In Samantha’s Mailbox:
Title: Eleusis
Author: Genevieve Fairbrother
Received: Via CLP Blog Tours
Synopsis: Macy needs a break. Her parents are dead and now a moody trespasser has set up camp on the property she has inherited. When the stranger confesses himself to be an ageless sea-god and tells Macy she has been guarding a secret she never knew existed, her once simple life takes a drastic turn. Just when she thinks it can’t get any stranger, a back door to the Underworld opens up and it’s time to run like hell.
Mythology and contemporary life collide as this fast-paced novel explodes and dark forces tracking Macy surface to capture her. In the transatlantic chase that follows, she learns of her forgotten past and a centuries-old connection to the sea-god who helps her escape. A tragic miscalculation derails Macy and in a moment of self-sacrifice she ends up where it all began, trapped in the Underworld.
Has she learned enough about her past to forge a meaningful future? Utterly alone, she realizes that to gain real freedom, she must reject her assigned place in history and in doing so risk everything.
Events challenge her whilst she comes to grips with her legacy and decides what she wants in life. Family betrayal, sinister plot twists, and unlikely friends fill this exhilarating story of one woman’s journey to shape her future as she learns her true identity and strives to become a force in her own right.
Eleusis by Genevieve Fairbrother is one-of-a-kind contemporary paranormal adventure novel that narrates a unique perspective on women and relationships using the life of one immortal woman moving through time.
Title: Orphan Train
Author: Christina Baker Kline
Received: SheReads
Synopsis: Orphan Train is a gripping story of friendship and second chances from Christina Baker Kline, author of Bird in Hand and The Way Life Should Be.
Penobscot Indian Molly Ayer is close to “aging out” out of the foster care system. A community-service position helping an elderly woman clean out her home is the only thing keeping Molly out of juvie and worse….
As she helps Vivian sort through her possessions and memories, Molly learns that she and Vivian aren’t as different as they seem to be. A young Irish immigrant orphaned in New York City, Vivian was put on a train to the Midwest with hundreds of other children whose destinies would be determined by luck and chance. Molly discovers that she has the power to help Vivian find answers to mysteries that have haunted her for her entire life – answers that will ultimately free them both.
Rich in detail and epic in scope, Orphan Train is a powerful novel of upheaval and resilience, of unexpected friendship, and of the secrets we carry that keep us from finding out who we are.
Title: Shake Down the Stars
Author: Renee Swindle
Received: Penguin
Synopsis: Piper Nelson is stuck. She can’t quite stay away from the husband she divorced. She isn’t always attentive to the high school students she teaches. And even she admits that she’s been drinking too much and seeking out unsuitable men. Piper’s mother, married to a celebrity evangelist, and her sister, immersed in plans to wed a professional football player and star in a reality TV show, are both too self-absorbed to sympathize with Piper’s angst. They tell her to get a grip. But how can Piper ever really recover from the blow she suffered five years ago, when a car accident took the life of her young daughter?
When Piper’s ex-husband announces his new girlfriend is pregnant, Piper is forced to take stock. Realizing that it’s time for a change is one step, but actually making it happen is quite another. And despite what she thinks, Piper can’t do it alone Lucky for her, a couple of crazy, funny new friends are ready to step in when she needs them most…and show her how to live and laugh again.
Title: Double Click
Author: Lisa Becker
Received: Lisa Becker
Synopsis: Fans of the romantic hit Click: An Online Love Story will enjoy another voyeuristic dive into the lives of Renee, Shelley, Ashley, Mark and Ethan, as Double Click picks up with their lives six months later. Are Renee and Ethan soul mates? Does Mark ever go on a date? Has Shelley run out of sexual conquests in Los Angeles? Will Ashley’s judgmental nature sabotage her budding relationship? Through a marriage proposal, wedding, new baby and unexpected love twist, Double Click answers these questions and more. Readers will continue to cheer, laugh, cry and cringe following the email exploits of Renee and friends.
Title: Marriage Matters
Author: Cynthia Ellingsen
Received: Penguin
Synopsis: She barely has time to attend a wedding, let alone plan one, but Chloe has just caught the bouquet. So has her married mother… and her widowed grandmother. With three generations set to walk down the aisle, each “I do” sounds more improbable than the last.
On top of grad school, clinical hours, and part-time work, Chloe is surprised to find a ring on her finger. Sharing the news about the engagement is easy, except with her best friend. Their relationship has always been platonic…so why is Chloe so afraid he is going to object?
Kristine is successful at running her travel bookstore, but her twenty-five year marriage is on the rocks. When her husband suggests a vow renewal ceremony, she agrees to say I Do…until a tempting employee makes her wonder whether or not she wants to be married at all.
June knows what’s best for her and everyone around her. Given a second chance at love, she’s delighted to plan the family wedding of her dreams. But when June gets a little carried away in her enthusiasm, she risks losing more than the love of her life… she risks losing her family.
In Cynthia Ellingsen’s heartwarming and hilarious novel of first loves, second chances, and unexpected twists, three generations of brides-to-be discover that love is always better as a family affair.
Title: Girl Unmoored
Author: Jennifer Gooch Hummer
Received: SheKnows
Synopsis: Apron Bramhall has come unmoored. Fortunately, she’s about to be saved by Jesus. Not that Jesus—the actor who plays him in Jesus Christ Superstar. Apron is desperate to avoid the look-alike Mike, who’s suddenly everywhere, until she’s stuck in church with him one day. Then something happens—Apron’s broken teenage heart blinks on for the first time since she’s been adrift.Mike and his boyfriend, Chad, offer her a summer job in their flower store, and Apron’s world seems to calm. But when she uncovers Chad’s secret, stormy seas return. Apron starts to see things the adults around her fail to—like what love really means, and who is paying too much for it.Apron has come unmoored, but now she’ll need to take the helm if she’s to get herself and those she loves to safe harbor.
Title: Losing It
Author: Cora Carmack
Received: eBury Publishing
Synopsis: Virginity.
Bliss Edwards is about to graduate from college and still has hers. Sick of being the only virgin among her friends, she decides the best way to deal with the problem is to lose it as quickly and simply as possible—a one-night stand. But her plan turns out to be anything but simple when she freaks out and leaves a gorgeous guy alone and naked in her bed with an excuse that no one with half a brain would ever believe.
And as if that weren’t embarrassing enough, when she arrives for her first class of her last college semester, she recognizes her new theater professor.
She’d left him naked in her bed about eight hours earlier. . . .
In Sara’s Mailbox:
Title: By Design
Author: Jayne Denker
Received: Jayne Denker
Synopsis: She’s got loads of talent, a massive crush–and no confidence. Now she just needs a plan…
Interior designer Emmie Brewster is having one of those…decades. Her overbearing boss believes she’s only qualified to make coffee. Her boyfriend treats her like a booty call. And her widowed father is dating again–more successfully than she is. Then Emmie lands a client who happens to be the hottest man she’s ever encountered. Too bad Graham Cooper is already involved with the kind of woman Emmie longs to be. If only she had the courage…
Emmie’s always been content to dream–about having her own business, her own Mr. Right–but something about Graham makes her want to take action. Maybe it’s time she used her talent for creating beauty and order on herself. She has Graham’s admiration–does she dare go for more? With a little encouragement from her friends, and a lot of newfound motivation, Emmie’s ready to try…
Title: I’ll Take What She Has
Author: Samantha Wilde
Received: Felicia @ Random House
Synopsis: Samantha Wilde’s heartfelt second novel that dissects the age old question: is the grass always greener on the other side? The novel follows Nora Harriet Helpsom Fulch Galusha as she is in the midst of a serious case of baby fever. Nora’s insecurities are brought to the forefront when the glamorous new history teacher Cynthia Cypress arrives on campus married to Nora’s ex boyfriend and with a baby on the way. I’LL TAKE WHAT SHE HAS is a touching story of female friendship, family, and wanting what you don’t have.
