Mailbox Monday

Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week.

Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles, and humongous wish lists!!

Mailbox Monday, created by Marcia @ A Girl and Her Books, has a permanent home now at Mailbox Monday.

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Here’s a shout out to the administrators:
Emma @ Words And peace

Serena @ Savvy Verse And Wit
Martha @ Reviews By Martha's Bookshelf 

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                THANKS to everyone for keeping Mailbox Monday alive.

This week my daughter and I went to a book event. Kristin Harmel and the other three from Friends and Fiction were in Huntsville, AL for Kristin's big book release for THE PARIS DAUGHTER. They are all so sweet and down to earth. They put on a bit of a show for us with reading a part of Kristin's book THE PARIS DAUGHTER. It was so cute and they did marvelous. I paid for my daughter to go with me and it was a great mother/daughter thing. She loves reading but not like I do. lol But she does read and reads a lot.

This is Kristin Harmel in front of almost 400 people who came to see her talk about her book. If you are not a part of Friends and Fiction on Facebook you should be. It's a great group and has four of the best authors hosting it always. Everyone is very friendly and we discuss all books.

This is the group of authors that was in Huntsville, AL Tuesday night in Huntsville, AL. From the far right I'm so sorry but I forgot the names of the to on the far left. The authors are L-R Kristin Harmel, Mary Kay Andrews, Kristy Woodson Harvey, and Patti Callahan Henry. It was so much fun. 

Included with the ticket was a hardback copy of Kristin Harmel's THE PARIS DAUGHTER. I've read and reviewed it already. It's great.

From the bestselling author of The Book of Lost Names comes a gripping historical novel about two mothers who must make unthinkable choices in the face of the Nazi occupation.

Paris, 1939: Young mothers Elise and Juliette become fast friends the day they meet in the beautiful Bois de Boulogne. Though there is a shadow of war creeping across Europe, neither woman suspects that their lives are about to irrevocably change.

When Elise becomes a target of the German occupation, she entrusts Juliette with the most precious thing in her life—her young daughter, playmate to Juliette’s own little girl. But nowhere is safe in war, not even a quiet little bookshop like Juliette’s Librairie des Rêves, and, when a bomb falls on their neighborhood, Juliette’s world is destroyed along with it.

More than a year later, with the war finally ending, Elise returns to reunite with her daughter, only to find her friend’s bookstore reduced to rubble—and Juliette nowhere to be found. What happened to her daughter in those last, terrible moments? Juliette has seemingly vanished without a trace, taking all the answers with her. Elise’s desperate search leads her to New York—and to Juliette—one final, fateful time.

I bought a copy of Mary Kay Andrews's book and she signed it for me. It will be my first by her. I also have a copy coming in Sept in the mail. 

THE HOMEWRECKERS by Mary Kay Andrews

Hattie Kavanaugh went to work helping clean up restored homes for Kavanaugh & Son Restorations at 18; married the boss’s son at 20; and was only 25 when her husband, Hank, was killed in a motorcycle accident.

Broken hearted, but determined to continue the business of their dreams, she takes the life insurance money, buys a small house in a gentrifying neighborhood, flips it, then puts the money into her next project. But that house is a disaster and a money-loser, which rocks her confidence for years to come. Then, Hattie gets a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity: star in a beach house renovation reality show called The Homewreckers, cast against a male lead who may be a love interest, or may be the ultimate antagonist. It's a question of who will flip, and who will flop, and will Hattie ever get her happily-ever-after.

Received:

1: BYE, BABY by Carola Lovering

    Courtesy of NetGalley via the Publisher

A missing baby. A fraught friendship. A secret that can never be told.

On a brisk fall night in a New York apartment, 35-year-old Billie West hears terrified screams. It's her lifelong best friend Cassie Barnwell, one floor above, and she's just realized her infant daughter has gone missing. Billie is shaken as she looks down into her own arms to see the baby, remembering—with a jolt of fear—that she is responsible for the kidnapping that has instantly shattered Cassie’s world.

So begins the story of Billie and Cassie's friendship--both in recent weeks, and since they met twenty-three years ago, in their small Hudson Valley hometown the summer before seventh grade. Once fiercely bonded by their secrets, including a traumatic, unspeakable incident in high school, Cassie and Billie have drifted apart in adulthood, no longer the inseparable pair they used to be. Cassie is married to a wealthy man, has recently become a mother, and is building a following as a fashion and lifestyle influencer. She is desperate to leave her past behind--including Billie, who is single and childless, and no longer fits into her world. Hurt and rejected by Cassie’s new priorities, Billie will do anything to restore their friendship, even as she hides the truth about what really happened the night the baby was taken.

Told in alternating perspectives in Lovering’s signature suspenseful style, Bye Baby confronts the myriad ways friendships change and evolve over time, the lingering echoes of childhood trauma, and the impact of women’s choices on their lifelong relationships.

2: HER LAST TEAR by Stacy Green

    courtesy of NetGalley via the Publisher

Color explodes in the night sky, every boom and spray of lights getting louder cheers from the happy crowd. But two little girls are hiding in fear. “I want my mommy,” Abby whispers. A tear falls down her cheek as she clutches her sister’s hand and darkness finally falls…

When six-year-old Abby and nine-year-old Thea are snatched from a crowd at a fireworks display, Detective Nikki Hunt is determined to return the sweet sisters, with golden curls and laughing smiles, to their desperate mother Britney . The last person to see them alive witnessed the girls being led towards the docks by someone they seemed to know.

As Nikki begins her interviews, she’s shocked to learn that Britney has a dark secret . Ten years ago she ran away from Thea’s biological father, a man Britney claims was controlling and dangerous. Certain he must have taken the girls, Nikki urges the state troopers in nearby Thief River Falls to search the isolated ranch where he lives. But he is devastated to hear the girls are missing, and had no idea that Thea was even his daughter…

Then a witness comes forward claiming they saw a young boy clutching Thea’s little pink backpack at the fireworks. Nikki knows he’s the key to finding the girls alive, but she has no idea that someone on her team will do anything to keep his identity a secret. Unable to trust those closest to her, can Nikki unravel the truth and save Thea and Abby before their innocent lives are lost?

An absolutely gripping and totally addictive thriller from USA Today bestseller Stacy Green that will keep you racing through the pages all night long. Fans of Lisa Regan, Rachel Caine and Melinda Leigh will devour this thriller in one sitting!

I got three BOOK OF THE MONTH books and in this picture is the copy of THE HOMEWRECKERS too. I look forward to each book.

1: RIVER SING ME HOME by Eleanor Shearer

2: THE GREAT ALONE by Kristin Hannah

3: THE WISHING GAME by Meg Shaffer

4: THE HOMEWRECKERS by Mary Kay Andres

I've had a big book week but only requested and was approved for two NetGalley books. One was actually an email with a link asking me if I would read/review and I decided too. I think I did good.