Mailbox Monday — June 17

Welcome to Mailbox Monday, the weekly meme created by Marcia of To Be Continued, where book lovers share the titles they received for review, purchased, or otherwise obtained over the past week. Mailbox Monday currently is on tour, and this month’s host is Dolce Bellezza.

Here’s what I received:

City of Women by David R. Gillham — purchased

It is 1943 — the height of the Second World War.  With the men away at the front, Berlin has become a city of women.

On the surface, Sigrid Schröder is the model German soldier’s wife: She goes to work every day, does as much with her rations as she can, and dutifully cares for her meddling mother-in-law, all the while ignoring the horrific immoralities of the regime.  But behind this façade is an entirely different Sigrid, a woman of passion who dreams of her former Jewish lover, now lost in the chaos of the war.

But Sigrid is not the only one with secrets — she soon finds herself caught between what is right and what is wrong, and what falls somewhere in the shadows between the two…  (publisher’s summary)

City of Hope by Kate Kerrigan — from William Morrow for review

It is the 1930s and when her beloved husband, John, suddenly dies, young Ellie Hogan decides to leave Ireland and return to New York.  She hopes that the city’s vibrancy will distract her from her grief.  But the Depression has rendered the city unrecognizable — gone is the energy and atmosphere of fun that Ellie fell in love with ten years before.

Plunging headfirst into a new life, Ellie pours all her passion and energy into running a home and refuge for the homeless.  In return they give her the kind of love, support, and friendship she needs to try and overcome her grief.  Until, one day, someone she thought she’d never see again steps through her door.  It seems that even the Atlantic isn’t big enough to prevent the tragedies of the past from catching up with her.  (publisher’s summary)

Rising Sun, Falling Shadow by Daniel Kalla — from Saima Agency/Forge for review

It’s 1943, and the Japanese war machine has swallowed up Shanghai, upending life for its Chinese population and snaring thousands of American, British, and officially stateless European residents.  Newlyweds Dr. Franz Adler and his wife, Soon Yi (Sunny), struggle to keep the city’s only hospital for refugee Jews open, while Shanghai’s Allied citizens are interned in squalid camps outside the city.

Bowing to Nazi pressure, the Japanese force twenty thousand Jewish refugees, including the Adlers, to relocate to a one-square-kilometer section in the slums of the city — the “Shanghai Ghetto.”  For those trapped inside, heat, starvation, and disease are constant threats.  Sunny, a Shanghai native desperate to defend her lifelong home, is tempted into the dangerous embrace of the local Resistance movement, while a mysterious Chinese man brought critically wounded to the hospital may represent an even greater threat.  Meanwhile, as the tide of the war begins turning in the rest of the world, the local Nazis maintain a persistent, menacing interest in Shanghai’s Jewish population.

Rising Sun, Falling Shadow blends a lush portrait of a city under siege with medical drama, romance, and the intrigue of Alan Furst’s Mission to Paris, showing us both the heroism and the treachery that can result when ordinary people find themselves faced with extraordinary dangers.  (publisher’s summary)

What books did you add to your shelves recently?

© 2013 Anna Horner of Diary of an Eccentric. All Rights Reserved. Please do not reproduce or republish content without permission.

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Mailbox Monday — June 10

Welcome to Mailbox Monday, the weekly meme created by Marcia of To Be Continued, where book lovers share the titles they received for review, purchased, or otherwise obtained over the past week. Mailbox Monday currently is on tour, and this month’s host is Dolce Bellezza.

Here’s what I received:

The Satyr’s Curse by Alexandrea Weis — from the author for review

Gruesome murders are rocking New Orleans.

But Jazzmyn Livaudais is too busy running her restaurant to pay attention to the sensational headlines.  And when the charismatic Julian Devereau enters Jazzmyn’s life, she becomes even more distracted by the handsome stranger.

Seduced by Julian’s charm, Jazzmyn is swept up in a passionate romance.  Then she learns the horrific truth about Julian and the murders.  Cursed to an unending life where no woman can satisfy his lust and no wine can quench his thirst, Julian needs Jazzmyn’s love to free him from his torment.

But Jazzmyn is in love with someone else.  And Julian isn’t very happy about it.

He vows to keep on killing until Jazzmyn submits to his will.

For Jazzmyn Livaudais the nightmare is just beginning.

No one can ever break The Satyr’s Curse.  (publisher’s summary)

Bastard Out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison — from a co-worker

Greenville County, South Carolina, a wild, lush place, is home to the Boatwright family — rough-hewn men who drink hard and shoot up each other’s trucks, and indomitable women who marry young and age all too quickly.  At the heart of this astonishing novel is Ruth Anne Boatwright, known simply as Bone, a South Carolina bastard with an annotated birth certificate to tell the tale.  Observing everything with the mercilessly keen eyes of a child, Bone finds herself caught in a family triangle that will test the loyalty of her mother, Anney.  Her stepfather, Daddy Glen, calls Bone “cold as death, mean as a snake, and twice as twisty,” yet Anney needs Glen.  At first gentle with Bone, Daddy Glen becomes steadily colder and more furious — until their final, harrowing encounter, from which there can be no turning back.  (publisher’s summary)

A Midsummer Night’s Scream by R.L. Stine — from Feiwel and Friends for review (which I’m giving to The Girl to read)

Get ready for laughter to turn to screams in R.L. Stine’s reimagining of Shakespeare’s classic romantic comedy A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Everyone knows that Mayhem Manor is cursed.  After production on the horror film was stopped due to a series of mysterious deaths, it became a Hollywood legend — which makes it perfect for Claire and her family.  If they can successfully finish the film, it should be enough to save their ailing movie studio.

Sure, the old haunted house is creepy, and strange stuff has been happening, but this is Claire’s chance.  Her chance to become the movie star she’s always dreamed of and her chance to finally convince her friend Jake that she is girlfriend material.  Of course, the fact that Jake thinks he’s in love with her best friend, Delia, who is crushing hard on Jake’s friend Shawn, who insists on following Claire around, could be a problem, but Claire is sure she can figure it out.  After all, the course of true love never did run smooth.

But once shooting starts, “creepy and strange” morph into “bloody and deadly,” as the lines between film and reality begin to blur…  (publisher’s summary)

Teardrop by Lauren Kate — from Delacorte Press for review (which I’m giving The Girl to read)

Never, ever cry…

Eureka Boudreaux’s mother drilled that rule into her daughter years ago.  But now her mother is gone, and everywhere Eureka goes in New Iberia, Louisiana, he is there:  Ander, the tall, pale blond boy who seems to know things he shouldn’t, who tells Eureka she is in grave danger, who comes closer to making her cry than anyone has before.

But Ander doesn’t know Eureka’s darkest secret:  ever since her mother drowned in a freak accident, Eureka wishes she were dead, too.  She has little left that she cares about, just her oldest friend, Brooks, and a strange inheritance from her mother — a locket, a letter, a mysterious stone, and an ancient book no one can understand.  The book contains a haunting tale about a girl who got her heart broken and cried an entire continent into the sea — and something about the story is uncannily familiar.

Eureka is about to discover that the ancient tale is more than a story, that Ander might be telling the truth…and that her life has far darker undercurrents than she ever imagined.

From Lauren Kate, author of the FALLEN series, comes an epic saga of heart-stopping romance, devastating secrets, and dark magic…a world where everything you love can be washed away…  (publisher’s summary)

Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson — from Delacorte Press for review (which I’m giving to The Girl to read)

Ten years ago calamity came.  It was a burst in the sky that gave ordinary people extraordinary powers.  The awed public started calling them Epics.

Epics are no friends of man.  With incredible gifts came the desire to rule.  And to rule man, you must crush his will.

Now, in what was once Chicago, an astonishingly powerful Epic named Steelheart has installed himself as emperor.  Steelheart possesses the strength of ten men and can control the elements.  It is said that no bullet can harm him, no sword can split his skin, and no fire can burn him.  He is invincible.  Nobody fights back…nobody but the Reckoners.

A shadowy group of ordinary humans, the Reckoners spend their lives studying Epics, finding their weaknesses, and then assassinating them.  And David wants in.

When Steelheart came to Chicago, he killed David’s father.  For years, like the Reckoners, David has been studying, and planning, and he has something they need.  Not an object, but an experience.

He has seen Steelheart bleed.

And he wants revenge.  (publisher’s summary)

The Eye of Minds by James Dashner — from Delacorte Press for review (which I’m giving The Girl to read)

Michael is a gamer.  And like most gamers, he almost spends more time on the VirtNet than in the actual world.  The VirtNet offers total mind and body immersion, and it’s addictive.  Thanks to technology, anyone with enough money can experience fantasy worlds, risk their life without the chance of death, or just hang around with Virt-friends.  And the more hacking skills you have, the more fun.  Why bother following the rules when most of them are dumb, anyway?

But some rules were made for a reason.  Some technology is too dangerous to fool with.  And recent reports claim that one gamer is going beyond what any gamer has done before:  he’s holding players hostage inside the VirtNet.  The effects are horrific — the hostages have all been declared brain-dead.  Yet the gamer’s motives are a mystery.

The government knows that to catch a hacker, you need a hacker.

And they’ve been watching Michael.  They want him on their team.

But the risk is enormous.  If he accepts their challenge, Michael will need to go off the VirtNet grid.  There are back alleys and corners in the system human eyes have never seen and predators he can’t even fathom — and there’s the possibility that the line between game and reality will be blurred forever.  (publisher’s summary)

What books did you add to your shelves recently?

© 2013 Anna Horner of Diary of an Eccentric. All Rights Reserved. Please do not reproduce or republish content without permission.

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Mailbox Monday — June 3

Welcome to Mailbox Monday, the weekly meme created by Marcia of To Be Continued, where book lovers share the titles they received for review, purchased, or otherwise obtained over the past week. Mailbox Monday currently is on tour, and this month’s host is Dolce Bellezza.

Here’s what I received:

The Mysterious Death of Miss Jane Austen by Lindsay Ashford — from Sourcebooks for review

Twenty-six years have passed since the death of Jane Austen, and Anne Sharp, former governess to the Austen family and Jane’s close friend, has decided at last to tell her story — a story of family intrigues, shocking secrets, forbidden loves, and maybe even murder…

Upon its publication in the UK, Lindsay Ashford’s fictional interpretation of the few facts surrounding Jane Austen’s mysterious death sparked an international debate and uproar.  None of the medical theories offers a satisfactory explanation for Jane Austen’s early demise at the age of forty-one.  Could it be that what everyone has assumed was death by natural causes was actually more sinister?  Lindsay Ashford’s vivid novel delves deep into Jane’s world and puts forth a shocking suggestion — was someone out to silence Jane?  (publisher’s summary)

The Revolution of Every Day by Cari Luna — from the author and Tin House Books for review

In the mid-nineties, New York’s Lower East Side contained a city within its shadows: a community of squatters who staked their claim on abandoned tenements and lived and worked according to their own rules, accountable to no one but each other.  With gritty prose and vivid descriptions, Cari Luna’s debut novel, The Revolution of Every Day, imagines the lives of five squatters from that time.  But even as city lawyers and private developers try to evict them, the rifts within their community prove to be the greater challenge.  Amelia, taken in by Gerrit as a teen runaway seven years earlier, is now pregnant by his best friend, Steve.  Anne, married to Steve, is questioning her commitment to the squatter lifestyle.  And Cat, a fading legend of the downtown scene and unwitting leader of one of the squats, succumbs to the bad habits of her youth.  The misunderstandings and secrets and the dissolution of the hope that originally bound these five threaten to destroy their homes as surely as the city’s battering rams.  (publisher’s summary)

What books did you add to your shelves recently?

© 2013 Anna Horner of Diary of an Eccentric. All Rights Reserved. Please do not reproduce or republish content without permission.

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Mailbox Monday — May 27

Welcome to Mailbox Monday, the weekly meme created by Marcia, formerly from The Printed Page, where book lovers share the titles they received for review, purchased, or otherwise obtained over the past week. Mailbox Monday currently is on tour, and this month’s host is 4 the LOVE of BOOKS.

Here’s what I received:

With All My Love by Patricia Scanlan — from Atria for review

When Briony McAllister takes a trip to visit her mother, Valerie, she uncovers a letter from her long-lost grandmother, bringing to light a nearly unforgivable act her mother has kept secret for decades. Having always believed that her grandparents didn’t want to see her, she finds that the opposite is true: her grandmother had been seeking her out all along, and it was her own mother who willfully kept them apart.

Devastated that her past has come back to haunt her, Valerie realizes that her daughter’s anger might cause their troubled family history to repeat itself in a new generation. Rich with emotion and featuring magnificent descriptions of Ireland, With All My Love deftly weaves the stories of the past and present to take us into the heart of a family at war. As the truth is revealed, so too are the complex yet enduring bonds between mothers and daughters. (publisher’s summary)

Marilyn’s Red Diary by E.Z. Friedel — unsolicited from Meryl L. Moss Media Relations (I will be passing this book on to my husband’s co-worker.)

Marilyn’s Red Diary is shocking, funny, scandalous and sad but always brutally honest.  Marilyn Monroe is caught between intellectual giants — her award-winning playwright husband Arthur and her dashing politician boyfriend Jack.  Then along comes Jack’s fiery brother Bobby.  The world’s dream girl relates her intimate adventures with many of the era’s who’s who.  Marilyn’s Red Diary is a touching portrait of a hard-working, extremely bright woman, trapped in her own sensuality and, tragically, born far ahead of her time.  (publisher’s summary)

What books did you add to your shelves recently?

© 2013 Anna Horner of Diary of an Eccentric. All Rights Reserved. Please do not reproduce or republish content without permission.

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Mailbox Monday — May 20

Welcome to Mailbox Monday, the weekly meme created by Marcia, formerly from The Printed Page, where book lovers share the titles they received for review, purchased, or otherwise obtained over the past week. Mailbox Monday currently is on tour, and this month’s host is 4 the LOVE of BOOKS.

Here’s what I received:

Rutherford Park by Elizabeth Cooke — from Berkley for review

For the Cavendish family, Rutherford Park is much more than a place to call home.  It is a way of life marked by rigid rules and lavish rewards, governed by unspoken desires…

Lady of the house Octavia Cavendish lives like a bird in a gilded cage.  With her family’s fortune, her husband, William, has made significant additions to the estate, but he too feels bound — by the obligations of his title as well as his vows.  Their son, Harry, is expected to follow in his footsteps, but the boy has dreams of his own, like pursuing the new adventure of aerial flight.  Meanwhile, below stairs, a housemaid named Emily holds a secret that could undo the Cavendish name.

As the clouds of war gather on the horizon, an epic tale of longing and betrayal unfolds at Rutherford Park.  (publisher’s summary)

Native Guard by Natasha Trethewey — a surprise from Serena (thank you!!)

Through elegiac verse that honors her mother and tells of her own fraught childhood, Natasha Trethewey confronts the racial legacy of her native Deep South — where one of the first black regiments, the Louisiana Native Guards, was called into service during the Civil War.  Trethewey’s resonant and beguiling collection is a haunting conversation between personal experience and national history.  (publisher’s summary)

What books did you add to your shelves recently?

© 2013 Anna Horner of Diary of an Eccentric. All Rights Reserved. Please do not reproduce or republish content without permission.

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Mailbox Monday — May 13

Welcome to Mailbox Monday, the weekly meme created by Marcia, formerly from The Printed Page, where book lovers share the titles they received for review, purchased, or otherwise obtained over the past week. Mailbox Monday currently is on tour, and this month’s host is 4 the LOVE of BOOKS.

Here’s what I received:

Mother’s Day gifts:

We Fought Back: Teen Resisters of the Holocaust by Allen Zullo — from The Girl (couldn’t find this one online; she bought it for me at her school’s Scholastic book fair)

Fifteen-year-old Paul just helped blow up a Nazi supply train.  Can he escape the Germans hunting him for revenge?

Fifteen-year-old Sarah has lost many loved ones to Nazi murderers.  Will partisan fighters accept her into their secret group?

Seventeen-year-old Frank and his team are preparing to attack a heavily armed German convoy.  Can they succeed against overwhelming odds — and survive?

These and other Jewish young people took on incredible risks to fight back against the Nazis in World War II.  You will never forget their true stories of courage and survival.  (publisher’s summary)

Life After Life by Kate Atkinson — from my husband

On a cold and snowy night in 1910, Ursula Todd is born to an English banker and his wife.  Ursula dies before she can draw her first breath.  On that same cold and snowy night, Ursula Todd is born, lets out a lusty wail, and embarks upon a life that will be, to say the least, unusual.  For as she grows, she also dies, repeatedly, in a variety of ways, while the young century marches on toward its second cataclysmic world war.

Does Ursula’s apparently infinite number of lives give her the power to save the world from its inevitable destiny?  And if she can, will she?

Startlingly imaginative, darkly comic, deeply poignant — this is Kate Atkinson at her absolute best.  (publisher’s summary)

For review:

Letters From Skye by Jessica Brockmole — from Ballantine

March 1912: Twenty-four-year-old Elspeth Dunn, a published poet on Scotland’s remote island of Skye, receives a fan letter from an American college student, David Graham.  Their correspondence blossoms into friendship, and eventually into love.  And when David volunteers as an ambulance driver during the Great War, Elspeth can only hope he survives.

June 1940:  Elspeth’s daughter, Margaret, has fallen for a pilot in the Royal Air Force, but her mother warns her against finding love in wartime.  Then, after a nightly air raid, Elspeth disappears, and Margaret is left with only a decades-old clue as to her mother’s whereabouts — and to what happened to her family long ago.  (publisher’s summary)

What books did you add to your shelves recently?

© 2013 Anna Horner of Diary of an Eccentric. All Rights Reserved. Please do not reproduce or republish content without permission.

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Mailbox Monday — May 6

Welcome to Mailbox Monday, the weekly meme created by Marcia, formerly from The Printed Page, where book lovers share the titles they received for review, purchased, or otherwise obtained over the past week. Mailbox Monday currently is on tour, and this month’s host is 4 the LOVE of BOOKS.

Here’s what I received:

His Majesty’s Hope by Susan Elia MacNeal — from Bantam Books via LibraryThing Early Reviewers (Amazon/IndieBound)

World War II has finally come home to Britain, but it takes more than nightly air raids to rattle intrepid spy and expert code breaker Maggie Hope.  After serving as a secret agent to protect Princess Elizabeth at Windsor Castle, Maggie is now an elite member of the Special Operations Executive — a covert organization designed to aid the British effort abroad — and her first assignment sends her straight into Nazi-controlled Berlin, the very heart of the German war machine.  Relying on her quick wit and keen instincts, Maggie infiltrates the highest level of Berlin society, gathering information to pass on to London headquarters.  But the secrets she unveils will expose a darker, more dangerous side of the war — and of her own past.  (publisher’s summary)

I’ll Be Seeing You by Suzanne Hayes and Loretta Nyhan — from Harlequin MIRA for review (Amazon/IndieBound)

It’s January, 1943, when Rita Vincenzo receives her first letter from Glory Whitehall.  Glory is an effervescent young mother, impulsive and free as a bird.  Rita is a sensible professor’s wife with a love of gardening and a generous, old soul.  Glory comes from New England society; Rita lives in Iowa, trying to make ends meet.  They have nothing in common except one powerful bond:  the men they love are fighting in a war a world away from home.

Brought together by an unlikely twist of fate, Glory and Rita begin a remarkable correspondence.  The friendship forged by their letters allows them to survive the loneliness and uncertainty of waiting on the home front, and gives them the courage to face the battles raging in their very own backyards.  Connected across the country by the lifeline of the written word, each woman finds her life profoundly altered by the other’s unwavering support.

A collaboration of two authors whose own beautiful story mirrors that on the page, I’ll Be Seeing You is a deeply moving union of style and charm.  Filled with unforgettable characters and grace, it is a timeless celebration of friendship and the strength and solidarity of women.  (publisher’s summary)

The Keeper of Secrets by Julie Thomas — from William Morrow for review (Amazon/IndieBound)

Berlin, 1935.  Wealthy and cultured, the Horowitz family enjoys a privileged position in German society.  Dedicated to the arts and musically gifted, they own a superb collection of exquisite instruments, including a rare 1742 Guarneri del Gesù violin that young Simon, the family’s second son, yearns to master.  But when the Nazis rise to power, they confiscate the prominent Jewish family’s possessions, including the violin they have owned for one hundred and fifty years, and condemn Simon, his brother, and his father to the horrors of Dachau.  Amid unimaginable cruelty and death, the adolescent boy finds unexpected kindness and a chance for survival thanks to his skill with a violin.

Suburban Chicago, 2008.  Fourteen-year-old Daniel Horowitz, Simon’s grandson, is a virtuoso on the violin.  But after winning a prestigious international prize, he rebels, because his mother has forbidden him from doing the one thing that makes him feel like an ordinary kid.  If he cannot play baseball, Daniel insists, he will not play the violin.

Awed by Daniel’s gift and sympathetic to his feelings, world-renowned conductor Rafael Gomez is determined to see the prodigy play again.  When he discovers that the Horowitz family once owned a precious Guarneri del Gesù violin — which they believe has been lost forever — Rafael devises an audacious plan.  He suspects that the violin miraculously survived the war, and he thinks he knows who has it — and how it can be used to inspire Daniel once again.

Skillfully, composed, heartrending yet ultimately uplifting, The Keeper of Secrets reminds us of the preciousness of life and family, and of the power of hope and art to conquer the darkest despair.  (publisher’s summary)

The Look of Love by Bella Andre — unsolicited from Meryl L. Moss Media Relations Inc. (Amazon/IndieBound)

Chloe Peterson vowed never to make the mistake of trusting a man again.  Her reasons are as vivid as the bruises on her cheek.  When her car skids off a wet country road straight into a ditch, she’s convinced the gorgeous guy who rescues her must be too good to be true.

As a successful international photographer, Chase Sullivan has his pick of beautiful women.  He’s satisfied with his life — until he finds Chloe and her totaled car on the side of the road in Napa Valley.

With every loving look — and every sinfully sweet caress — the attraction between them sizzles, and Chloe can’t help but wonder if she’s met the man who may be the exception to her rule…  (publisher’s summary)

Antonia Lively Breaks the Silence by David Samuel Levinson — unsolicited from Algonquin (Amazon/IndieBound)

Catherine Strayed is living a quiet, unremarkable life in a secluded college town following the mysterious death of her husband, a promising young writer whose death may have been an accident, a suicide, or perhaps even a murder.  When her former mentor (and onetime lover) — a powerful critic who singlehandedly destroyed her late husband’s chance of success — takes a teaching job at the college, Catherine’s world threatens to collapse.  For with him has come his latest protégé, an exotic young woman named Antonia Lively.  Antonia’s debut novel has become a literary sensation — but it is, in fact, an almost factual retelling of a terrible crime that she relates without any concern for the impact its publication will have on the lives of those involved.

As Antonia insinuates herself into Catherine’s life, mysterious and frightening things start to happen, because unbeknownst to Catherine, the younger woman intends to plunder her own dark, regrettable past — and the unsolved death of her husband — for her next literary triumph.

Provocative and cunning, Antonia Lively Breaks the Silence asserts that fiction is never truly fictional and asks, What does stealing another’s life do to your soul?  Levinson spins a tale of surprises, peeling back one revelation only to find another in this tightly wrought, wickedly cynical look at the worlds of academia, publishing, and celebrity.  (publisher’s summary)

What books did you add to your shelves recently?

Disclosure: I am an IndieBound affiliate and an Amazon associate.

© 2013 Anna Horner of Diary of an Eccentric. All Rights Reserved. Please do not reproduce or republish content without permission.

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Mailbox Monday — April 22

Welcome to Mailbox Monday, the weekly meme created by Marcia, formerly from The Printed Page, where book lovers share the titles they received for review, purchased, or otherwise obtained over the past week. Mailbox Monday currently is on tour, and this month’s host is MariReads.

Here’s what I received over the past couple of weeks:

The Apple Orchard by Susan Wiggs — from Book It Northwest for review (Amazon/IndieBound)

Tess Delaney makes a living restoring stolen treasures to their rightful owners.  People like Annelise Winther, who refuses to sell her long-gone mother’s beloved necklace — despite Tess’s advice.  To Annelise, the jewel’s value is in its memories.

But Tess’s own history is filled with gaps:  a father she never met, a mother who spent more time traveling than with her daughter.  So Tess is shocked when she discovers the grandfather she never knew is in a coma.  And that she has been named in his will to inherit half of Bella Vista, a hundred-acre apple orchard in the magical Sonoma town called Archangel.

The rest is willed to Isabel Johansen.  A half sister she’s never heard of.

Against the rich landscape of Bella Vista, Tess begins to discover a world filled with the simple pleasures of food and family, of the warm earth beneath her bare feet.  A world where family comes first and the roots of history run deep.  A place where falling in love is not only possible, but inevitable.

And in a season filled with new experiences, Tess begins to see the truth in something Annelise once told her:  if you don’t believe memories are worth more than money, then perhaps you’ve not made the right kind of memories.  (publisher’s summary)

The Lavender Garden by Lucinda Riley — from Atria for review (Amazon/IndieBound)

La Côte d’Azur, 1998:  In the sun-dappled south of France, Emilie de la Martinieres, the last of her gilded line, finds herself sole inheritor of her childhood home, a magnificent chateau and vineyard.  With the house comes a mountain of debt — and almost as many questions.

Paris, 1944:  A bright, young British office clerk, Constance Carruthers, is sent to Paris to be part of Churchill’s Special Operations Executive during the climax of the Nazi occupation.  Separated from her contacts in the Resistance, she stumbles into the heart of a prominent family who regularly entertain members of the German elite even as they plot to liberate France.  In a city rife with collaborators and brave members of the Resistance, Constance’s most difficult decision may be determining whom to trust with her heart.

As Emilie discovers what really happened to her family during the war and finds a connection to Constance much closer than she suspects, the chateau itself may provide clues that can unlock the mysteries of her past, present, and future.  (publisher’s summary)

The Gods of Heavenly Punishment by Jennifer Cody Epstein — from W.W. Norton & Company for review (Amazon/IndieBound)

In this evocative and thrilling epic novel, fifteen-year-old Yoshi Kobayashi, child of Japan’s New Empire, daughter of an ardent expansionist and a mother with a haunting past, is on her way home on a March night when American bombers shower her city with napalm — an attack that leaves one hundred thousand dead within hours and half the city in ashen ruins. In the days that follow, Yoshi’s old life will blur beyond recognition, leading her to a new world marked by destruction and shaped by those considered the enemy: Cam, a downed bomber pilot taken prisoner by the Imperial Japanese Army; Anton, a gifted architect who helped modernize Tokyo’s prewar skyline but is now charged with destroying it; and Billy, an Occupation soldier who arrives in the blackened city with a dark secret of his own. Directly or indirectly, each with shape Yoshi’s journey as she seeks safety, love, and redemption. (publisher’s summary)

The Mysterious Death of Mr. Darcy by Regina Jeffers — from Ulysses Press for review (Amazon/IndieBound)

Fitzwilliam Darcy is devastated.  The joy of his recent wedding has been cut short by the news of the sudden death of his father’s beloved cousin, Samuel Darcy.  Elizabeth and Darcy travel  to Dorset, a popular Regency resort area, to pay their respects to the well-traveled and eccentric Samuel.  But this is no summer holiday.  Danger bubbles beneath Dorset’s peaceful surface as strange and foreboding events begin to occur.  Several of Samuel’s ancient treasures go missing, and then his body itself disappears.

As Darcy and Elizabeth investigate the mysteries and unravel their tangled ties to the haunting legends of dark Dorset, the legendary couple’s love is put to the test by sinister forces striking close to home.  Some secrets should remain secrets, but Darcy will do all he can to find answers — even if it means meeting his own end in the damp depths of a newly dug grave.  (publisher’s summary)

All the Appearance of Goodness (Given Good Principles Volume III) by Maria Grace — from the author for review (Amazon)

What is a young woman to do?  One handsome young man has all the goodness, while the other the appearance of it.  How is she to separate the gentleman from the cad?

When Darcy joins his friend, Bingley, on a trip to Meryton, the last thing on his mind is finding a wife.  Meeting Elizabeth Bennet changes all that, but a rival for his affections appears from an unlikely quarter.  He must overcome his naturally reticent disposition if he is to have a chance of winning her favor.

Elizabeth’s thoughts turn to love and marriage after her sister Mary’s engagement.  In a few short weeks, she goes from knowing no eligible young men, to being courted by two.  Both are handsome gentlemen, but one conceals secrets and the other conceals his regard.  Will she determine which is which before she commits to the wrong one?  (publisher’s summary)

What books did you add to your shelves recently?

Disclosure: I am an IndieBound affiliate and an Amazon associate.

© 2013 Anna Horner of Diary of an Eccentric. All Rights Reserved. Please do not reproduce or republish content without permission.

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Mailbox Monday — April 8

Welcome to Mailbox Monday, the weekly meme created by Marcia, formerly from The Printed Page, where book lovers share the titles they received for review, purchased, or otherwise obtained over the past week. Mailbox Monday currently is on tour, and this month’s host is MariReads.

Here’s what I received:

If You Could Be Mine by Sara Farizan — from Algonquin Young Readers (Amazon/IndieBound)

**I wasn’t sure what books were going to be in this box of galleys from Algonquin Young Readers.  This one sounds interesting, so I’ll be keeping it.**

Seventeen-year-old Sahar has been in love with her best friend, Nasrin, since they were six.  They’ve shared stolen kisses and romantic promises.  But Iran is a dangerous place for two girls in love — Sahar and Nasrin could be beaten, imprisoned, even executed.

So they carry on in secret — until Nasrin’s parents announce that they’ve arranged for her marriage.  Nasrin tries to persuade Sahar that  they will be able to go on as they had before, only now with new comforts provided by the well-to-do doctor Nasrin will marry.  But Sahar dreams of loving Nasrin exclusively — and openly.

Then Sahar discovers what seems like the perfect solution.  In Iran, homosexuality may be a crime, but to be a man trapped in a woman’s body is seen as nature’s mistake, and sex reassignment is legal and accessible.  As a man, Sahar could be the one to marry Nasrin.  Sahar will never be able to love the one she wants in the body she wants to be loved in without risking her life.  Is saving her love worth sacrificing her true self?  (publisher’s summary)

The Time Fetch by Amy Herrick — from Algonquin Young Readers (Amazon/IndieBound)

**The Girl is keeping this one to read.**

Under normal circumstances, a Time Fetch sends out its foragers to collect only those moments that will never be missed or regretted.  The Fetch then rests, waiting to be called back by the Keeper, who distributes the gathered time where it is needed in our world and others across the Great Web.

When eighth-grader Edward innocently mistakes a sleeping Fetch for an ordinary rock, he wakes its foragers too early, and they begin to multiply and gobble up too much time.  Soon the bell rings to end class just as it has begun.  Buses race down streets, too far behind schedule to stop for passengers.  Buildings and sidewalks begin to disappear, as the whole fabric of the universe starts to unravel.

To try and stop the foragers, Edward must form an uneasy alliance with three classmates.  Feenix (given name Edith) calls him “Dweebo” and seemingly exists to annoy him.  Danton, a self-confident, easy-going athlete, has never before shown the slightest interest in Edward.  Brigit is brand new at school, painfully shy and mysteriously silent.  But all four have touched the Fetch, which has changed them in ways they don’t quite understand and has drawn them together in a strange and thrilling mission to save the entire universe.  (publisher’s summary)

Anton and Cecil: Cats at Sea by Lisa Martin and Valerie Martin — from Algonquin Young Readers (Amazon/IndieBound)

**The Girl is keeping this one to read, too.**

Cat brothers Cecil and Anton are as different as port and starboard.  Cecil, stocky and black with white patches, thirsts for seafaring adventure as he roams the docks of his harborside home, taking daytrips on fishing boats when the chance comes along.  Slim, gray Anton prefers listening to the sailors’ shanties at the town saloon, venturing to port only for the day’s catch.  But one day when Anton goes in search of fresh mackerel, he’s impressed as a ratter onto a ship bound for the high seas.

Knowing little of the wide-open ocean that lies beyond the harbor, Cecil boards another ship in hopes of finding Anton.  But what begins as a rescue mission turns into a pair of high-seas adventures, with thrills and danger bubbling under every wave.

Anton takes on a fierce rat, outwits hungry birds, and forges a forbidden friendship, while Cecil encounters dolphins and whales and finds himself in the middle of a pirate raid.  On an ocean as vast as the one Anton and Cecil have discovered, will they see home — or each other — ever again?

Young readers drawn to this tale by its charming cat brothers will cherish it for its colorful cast of characters, vivid imagery, lyrical storytelling, and rich historical detail.  Black-and-white line drawings illustrate each chapter.  (publisher’s summary)

The Show Must Go On (Three-Ring Rascals, Book 1) by Kate Klise, illustrated by M. Sarah Klise — from Algonquin Young Readers (Amazon/IndieBound)

**The Girl is too old for this one, so I gave it to Serena to share with Wiggles.**

When Sir Sidney, a kindly circus owner, becomes too tired to travel with his show, he places an ad in the newspaper:

HELP WANTED
Good person needed to manage circus.
Must love children, animals, popcorn, and travel.
Apply in person at Sir Sidney’s Circus.

Enter Barnabas Brambles: “I have a degree in lion taming from the University of Picadilly Circus.”

But does Leo the lion need taming?  Will Elsa the elephant still get her gourmet peanuts?  And what will Brambles say when he discovers Bert and Gert, the two mice who travel with the circus on popcorn cleanup patrol?

Brambles has big plans: More cities!  More shows!  No more free popcorn.  He’s made a big mess of Sir Sidney’s Circus, but Leo, Elsa, Bert, Gert, and the rest of the performers agree: The Show Must Go On!  (publisher’s summary)

Somebody Up There Hates You by Hollis Seamon — from Algonquin Young Readers (Amazon/IndieBound)

**This one isn’t my cup of tea, so I’m passing it on to my husband’s co-worker.**

Smart-mouthed and funny, sometimes raunchy, Richard Casey is in most ways a typical seventeen-year-old boy.  Except Richie has cancer, and he’s spending his final days in a hospice unit.  His mother, his doctors, and the hospice staff are determined to keep Richie alive as long as possible.  But in this place where people go to die, Richie has plans to make the most of the life he has left.  Then Sylvie, the sixteen-year-old girl across the hall, enters the picture with some remarkable plans of her own…

Hollis Seamon creates one of the most original voices to appear in young adult literature, narrating a story that is unflinching, graphic, heartbreaking, funny, and above all life-affirming in its depiction of what it really means to be a teenager dying of cancer.  Caring for her own young son, the author spent years visiting a children’s hospital, fascinated and touched by the young people she met there, who remained teenagers no matter how ill they were.  This is her first novel for young adults.  (publisher’s summary)

The Butternut Tree by Maureen Ann Richards Kostalnick — unsolicited from Meryl L. Moss Media Relations (Amazon/IndieBound)

**I’m passing this one on to my husband’s coworker as well.**

Can a single act of violence change the lives of an entire family for generations?  In 1928, Laura Dechant is brutally raped.  A rape that is covered on the front of newspapers but denied behind closed doors of the family home.  Laura was not considered to be a victim during those times, but instead “Tarnished.”  So begins a tale of love, denial and condemnation.

The Butternut Tree is both moving and intense, and author Maureen Ann Richards Kostalnick displays a gift for poetic story telling.  Maureen relates events of her childhood in Avon, Ohio, during the 1940s and 50s.  A beautifully written novel based on a true story of an unspeakable crime that is not easily forgotten, The Butternut Tree will capture readers and draw them into the life of which Kostalnick so eloquently writes.  (publisher’s summary)

What books did you add to your shelves recently?

Disclosure: I am an IndieBound affiliate and an Amazon associate.

© 2013 Anna Horner of Diary of an Eccentric. All Rights Reserved. Please do not reproduce or republish content without permission.

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Mailbox Monday — April 1

Welcome to Mailbox Monday, the weekly meme created by Marcia, formerly from The Printed Page, where book lovers share the titles they received for review, purchased, or otherwise obtained over the past week. Mailbox Monday currently is on tour, and this month’s host is MariReads.

Here’s what I received:

Falling for Mr. Darcy by KaraLynne Mackrory — contest win from Austenprose (Amazon/IndieBound)

When Mr. Darcy encounters Elizabeth Bennet injured after a fall, his concern for her welfare cracks the shell of his carefully guarded heart, and a charming man emerges.  Elizabeth sees an appealing side of him she never believed possible from the stoic, proud master of Pemberley.  They find the simple gentlemanly act of assisting her home will test both Mr. Darcy’s resolve to keep his heart safe and Elizabeth’s conviction that this is the last man on earth she might have ever been prevailed upon to marry.  Soon, falling for Mr. Darcy becomes a real possibility.  (publisher’s summary)

What books did you add to your shelves recently?

Disclosure: I am an IndieBound affiliate and an Amazon associate.

© 2013 Anna Horner of Diary of an Eccentric. All Rights Reserved. Please do not reproduce or republish content without permission.

Read Full Post »