Good morning! Today’s post will link up to Sunday Salon, The Sunday Post, and Mailbox Monday! (July will be Book Obsessed).
This week was better for reading, in terms of my eye issues. My brain has almost trained itself to ignore the spidery floater! lol.
I did a lot of outdoor reading on the patio.
Here’s what happened:
ON THE BLOGS:
Tuesday Potpourri: Intros/Teasers – Crystal Cove
Moving Day Nightmares: A Bookish Exploration
Friday Sparks: Book Beginnings & Friday 56
Sweet Saturday Sample: Escape to the Beach
Saturday Snapshot: Mornings on the Patio
READING: (CLICK TITLES FOR REVIEWS)
The Last Original Wife, by Dorothea Benton Frank
Island Girls, by Nancy Thayer
Chocolate for Two, by Maria Murnane
Currently Reading: The Year of the Flood (e-book), by Margaret Atwood (From Mt. TBR)
INCOMING BOOKS:
My mailbox was flooded this week! And I also grabbed some bargains at Barnes & Noble. I fed Sparky, too, with two downloads.
Someone Else’s Love Story, by Joshilyn Jackson (Amazon Vine)
Shandi Pierce is juggling finishing college, raising her delightful three-year-old genius son Nathan, aka Natty Bumppo, and keeping the peace between her eternally warring, long-divorced parents. She’s got enough complications without getting caught in the middle of a stick-up and falling in love with William Ashe, who willingly steps between the robber and her son.
Shandi doesn’t know that her blond god Thor has his own complications. When he looked down the barrel of that gun he believed it was destiny: It’s been one year to the day since a tragic act of physics shattered his world. But William doesn’t define destiny the way others do. A brilliant geneticist who believes in facts and numbers, destiny to him is about choice. Now, he and Shandi are about to meet their so-called destinies head on, making choices that will reveal unexpected truths about love, life, and the world they think they know.
MaddAdam, by Margaret Atwood (Amazon Vine)
Bringing together Oryx and Crake and The Year of the Flood, this thrilling conclusion to Margaret Atwood’s speculative fiction trilogy points toward the ultimate endurance of community, and love.
Months after the Waterless Flood pandemic has wiped out most of humanity, Toby and Ren have rescued their friend Amanda from the vicious Painballers. They return to the MaddAddamite cob house, newly fortified against man and giant pigoon alike. Accompanying them are the Crakers, the gentle, quasi-human species engineered by the brilliant but deceased Crake. Their reluctant prophet, Snowman-the-Jimmy, is recovering from a debilitating fever, so it’s left to Toby to preach the Craker theology, with Crake as Creator. She must also deal with cultural misunderstandings, terrible coffee, and her jealousy over her lover, Zeb.
Zeb has been searching for Adam One, founder of the God’s Gardeners, the pacifist green religion from which Zeb broke years ago to lead the MaddAddamites in active resistance against the destructive CorpSeCorps. But now, under threat of a Painballer attack, the MaddAddamites must fight back with the aid of their newfound allies, some of whom have four trotters. At the center of MaddAddam is the story of Zeb’s dark and twisted past, which contains a lost brother, a hidden murder, a bear, and a bizarre act of revenge.
Combining adventure, humor, romance, superb storytelling, and an imagination at once dazzlingly inventive and grounded in a recognizable world, MaddAddam is vintage Margaret Atwood—a moving and dramatic conclusion to her internationally celebrated dystopian trilogy.
We Are Water, by Wally Lamb (Amazon Vine)
We Are Water is a disquieting and ultimately uplifting novel about a marriage, a family, and human resilience in the face of tragedy, from Wally Lamb, the New York Times bestselling author of The Hour I First Believed and I Know This Much Is True.
After 27 years of marriage and three children, Anna Oh—wife, mother, outsider artist—has fallen in love with Viveca, the wealthy Manhattan art dealer who orchestrated her success. They plan to wed in the Oh family’s hometown of Three Rivers in Connecticut. But the wedding provokes some very mixed reactions and opens a Pandora’s Box of toxic secrets—dark and painful truths that have festered below the surface of the Ohs’ lives.
We Are Water is a layered portrait of marriage, family, and the inexorable need for understanding and connection, told in the alternating voices of the Ohs—nonconformist, Anna; her ex-husband, Orion, a psychologist; Ariane, the do-gooder daughter, and her twin, Andrew, the rebellious only son; and free-spirited Marissa, the youngest. It is also a portrait of modern America, exploring issues of class, changing social mores, the legacy of racial violence, and the nature of creativity and art.
With humor and compassion, Wally Lamb brilliantly captures the essence of human experience and the ways in which we search for love and meaning in our lives.
Necessary Lies, by Diane Chamberlain (Amazon Vine)
Bestselling author Diane Chamberlain delivers a breakout book about a small southern town fifty years ago, and the darkest—and most hopeful—places in the human heart
After losing her parents, fifteen-year-old Ivy Hart is left to care for her grandmother, older sister and nephew as tenants on a small tobacco farm. As she struggles with her grandmother’s aging, her sister’s mental illness and her own epilepsy, she realizes they might need more than she can give.
When Jane Forrester takes a position as Grace County’s newest social worker, she doesn’t realize just how much her help is needed. She quickly becomes emotionally invested in her clients’ lives, causing tension with her boss and her new husband. But as Jane is drawn in by the Hart women, she begins to discover the secrets of the small farm—secrets much darker than she would have guessed. Soon, she must decide whether to take drastic action to help them, or risk losing the battle against everything she believes is wrong.
Set in rural Grace County, North Carolina in a time of state-mandated sterilizations and racial tension, Necessary Lies tells the story of these two young women, seemingly worlds apart, but both haunted by tragedy. Jane and Ivy are thrown together and must ask themselves: how can you know what you believe is right, when everyone is telling you it’s wrong?
Finding Colin Firth, by Mia March (Giveaway from Book Dilettante –– thanks!)
After losing her job and leaving her beloved husband, journalist Gemma Hendricks is sure that scoring an interview with Colin Firth will save her career and marriage. Yet a heart-tugging local story about women, family ties, love, and loss captures her heart–and changes everything. The story concerns Bea Crane, a floundering twenty-two-year old who learns in a deathbed confession letter that she was adopted at birth. Bea is in Boothbay Harbor to surreptitiously observe her biological mother, Veronica Russo–something of a legend in town–who Bea might not be ready to meet, after all. Veronica, a thirty-eight-year-old diner waitress famous for her “healing” pies, has come home to Maine to face her past. But when she’s hired as an Extra on the bustling movie set, she wonders if she’s hiding from the truth . . . and perhaps the opportunity of a real life Mr. Darcy.
These three women will discover more than they ever imagined in this coastal Maine town, buzzing with hopes of Colin Firth. Even the conjecture of his arrival inspires daydreams, amplifies complicated lives, and gives incentive to find their own romantic endings.
The Good Daughter (e-book), by Jane Porter
Love was given to all, except herself . . .
Kit Brennan has always been the most grounded of her sisters. A Catholic school English teacher for seventeen years and a constant giver, her decisions have been sound—just not very satisfying. Her fortieth birthday is right around the corner, causing Kit to consider some wilder notions, like skipping right past the love and marriage to raising a child all by herself . . .
A girls’ weekend away is just the reprieve Kit needs from school, Mr. Wrongs, and life-changing decisions. It’s there that she meets a man who’s dangerous; a man who challenges who she thought she was, or rather should be. Kit wants to indulge herself this once, but with one of her students in crisis and the weight of her family’s burdens weighing heavy on her heart, Kit isn’t sure if now is the time to let her own desires take flight . . .
Porch Lights (e-book), by Dorothea Benton Frank
New York Times bestselling author Dorothea Benton Frank is back home in the Carolina lowcountry, spinning a tale that brims with the warmth, charm, heart, and humor that has become her trademark. Porch Lights is a stirring, emotionally rich multigenerational story—a poignant tale of life, love, and transformation—as a nurse, returning to Sullivans Island from the Afghanistan War, finds her life has been irrevocably altered by tragedy…and now must rediscover love and purpose with the help of her son and aging mother.
An evocative visit to enchanting Sullivans Island with its unique pluff mud beaches, palmetto trees, and colorful local lore—a novel filled with unforgettable characters, and enlivened by tales of the notorious Blackbeard and his bloodthirsty pirate crew and eerie Edgar Allan Poe stories—Porch Lights stands tall among the very best works of not only Dottie Frank, but Anne Rivers Siddons, Rebecca Wells, Pat Conroy, and other masters of the modern Southern novel as well.
*** (Purchases from B & N)
Home, by Toni Morrison
When Frank Money joined the army to escape his too-small world, he left behind his cherished and fragile little sister, Cee. After the war, his shattered life has no purpose until he hears that Cee is in danger.
Frank is a modern Odysseus returning to a 1950s America mined with lethal pitfalls for an unwary black man. As he journeys to his native Georgia in search of Cee, it becomes clear that their troubles began well before their wartime separation. Together, they return to their rural hometown of Lotus, where buried secrets are unearthed and where Frank learns at last what it means to be a man, what it takes to heal, and–above all–what it means to come home.
Mr. Churchill’s Secretary, by Susan Elia MacNeal
London, 1940. Winston Churchill has just been sworn in, war rages across the Channel, and the threat of a Blitz looms larger by the day. But none of this deters Maggie Hope. She graduated at the top of her college class and possesses all the skills of the finest minds in British intelligence, but her gender qualifies her only to be the newest typist at No. 10 Downing Street. Her indefatigable spirit and remarkable gifts for codebreaking, though, rival those of even the highest men in government, and Maggie finds that working for the prime minister affords her a level of clearance she could never have imagined—and opportunities she will not let pass. In troubled, deadly times, with air-raid sirens sending multitudes underground, access to the War Rooms also exposes Maggie to the machinations of a menacing faction determined to do whatever it takes to change the course of history.
Ensnared in a web of spies, murder, and intrigue, Maggie must work quickly to balance her duty to King and Country with her chances for survival. And when she unravels a mystery that points toward her own family’s hidden secrets, she’ll discover that her quick wits are all that stand between an assassin’s murderous plan and Churchill himself.
Playing Dead, by Julia Heaberlin
“Dear Tommie: Have you ever wondered about who you are?” The letter that turns Tommie McCloud’s world upside down arrives from a stranger only days after her father’s death. The woman who wrote it claims that Tommie is her daughter—and that she was kidnapped as a baby thirty-one years ago. Tommie wants to believe it’s all a hoax, but suddenly a girl who grew up on a Texas ranch finds herself linked to a horrific past: the slaughter of a family in Chicago, the murder of an Oklahoma beauty queen, and the kidnapping of a little girl named Adriana. Tommie races along a twisting, nightmarish path while an unseen stalker is determined to keep old secrets locked inside the dementia-battered brain of the woman who Tommie always thought was her real mother. With everything she has ever believed in question, and no one she can trust, Tommie must discover the truth about the girl who vanished—and the very real threats that still remain.
***
And that’s my week! What did yours look like?
Wow you got a lot of really good book! Hope you enjoy them! Happy reading!
Sandy @ Somewhere Only We Know
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I sort of went crazy, didn’t I? lol
Thanks for stopping by, and have a great week, Sandy.
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I hope you enjoy your new books you got. Happy reading. Thanks for stopping by earlier.
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I think I will, Jenea…glad you could return the visit. Have a great week!
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Impressive haul there, Laurel.
I got a couple of new ones myself: one on ebook, the other in a print edition. I already read the one (a short treatise) and am starting on the other today.
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Enjoy your reading, Bryan, and thanks for stopping by. I’m still slogging my way through The Year of the Flood.
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Your new books all look wonderful! You’re making my TBR list longer…LOL. Glad you’re back up to speed in your reading.
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Ah, yes, it is better not to have to fight my way out from behind the “spider.” lol
Thanks for stopping by, Catherine, and enjoy your week. Making our TBR lists longer is our goal…right?
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Lots of summer reads! I love the title “Someone else’s Love Story”! Finding Colin Firth sounds like a cute read too haha. Great haul and happy reading!
Here’s my Sunday Post & STS at Bookmunchies (:
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Yes, the Colin Firth one grabbed my interest….the author’s Meryl Streep Movie Club was a winner for me. Thanks for stopping by, Cyn.
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Wow, what a great book haul!! Thanks for stopping by. Have a great week!
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Yes, I kind of hauled them in this week….I was a little surprised that I bought so many, too. Thanks for visiting, Toni, and enjoy!
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It sounds like you’ve had a great week, and you’ve got a lot of really interesting books. I thought both The Good Daughter, Mr Churchill’s Secutary and Playing Dead sounded super interesting. I hope you enjoy all your books and have a good week.
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Yes, I agree, Becki….and I like the mix of books I got. Thanks for stopping by, and have a great week.
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Mr. Churchill’s Secretary catches my eye, I was not aware of that one. Thanks for showing it, I’ll have to check that one out. Have a great week!
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I like the look of it, from the cover to the blurb. Thanks for stopping by, Greg, and enjoy your week.
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I love the covers for Home and Good Daughter, I am curious about quite a few of your new books and look forward to hearing more about them. Glad the eyes are improving and have a wonderful week!
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Thanks, Kimba….it is definitely a relief to have the “spider” less noticeable. And I’m eager to read all the new books. I have never read Toni Morrison, but I’ve been meaning to do so.
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Wow, so many books and some that sound like heavy reading. Some day I want to come raid your bookshelves. 😀
Happy reading!
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Yes, I do have an eclectic mix of books, from heavy ones to light. I like to mix things up. Thanks for stopping by, Bea, and enjoy your week.
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Very interesting book haul! I love the look of Good Daughter. And I have Necessary Lies (my first by this author). Happy Reading 🙂
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I have enjoyed several books by Diane Chamberlain…hope you do, too, Trish. Thanks for visiting.
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You had a fabulous week! I’m so excited about the new Jackson and Lamb books!
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Me, too, Kathy….I am beyond thrilled that they were on Vine. I have saved a ton of money this summer! Thanks for stopping by, and enjoy your week.
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Wow, you had a spectacular week! I had one of my worst 😦
Hope you have another great week!!
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Thanks, Lori….and sometimes we do have less-than wonderful weeks. Hope your new week is great.
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What a great list of books! Hope you have a great week!
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I am excited about them, Yvonne…thanks for stopping by, and enjoy your week.
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Wow, that’s an amazing stack of books. The Good Daughter especially catches my eye.
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I love the cover of The Good Daughter…and read the first book in the series awhile ago: The Good Woman. Thanks for visiting, RAnn, and enjoy your week.
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When it rains it pours with the books, doesn’t it? Finding Colin Firth looks so fun. Happy reading!
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I think so, too, Lucy…I enjoyed the other Mia March book (Meryl Streep Movie Club). Thanks for stopping by…have a great week.
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I am seeing Dorothea Benton Frank on several blogs this week. Sounds intriguing. You’ve got a really good haul. Enjoy them all.
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Yes, I had been noticing her books for awhile…and I’m glad I read one…finally. And now I’ve added another. Thanks for visiting, Mystica, and have a great week.
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Looks like you have some great reading ahead. I’m glad your eye is improving. It must have been so nice out on that patio!
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It was very nice, Pat…and I’m eager for this new week. Thanks for visiting, and have a great week.
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Great titles!!! They all look so good.
Elizabeth
Silver’s Reviews
My Mailbox Monday
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I think so, too, Elizabeth…enjoy your week….and thanks for visiting.
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Fantastic mailbox! Glad you are reading around the floater okay.
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Oh, me too! Thanks for visiting, Sam, and have a great week.
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Really great mailbox. I would add all of these to my Mt. TBR. Enjoy your reading week.
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Good for you, Judy…I am looking forward to them all. Thanks for stopping by.
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Wow, what a great week in books! I’m curious about the Colin Firth book, but they all look fantastic. I absolutely loved Mr. Churchill’s Secretary. I have the 3rd book in the series waiting patiently to be read…I can’t wait to get to it! Have a great week!
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Oh, that’s good to know, Anna…I had never heard anything about Mr. Churchill’s Secretary, but I liked the look of it.
Thanks for visiting.
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My week was the opposite of yours, it was rather slow.
Oryx and Crake and The Year of the Flood on my TBR list too. I’m surprised at myself for not having read them yet, those are the kind of books I usually go to first. Eh, perhaps it’s because I know Atwood is not an easy read!
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I still haven’t read Oryx and Crake…but I have MaddAdam, the next one in the trilogy.
Thanks for visiting, Leslie…enjoy your week.
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I passed on a copy of Madd Adam because I hadn’t read the first two yet. I figured I’d be hopelessly lost starting at the end!
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I knew I was taking a risk, but since I had the second book, I took the chance. Later I read that one didn’t need to read Oryx and Crake first…but I think it might have helped with that “surreal” feeling….thanks for visiting, Leslie.
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Your mailbox was full of interesting reads, enjoy all of them.
http://tributebooksmama.blogspot.com/2013/07/mailbox-monday_29.html
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I hope to do just that, Tribute Books Mama. Thanks for visiting.
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All your new books look great! I enjoyed Mr Churchill’s Secretary, and the series keeps getting better. Have a great week, and thanks for stopping by on Sunday!
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That’s good to know, Lark, since I grabbed it on impulse, not having heard anything about it. Thanks for stopping by.
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