Mailbox Monday (Feb 13, 2012)

 Mailbox Monday will be hosted in February at Metroreader.  In My Mailbox is hosted Sundays at The Story Siren. Please visit these posts and take a look at what packages everybody else got this week! 

Agony of the Leaves

by Laura Childs

In the latest novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Scones and Bones, Indigo Tea Shop Owner Theodosia Browning finds herself in hot water when a body surfaces at the grand opening of Charleston's Neptune Aquarium. . .

The opening of the aquarium is a major Charleston event, and Theodosia has been hired to cater tea, scones, and sandwiches for the private party to honor dignitaries and big-buck donors.  Things are going swimmingly until Theodosia escapes the party for a momentary rest, only to discover the body of a man entangled in a net, drowned in one of the aquarium's state-of-the-art tanks.

To make matters worse, the victim is Theodosia's former boyfriend Parker Scully.  The EMTs on the scene think Parker's drowning was an accident, but when Theodosia notices what look like defensive wounds on his hands she realizes that someone wanted Parker dead.  The local police aren't keen on hearing her theory -- especially because of her ties to the victim -- so Theodosia knows that if she wants Parker's killer brouight to justice, she'll have to jump into the deep end and start her own investigation. . .

White Horse

by Alex Adams

The world has ended, but her journey has just begun.

Thirty-year-old Zoe leads an ordinary life until the end of the world arrives.  She is cleaning cages and floors at Pope Pharmaceuticals when the President of the United States announces that human beings are no longer a viable species.  When Zoe realizes that everyone she loves is disappearing, she starts running.  Scared and alone in a shockingly changed world, she embarks on a remarkable journey of survival and redemption.  Along the way, Zoe comes to see that humans are defined not by their genetic code, but rather by their actions and choices.  White Horse offers hope for a broken world, where love can lead to the most unexpected places.

Restoration

by Olaf Olafsson

Having grown up in an exclusive circle of wealthy British ex-pats in Florence in the 1920s, Alice shocks everyone when she marries Claudio, the son of a minor landowner, and moves to San Martino, a crumbling villa in Tuscany.  Settling into their new paradise, husband and wife begin to build their future, restoring San Martino and giving birth to a son.

But as time passes, Alice grows lonely, a restlessness that leads her into the heady social swirl of wartime Rome and a reckless affair that will have devastating consequences.  While she spends time with her lover in Rome, Alice's young son falls ill and dies, widening the emotional chasm between her and her husband -- and leaving her vulnerable to the machinations of a nefarious art dealer who ensnares her in a dangerous and deadly scheme.

Returning to San Martino, Alice yearns for forgiveness.  But before she can begin to make amends, Claudio disappears, and the encroaching fighting threatens to destroy everything they have built.  Caught between loyalists and resisters, cruel German forces and Allied troops, Alice valiantly struggles to survive, hoping the life and love she lost can one day be restored.

Sarai

by Jill Eileen Smith

He promised her his heart.  She promised him a son.  But how long must they wait?

When Abram finally requests the hand of his beautiful half sister Sarai, she asks one thing -- that he promise never to take another wife as long as she lives.  Even Sarai's father thinks the demand is restrictive and agrees to the union only if she makes a promise in return -- to give Abram a son and heir.  Certain she can easily do that, Sarai agrees.

But as the years stretch on and Sarai's womb remains empty, she becomes desperate to fulfill her end of the bargain, lest Abram decide that he will not fulfill his.  To what lengths will Sarai go in her quest to bear a son?  And how long will Abram's patience last?

Combining in-depth research and vivid storytelling, Jill Eileen Smith brings to life the beautiful and inscrutable Sarai in this remarkable story of love, jealousy, and undaunted faith.

What books came home to you last week?