Where I share my love of books with reviews, features, giveaways and memes. Family and needlepoint are thrown in from time to time.

Saturday, May 29, 2010

Mailbox Mayhem (5/24-5/30)

Bison roam the Black Hills of South Dakota
Mailbox Monday is hosted at The Printed Page . Please visit Kristi and Marcia  and take a look at what packages everybody else got this week!





by Edward Mooney, Jr.
(Sourcebooks)

A Promise Made
A love that will last forever.

If you've ever loved someone to the depth of your being, someone who for one reason or other needed to move on, you know the power of a parting wish. The story of Joseph and Anne, his wife of fifty-three years, is the story of just such a wish -- one that only true love could try to achieve. And for Joseph the strength to build the stone wall -- a special reminder from Anne's childhood -- will take him places he never expected and that you will never forget.

The Pearls of the Stone Man takes us beyond generations and our own stone walls to the very humanity that unites us all -- and shows us the incredible power of one couple's love to last beyound parting and forever change the lives of those they touched.





by Paula Quinn
(Hachette)

Davina Montgomery is no ordinary English lady. For her own protection, she's been locked away from society, her true identity the Crown's most closely guarded secret. Until a shocking  betrayal -- and a bold rescue -- land her in the arms of a fierce Highlander, a powerful warrior whose searing gaze and tantalizing touch awaken her body and soul.

As the firstborn son of a powerful Scottish laird, Robert MacGregor has no loyalty to the English throne, but he's not the kind of man to leave a woman in distress. He vows to deliver Davina to safety, unharmed and untouched. Yet one stolen kiss leaves them both smoldering with desire. . . and desperate for more. With Davina's secret threatening to destroy his clan, Rob must choose between everything he holds dear and the one woman he can't live without.



 
by Jane Austen and Wayne Josephson
(Sourcebooks August tour)

Something isn't quite right with the gentlemen in Highbury. . .

But Emma is a tireless matchmaker, despite the warnings (and self-defense training) she receives from her handsome and mysterious next door neighbor, Mr. Knightley. . .whom she notices only visits them at night these day's. . .

Emma is on a passionate mission to see true love prevail, unknowingly putting her dearest friends in mortal danger. The hapless ladies of Highbury will need more than fashionable wardrobes, the right social connections, and irresistible charm if they want to survive long enough to make it to the altar. . .




 
by Blake Crouch
(Read-it-forward gift from Marcia at The Printed Page)

For Will Innis and his daughter, Devlin, the loss was catastrophic. Every day for the past five years, they wonder where she is, if she is -- Will's wife, Devlin's mother -- because Rachael Innis vanished one night during an electrical storm on a lonely desert highway, and suspected of her death, Will took his daughter and fled.

Now, Will and Devlin live under different names in another town, having carved out a new life for themselves as they struggle to maintain some semblance of a family.

When one night, a beautiful, hard-edged FBI agent appears on their doorstep, they fear the worst, but she hasn't come to arrest Will. "I know you're innocent," she tells him, "because Rachael wasn't the first. . .or the last."

Desperate for answers, Will and Devlin embark on a terrifying journey that spans four thousand miles from the desert southwest to the wilds of Alaska, heading unaware into the heart of a nightmare, because the truth is infinitely worse than they ever imagined.



 
by Alex Kava
(Doubleday July tour)

On Pensacola Beach, the Coast Guard prepares for a Category 5 hurricane that has entered the Gulf of Mexico. When the air crew patrols the waterways, they spot a huge fishing cooler about a mile offshore. Drug traffickers have been known to dump coolers with smuggled product to avoid detection and pay fishermen to retrieve them. But when the crew open this cooler, they’re shocked by what they find: body parts tightly wrapped in plastic.

Though she is putting herself in the projected path of the hurricane, Special Agent Maggie O’Dell is sent to investigate. Eventually, she’s able to trace the torso in the cooler back to a man who mysteriously disappeared weeks earlier after a hurricane hit Port St. Lucie, Florida. Only Port St. Lucie is on the Atlantic side. How did his body end up six hundred miles away in the Gulf of Mexico?

Cliffhanger chapters, behind-the-scenes forensic details, colorful characters, and satisfying twists have become the trademarks of Kava’s psychological thrillers. In Damaged, she ratchets up the suspense a notch by sending Maggie into the eye of an impending monster hurricane to track down a killer.



by Scott Turow
(Hachette Audio)

More than twenty years after Rusty Sabich and Tommy Molto went head-to-head in the shattering murder trial of Presumed Innocent, the men are pitted against each other once again in a riveting psychological match. When Sabich, now over sixty years old and the chief judge of an appellate court, finds his wife, Barbara, dead under mysterious circumstances, Molto accuses him of murder for the second time, setting into motion a trial that is vintage Turow -- the courtroom at its most taut and explosive.

With his characteristic insight into both the dark truths of the human psyche and the dense intricacies of the criminal justice system, Scott Turow proves once again that some stories simply compel us to listen late into the night, desperate to know who did it.



by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
(Hachette Audio)

Yesterday, Special Agent Pendergast still mourned the loss of his beloved wife, Helen, who died in a tragic accident in Africa twelve years ago.

Today, he discovers she was murdered.

Tomorrow, he will learn her most guarded secrets, leaving him to wonder: Who was the woman I married?  Why was she murdered? And, above all. . .Who murdered her?

Revenge is not sweet: It is essential.



by Manjula Naraynan
(Bostick)

Have you heard about a little, grey Grey cloud that lives up in the skies?  He was such a crybaby, crying whenever he was sad or scared. And he kept crying, thinking of sad and scary things -- until he found his silver lining.



The Doomsday Key: A Novel (Sigma Force Novels)
by James Rollins
(Harper Collins)


At Princeton University, a famed geneticist dies inside a biohazard lab. In Rome, a Vatican archaeologist is found dead in St. Peter's Basilica. In Africa, a U.S. senator's son is slain outside a Red Cross camp.


Three murder victims on three continents, linked by a pagan Druidic cross burned into their flesh.


Commander Gray Pierce and Sigma Force have only days to solve an apocalyptic puzzle dating back centuries. Aided by two women from his past -- one his ex-lover, the other his new partner -- Gray must uncover a horrifying secret that threatens America and the world, even if it means sacrificing the life of one of the women at his side. The race is on -- from the Roman Coliseum to the icy peaks of Norway to the lost tombs of Celtic kings -- and the future hangs in the balance. For humankind's ultimate nightmare is locked within a talisman buried by a dead saint -- an ancient artifact known as . . . The Doomsday Key.




Homecoming
by Jason Garrett
(Yorkshire Publishing)


For centuries, believers have prophesied of an evil which would overcome mankind. In that hour, the hand of God will send forth soldiers to do battle for His children. The time for war is upon us and Hell is coming to collect.


On a perfect autumn night in the coastal village of Wicker Bay, a young couple was attacked and a life was forever changed. When teenager Nickel Warren awoke she learned her boyfriend, Eric, had mysteriously vanished. Seemingly the only person on Bishop's Island eager to find him, Nickel devoted her life to learning what happened to her first love on that tragic night. Though the years provided no clues or comfort she never allowed herself to stop believing Eric was alive.


Now, after an eighteen year absence Eric Kade has resurfaced on Bishop's Island under circumstances as unsettling as his disappearance. Though reunited, Nickel's search for answers is sidelined by another horrific event more deeply connected to her childhood sweetheart than she can imagine. Living as a preacher, Eric has traveled the world for nearly two decades hunting demons in a sect named The Progeny. But a chilling prophecy has named him as a threat and turned his fellow hunters against him.


With a sense of urgency, Eric has come back to the island not to rekindle the past but to protect the home he loves from an oncoming war. Relying on the help of a rare group of locals, he builds a network of his own to defend the unknowing against a world he has come to know too well. As he works to prepare a haven, Eric will strengthen his bond with Nickel and introduce her to a world of miraculous events and unholy terror.




Discord's Apple
by Carrie Vaughn


When Evie Walker goes home to spend time with her dying father, she discovers that his creaky old house in Hope's Fort, Colorado, is not the only legacy she stands to inherit. Hidden behind the old basement door is a secret and magical storeroom, a place where wondrous treasures from myth and legend are kept safe until they are needed again.


And there are certainly those who will give anything to get in.


Evie must find a way to guard the storeroom against ancient and malicious forces, protecting the past and the future even as the present unravels around them. Old heroes and notorious villains alike rise to fight on her side or to undermine her most desperate gambits.


At stake is the fate of the world, and the prevention of nothing less than the apocalypse.






The Starlet: A Novel
by Mary McNamara
(June tour for Regal Literary)


It's a not-so-well-respected rule in Hollywood that what happens on location stays on location. But when a hot young leading man winds up dead in his Rome hotel room, his costar's life is about to go off the rails in a very public way -- even by celeb standards. At the tender age of twenty-three, Mercy Talbot has won an Oscar, battled addiction, wrecked more than her share of cars, and burned down her house. Her look-alike mother keeps her on a tight leash (and fueled with an endless supply of OxyContin and cocaine) and her producers demand a grueling schedule. By the time she stumbles across Juliette Greyson, a Hollywood insider on a much-needed vacation, Mercy is surrounded by photographers and about to emerge drunk, high, and naked from a public fountain. Whisking her away to an idyllic Tuscan 'retreat,' Juliette is about to discover another rule of Hollywood: wherever the starlet may go, the drama will follow.




Lowcountry Summer: A Plantation Novel
by Dorothea Benton Frank
(Harper Collins)


Dorothea Benton Frank is a native of the South whose novels vividly capture the wild beauty, laid-back atmosphere, earthy characters, and charming eccentricities of life in South Carolina's Lowcountry. Written with compelling honesty and emotional depth, her stories have touched readers from coast to coast, and propelled her to the top ranks of bestsellerdom nationwide.


Now this remarkable writer revisits some of her most unforgettable characters in this enchanting new story sure to make you laugh and cry. Return with her to Tall Pines Plantation in this long-awaited sequel to her beloved bestseller Plantation. . .


When Caroline Wimbley Levine returned to Tall Pines Plantation, she never expected to make peace with long-buried truths about herself and her family. The Queen of Tall Pines, her late mother, was a force of nature, but now she is gone, leaving Caroline and the rest of the family uncertain of who will take her place.


In the lush South Carolina countryside, old hurts, betrayals, and dark secrets will surface, and a new generation will rise along the banks of the mighty Edisto River.


Wonderfully evocative, infused with humor and poignancy, and rich with the lyrical cadences of the South, Lowcountry Summer is vintage Dorothea Benton Frank, a deeply moving novel you'll want to savor and share.




Sidney Sheldon's After the Darkness
by Sidney Sheldon and Tilly Bagshawe
(Harper Collins)


What happens when a woman who has everything loses everything?


And when a woman who has nothing realizes she has nothing to lose?


Blessed with the face of an angel and the guileless, trusting nature of a child, Grace Brookstein is the prized wife of the king of Wall Street, Lenny Brookstein. A billionaire many times over, with estates around the world, a fleet of yachts, and a life that is the stuff of fantasies, the revered financial wizard made his fortune tending the nest eggs of ordinary people -- the elderly, blue-collar workers, small charities, and working families struggling to make a better life for themselves and their children. The embodiment of America itself -- ambitious, hardworking, generous, and warmhearted -- Lenny is a fixture of the business pages and the society columns, where he and Grace are celebrated for their philanthropic contributions and their lavish annual fund-raising ball.


Despite the stock market's terrifying collapse, the Brooksteins' glamorous lifestyle of Palm Beach polo tournaments and G5 jets remains untouched -- until the day Lenny goes sailing from their Nantucket beach estate and never comes home. When his abandoned yacht is found far out at sea, Grace is devastated. Lenny was her world. She has no idea that his disappearance is just the beginning of a dark, terrifying nightmare of murder, lies, greed, and betrayal that will shatter her life and destroy everything she has ever known. . .


Before she can begin to grieve, the shocking news breaks that the $75 billion invested in Quorom, Lenny's hedge fund, is gone -- and everyone believes that Grace has stolen the money. Overnight, the delicate beauty who was once the toast of moneyed society has become a reviled modern-day Marie Antoinette, alone and powerless to stop her infamous fall.


Grace is certain someone is framing her, and she'll do whatever it takes to prove it, even if it means taking the law into her own hands. Surrounded by enemies, with no one to turn to, Grace must learn to rely on herself -- a bold, dangerous journey that will transform her in ways she never thought possible and lead her to a startling new life.


Filled with the passion, glamour, twists, and driving suspense that made sidney Sheldon a bestselling legend, Sidney Sheldon's After the Darkness is an entertaining thrill ride that continues the grand tradition set by the master himself.



What did you find in your mailbox this week?

6 comments:

Amber at The Musings of ALMYBNENR said...

The Starlet really caught my eye. I'm adding it to my TBR.

Carrie said...

I'm seeing Snowbound pop up and I think that one sounds extremely intriguing.

Looks like you'll be having some fun reading adventures!

- Carrie
5 Minutes for Books
www.5minutesforbooks.com

Lisa said...

That's quite a bunch.

<a href="http://when-she-reads.blogspot.com/2010/05/mailbox-monday-3152010.html>Here's mine for the week</A>

Beth(bookaholicmom) said...

Low Country Summer is one to go on my wish list. I love Dorothea Benton Frank. That cover screams summer to me!

Sassy Brit @ Alternative-Read.com said...

oh i LOVE the look of The Doomsday Key! Thanks!

Hope you enjoy them- good - HUGE selection!

Here's mine if you'd like to drop by!

Happy Monday!

Sassy
:)

bermudaonion said...

Wow, that is total mayhem! I hope each one of those books is a winner!

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