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

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Mailbox Mayhem (Oct 4 - Oct 10)

Bison roam the Black Hills of South Dakota


In My Mailbox is hosted Sundays at The Story Siren.  Mailbox Monday's host for October is Avis at She Reads and Reads. Please visit these posts and take a look at what packages everybody else got this week!
SWAPPED:

by Scott Westerfeld
It's a few years after rebel Tally Youngblood took down the uglies/pretties/specials regime.  Without those strict roles and rules, the world is in a complete cultural renaissance.  "Tech-heads" flaunt their latest gadgets, "kickers" spread gossip and trends, and "surge monkeys" are hooked on extreme plastic surgery.  And it's all monitored on a bazillion different cameras.  The world is like a gigantic game of American Idol.  Whoever is getting the most buzz gets the most votes.  Popularity rules.
As if being fifteen doesn't suck enough, Aya Fuse's rank of 451,369 is so low, she's a total nobody.  An extra.  Her only chance to escape extra-land is to find a big story to kick -- something wild and unexpected.
Then Aya meets a clique of girls who pull crazy tricks, yet are deeply secretive of it.  But the Sly Girls are hiding something bigger -- an explosive discovery that may change the face of the brave new world forever.  If Aya kicks this story, she'll be propelled into the world of fame, celebrity. . . and extreme danger.  A world she's not prepared for.

by Alyson Noel

Just as Ever is learning everything she can about her new abilities as an immortal, initiated into the dark, seductive world by her beloved Damen, something terrible is happening to him.  As Ever's powers increase, Damen's begin to fade after he is stricken by a mysterious illness that threatens his memory, his identity, his life.

Desperate to save him, Ever travels to the mystical dimension of Summerland, where she uncovers not only the secrets of Damen's past -- the brutal, tortured history he hoped to keep hidden -- but also an ancient text revealing the workings of time.  With the approaching blue moon heralding her only window for travel, Ever is forced to decide between turning back the clock and saving her family from the accident that claimed them -- or staying in the present and saving Damen, who grows weaker by the day. . .


FOR REVIEW:


by Jodi Thomas

In the two years since she claimed Harmony, Texas, as her home, eighteen-year-old Reagan Truman has found herself drawn to others who have made their way there, too.  Gabe Leary, for instance, whose plan to hide out in Harmony is dashed when he becomes the town hero.  then there's Liz Matheson: Vulnerable and fresh out of law school, Liz has never been needed by anyone -- until an unsettling encounter with Gabe changes everything.  And there's Liz's brother, volunteer fire chief Hank Matheson, who's starting to wonder whether the town's sheriff, Alex McAllen, will ever set the date to marry him.

As for Reagan, who's been shaped by the loneliness she's known most of her life, she's finally found a place she belongs -- and doesn't want anything to get in her way.  But when her life is put in jeopardy and the whole town comes together to save her, she'll discover that trusting the love that's come into our hearts is the greatest gift of all. . .


by River Jordan

What if you had the power to amend choices you made in the past? Would you do it even if it changed everything?

Mercy Land has made some unexpected choices for a young woman in the 1930s.  The sheltered daughter of a traveling preacher, she chooses to leave her rural community to move to nearby Bay City on the warm, gulf-waters of southern Alabama.  There she finds a job at the local paper and spends seven years making herself indispensible to old Doc Philips, the publisher and editor.  Then she gets a frantic call at dawn -- it's the biggest news story of her life, and she can't print a word of it.

Doc has come into possession of a curious book that maps the lives of everyone in bay City -- decisions they've made in the past, and how those choices affect the future.  Mercy and Doc are consumed by the mystery locked between the pages -- Doc because he hopes to right a very old wrong, and Mercy because she wants to fulfill the book's strange purpose.  But when a mystery from Mercy's past arrives by train, she begins to understand she will have to make choices that will deeply affect everyone she loves -- forever.



by Pat Brown with Bob Andelman

In 1990, a young woman was strangled on a jogging path near the home of Pat Brown and her family.  Brown suspected the young man who was renting a room in her house and quickly uncovered strong evidence that pointed to him -- but the police dismissed her as merely a housewife with an overactive imagination.  It would be six years before her former boarder would be brought in for questioning, but the night Brown took action to solve the murder was the beginning of her life's work.

Pat Brown is now one of the nation's few female criminal profilers -- a sleuth who assists police departments and victims' families by analyzing both physical and behavioral evidence to make the most scientific determination possible about who committed a crime.  Brown has analyzed many dozens of seemingly hopeless cases and brought new investigative avenues to light.

In The Profiler, Brown opens her case files to take readers behind the scenes of bizarre sex crimes, domestic murders, and mysterious deaths, going face-to-face with killers, rapists, and brutalized victims.  It's a rare, up-close, first-person look at the real world of police and profilers as they investigate crimes -- the good and bad, the cover-ups and the successes.




by Kerin Bellak-Adams

In AD/HD Success! Solutions for Boosting Self-Esteem, AD/HD expert Kerin Bellak-Adams presents a unique and practical method for working with children and adolescents who need to overcome some of the challenges that are frequently encountered in those with an AD/HD diagnosis.  Based on her extensive experience working with families, Bellak-Adams's proven techniques boost self-esteem while helping children achieve their full potential.

Developed for ages 7 to 17, this hands-on workbook provides motivational tools that help kids experience a dramatic shift in positive attitude toward themselves, aiding them in developing new behaviors that will allow them to flourish in and out of school.  Supporting exercises and worksheets help students learn time-management skills, improve communication with parents and teachers, develop accountability, increase self-discipline, and become aware of untapped strengths -- putting them on the path to lifelong success! 





Christmas is a time of celebration and wonder, a time to embrace longstanding traditions and establish new ones.  It's a time for meals filled with memories and heartwarming stories shared around the fireplace.  It's a time for worship, reflection, and remembrance of God's greatest gift.

Everything Christmas brings all of the best ideas for the holiday season together in one volume.  In this book, you'll find your favorite classic Christmas stories and a few new ones destined to join them.  You'll discover the most delectable holiday recipes, enjoy the words to treasured hymns and carols, and be encouraged by inspirational Christmas poems and the joy of the Nativity.

Organized by the days of Advent, Everything Christmas includes everything you need to make the holiday bright.  From decoration ideas to christmas trivia and humor -- it's all here!

Opening Everything Christmas is like opening a box full of Christmas cheer.


by Denise Burroughs







by Donita K. Paul

In a sleepy, snow-covered city, Cora Crowder is busy preparing for the holiday season.  As she searches for a perfect gift, a fortuitous trip to Warner, Werner, and Wizbotterdad's (a most unusual bookshop) leads to an unexpected encounter with co-worker Simon Derrick.  And the surprise discovery of a ticket for a truly one-of-a-kind Christmas Ball.

Every year, the matchmaking booksellers of the Sage Street bookshop host an enchanting, old-fashioned Christmas Ball for the romantic matches they've decided to bring together.

This year, wll Simon and Cora discover a perfect chemistry in their opposite personalities and shared faith?  Or will the matchmakers' best laid plans end up ruining everything this holiday?



by Jeannette Katzir


World War II has long since ended, and yet Jaclyn and her four brothers and sisters grow up learning to survive it.  Having lived through the Holocaust on the principle of constant distrust, their mother, Channa, dutifully teaches her children to cling to one another while casting a suspicious eye to the outside world.  When Channa dies, the unexpected contents of her will force her adult children to face years of suppressed indignation.  For Jacyln and her siblings, the greatest war will not be against strangers, but against one another.  Broken Birds, The Story of My Momila is Jeannette Katzir's achingly honest memoir of the enduring effects of war.  From her parents' harrowing experiences during the Holocaust to her own personal battles, Katzir exposes the maladies of heart and mind that those broken by war, inevitably and unintentionally pass down to the generations that follow. 




by Annie Greer and Tim Vandehey

Annie Greer has an uncanny ability to attract animal strangeness wherever she goes.  An animal chiropractioner, healer and behaviorist, Annie regularly finds herself in the middle of the most ridiculous, harrowing and hysterically funny situations -- prospecting for pigs in a region right out of "Deliverance," dealing with dogs that consume women's undergarments, tackling stray deer, soothing a beloved pig afflicted with agoraphobia, and that's only the beginning.  With her veterinarian husband, Kent, by her side, Annie's adventures are the stuff that laughter is made of.

Now, with her co-author Tim Vandehey, Annie has compiled 26 of her funniest tales in The Chimp Who Loved Me.  This collection is sure to leave you saying, "No way. Can't be true!"  But Annie really has sedated a cougar, been a human sheepdog and used kung fu on wild pigs.  She and Tim share a lifetime of bizarre, funny and loving anecdotes about sex, pee, poop and death -- in other words, the real world of animals and those who care for them.

20% of book sales go the ASPCA!



What Books Found A Home With You This Week?





7 comments:

Aisle B said...

That is a huge mailbox! I just kept scrolling scrolling scrolling scrolling and my eyes got wider, wider, wider and wider!

WOW! Sweet mailman and loved seeing the XMAS books displayed.

Happy reading :)

Anonymous said...

WOW that's a ton of books! You'll have to let me know about the adhd one b/c I have a 8yr old with a pretty severe case...
Mu IMM is here: http://nikkibrandyberry.wordpress.com/

bermudaonion said...

You always get the best variety of books! I hope they're all fantastic.

DCMetroreader said...

Wow what a great selection of books -- congrats! I would especially like to read The Profiler as it sounds very exciting.

Mary (Bookfan) said...

A few of these were in my mailbox. I can't wait to read the new Jodi Thomas book - love her novels!

Natalie~Coffee and a Book Chick said...

Oh, my! What a great mailbox -- don't you just love that feeling of opening it up and seeing all the fun packages? My husband groans about it all, but I love it! :) Here's my Mailbox: Coffee and a Book Chick -- Mailbox Monday...

Holly (2 Kids and Tired) said...

Great mailbox. I have some of the same ones this week. Enjoy!!

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