Mailbox Monday - March 26th

Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house recently, but here's a warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists!

 Created by Marcia at The Printed Page, Mailbox Monday, now has its own blog. Hosting duties are rotated every month.  March is being hosted by Anna at Diary of an Eccentric.  Be sure to stop by and discover a new and wondrous (for me anyway) addition to your blog roll and take a look at everyone's Mailbox lists.

Only one book this week, but it was a definite winner ...Doesn't this one just look like so much fun?  Southern Fiction is one of my favorite genres, so I was thrilled when the mailman brought this ARC by Lynda Rutledge from Amy Einhorn Books/Putnam.  It hopped right into the "sooner rather than later" queue.




Here's the blurb:

On the last day of the millennium, sassy Faith Bass Darling decides to have a garage sale. Why is the richest lady in Bass, Texas, a recluse for twenty years, suddenly selling off her worldly possessions?As the townspeople grab up the heirlooms, and the antiques reveal their own secret stories,a cast of characters appears to witness the sale or try to stop it. Before the day is over, they’ll all examine their roles in the Bass family saga, as well as some of life’s most imponderable questions: Do our possessions possess us? What are we without our memories? Is there life after death or second chances here on earth? And is Faith really selling that Tiffany lamp for $1?

So what was in your mailbox this week?

Mailbox Monday - March 5th

Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house recently, but here's a warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists!

 Created by Marcia at The Printed Page, Mailbox Monday, now has its own blog. Hosting duties are rotated every month.  March is being hosted by Anna at Diary of an Eccentric.  Be sure to stop by and discover a new and wondrous (for me anyway) addition to your blog roll and take a look at everyone's Mailbox lists.

 Even though I've been gone for the past week or so, Mr. Tutu has done a terrific job of picking up the mail and letting me know what treasures await me when I get home later this week:

Calico Joe
by John Grisham


 This one by John Grisham promises to be a real winner, and we will be fighting over who gets to read it first.  It is such a special deal because Doubleday not only sent a review copy, but they've authorized me to have a giveaway for two more copies.  Stay tuned for more on this one later this week.  It should be a welcome read as spring training gets into full swing.
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Then I also received a book from the LibraryThing Early Reviewers Program--a special edition of

The Big Cat Nap

by Rita Mae Brown 

and Sneaky Pie Brown

To celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the beloved Mrs. Murphy mystery series, Rita Mae Brown and her intrepid feline co-author Sneaky Pie Brown return with a charming claw-biting tale starring Mary Minor “Harry” Haristeen. Of course prowling faithfully at Harry’s side are the sleuthing cats Mrs. Murphy, ever wise, and Pewter, reliably cranky and always primed with a razor-sharp quip. Fiercely loyal and on the alert, corgi Tee Tucker is also never far behind. This time, Harry and her menagerie throw a wrench into the gears of a killer of grease monkeys.

It’s mid-May, and Crozet, Virginia, is heating up fast, or so it seems to Harry. The town’s beloved ex–post mistress is never idle, dividing her time between raising this year’s bounty of crops; taking care of her veterinarian husband, Fair; indulging her passion for classic cars; and adding further to her reputation as a nosy neighbor. It starts when Harry’s dear friend Miranda Hogendobber takes her on a leisurely drive that ends in a narrow drainage ditch. The chaos continues when the Very Reverend Herbert Jones’s Chevy pick-up also abruptly goes kaput. But these vehicular mishaps are nothing compared to the much more distressing state of a mechanic discovered by Harry in a local repair shop: His head’s been bashed in.

Despite numerous warnings from her much-loved coterie of friends, human and otherwise, Harry rather quickly surmises that the time has come to pop the hood and conduct her own investigation. Her animal companions see disaster fast approaching but can do little except try their best to protect their foolishly intrepid human. Harry’s race to the truth leads straight to powerful forces determined to avoid scrutiny at any cost—even if it means running Harry Haristeen off the road for good.

  This is one of my favorite series.  I'm an animal lover, and the cats and the corgi in these books never fail to amuse and delight me.  I'm looking forward to an afternoon with my favorite cast.  Many thanks to Random House for making this review copy available.

Mailbox Monday - February 13th

Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house recently, but here's a warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists!

Created by Marcia at The Printed Page, Mailbox Monday, now has its own blog. Hosting duties are rotated every month.  This month one of my favorite blogs Metroreader: Reading One Mile at a Time has the hosting honors.  Be sure to stop by and discover a new and wondrous (for me anyway) addition to your blog roll and take a look at everyone's Mailbox lists.

This week I received two books and they both have my attention.  They went right onto the "Read them as soon as you get a chance" pile.  The first was an ARC from Ecco Publishing.  I've been reading so much non-fiction that this one is really appealing to me.  It fits one of my 2012 reading goals - to read general fiction - and since I haven't done much of that this year yet, I'm thinking it will be one I'll definitely want to fall into.  Here's what the publisher's blurb says:

 Restoration by Olaf Olafsson

Having grown up in an exclusive circle of wealthy British ex-pats in Florence in the 1920's, Alice shocks everyone when she marries Claudio, the son of a minor land-owner, 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 arffair 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.

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My other exciting  mailbox  gift was a contest win, that is perfect for my goal of reading cozy series both new and old.   I've wanted to get into this mystery series for quite awhile, and winning this one has given me the push I need.  I'm hunting down the first in the series, State of the Onion (and I have the third one - Eggsecutive Orders-- sitting here on loan from my sister) so I'm going to have a White House Chef read-a-thon sometime before the daffodils raise their little heads.  In the meantime, I getting hungry already.  These sound like good candidates for the NOOK.  Must go track down how much is left on my Christmas gift certificates.

Affairs of Steak

(A White House Chef Mystery)

Julie Hyzy

 White House chef Olivia Paras and her arch nemesis, White House Sensitivity Director Peter Everett Sargeant, must work together to solve the double murder of one of the First Lady's assistants and the Chief of Staff-before they become the next victims of a merciless assassin with a secret agenda.

 It was a great reading week,  and since it's so cold and windy here in Maine, it promises to be an even better week to curl up with a cuppa tea, a soft purring kittie, a big warm fire and a pile of books.  When the ice melts, we'll drive to the post office to see what other wonders await us.

Mailbox Monday - Feb 6th

Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house recently, but here's a warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists!

Created by Marcia at The Printed Page, Mailbox Monday, now has its own blog. Hosting duties are rotated every month.  This month one of my favorite blogs Metroreader: Reading One Mile at a Time has the hosting honors.  Be sure to stop by and discover a new and wondrous (for me anyway) addition to your blog roll and take a look at everyone's Mailbox lists.

I haven't done a Mailbox post for awhile, because most of the books I've gotten for review have been coming online in my virtual mailbox.  NetGalley has certainly changed the reviewing world.  For me, where often books would sit at the UPS office for weeks because the UPS truck couldn't get down our icy driveway (even though we could get out to the Post Office), and where the piles of physical galleys were becoming a fire hazard, the convenience of e-galleys, and the cost-effectiveness of this method for publishers has really changed the reviewing landscape.

Since I did my last post, the physical books arriving included gifts from family and Secret Santas:
I got Bohemian Girl using a gift certificate.  My local Indie, had this one in a pile labeled "seriously underappreciated".  I love discovering books like this, a pioneer story from the female perspective set in the American West.

Likewise, I used another gift certificate to get the marvelous George, Nicolas and Wilhelm.  This one will go perfectly in my War through the Generations World War I read.  I've been reading some battle histories, and some social commentaries, so it will be interesting to fill in with the biggies.
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My secret Santa on LT sent two books, Joe Coomer's Pockeful of Names, the marvelous story of an artist and a dog on an isolated Maine island.  It's gotten many many thumbs up from all my local patrons, so I'm anxious to get into it.

The Season of Second Chances has been at the top of my wishlist for several months. One of my favorite genres, women's relationships and life stories, this one has gotten some great reviews so I'm thrilled to have it.
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Some came as loaners from my sister and my daughter:

The Necklace by Cheryl Jarvis.  My sister Chèli reviewed this one on her blog Chèli's Shelves back in November.  It sounded so good I borrowed it from her when we went to her place Christmas Eve.

The Great War and Modern Memory by Paul Fussell
and Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain both came from my daughter's library.  As a history major, she has plenty more where these come from, but I'm thinking they will really provide good reading for the WWI group.
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Then there were  a couple that showed up as contest wins!
WOOT WOOT,  Two of my favorite authors, Margaret Maron and Julie Hyzy, who never fail to delight are now standing by to give me a good dose of reading relaxation when the heavy chunksters get too much.


So................
What's in your mailbox this week (or month?)

Mailbox Monday - Nov 28th

Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house recently, but here's a warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists!

Created by Marcia at The Printed Page, Mailbox Monday, now has its own blog. Hosting duties are rotated every month.  November brings us to the wonderful community blog Wonders and Marvels edited by Holly Tucker.  This will be the host site for the month.  Be sure to stop by and discover a new and wondrous (for me anyway) addition to your blog roll and take a look at everyone's Mailbox lists. This week's list includes

Lost Trail , Nine Days Alone in the Wilderness 
by Donn Fendler


Donn Fendler's harrowing story of being lost in the Maine wilderness when he was just twelve, was made famous by the perennial best-seller, Lost on a Mountain in Maine. In Lost Trail, more than 70 years after the event, Donn tells the story of survival and rescue from his own perspective. Lost Trail is a masterfully illustrated graphic novel that tells the story of a twelve year old boyscout from a New York City suburb who climbs Maine's mile-high Mt. Katahdin and in a sudden storm is separated from his friends and family. What follows is a nine-day adventure, in which Donn, lost and alone in the Maine wilderness with bugs, bears, and only a few berries to eat, struggles for survival.
This one is sure to be a hit in our library in Maine.  The original book is one of our most circulated, even after all these years have passed.  Many thanks to Down East Books for sending a review copy.
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The Partials
By Dan Wells

I don't usually read sci-fi or fantasy, so I'm not sure how this one landed in my mailbox, but one of my ardent YA readers at the library eagerly accepted my request that he read it and let me know what he thought.  I'll keep you posted.   Here's the pub blurb: 

The human race is all but extinct after a war with Partials—engineered organic beings identical to humans—has decimated the population. Reduced to only tens of thousands by RM, a weaponized virus to which only a fraction of humanity is immune, the survivors in North America have huddled together on Long Island while the Partials have mysteriously retreated. The threat of the Partials is still imminent, but, worse, no baby has been born immune to RM in more than a decade. Our time is running out.
Dan Wells, acclaimed author of I Am Not a Serial Killer, takes readers on a pulse pounding journey into a world where the very concept of what it means to be human is in question—one where our humanity is both our greatest liability and our only hope for survival. 

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The Trail of the Wild Rose
English garden mysteries #4
by Anthony Eglin

I haven't read 1-3 yet, but this one looks intriguing.  This gorgeous paperback was a reward for entering the giveaway on Lesa's Book Critiques, one of my all-time favorite blogs.  Many thanks Lesa for consistently great reviews and giveaways. Here's the blurb:

 The hunt for an ancient Chinese rose turns deadly in this latest English Garden Mystery featuring Dr. Lawrence Kingston.

A plant-hunting expedition haunted by tragedy leads to a perilous trail of greed, larceny, and deceit. Has Peter Mayhew, the man who plunged to his death on a mountain in China, come back to life? Which of the expedition members is hiding an explosive secret? Why are some being targeted for murder?

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Ecco Press sent an ARC of this travel bonanza..London is one of my favorite cities so I'm looking forward to strolling through this one.

Here are the voices of London - rich and poor, native and immigrant, women and men (and a Sarah who used to be a George) – witnessed by Craig Taylor, an acclaimed Canadian journalist, playwright and writer, who has lived in the city for ten years, exploring its hidden corners and listening to its residents. From the woman who is the voice of the London Underground to the man who plants the trees along Oxford Street; from a Muslim currency trader to a Guardsman at Buckingham Palace; from the marriage registrar at Westminster Town Hall to the director of the biggest Bethnal Green funeral parlour – together, these voices and many more, paint a vivid, epic and wholly fresh portrait of Twenty-First Century London.

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I also received an E book from the Member Giveaway program on LT.

Irreparable Harm

by Mellissa Miller

There's a smartphone app capable of crashing a commercial jet. And it's for sale to the highest bidder. Attorney Sasha McCandless is closing in on the prize: After eight years of long hours, she's about to make partner at a prestigious law firm. All she has to do is keep her head down and her billable hours up. Then a plane operated by her client slams into the side of a mountain, killing everyone aboard. She gears up for the inevitable civil lawsuits. But, as Sasha digs into the case, she learns the crash was no accident. She joins forces with a federal air marshal and they race to prevent another crash. People close to the matter start to turn up dead. And Sasha's next on the list. She'll need to rely on her legal training and Krav Maga training in equal measure to stop a madman and save herself.

I'm always interested in strong female protagonists, so this one is definitely worth a look.  Thanks to the author Melissa Miller for making the review copy available.


What's in your mailbox this week? 
Edited 2:58pm Monday to correct inaccurate sourcing on "Trail of the Wild Rose".

Monday Mailbox - Sept 26th - Personal deliveries

Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week.  Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists!

Created by Marcia at The Printed Page, Mailbox Monday, now has its own blog. Hosting duties are being rotated every month.  September, is the month for hosting by Amused at Amused by Books. Be sure to stop by and say howdy.

Since we knew we were going to be gone for much of September and a chunk of October, I deliberately refrained from accepting too many review requests, and confined myself to e-galleys through Net Galley.  However, last week, I had the chance to meet-up with Caite of A Lovely Shore Breeze.  We met in my small town library, where I gave her the grand tour (how grand can a whole 936 square feet get?) and then adjuourned across the street to our local general store cum cafe (AKA "The Gig") so she could partake of an honest to gosh whoopie pie.

While we chatted away about the merits of cheese steak sandwiches (with or without mayo), e-readers, lighthouses, fog, tour groups, ugly Americans overseas, etc etc., we chanced upon the topic of one of our mutually favorite authors Louise Penny.  I allowed as how I was panting to get my hands on the newest one, but just had not had a chance yet.  I was planning to break down and buy it for my Nook, and have it on order for our library.  She allowed as how she had the audio copy IN HER CAR!!!!! (can you see me drooling already?????)  and that she'd finished it, and that she was not an overall fan of audio, so she couldn't see herself ever listening to it again, and WOULD I LIKE TO HAVE IT???  Now since the Gig Store is right next door to the Post Office where I get my mail, I think this counts as the Mailbox delivery of all time!  I didn't even have to grovel--although I was prepared to offer up something close to the equivalent of my first-born for this treat.  What a lovely lovely gift and what a lovely lovely treat to be able to meet a fellow blogger in person.  Caite my dear, my reciprocal grab-bag is open...just let me know what strikes your fancy (first borns are excluded) and it will be on the way.   And, dear readers,  if you haven't yet visited Caite's blog....get over there---her photography is drop dead gorgeous, and the reviews aren't half-bad either.

I realize this isn't saying too much about this book, but since I know I'll be listening to it very soon, and I don't expect from reviews so far that I will be anything but thrilled about it, I'm sure you'll be able to hang on until then.  It's Louise Penny, it's Armand Gamage, it's Three Pines. What else is there to say?
Here's the Marketing blurb:

Penny has been compared to Agatha Christie [but] it sells her short. Her characters are too rich, her grasp of nuance and human psychology too firm...." --Booklist (starred review)
“Hearts are broken,” Lillian Dyson carefully underlined in a book. “Sweet relationships are dead.”
But now Lillian herself is dead. Found among the bleeding hearts and lilacs of Clara Morrow's garden in Three Pines, shattering the celebrations of Clara's solo show at the famed Musée in Montreal. Chief Inspector Gamache, the head of homicide at the Sûreté du Québec, is called to the tiny Quebec village and there he finds the art world gathered, and with it a world of shading and nuance, a world of shadow and light.  Where nothing is as it seems.  Behind every smile there lurks a sneer. Inside every sweet relationship there hides a broken heart.  And even when facts are slowly exposed, it is no longer clear to Gamache and his team if what they've found is the truth, or simply a trick of the light.  

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Children of the Street

Kwei Quartey

Now the other book that arrived in my e-galley mailbox is another one by Kwei Quartey in the Inspector Darko Dawson Mystery series.  I've reviewed the first one "Wife of the Gods" and have been anxiously awaiting this next one in the series.  Darko Dawson is a delightful character, and I enjoyed getting to know something about the culture and people of Ghana that Quartey describes so well.

Here's the publisher's blurb on this one:

In the slums of Accra, Ghana’s fast-moving, cosmopolitan capital, teenagers are turning up dead. Inspector Darko Dawson has seen many crimes, but this latest string of murders—in which all the young victims bear a chilling signature—is the most unsettling of his career. Are these heinous acts a form of ritual killing or the work of a lone, cold-blooded monster? With time running out, Dawson embarks on a harrowing journey through the city’s underbelly and confronts the brutal world of the urban poor, where street children are forced to fight for their very survival—and a cunning killer seems just out of reach.
Kwei Quartey was raised in Ghana by an African American mother and a Ghanaian father, both of whom were university lecturers. Dr. Kwei Quartey practices medicine in Southern California, rising early in the morning to write before going to work. He is currently writing his next novel.

  It's going to be a great autumn reading and listening to these two.  What was in your mailbox this week?

Mailbox Monday - August 15th

Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week.  Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists!

Created by Marcia at The Printed Page, Mailbox Monday, now has its own blog. Hosting duties are being rotated every month.  August is the month for hosting by Staci of Life in the Thumb.  She's not only hosting, but she's got some great giveaways going, so stop on over there after you're done here.

This week brought two books I got from the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program.  One was a book from June which finally arrived, the other from the July list which just closed over last weekend.  The book arrived within 48 hours of my being notified.  Both are absolutely going onto the sooner rather than later pile.

Train of Small Mercies
by David Rowell

In haunting and crystalline prose, The Train of Small Mercies follows six characters' intrepid search for hope among the debris of an American tragedy.

In New York, a young black porter struggles through his first day on the job-a staggering assignment aboard Robert F. Kennedy's funeral train. In Pennsylvania, a woman creates a tangle of lies to sneak away from her disapproving husband and pay her respects to the slain senator, dragging her child with her. In Maryland, a wounded young soldier awaits a newspaper interview that his parents hope will restore his damaged self-esteem. And in Washington, an Irish nanny in town to interview with the Kennedy family must reconcile the lost opportunity and the chance to start her life anew.

In this stunning debut, David Rowell depicts disparate lives united by an extraordinary commemoration, irrevocably changed as Kennedy's funeral train makes its solemn journey from New York to Washington.

About the Author
David Rowell is an editor at The Washington Post Magazine and has taught literary journalism at American University in Washington, D.C. He lives in Silver Spring, Maryland. This is his first novel.
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Then I received an advanced copy of The Borrower by Rebecca Makkai.  This one is an audio book, one of my favorite formats.

Lucy Hull, a young children’s librarian in Hannibal, Missouri, is unsure where her life is headed. That becomes more than a figure of speech when her favorite patron, ten-year-old Ian Drake, runs away from home and Lucy finds herself in the surprise role of chauffeur.

The precocious Ian is addicted to reading, but needs Lucy’s help to smuggle books past his overbearing mother, who has enrolled Ian in weekly anti-gay classes with celebrity Pastor Bob. Lucy stumbles into a moral dilemma when she finds Ian camped out in the library after hours with a knapsack of provisions and an escape plan.

The odd pair embarks on a crazy road trip from Missouri to Vermont, with ferrets, an inconvenient boyfriend, and dubious family history thrown in their path. But who is actually running away? And from what?

It was a great week.  What came in your mailbox this week?

Mailbox Monday - Aug 1

Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week.  Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists!

Created by Marcia at The Printed Page, Mailbox Monday, now has its own blog. Hosting duties are being rotated every month.  August is the month for hosting by Staci of Life in the Thumb.  She's not only hosting, but she's got some great giveaways going, so stop on over there after you're done here.

This week brought a true bonanza to my mailbox.  Hachette Book group is having a summer audio review special, so they sent me 4 audios:

I'm going to have to roll the dice to see which one I pick up first because they all look so good.  Every one of these authors, Anne Rivers Siddons, David Baldacci, Elin Hildenbrand and Nelson DeMille are favorites, and each of these promises to be just enough different from their general writing (particularly for Baldacci) that I'm really intrigued.  Thanks Hachette....you've certainly given me something to look forward to for August.


Then, from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt via Net Galley this Boston Red Sox fan was thrilled to get an egalley of

Fenway 1912 by Glenn Stout

here's the blurb on this one due for publication in October (just in time for the World Series?)

For all that has been written in tribute to the great Fenway Park, no one has ever really told the behind-the-scenes true story of its tumultuous yet glorious first year. Nineteen twelve was a leap year, the year the Titanic sank, but also the year baseball’s original shrine was “born.” And while the paint was still drying, the infield grass still coming in, the Red Sox embarked on an unlikely season that would culminate in a World Series battle against the Giants that stands as one of the greatest ever played.
Fenway 1912 tells the incredible story – and stories – of Fenway, from the unorthodox blueprint that belies the park’s notorious quirks, to the long winter when locals poured concrete and erected history, to the notorious fixers who then ruled the game, to the ragtag team who delivered a world championship, Fenway's first. 
Drawing on extensive new research, the esteemed baseball historian Glenn Stout delivers a rollicking tale of innovation, desperation, and perspiration, capturing Fenway as never before.

And as the final icing on this week's many tiered yummy book cake, St. Martin's Press sent me an ARC of

ONLY TIME WILL TELL, volume 1 of Jeffrey Archer's new saga of the Clifton family.  Due out in September, I'll have a giveaway posting for this one later this week.  Keep checking back.  I have 3 copies, and we can even open this to our readers in Canada.  I'll give you more details when I post the giveaway. 

Mailbox Monday - June 27th

Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week.  Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists!

Created by Marcia at The Printed Page, Mailbox Monday, now has its own blog. Hosting duties are being rotated every month. Now that we're into June, The Bluestocking Guide is our host.  Be sure to stop on over and see what everyone else got this week.

I've been gone for about ten days, and thankfully, my box was not too full when I returned.  One of my scores was from the Early Reviewer Program on LibraryThing.com.  I was gifted with an audio book -Turning The Tide by Ed Offley and you all know how I love audios, so I was thrilled to receive this story of a little known episode of World War II.  This Navy family may have to resort to flipping a coin to see who gets it first.

Here's the blurb:

The United States experienced its most harrowing military disaster of World War II not in 1941 at Pearl Harbor but in the period from 1942 to 1943, in Atlantic coastal waters from Newfoundland to the Caribbean. Sinking merchant ships with impunity, German U-boats threatened the lifeline between the United States and Britain, very nearly denying the Allies their springboard onto the European Continent--a loss that would have effectively cost the Allies the war.InTurning the Tide, author Ed Offley tells the gripping story of how, during a twelve-week period in the spring of 1943, a handful of battle-hardened American, British, and Canadian sailors turned the tide in the Atlantic. Using extensive archival research and interviews with key survivors, Offley places the reader at the heart of the most decisive maritime battle of World War II.

Then, once again the nice folks at Atria Books sent a copy of this one as part of their annual Galley Grab.

The Best Kept Secret

by Amy Hatvany

Cadence didn’t sit down one night and decide that downing two bottles of wine was a brilliant idea.



Her drinking snuck up on her - as a way to sleep, to help her relax after a long day, to relieve some of the stress of the painful divorce that’s left her struggling to make ends meet with her five-year old son, Charlie. 

It wasn’t always like this. Just a few years ago, Cadence seemed to have it all—a successful husband, an adorable son, and a promising career as a freelance journalist.  But with the demise of her marriage, her carefully constructed life begins to spiral out of control.  Suddenly she is all alone trying to juggle the demands of work and motherhood.               

Logically, Cadence knows that she is drinking too much, and every day begins with renewed promises to herself that she will stop.  But within a few hours, driven by something she doesn’t understand, she is reaching for the bottle - even when it means not playing with her son because she is too tired, or dropping him off at preschool late, again.  And even when one calamitous night it means leaving him alone to pick up more wine at the grocery store.  It’s only when her ex-husband shows up at her door to take Charlie away that Cadence realizes her best kept secret has been discovered….

Heartbreaking, haunting, and ultimately life-affirming, Best Kept Secret is more than just the story of Cadence—it’s a story of how the secrets we hold closest are the ones that can most tear us apart.

 

Mailbox Monday - June 13th

Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week.  Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists!

Created by Marcia at The Printed Page, Mailbox Monday, now has its own blog. Hosting duties are being rotated every month. Now that we're into June, The Bluestocking Guide is our host.  Be sure to stop on over and see what everyone else got this week.

Again this week, my books arrived via  physical mail people and through the virtual e-mailbox.

The Reading Promise 

by Alice Ozma

This one arrived as an e-galley from Hachette Book Group.  I've seen this one on the boards a lot these past two weeks, and it looks like a great book for all ages.  The publishers blurb:

When Alice Ozma (the author) was in 4th grade, she and her father decided to see if he could read aloud to her for 100 consecutive nights.  On the hundredth night, they shared pancakes to celebrate, but it soon became evident that neither wanted to let go of their reading ritual.  So they decided to continue what they called "The Streak."  Alice's father read aloud to her every night without fail until the day she left for college.  Alice approaches her book as a series of vignettes about her relationship with her father and the life lessons learned from the books he read to her.

The Orchard

by Jeffrey Stepakoff

Last year, I was fortunate enough to win an ARC of Stepakoff's first novel "Fireworks over Toccoa".  I was absolutely enchanted with that one, so when the publisher Thomas Dunne Books offered me an ARC of his latest (release date July 5th) The Orchard, I jumped at the chance.  It will be at the top of July's list- nothing like a good romance to warm up the summer.
The publicity tells us:

Grace Lyndon is a rising ingenue in the world of perfumes and flavors; a stiletto-wearing, work-a-holic in Atlanta, she develops aromas and tastes to enthrall the senses. Dylan Jackson is a widowed single father whose heart and hands have been calloused in the fields of his North Georgia apple farm. When Grace happens to taste an apple picked from Dylan’s trees, it changes both their lives forever. Determined to track down the apple’s origin, Grace sets off in the middle of the night where she finds not only a beautiful mountain orchard in the clouds, but the mysterious man who owns it. In Stepakoff’s heartbreaking eloquence, their sudden yet undeniable attraction is threatened—leaving readers with a momentous finale that proves Jeffrey Stepakoff is a master craftsman of the heart.

Turn of Mind

by Alice La Plante  

Another one due out July 5th is from Grove Atlantic Press.  The e-galley arrived via Net Galley and is now residing on my Nook.  There have been several excellent books published in the past year in which Alzheimer's plays a central role.  This one is going to be novel mystery that has all the markings of one that will be an all-nighter:

A stunning first novel, both literary and thriller, about a retired orthopedic surgeon with dementia, Turn of Mind has already received worldwide attention. With unmatched patience and a pulsating intensity, Alice LaPlante brings us deep into a brilliant woman’s deteriorating mind, where the impossibility of recognizing reality can be both a blessing and a curse.

As the book opens, Dr. Jennifer White’s best friend, Amanda, who lived down the block, has been killed, and four fingers surgically removed from her hand. Dr. White is the prime suspect and she herself doesn’t know whether she did it. Told in White’s own voice, fractured and eloquent, a picture emergesof the surprisingly intimate, complex alliance between these life-long friends—two proud, forceful women who were at times each other’s most formidable adversaries. As the investigation into the murder deepens andWhite’s relationships with her live-in caretaker and two grown childrenintensify, a chilling question lingers: is White’s shattered memory preventing her from revealing the truth or helping her to hide it?

Astartling portrait of a disintegrating mind clinging to bits of realitythrough anger, frustration, shame, and unspeakable loss, Turn of Mind is a remarkable debut that examines the deception and frailty of memory and how it defines our very existence.

The Haunted Bookshop

by Christopher Morley

I was so enchanted by Morley's Parnassus on Wheels, that I grabbed this  recently reissued classic- the sequel- for my own.  I don't own a Kindle, but it's such a delightful book, I don't mind using the Kindle PC app to grab bargain priced books that I really want to read.  If it's half as much fun as the first one, it will be well worth the $1.99.  And I didn't even have to drive to to post office for this one.

Can you tell I'm really becoming a fan of e-books? 

So......what landed in your various mailboxes (real and virtual this week?)

Mailbox Monday - June 6th

Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week.  Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists!

Created by Marcia at The Printed Page, Mailbox Monday, now has its own blog. Hosting duties are being rotated every month. Now that we're into June, The Bluestocking Guide is our host.  Be sure to stop on over and see what everyone else got this week.

Tutu's mailbox this week has some paper and some e-books arriving, and each one looks too good to let languish for very long.

THE DOGS OF ROME - A Commissario Alec Blume Novel
by Conor Fitzgerald


The Blurb:

On a hot summer morning, Arturo Clemente is sloppily murdered in his Roman apartment by a mysterious slasher. Though the murder appears amateurish, even random, Clemente is no ordinary victim. An animal rights activist campaigning against dogfighting, he is married to a prominent politician and sleeping with Manuela Fusco, the daughter of a dangerous crime boss.

Police inspector Alec Blume has a favorite suspect, but the investigation is already being manipulated by both the Senate and the Fusco crime ring. As the details of the case continue to trickle out, Blume soon realizes he is being watched from on high—and that solving this crime may be the least of his worries. Angry, sleep-deprived, and unsure who to trust, Blume is losing control of his investigation. As the mob tightens its grip on the city, and with the killer still at large, Blume’s struggle for justice may cost more innocent lives.

In this riveting debut novel, we are introduced to Blume, an American expatriate and seasoned police veteran. Intelligent yet sometimes petulant, instinctive yet flawed, Blume is a likable and trustworthy protagonist for this first installment of a gritty and promising series.

This was a free Friday Nook book that I made sure to put into my virtual Mailbox.  I'm looking forward to this series and plan to read this for my cozy-thon in July and August.
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 HULL CREEK -  A Novel of the Maine Coast

By Jim Nichols

DownEast Publishing (right down the road from me) sent me this one for review.  It's by a local author, and since it's practically set in my back yard, (or should I say on my waterfront out the back deck?) I'm raring to go for this one.  Watch for a post later this week, because the author also sent an extra copy for a giveaway.  Keep checking  for details.  Sneak hint: 

After the death of his parents, Troy Hull left college to take on his family's traditional lobster-fishing life. But after a few good years, he finds himself threatened with the loss of that life, a result of some bad choices and the changing nature of his hometown.

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FOUR CORNERS OF THE SKY
by Michael Malone

In small towns between the North Carolina Piedmont and the coast the best scenery is often in the sky. On flat sweeps of red clay and scrub pine the days move monotonously, safely, but above, in the blink of an eye, dangerous clouds can boil out of all four corners of the sky…The flat slow land starts to shiver and anything can happen. In such a storm, on Annie Peregrine's seventh birthday, her father gave her the airplane and minutes later drove out of her life.

Twenty years is a long time to be without a father, and, for Navy pilot Annie Peregrine-Goode, the sky has become a home the earth has never been. So when her father calls out of the blue to ask for a dying wish—one both absurd and mysterious—no is the easiest of answers. Until she hears that the reward is the one thing she always wanted …

Thus begins an enchanting novel that bursts with energy from the first pages, and sweeps you off on a journey of unforgettable characters, hilarious encounters, and haunting secrets.

This is the author's 10th novel, but I've never read any of them.  When the friendly NOOK folks offered this as a freebie as a way of introducing Malone, I was certainly attracted enough to hit the 'deliver to my NOOK mailbox' button.  I'll let you know, because it's gone onto the cozy-thon electronic shelf.
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THE ENCHANTED APRIL

 by Elizabeth Von Arnim

This one was originally published decades ago, but is recently out in paperback and e-book editions.  I bought this one for myself and had it delivered to the NOOK mailbox because it was highly recommended by several of my virtual book friends on LT.  It's a definite cozy summer read.Here's the blurb from the back cover....

"Colour, fragrance, light, sea; instead of Shaftesbury Avenue, and the wet omnibuses, and the fish department at Shoolbread's ... and dinner, and to-morrow the same and the day after the same and always the same."
A discreet advertisement in The Times, addressed to "those who Appreciate Wisteria and Sunshine ...", is the prelude to a revolutionary month for four very different women. High above a bay on the Italian Riviera stands San Salvatore, a medieval castle. Beckoned to this haven are Mrs Wilkins, Mrs Arbuthnot, Mrs Fisher and Lady Caroline Dester, each quietly craving a respite. Lulled by the Mediterranean spring, the violet mountains and sweet-scented flowers, they gradually shed their public skins and discover a harmony each of them has longed for but none has known. First published in 1922, reminiscent of Elizabeth and Her German Garden, this delightful novel is imbued with the descriptive power and lighthearted irreverence for which Elizabeth von Arnim was so popular.

So------------- Rome, North Carolina, the Maine Coast, and the Italian Riviera--- my vacation is all set, and I don't have to do anything but put on the sunscreen, grab the iced tea and the sun glasses,retire to the deck overlooking the water, and travel to spots near and far.  The mailbox was good to me this week.

And speaking of travel....I'm reading the Russian Affair, and it's a good one.  Don't forget today is your last chance to enter to win that one.  Click the book cover over on the sidebar.

Mailbox Monday - May 9th

Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week.  Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists!

Created by Marcia at The Printed Page, Mailbox Monday, now has its own blog. Hosting duties are being rotated every month, so the merry month of May will be at MariReads.  Stop on over and see what everyone else got this week.

Wow --I got a batch this week....enough to last me through the end of June!

 From Harlequin/HQN books - Net Galley

Blackberry Summer by RaeAnne Thayne

Claire Bradford needed a wake-up call.....
What she didn’t need was a tragic car accident. As a single mom and the owner of a successful bead shop, Claire leads a predictable life in Hope’s Crossing, Colorado. So what if she has no time for romance? At least, that’s what she tells herself, especially when her best friend’s sexy younger brother comes back to town as the new chief of police.
But when the accident forces Claire to slow down and lean on others—especially Riley McKnight—she realizes, for the first time, that things need to change. And not just in her own life. The accident—and the string of robberies committed by teenagers that led up to it—is a wake-up call to the people of Hope’s Crossing. The sense of community and togetherness had been lost during those tough years. But with a mysterious “Angel of Hope” working to inspire the town, Riley and Claire will find themselves opening up to love and other possibilities by the end of an extraordinary summer…
 

Another Publisher ARC from Net Galley:
Pigeon English by Stephen Kelman

Lying in front of Harrison Opuku is a body, the body of one of his classmates, a boy known for his crazy basketball skills, who seems to have been murdered for his dinner.

Armed with a pair of camouflage binoculars and detective techniques absorbed from television shows like CSI, Harri and his best friend, Dean, plot to bring the perpetrator to justice. They gather evidence—fingerprints lifted from windows with tape, a wallet stained with blood—and lay traps to flush out the murderer. But nothing can prepare them for what happens when a criminal feels you closing in on him.

Recently emigrated from Ghana with his sister and mother to London’s enormous housing projects, Harri is pure curiosity and ebullience—obsessed with gummy candy, a friend to the pigeon who visits his balcony, quite possibly the fastest runner in his school, and clearly also fast on the trail of a murderer.

Told in Harri's infectious voice and multicultural slang, Pigeon English follows in the tradition of our great novels of friendship and adventure, as Harri finds wonder, mystery, and danger in his new, ever-expanding world.

A New York Times Notable Book of the Year (2010) for fiction and poetry
Orange Prize long list (2010)
Finalist for Man Booker Prize (2010)
The Long Song by Andrea Levy
Now released in paperback by Picador.  Review copy from the publisher

A distinctive narrative voice and a beguiling plot distinguish Levy's fifth novel (after Orange Prize–winning Small Island). A British writer of Jamaican descent, Levy draws upon history to recall the island's slave rebellion of 1832. The unreliable narrator pretends to be telling the story of a woman called July, born as the result of a rape of a field slave, but it soon becomes obvious that the narrator is July herself. Taken as a house slave when she's eight years old, July is later seduced by the pretentiously moralistic English overseer after he marries the plantation's mistress; his clergyman father has assured him that a married man might do as he pleases. Related in July's lilting patois, the narrative encompasses scenes of shocking brutality and mass carnage, but also humor, sometimes verging on farce. Levy's satiric eye registers the venomous racism of the white characters and is equally candid in relating the degrees of social snobbery around skin color among the blacks themselves, July included. Slavery destroys the humanity of everyone is Levy's subtext, while the cliffhanger ending suggests (one hopes) a sequel.

 A review copy to promote the paperback edition from Random House.

Every Last One by Anna Quindlen

Mary Beth Latham has built her life around her family, around caring for her three teenage children and preserving the rituals of their daily life. When one of her sons becomes depressed, Mary Beth focuses on him, only to be blindsided by a shocking act of violence. What happens afterward is a testament to the power of a woman’s love and determination, and to the invisible lines of hope and healing that connect one human being to another. Ultimately, as rendered in Anna Quindlen’s mesmerizing prose, Every Last One is a novel about facing every last one of the things we fear the most, about finding ways to navigate a road we never intended to travel.

And finally....an unsolicited review copy from Viking Press...
The Last Letter from Your Lover by JoJo Moyes
 
A sophisticated, page-turning double love story spanning forty years-an unforgettable Brief Encounter for our times.

It is 1960. When Jennifer Stirling wakes up in the hospital, she can remember nothing-not the tragic car accident that put her there, not her husband, not even who she is. She feels like a stranger in her own life until she stumbles upon an impassioned letter, signed simply B", asking her to leave her husband.

Years later, in 2003, a journalist named Ellie discovers the same enigmatic letter in a forgotten file in her newspaper's archives. She becomes obsessed by the story and hopeful that it can resurrect her faltering career. Perhaps if these lovers had a happy ending she will find one to her own complicated love life, too. Ellie's search will rewrite history and help her see the truth about her own modern romance.

A spellbinding, intoxicating love story with a knockout ending, The Last Letter from Your Lover will appeal to the readers who have made One Day and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society bestsellers.

Phew!  No wonder I'm feeling I have to turn off the review copies for awhile.  These all look so good, but I'm not sure when I'll have time to read them.  Such a hardship I know!