Mailbox Monday June 13

It's Monday again! 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 Brooke of The Bluestocking Guide. Thank you for hosting Brooke! Just be warned Mailbox Monday can lead to toppling stacks of books and large wish lists.

I had a great book week! Most were purchases but I did get two review books. Today is the last day of school here and I am looking forward to a relaxing summer full of reading. I think summer reading goes back to my childhood days where I always participated in the library's summer reading program. We didn't get fabulous prizes like they do now but we did get to have our charts proudly displayed in the library when we reached the goals. That was a million years ago, back before the wheel was invented! The summer programs now are very exciting and fun. I love when I go to the library and I see the kids all excited about their books. It brings back memories! It was a huge part of my summer. Enough rambling! On with Mailbox Monday!

First up are the review books. The Jennifer Donnelly book is one in a series that I have been wanting to read. The other book is by Jeffrey Stepakoff. I read his book Fireworks over Toccoa last year and loved it! It is a wonderful little summer read so if you missed it last year I highly recommend it! Here is my review for it. Another interesting tidbit about Mr. Stepakoff is he wrote for The Wonder Years and Dawson's Creek where he was Co-Executive Producer, which might explain why I love his writing. I loved both shows!

The Wild Rose by Jennifer Donnelly

Release date August 2, 2011

The vast multi-generational epic that began with The Tea Rose and continued with The Winter Rose now reaches its dramatic conclusion in The Wild Rose.

London, 1914. World War I is looming on the horizon, women are fighting for the right to vote, and global explorers are pushing the limits of endurance at the Poles and in the deserts. Into this volatile time, Jennifer Donnelly places her vivid and memorable characters:
- Willa Alden, a passionate mountain climber who lost her leg while climbing Kilimanjaro with Seamus Finnegan, and who will never forgive him for saving her life.
- Seamus Finnegan, a polar explorer who tries to forget Willa as he marries a beautiful young woman back home in England.
- Max von Brandt, a handsome sophisticate who courts high society women, but who has a secret agenda as a German spy;
- and many others.
I received this book courtesy of Librarythings Early Reviewers Program

The Orchard by Jeffrey Stepakoff

Release date July 5, 2011

The passionate new novel by the author of FIREWORKS OVER TOCCOA.

Grace Lyndon is a rising ingenue in the world of perfumes and flavors; a stiletto-wearing, work-a-holic in Atlanta, she develops aromas and tastes to enthrall the senses. Dylan Jackson is a widowed single father whose heart and hands have been calloused in the fields of his North Georgia apple farm. When Grace happens to taste an apple picked from Dylan’s trees, it changes both their lives forever.

Determined to track down the apple’s origin, Grace sets off in the middle of the night where she finds not only a beautiful mountain orchard in the clouds, but the mysterious man who owns it. In Stepakoff’s heartbreaking eloquence, their sudden yet undeniable attraction is threatened—leaving readers with a momentous finale that proves Jeffrey Stepakoff is a master craftsman of the heart.

I received this little treasure through the publicist and Thomas Dunne Books.

These next books are my purchases. I bought the cookbook after reading so many great reviews for it. It just goes to show that book blog reviews do sell books! I love my Slow Cooker and can't wait to try these recipes out. Not sure how those other books got into my shopping cart on Amazon. That's my story and I am sticking to it!

Love Letters from Ladybug Farm by Donna Ball

The Fixer Upper by Mary Kay Andrews

The Winter Rose by Jennifer Donnelly

Slow Cooker Revolution by America's Test Kitchen

That is what came to my mailbox. What wonderful books made their way into your home?