Monday, April 16, 2012

Mailbox Monday -- April 16th


Welcome to Mailbox Monday which is hosted this month by Cindy at Cindy's Love of Books. Below are the books I received this week:

1) Gossip by Beth Gutcheon. Publisher's Summary. Loviah “Lovie” French owns a small, high-end dress shop on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. Renowned for her taste, charm, and discretion, Lovie is the one to whom certain women turn when they need “just the thing” for key life events: baptisms and balls, weddings and funerals. Among those who depend on Lovie’s sage advice are her two best friends since boarding school days: Dinah Wainwright and Avis Metcalf. Despite the love they share for their mutual friend, there has always been a chilly gulf between Dinah and Avis, the result of a perceived slight from decades ago that has unimaginably tragic echoes many years later.

An astute chronicler of all that makes us human, Beth Gutcheon delivers her most powerful and emotionally devastating novel to date. Gossip is a tale of intimacy and betrayal, trust and fidelity, friendship and motherhood that explores the way we use “information” — be it true, false, or imagined — to sustain, and occasionally destroy, one another.

Thanks to FSB Associates!

2) Doing Italians oops Italy by The Delusional Divas. Publisher's Summary. Picture it — the new millennium. Shelby and Dena, modern-day Lucy and Ethel (sans Ricky and Fred) are loose in Italy looking for adventure. But this story, complete with zany mishaps and misadventures, has a few tiny twists. For one, Shelby’s burnished skin tones reveal that her Lucy’s ancestors had taken a detour through Africa and mingled, so to speak. Secondly, Dena’s Ethel really has a Fred, perhaps not as long in the tooth, but just as crabby. Thirdly, Shelby and Dena’s adventure is no sitcom. It is the real life humorous, yet poignant, tale of childhood friends — one white, one black, one a stay-at-home mom, the other a law librarian —setting off for the Land of the Boot and the voyage of a lifetime.

Done with Dr. Phil and weary of Louise Hay, Dena and Shelby were middle-aged New Yorkers who had had it with their dreary lives and with every self-help guru who was no help at all. Between them, the pair figured they had more fix-your-life books than the Library of Congress. Name any ISM, and they had tried it…Catholicism, Buddhism, Hypnotism, even Wiccaism. All to no avail.

About to give up and accept their lot, the ladies stumbled upon their truth. The answer was not in an ISM, but in an ION, as in DELUSION. Focusing on the dismal reality of their lives was wasted energy. Why not concentrate on their dreams and what they wanted? What did they want? That was simple. Dena and Shelby wanted to be Divas, the desire of every man and envy of every woman. Their game plan — pretend those dreams were reality. Hence, delusion became Dena and Shelby’s new paradigm.

With the purchase of each new hat, every confectionary bra and panty set, and each high-cut skirt and low-cut top, the harried housewife and bespectacled librarian embraced their delusion of Divahood. Then, hatboxes and steamer trunks in tow, the ditsy duo set out for romantic Italy, Shelby to rekindle a long-ago romance and Dena to kindle whatever she could. As one might imagine, the ladies’ delusions garnered wholly unexpected results. Their journey was one of self discovery and life-altering events that serves as a blueprint for others.

Thanks to the authors!

3) Starters by Lissa Price. Publisher's Summary. In the future, teens rent their bodies to seniors who want to be young again. One girl discovers her renter plans to do more than party--her body will commit murder, if her mind can't stop it. Sixteen-year-old Callie lost her parents when the genocide spore wiped out everyone except those who were vaccinated first--the very young and very old. With no grandparents to claim Callie and her little brother, they go on the run, living as squatters, and fighting off unclaimed renegades who would kill for a cookie. Hope comes via Prime Destinations, run by a mysterious figure known only as The Old Man. He hires teens to rent their bodies to seniors, known as enders, who get to be young again. Callie's neurochip malfunctions and she wakes up in the life of her rich renter, living in her mansion, driving her cars, even dating Blake, the grandson of a senator. It's a fairy-tale new life . . . until she uncovers the Body Bank's horrible plan.

Thanks to Delacorte Press!

12 comments:

  1. I'm only familiar with Gossip. Enjoy the new books- stay cool today, hot here.

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  2. All new to me! have a good week.

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  3. I got Gossip too ( I won it) and can't wait to get to it. Beth Gutcheon is a great writer. Enjoy your new books.

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  4. I've been seeing Gossip around quite a bit over the last couple of weeks. Enjoy your new goodies!

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  5. I've just started Gossip on audio and it's great so far. Enjoy your new books.

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  6. I have been seeing alot of Gossip in people's IMMs and wow Starters I am intrigued by that book. Will probably pick it up soon. enjoy

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  7. Enjoy your books. I love the sounds of Doing Italians...oops...Italy.

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  8. I'm curious about the second book! Gossip was pretty good - the first of Beth Gutcheon's books I've read. Have a great week!

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  9. Haven't seen either of these books. I hope they are good reads for you!

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  10. Gossip sounds very good! I think it needs to be put on my wish list! I'll keep an eye out for your thoughts on it!

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  11. Starters sounds really interesting. Can't wait to read your thoughts on it.

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