Mailbox Monday and In My Mailbox - February 20, 2012

"Mailbox Monday" is the brainchild of Marcia and is set up on its own blog here:  http://mailboxmonday.wordpress.com/

February's host is Metroreader!   Hop on over, link up, and join the fun!

"In My Mailbox" is hosted by The Story Siren

Every week we'll post about what books we have that week (via your mailbox/library/store bought)! Everyone that agrees to participate will try to visit each other's list and leave comments!  Everyone is welcome to join! You can join at anytime and you DO NOT have to participate every week.

I guarantee that you will add to your reading list by visiting the participating blogs in both of these memes!

Here are the books I've received in the past TWO weeks:

The Christmas Wedding by James Patterson and Richard Dilallo - WON from Martha at Martha's Bookshelf (THANKS, Martha!) -  (The Book Depository / Amazon)

Goodreads description:

The tree is decorated, the cookies are baked, and the packages are wrapped, but the biggest celebration this Christmas is Gaby Summerhill's wedding. Since her husband died three years ago, Gaby's four children have drifted apart, each consumed by the turbulence of their own lives. They haven't celebrated Christmas together since their father's death, but when Gaby announces that she's getting married--and that the groom will remain a secret until the wedding day--she may finally be able to bring them home for the holidays.

But the wedding isn't Gaby's only surprise--she has one more gift for her children, and it could change all their lives forever. With deeply affecting characters and the emotional twists of a James Patterson thriller, The Christmas Wedding is a fresh look at family and the magic of the season.

White Horse by Alex Adams - ARC for review from publisher - Releases April 17, 2012 - (The Book Depository / Amazon)

Goodreads description:

"White Horse" is the first book in an absolutely unique debut trilogy--a post-apocalyptic thriller chronicling one woman's quest to nurture those she holds dear against the backdrop of a shocking, new world.Thirty-year-old Zoe wants to go back to college. That's why she cleans cages and floors at GeneTech. If she can keep her head down, do her job, and avoid naming the mice she'll be fine. Her life is calm, maybe even boring, until the end of the world when the President of the United States announces that humans are no longer a viable species. 


Zoe starts running the moment she realizes everyone she loves is gone. Her boyfriend Nick, fearing he's contracted the virus, leaves for Greece. When Zoe discovers she's pregnant--and entirely alone--she treks across the world to find Nick and reunite her growing family. On the way she encounters characters both needy and nefarious--some human, some monster, and some uncertain beings altered by genetic mutation. On her journey, Zoe comes to see that humanity is defined not by genetic code, but by soulful actions and choices.

Told in alternating before and after chapters, "White Horse" is a terrifying and romantic story that readers will be unable to put down.

The Bedlam Detective by Stephen Gallagher - ARC for review from the publisher - Releases February 7, 2012 - (The Book Depository / Amazon)

Goodreads description:

The author of "The Kingdom of Bones" returns with a beautifully written literary thriller featuring madmen who see monsters and monsters who hide in plain sight--a powerful story of class, family, and insanity.


I kept looking at this cover and getting that deja vu feeling, and then I realized:

it reminds me of the cover of The Map of Time!  Same top hat and somewhat of the same silhouette - I like it!  It kind of gives me that gothic Victorian feeling.

The Maid of Fairbourne Hall by Julie Klassen - For review from the publisher - Released January 1, 2012 - (The Book Depository / Amazon)

Goodreads description:

Fleeing a dishonorable man, Margaret abandons her pampered upper-class world for an anonymous life "below stairs." But will danger or love find her first?

One Hundred Years of Solitude by  Gabriel García Márquez, Gregory Rabassa - A lovely leatherbound classic Purchased from Barnes and Noble - officially signalling the end of my book-buying ban - although I am participating in the The TBR Double Dare  which means that I can't actually READ this until April. :)

Goodreads description:

First published in 1967, Gabriel Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude stands as not only its author's masterpiece, but also as one of the great works of modern literature. Indeed, its artful unfolding of seven generations of a family in a small Columbian town elevates magical realism to the level of epic. This gorgeous leatherbound edition presents this modern classic in the elegant setting that it so justly deserves.

The Lantern by Deborah Lawrenson - For review through TLC Book Tours - Paperback release February 28, 2012 - (The Book Depository / Amazon) - I've wanted this one ever since its original release in hardcover and now I get it for review, which is awesome!

Goodreads description:

When Eve falls for the secretive, charming Dom, their whirlwind relationship leads them to purchase Les Genevriers, an abandoned house in a rural hamlet in the south of France. As the beautiful Provence summer turns to autumn, Eve finds it impossible to ignore the mysteries that haunt both her lover and the run-down old house, in particular the mysterious disappearance of his beautiful first wife, Rachel. Whilst Eve tries to untangle the secrets surrounding Rachel's last recorded days, Les Genevriers itself seems to come alive. As strange events begin to occur with frightening regularity, Eve's voice becomes intertwined with that of Benedicte Lincel, a girl who lived in the house decades before. As the tangled skeins of the house's history begin to unravel, the tension grows between Dom and Eve. In a page-turning race, Eve must fight to discover the fates of both Benedicte and Rachel, before Les Genevriers' dark history has a chance to repeat itself.

Calico Joe by John Grisham - For review from the publisher - Releases April 10, 2012 - (The Book Depository / Amazon)

Goodreads description:

A surprising and moving novel of fathers and sons, forgiveness and redemption, set in the world of Major League Baseball…
 
Whatever happened to Calico Joe?

     It began quietly enough with a pulled hamstring. The first baseman for the Cubs AAA affiliate in Wichita went down as he rounded third and headed for home. The next day, Jim Hickman, the first baseman for the Cubs, injured his back. The team suddenly needed someone to play first, so they reached down to their AA club in Midland, Texas, and called up a twenty-one-year-old named Joe Castle. He was the hottest player in AA and creating a buzz.

In the summer of 1973 Joe Castle was the boy wonder of baseball, the greatest rookie anyone had ever seen.  The kid from Calico Rock, Arkansas dazzled Cub fans as he hit home run after home run, politely tipping his hat to the crowd as he shattered all rookie records.

Calico Joe quickly became the idol of every baseball fan in America, including Paul Tracey, the young son of a hard-partying and hard-throwing Mets pitcher. On the day that Warren Tracey finally faced Calico Joe, Paul was in the stands, rooting for his idol but also for his Dad. Then Warren threw a fastball that would change their lives forever…

In John Grisham’s new novel the baseball is thrilling, but it’s what happens off the field that makes CALICO JOE a classic.

The House of Velvet and Glass by Katherine How - For review from the publisher - Releases April 10, 2012 - (The Book Depository / Amazon)

Goodreads description:

Katherine Howe, author of the phenomenal New York Times bestseller The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane, returns with an entrancing historical novel set in Boston in 1915, where a young woman stands on the cusp of a new century, torn between loss and love, driven to seek answers in the depths of a crystal ball.

Still reeling from the deaths of her mother and sister on the Titanic, Sibyl Allston is living a life of quiet desperation with her taciturn father and scandal-plagued brother in an elegant town house in Boston’s Back Bay. Trapped in a world over which she has no control, Sibyl flees for solace to the parlor of a table-turning medium.

But when her brother is suddenly kicked out of Harvard under mysterious circumstances and falls under the sway of a strange young woman, Sibyl turns for help to psychology professor Benton Derby, despite the unspoken tensions of their shared past. As Benton and Sibyl work together to solve a harrowing mystery, their long-simmering spark flares to life, and they realize that there may be something even more magical between them than a medium’s scrying glass.

From the opium dens of Boston’s Chinatown to the opulent salons of high society, from the back alleys of colonial Shanghai to the decks of the Titanic, The House of Velvet and Glass weaves together meticulous period detail, intoxicating romance, and a final shocking twist that will leave readers breathless.

What goodies arrived in YOUR mailboxes?  Please leave a link to YOUR "In My Mailbox/Mailbox Monday" post(s) in the comments (I'd love to come visit)!