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

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Mailbox Monday (Mar 26, 2012)


 Mailbox Monday will be hosted in March by Anna at Diary of an Eccentric.  In My Mailbox is hosted Sundays at The Story Siren.


The first book that I got was from Paperback Swap


The Last Thing I Remember
by Andrew Klavan


Charlie West just woke up in someone else's nightmare.


He's strapped to a chair.  He's covered in blood and bruises.  He hurts all over.  And a strange voice outside the door just ordered his death.


The last thing he can remember, he was a normal high-school kid doing normal things -- working on his homework, practicing karate, daydreaming of becoming an air force pilot, writing a pretty girl's number on his hand.  How long ago was that?  Where is he now?  Who is he really?


And more to the point. . . how is he going to get out of this room alive?






After the Fog
by Kathleen Shoop


The sins of the mother. . .


In the steel mill town of Donora, Pennsylvania, site of the infamous 1948 "killing smog,"  headstrong nurse Rose Pavlesic tends to her family and neighbors.  Controlling and demanding, she's created a life that reflects everything she missed growing up as an orphan.  She's even managed to keep her painful secrets hidden from her loving husband, dutiful children, and large extended family.


When a stagnant weather pattern traps poisonous mill gasses in the valley, neighbors grow sicker and Rose's nursing obligations thrust her into conflict she never could have fathomed.  Consequences from her past collide with her present life, making her once clear decisions as gray as the suffocating smog.  As pressure mounts, Rose finds she's not the only one harboring lies.  When the deadly fog finally clears, the loss of trust and faith leaves the Pavlesic family -- and the whole town -- splintered and shocked.  With her new perspective, can Rose finally forgive herself and let her family's healing begin?


Barefoot in the Sand
by Roxanne St. Claire


When all you hold dear is taken away. . .


When a hurricane roars through Lacey Armstrong's home on the coast of Barefoot Bay, she decides all that remains in the rubble is opportunity.  A new hotel is just what Mimosa Key needs, and Lacey and her teenage daughter are due for a fresh start.  And nothing, especially not a hot, younger architect, is going to distract Lacey from finally making her dreams a reality.


A second chance is the only thing you have left.


Love has already cost Clay Walker everything.  And if he's going to have any chance of picking up the pieces of his life, he needs the job as Lacey Armstrong's architect.  What's not in the plans is falling for the headstrong beauty.  Her vision of the future is more appealing than anything he could have ever drafted for himself.  Will Clay's designs on Lacey's heart be more than she can handle, or will she trust him to build something that will last forever?




The Song Remains the Same
by Allison Winn Scotch


She's a wife, a sister, a daughter. . . but she remembers nothing.  Now she must ask herself who she is and choose which stories -- and storytellers -- to trust.


From the New York Times-bestselling author comes a novel that asks:  Who are we without our memories?  And how much of our future is defined by our past?


One of only two survivors of a plane crash, Nell Slattery wakes in the hospital with no memory of it -- or who she is, or was.  Now she must piece together both body and mind -- with the help of family and friends who all have their own agendas.  Her husband, Peter, is trying to erase his recent affair and pending divorce from their marital history.  Her mother is trying to sweep the real story of Nell's long-lost father under the rug.  And Rory, her sister and business partner, is trying to protect their volatile relationship with stories of her own.  Although Nell can't remember all that came before, wondering just doesn't sit right with their version of her history. . . 


Desperate for a key to unlock her past, Nell filters through photos, art, and music -- anything to puzzle together the woman she truly was.  The woman she is.  In the end, she will learn that forgiving betrayals small and large is the only true path to healing herself -- and to finding happiness. 


The Side-Yard Superhero
by Rick D. Niece


Although life's journey took him far from his childhood home, Rick D. Niece, Ph.D., never forgot the people he met and the lessons he learned growing up in picturesque DeGraff, Ohio, population 900.  A small-town newspaper boy who became a lifelong educator himself, Dr. Niece was deeply touched by the endearing residents of DeGraff who shaped his youth -- especially a young man named Bernie Jones.  Confined to a wheelchair with severe cerebral palsy, Bernie became Rickie's friend, inspiration and superhero, opening a world of compassion, trust and adventure to them both.


Sharing his carefully pocketed memories with fond nostalgia, Niece invites readers from all walks of life to join him as he pays tribute to small-town America, the unbreakable bonds of friendship, and the triumph of the human spirit. 


Kingdom Keepers V: Shell Game
by Ridley Pearson


As the five Kingdom Keepers enter high school, everything is about to change.  The Maintenance Base that controls all four parks in Disney World is under attack by the Overtakers, a group determined to change Disney forever.  Relationships between the Keepers are no longer as simple as they once were.  In fact, nothing is as simple as it once was.


An after-hours visit to Typhoon Lagoon is a game changer.  The Keepers lose one of their most valuable supporters.  But there's work to do. . .


the Disney Dream leaves Port Canaveral on an historic cruise to Los Angeles with a special treat in store for guests:  the Disney Host Interactive teenage guides are on board.


Finn, Maybeck, Charlene, Willa, and Philly join celebrity guests as the DHI experience moves to one of the most advanced cruise ships in the world.


But all is not right below decks.  Strange things are happening.  Unexplained phenomena.  Only the Kingdom Keepers know the truth behind their invitation to be in attendance; nearly ever Disney villain is aboard the ship, including Maleficent.


the Overtakers have infiltrated the cast and crew.  And no one knows what they have planned.


The Dream sets sail filled with enthusiastic guests and crew.  But not for long.  Maleficent takes over a video screen and warns the guests of trouble to come.  With the ship arriving at the beaches of Castaway Cay -- its first of many exotic ports of call -- the Kingdom Keepers are under attack; back home the Base is threatened and about to fall.  The Overtakers have expanded in ways never foreseen, and it's clear they intend to use this element of surprise to accomplish what has eluded them so far: victory.


But not if Finn Whitman and friends have anything to say about it. 




Full Body Burden: Growing up in the Nuclear Shadow of Rocky Flats
by Kristen Iversen


Full Body Burden is a haunting work of narrative nonfiction about a young woman growing up in a small Colorado town close to Rocky Flats, a secret nuclear-weapons plant once designated "the most contaminated site in America."  It's the story of growing up in the shadow of the Cold War, in a landscape at once startlingly beautiful and -- unknown to those who lived there -- tainted with invisible yet deadly particles of plutonium.


It's also a book about the destructive power of secrets -- both family secrets and government secrets. Her father's hidden liquor bottles, the strange cancers in children in the neighborhood, the truth about what they made at Rocky Flats (cleaning supplies, her mother guessed) -- best not to inquire too deeply into any of it.  But as Iversen grew older, she began to ask questions.  And as this memoir unfolds, it reveals itself as a brilliant work of investigative journalism -- a shocking account of the government's sustained attempt to conceal the effects of the toxic and radioactive waste released by Rocky Flats, and of local residents' vain attempts to seek justice in court.  Based on extensive interviews, FBI and EPA documents, and class-action testimony, this taut, beautifully written book promises to have a very long half-life. 


What books came home to you this week?

8 comments:

bermudaonion said...

I read The Side-Yard Superhero a few years ago and really enjoyed it. I hope you do too!

Harvee said...

Nice set of books!I didn't know Ridley Pearson also wrote young people's books, besides mysteries!

TP said...

The Last Thing I Remember sounds especially juicy - I'll have to add that one to my "to be read" list.

Tanya
Gixlxoxo.com

Farah said...

Eeeepppp! I love Roxanne St Claire! Great haul! Enjoy your reads!

Drop by my IMM?
http://tumblinginbooks.blogspot.com/2012/03/in-my-mailbox-14.html

Mystica said...

Like the cover of After the Fog - very flapper like! enjoy all the reads.

Mary (Bookfan) said...

I'm looking forward to reading The Song Remains the Same!

Beth(bookaholicmom) said...

The Song Remains the Same is one that I need to put on my wish list! I hope you enjoy all your new reads!

Anna said...

I also have The Song Remains the Same, and After the Fog looks fantastic. Enjoy your new books!

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...