In My Mailbox: Week of April 21
Title: Somewhere Between Black and White
Author: Shelly Hickman
Received: Via CLP Blog Tours
Synopsis: Romance, humor, family drama, with a touch of Buddhism. Sound interesting?
When approaching life’s problems, Sophie sees in black and white. That is, when they’re someone else’s problems. So when it comes to her sister, Sophie is sure she has all the answers, and offers them without hesitation. If only her sister would listen.
Then, through a series of chance encounters, she meets Sam, who is witty, kind, and downright unflappable. Sophie has the overwhelming sense that she’s known him before, and as a relationship builds between them, odd visions invade her mind. Though she tries to dismiss them, their persistence will not allow it.
As someone who is quick to judge others, she is intrigued by Sam’s ability to accept people as they are. She begins to see him as a role model, but try as she may, his accepting nature is difficult to emulate.
Will Sophie ever be able to put her hasty judgments aside and realize not every problem has a simple solution?
Title: Getting Skinny
Author: Monique Domovitch
Received: Via CLP Blog Tours
Synopsis: Owning a restaurant is as crazy for Nicky Landry as an alcoholic owning a bar. But despite having to cram herself into a body shaper to look decent in a dress, life is pretty good. She’s throwing the party of the year for her graduating doctor boyfriend, Rob, who she’s sure is going to propose—until his new girlfriend shows up at the party.
After ordering Rob to get his stuff out of her house and get lost, Nicky finds him faceup with her expensive Chroma knife sticking right out of his cheating heart.
As the prime suspect, Nicky is in hot water. And no matter how hard she tries to clear her name, her problems only mount. She’s convinced she can solve the murder—if only she can figure out the identity of the skinny person seen walking away with Rob after the party.
Getting “Skinny” won’t be easy for Nicky, but she never imagined it would be life or death…
Title: The Comedy Diva Diaries
Author: Kirsten Van Ritzen
Received: From Kirsten Van Ritzen
Synopsis: The Comedy Diva Diaries is the tale of a twenty-nine year old comedienne who gives herself an ultimatum: achieve success before her next birthday, or die trying.
Our sassy, deluded and insecure heroine endures disastrous stand-up gigs and humiliating TV commercial auditions. Her rich boyfriend, pampered pooch, flamboyant agent, dysfunctional family and back-stabbing rivals aren’t much help. On the brink of emotional collapse, Diva finds inspiration in a self help book, and makes the fateful decision to move across the continent in pursuit of the Hollywood dream.
Will Diva admit defeat? Or will she find fame and fortune before turning thirty?
Title: Call Me Zelda
Author: Erika Robuck
Received: Penguin Group
Synopsis: Everything in the ward seemed different now, and I no longer felt its calming presence. The Fitzgeralds stirred something in me that had been dormant for a long time, and I was not prepared to face it….
From New York to Paris, Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald reigned as king and queen of the Jazz Age, seeming to float on champagne bubbles above the mundane cares of the world. But to those who truly knew them, the endless parties were only a distraction from their inner turmoil, and from a love that united them with a scorching intensity.
When Zelda is committed to a Baltimore psychiatric clinic in 1932, vacillating between lucidity and madness in her struggle to forge an identity separate from her husband, the famous writer, she finds a sympathetic friend in her nurse, Anna Howard. Held captive by her own tragic past, Anna is increasingly drawn into the Fitzgeralds’ tumultuous relationship. As she becomes privy to Zelda’s most intimate confessions, written in a secret memoir meant only for her, Anna begins to wonder which Fitzgerald is the true genius. But in taking ever greater emotional risks to save Zelda, Anna may end up paying a far higher price than she intended….
Title: What She Left Us
Author: Stephanie Elliott
Received: From Stephanie Elliott
Synopsis: Jenna and Courtney are dealing with the unexpected death of their mother in different ways. Jenna broke off her engagement to the man she thought she’d love forever, while Courtney headed back to college to take charge of a dorm-floor full of college students as a resident assistant.
Six months later, Jenna is fueled by panic over the news that the sisters may have the same disease that caused their mother’s death and she makes an irrational decision – she packs it up and heads to college to be with Courtney. The timing couldn’t be worse for Courtney, who’s discovering love for the first time with Mitch, a sexy guitar player who may just be off limits.
Emotionally unstable, Jenna wonders if she made the worst mistake of her life by breaking off her engagement with Darren, and when he shows up to make amends, she can’t help but second-guess her decision. But then there’s Clay, the compassionate bartender at Klippy’s who seems to understand everything Jenna’s going through. And those hazel eyes just seem to see right through to Jenna’s soul…
As the girls maneuver through their unpredictable futures, trying to manage their new health risks as well as tumultuous love lives, Courtney finds a disturbing photograph that indicates there may be more to their family than she ever imagined.
This stunning revelation could shatter the sisters to the very core, making them question everything they thought they knew about their family, their faith, their past and, most of all, each other.
