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Mar 25, 2012

Mailbox Monday

Welcome to Mailbox Monday, the weekly meme created by Marcia from A girl and her books (formerly The Printed Page) where book lovers share the titles they received for review, purchased, or otherwise obtained over the past week. Mailbox Monday is now on tour, and this month’s host is Diary of An Eccentric. Visit all other Mailbox Monday posts at her blog for the month of March!


My giveaway ended this weekend, and the whole point of obtaining followers didn't exactly work out so I grabbed some of those books and I went to HalfPrice Books and traded them in.

I purchased:
Love's Pursuit by Siri Mitchell (2009) I read some reviews of this one, and it was said to be centered around tough and surprising plot lines and that it is well-written and thought provoking. This is not Amish fiction, although the cover evokes that feel. The brief synopsis gives it little justice:

In Stoneybrooke, Massachusetts, Susannah Phillips obeys the rules.
Dress the right way. Believe the right things. Live the right life.
But when love interferes, she faces a choice:
Follow the rules or follow her heart.


She Walks in Beauty by Siri Mitchell (2010) I picked this one up because of the back cover touting the era of the Gilded Age..
For a young society woman seeking a favorable marriage in the late 1890s, so much depends on her social season debut. Clara Carter has been given one goal: secure the affections of the city's most eligible bachelor. Yet Clara wonders if this is the life she really wants.


The Girl in the Gatehouse by Julie Klassen  (Winner of 2011 Christy Award for Historical Romance) After reading Klassen's newest release, The Lady of Fairbourne Hall, (one of my favorite reads of 2012!) I knew I had to find every single Klassen novel ever written.
Miss Mariah Aubrey, banished after a scandal, hides herself away in a long-abandoned gatehouse on the far edge of a distant relative's estate. There, she supports herself and her loyal servant the only way she knows how--by writing novels in secret.
Captain Matthew Bryant, returning to England successful and wealthy after the Napoleonic wars, leases an impressive estate from a cash-poor nobleman, determined to show the society beauty who once rejected him what a colossal mistake she made. When he discovers an old gatehouse on the property, he is immediately intrigued by its striking young inhabitant and sets out to uncover her identity, and her past. But the more he learns about her, the more he realizes he must distance himself. Falling in love with an outcast would ruin his well-laid plans.
The old gatehouse holds secrets of its own. Can Mariah and Captain Bryant uncover them before the cunning heir to the estate buries them forever?

And I was lucky to have a friend pass on some goodies, and here is a sampling:

The Glass Harmonica by Dorothee E. Kocks (2011)
Dorothee Kocks steals intimate details from American history to craft a novel of sensuality, ecstasy and music that reads at the pace of a thriller.Young Chjara Vall is exiled from Corsica sold as a servant to an opium addict in Paris. Music paves the way for her to flee with Henry, her love, to post-revolutionary America.
Read Arleigh's review at http://historical-fiction.com/?p=4387


The Golden Hour by Margaret Wurtele (2012) I've had my eye on this one for a while!..
In this stunning debut set in the summer of 1944 in Tuscany, Giovanna Bellini, the daughter of a wealthy aristocrat and vineyard owner, has just turned seventeen and is on the cusp of adulthood. War bears down on her peaceful little village after the Italians sign a separate peace with the Allies-transforming the Germans into an occupying army.
Read Arleigh's review at http://historical-fiction.com/?p=4345



The Secret Keeper by Sandra Byrd (2012)
The author of To Die For returns to the court of Henry VIII, as a young woman is caught between love and honor.
Juliana St. John is the daughter of a prosperous knight in Marlborough. Though her family wants her to marry the son of her father’s business partner, circumstances set her on a course toward the court of Henry VIII and his last wife, Kateryn Parr.



Mr. Bishop and the Actress by Janet Mullany (2011)
Janet Mullany, Little Black Dress's historical star, returns with another fantastic Regency page-turner.

What could be more important than a lady's reputation?Although initially alarmed by their unconventional ways, strait-laced Harry Bishop is content in the service of Lord Shad and his family. But when he is sent to London to rescue Shad's wayward relation from debt and self-destruction, he also has the dubious honor of dealing with the man's illicit lover - troublesome actress Sophie Wallace. A man of dignity and decorum, Mr Bishop is desperate to disassociate himself from the scandalous Sophie. Unfortunately, avoiding her proves harder than he could ever have imagined and soon she's causing him all kinds of bother...



And last but certainly not least, an e-reader from a generous friend made its' way to my house.. this one is a Pandigital Novel tablet, and it takes some work arounds and technical patience to go forth and conquer.. but after a few nights of wigging out with its' medieval Android firmware, I think we will learn to be fast friends. I have already read one e-galley off of NetGalley! Thank you to my best blogging buddy! =)