Mailbox Monday

mailboxes on a New Zealand island

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

Happy Monday! As many of our regulars are digging out from snow, I thought you’d like to consider this tropical, New Zealand mailbox image that might be seen by our friends on the other side of the world.

Hope everyone had a good week. Tell us about your new books by adding your Mailbox Monday post to the linky below:

Be sure to stop back later this week for Books That Caught Our Eye.

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Books That Caught Our Eye

At Mailbox Monday we encourage participants to not only share the books they received, but to check out the books others have received.

Every Wednesday we will each share two books that caught our eye from that week’s Mailbox Monday.

We encourage you to share the books that caught your eye in the comments.

Serena

Some Books Aren’t for Reading by Howard Marc Chesley at Carol’s Notebook.

Martin Fourchette is on a mission to retrieve his priceless, first-edition copy of The Old Man and the Sea, inscribed on the flyleaf by Papa Hemingway himself. He unearthed it at the bottom of a bin of castoffs at a thrift store in Anaheim, and then Helmet-Head, Martin’s moped-driving book-scout competitor and nemesis, filched it. How, after an auspicious start at Hotchkiss and Yale, then a great job in advertising and a loving young family did Martin manage to lose it all and fall so far from grace? That is something that he can’t help but contemplate while crusading through the dark recesses of Los Angeles as he struggles to retrieve his treasured book from a dishevelled, moped-driving Moriarty.

“This sounds delightful…books and a mystery…I like the sound of that.”

Martha

Becoming Mrs. Lewis by Patti Callahan found at An Interior Journey (and Bookfan a couple of weeks ago).

In a most improbable friendship, she found love. In a world where women were silenced, she found her voice.

From New York Times bestselling author Patti Callahan comes an exquisite novel of Joy Davidman, the woman C. S. Lewis called “my whole world.” When poet and writer Joy Davidman began writing letters to C. S. Lewis—known as Jack—she was looking for spiritual answers, not love. Love, after all, wasn’t holding together her crumbling marriage. Everything about New Yorker Joy seemed ill-matched for an Oxford don and the beloved writer of Narnia, yet their minds bonded over their letters. Embarking on the adventure of her life, Joy traveled from America to England and back again, facing heartbreak and poverty, discovering friendship and faith, and against all odds, finding a love that even the threat of death couldn’t destroy.

In this masterful exploration of one of the greatest love stories of modern times, we meet a brilliant writer, a fiercely independent mother, and a passionate woman who changed the life of this respected author and inspired books that still enchant us and change us. Joy lived at a time when women weren’t meant to have a voice—and yet her love for Jack gave them both voices they didn’t know they had.

At once a fascinating historical novel and a glimpse into a writer’s life, Becoming Mrs. Lewis is above all a love story—a love of literature and ideas and a love between a husband and wife that, in the end, was not impossible at all.

“I think C. S. Lewis was a special author. This book about his wife caught my eye.”

——–

Heaven Enough (The Heaven Series Book 1) by Ken La Salle found at Herding Cats & Burning Soup.

On a beautiful, spring afternoon, a broken man stands at his wife’s funeral and hears the words, “Heaven Enough.” Thus begins a poem about longing, about wishing for something more. “What would it be like if I had heaven enough?” it reads.

Matt Murphy reads these words for the first time at his wife’s funeral. After a death shrouded with mystery, it is the first time he learns that she wrote poetry. He and Diva were married for nearly twenty years, yet he did not “know” her. A poet and lover of culinary delights, she is struck by a car and killed instantly—randomly—on the wrong side of town.

When her brother, the “monk,” appears for the funeral, Matt is set on an unprecedented course. The two find Diva’s computer filled with preparations to hike the Pacific Crest Trail. Over 2600 miles from Mexico to Canada…and she was leaving without her husband.

Matt takes it upon himself to hike the trail and sprinkle her ashes along the way. What happens in the first two hours is dumbfounding.

What happens next changes his life forever…

“I was drawn by this cover and then the blurb intrigued me.

What books caught your eyes this week?

Mailbox Monday

Red phone boxes in London with snow.

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

Happy Monday! Here we are beginning a new year! I hope that 2019 will be a Blessed year for everyone. I hope no one is dealing with icy mailboxes like this image as you collect your new books this week.

Hope everyone had a good week. Tell us about your new books by adding your Mailbox Monday post to the linky below:

Be sure to stop back later this week for Books That Caught Our Eye.

Books That Caught Our Eye

At Mailbox Monday we encourage participants to not only share the books they received, but to check out the books others have received.

Every Wednesday we will each share two books that caught our eye from that week’s Mailbox Monday.

We encourage you to share the books that caught your eye in the comments.

Serena

The Collected Stories by Grace Paley at Sam Still Reading.

Here are all Grace Paley’s classic stories in one volume. Paley’s quirky, boisterous characters and rich use of language won her readers’ hearts and secured her place as one of America’s most accomplished short-story writers. Her stories are united by her signature interweaving of personal and political truths, her extraordinary capacity for empathy and her pointed depiction of the small and large events that make up daily life.

Martha

In Dog We Trust by Beth Kendrick found at Book Dilettante.
From the author of Once Upon a Wine, a new novel set in the charming seashore town of Black Dog Bay, Delaware.

When everything has gone to the dogs . . .

When Jocelyn Hillier is named legal guardian for the late Mr. Allardyce’s pack of pedigreed Labrador retrievers, her world is flipped upside down. She’s spent her entire life toiling in the tourism industry in Black Dog Bay and never expected to be living the pampered life of a seasonal resident in an ocean side mansion, complete with a generous stipend. But her new role isn’t without its challenges: The dogs (although lovable) are more high-maintenance than any Hollywood diva, the man she wants to marry breaks her heart, and she’s confronted at every turn by her late benefactor’s estranged son, Liam, who thinks he’s entitled to the inheritance left to the dogs.

Jocelyn has worked too hard to back down without a fight, and she’s determined to keep her new fur family together. As she strives to uphold the “Best in Show” standards her pack requires, Jocelyn finds love, family, and forgiveness in the most unexpected places.

“Here I go again getting drawn in by the dogs.”

——–

Spiked: A Resort to Murder Mystery III by Avery Daniels found at An Imperfect Christian Mom.

Julienne needs only three things: successfully pull of a last minute wedding relocated to her resort, work out things with her stubborn ex- boyfriend, and solve the murder of a private investigator found with her business card on his dead body. The wedding she can handle, but it comes with a flirtatious brother of the bride who manages to give Mason the idea she has moved on, and the dead PI was playing with fire before he was poisoned leaving a myriad of suspects. Two suspects are part of a scandal waiting to explode and nobody wants to be in the middle of the fallout.

Can Julienne wade through the various suspects while coordinating the wedding and dealing with a handsome amorous guest before her rival on the local paper exposes her connection and thus damages the resort’s reputation? Will she and Mason find their way to each other?

“This cover is eye catching and drew me into the mystery.”

Leslie

The Missing Years by Lexie Elliott at Silver’s Reviews.

Ailsa Calder has inherited half of a house. The other half belongs to a man who disappeared without a trace twenty-seven years ago–her father.

Leaving London behind to settle the inheritance from her mother’s estate, Ailsa returns to her childhood home, nestled amongst the craggy peaks of the Scottish Highlands, joined by the half-sister who’s almost a stranger to her.

Ailsa can’t escape the claustrophobic feeling that the house itself is watching her– as if her past hungers to consume her. She also can’t ignore how the neighborhood animals refuse to set one foot within the gates of the garden.

When the first nighttime intruder shows up, Ailsa fears that the manor’s careless rugged beauty could cost her everything.

What books caught your eyes this week?

Books That Caught Our Eye

At Mailbox Monday we encourage participants to not only share the books they received, but to check out the books others have received.

Every week we will each share two books that caught our eye from that week’s Mailbox Monday.

We encourage you to share the books that caught your eye in the comments.

SERENA:

Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichi at The Infinite Curio.

Ifemelu and Obinze are young and in love when they depart military-ruled Nigeria for the West. Beautiful, self-assured Ifemelu heads for America, where despite her academic success, she is forced to grapple with what it means to be black for the first time. Quiet, thoughtful Obinze had hoped to join her, but with post-9/11 America closed to him, he instead plunges into a dangerous, undocumented life in London. Fifteen years later, they reunite in a newly democratic Nigeria, and reignite their passion—for each other and for their homeland.

“I’ve read the essay about feminism adapted from her TedTalk and found it thought-provoking. I haven’t read any of her fiction as yet, and this sounds like something that would keep my interest and offer a lot to think about.”

———–

The Girl with All the Gifts by M.R. Carey at Reviews by Martha’s Bookshelf.

Melanie is a very special girl. Dr Caldwell calls her “our little genius”.

Every morning, Melanie waits in her cell to be collected for class. When they come for her, Sergeant keeps his gun pointing at her while two of his people strap her into the wheelchair. She thinks they don’t like her. She jokes that she won’t bite, but they don’t laugh.

Melanie loves school. She loves learning about spelling and sums and the world outside the classroom and the children’s cells. She tells her favorite teacher all the things she’ll do when she grows up. Melanie doesn’t know why this makes Miss Justineau look sad.

“I’ve heard good things about this book.”

MARTHA:

Sleepover at the Museum by Karen LeFrak found at Savvy Verse & Wit.

Imagine spending your birthday at the museum! Join Mason and his friends on their scavenger hunt through all the exhibits that make any natural history museum so special. The perfect birthday gift for museum lovers and adventure-seekers alike!
Mason couldn’t wait to celebrate his birthday with a sleepover at the museum of natural history–his favorite place to visit.
Armed with headlamps for the dark hallways, a map, and a list of clues, Mason and his two best friends take off on a scavenger hunt through each hall of the museum. But they aren’t just trying to solve the clues. They’re scouting for the best place to spend the night.
Sleeping next to a T. rex in the Hall of Dinosaurs felt too scary. And sleeping with the monarch butterflies would probably tickle. This decision isn’t as easy as Mason thought it would be….
Wherever they end up, the museum at night is the best place for a birthday adventure!

“I love museums and this looks so fun!

———–

Dry by Neal Shusterman, Jarrod Shusterman found at The Infinite Curio.

The drought—or the Tap-Out, as everyone calls it—has been going on for a while now. Everyone’s lives have become an endless list of don’ts: don’t water the lawn, don’t fill up your pool, don’t take long showers.

Until the taps run dry.

Suddenly, Alyssa’s quiet suburban street spirals into a warzone of desperation; neighbours and families turned against each other on the hunt for water. And when her parents don’t return and her life—and the life of her brother—is threatened, Alyssa has to make impossible choices if she’s going to survive.

“This is the sort of possible natural sci fi that catches my eye.”

LESLIE:

My Lovely Wife by Samantha Downing at Lori’s Reading Corner.

Dexter meets Mr. and Mrs. Smith in this wildly compulsive debut thriller about a couple whose fifteen-year marriage has finally gotten too interesting…

Our love story is simple. I met a gorgeous woman. We fell in love. We had kids. We moved to the suburbs. We told each other our biggest dreams, and our darkest secrets. And then we got bored.

We look like a normal couple. We’re your neighbors, the parents of your kid’s friend, the acquaintances you keep meaning to get dinner with.

We all have our secrets to keeping a marriage alive.

Ours just happens to be getting away with murder.

“That cover caught my eye. And the story sounds good too!”

Books That Caught Our Eye

At Mailbox Monday we encourage participants to not only share the books they received, but to check out the books others have received.

Every Wednesday we will each share two books that caught our eye from that week’s Mailbox Monday.

We encourage you to share the books that caught your eye in the comments.

Serena

Animal Zombies! by Chana Stiefel at BermudaOnion’s Weblog.

Description
Zombie alert! Meet the real-life monsters of the animal kingdom and explore the gory, gross, and creepy behaviors these creatures have honed in order to survive.

Do monsters really exist? Find out for yourself in this fun-filled book, featuring some real-life wonders of nature: zombifying parasites, bloodsucking vampires, aliens, sea beasts, ghosts, and more. Discover more than 50 creatures with unusual talents, find out what makes each animal tick, and whether they are truly “monsters” after all. Features include eye-popping photography, spine-tingling scientific info, the most up-to-date research, and fun facts for extra knowledge. You’ll also meet the “Mad Scientist” experts who study these creatures, explore the creepy origins of their mythical counterparts, and learn how these spooky adaptations help them survive.

——–

The Last Year of the War by Susan Meissner at Silver’s Reviews.

Elise Sontag is a typical Iowa fourteen-year-old in 1943–aware of the war but distanced from its reach. Then her father, a legal U.S. resident for nearly two decades, is suddenly arrested on suspicion of being a Nazi sympathizer. The family is sent to an internment camp in Texas, where, behind the armed guards and barbed wire, Elise feels stripped of everything beloved and familiar, including her own identity.

The only thing that makes the camp bearable is meeting fellow internee Mariko Inoue, a Japanese-American teen from Los Angeles, whose friendship empowers Elise to believe the life she knew before the war will again be hers. Together in the desert wilderness, Elise and Mariko hold tight the dream of being young American women with a future beyond the fences.

But when the Sontag family is exchanged for American prisoners behind enemy lines in Germany, Elise will face head-on the person the war desires to make of her. In that devastating crucible she must discover if she has the will to rise above prejudice and hatred and re-claim her own destiny, or disappear into the image others have cast upon her.

The Last Year of the War tells a little-known story of World War II with great resonance for our own times and challenges the very notion of who we are when who we’ve always been is called into question.

Martha

A Brilliant Death by Robin Yocum found at Carol’s Notebook.

Amanda Baron died in a boating accident on the Ohio River in 1953. Or, did she? While it was generally accepted that she had died when a coal barge rammed the pleasure boat she was sharing with her lover, her body was never found. Travis Baron was an infant when his mother disappeared. After the accident and the subsequent publicity, Travis s father scoured the house of all evidence that Amanda Baron had ever lived, and her name was never to be uttered around him. Now in high school, Travis yearns to know more about his mother. With the help of his best friend, Mitch Malone, Travis begins a search for the truth about the mother he never knew. The two boys find an unlikely ally: an alcoholic former detective who served time for falsifying evidence. Although his reputation is in tatters, the information the detective provides about the death of Amanda Baron is indisputable and dangerous. Nearly two decades after her death, Travis and Mitch piece together a puzzle lost to the dark waters of the Ohio River. They know how Amanda Baron died, and why. Now what do they do with the information?

“This has a nice cover and and interesting storyline.”

——–

Godwink Christmas Stories: Discover the Most Wondrous Gifts of the Season

by Squire Rushnell, Louise DuArt found at Silver Reviews

New York Times bestselling author SQuire Rushnell and his wife Louise DuArt share 25 brand-new and 15 classic true-life stories of extraordinary “Godwinks” at Christmastime, proving that little coincidences aren’t coincidences and that God is always thinking of us.

Think back to when you were a kid and someone you loved gave you a little wink across the dining room table, like Mom or Dad or Grandma. You didn’t say, “What do you mean by that?” You knew. It meant: “Hey kid, I’m thinking about you right now.” That’s what a Godwink is: a message of reassurance from above, directly to you, out of seven billion people on the planet, saying “Hey kid…I’m thinking of you! Keep the faith! You’re never alone.”

Some people call them coincidences. They could look like an answered prayer, a reunion with a loved one, a miraculous provision, or an unexpected blessing. But no matter what, Godwinks let us know God is thinking about us, that He loves us, and that He’s looking out for us.

Now, just in time for the holiday season, comes Godwinks Christmas Stories, a collection of stories centered around Christmas that demonstrate how these little coincidences aren’t coincidences after all. These true stories will uplift and encourage you—and remind you that there is still goodness, hope, and faith all around us.

“This quickly caught my eye. Looks like a nice Christmas book.”

Mailbox Monday

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

I hope everyone had a good week. We are buttoning up for a storm this week.

Tell us about your new books
by adding your Mailbox Monday post to the linky below:

Be sure to stop back later this week for Books That Caught Our Eye.