I’m participating in Mailbox Monday from Marcia at The Printed Page. Head over to her blog to see what appeared last week in the mailboxes of bookish people all over the net.
I have mixed feelings about this week’s list of books.
I’m thrilled about each and every book that arrived.
However, I don’t read this many books in a week. And I already have a backlog.
This is a problem. A good problem, but a problem none the less.
Anyway, on to the arrivals:
One Season of Sunshine by Julia London
Back of the book description via Amazon.com:
Should some questions be left unanswered?
Adopted as an infant, Jane Aaron longs to know the identity of her birth mother and why she gave her up. Her only clue is the name of the small Texas town where she was born, so she’s come to Cedar Springs for answers.
Handsome ad executive Asher Price lost his wife, the beautiful, mysterious Susanna, in a terrible car crash eighteen months ago. When he hires Jane as the nanny for his two children, sparks fly. Jane finds herself falling in love with both Asher and his children, but begins to suspect that Susanna was not the perfect mother and wife the family portrays her to have been.
As Jane gets closer and closer to finding out the truth about both her own and Susanna’s past, devastating secrets begin to emerge that may be more than anyone can bear. Will the truth bring Jane and Asher closer together or tear them apart forever?
Thank you to Pocket Books for this review copy of One Season of Sunshine.
Red Hook Road by Ayelet Waldman
Back of the book via goodreads.com
Set on the coast of Maine over the course of four summers, Red Hook Road tells the story of two families, the Tetherlys and the Copakens, and of the ways in which their lives are unraveled and stitched together by misfortune, by good intentions and failure, and by love and calamity.
I think I requested this via the Shelf Awareness Newsletter. Thank you to Doubleday for sending me a review copy of Red Hook Road.
Grace Under Pressure (A Manor of Murder Mystery) by Julie Hyzy
Description via GoodReads.com:
Everyone wants a piece of millionaire Bennett Marshfield, owner of Marshfield Manor, but now it’s up to a new curator Grace Wheaton and handsome groundskeeper Jack Embers to protect dear old Marshfield. But to do this, they’ll have to investigate a botched Ponzi scheme, some torrid Wheaton family secrets-and sour grapes out for revenge.
Thank you to Kaye Publicity for sending me this review copy of Grace Under Pressure..
Life After Yesl by Aidan Donnelley Rowley
Back of the book description via Goodreads.com
This is the story of Quinn—born Prudence Quinn O’Malley—a confused young Manhattan attorney who loses her father on that tragic September morning that changed everything. Now, at an existential crossroads in her life, Quinn must confront impossible questions about commitment and career, love and loss. Her idealistic beau desperately wants a wedding, and whisks her away to Paris just to propose. But then Quinn has a dream featuring judges and handcuffs and Nietzsche and Britney . . . and far too many grooms. Suddenly, her future isn’t so clear. Quinn’s world has become a minefield of men—some living, some gone, and traversing it safely is going to take a lot more than numerous glasses of pinot grigio.
Thank you to Little Bird Publicity for sending me this review copy of Life After Yes!.
Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand by Helen Simonson
Book flap description via Goodreads.com:
You are about to travel to Edgecombe St. Mary, a small village in the English countryside filled with rolling hills, thatched cottages, and a cast of characters both hilariously original and as familiar as the members of your own family. Among them is Major Ernest Pettigrew (retired), the unlikely hero of Helen Simonson’s wondrous debut. Wry, courtly, opinionated, and completely endearing, Major Pettigrew is one of the most indelible characters in contemporary fiction, and from the very first page of this remarkable novel he will steal your heart.
The Major leads a quiet life valuing the proper things that Englishmen have lived by for generations: honor, duty, decorum, and a properly brewed cup of tea. But then his brother’s death sparks an unexpected friendship with Mrs. Jasmina Ali, the Pakistani shopkeeper from the village. Drawn together by their shared love of literature and the loss of their respective spouses, the Major and Mrs. Ali soon find their friendship blossoming into something more. But village society insists on embracing him as the quintessential local and her as the permanent foreigner. Can their relationship survive the risks one takes when pursuing happiness in the face of culture and tradition?
Thank you to Random House for this review copy of Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand.
It’s a great collection of books. What kind of mood am I in today?
