~A Stunning Tribute to The Worst Day Of The Week~

Is It Monday Already?

I was so grateful for the time change this past weekend. I actually felt rested both Saturday and Sunday - I didn't have to take naps either day! This morning, however, I had to drag myself out of bed, and yawned the whole time I was in the shower. It must be something about Mondays.....

I have had terrible luck with books lately. Friday night I picked up four and tried to read them. I don't know if maybe I wasn't in a "reading mood" which would be strange...I am most always in the mood to read. Every book that I tried just didn't "grab" me. I put them all aside, and just went to sleep. Saturday evening I started another book...Bingo! This one has grabbed me successfully. The book is Garden Of Dreams by Leslie Gould. Has anyone else read this book? What did you think of it? I haven't gotten very far, but what I have read so far is great.

The story begins with a mother, Jill Rhone. She has been sick for awhile, and suspects that it is something more than just a virus. Her best friend, Caye, is helping care for Jill's children while Jill and her husband Rob are at the hospital. Jill has been keeping a secret from those that she loves most....including her best friend Caye.

I didn't receive any books in the mail last week, which is fine....I am in no danger of not having anything to read! :)

How was your weekend? Did you start any new books? What are you reading now and is it interesting/good?

~Mailbox Monday~

Only one book last week, from my Paperbackswap.com wish list. From Amazon.com:

Natalie Raines, one of Broadway's brightest stars, accidentally discovers who killed her former roommate and sets in motion a series of shocking events that puts more than one life in extreme peril.

While Natalie and her roommate, Jamie Evans, were both struggling young actresses, Jamie had been involved with a mysterious married man to whom she referred only by nickname. Natalie comes face to face with him years later and inadvertently addresses him by the nickname Jamie had used. A few days later, Natalie is found in her home in Closter, New Jersey, dying from a gunshot wound.

Immediately the police suspect Natalie's theatrical agent and soon-to-be-ex-husband, Gregg Aldrich. He had long been a "person of interest" and was known to have stalked Natalie to find out if she was seeing another man. But no charges are brought against him until two years later, when Jimmy Easton, a career criminal, suddenly comes forward to claim that Aldrich had tried to hire him to kill his wife. Easton knows details about the Aldrich home that only someone who had been there -- to plan a murder, for instance -- could possibly know.

The case is a plum assignment for Emily Wallace, an attractive thirty-two-year-old assistant prosecutor. As she spends increasingly long hours preparing for the trial, a seemingly well-meaning neighbor offers to take care of her dog in her absence. Unaware of his violent past, she gives him a key to her home...

As Aldrich's trial is making headlines, her boss warns Emily that this high-profile case will reveal personal matters about her, such as the fact that she had a heart transplant. And, during the trial, Emily experiences sentiments that defy all reason and continue after Gregg Aldrich's fate is decided by the jury.

In the meantime, she does not realize that her own life is now at risk.

A compelling novel that probes the mysteries of the human heart and mind, Just Take My Heart is Mary Higgins Clark's most spellbinding tale.
What's in your mailbox today?

~Mailbox Monday~

Books that I received last week were:

Painting the Invisible Man by Rita Schiano: Based on a true event... In 2001, while researching the online archives of her hometown newspaper for a client, freelance writer Rita Schiano made a keying error a simple mistake that led her to a path she d been avoiding most of her life; on a journey inside the world of her father, killed gangland-style more than two decades ago. Schiano turned that difficult journey into an engrossing novel, "Painting The Invisible Man," which explores the complex dynamics of growing up in an Italian family on the fringes of the Mafia. Employing philosophical insight and a sardonic wit, Schiano vividly takes the reader through myriad brushstrokes as her character paints the unfinished portraits of both her father and herself. ~From Librarything.com.

In The Land of Cotton by Martha A. Taylor: Immerse yourself in this highly anticipated political docu-drama set in the Deep South amidst the backdrop of the Civil Rights Movement.
Martha was a young white girl living in the Deep South, inundated with the racist sentiments of the times. But Martha's natural curiosity and generous heart led her to question this racial divide. When she discovered a primitive Negro family living deep in the woods near her house, everyone's life changed forever.
Take the journey of a lifetime alongside Martha as she forges relationships that lead to self discovery and a clearer understanding of the world around her. In the Land of Cotton provides an outstanding snapshot of life in the South during those troubled times - a snapshot everyone should take a close look at, regardless of era or color. ~From Amazon.com

When I'm Not Myself by Deborah J. Wolf: Once again, with astonishing truth and refreshing humor, Deborah J. Wolf brilliantly depicts a woman's real joys and sorrows during love, loss, and starting anew...Sometimes a marriage is over long before it officially ends. When Cara's husband packs a bulging suitcase and leaves her for a younger woman ironically named Barbie, Cara can only say, "That's it?" before the tears begin. Now Cara has lost three dress sizes while picking up the pieces of her life with four kids and no man, and a mother whose idea of support involves detailing how Cara didn't do enough to save the marriage. But she is surviving with the help of her best friends: Melanie, aka Mel-the-fixer-of-everything, who feels that faithless Jack's departure is the best thing that could have happened; Leah, solid as a rock, who is always there to lean on; and Paige, the casserole queen, who shows up with mac-n-cheese and sympathy.

Despite frustrations and self-doubts, Cara is learning to hope and heal as she transforms from a long-suffering wife to the vibrant, self-assured woman she was meant to be. But the road to Cara's brighter future is strewn with complications, especially when the "other woman" asks for a favor...and Cara's path takes a poignant twist on the road to happiness. ~From Librarything.com.

What was in your mailbox today?

~Mailbox Monday~

I got 2 books on Saturday...not in the mail, I bought them. Of course, I felt very guilty, because my TBR stack is totally out of control! Hubby and I went to a store called Ollies...they just opened one here. It is a big discount store, kind of like Big Lots. Well, wouldn't you know it, they had books. And I HAD to browse the books. AND of course there were a couple that I could not resist. Hey! I will get around to reading them some time, just like all of my others, that I dust off on a weekly basis! I got:

Re-Constructing Natalie by Laura Jensen Walker~ "Natalie Moore is about to lose what little cleavage she had. She'll shave her head. Leave her church. Fall for a man in scrubs. Learn to tap, and flash a room full of women. Natalie needs to know with or without her breasts she is more than the sum of her parts."~

Twisted by Laurie Halse Anderson~ FROM AMAZON.COM~Socially inept Tyler Miller thinks his senior year of high school is going to be a year like no other. After being sentenced to a summer of character building physical labor following a graffiti prank, his reputation at school receives a boost, as do his muscles. Enter super-popular Bethany Milbury, sister of his tormentor, Chip, and daughter of his father's boss. Tyler's newfound physique has attracted her interest and infuriated Chip, leading to ongoing conflicts at school. Likewise, Tyler's inability to meet his volatile father's demands to be an asset, not a liability adds increasing tension. All too quickly, Tyler's life spirals out of control. In the wake of an incident at a wild party that Bethany has invited him to attend, he is left feeling completely isolated at school and alienated at home, a victim of twisted perception. Tyler must tackle the complex issues of integrity, personal responsibility, and identity on his own as he struggles to understand what it means to be a man. His once humorous voice now only conveys naked vulnerability. With gripping scenes and a rousing ending, Anderson authentically portrays Tyler's emotional instability as he contemplates darker and darker solutions to his situation. Readers will rejoice in Tyler's proclamation, I'm not the problem here…I'm tired of feeling like I am. Teenage concerns with sex, alcohol, grades, and family are all tackled with honesty and candor. Once again, Anderson's taut, confident writing will cause this story to linger long after the book is set down.–Erin Schirota, Bronxville Public Library, NY

What was in your mailbox today?

~Mailbox Monday~ April 20, 2009

Mailbox Monday is hosted by Marcia at The Printed Page.

Last week I received the following books:

Click on Titles and Authors below for more information on the books:


Tender Graces by Kathryn Magendie

From May to December by Pat MacEnulty

The Way Life Should Be by Christina Baker Kline

Somebody's Someone by Regina Louise

What did you find in your mailbox?

~Mailbox Monday~

Mailbox Mondays is hosted by Marcia at The Printed Page. Stop by her page to see what others have received in their mailboxes!

This past weekend, I received a couple of books that were on my wishlist from PaperbackSwap.com. They are "The Dog Who Spoke With Gods" by Diane Jessup.

~When Elizabeth, a young premed student, happens upon Damien, a dog being used in laboratory research on her campus, she has no way of knowing how drastically her life--and her beliefs--will be changed. Without meaning to, she slowly becomes drawn into the dog's fate and is soon torn between the love and respect she has come to feel for Damien and the sense of loyalty and obligation she feels for the medical profession as well as her father and grandfather, both cardiac surgeons.
With an uncanny ability to write convincingly about life from the point of view of a canine, Diane Jessup tells an extraordinary story of friendship and loyalty. Few writers have ever shown the world of man's closest friend as clearly and movingly. For anyone who has ever loved a dog, this is a must-read.~

"Silent Cry" by Julie Bigg Veazey
~In disgrace, Nancy Walden arrives from New York mid-year at an exclusive prep school near New Haven, run by a puritanical headmistress. At the mercy of the predatory and fanatical house mother who rules the corridor where Nancy lives with five other seniors, Nancy experiences a confusing world of shifting alliances and devastating events. Her roommate's secret love affair, lurking danger, and finally a murder, lead to the collapse of Winthrop Academy. A friendship she never thought would be hers helps Nancy transcend tragedy and recognize that her life is of value to herself and others. Written with touches of humor, Silent Cry illuminates the repressive conventions of the 1950's.

What's in your mailbox today?