Mailbox Monday May 28 and Happy Memorial Day

Thank you all for your kind words about our beloved Cooper. It has been a hard weekend but we are getting through it. Yesterday I set up a nice little memorial for him in our backyard. I went to our local nursery and found a rock that has paw prints on it and says "Dogs leave paw prints on our hearts forever". Cooper will never be forgotten! He was the sweetest dog I have ever known.

Happy Memorial Day! A special thank you to all who have served or are serving now! I know how much you and your families sacrifice!

I hope everyone is enjoying their long weekend. It has been hot and humid here this weekend. I planted my garden yesterday and cooked out. Today is laundry day and reading day. It's too hot to do much else. The plan is to read a book and catch up on blogs.

I haven't posted a Mailbox Monday post in a long time so this one is quite full. I have some review books, some purchased books and some from the library sale shelf. Mailbox Monday is being hosted by Martha at Reviews By Martha's Bookshelf. Thank you Martha!

First up are two audiobooks for review, courtesy of Macmillan Audio.

A Dog's Journey by W. Bruce Cameron (the dog on the cover looks a lot like our little Cooper)

Bring Up The Bodies by Hilary Mantel

Next up are the books I have received for review. Some are from Amazon Vine and some are from the publishers.

A Hundred Flowers by Gail Tsukiyama

Goodbye For Now by Laurie Frankel

The Innocents by Francesca Segal

Summer Breeze by Nancy Thayer

The Sandcastle Girls by Chris Bohjalian

The next group of books are the ones I purchased either at the store or at the library sale shelf.

Vision in White by Nora Roberts
Nanking 1937 by Ye Zhaoyan 
The Next Always by Nora Roberts 
The Last Boyfriend by Nora Roberts 
If You Were Here by Jen Lancaster

And last was my birthday gift to myself. I saw this version of The Secret Garden on the Barnes and Noble website and thought it was beautiful!

The secret Garden by Francis Hodgson Burnett

So that is all the treasures that have come into my home since my last mailbox post. What wonderful reads made their way into your home?

Saying Goodbye is Never Easy!

Last night we said goodbye to our beloved Cooper. He had some serious health problems and I was trying to be brave and make the decision to put him down. I was having a hard time letting him go. Last night while I was at work, he decided his body had had enough and he left us suddenly. I am sad and heartbroken but I know he is in a better place where he is no longer in pain. Our other dog Jake is a bit lost today without his little buddy. We all feel a bit empty and sad today. The house seems a bit quieter than normal. We will be okay in time. RIP Cooper! You were the best dog a gal could have!

The Snow Child

The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey  

Summary from Goodreads

Alaska, 1920: a brutal place to homestead, and especially tough for recent arrivals Jack and Mabel. Childless, they are drifting apart--he breaking under the weight of the work of the farm; she crumbling from loneliness and despair. In a moment of levity during the season's first snowfall, they build a child out of snow. The next morning the snow child is gone--but they glimpse a young, blonde-haired girl running through the trees. This little girl, who calls herself Faina, seems to be a child of the woods. She hunts with a red fox at her side, skims lightly across the snow, and somehow survives alone in the Alaskan wilderness. As Jack and Mabel struggle to understand this child who could have stepped from the pages of a fairy tale, they come to love her as their own daughter. But in this beautiful, violent place things are rarely as they appear, and what they eventually learn about Faina will transform all of them.  

My Thoughts

  I finally have a few moments to be able to read and blog. This book is a wonderful read and has me excited to share my thoughts with all of you! First off let me say that I find it hard to believe that this is a debut book for the author. Her prose is beautiful and she can tell a story in a way that will keep the reader captivated throughout the whole book.

 This story is magical and it is a story I loved! Jack and Mabel tear at your heartstrings right off the bat. You can't help but feel for the couple who are grieving over the fact they are childless after losing their only baby. They go to Alaska to start over anew. When they build a snow girl in the yard, a young, wild girl miraculously arrives and finds her way into their hearts. The young girl, Faina, reminds Mabel of a fairy tale that was read to her when she was a child. She can't help but notice the similarities between the two young girls.

 Faina is a wonderful magical character and I really loved her. She is probably my favorite character in the book. Her carefree spirit really spoke to me.

 The Alaska setting is a character in itself in this story. You can tell the author is a native Alaska. Her descriptive writing makes you feel as though you are in Alaska yourself. I could almost feel the falling snowflakes!

 I highly recommend this book. Even though I don't have much time to read these days, this book kept haunting me until I found time to finish it. I couldn't wait to find time to pick it up and read it. I will definitely be watching to see what this author writes next!