Mailbox Monday

It's Mailbox Monday, a fun weekly meme sponsored by Marcia at The Printed Page.  Just as the post office, or mailbox is a place to gather to share the news, this gives readers  a chance to share the books that came into their house last week.

My mailbox had only one--but it's one I 'm really looking forward too.  I've been reading a lot of heavier stuff right now (particularly for Lent) so this cozy from the Wine Lover's Mystery series is gonna be fun.

Happy Hour by Michele Scott.  Here's the publisher's description:

Four friends working in Napa Valley, Sundays are for fellowship, good food and wine. Jamie is editor-in-chief at "Wine Lover's Magazine," and a single mother. Before her husband died, she lived a fairy tale life. Guilt from his death keeps her from moving forward. Kat is a sommelier, and co-owner of a restaurant with her chef husband Christian. Although deeply in love they deal with a myriad of issues, including ex-spouses, Kat's teenage sons and her new age mother Venus. Danielle is a vintner who finds herself entrenched in both an identity and family crises when her eldest daughter returns home from college with a bombshell of a secret. Alyssa is an artist and gallery owner. When a tragic past event catches up with her, she must face the skeleton in her closet and rely on her friends to see her through her darkest hours. These women discover that friendship is the right prescription to get through the hard times as well as for enjoying the wonderful moments together.

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Corked by Cabernet by  Michele Scott

Now although the postman (and Mr. Brown Guy) didn't do too well, doesn't mean I didn't get some new (to me) books this past week.  I stopped into one of our local library's used book stores and managed to snare a couple prizes.

Since I got the Michele Scott book, I thought I ought to grab the paperback they had of Corked By Cabernet, an earlier book in this series.  My sister Cheli (of Cheli's Shelves fame) has a couple of these.  She is the cozy queen in our family, and indicated I would really like this series.

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Trattoria by Patricia Wells
Now if you're going to read about wine, you must of course be accompanying that with some good food. I'm a sucker for cookbooks, and the ladies at the bookstore hadn't even gotten this one out of the donation box and onto the shelves before I adopted it. There are some great recipes in this one and for $2 who can resist?

Amazon pitches it :

Trattorias are the places where Italians go for robust, hearty foods that are simply prepared and bursting with flavor. Now the award-winning author of Bistro Cooking fuels America's passion for Italian food with 150 authentic recipes that capture the flavor and brio of the small towns and villages of Italy,

Mangia everyone....

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 The Day the Falls Stood Still by Catherine Buchanan

And finally, I picked up one I've had on my wishlist for several months...the product description has me ready to put this one pretty high up on the TBR pile:

Steeped in the intriguing history of Niagara Falls, this epic love story is as rich, spellbinding, and majestic as the falls themselves.

1915. The dawn of the hydroelectric power era in Niagara Falls. Seventeen-year-old Bess Heath has led a sheltered existence as the youngest daughter of the director of the Niagara Power Company. After graduation day at her boarding school, she is impatient to return to her picturesque family home near Niagara Falls. But when she arrives, nothing is as she had left it. Her father has lost his job at the power company, her mother is reduced to taking in sewing from the society ladies she once entertained, and Isabel, her vivacious older sister, is a shadow of her former self. She has shut herself in her bedroom, barely eating--and harboring a secret.

The night of her return, Bess meets Tom Cole by chance on a trolley platform. She finds herself inexplicably drawn to him--against her family's strong objections. He is not from their world. Rough-hewn and fearless, he lives off what the river provides and has an uncanny ability to predict the whims of the falls. His daring river rescues render him a local hero and cast him as a threat to the power companies that seek to harness the power of the falls for themselves. As their lives become more fully entwined, Bess is forced to make a painful choice between what she wants and what is best for her family and her future.
Set against the tumultuous backdrop of Niagara Falls, at a time when daredevils shot the river rapids in barrels and great industrial fortunes were made and lost as quickly as lives disappeared, The Day the Falls Stood Still is an intoxicating debut novel.

So I'm set for at least another week. How's the mailman been treating you?