Mailbox Monday - August 24th

Mailbox Monday is hosted by Marcia at The Printed Page. To see this weeks list of participants go here. Click on any of the book pictures to learn more about the books.

ARC/Review Copies of:

And from Paperbackswap I received:

The Sunday Salon - August 23, 2009

The Sunday Salon which is hosted here, go and visit and see other participants.

General Week thoughts: A good week - it's my oldest son's last week of summer vacation. He spent most of the week with his Gran and Papa and even spent a night at a friends. We started reading Secrets of a Christmas Box by Steve Hornby together this week and I look forward to really getting into it next week when he is at home every night. The little one wants to get involved too, but we'll see about that - he never seems to have much attention span so I reserve reading Don't Let The Pigeon . . . or If you Give a Pig a Pancake books for him and the chapter books with the oldest. DH has been helping out around the house and with supper so that left me a few nights to relax in my chair and read - that was great. We did swimming this week and that was fun too.

Time spent reading - I spent the first part of the week reading running books and then magazines (in an effort to get some of them read and out of the house). Then the end of the week hit and my fiction reading came back into play. I raced through Club Dead and finished up Vision in White and Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict.

What I read:

• Pre: The Story of America's Greatest Running Legend - Steve Prefontaine by Tom Jordan
• Reunion in Death by J.D. Robb (audiobook)
  
• Club Dead by Charlaine Harris
• Vision in White by Nora Roberts
  
• Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict by Laura Viera Rigler

Thoughts on my reading:

• New-to-me authors: Tom Jordan, Laura Viera Rigler
  
• Non-fiction books read this week: 1
• Magazines read this week: 3
  
• Number of review books read: 0 (I needed a break)
  
• Number of TBR pile books read: 4
  
• Number of library books read: 0
  
• Number of books from Bookfree read: 1
• Library books checked out: 3
• Reviews posted: 3
  
• My library will reopen in it's new location this coming week - which makes me very happy - I already have 7 reserves in and I can't wait to get my hands on them.
  

What I'm reading now:
After by Amy Efaw
True Colors by Kristen Hannah (audiobook)
Marathon Woman by Kathrine Switzer
The Alibi by Terri Woods

Up Next:
Legacy by Cayla Kluver - I'm looking forward to this one (it's a review book)
Nothing Can Keep Us Together (Gossip Girl) by Cecily Von Ziegesar - I need my Gossip Girl fix
Hard Eight by Janet Evanovich

Everyone have a great week!

Review Copy Arrival: Singing the Song of Life: One Woman's Symphony by Debra Beryle

Singing the Song of Life: One Woman's Symphony by Debra Beryle

I received this from Emily Weiss at Langdon Street Press.

Publisher: Langdon Street Press
Publish Date: November 2009

You'll be mesmerized as you read how Dori bites into the apple of life with deep passion, allowing its juices to run down her chin. Her confidence, her intelligence, and her wisdom will inspire you as much as her intimate relationships will surprise you.

Singing the Song of Life is one woman's symphony where songs are the stage that provides the inspiration for her to dance her dreams and shed her tears, while living with a terminal thing called life. It is the story of one woman overcoming life's obstacles and triumphantly succeeding in life and love.

Her memoirs will entice you with:

• Adventure - a riveting experience with a con man living in a fantasy world resulting in financial ruin.
• Sizzling sex - a promise to coo in the bedroom rather than the kitchen;
• Indestructible friendship - a marriage between her best friend and her second ex-husband and the startling results of their ultimate test of trust;
• Family values - proof that blood is thicker than water; and
• Three husbands - an affirmation that love is there for all of us.

All of this is woven together with touches of humor, Yiddish slang, and of course, her favorite songs.

I'm enthralled with the idea of music as a soundtrack for life so I am really looking forward to reading this memoir.

Review Copy Arrival: Debt of Vengeance by Zane Sterling

Debt of Vengeance by Zane Sterling

I received this from Emily Weiss of Langdon Street Press. Thank you Emily!

Publisher: Langdon Street Press
Publish Date: October 5, 2009

Debt of Vengeance captures the Old West in its purest form - Sterling's story will grab you from the first words and never let you go!

Chance Tucker, seeking a life of adventure out west, leaves his parents and the family farm in Tennessee. Born with an unquenchable thirst for life and enough goals and dreams for two lifetimes, Chance's journey leads to one fateful day that changes everything.

While riding for the Box-T Ranch in New Mexico, Chance and his best friend and partner, Tig Jones, come under attack while following a small herd of stolen cattle into a series of rugged canyons known as Hell's Gate. When the gun smoke clears, Tig lies dying in Chance's arms. When Chance discovers that the very man they work for, J.B. Ross, is not only responsible for stealing the syndicate's cattle but also having his friend murdered, he embarks on a trail of revenge.

Debt of Vengeance takes you back to the untamed west for a thrilling adventure filled with colorful characters and a writing style that brings this wild era to life. You can almost smell the burning campfires and hear the blaze of gunfire.

Doesn't that sound great!

Review Copy Arrival: A Map of Home by Randa Jarrar

A Map of Home by Randa Jarrar

I received this from Gabrielle Gantz from Penguin Publicity.

Format: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin
Publish Date: August 25, 2009

In this fresh, funny, and fearless debut novel, Randa Jarrar chronicles the coming-of-age of Nidali, one of the most unique and irrepressible narrators in contemporary fiction. Born in 1970s Boston to an Egyptian-Greek mother and a Palestinian father, the rebellious Nidali—whose name is a feminization of the word “struggle"—soon moves to a very different life in Kuwait. There the family leads a mildly eccentric middle-class existence until the Iraqi invasion drives them first to Egypt and then to Texas. This critically acclaimed debut novel is set to capture the hearts of everyone who has ever wondered what their own map of home might look like.

This sounds very interesting and I cannot wait to read it.

Review Copy Arrival: Everything Sucks by Hannah Friedman

Everything Sucks: Losing My Mind and Finding Myself in a High School Quest for Cool by Hannah Friedman

I received the publisher through a request from the author.

Publisher: HCI Teens
Publish Date: August 3, 2009
Pages: 256
Reading Level: Young Adult
Book Description:

When everything sucks,
change everything . . .

And that's exactly what Hannah Friedman set out to do in an ambitious attempt to bust out of a life of obscurity and absurdity and into an alternate world of glamour, wealth, and popularity.

Being dubbed 'That Monkey Girl' by middle school bullies and being pulled out of sixth grade to live on a tour bus with her agoraphobic mother, her smelly little brother, and her father's hippie band mates convinces Hannah that she is destined for a life of freakdom.

But when she enters one of the country's most prestigious boarding schools on scholarship, Hannah transforms herself into everything she is not: cool. By senior year, she has a perfect millionaire boyfriend, a perfect GPA, a perfect designer wardrobe, and is part of the most popular clique in school, but somehow everything begins to suck far worse than when she first started. Her newfound costly drug habit, eating disorder, identity crisis, and Queen-Bee attitude lead to the unraveling of Hannah's very unusual life.

Putting her life back together will take more than a few clicks of her heels, or the perfect fit of a glass slipper, in this not-so-fairy tale of going from rock bottom to head of the class and back again.

About the Author
Hannah Friedman (Peekskill, NY) is a recent Yale University graduate. She is the daughter of gold-record singer/songwriter Dean Friedman. An article titled "When Your Friends Become the Enemy" about her experiences applying to an Ivy League University was published in Newsweek in 2004. Ms. Friedman is the winner of the Yale 2007 Playwright's Festival, as well as the New York Television Festival's 2008 "Flying Solo" Pilot Contest. Her pilot about transitioning from college student to author will debut at the Festival in September 2008.

This one sounds so up my alley and I was very excited when the author contacted me to read and review the book.

ARC Arrival: After by Amy Efaw

After by Amy Efaw

I received this through 1 ARC Tour.

Publisher: Viking Juvenile
Publish Date: August 11,2009
Pages: 350
Reading Level: Young Adult

Book Description:

An infant left in the trash to die. A teenage mother who never knew she was pregnant . . .

Before That Morning, these were the words most often used to describe straight-A student and star soccer player Devon Davenport: responsible, hardworking, mature. But all that changes when the police find Devon home sick from school as they investigate the case of an abandoned baby. Soon the connection is made—Devon has just given birth; the baby in the trash is hers. After That Morning, there’s only one way to define Devon: attempted murderer.

And yet gifted author Amy Efaw does the impossible— she turns Devon into an empathetic character, a girl who was in such deep denial that she refused to believe she was pregnant. Through airtight writing and fast-paced, gripping storytelling, Ms. Efaw takes the reader on Devon’s unforgettable journey toward clarity, acceptance, and redemption.

I have heard really great things about this book and I'm looking forward to reading it.