Mailbox Monday May 9

It's Monday again! I can't believe how quickly the weeks go by. Time for another Mailbox Monday post. Mailbox Monday is the creation of Marcia from A Girl and Her Books. The meme is on tour and this month's host is Mari of MariReads. Thank you for hosting Mari!

I hope all the mothers out there had a lovely Mother's Day. I had a wonderful day. I started the day cleaning out my front flower garden and planting some columbines and violas. I hope they survive my not so green thumb. Then my kids surprised me with a new patio umbrella to read under on sunny days and some really cute solar lights that are flowers that change colors. They are very cute ad we had fun watching them change last night. My oldest son grilled some mighty tasty burgers. All in all I was very spoiled and it is was the perfect day! I miss having those little ones under foot but I must say that I am thoroughly enjoying having grown-up conversations with my kids. Life is good!

On to the mailbox..I received two books for review. I am excited to read them both as they both are from authors I have read before and enjoyed very much. Summaries are borrowed from Goodreads.



Leaving by Karen Kingsbury

Hardcover, 352 pages
Published March 22nd 2011 by Zondervan (first published 2011)
ISBN
0310266998 (ISBN13: 9780310266990)
original title
Leaving (Bailey Flanigan, #1)
series
Bailey Flanigan #1

The Bailey Flanigan series begins with Bailey leaving Bloomington for the adventure of a lifetime. She has won an audition for the ensemble of a Broadway musical in New York City. She's determined to take advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but is she really ready to leave family and friends for the loneliness of the city? And what of Cody? His disappearance has her worried about their future and praying that their love can survive. In order to be closer to his mother in jail, Cody takes a coaching job in a small community outside Indianapolis. New friends, distance, and circumstances expose cracks in his relationship with Bailey Flanigan. Love, loneliness, big opportunities, and even bigger decisions highlight the first book in the new Bailey Flanigan series that features members of the popular Baxter family and finally completes the Bailey Flanigan/Cody Coleman story.





Heat Wave by Nancy Thayer

Hardcover, 304 pages
Expected publication: June 21st 2011 by Ballantine Books (first published June 14th 2011)
ISBN
0345518314 (ISBN13: 9780345518316)

Unerringly perceptive, superbly written, every page packed with the warmth and compassionate wisdom that have become Nancy Thayer’s trademark, Heat Wave tells the moving story of a woman who, after her seemingly perfect life unravels, must find the strength to live and love again.

Making the startling discovery that her family finances are in dire straits is only the latest shock endured by Carley Winsted after her husband’s sudden death from a heart attack. Resisting her in-laws’ well-meaning overtures to take in Carley and her two daughters, the young widow instead devises a plan to keep her family in their beloved home, a grand historic house on the island of Nantucket.

The solution is right at Carley’s front door: transforming her expensive, expansive house into a bed-and-breakfast. Not everyone, however, thinks this plan prudent or quite respectable—especially not Carley’s mother-in-law. Further complicating a myriad of challenges, a friend forces Carley to keep a secret that, if revealed, will undo families and friendships.

When her late husband’s former law partner keeps showing up at the most unexpected times, Carley must cope with an array of mixed feelings. And then, during a late-summer heat wave, the lives of Carley and her friends and family will be forever changed in entirely unexpected ways.

Lyrical, emotional, dramatic, and ultimately wonderfully uplifting, Nancy Thayer’s latest novel is compelling from its first page to its last.

Both books were received from the publishers through the Amazon Vine Program.

What interesting reads made their way into your home?