Mailbox Monday…08.02.10
Mailbox Monday is where other bloggers write about the books they received the previous week. The Printed Page is the host of the Mailbox Monday meme. Visit her blog to see what books made it her way and get a chance to get one of her books once she's done reading it. You can also see who all is participating this week and read about all kinds of new books.
**It's been some time since I last posted (7/12 to be exact) so I thought I'd do a bit of catch up as well as share some of the books I've picked up from others or purchased myself. You'd think with all the books I receive for free I'd keep myself from buying more books (or so my husband would hope) but on occasion I just can't help myself! This list is lengthier than usual so this round there won't be summaries but I did include links for more book information.**
Chic-Lit
Holly Inbox: Scandal in the City by Holly Dunham
Home
Paula Deen's Savannah Style by Paula Deen (Upcoming tour this month)
Contemporary Fiction
The Book of Eli by Sam Moffie
Classic (Buy)
The Arabian Nights (Barnes & Nobles Collection; I just LOVE their collection of leather bound books! Beautiful artwork on each.)
SciFi/Fantasy/Paranormal (All Buys)
Guilty Pleasures by Laurell Hamilton (wanted to start the Anita Blake series)
Swallowing Darkness by Laurell Hamilton (re-read but I need my own to go with my Meredith Gentry series)
Divine Misdemeanors by Laurell Hamilton
Violin by Anne Rice (re-read but I had to get the hardback copy)
Historical Romance (Buy)
The Truth About Lord Stoneville by Sabrina Jeffries
Suspense (Buy)
Haunt Me Still by Jennifer Lee Carrell
And today I leave a special treat...the book trailer for Haunt Me Still by Jennifer Lee Carrell...
The Book of Unholy Mischief, Elle Newmark: Author Guest Post 7.27.09
Someplace to Go by Elle Newmark...The Book Faery says reading gives us someplace to go when we have to stay where we are, so check this out:
Venice. 1498. The Renaissance. Welcome to the kitchen of the doge’s palace.
In The Book of Unholy Mischief, a young man, actually a dirty little thief, is taken off the mean streets of Venice by the doge’s chef. The kid’s name is Luciano. Just Luciano. The chef gets Luciano scrubbed up and deloused and fed, and then makes him his apprentice. Why? Ah, that’s a long story— 367 pages worth.
It’s the time of the Inquisition. The church is all-powerful and very, very corrupt. The Venetian Council is just as bad, and the syphilitic doge has his own secret passageway to the dungeon. All these nasties are in an uproar over a mysterious book. No one knows where it is, or even exactly what it is, but they all want it.
Without telling you too much, I’ll just say the chef has got more cooking than stew. Actually, he’s stewing in his own juices, brewing up a storm, cooking his own goose. Ok, I’ll stop.
Meanwhile, testosterone-driven Luciano is mooning over a saucy little minx stuck in a convent. In those days, a girl without a father had three choices: marriage, the convent, or the street. Francesca took the veil but she probably would have done better on the street. Luciano is besotted, and she’s got him wrapped around her sacrilegious little finger.
The Book of Unholy Mischief will take you into their world and tell the rest of the story. If you just want a quick, virtual trip to Venice you can check out the video walking tour of Venice on my website www.ellenewmark.comor on Amazon.
See you in Venice, and buon appetito.
FROM THE BOOK FAERY REVIEWS...Thank you Elle for sharing your book today at The Book Faery Reviews. It's always a pleasure meeting new authors with exciting books that will keep you on your toes.
To read more about The Book of Unholy Mischief, visit Elle Nemark's website at http://www.ellenewmark.com. You can also check out her book club discussion guide at http://www.ellenewmark.com/discuss.php. Amazon's posted one of her video's about the book and her book style at http://www.amazon.com/gp/mpd/permalink/m3OBVUHGFJ9M6M.
The 19th Wife 6.16.09
Faith, I tell them, is a mystery, elusive to many, and never easy to explain.
Sweeping and lyrical, spellbinding and unforgettable, David Ebershoff’s The 19th Wife combines epic historical fiction with a modern murder mystery to create a brilliant novel of literary suspense.
It is 1875, and Ann Eliza Young has recently separated from her powerful husband, Brigham Young, prophet and leader of the Mormon Church. Expelled and an outcast, Ann Eliza embarks on a crusade to end polygamy in the United States. A rich account of a family’s polygamous history is revealed, including how a young woman became a plural wife.
Soon after Ann Eliza’s story begins, a second exquisite narrative unfolds–a tale of murder involving a polygamist family in present-day Utah. Jordan Scott, a young man who was thrown out of his fundamentalist sect years earlier, must reenter the world that cast him aside in order to discover the truth behind his father’s death.
And as Ann Eliza’s narrative intertwines with that of Jordan’s search, readers are pulled deeper into the mysteries of love and faith. - FROM THE AUTHOR SITE
FROM THE BOOK FAERY REVIEWS...David Eberschoff's manner of story telling alternating between a historical story and a murder mystery set in the present was a little hard for me to read smoothly in the beginning. One moment I was getting into the current story and then thrown into a different one. However, I have to say that once I got into the novel I was able to separate the two stories and found each interesting. The emotions he created in Anne and Jordan did captivate me and had me going through the feelings as I read. If you're looking for a different writing style in which more than one story is told, this may be the book for you to read.
DAVID WAS HERE AND I WAS NOT...Last Thursday David was in town at Quail Ridge Books for a reading and book signing. I was ready to go but of course at the last minute as we all know what ALWAYS sems to happens to moms, I had a child who decided they wanted to be sick at the last minute and of course as I'm about to walk out the door...GRRR Hopefully the next time he's in town I'll be able to see him.
NOW THE BOOK GIVEAWAY...The Book Faery Reviews is giving away ONE copy of The 19th Wife to one lucky commenter! All you have to do is leave a comment below. If you'd like more chances, tweet "RT @wifeandmomof3 The 19th Wife book giveaway at http://tbfreviews.net", blog about it, subscribe to The Book Faery Reviews either by e-mail or RSS reader. 
You can leave one comment with everything you did and I'll happily count each action. This book giveaway will run through Friday, June 19th.
Texas Dreams 1: Paper Roses…4.27.09
"Leaving the past behind in Philadelphia, mail-order bride Sarah Dobbs arrives in San Antonio ready to greet her groom - a man she has never met but whose letters, her paper roses, have won her heart from afar. But there is a problem - Austin Canfield is dead, and Sarah cannot go back East.
As Sarah tries to reconcile herself to a future that is drastically changed, Austin's brother Clay wants nothing more than to shake the Texas dust from his boots, but first he must find his brother's killer. And then there's Sarah.
Something is blooming out in the vast Texas landscape that neither Clay nor Sarah is ready to admit, and the promise of redemption blows like a gentle breeze through the prairie grasses." - from the book back
Visit the Amanda Calbot at her author site.
FROM THE BOOK FAERY REVIEWS...If you're looking for inspiration, love, a need to forgive, and/or a need to ask for forgiveness, this is a great book for you. Calbot will have you reminded that God has a purpose for everything no matter the situation and that with faith in him you'll make it through. "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." (Philippians 3:14) As I've said before, I believe books come across our paths at different times of our life to remind or soothe of something we are in need of. Reading this novel reminded me of that day 7 years ago when I gave my life to Christ. I was reminded of the wonderful and light feeling I had knowing that God loved me so much that He sent His son to die on the cross for my sins. Thank you Amanda, for the opportunity to read and review your novel AND for the reminder I so needed. I look forward to your next two books that will come out in the future to complete this trilogy.
Madapple
FROM THE AUTHOR'S WEBSITE...The secrets of the past meet the shocks of the present. Aslaug is an unusual young woman. Her mother has brought her up in near isolation, teaching her about plants and nature and language—but not about life. Especially not how she came to have her own life, and who her father might be. When Aslaug's mother dies unexpectedly, everything changes. For Aslaug is a suspect in her mother's death. And the more her story unravels, the more questions unfold. About the nature of Aslaug's birth. About what she should do next. About whether divine miracles have truly happened. And whether, when all other explanations are impossible, they might still happen this very day. Addictive, thought-provoking, and shocking, MADAPPLE is a page-turning exploration of human nature and divine intervention—and of the darkest corners of the human soul.
THE BOOK FAERY REVIEW...While I have to admit that it took me some time to get into the novel, I could not help but keep it open to continue reading once Aslaug goes out into a new world she's not accustomed to. Imagine being a foreigner in your own city. Imagine rarely venturing out to see what is beyond the home land or even having no interaction with those outside a mother-daughter relationship. Imagine for 15 years never remembering affection as we as mothers give our children today. Then imagine losing the only person you ever really knew with the blink of an eye and feeling more alone. Aslaug had such an intelligent mind and kind heart who just wanted to find her place in the world after losing her mother. She struggled to trust, love, and understand things from her mother's past and the things that were happening to her. She watched those that were supposed to be "right in the Lord's eye" fall apart and worship other things behind closed doors and struggle . Like her mother, at 15 she had to grow up over night in order to survive both within herself and within the outside world even against those who blamed, ridiculed, and lied about her. Great book that makes you look at yourself and your own beliefs. Makes you question your hipocracies as well as those around you. Even makes you wonder more about life's mysterious miracles.
Wives and Sisters
FROM THE AUTHOR'S WEBSITE..."When Allison Jenson was six, she and her best friend, Cindy, were playing in the woods near her home. One moment her friend was beside her; the next, she was gone. When no leads emerged, Cindy was given up for dead. Now, years later, still haunted by the disappearance of her childhood friend, Allison suffers a brutal attack that forces her to try to fill in the gaps of a patchwork memory. Even as a young adult she can get no answers from the Mormon community in which she lives. She is trapped in a world where she does not fit, surrounded by patriarchs who feed her half-truths in an attempt to placate her, and where daughters and wives are at the mercy of a man who tyrannizes and torments as the self-appointed messenger of God. Desperate to escape the closed world of the Mormon church and determined to bring her attacker to justice, Allison finds herself on a collision course with powerful community leaders as they cover up the tracks of a sexual predator. She must uncover the truth before they find her and keep her from piecing together the tragic past that has haunted her life.""Jennifer Apodaca, Author of The Samantha Shaw Mystery Series... Natalie R. Collins' Wives and Sisters is a journey through heartbreak, tragedy, and self-discovery with a courageous woman who dares to think for herself in a dogmatic society. This is a story for anyone who has ever questioned what they've been taught all their life; anyone who has ever doubted their self-worth, and everyone who loves to cheer on the underdog and watch them triumph in the end. You'll be glad you took this journey with her."
THE BOOK FAERY REVIEW...Well, this was DEFINITELY a book you can NOT judge by the cover!! I don't typically judge books by their covers but the back of this book didn't have a summary to give you an idea of what it was going to be about. So when I picked up the book, I honestly thought I'd be reading a story that took place during the medieval ages due to the castle on the front cover. Course I can't really remember any references to a castle so I'm not sure how they came up with the book cover. This book really puts you in the mind of the main female character Allison. You feel the pain she bears physically and mentally. At some points I just wanted to hold the little girl tight and protect her and hug the young woman to soothe her. Allison grows up in the Mormon church only to learn as she grows up that there are so many unknowns and nobody seems to know the whys therefore it doesn't seem right. She leaarns early on that women are discouraged to think and ask questions. She finally ventures out on her own and goes to college only to find herself in destruction mode. Drinking, sleeping around, just not caring...The night she is raped by a man wearing the disguise of the man who possibly raped and killed her childhood best friend, things change within her as she tries to find her rapist. In finding her rapist, she discovers who killed her friend and why her rapist raped her. Very good book once I got past the first couple chapters, very emotional, and definitely a book that will make you look further into your own religious beliefs.
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