MONDAY FROM THE INTERIOR: MAILBOX MONDAY & WHAT ARE YOU READING? — FEB. 18

Welcome to another week of bookish fun.  Join in with those who celebrate Mailbox Monday, hosted in February by Unabridged Chick; and What Are You Reading?, hosted by Book Journey.

MAILBOX MONDAY:

This week brought two review books in the mail…and a free download for Sparky.

1.  The Day After Yesterday, by Kelly Cozy (From the Author)

The events of a single night can change a life forever, as musician Daniel Whitman discovers when he loses his family and home. Overwhelmed by grief, unable to find solace in his music or accept comfort from his friends, he flees up the California coast. Daniel thinks he’s leaving everything behind, but his journey will take him to the places and people that will help him find his way back. The Day After Yesterday is a story of hope, friendship, and the redemptive power of music.

2.  Her, by Christa Parravani (Publisher)

A blazingly passionate memoir of identity and love: when a charismatic and troubled young woman dies tragically, her identical twin must struggle to survive

Christa Parravani and her identical twin, Cara, were linked by a bond that went beyond siblinghood, beyond sisterhood, beyond friendship. Raised up from poverty by a determined single mother, the gifted and beautiful twins were able to create a private haven of splendor and merriment between themselves and then earn their way to a prestigious college and to careers as artists (a photographer and a writer, respectively) and to young marriages. But, haunted by childhood experiences with father figures and further damaged by being raped as a young adult, Cara veered off the path to robust work and life and in to depression, drugs and a shocking early death.

A few years after Cara was gone, Christa read that when an identical twin dies, regardless of the cause, 50 percent of the time the surviving twin dies within two years; and this shocking statistic rang true to her. “Flip a coin,” she thought,” those were my chances of survival.” First, Christa fought to stop her sister’s downward spiral; suddenly, she was struggling to keep herself alive.

Beautifully written, mesmerizingly rich and true, Christa Parravani’s account of being left, one half of a whole, and of her desperate, ultimately triumphant struggle for survival is informative, heart-wrenching and unforgettably beautiful.

3.  The Summer of France (e-book), by Paulita Kincer (From Book Blogger Paulita, at An Accidental Blog)

When Fia Jennings loses her job at the local newspaper, she thinks she’ll have the chance to bond with her teenage twins. As she realizes she may be too late to create the perfect family, she’s saved by a phone call from her great Uncle Martin who runs a bed and breakfast in Provence. Uncle Martin wants Fia to venture to France to run the B&B so he and his wife Lucie can travel. He doesn’t tell Fia about the secret he hid in the house when he married Lucie after fighting in World War II, and he doesn’t mention the people who are tapping his phone and following him, hoping to find the secret.
After much cajoling, Fia whisks her family to France and is stunned when Uncle Martin and Aunt Lucie leave the same day for a Greek cruise. She’s thrown into the minutiae of a running the B&B without the benefit of speaking the language. Her dreams of family bonding time fade as her teenagers make French friends. Kasie joins a local swim team, riding off to practice on the back of a scooter each morning, hips tucked next to the 18-year-old French boy who teaches her to smoke brown cigarettes and drink red wine. West accompanies a pouty French teenager around the city, playing his guitar in the town squares to earn spending money. Fia’s husband Grayson begins touring the countryside with a pretty French woman, and Fia resists the distractions of Christophe, a handsome French man. Why the whirlwind of French welcome, Fia wonders after she comes home from a day at the beach in Nice to find someone has ransacked the B&B.
Fia parses Uncle Martin’s obscure phone calls, trying to figure out this WW II hero’s secret. Can she assuage Uncle Martin’s World War II guilt and build the family she’s always dreamed of?

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WHAT ARE YOU READING?

Here we are in a new week, contemplating what has come before…and what lies ahead.  Eagerly ready to meander around the blogosphere, finding lovely books to add to our stacks, we bring our coffee and our conversation.

Last Week in My Blogging World:

On Monday, I wrote a Monday Potpourri:  Musings post about some of my reading habits.  Then I traipsed over the Story Corner to share A Lazy Monday:  Books, Movies, & Creative Pursuits.

My Thursday Potpourri: Valentine’s Tidbits was obviously a nod to that day.

Over at An Interior Journey, I had winners at the 100 Followers Giveaway.  And at Curl up and Read, there was a winner for the February Bookshelf Clearing Giveaway.

My Sweet Saturday Sample launched excerpts from another WIP, Defining Moments: 

Finally…Saturday Potpourri:  Quiet Reading, Feeding Sparky, and Surfing the Net.

Reading-Click Titles for Reviews:

1.  The Year of the Gadfly, by Jennifer Miller

2.  Blue Jeans & Coffee Beans, by Joanne DeMaio (Review will be up on 3/11 for blog tour stop – Rainy Days and Mondays)

3.  Sign of the Times (e-book), by Susan Buchanan

4.  Autobiography of Us, by Aria Beth Sloss.

What’s Up Next?  Click Titles/Covers for More Info:

1.  Emancipating Alice (e-book), by Ada Winder (review book)

2.  After the Rain (e-book), by Karen White (Sequel Challenge)

3.    Evil at Heart, Chelsea Cain (Sequel Challenge)

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And that’s all I’m planning…but in case I have time on my hands, I have many more books on the stacks!  I hope you’ll stop by and chat….and bring some coffee.