MAILBOX MONDAY! APRIL 23RD

Hello all!

I haven't done a MM in a very VERY long time.  I actually DID receive an exciting ARC in the mail today!  I got the newest Hilary Mantel book that will be released in May!!!  "Bring Up the Bodies" is the sequel to Wolf Hall and is all very Ann Boleyn.  HUGE THANK YOU to Christine over at Henry Holt and Company!



I also bought a couple of books on my Kindle.  After seeing Titanic in the theatre two weeks in a row, and with all of the info on it recently, I have become fairly obsessed and bought the 1955 classic A Night To Remember by Walter Lord, and Life Boat No. 8 by Elizabeth Kaye ( for 1.99!) today.

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MAILBOX MONDAY - AUGUST 22

Mailbox Monday is a weekly bookish meme created by Marcia over at The Printed Page, each month it is hosted by a different fabulous book blogger, and this month it is the fabulous: Life in the Thumb.

As it happens I actually DID recieve not one but two sets of the same identical books from the amazing Simon and Schuster Canada, sooooooo... me thinks I will be having a YA GIVEAWAY!!!  I also have a few YA ARCs I'm going to throw in as well, so all in all it will probably be around 6 books?  I'll let you know in a couple of days!

But ANYway, the ones I got today are pretty cool, one in particular I am pretty darn excited about as I LOVED the first two books in the trilogy.  Okay, well, the first one Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld I L-O-V-E-D, like crazy love.  You can read all of my raving here.  The second one Behemoth I liked, but was not ga-ga over.  So, I am hoping that with the 3rd in the offing we will have come full circle.  This beauty is called GOLIATH:

 And I did not get one but TWO of them!  So that will go in the giveaway.  It comes out September 20, 2011.

The cover is awesome, and actually I just love the depiction of Deryn and Alek.  Oh how I love these two!  And my heart is all a flutter if they will finally, you know, get together.  Leviathan was the very first Steampunk book I had ever read and I immediately fell in total love and utter lust with the genre.  LOVE IT.  It is like Victorian age meets a future robot world... sort of.  You can read more about Goliath on Scott Westerfeld's blog here. 

The second book (and yes I did get ANOTHER COPY of this one as well which I am going to add to the giveaway) I have actually never heard of before.  It is the 3rd in the MONSTRUMOLOGIST series, so I am not too sure if I can read it as a stand-alone or not.  BUT, it does sound pretty cool.  I mean, seriously, who doesn't like a totally made-up cool word like MONSTRUMOLOGIST??!! 

It is released on September 13, 2011.

Here is the blurb from Amazon:

When Dr. Warthrop goes hunting the "Holy Grail of Monstrumology" with his eager new assistant, Arkwright, he leaves Will Henry in New York. Finally, Will can enjoy something that always seemed out of reach: a normal life with a real family. But part of Will can't let go of Dr. Warthrop, and when Arkwright returns claiming that the doctor is dead, Will is devastated--and not convinced.



Determined to discover the truth, Will travels to London, knowing that if he succeeds, he will be plunging into depths of horror worse than anything he has experienced so far. His journey will take him to Socotra, the Isle of Blood, where human beings are used to make nests and blood rains from the sky--and will put Will Henry's loyalty to the ultimate test.

Now, on my own purchasey front, I have down loaded the kindle sample for this one, which so far I am LOVING beyond words:

Harry a History by Melissa Anelli

Now, I actually heard about this book from Twitter, of all places.  Being an avid Facebook user I have been "on Twitter" for a couple of years but only in the last few days seem to be getting the hang of it.  And lately I have been finding little gems like this!  Now, the author is none other than the web mistress for The Leaky Cauldren, which just happens to be one of the largest Harry Potter fan sites out there, the other one being Mugglenet... both totally awesome.  And this book, so far, is just EXACTLY what someone LIKE ME who is in total mourning and feel completely lost after the last movie released, and similarily a few years back when the last book came out.  I'm telling you... LOST PEOPLE!!!  It is jam packed with the insider scoop on the phenomenon, and just the kind of thing a geek like me would love, but here's the only weird thing about it.... the Kindle version (which usually for new releases are about HALF the price of the hard cover book) is actually six dollars MORE than the physical book.

W...T.....F????!!!! 

But, being the geek that I am, and since my 11 year old daughter is equally if not more of an HP geek than I am (but I'm a close second, and I'm OLD and have like, you know, responsibilities and can't spend all of my entire day and night everything Potter... although I try.) I may just buy the Kindle AND the hard copy. 

But don't tell my husband.

Have an awesome-sauce day. 

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MAILBOX MONDAY -- JULY 25

Mailbox Monday is a weekly bookish meme that was created by Marcia over at The Printed page, this month it is being hosted by Gwendolyn over at A Sea of Books!

Since I haven't done a MM in awhile, I have quite a few books to report!  Most are on my Kindle, so I bought them, but I did get one book from Simon and Schuster Canada... THANK YOU!

Dark Inside by Jeyn Roberts YA
Release date November 1, 2011

Here is the blurb from Amazon:
Since mankind began, civilizations have always fallen: the Romans, the Greeks, the Aztecs…Now it’s our turn. Huge earthquakes rock the world. Cities are destroyed. But something even more awful is happening. An ancient evil has been unleashed, turning everday people into hunters, killers, crazies.

Mason's mother is dying after a terrible car accident. As he endures a last vigil at her hospital bed, his school is bombed and razed to the ground, and everyone he knows is killed. Aries survives an earthquake aftershock on a bus, and thinks the worst is over when a mysterious stranger pulls her out of the wreckage, but she’s about to discover a world changed forever. Clementine, the only survivor of an emergency town hall meeting that descends into murderous chaos, is on the run from savage strangers who used to be her friends and neighbors. And Michael witnesses a brutal road rage incident that is made much worse by the arrival of the police--who gun down the guilty party and then turn on the bystanding crowd.

Where do you go for justice when even the lawmakers have turned bad? These four teens are on the same road in a world gone mad. Struggling to survive, clinging on to love and meaning wherever it can be found, this is a journey into the heart of darkness – but also a journey to find each other and a place of safety

ON MY KINDLE:

Unbroken:  A World War II Story of Survivor, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand

Kindle Edition

I heard about this book from Oprah who emailed her fans that she was loving it and that it read like a novel.  This prompted me to google the book and holy moly are people all over the place loving it!  I downloaded the sample and as is Amazon's little trick they end the sample at an awesome part where you're like, "DAMN YOU AMAZON!!" And you have to buy it to find out what happens.  But this book really had me at "hello", and it has not let me go since.  So far an excellent read, and just brilliantly written.  I am about 23 % done, another little annoying thing about the Kindle.  I'm not sure what that is in PAGES, but I'm about 1/4 of the way through and so far highly recommend.  

You can click here to read more about it or to order.

 The Chimps of Fauna Santuary

by Andrew Westoll 

Kindle Edition

First of all I have to say that I love primates, all of them.  I actually studied 1 year of primatology in university, until I discovered as much as I loved them I hated collecting data more.  So I ixnayed the whole career in the science.  So, I am always up for a good ape story. 

I read about this book in our local newspaper awhile back, but at the time it was not available on kindle so I waited until it was.  What I like about it is it does not focus it's attention on the horrors of the lives of the chimps in the research facility, but of their rehabilitation.  

So far there is a fair amount of humour in it, something involving a cell phone smelling like chimp poop.  I like the guys voice, and I think it will be fun to read this from his perspective. 

You can click here to read more about it. 

And I know these last ones don't count because technically I haven't downloaded them yet, but I plan to later today, and it is a STEAL of a deal.  You can purchase the first four books in the Game of Thrones series on your Kindle for $9.99... thaaaaat's right, for 10 bucks you can have all four books!  I have the first book's sample downloaded and from all of the feedback from friends and family I am getting, I think I will really enjoy them.  Anyone out there agree?  Give me your thoughts on this series, I am very curious!  Historical fiction is my favourite genre, and eventhough I know that this is not historical, it is set in a fantasy world in that sort of medieval time period.. which... I ... love. 

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MAILBOX MONDAY

Mailbox Monday was created by Marcia over at The Printed Page.  It is now hosted by a different blog every month, this month it is hosted by The Blue Stocking Guide.

I have received some books lately, and here they are in no particular order:

FOR REVIEW.. Thanks Simon and Schuster Canada!

Fury by Elizabeth Miles 
Publication date August 30, 2011

First thing I want to say is... HELLO!  IS THAT NOT A GORGEOUS COVER???!!!

Here is the blurb from Amazon:

Sometimes sorry isn't enough....

It’s winter break in Ascension, Maine. The snow is falling and everything looks pristine and peaceful. But not all is as it seems...

Between cozy traditions and parties with her friends, Emily loves the holidays. And this year’s even better--the guy she’s been into for months is finally noticing her. But Em knows if she starts things with him, there’s no turning back. Because his girlfriend is Em’s best friend.

On the other side of town, Chase is having problems of his own. The stress of his home life is starting to take its toll, and his social life is unraveling. But that’s nothing compared to what’s really haunting him. Chase has done something cruel...something the perfect guy he pretends to be would never do. And it’s only a matter of time before he’s exposed.

In Ascension, mistakes can be deadly. And three girls—three beautiful, mysterious girls—are here to choose who will pay.

And:

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer
Publication date September 27, 2011

This is a pretty beautiful cover too, I must say, and the premise for this book is very intriguing.

Blurb from the cover:

Mara Dyer doesn't believe life can get any stranger than waking up in a hospital with no memory of how she got there. It can.                                                                                                                                                  

She believes there must be more to the accident she can't remember that killed her friends and left her strangely unharmed. There is.                                                                                                       

She doesn't believe that after everything she's been through, she can fall in love. She's wrong.

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MAILBOX MONDAY -- APRIL 18TH

Mailbox Monday is a weekly bookish meme created by Marcia over at The Printed page, but is now hosted by different blogs every month.  This month it is Passages to the Past.

I did get 4 books this past week, and managed to finish two books!  Wooo look at me!  I haven't really sat down and really "read" for so long, it felt great to just read,and read, and read...

First a HUGE thank you to Michelle at Simon and Schuster Canada for the following:

City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare -- this being the 4th book of a series I have never read, I am wondering if I could read this as a stand-alone book?  Anyone?  Otherwise I may do a giveaway as Michelle also sent me some swag to go with it, a gorgeous poster, and some buttons!  

I am a HUGE fan of the Infernal Devices series, and Clockwork Angel is the first Cassandra Clare book I have read, and I am dying while waiting for the next installment in October of this year.  

He's So Not Worth It by Kieran Scott    (YA  ARC)

Here's the blurb from S & S:Ally Ryan, come on down to the Jersey Shore and forget your troubles! Have you recently been humilated in front of your friends and family at your former best friends birthday party? Was your almost boyfriend partly responsible for that humilation by withholding some vital information about where your estrangerd father is? Did you come home to find said estranged father sitting on your stoop? If so, then it sounds like you could use a vacation!

 The Jersey Shore is the place to be. 

Your mother may be living with her boyfriend of only a few months, but at least the stunt Shannen pulled has put some of your friends back in your court. Even so, you're still angry and what better way to get over Jake than to blow off some steam with local guy, Cooper. People will hardly recognize your new attitude, but the old one wasn't getting you anywhere, so who cares!

 Jake Graydon, an exciting opportunity is waiting for you in the service industry! 

Are your grades so low your parents have grounded you for the summer? Did you the girl you really like unceremoniously leave you behind? Would you rather eat dirt than see your friends again? Then a job at the local coffee shop is just the ticket! Suprisingly, Ally's father is the new manager so you get to be reminded of her nearly every day. Maybe it's time to start flirting with your best friend's ex or even taking school a bit more seriously. Especially when you finally see Ally and she's hanging around with some loser and it's couldn't be more clear that she is over you. 

Have a great summer!

I like YA, and once in awhile I get sent an amazing one, like Clockwork or Leviathan, but I may do a giveaway of this one as well as I will likely never read it.  If you are a fan of Kieran Scott stay tuned!

Possession by Elana Johnson:  YA ARC

Release date:  June 7 2011

S&S blurb:

Vi knows the Rule: Girls don't walk with boys, and they never even think about kissing them. But no one makes Vi want to break the Rules more than Zenn…and since the Thinkers have chosen him as Vi's future match, how much trouble can one kiss cause? The Thinkers may have brainwashed the rest of the population, but Vi is determined to think for herself. 

But the Thinkers are unusually persuasive, and they're set on convincing Vi to become one of them….starting by brainwashed Zenn. Vi can't leave Zenn in the Thinkers' hands, but she's wary of joining the rebellion, especially since that means teaming up with Jag. Jag is egotistical, charismatic, and dangerous: everything Zenn's not. Vi can't quite trust Jag and can't quite resist him, but she also can't give up on Zenn. 

This is a game of control or be controlled. And Vi has no choice but to play.


The last book is by an author whom I read when I very very first had my blog, you can read the review of that book here.


So I was happy to snap up a copy of her brand spankin' new book "Shelter" and a HUGE THANK YOU to Borealis Books for sending it my way!!

Here's the blurb from Sarah's website:

With imperfect timing, a single mother scrabbles for independence while hunting for a scrap of land on which to start life anew, (or seek shelter from it) and, to insure a legacy of for her teenaged son, whether he wants it or not. "Scrap" turns out to be roadless, raw wilderness near the town where her émigré grandparents settled and where the family name is now a postscript.  From buyers remorse to the practicalities of carving out a place to share with her son (and hopefully, maybe, someone special) endeavors are fraught with unexpected difficulties, surprises, joys and disappointments – in a word, life. And when it seems outside forces might threaten all she’s struggled to build, the question is no longerwill she fit in? but will she hang on?

The voice in Shelter is that of an optimistic skeptic, blending the humor and bravado necessary to survive in a place that has two seasons – both of which can kill you.

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And what was in YOUR mailbox this past week?

MAILBOX MONDAY!

Mailbox Monday is a weekly bookish meme created by Marcia over at The Printed Page, but now is hosted monthly by different blogs.  This month is:  Passages to the Past (which just happens to be one of my FAVOURITE blogs!)

Last week I did a book in the mail from Henry Holt & Co (THANK YOU!!!) called "A Civilized World" by Susi Wyss.

Here's the blurb:

Set in Africa, the novel follows five women as their lives intertwine in surprising and even explosives ways.

When Adjoa leaves Ghana to find work in the Ivory Coast, she hopes that one day she'll return home to open a beauty parlor. Her dream comes true, though not before she suffers a devastating loss—one that will haunt her for years, and one that also deeply affects Janice, an American aid worker who no longer feels she has a place to call home. But the bustling Precious Brother Salon is not just the "cleanest, friendliest, and most welcoming in the city." It's also where locals catch up on their gossip; where Comfort, an imperious busybody, can complain about her American daughter-in-law, Linda; and where Adjoa can get a fresh start on life—or so she thinks, until Janice moves to Ghana and unexpectedly stumbles upon the salon.

The Civilized World is a deeply moving novel that “beautifully and effortlessly captures the essence of human connection” (Library Journal). If you would like to receive a copy of the book for review, I would be happy to send one along. Just e-mail me at the address below.

Any book set in Africa is already awesome in my books, even before we adopted our youngest from Ethiopia I had always loved books with a setting from there.  This one sounds fabulous!

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MAILBOX MONDAY!

Mailbox Monday is a weekly bookish meme that was created by Marcia over at The Printed Page but now is hosted each month by a different blogger.  This month it is: I'm Bookin' it. 


When I got back from holidays I had a LOVELY ARC waiting for me by my great friends at Simon and Schuster Canada!!!  It has a beautiful cover:

 It is The Map of Time by Felix J. Palma.  It sounds fabulous and will be released June 28th 2011.

It is a page turner in which a skeptical H.G. Wells is called upon to investigate purported incidents of time-travel and save lives. --Amazon.com


The cover looks very Clockwork Angel-y, doesn't it?




They also sent me "The Trouble with May Amelia" by Jennifer Holm, also an ARC.  


















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MAILBOX MONDAY!

Mailbox Monday is a weekly bookish meme originally hosted by Marcia over at The Printed Page, but this month it is hosted by Rose City Reader! 

Sooo, I actually did get a couple of books in the mailbox this week!  With the exception of this one:
Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese which I ordered from an Ethiopian website for adoptive parents.  It came just before Christmas and I haven't started it yet.  But low and behold I am seeing it EVERYWHERE in the book blogosphere!  So I guess it must be pretty good!  I love the cover, and the story just sounds beautiful:
A sweeping, emotionally riveting first novel — an enthralling family saga of Africa and America, doctors and patients, exile and home.



Marion and Shiva Stone are twin brothers born of a secret union between a beautiful Indian nun and a brash British surgeon at a mission hospital in Addis Ababa. Orphaned by their mother’s death in childbirth and their father’s disappearance, bound together by a preternatural connection and a shared fascination with medicine, the twins come of age as Ethiopia hovers on the brink of revolution. Yet it will be love, not politics — their passion for the same woman — that will tear them apart and force Marion, fresh out of medical school, to flee his homeland. He makes his way to America, finding refuge in his work as an intern at an underfunded, overcrowded New York City hospital. When the past catches up to him — nearly destroying him — Marion must entrust his life to the two men he thought he trusted least in the world: the surgeon father who abandoned him and the brother who betrayed him.


An unforgettable journey into one man’s remarkable life, and an epic story about the power, intimacy, and curious beauty of the work of healing others.


And I have to send a HUGE THANK YOU to Simon and Schuster Canada for sending me the two following books!  The first on is a  memoir that I had read about a few weeks ago, and I'm looking forward to reading it:

BIRD CLOUD by Annie Proulx
"Bird Cloud" is the name Annie Proulx gave to 640 acres of Wyoming wetlands and prairie and four-hundred-foot cliffs plunging down to the North Platte River. On the day she first visited, a cloud in the shape of a bird hung in the evening sky. Proulx also saw pelicans, bald eagles, golden eagles, great blue herons, ravens, scores of bluebirds, harriers, kestrels, elk, deer and a dozen antelope. She fell in love with the land, then owned by the Nature Conservancy, and she knew what she wanted to build on it—a house in harmony with her work, her appetites and her character, a library surrounded by bedrooms and a kitchen.




Proulx's first work of nonfiction in more than twenty years, Bird Cloud is the story of designing and constructing that house—with its solar panels, Japanese soak tub, concrete floor and elk horn handles on kitchen cabinets. It is also an enthralling natural history and archaeology of the region—inhabited for millennia by Ute, Arapaho and Shoshone Indians— and a family history, going back to nineteenth-century Mississippi riverboat captains and Canadian settlers.


Proulx, a writer with extraordinary powers of observation and compassion, here turns her lens on herself. We understand how she came to be living in a house surrounded by wilderness, with shelves for thousands of books and long worktables on which to heap manuscripts, research materials and maps, and how she came to be one of the great American writers of her time. Bird Cloud is magnificent.


And the next one I am WEIRDLY excited about!  I actually laughed my ass off when I pulled it out of the box...

A SHORE THING by Snooki
(I'm reading it so you don't have to! Ha!)

Okay, for REAL... this is just too good in the worst way not to read!  The only thing that had me slightly disappointed was that it was not her memoirs, I was totally hoping for juicy tid bits about GTL (gym, tan, laundry) and some awesomeness about her ba-donk. 

I have never ever watched an episode of Jersey Shore, but when I saw her on Letterman, despite myself I found her hilarious.  Stupid Snooki.

DON'T MAKE ME LOVE YOU!


And an added bonus, here be a brilliant reading of an exerpt from Ms. Pollizi's book by a comedian pretending to be Morgan Freeman. (and quite well I might add!) from a recent episode of Craig Ferguson.

MAILBOX MONDAY - NOVEMBER 1

Mailbox Monday is a weekly bookish meme normally hosted by Marcia at the Printed page but this month is being hosted by Julie over at Knitting and Sundries. 

Okay, so before I do my mailbox I have to say that the last week we had a family emergency in that my Mom had what they THINK may be a stroke on Thursday, or it could be a seizure from a mix of medication that she is on.  Either way I had to call 911 Thursday afternoon and she is still in the hospital but doing very well.  They do not want her to leave until they find out exactly why she had the event and how they can prevent it in the future.  It was one of the most frightening things I have ever been through, for all of us, not the least of which, obviously, for my parents.  SO, there has not been much of reading, blogging or work on my dog training course happening.

Before this happened I did go to the bookstore with my 3 year old and picked up a book I had read about : (which I JUST discovered while looking for an image of the cover that you can read the book FOR FREE onine at google books.  Click here to read it FOR FREE.)  ANYway, I'm not bothered, eventhough for a small book under 250 pages it's 30 BUCKS.  But I digress... just look at the cover..

I mean seriously.  Doesn't that little wee pathetic looking chihuahua mix just make you wanna run to your nearest acreage and open the flood gates letting every stray into your yard??!!!

The book is awesome and Steven Kotler is hilarious.  He was a city slicker with no desire for kids or the country life who fell in love with a woman who, although also wanting no kids, had a "thing" for rescuing dogs.  Before he knows it he is buying a small farm in the middle-of-nowhere New Mexico and taking in dozens of hard luck doggies from high kill shelters.  Okay, so maybe that part's not funny, but the WAY he tells his story IS.

I also received, from Simon and Schuster Canada (THANK YOU!)  a  couple of memoirs and a novel by Nicole Ritchie.  Hm.  I tried to read the first few pages of Richie's book but just could not stomach it, and I feel terrible about it!  But it really is just horribly written drivel.  The other two are:

I have to admit I am a tad curious about this one, Late, Late at Night Rick Springfield's memoir.  There may have been a few occasions in the mid 80's when my 14/15 year old self belted out Jesse's Girl.  But really, did he write anymore songs?  I have no idea...  All I can say is:  EASY on the eyeliner, buddy!  Can you see his eyes on the cover??  ANYway, I flipped through briefly to look at the pictures and one thing I did glean from them is that he has been with the same woman for a ba-zillion years, and that says something pretty cool about him.



The next one I already emailed S and S and told them I will most likely not read it and would be happy to ship it back to them.  I know that sounds awfully cranky of me but I can't help it.  I just have zero interest in reading this:

I mean really, people, an autobiography about Susan Boyle?  REALLY?!  Okay, I'm not insulting those of you that may want to read it, I'm not, but I just don't get the fascination.  So S and S said I did not have to send it back but I could pass it on to someone who might like to read it.

SO whomever would like the Susan Boyle autobiography and this book:

You can have them for free but the only catch is you have to pay for shipping.  So it may or may not be worth it to you to snap either or both of these up depending on where you live.

I am still so grateful for the publishers I am fortunate enough to work with and many many books that I have loved have come in the way of a package I have not expected and got to open like a little kid at Christmas.  But occasionally I am sent a book or two that I just cannot commit to reading to.  I have so many books that I still need to read (I am about a third of the way thru The Distant Hours and I have to finish it in 8 days!) and want to read, so I really have to say no when I receive a book that just isn't for me.

ANYway, that is my mailbox Monday and a bit about the stuff that has been going on around here!

Have a wonderful day!

MAILBOX MONDAY - ARC BY KATE MORTON!!! WOOT!

Mailbox Monday is a weekly bookish meme created by Marcia over at The Printed Page, but this month is being hosted by Kathy over at Bermudaonion!

Today I actually DID get a book in the mail!  I am super excited to be given an ARC of Kate Morton's latest book The Distant Hours.  I am currently reading The Forgotten Garden, which I am LOVING, and I can't WAIT to dive into this one!  THANK YOU to Anneliese from Simon and Schuster Canada for sending me this georgous book!

Here is the blurb from Amazon.com:

A long lost letter arrives in the post and Edie Burchill finds herself on a journey to Milderhurst Castle, a great but moldering old house, where the Blythe spinsters live and where her mother was billeted 50 years before as a 13 year old child during WW II. The elder Blythe sisters are twins and have spent most of their lives looking after the third and youngest sister, Juniper, who hasn’t been the same since her fiance jilted her in 1941.



Inside the decaying castle, Edie begins to unravel her mother’s past. But there are other secrets hidden in the stones of Milderhurst, and Edie is about to learn more than she expected. The truth of what happened in ‘the distant hours’ of the past has been waiting a long time for someone to find it.

Isn't the cover GEORGOUS??!!!  Her covers are always beautiful, though.  Just look at The Forgotten Garden.
ANYway, The Distant Hours is available in stores November 9th, and I will have my review up a few days before then! 

What was in YOUR mailbox??

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MAILBOX MONDAY (MY FIRST VLOG!) JULY 19th

(My apologies to authors Kelly Creagh and Justine Larbalestier for mangling their names in my vlog!  Ack!)

Nevermore by Kelly Creagh

The Haunted by Jessica Verday

Clockwork Angel (Book #1) by Cassandra Clare

Zombies vs. Unicorns edited by Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier

Rot & Ruin by Jonathan Maberry

Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld

Crescendo by Becca Fitzpatrick

I am eternally grateful to Simon and Schuster Canada who are incredibly generous with my blog!!

For more Mailbox Mondays visit The Printed Page and check out Marcia's great blog!

MAILBOX MONDAY

Mailbox Monday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by Marcia over at The Printed Page...

In the last week I did recieve a few goodies!

A fellow adoptive mom is married to a doctor who has written several books.  Their daughter, Molly, is amazing.  She is their bio child and her two younger brothers are adopted from Ethiopia.  She has set up an amazing Charity called H2O for Ethiopia and she sells products to raise money for a well that she is building there.... and she's TEN YEARS OLD.  You can find her on Facebook if you like at H2O for Ethiopia Group. 

The books that her mom sent me are by Kevin Patterson, who is the dad:

Outside the Wire
by Kevin Patterson and Jane Warren
The war in Afghanistan in the words of
its participants

Consumption by Kevin Patterson
A novel

From Canadian Literature:
Patterson’s Consumption revolves around a lung infected with tuberculosis, which functions as a metaphor for the Inuit body diseased by the Europeans who settle Canada. The virus that ravages one girl’s lung serves to represent the way in which diseases decimate whole communities and then finally reveals the damaging potential of affluence on our bodies; thus the infected lung ultimately raises larger medical and cultural issues about epidemiology. This novel opens with a dedication taken from a French alms box to which one often returns in contemplation: “For the sick, the poor, and the ashamed.” Throughout the novel, Patterson investigates the complex relation between these three qualities or situations.

The Water in Between
by Kevin Patterson

A broken heart leads Kevin Patterson to the dock of a sailboat brokerage on Vancouver Island, where he stands contemplating the romance of the sea and his heartfelt desire to get away.  By the end of the day, he finds himself the owner of a thirty-seven-foot ketch called Sea Mouse.  Although he's never really been on the ocean before (aside from the occasional ferry ride), he feels compelled to sail to Tahiti and back, to burn away his failings in hard miles at sea.

Short stories....

The next two books are from Penguin Group (USA) and I could NOT be MORE excited about them!!!!!  Seeeeeriously, just LOOK at the cover of this one!  And the premise is very good....

One of the greatest loves of all time-between Elizabeth I and Robert Dudley-comes to life in this vivid novel.

They were playmates as children, impetuous lovers as adults-and for thirty years were the center of each others' lives. Astute to the dangers of choosing any one man, the Virgin Queen could never give her "Sweet Robin" what he wanted most-marriage- yet she insisted he stay close by her side. Possessive and jealous, their love survived quarrels, his two disastrous marriages to other women, her constant flirtations, and political machinations with foreign princes.
His Last Letter tells the story of this great love... and especially of the last three years Elizabeth and Dudley spent together, the most dangerous of her rule, when their passion was tempered by a bittersweet recognition of all that they shared-and all that would remain unfulfilled.

Um..... swoon?

And then:  
The Secret Eleanor
by Cecelia Holland
 
Eleanor of Aquitaine seized hold of life in the 12th century in a way any modern woman would envy!



1151: As Duchess of Aquitaine, Eleanor grew up knowing what it was to be regarded for herself and not for her husband's title. Now, as wife to Louis VII and Queen of France, she has found herself unsatisfied with reflected glory-and feeling constantly under threat, even though she outranks every woman in Paris.

Then, standing beside her much older husband in the course of a court ceremony, Eleanor locks eyes with a man-hardly more than a boy, really- across the throne room, and knows that her world has changed irrevocably...

He is Henry D'Anjou, eldest son of the Duke of Anjou, and he is in line, somewhat tenuously, for the British throne. She meets him in secret. She has a gift for secrecy, for she is watched like a prisoner by spies even among her own women. She is determined that Louis must set her free. Employing deception and disguise, seduction and manipulation, Eleanor is determined to find her way to power-and make her mark on history.
 
I am still not actively taking any review copies at this time, these were all agreed to long before I put the kaibosh on accepting books.  And I am so excited that I said YES!
 
ANYway... what's in YOUR mailbox???
 
 

MAILBOX MONDAY

Mailbox Monday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by Marcia over at The Printed Page.

This week I went out and bought Geneen Roth's new book.  I have two of her others, plus her CD set "When Food is Love and love is Food".  So I was thrilled when I happened to see a teeny tiny bit of her on Oprah (I'm bummed I missed pretty much the entire interview.)  and saw that she had a new book out. 

Women Food and God:

An Unexpected Path to Almost Everything

The way you eat is inseparable from your core beliefs about being alive. No matter how sophisticated or wise or enlightened you believe you are, how you eat tells all. The world is on your plate. When you begin to understand what prompts you to use food as a way to numb or distract yourself, the process takes you deeper into realms of spirit and to the bright center of your own life. Rather than getting rid of or instantly changing your conflicted relationship with food, Women Food and God is about welcoming what is already here, and contacting the part of yourself that is already whole—divinity itself.


I'll let you know how it is, but from the beginning it is just what the doctor ordered!  :0)