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 January being  at At Home With Books. Visit the blog to see what books made it’s way and check out the others who are participating like me in the Monday Mailbox Meme.

Below are some books old and new I either received in the mail or found during the week in various spots.

Cloudburst by V.C. Andrews (Fiction) - OUT OF A CLEAR BLUE SKY . . .Since being taken in by wealthy Mrs. Jordan March and living in her exquisite home like a daughter, Sasha Porter’s traumatic past—destitute on the streets, and the shattering accident that killed her mother—seems like a fading nightmare. Beautiful and sophisticated, as bold and daring as her “sister,” Kiera March, Sasha still keeps her mother’s wise words close to her heart: never fully trust anyone. Inside her privileged new world, it’s advice that will prove more precious than gold.. . .

CAN ANYTHING STOP THE DOWNPOUR?Against the wishes of Jordan’s husband, Donald, Sasha attracts the attention of Duane Banks, a shy, handsome athlete, and maneuvers her way into his heart. But Duane’s hidden torment soon explodes in a horrific tragedy that pulls Sasha into a flood of guilt and despair. And when someone she thought she could trust targets her vulnerability, Sasha recalls her mother’s warnings—and a violent storm of dark deceptions and shocking family secrets is unleashed. Will she sink or swim?

A Celebration of Love for Couples: Everything Romance by Todd Hafer (Relationships / Love & Marriage / Non-Fiction) - Romance is always in season when you’re in love.

Ready to create romantic memories? If you’re looking for new and unique ways to celebrate love, captivate the heart of your true love, or simply enjoy each other’s company, Everything Romanceoffers all of this and much more.

Inside you’ll find…

Ways to engage your loved one with conversation starters for couples; Fun and creative date and gift ideas for any budget; Heartwarming love stories and poems; Love busters and love boosters to add fun, zing, and zest; Trivia about the history of love and romance; Recipes to fan the heartflames.

Why wait for a special occasion to share the joy of being in love? Opening Everything Romance is like opening a door to romantic adventure—any day, any time!

Any moment is the perfect time for you as a couple to celebrate the beauty and wonder of love, especially when you’re equipped with a treasure trove of creative ways to do so. With a rich array of romantic gems, Everything Romance abounds with all you need to show your adoration, revel in your relationship, and create a legacy of romance to last a lifetime.

Lighting the Way: Nine Women Who Changed Modern America by Karenna Gore Schiff (Biography / Non-Fiction) - In this highly readable, illuminating narrative that spans the twentieth century, Karenna Gore Schiff tells the remarkable stories of nine influential women who each in her own way tackled inequity and advocated a change. These women recognized our country wasn’t living up to its promise and fought to alter it.

The women she’s selected are as varied as they are inspirational. Ida B. wells-Barnett, who was born a slave and fought against lynching; Mother Jones, an Irish immigrant who organized coal miners and campaigned against child labor; Alice Hamilton, who pushed for regulation of industrial toxins; Frances Perkins, who established our social secruity program; Virginia Durr, a high society Southern belle who fought the poll tax and segregation; Septima Clark, who helped to register black voters; Dolores Huerta, who organized farm workers; Dr. Helen Rodriguez-Trias, an activist for reproductive rights; and Gretchen Buchenholz, currently one of the nation’s leading child advocates.

Finding serenity every day…in the everyday things we do.

It can be a challenge to reach a calm and relaxed mindset, especially in our modern world. But in Shortcuts to Inner Peace, Ashley Davis Bush helps readers learn how to hit the pause button amidst the chaos with a spirit of mindfulness-linking fast, easy, and restorative respites to ordinary everyday activities.

Once people begin to integrate these shortcuts into their daily lives, they begin to happen automatically. And when that happens, inner peace will no longer be a brief state of mind, but a way of life.

Calm the body…quiet the mind…open the heart…awaken the spirit…

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Berkley Trade; 1 edition (November 1, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425243249
• ISBN-13: 978-0425243244

BUY THE BOOK… Amazon | Barnes & Noble

ABOUT THE AUTHOR…Ashley Davis Bush is a licensed psychotherapist and grief counselor in private practice. She lives in New Hampshire.

FROM THE BOOK FAERY REVIEWS…Shortcuts to Inner Peace is a book filled of easy yet highly effective techniques to use in your daily life to help you gain more peace of mind. Chapters are broken out into shortcuts that you can “weave through your day”, help with relationships, for your mind, calm your body, quiet your mind, open your heart, and connect with your spirit so you can be reach a much deeper peace. I recommend this book to any looking for ways to better fulfill their lives with peace. I personally found it beneficial in many areas in my life and will continue to use some of the techniques I learned from the author.

I received a copy of the book for an honest review. No monies were given as compensation.

However, this also demonstrates the need for blended families and their contribution to our society as we try to rekindle the flame of family. Blended families are  the new family solution of America’s growing demographic dismantling of the nuclear family today. 

It is imperative that society promote and respect blended families for what they aspire humanity to reach for with the best of what family is all about.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR…Dr. Bell is married and has one daughter and a step son and has experienced the subject of the baby daddy syndrome and the drama that can be experienced from relationships that include a blended family structure. Dr. Bell has chosen to write about some of the challenges from a man’s perspective involved in a blended family where the man does not have any children and the woman has a child from a previous relationship. You can visit his website at www.drjohnbell.com.

EVERY UNWED MOTHER’S NIGHTMARE COMES TO LIFE IN THE PAGES OF INVASION OF THE BABY DADDY, a compelling and moving debut novel that echoes the emotional and cerebral frustrations of unwed mothers throughout the ages. Its unforgettable characters and authentic story line are interwoven with current and real facts about the volume of unwed mothers in our society today. In the story, Dr. Sands believes he has found his perfect mate only to discover that she is pregnant from a previous relationship. Not fully aware of the ramifications of this colossal news, Dr. Sands and Rachel date via long distance during her pregnancy and ultimately decide to get married. In order to make a life together, Rachel must move to Tennessee to start a new life with her husband. But the Baby Daddy has other plans for them. Determined to make this marriage work, Dr. Sands goes to extraordinary lengths to try and negotiate with the Baby Daddy. Brimming with honesty from the author s own experiences, Invasion of the Baby Daddy comes alive with unique freshness, candor and rich detail. – AMAZON.COM

• Use love and power to escape feelings of shame, defeat, and depression.
• Dissolve relationship hostility.
• Work not only with the conscious mind but with the deep unconscious, where most undervaluing happens.
• Quiet the inner voice that prevents you from being your best self at home and at work.

What the Eldredge bestsellers WILD AT HEART did for men, and CAPTIVATING did for women, LOVE & WAR will do for married couples everywhere. John and Stasi Eldredge have contributed the quintessential works on Christian spirituality through the experience of men and the experience of women and now they turn their focus to the incredible dynamic between those two forces.

With refreshing openness that will grab readers from the first page, the Eldredges candidly discuss their own marriage and the insights they’ve gained from the challenges they faced. Each talks independently to the reader about what they’ve learned, giving their guidance personal immediacy and a balance between the male and female perspectives that has been absent from all previous books on this topic.   They begin LOVE & WAR with an obvious but necessary acknowledgment:  Marriage is fabulously hard.  They advise that the sooner we get the shame and confusion off our backs, the sooner we’ll find our way through.

LOVE & WAR shows couples how to fight for their love and happiness, calling men and women to step into the great adventure God has waiting for them together. Walking alongside John and Stasi Eldredge, every couple can discover how their individual journeys are growing into a story of meaning much greater than anything they could do or be on their own.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS…JOHN ELDREDGE is the founder and director of Ransomed Heart Ministries in Colorado Springs, Colorado, a fellowship devoted to helping people discover the heart of God. John is the author of numerous books, including Epic, Waking the Dead, Wild at Heart, and Desire, and coauthor of Captivating and The Sacred Romance.

STASI ELDREDGE, who is passionate about mentoring women in finding their true identity as the beloved of Christ, has been leading women’s Bible studies for years. With a bachelor of arts degree in sociology and formerly on staff with Youth for Christ, Stasi now leads the women’s ministry of Ransomed Heart. She has been married to John for nineteen years and together, they have three sons.

FROM THE BOOK FAERY REVIEWS…Whether you are a Christian or not, this is still a great marital resource to bring more insight, understanding, and ways to help bridge any gap. Of course with all relationship resources, it’s always good to look through it together. I definitely give it 4 stars for a resource to stay on the shelves in case I need occasional reminders at later dates.

My own personal reminder…a reminder of how important and how good it feels to share with our significant others.

We share in the adventure when we share in the cost and the triumph of each other’s lives: “How did it go at work today?” “Have you made that difficult call to your mother?” “Tell me about your trip.”

Remember that last scene in the movie Jerry Maguire, the “you had me at hello” scene? He comes back to his estranged wife to tell her, “On what was supposed to be the happiest night of my business life, it wasn’t complete, wasn’t nearly close to being in the same vicinity as complete, because I couldn’t share it with you.” Everything is better when it is shared. Caring about the lives we are each living is a way to share in the adventure. Caring enough to actually pray for one another really helps us fell like we are in this together.

Finding true love is possible in just 90 days. Renowned clinical psychologist, Dr. Diana Kirschner, uses the latest research, clinical and personal experience to show you how. Dr. Diana knows the questions single women everywhere face: “Why am I attracted to the wrong kind of guys?” “Why is he just not that into me?” “Why can’t I seem to find the One?” She also knows the unconscious mistakes that women make over and over again in love-regardless of age, work success, or the type of men they are dating.

Over the years Dr. Diana has received countless inquiries from single women about writing a how-to guide on her work. Love in 90 Days: The Essential Guide to Finding Your Own True Love is that book.

Love in 90 Days is fun, savvy and based on the latest research on singles, online dating and healthy relationships. Loaded with step-by-step instructions, checklists, and weekly homework assignments, this revolutionary love book is also an intensely personal journey for each reader. Love in 90 Days guides you along your own path towards self discovery with proven and effective dating advice and tough love. Dr. Diana dispels common misconceptions about love relationships and dating, and share personal stories from women who have successfully completed the Love in 90 Days Program. There’s also a chapter devoted to the special issues faced by African-American women, single mothers, and women forty-five and older.

Website – Blog – Amazon.com – Barnes & Nobles

FROM THE BOOK FAERY REVIEWS…Thanks to Hatchette Books for sponsoring this book giveaway. FIVE lucky commenters will be randomly selected and notified via e-mail. The winner will have 48 hours to reply back with their mailing address (US/Canada ONLY, NO PO Boxes) or it goes to the next person.

Main Entry (REQUIRED): Leave a comment below AND become one of The Book Faery Review subscribers (E-mail OR RSS feed).

• 1 Extra Entry – Subscribe to my RSS feed
• 1 Extra Entry – Subscribe by email
• 1 Extra Entry – Follow me on Twitter
• 1 Extra Entry – Tweet this giveaway and be sure to add in @farrah1230 #tbfr
  

The good news is that Football is for Lovers makes the basics so . . . well, so basic that learning the game is easy as eating an ice cream cone. And just as much fun.

With anecdotes, illustrations, and a lot of laughs, Football is for Lovers not only makes it easy to understand the game, but also shows you how to put an end to the TV clicker wars, improve your relationship, and spice up your love life.

It just takes looking at the game of football a little bit differently.

Then again, since Football is for Lovers contains references to football great Jerry Rice in a pink tutu, images of paintings by French artist Jean Dubuffet, an alert about the dangers of speaking Northeastern Mandarin, an explanation of the value of M & M’s in a relationship, and a Burma Shave sign, to say it looks at football “a little bit differently” may be something of an understatement.

But if your football-obsessed partner has been making you a ‘football widow’ from August NFL pre-season through the February Super-Bowl, thus convincing you that you hate football, this little book may be just the ‘different look’ you need to discover that, after all, Football really is for Lovers!

AUTHOR GUEST POST…Feeling like an outsider in your own home? As your dearly beloved leans yearningly toward the TV, hypnotized by the action, hanging on the football commentator’s every word, nodding his head in mute communion with phrases like ‘intentional grounding’ and ‘shotgun,’ do you find your eyes glazing over?

It’s hard enough to follow the chaos.  If they just spoke English, it would help.

But don’t roll your eyes and leave the room. Again.  Hey, you live here, too. And if this stuff sounds more like gibberish than jargon – YOU’RE RIGHT!!!

Moreover, you’re in excellent company.

The first definition of ‘jargon’ in Webster’s New Universal Unabridged Dictionary is “confused, unintelligible talk or language; gabble; gibberish.”

Oh, he acknowledges, way down in his fourth definition, that jargon is also “the specialized vocabulary and idioms of those in the same work, way of life, etc.”

The point is, jargon can be used to include (when it’s used in Webster’s fourth sense) or to exclude when it’s used in his first.

Now, we’re not accusing your dearly beloved of deliberately using jargon in the exclusionary sense. Although . . . well, let’s just say that for those who like the feeling of knowing more than other people, jargon can definitely be a big help.

But it’s also true that when you come in late and miss the information before it gets coded into jargon shorthand, you’re naturally at a disadvantage.

So if you didn’t learn the game at your mother’s knee, jargon is gibberish. And not only to the brilliant Mr. Webster.  Obviously, then, it’s nothing you need to apologize for.

But. Is it nevertheless something you need to know if you want to share The Football Experience with your beloved?

Actually, no.

Look, you might become curious about some terms as you get familiar with football-watching. At that point, it’s the responsibility of the jargon-savvy mate to clarify things for the jargon-disadvantaged half of the duo.

Good relationships work that way.

But without knowing anything more than the name of the game – maybe not even that, except it helps you find it in the TV Guide – you really can understand what’s going on.

Football is, after all, color-coded. Opponents wear different color uniforms, so pretty much all you have to do is watch the ebb and flow of opposing colors. The score is writ large on the TV screen, and if you pay even a modicum of attention, you’ll see the points at which the score changes, and in whose favor.

Personally, we think a lot of this ‘I can’t understand football’ is less about jargon and perceived chaos than about that old ‘he loves football more than he does me’ thing.

So stop rolling your eyes, sit down next to him in front of the TV and watch the colors go cavorting by. Before you know it, you’ll automatically begin to relate the jargon to the action it matches on the field. It’s sort of like that old Berlitz technique where you go to a foreign country and just sort of absorb the language.

And while you’re waiting for the jargon to become your native tongue, enjoy the scenery. And the company.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR…Bob Brooker and Kaye O’Dougherty have been adventuring together for a lot of years now. They first met at a recording studio on 42nd Street. Yes, that 42nd Street. They recorded a commercial for E.J. Korvette’s, who went out of business soon thereafter.

Bob is an old saloon singer who, as Bobby Brookes, recorded for Victor and Capital back in the day. Kaye has trouble carrying a tune in a bucket. Nevertheless, over the years, as Brooker and O’Dougherty, the two have collaborated on a variety of theater projects, performing, writing, directing, managing, and producing. In keeping with the changing times, they have even created a cyber alter-ego named eBobb.

Recently, Bob and Kaye both took long-overdue turns at being rather mature college kids. Kaye now holds a Bachelors Degree in the Humanities from St. Peter’s College in Englewood Cliffs, NJ. Bob was graduated magna cum laude from Montclair State University with a BA in Theater, and is a member of Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society.

You can visit their website by going to FootballforLovers.com or their blog by clicking here.