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?

Mailbox Monday (March 19, 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. Please visit these posts and take a look at what packages everybody else got this week! I had a fantastic week this week (as well as last) and am looking forward to doing some Spring Break reading soon!

The Land of Decoration

by Grace McCleen

A mesmerizing debut about a young girl whose steadfast belief and imagination bring everything she once held dear into treacherous balance. 

In Grace McCleen's harrowing, powerful debut, she introduces an unforgettable heroine in ten-year-old Judith McPherson, a young believer who sees the world with the clear Eyes of Faith. Persecuted at school for her beliefs and struggling with her distant, devout father at home, young Judith finds solace and connection in a model in miniature of the Promised Land that she has constructed in her room from collected discarded scraps—the Land of Decoration. Where others might see rubbish, Judith sees possibility and divinity in even the strangest traces left behind.

As ominous forces disrupt the peace in her and Father's modest lives—a strike threatens her father's factory job, and the taunting at school slips into dangerous territory—Judith makes a miracle in the Land of Decoration that solidifies her blossoming convictions. She is God's chosen instrument. But the heady consequences of her newfound power are difficult to control and may threaten the very foundations of her world. 

With its intensely taut storytelling and crystalline prose, The Land of Decoration is a gripping, psychologically complex story of good and evil, belonging and isolation, which casts new and startling light on how far we'll go to protect the things we love most. 

The Inquisitor

by Mark Allen Smith

A spectacularly original thriller about a professional torturer who has a strict code, a mysterious past, and a dangerous conviction that he can save the life of an innocent child.

Geiger has a gift: he knows a lie the instant he hears it.  And in his business -- called "information retrieval" by its practitioners -- that gift is invaluable, because truth is the hottest thing on the market.

One of Geiger's rules is that he never works with children.  So when his partner, former journalist Harry Boddicker, unwittingly brings in a client who demands that he interrogate a twelve-year-old boy, Geiger responds instinctively.  He rescues the boy from his captor, removes him to the safety of his New York City loft, and promises to protect him from further harm.  But if Geiger and Harry cannot quickly discover why the client is so desperate to learn the boy's secret, they themselves will become the victims of an utterly ruthless adversary.

Mesmerizing and heart-in-your-throat compelling, The Inquisitor is a completely unique thriller that introduces both an unforgettable protagonist and a major new talent. 

Horten's Miraculous Mechanisms

By Lissa Evans

The telephone cord was hanging from the receiver,

wires sticking out of the broken, dangling end.

Time to go, Stuart thought.

And then the phone rang.

When ten-year-old Stuart stumbles upon a note daring him to find his great-uncle's hidden workshop full of wonderful mechanisms, trickery, and magic, he sets out on a Willy Wonka-like adventure of a lifetime.  In order to find the place, Stuart must believe the unbelievable -- while dodging the annoyingly prying eyes of his triplet neighbors, April, May and June.  With clues to follow, puzzles to solve, and the quirkiest of characters, this uniquely charming fiction debut by comedienne Lissa Evans is sure to enchant middle-grade readers -- and believers -- everywhere. 

Calico Joe

by John Grisham

A surprising and moving novel of fathers and sons, forgiveness and redemption, set in the world of Major League Baseball…
 
 
Whatever happened to Calico Joe?
 
     It began quietly enough with a pulled hamstring. The first baseman for the Cubs AAA affiliate in Wichita went down as he rounded third and headed for home. The next day, Jim Hickman, the first baseman for the Cubs, injured his back. The team suddenly needed someone to play first, so they reached down to their AA club in Midland, Texas, and called up a twenty-one-year-old named Joe Castle. He was the hottest player in AA and creating a buzz.
 
In the summer of 1973 Joe Castle was the boy wonder of baseball, the greatest rookie anyone had ever seen.  The kid from Calico Rock, Arkansas dazzled Cub fans as he hit home run after home run, politely tipping his hat to the crowd as he shattered all rookie records.
 
Calico Joe quickly became the idol of every baseball fan in America, including Paul Tracey, the young son of a hard-partying and hard-throwing Mets pitcher. On the day that Warren Tracey finally faced Calico Joe, Paul was in the stands, rooting for his idol but also for his Dad. Then Warren threw a fastball that would change their lives forever…
 
In John Grisham’s new novel the baseball is thrilling, but it’s what happens off the field that makes CALICO JOE a classic. 

Dancing on Broken Glass

by Ka Hancock

Lucy Houston and Mickey Chandler probably shouldn't have fallen in love, let alone gotten married.  They're both plagued with faulty genes -- he has bipolar disorder; she, a ravaging family history of breast cancer.  But when their paths cross on the night of Lucy's twenty-first birthday, sparks fly, and there's no denying their chemistry.

Cautious every step of the way, they are determined to make their relationship work -- and they put their commitment in writing.  Mickey will take his medication.  Lucy won't blame him for what is beyond his control.  He promises honesty.  She promises patience.  Like any marriage, there are good days and bad days -- and some very bad days.  In dealing with their unique challenges, they make the heartbreaking decision not to have children.  But when Lucy shows up for a routine physical just shy of their eleventh anniversary she gets an impossible surprise that changes everything.  Everything.  Suddenly, all their rules are thrown out the window and two of them  must redefine what love really is. 

Playdate

by Thelma Adams

A smart and witty debut, Playdate is a family drama set against looming Santa Ana winds, which threaten a utopian Southern California community.  Inside a well-manicured home, Belle is a sharp-tongued tween, who is mortified by her dad, Lance, a former weatherman turned stay-at-home dad who practices yoga.  Darlene is a classic workaholic, but with her hours neatly penciled in, she has little patience for the needs of her husband and daughter.

Managing their own suburban paradise is Alec, a womanizing businessman and financial backer -- and sometimes more -- behind Darlene's burgeoning empire.  His wife, Wren, is an eager yogi ready to lay down the mat for a quick session with Lance.  When the fires reach the confines of this seemingly blissful neighborhood, passions and true desires are brought to the surface.  What happens next door, beyond the hedges, in the romper room and executive office -- it's all as combustible as a quick brush fire on a windy day.

The Goodbye Man

by Chad Barton

"As more people filled the packed church, Jack was forced to move down the wall toward the front, until he was very near the altar.  From that vantage point, he could see the young mother's face.

He found himself staring at her, unable to look away.  He didn't know why.  Perhaps it was the terrible sadness in her face.  He watched her intently as she clutched a little brown teddy bear and a picture of her daughter, who now lay only feet away in a small casket.  The size of it made him wince.  Jack felt the anger rise within him."

At sixty years old, Jack Steele has long since retired from putting criminals -- especially those that hurt children -- in prison.  Following his retirement from law enforcement, he built a successful multimillion-dollar company, allowing him financial freedom in his golden years.  Following the unexpected loss of his wife, Sarah, however, he withdraws into himself.  He becomes a loner whose only companion is his German shepherd dog.

Sick of a court system that lets monsters out of prison to torture and kill again and again, he decides there is only one way to stop them.  Using his own resources, his credentials as a retired police officer, and his .380 Walther, he and his dog begin to hunt -- bringing justice to those whom the system cannot control.

The Immortal Rules

by Julie Kagawa

In a future world, vampires reign.

Humans are blood cattle.

And one girl will search for the key to save humanity.

An unforgettable new series from the bestselling author of the Iron Fey.

My vampire creator told me this: "Sometime in your life, Allison Sekemoto, you will kill a human being.  The question is not if it will happen, but when.  Do you understand?"

I didn't then, not really.

I DO NOW.

The Orchid House

by Lucinda Riley

Spanning from the 1930s to the present day, from the Wharton Park estate in England to Thailand, this sweeping novel tells the tale of a concert pianist and the aristocratic Crawford family, whose shocking secrets are revealed, leading to devastating consequences.

As a child, concert pianist Julia Forrester spent many idyllic hours in the hothouse of Wharton Park, the grand estate where her grandfather tended exotic orchids.  Years later, while struggling with overwhelming grief over the death of her husband and young child, she returns to this tranquil place.  There she reunites with Kit Crawford, heir to the estate and her possible salvation.

When they discover an old diary, Julia seeks out her grandmother to learn the truth behind a love affair that almost destroyed the estate.  Their search takes them back to the 1940s when Harry, a former heir to Wharton Park, married his young society bride, Olivia, on the eve of World War II.  When the two lovers are cruelly separated, the impact will be felt for generations to come.

This atmospheric story alternates between the magical world of Wharton Park and Thailand during World War II.  Filled with twists and turns, passions and lies, and ultimately redemption, The Orchid House is a beautiful, romantic, and poignant novel.

Norah: The Making of an Irish-American Woman in 19th-Century New York

by Cynthia G. Neale

This is the story of Norah McCabe, who along with thousands of Irish immigrants, comes to New York with her family in the mid-1800s having escaped the potato famine that killed over a million people in their native land.  Defenseless and poor, they arrived in New York City to try and create a better life.  The McCabe's determined, imaginative and hopeful daughter Norah begins to rebuild her life in America.  Her story is one of desperation, cruelty, and ultimately hope and survival.  The novel chronicles her struggles with the issues of abolitionism and feminism.  Determined that her appearance be equal to the women around her, Norah worked hard and feverishly to become their equal.  The author's research found that Irish women far exceeded other female ethnic groups in education and economics.  "They climbed up in the world come hell or high water!  They paraded down Fifth Avenue dressed in Paris fineries bought from the money they saved (still sending money back to Ireland), and aristocratic Protestant ladies were incensed that the Irish maids looked just like them," says Neale.

As the Crow Flies

by Craig Johnson

Embarking on his eighth adventure, Wyoming Sheriff Walt Longmire has a more important matter on his mind than cowboys and criminals.  His daughter, Cady, is getting married to the brother of his undersheriff, Victoria Moretti.  Walt and old friend Henry Standing Bear are the de facto wedding planners and fear Cady's wrath when the wedding locale arrangements go up in smoke two weeks before the big event.

The pair set out to find a new site for the nuptials on the Cheyenne Reservation, but their scouting expedition ends in horror as they witness a young Crow woman plummet from Painted Warrior's majestic cliffs.  It's not Walt's turf, but the newly appointed tribal police chief and Iraqi war veteran, the beautiful Lolo Long, shanghais him into helping with the investigation.  Walt is stretched thin as he mentors Lolo, attempts to catch the bad guys, and performs the role of father of the bride.

The Paris Directive

by Gerald Jay

Two former French intelligence officials hire a ruthlessly effective hit man to kill an American industrialist vacationing in the Dordogne.  Things do not go as planned. . .

Klaus Reiner easily locates his target in the small village of Taziac, but the hit is marred by complications and collateral damage.  Enter Inspector Paul Mazarelle, formerly of Paris but now living in Taziac, charged with bringing his experience and record of success in the capital to bear on the gruesome quadruple homicide at the height of tourist season.

Both Mazarelle's investigation and Reiner's job are complicated when Molly, a New York City district attorney and daughter of two of the victims, arrives to identify the bodies and begins asking questions.  All evidence points to Ali Sedak, a local Algerian handyman, but Mazarelle and Molly have doubts, and Reiner must return to Taziac to ensure they see things as he arranged them, or keep quiet.  Little does anyone in the picturesque French countryside know just how politically charged this crime is; its global ramifications, stemming from the NATO bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, could overshadow everything.

Tailored in crisp prose and possessing all the luxury refinements of the best international intrigue, Jay's novel chills, excites, and engrosses, pitting a smooth, calculating villain against an earthy, sympathetic Frenchman whose twilight career is suddenly heating up.

Woodrose Mountain

by RaeAnne Thayne

Evie Blanchard was at the top of her field in the city of angels.  But when an emotional year forces her to walk away from her job as an occupational therapist, she moves from Los Angeles to Hope's Crossing seeking a quieter life.  So the last thing she needs is to get involved with the handsome, arrogant Brodie Thorne and his injured daughter, Taryn.

A self-made man and single dad, Brodie will do anything to get Taryn the rehabilitation she needs. . . even if it means convincing Evie to move in with them.  And despite her vow to keep an emotional distance, Evie can't help but be moved by Taryn's spirit, or Brodie's determination to win her help -- and her heart.  With laughter, courage and more than a little help from the kindhearted people of Hope's Crossing, Taryn may get the healing she deserves -- and Evie and Brodie might just find a love they never knew could exist. 

Just Down the Road

by Jodi Thomas

Harmony, Texas, is a place where dreams are born.  As the townspeople face unexpected endings and new beginnings, they also come face-to-face with themselves -- and with what's most important in life. . .

When Tinch Turner lost his wife, he gave up on living.  Now he spends his nights brooding, boozing, and brawling.  When one of his escapades lands him in the ER, he finds himself staring up at the beautiful new doctor in town. For the first time in years, he feels a spark, but Addison Spencer wants nothing to do with the unruly rancher -- or any man for that matter.  She's only going to be Harmony for four months, long enough for the trouble she left behind to settle down.  But then a vulnerable little boy barrels into both their lives, forcing them out of the past -- and into a future where love is just down the road. . .

In the meantime, as Reagan Truman grieves for her beloved uncle, she finds comfort in the makeshift family she's made in Harmony -- and a new baby, the first in the Wright Funeral Home in forty-five years, proving that life does go on. . .

Waterproof: A Novel of the Johnstown Flood

by JR Coopey

Fifty years after an earthen dam broke and sent a thirty foot wall of raging destruction down on the city of Johnstown, PA, Pamela McRae looks back on the tragedy with new perspective.

This fast-moving retrospective propels the reader along, much as did the flood itself.

When the Johnstown flood hit, it wiped out Pam's fondest hopes, taking her fiancé and her brother's lives and her mother's sanity, and within a year her father walked away leaving his daughter -- now the sole support of her mother -- to cope with poverty and loneliness.

The arrival of Katya, a poor Hungarian girl, running away from an arranged marriage, finally gives Pam the chance she needs to get back into the world.  Katya can care for her mother, and Pam can go to work for the Johnstown Clarion as a society reporter.

Then Davy Hughes, Pam's fiancé before the flood, reappears, but instead of being the answer to her prayers, he further complicates her life.  Someone is seeking revenge on the owners of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club, the millionaires who owned the failed dam.  And Pam is afraid Davy has something to do with it.

What books came home to you this week?

Mailbox Monday (Mar 12, 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. Please visit these posts and take a look at what packages everybody else got this week! 

The Thirteen
by Susie Moloney


Desperate Housewives meets The Witches of Eastwick in this novel about a woman who returns with her teenage daughter to her childhood home, not knowing that she's stepped back into a community run by a group of witches.

Haven Woods is suburban heaven, a great place to raise a family.  It's close to the city, quiet, with terrific schools and its own hospital right up the road.  Property values are climbing.  The crime rate is practically non-existent, unless you count the odd human sacrifice dismemberment and/or blood atonement.  When Paula Wittmore goes home to Haven Woods to care for her suddenly ailing mother, she brings her daughter and a pile of emotional baggage.  She also brings the last chance for twelve of her mother's closest frenemies.

A circle of friends will suport you through bad times.  A circle of witches can drag you through hell.

City of Scoundrels: 
The 12 Days of Disaster That Gave Birth to Modern Chicago
by Gary Krist


The masterfully told story of 12 volatile days in the life of Chicago, when an aviation disaster, a race riot, a crippling transit strike, and a sensational child murder transfixed and roiled a city already on the brink of collapse.


Summer 1919: the city of Chicago seemed on the verge of transformation.  Modernizers had an audacious, expensive plan to turn the city from a brawling, unglamorous place into "the Metropolis of the World."  But just as the dream seemed with in reach, pandemonium broke loose -- the city's highest ambitions were suddenly under attack by the unbridled energies that had given birth to them in the first place. 


It began on a balmy Monday afternoon when a blimp in flames crashed through the roof of a busy downtown bank, incinerating those inside.  Within days, a racial incident at a hot, crowded SOuth Side beach spiraled into one of the worst urban riots in American history, followed by a transit strike that paralyzed the city.  Then, when it seemed as if things could get no worse, police searching for a six-year-old girl discovered her body in a dark, North Side basement.


Meticulously researched yet expertly paced, City of Scoundrels captures the tumultuous birth of the modern American city, with all of its light and dark aspects in vivid relief. 

Missing (The Secrets of Crittenden County - Book 1)
by Shelley Shepard Gray


In the first book in her new Secrets of Crittenden County series, the beloved author delivers another page-turning romance set in Amish country.


When the body of Perry Borntrager is discovered in an abandoned well, the quiet Amish community of Crittenden, Kentucky, is thrown into turmoil.  Perry had been missing for six months, and everyone in the town believed he'd left the order, seduced by the wider world he discovered during his rumspringa.


Overwhelmed by grief, Perry's family and friends and the rest of the stunned community struggle to understand how such a terrible tragedy-- the first death by mysterious circumstance to strike their placid small town in more than twenty years -- could have happened.  But the death has not only shaken the town, it has invited the scrutiny of the outside world when a homicide detective arrives to investigate the crime.


Lydia Plank, Perry's former girlfriend, and Walter Anderson, an Englisher who was Perry's best friend, are the first suspects in the crime.  Drawn together by the suspicions of both the authorities and the community, they discover an unlikely companionship that offers solace, understanding, and the promise of something more during the hardest of days. 

Boneyard 11
by Linton Robinson

BONEYARD 11 can't seem to escape getting called "Pretty Woman" meets "The Godfather", and that has a lot to do with it. But it's much more than that.  We think you'll find Nan to be a character that lingers in your memory when a lot of ripped bodices have been forgotten.  She's a high-priced call girl that ends up getting selected for a behind-bars wedding when border crime kingpin Gaspar find himself in prison and divorced.  Beautiful and gracious, Nan is all a gangster could want in the conjugal visitation area--"boneyard" in convict slang.  But so much more than that.  When he is attacked and disabled by a rival organization, she first shows a touching kind of tough love in re-uniting him with his estranged children, then turns a steely fury on the attackers, bathing the border in flame and blood.  And all she really asks of life is a good night's sleep.

Her damaged and untried heart has opened somewhat to her husband of convenience, but suddenly ambushed by the gorgeous, athletic Fed attached to the task of cracking her hubby's links and networks.  A very dangerous temptation... and not just to her physical self.

If you liked Vivian in "Pretty Woman" Nan will delight you.  Her gangster husband, the Feds, local border cops, the corrupt DEA agent out to score, the local lowrider gang, the scary international swarm known as Mara Salvatrucha, even her jolly ex-madam,  all get far more from Nan that here serenely beautiful face led them to suspect.  And many of them didn't survive the surprise.  And others still find them themselves loving her and laughing at her wry humor.  Among the latter will be you and your readers.  Promise.

Chasing Vegas
by Tad Vezner


When Ricky Vegas got out of jail, his parole officer told him to get a job and stay in Nevada. Hours later police spot Vegas entering Horizon Station - a tower of interstellar transit stretching to the stratosphere. He could only be going one direction: away. When the search for Vegas turns into a manhunt of epic proportions, his parole officer, Geoffrey Sink, wonders why all the fuss for a simple fugitive. He stops wondering after a series of violent, bloody incidents lock the station down - and starts worrying when he realizes Vegas's flight up Horizon coincides with a rare appearance by the most recognizable people on Earth. The Originals - the first astronauts to return from deep space; the faces everyone thinks of when they stare up at the stars - arrive on Horizon to deliver their first speech since touching down in the desert five years ago. And when Vegas gets accused of trying to kill them, Sink realizes there's more to chasing this ex-con than he ever wanted to know.

Dreams of Gold
by Jonathan Chamberlain


Heart-warming, surreal and very, very funny.
How The London 2012 Olympics were saved from the bizarre schemes of a mad dictator
P.G.Wodehouse meets Tom Sharp with a dash of Spike Milligan.
Wales - the land of poets and sporting heroes . Rowan Jones, the up-and-coming Welsh poet, accidentally finds himself attracting a motley crew of disaffected athletes from all over the world to his eccentric farmhouse deep in the heart of Wales. 
There's Jeremiah the Tennessee backwoodsman, Marguerite the French existentialist, Yoshi and Toshi, the Japanese identical twins, Leonardo the Italian hunk, Solomon, the Hassidic weight-lifter, and Mad Mike and Jade and Kono and Ayesha and all the rest of them....
And then there is the mad dictator, Osmanakhian.
And Perkins, the quintessential English butler, is not all he seems.
And what about Anna? Well, Anna is... Oh dear, it's much too complicated. I'm afraid, you'll just have to read this book to find out.

Tyler's Mountain Magic
by Malcolm Ater


No one at Harpers Ferry Junior High knew why Tyler wanted to wrestle when he had cystic fibrosis. Maybe he wanted to do something with his life while he still had time. We just knew that he loved wrestling and being a part of our team. But whenever he went to the hospital, we always expected him to come back home to Blue Ridge Mountain. We also knew that Tyler had a dream. He always said that if we all stuck together, something would happen to our team that people would never forget. He was right about that. It was funny, because Tyler wasn't a very good wrestler, at least not in the beginning, but neither were most of us. But for three years we stuck together. It was Tyler who helped us overcome the curse of John Brown and the constant beatings by our hated county rival, Mecklenburg Junior High. He led us through a major cheating scandal that was reported in every newspaper in the state, and all the finger-pointing that divided our county and brought our coaches to the brink of resigning. Tyler was some kind of kid. It was that last year together that we will always remember, both the good and the bad. Certainly we went on the most magical sports ride in West Virginia public school history. But as we battled the brutal winter trying to accomplish something that had never been done before, it took something terrible to bring everyone to their senses. Along the way we learned about friendship and courage and holding on to the important things in life. And more importantly, we did the impossible. We made Tyler's dream come true. You won't see any signs in our little town honoring John Brown and his infamous raid that ignited the Civil War. But you will see a sign at the entrance to Harpers Ferry honoring a teenage boy who had a dream and ended a war in our county that had been going on forever. Call it Tyler's Mountain Magic. Unfortunately, we learned that everything comes with a price.

Doxology
by Brain Holers


Vernon Davidson is an angry man. After a lifetime of abuse and loss the 61-year-old is ready to get back at God, his co-workers, and everyone else is in his north Louisiana hometown. He drinks too much to numb the pain, shuns his friends and embarrasses himself in the community. The once-cautious Vernon spirals into a reckless mess.  Only when he is reunited with his estranged nephew Jody is he forced to confront his situation. Jody is struggling in equal parts after inflicting a self-imposed exile upon himself by fleeing the family, and thereby himself, for a new life thousands of miles away. Now his father, Vernon's brother, is dying and Vernon agrees to retrieve him for his brother's sake. Jody embarks on a reluctant journey back to his Louisiana home and the two men together embark on a journey that will ultimately change their lives.  Brian Holers's Doxology examines an impossibly difficult question: how does a man go about forgiving a God he has grown to despise after the tragedies and endless disappointments he has faced? Follow Vernon and Jody on their road from loss to healing in this deep and moving book that will challenge and surprise you, as it takes you deep into the backwaters of rural Louisiana. Doxology does for small town Louisiana men what Steel Magnolias did for small-town Louisiana women, exposing flaws while showcasing their inner strengths.  It is a tale of grandfathers, fathers, sons and brothers, and recreates family dynamics and memories in a way that forms a doxology, a song of praise for the male family bond, the emotional ties men conceal from the world and each other.

Wings of Hope
by Hillary Peak


Wings of Hope is the journey of a daughter who has the remarkable opportunity to realize that the man she thought she knew from holidays and spring breaks is more than simply her father and who finds out that death is sometimes the most heartbreakingly beautiful part of life. Jules knows her father as a physician, but she never dreamed he had liberated a concentration camp, dealt cards to Bugsy Siegel or saved the life of a Black panther. Wings of Hope takes you on a road trip through the memories of a man making peace with his life through his conversations with his daughter. Hope is the last gift of a father to his daughter--the power to reach for her dreams.

Ida Mae Tutweiler and the Traveling Tea Party
by Ginnie Siena Bivona


The book opens with Ida Mae Tutweiler preparing for a tea-time visit with her life long best friend Jane Tetly. Jane and Ida Mae are an unlikely pair; Jane is a glamerous actress in a day-time soap opera, much married, and naturally adventurous. Ida Mae is reserved and steady, a successful businesswoman. She owns a charming Victorian tearoom called Ladyfingers, in the town she was born in. She has never left Walton Falls, Ohio, nor does she care to. She is content to let Jane be her window on the world. And Jane needs Ida Mae's steadfast love, her anchor in a whirlwind life. Jane is rhinestones and red chiffon and Ida Mae is a simple well worn navy blue suit. 


Woven through the pages is the story of Ida Mae's life, her failed first marriage to her her high-school boyfriend, the tragic death of her beloved Mum shortly before the birth of her adored daughter Kate,and the somewhat less than gracious support of her haughty Aunt Germaine. There is a passionate love affair that ends badly when her lover refuses to file for a divorce from his separated wife. And there is the satisfying and hilarious ending of her Cousin Bernadette's abusive marriage. But throughout it all there is her beloved Jane, flashing in and out of Walton Falls "like a comet, trailing stars and small planets in her wake". Jane arrives in a whirl of expensive gifts and the two women settle down for tea. But the visit is not what Ida Mae expects, because Jane tells her that she has breast cancer that has progressed beyond help and she is going away to die. Ida Mae is stunned, and desperate...how can she live with out her Jane? 


How Ida Mae deals with this terrible news, and the wonderful events she creates for her dearest friend before she must leave is the warp of this story, woven in and out with the threads of their past taken from the pages of Ida Mae's diary. Written for today's woman the book celebrates the releationship between best friends, mothers and daughters, men and women, and the struggle to find hope in a time of loss. It's the tender story of two beautiful women, discovering what their lives were all about, before they must say a final goodbye. And becaues it's about the comfort to be found in a nice hot cup of tea, the book includes a small collection of delicious tea-time recipes. Brew up a nice hot cup of Earl Grey tea, grab a box of Kleenex, curl up in a quiet corner and enjoy a different kind of love story.

Mailbox Monday (March 5, 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. Please visit these posts and take a look at what packages everybody else got this week! 

Out of Sight, Out of Mind

by Ally Carter

The last thing Cammie Morgan remembers is leaving the Gallagher Academy to protect her friends and family from the Circle of Cavan -- an ancient terrorist organization that has been hunting her for over a year.  But when Cammie wakes up in an Alpine convent and discovers that months have passed, she must face the fact that her memory is now a black hole.  The only traces left of Cammie's summer vacation are the bruises on her body and dirt under her nails, and all she wants is to go home.

Once she returns to school, however, Cammie realizes that the Gallagher Academy now holds more questions than answers.  Cammie, her friends, and mysterious spy-guy Zach must face their most difficult challenge yet as they travel to the other side of the world, hoping to piece together the clues that Cammie left behind.  It's a race against time.  The Circle is hot on their trail and will stop at nothing to prevent Cammie from remembering what she did last summer. 

Before the Poison

by Peter Robinson

Chris Lowndes built a comfortable career composing scores for films in Hollywood.  But after twenty-five years abroad, and still quietly reeling from the death of his beloved wife, he decides to return to the Yorkshire dales of his youth.  To ease the move, he buys Kilnsgate House, a rambling old mansion deep in the country.

Although Chris finds Kilnsgate charming, something about the house disturbs him, a vague sensation that the long-empty rooms have been waiting for him -- feelings made ever stronger when he learns that the house was the scene of a murder more than fifty years before.  The former owner, a prominent doctor named Ernest Arthur Fox, was supposedly poisoned by his beautiful and much younger wife, Grace.  Arrested and brought to trial, Grace was found guilty and hanged for the crime.

His curiosity piqued, Chris talks to the locals and searches through archives for information about the case.  But the more he discovers, the more convinced he becomes that Grace may have been innocent.  Ignoring warnings to leave it alone, he sets out to discover what really happened over half a century ago -- a quest that takes him deep into the past and into a web of secrets that lie all too close to the present. 

Voyagers of the Titanic

by Richard Davenport-Hines

Late in the night of April 14, 1912, the mighty Titanic, a passenger liner traveling from Southampton, England, to New York City, struck an iceberg four hundred miles south of Newfoundland.  Its sinking over the next two and half hours brought the ship -- mythological in name and size -- one hundred years of infamy.

Of the 2,240 people aboard the ship, 1,517 perished either by drowning or by freezing to death in the frigid North Atlantic waters.  What followed the disaster was tantamount to a worldwide outpouring of grief:  In New York, Paris, London, and other major cities, people lined the streets and crowded around the offices of the White Star Line, the Titanic's shipping companay, to inquire for news of their loved ones and for details about the lives of some of the famous people of their time.

While many accounts of the Titanic's voyage focus on the technical or mechanical aspects of why the ship sank, Voyagers of the Titanic follows the stories of the men, women, and children whose lives intersected on the vessel's fateful last day, covering the full range of first, second, and third class -- from plutocrats and captains of industry to cobblers and tailors looking for a better life in America.

Richard Davenport-Hines delves into the fascinating lives of those who ate, drank, reveled, dreamed, and died aboard the mythic ship:  from John Jacob Astor IV, the wealthiest person on board, whose comportment that night was subject to speculation and gossip for years after the event, to Archibald Butt, the much-beloved  military aide to Theodore Roosevelt and William Taft, who died helping others into the Titanic's few lifeboats.  With magnificent prose, Voyagers of the Titanic also brings to life the untold stories of the ship's middle and third classes -- clergymen, teachers, hoteliers, engineers, shopkeepers, counterjumpers and clerks -- each of whom had a story that not only illuminates the fascinating ship but also the times in which it sailed.  In addition, Davenport-Hines explores the fascinating politics behind the Titanic's creation, which involved larger-than-life figures such as J.P. Morgan, the ship's owner, and Lord Pirrie, the ship's builder.

The memory of this tragedy still remains a part of the American psyche and Voyagers of the Titanic brings that clear night back to us with all of its drama and pathos.

Banana Split

by Josi S. Kilpack

Welcome to Paradise!

We hope you enjoy your stay here in Hawai'i.  If you've never visited the islands before, treat yourself to a delicious slice of grilled pineapple, take a walk along the beach, or sample the tasty cuisine offered at one of our famous luaus.  And you simply must go snorkeling in the waters around Kaua'i.  There is a reason why we call it the Island of Discovery -- you never know what you might find!

Sadie Hoffmiller has survived eighteen months of nonstop adventures filled with murder, deceit, and danger.  She could really use some rest -- and maybe even some time to heal -- relaxing in the tropical paradise of Kaua'i.  However, palm trees and sunshine are not as effective a medication as Sadie had hoped.  And when she finds herself entangled -- literally -- with a dead body, she is forced to face the compounding fears and anxieties that are making her life so difficult to live.

Her determination to stay out of danger and to focus on overcoming her anxieties soon takes a backseat when she meets eleven-year-old Charlie, the son of the woman whose body she discovered near Anahola Beach.  Charlie has some questions of his own about what happened to his mother, and he is convinced that only Sadie can help him.  If only Sadie were as confident in her abilities as Charlie is.

With the help of her best friend and a local social worker, Sadie dives into another mystery with the hope that, at the end, she'll be able to find the peace and closure that has eluded her. 

The Second Time We Met

by Leila Cobo

Adored and nurtured by his adoptive parents in California, Asher Stone has moved effortlessly through a nearly perfect life.  He is on the verge of a professional soccer career -- when a car accident throws his future into doubt.  Suddenly, Asher begins to wonder about his past and about the girl who gave him up for adoption in Colombia two decades ago.  And so begins his search for a woman named Rita Ortiz.

From the teeming streets of Bogota to a tiny orphanage tucked into a hillside, Asher untangles the mystery of Rita's identity, her abrupt disappearance from her home, and the winding journey that followed.  But as Asher comes closer to finding Rita, his own parents are faced with fears and doubts.  And Rita must soon make her own momentous choice:  stay hidden in her hard-earned new life or meet the secret son who will bring painful memories -- and the promise of a new beginning. . . 

The Girl Next Door

by Brad Parks

When a delivery person for the Eagle-Examiner ends up in the paper's obituaries, investigative reporter Carter Ross decides to write a human interest piece on her.  But at the funeral, he learns that this kind-hearted victim of a hit-and-run may have had a few enemies -- including the publisher of their own paper.  Suddenly Carter's little story is big news.  And the deeper he digs, the deadlier it gets. . .

The Book Lover

by Maryann McFadden

When Lucinda Barrett's husband destroys her life in a shocking betrayal, she's left with nothing but one last dream -- to be an author.  Alone and broke, she sets out on a thousand-mile journey to get her novel into the hands of readers -- one bookstore at a time.

Ruth Hardaway knows all about shattered dreams.  For the last thirty years she's devoted her life to her store, The Book Lover, trying to bury her painful past.  But now the store is in jeopardy, and the past is catching up with her.

When Ruth discovers Lucy's novel, she takes Lucy under her wing, even offering her the haven of an unused lake cabin.  She asks one small favor in return -- for Lucy to keep an eye on her son, Colin, who's recovering from an injury in the Iraq war.  As the two women grow closer, Lucy begins to think of Ruth as the mother she's always wished for.  For Ruth, Lucy is the one person she can fianlly confide her secrets.  Or so she thinks.

As each woman begins to face her past, happiness finally seems within their grasp.  But neither has any idea that their toughest decisions lie ahead.  Or that their friendhsip is about to fall apart -- because of a little white lie. 

Ship of Souls

by Zetta Elliott

Set in New York City, Ship of Souls features a cast of three African-American teens: D, a math whiz, Hakeem, a Muslim basketball star; and Nyla, a beautiful military brat.  When D's mother dies of breast cancer, he is taken in by Mrs. Martin, an elderly white woman.  Grateful to have a home, D strives to please his foster mother and succeeds -- until Mercy arrives.

Unable to compete with a needy, crack-addicted baby, D disappears into the nearby park and immerses himself in bird watching.  At school, he unexpectedly makes friends with Nyla and Hakeem, but just when D thinks he has fianlly found a way to belong, an unexpected discovery in the park changes everything.  A mysterious bird leads D and his friends on a perilous journey that will take them from Brooklyn to the African Burial Ground in lower Manhattan, and into the very realm of the dead.  Their courage and loyalty are tested every step of the way, but in the end, it is D who must find the strength to fulfill his destiny.

Steeped in history and suspense, this inspiring urban fantasy provides an enriching experience that readers will find hard to forget.