MONDAY MEMES: MAILBOX & WHAT ARE YOU READING? — APRIL 25

MONDAY MEMES

Welcome to our Monday Memes, in which we share books received in the mail, talk about what we did last week, and what we’re planning to do next.

Mailbox Monday is hosted through April by Passages to the Past.

What Are You Reading? is hosted by Book Journey.

MAILBOX MONDAY:

I received no books this week.  However, I did download my eagerly anticipated copy of The Bird Sisters, by Rebecca Rasmussen.

Rasmussen’s debut novel begins like a typical coming-of-age story, but reveals itself to be a singular portrayal of familial sacrifice and loss. As elderly women, sisters Twiss and Milly live alone in the house where they grew up in Spring Green, Wis. They spend their days tending to injured birds and roaming their land, lost in memories. For Milly, there is the constant reminder of what could have been. Twiss spent her childhood happily trailing behind their golf-pro father, but Milly dreamed about a family and children that never happened. There was hope for a young Milly, until an accident strips their father of his golfing abilities and sets in motion a series of events that rips apart the already unstable family. Dad retreats to the barn, and mom bemoans her choice to marry for love, leaving behind her wealthy family; a cousin who was thought to be a friend becomes an unexpected rival; and the sisters are left with only each other. As young women, and as old ones, they learn that their relationship is rewarding, but not without consequence. Achingly authentic and almost completely character driven, the story of the sisters depicts the endlessly binding ties of family. (Apr.)

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WHAT ARE YOU READING?

This has been a great week.

Here are some blog posts I enjoyed:

Four Things Meme

Booking Through Thursday – Covers

Three Year Blogoversary & Giveaway

Weekend Potpourri – Reorganization

Saturday Snapshot – Favorites

Books Read & Reviewed-Click Titles for Reviews:

1.  Manic, by Terri Cheney

2.  Life After Forty, by Dora Heldt

3.  Night Road, by Kristin Hannah

Ongoing Read: (Just Finished!)

Ten Beach Road, by Wendy Wax (Just posted my review and Q & A…click the title for the post).

What’s Up Next?

1.  Old Loves Die Hard, by Lauren Carr

In this sequel to It’s Murder, My Son, Mac Faraday is settling nicely into his new life at Spencer Manor when his ex-wife Christine shows up—and she wants him back!  Before Mac can send her packing, Christine and her estranged lover are murdered in Mac’s private penthouse suite at Spencer Inn….

2.   Friday’s Daughter, by Patricia Sprinkle

A contemporary novel of sisterhood, the South, and matters of the heart.

3.  The Tapestry of Love, by Rosy Thornton

A warm and uplifting story of how a woman falls in love with a place and its people: a landscape, a community and a fragile way of life. A rural idyll: that’s what Catherine is seeking when she sells her house in England and moves to a tiny hamlet in the Cévennes mountains. With her divorce in the past and her children grown, she is free to make a new start, and her dream is to set up in business as a seamstress. But this is a harsh and lonely place when you’re no longer just here on holiday. There is French bureaucracy to contend with, not to mention the mountain weather, and the reserve of her neighbours, including the intriguing Patrick Castagnol. And that’s before the arrival of Catherine’s sister, Bryony…

4.  Domestic Pleasures, by Beth Gutcheon

If Rosamunde Pilcher lived in 1980s Manhattan, she might come up with a romantic novel like this one. A large cast of characters is involved in various sorts of relationships; at the center are illustrator Martha Forbes and lawyer Charlie Leveque. Following the death of her ex-husband, Raymond, in a plane crash, Martha is dismayed to learn that Charlie, the lawyer who handled Raymond’s hostile divorce proceedings, is now in charge of the estate. Although the two have little in common–except broken marriages and one teenager apiece–they’re forced to work together. Gradually, the superficial barriers between them fall and they find themselves in love–and beset by other problems….

So that’s my week!  What are the rest of you up to this week?  I hope you stop by and share.