In My Mailbox and Mailbox Mondays #4

Mailbox Monday is a gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week and explore great book blogs. Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling tbr piles and humongous wishlists. In February Mailbox Monday is being hosted by Metroreader.


In my maibox is hosted by  The Story Siren.


This week I just got three new books.

The first book I received this week was Stately Pursuits by Katie Fforde. This was given to me by my Mum who was having a bit of clear out. I have never read a book by Katie Fforde, but a lot of my reading friends like her and have read quite a few of her books.
Here is the synopsis from Goodreads.com
Hetty Longden’s mother thinks that looking after Great Uncle Samuel’s crumbling stately country home will be just the thing for Hetty’s broken heart. But if Hetty expected to be miserable in private, she is in for a rude awakening in a village that revolves around the Big House, and Hetty finds herself with very little time to wallow.   

My second book this week was also given to me by my Mum. Life Begins by Amanda Brookfield. I have read two books by Amanda Brookfield a couple of years ago and really enjoyed them.
Here is the blurb from the back cover.


If life Begins at forty, Charlotte Turner's not off to the best of starts. On top of a recent divorce, a failed attempt to move house and trouble with her twelve-year-old son, the husband of her closest friend has just started to show rather too much interest in her as a newly single woman.

No longer able to blame everything on a floundering marriage, Charlotte is forced to open her eyes and embark on an emotional journey into her past. Only when she has faced some challenging and revealing truths can she finally shed the unhappy skin she's become so used to, and open up her life - and her heart - to all the promise and possibility that her future holds.

The third and final book this week is The Last Werewolf by Glen Duncan. I got this half price at the local bookstore. I have seen it mentioned on various blogs and thought I would give it a go. Here is the synopsis from Goodreads.com


Then she opened her mouth to scream—and recognized me. It was what I’d been waiting for. She froze. She looked into my eyes. She said, “It’s you.”
Meet Jake. A bit on the elderly side (he turns 201 in March), but you’d never suspect it. Nonstop sex and exercise will do that for you—and a diet with lots of animal protein. Jake is a werewolf, and after the unfortunate and violent death of his one contemporary, he is now the last of his species. Although he is physically healthy, Jake is deeply distraught and lonely.

Jake’s depression has carried him to the point where he is actually contemplating suicide—even if it means terminating a legend thousands of years old. It would seem to be easy enough for him to end everything. But for very different reasons there are two dangerous groups pursuing him who will stop at nothing to keep him alive.

Here is a powerful, definitive new version of the werewolf legend—mesmerising and incredibly sexy. In Jake, Glen Duncan has given us a werewolf for the twenty-first century—a man whose deeds can only be described as monstrous but who is in some magical way deeply human. 

One of the most original, audacious, and terrifying novels in years.

REVIEW The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane

The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe is the story of Connie Goodwin, a Phd student at Harvard university. The story begins with Connie undergoing and passing an oral exam to allow her to go on to work towards her dissertation. This sets up the academic background, and introduces the theme of witchcraft.
                                                                                                                                                          Within a few pages Connie is on her way to Marblehead Massachusetts for the summer to clear out her Grandmother's house which has stood empty since her death twenty years earlier.
What she finds is a house in a bad state of disrepair and completely hidden from the road due to the garden being so overgrown. She finds a garden full of herbs and unusual and potentially harmful plants.


On her first night in the house unable to sleep,  she stumbles across an old family Bible, inside she finds an old key with the name Deliverence Dane inside it. So begins her quest to find out more about this women. At first she has just a slight interest in researching this person. A visit to her Academic Advisor Chilton Manning gives her the push to start researching harder. He encourages her saying it would be great for her career if she could find an undiscovered primary source for her dissertation.


So off she goes to track down Deliverence Dane. In the course of her researching she meets Sam a steeplejack working in a local church, he helps her to research and they quickly become friends.


As Connie searches further she realises that Deliverence Dane left a book or almanac to her daughter back in 1692. We are treated to a series of flashbacks to that time, in which we learn more about Deliverence her life,  her family , as well as the trouble she is in due to being suspected of witchcraft. As well as the journey the book in question has taken.


Connie's advisor becomes more desperate and sinister as her search returns no book or answers. At the same time, her now boyfriend Sam, is involved in an accident at work. His condition turns out to be more serious, and the cause much more sinister than first thought. Connie has to find the book and look to her ancestors and magic for the answers to her problems.


I really enjoyed this book, I enjoyed the flashbacks to Deliverence Dane's time period as well as the modern day story. I particularly liked the cliffhanger endings to some chapters, and the way  the next chapter would begin in the middle of the action. With details being withheld to maintain the sense of drama.  I liked the characters and enjoyed the plot, and the tension really builds towards the end of the novel. I would definitely want to read more by this author.

In My Mailbox and Mailbox Monday #3

Mailbox Monday is a gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week and explore great book blogs. Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling tbr piles and humongous wishlists. In February Mailbox Monday is being hosted by Metroreader.


In my maibox is hosted by  The Story Siren.


This week I got four new books.

The First book I got this week was The Registrar's Manual for Detecting Forced Marriages by Sophie Hardach. I heard about this one on Goodreads and purchased it from Amazon. Here is the synopsis from Goodreads.com




Swimming for his life towards traffickers on the Italian shore, Selim enters a world where Kurdish refugees disguise themselves as tomatoes, dates of birth are a matter of opinion, and a residency permit is a ticket to paradise. When he ends up in a small town in Germany, Selim believes he is finally safe, until the law catches up with him and the clock starts ticking. Selim realises there is only one way to avoid deportation, if he dare try … 
Fifteen years later, in a town hall in Paris, a Registrar receives an unsettling book in the post. The Registrar's Manual for Detecting Forced Marriages only fuels her suspicions surrounding an impending Kurdish wedding. Unsure how to intervene, she embarks on an investigation that brings her uncomfortably close to an old acquaintance: Selim.
Written with real imaginative flair, heart and humour, The Registrar's Manual for Detecting Forced Marriages introduces an unlikely hero who'll prove impossible to forget, and a prodigious new talent in Sophie Hardach.

The second book this week is The Goddess Test by Aimee Carter. I have seen this one featured on various blogs and goodreads and thought it  sounded good. This one also came from Amazon. Here's the synoppsis from Goodreads.com


It's always been just Kate and her mom--and her mother is dying. Her last wish? To move back to her childhood home. So Kate's going to start at a new school with no friends, no other family and the fear her mother won't live past the fall.

Then she meets Henry. Dark. Tortured. And mesmerising. He claims to be Hades, god of the Underworld--and if she accepts his bargain, he'll keep her mother alive while Kate tries to pass seven tests.

Kate is sure he's crazy--until she sees him bring a girl back from the dead. Now saving her mother seems crazily possible. If she succeeds, she'll become Henry's future bride, and a goddess.

The third book this week isLetters in Cardboard Boxes by Abby Slovin. This was kindly given to me by the author in ebook form, so that I could review it. Here is the synopsis from Goodreads.com.  I should be reading it next!




Letters In Cardboard Boxes tells the story of an eccentric grandmother and her granddaughter alongside a series of fantastical letters they once exchanged. Their letters once traversed the East River to help Parker escape the loneliness of a childhood without her globe-trekking parents and communicate during her turbulent teenage years. Now, nearly a decade later, Parker begins to rediscover the evidence of this letter writing tradition, as well as the family’s untold stories and, unexpectedly, letters from her grandmother’s own youth that paint a very different portrait of the woman who raised her. 

Letters carries us through the universally-shared experience of loss and the process of coping with life’s unexpected twists and turns. Through unusual and bold characters, the story moves through some of its heavier themes with honesty and humour.

The fourth and final book this week is Evermore by Alyson Noel.  I have seen this book around quite a bit over the years, but decided to get it this week because it was £1 from a local charity shop. Here is the synopsis from Goodreads.com.


Sixteen-year-old Ever Bloom is the sole survivor of a car accident that killed her family. Exiled to sunny California. Ever is haunted by her little sister and by the ability to see people's auras, hear their thoughts and know their entire life story by touching them. She wants to hide from the world, but when a stunningly handsome guy arrives at school, she can't seem to keep away. Falling in love with Damen is dangerous - he's not what he seems. But if Damen is her destiny, how can Ever walk away?

REVIEW The Nanny Diaries by Nicola Kraus and Emma McLaughlin

The Nanny Diaries is about a young lady called Nan, who is in her final year of college. To earn a living whilst studying she chooses to do some part time nannying. She quickly becomes the Nanny for four year old Grayer and his parents Mr and Mrs X. 


Although things start out okay with just a few teething problems with Grayer's behaviour, she soon becomes responsible for more than light babysitting duties. Mrs X is soon taking advantage of her good nature and fondness for Grayer.  Mrs X starts treating her as a general dogsbody, running all over New York running errands that have nothing to do with childcare. She soon realises that she is spending more time with Grayer than either of his parents.


Then things take a turn for the worse and the X's start to have marital problems. Nan becomes Grayer's main caregiver spending days and nights on end at the apartment looking after him in the absence of his parents, whilst trying to continue her studies.


Grayer's parents are very selfish and caught up in their own superficial lives. All the poor boy wants is to spend time with his parents.
Things continue to unravel culminating in a trip away where things finally come to head.


I did quite enjoy this book, Grayer was portrayed as a very sweet little boy and the relationship between him and Nan seemed very genuine.  At times I felt sad for Grayer, and angry with the X's and the way they treated Nan and their other staff. 
Nan also has a love interest who lives in the X's building. This is a sideline plot which doesn't really need to be there. I was more interested in Nan and Grayer's story than her love life.
All in all it was good and not quite as lighthearted as I expected.

Teaser Tuesdays

Welcome to Teaser Tuesdays. 


Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:


1. Grab your current read
2. Open to a random page
3. Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too muchaway! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
4. Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers




I am currently reading The Nanny Diaries by Nicola Kraus and Emma Mclaughlin. 
Here is my teaser.


"I roll over for the eighth time in the last fifteen minutes. I'm so tired that my body feels weighted, but every time I'm about to drift off, Grayer's hacking cough echoes through the apartment."

It's Monday! What are you reading?

It's Monday! What are you reading? Is hosted by Shelia at Book Journey.


Last week I finished The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. 

At the moment I am reading The Nanny Diaries by Nicola Kraus and Emma Mclaughlin, this is taking me longer than I thought even though I'm enjoying it. There are other things at home that are taking up my time instead of reading, such as Internet problems, now thankfully resolved. Also we have been looking for a new car, as ours has had a lot of problems recently and its just not worth fixing. The hunt continues!


If all goes according to plan I would like to read The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe and try to begin She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb. I certainly need to, to get back on track with my 2012 reading challenge!  

Mailbox Monday #2 and In My Mailbox

Mailbox Monday is a gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week and explore great book blogs. Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling tbr piles and humongous wishlists. In February Mailbox Monday is being hosted by Metroreader.

In My mailbox is hosted by The Story Siren


This week I received four new books all purchased myself from either Amazon or a local charity shop.


                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

Misfortune by Wesley Stace. This one I ordered from Amazon, I heard about it on Goodreads and thought I would give it a try. Here's the synopsis from Goodreads.com


On a moonlit night on the outskirts of London, Lord Geoffroy Loveall finds the answer to his prayers: an abandoned baby, somehow still alive amid the junk of a rubbish heap. Rescuing the infant from certain death, Lord Geoffroy adopts her as his only child, heir to the fabulous Love Hall fortune. He names her Rose in memory of his long-dead sister and gives her a childhood of unparallelled gaiety and unstinting pleasure. But every house has a secret, and as Rose approaches adolescence, the secret of Love Hall becomes impossible to hide. As much as Lord Geoffroy wanted a daughter, the baby he brought home is, in fact, a boy.

The second book brought home this week  is Finding Mr Flood by Ciara Geraghty I found this in a local charity shop, it was not a title I had heard of before, but thought I would get it as it was a reasonable price. The synopsis is from Goodreads.com.


Dara Flood always says the most interesting thing about her life happened before she was born. Thirteen days before she came into the world, her father walked up the road and never came back. 

Now in her twenties, Dara's life has a careful routine. She lives in Dublin with her mother and sister Angel. She has pizza with friends every Wednesday, salsa class every Friday, and sees her boyfriend every Saturday. It's safe and that's the way she likes it. 

Then Angel gets desperately sick and Dara's ordered life falls apart. Neither she nor her mother is a compatible match for the kidney Angel needs. So Dara sets out to find the father who could be their last hope. But on the path to uncovering the truth about her father, Dara learns that to let life - and love - in, sometimes you just have to let go . . .

The third book this week was A Rogue's Proposal by Stephanie Laurens. This was the second book I got from the charity shop. I already have one book by Stephanie Laurens which I'm yet to read,  but thought I might as well  get it while it was available. Here's the synopsis from Goodreads.com. 
                                                                                                                                                             Demon Cynster has seen love bring his brethren to their knees, and he′s vowed that he will not share their fate ... until he spies Felicity Parteger sneaking about his racing stable. Demon remembers Felicity as a mere chit of a girl, but now she stands before him, all lush curves and sparkling eyes...

Felicity knows Demon was one of the town′s most eligible bachelors and a rogue of the worst sort, but he was the only one capable of getting her friend out of trouble. She knows Demon will never yield her the love she desperately seeks, but could a marriage of passion alone be enough?

The fourth and final book this week is Taking Charge of your Fertility by Toni Weschler, MPH. I got this from Amazon it has some great reviews from both people using it for birth control and for becoming pregnant. I thought it might beworth a read for future reference and to understand a bit more about fertility. Here's the synopsis from Goodreads.com.

 The Barnes & Noble Review
This is an invaluable tool, both for couples struggling with the frustrations of infertility and for those who seek a natural way to avoid becoming pregnant. Weschler debunks the ineffective Rhythm Method and explains a far more reliable alternative that allows women to exert real control over their fertility: the Fertility Awareness Method. Ample illustrations, charts on which women can track their cycles, and chapters on such topics as gender selection and male fertility make this revised edition an outstanding and classic work on fertility.

Although its primary function is to introduce readers to the FAM and address issues specific to conception and natural birth control, Taking Charge of Your Fertility is also an important resource for any woman who wishes to better understand her general gynaecological health. The result is a comprehensive guidebook covering menstrual cycles, menopause, and sexuality, as well as reproductive health.

(Karen Burns)