Mailbox Monday…04.25.11

Mailbox Monday is where other bloggers write about the books they received the previous week. The Mailbox Monday is now going on a blog tour with the host for the month of April being Passages to the Past. Visit her blog to see what books made it her way and check out the others who are participating like me in the Monday Mailbox Meme.

Homefires by Emily Sue Harvey – Emily Sue Harvey’s first novel, Song of Renewal, was praised by New York Times bestselling author Jill Marie Landis as “an uplifting, heartwarming story,” by bestselling author Kay Allenbaugh as a work that will “linger in the memory long after readers put it aside,” and by Coffee Time Romance as “a must-read book for anyone doing a little soul searching.” New York Times bestselling author Steve Berry said, “It captures your attention, and whets your appetite for more,” while Peeking between the Pages called it “quite simply a beautiful book.”

Her second novel, Homefires is set in the Deep South’s Bible-belt on the eve of unprecedented moral changes. It is the story of Janeece and Kirk Crenshaw, a couple married just after their high school graduation who set out to make a life for themselves. It is a life marked by surprises, none more dramatic than when Kirk receives his “high-calling” and becomes a pastor. It is a life marked by tragedy, the most heart-rending of which is the death of one of their children. And it is a life marked by challenges: to their church, to their community, and most decidedly to their marriage. And as the fullness of time makes its impact on their union, Kirk and Janeece must face the question of whether they have gone as far as they can together.

Filled with the rich emotions and evocative characters that readers have come to expect from Emily Sue Harvey, and reminiscent of the work of Jan Karon and Anne Rivers Siddons Homefires is a poignant and compelling novel that will steal readers’ hearts.

The Medium Next Door by Maureen Hancock - At just five years old, Maureen Hancock discovered her ability to communicate with the dead. Descended from a long line of legendary Irish mystics, she was no stranger to the spiritual realm, but for fear of being misunderstood by her friends and family she kept the otherworldly messages to herself, eventually suppressing them completely.

Maureen wouldn’t hear the spirits again until she was in a near-fatal car crash. Soon after, she had hundreds of voices in her head, many of which helped her crack cases and expose fraud in her role as a litigation paralegal at a large Boston law firm. Then, when tragedy struck on 9/11, Maureen was bombarded with messages from the spirit world. As each one made contact with her, she finally came to terms with her calling: to communicate with the deceased, assist the dying, search for missing children, and teach the living about life after death, all the while raising her children in her suburban home.

Maureen Hancock is literally is the Medium Next Door, and in this book and through her stories of her encounters with the otherworld as well as guided exercises at the conclusion of each chapter, she offers the same comfort and wisdom she shares in her healing encounters and lectures about what is out there waiting for all who are open to its mysteries. . . .



Fifo “50 States” by Hayley Rose – Fifo’s been bitten by the travel bug! Digging up diamonds in Arkansas, looking for fossils in Kansas, enjoying a delicious bowl of gumbo in Louisiana, and even seeing a Broadway show in New York. America is an exiting place! In Fifo s second book, told in rhyme, Fifo dreams about visiting all 50 states. A colorful reference-like book, Fifo discovers the wonders each state has to offer. He learns along the way each state’s capital, shape, flag, motto, and much, much more. The possibilities are endless! So, come along with Fifo and you ll soon discover the beauty of America one state to another.

Read the review on my children’s book blog over at BookSnatchers HERE.

Anthropology of an American Girl: A Novel by Hilary Thayer Hamann – This ambitious work explores the sexual and intellectual awakening of a young American woman struggling to remain true to herelf as she encounters love, passion, and death amid the challenges and heartbreaks of growing up. Newly edited and revised, Hilary Thayer Hamann’s Anthropology of an American Girl is an extraordinary piece of writing, original in its vision and thrilling in its execution.

Self-published in 2003, the book touched a nerve among readers, who identified with the sexual and intellectual awakening of its heroine, a young woman on the brink of adulthood. A moving depiction of the transformative power of first love, Hamann’s first novel follows Eveline Auerbach from her high school years in East Hampton, New York, in the 1970s through her early adulthood in the moneyed, high-pressured Manhattan of the 1980s.

Centering on Evie’s fragile relationship with her family and her thwarted love affair with Harrison Rourke, a professional boxer, the novel is both a love story and an exploration of the difficulty of finding one’s place in the world. As Evie surrenders to the dazzling emotional highs of love and the crippling loneliness of heartbreak, she strives to reconcile her identity with the constraints that all relationships—whether those familial or romantic, uplifting to the spirit or quietly detrimental—inherently place on us. Though she stumbles and strains against social conventions, Evie remains a strong yet sensitive observer of the world around her, often finding beauty and meaning in unexpected places.