose for trouble. Elder issues drive the plots while family ties are tested, including Sophie's relationship with her son Robin, who thinks "active retirement" should not mean sneaking around the country for clues. Then there's the problem of growing warmth between two senior citizens who are past their romantic prime. Or are they?

Bernardo and the Virgin by Silvio Sirias

Got this for a book tour in June. Check back June 16th for the tour.

Synopsis:
The year is 1980, and the Sandinistas are newly in power in Nicaragua. Bernardo Martinez, a modest, unassuming tailor in the town of CuapaSirias's sweeping novel tells many stories, weaving together the true account of this humble, devout man with the moving and often humorous fictional tales of the people whom he influenced and inspired. It is also a stormy epic of Nicaragua through the long Somoza years and the Sandinista revolution.

In My Mailbox

This weekly meme is hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren! Check out her blog to see what others are reading.

To be fair I honestly can't remember what I received this week. I apologize to all of you. A dear friend of mine passed away on Friday. It was very sudden and unexpected and we are all feeling numb. I promise to get back in the groove soon. I will try to visit your sites this week and read the exciting things you all have going on. Hope your week is lovely and filled with many blessings.

In My Mailbox

This weekly meme is hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren! Check out her blog to see what others are reading.

Received these books in my mailbox this week:


Easy As Pi The Countless Ways We Use Numbers Everyday by Jamie Buchan
 
I received this from FSB Media Books

Synopsis (from FSB Media Books):
  Have you ever stopped to think how many countless ways we use numbers? From the ring of the alarm clock in the morning to the numbers triggering our cell phones, our world is designed with numbers in mind. With Easy as Pi, you'll get the 4-1-1 on the fascinating origin of many of the numbers we use or read about every day.


•What makes "cloud nine" and "seventh heaven" so blissful?

•Why is number 7 so lucky and 13 so unlucky?

•Is "fourth-dimensional thinking" really out of this world?

•What prompted Ray Bradbury to call his novel Fahrenheit 451?

•How did 007 become James Bond's number?

For the math averse: Be not afraid. Easy as Pi is not a textbook but rather a lively look at the derivation of numerical expressions and their inescapable influence on our culture -- from book titles to bus schedules. To sum it up, Easy as Pi equals one clever and often hilarious collection.
 
 
I bought this book at Barnes and Noble this week:
 

The Creation of Eve by Lynn Cullen

Synopsis (From B&N):


It's 1559. A young woman painter is given the honor of traveling to Michelangelo's Roman workshop to learn from the Maestro himself. Only men are allowed to draw the naked figure, so she can merely observe from afar the lush works of art that Michelangelo sculpts and paints from life. Sheltered and yet gifted with extraordinary talent, she yearns to capture all that life and beauty in her own art. But after a scandal involving one of Michelangelo's students, she flees Rome and fears she has doomed herself and her family. The Creation of Eve is a riveting novel based on the true but little- known story of Sofonisba Anguissola, the first renowned female artist of the Renaissance. After Sofi's flight from Rome, her family eagerly accepts an invitation from fearsome King Felipe II of Spain for her to become lady-in-waiting and painting instructor to his young bride. The Spanish court is a nest of intrigue and gossip, where a whiff of impropriety can bring ruin. Hopelessly bound by the rules and restrictions of her position, Sofi yearns only to paint. And yet the young Queen needs Sofi's help in other matters- inexperiences as she is, the Queen not only fails to catch the King's eye, but she fails to give him an heir, both of which are crimes that could result in her banishment. Sofi guides her in how best to win the heart of the King, but the Queen is too young, and too romantic, to be satisfied. Soon, Sofi becomes embroiled in a love triangle involving the Queen, the King, and the King's illegitimate half brother, Don Juan. And if the crime of displeasing the King is banishment, the crime of cuckolding him must surely be death. Combining art, drama, and history from the Golden Age of Spain, The Creation of Eve is an expansive, original, and addictively entertaining novel that asks the question: Can you ever truly know another person's heart?

I have read and reviewed 2 books this past week after my daughter's wedding. I should get through many others this week. I will be posting the 2nd review soon. It is on a book by John L. Betcher, The Missing Element, a suspense mystery book.