MONDAY FROM THE INTERIOR: MAILBOX MONDAY & WHAT ARE YOU READING? -- JUNE 4

Good morning, and welcome to another Monday, in which we celebrate our reading, blogging, and life.  Mailbox Monday is hosted in June by Sassy Brit’s Alternative Read; and Book Journey brings us another edition of What Are You Reading?

MAILBOX MONDAY:

This week, I received one review book from Amazon Vine; two contest reads from Teddyree, at The Eclectic Reader; and I downloaded one e-book.

Here’s my haul:

The Long Way Home, by Karen McQuestion (Vine)

Four women bound by chance take the trip of a lifetime in Karen McQuestion’s fifth novel The Long Way Home.

For Wisconsinites Marnie, Laverne and Rita, life isn’t working out so well. Each is biding time, waiting for something better, something to transport them out of what their lives have recently become. And then there’s Jazzy: bubbly, positive, and happy even though she hears voices of the departed. Brought together by a chance meeting, the women decide to join Marnie on a road trip from Wisconsin to Las Vegas where she intends to reunite with Troy, the boy she raised as her own—and who she’s been separated from since her boyfriend’s death. Little do they know that as the road trip unfolds, so will their lives—in directions they never anticipated. Humorous, heartwarming, and bittersweet, the journey has something special in store for each woman.

Scarlet Sins (e-book), by Julia Madeleine (contest win)

In the prequel to The Truth About Scarlet Rose, life for an unwed teenage mother in the 1960s can be a hard road. Sylvia knows all too well how limited her options are. At seventeen taking a job as a burlesque entertainer to support herself and her baby is her best hope. But choosing to marry an older man and have a family with a cheating, boozing, gambling husband who makes promises he can’t keep, becomes her downfall. And for a woman with limited choices, her decision to commit murder is not one she makes lightly, but carefully plans and executes in cold blood.

“The whole thing plays out like a gorgeous ’50′s-era melodrama. Lyrical and dark and devastating. I could see Powell and Pressburger directing the movie version.” – Heath Lowrance, author of The Bastard Hand.

The Truth About Scarlet Rose (e-book), by Julia Madeleine (contest win)

Scarlet Rose, the once remarkably beautiful, queen of the burlesque scene in 1960s Toronto, has aged into a decrepit bitter alcoholic, living on welfare and her daughter’s handouts—a daughter she forced into the adult entertainment industry at the age of sixteen to support the family. Now in 1983, Scarlet’s wealthy ex-husband has been found tortured and murdered in a hotel room, and her twenty-two-year-old daughter Fiona, must help the police find the killer.

While Fiona navigates her way through the dark recesses of her family’s history, uncovering shocking secrets that threaten to destroy her, Scarlet Rose employs the skills she learns in Sun Tzu’s The Art Of War, fixating on making a new life for herself using other people’s money. But when she befriends a lonely American woman sitting on an inheritance, greed that knows no bounds, cold-blooded murder and identity theft, might just prove to be Scarlet’s undoing.

Murder Uncorked (e-book), by Michele Scott

The murder of a top winemaker sours Nikki Sands’s new job on a Napa Valley vineyard.

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WHAT ARE YOU READING?

Good morning, blog world.  As we look back at the past week, we also welcome in a new one, with book/blogging adventures that lie ahead, including Armchair BEA for those of us not going to New York.

First, let’s take a look back at this past week and my blogging and reading.

TUESDAY POTPOURRI:  WHAT IS HAPPINESS?

FANTASIES, SNIPPETS, & DREAMS

THURSDAY POTPOURRI:  A BOOK, A PAINTING, & MOMENTS FROM THE PAST

KREATIV BLOGGER AWARD:  THANKS, LAURA!

MAY READING WRAP-UP:  A SERIES OF ADVENTURES

SWEET SATURDAY SAMPLES: MORE PRANKS & ADVENTURES

READING, MIMOSAS, & CHOCOLATE

Ocean Beach, by Wendy Wax (Review will be posted on June 15) (Five stars!)

Special Note about Ocean Beach:

Monday, June 4 is the last day to enter Wendy Wax’s giveaway for one of three advance reader copies of her upcoming OCEAN BEACH, to be sent to the winners prior to the June 26^th on sale date.   Best of luck to all!!  Just go to http://www.writerspace.com/contests/ and scroll down to Wendy’s name!

Son of Rosemary, by Ira Levin (three stars)

Ninepins (e-book), by Rosy Thornton (Five stars!)

Still Reading:

American Legacy:  The Story of John and Caroline Kennedy, by C. David Heymann

The Girl Below, by Bianca Zander, (Amazon Vine) So far, it’s quite interesting.

Up Next (Click titles/covers for more info):

Where We Belong, by Emily Giffin (Amazon Vine)

When Madeline Was Young, by Jane Hamilton (from Mt. TBR)

Murder Uncorked (e-book), by Michele Scott

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And that’s my week, past and present.  I hope you’ll stop by and share your own adventures.