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In My Mailbox: Week of January 5

Title: Storm in a B Cup
Author: Lindy Dale
Received: CLP Blog Tours
Synopsis: ophie Molloy has Breast Cancer. She didn’t think it was cancer to begin with, she thought it was another cyst. She also didn’t think it would be the catalyst for a series of life changing events, none of which involved chemotherapy.
Within months of her diagnosis, Sophie loses not only her right breast but her boyfriend of three years, her house and her so-called best friend. Her life goes from great to bad, then ugly, and nothing can make it better, not even the crazy care packages her mother keeps sending from Melbourne.
To make matters worse, Sophie fears she’s developing a crush on the plastic surgeon that will be reconstructing her breast. Dr. Hanson has the bedside manner of an angel and the looks to match. He’s so caring and compassionate, Sophie begins to believe he cares about her in a most non-doctor-patient kind of way. But he doesn’t, of course. He’s merely her doctor. Or does he?

Title: Limconcello Yellow
Author: Traci Andrighetti
Received: CLP Blog Tours
Synopsis: From debut author, Traci Andrighetti, comes a tale of murder, mayhem, and meddling Sicilian grandmas…

Francesca “Franki” Amato is a tough-talking rookie cop in Austin, Texas—until an unfortunate 911 call involving her boyfriend, Vince, and a German female wrestler convinces her once and for all that she just isn’t cut out for a life on the police force. So Franki makes the snap decision to move to New Orleans to work at her friend Veronica’s detective agency, Private Chicks, Inc. But Franki’s hopes for a more stable life are soon dashed when Private Chicks is hired by the prime suspect in a murder case to find out what really happened to a beautiful young boutique manager who was found strangled to death with a cheap yellow scarf. When she’s not investigating, Franki is hoping to seduce handsome bank executive Bradley Hartmann, but most of her time is spent dodging date offers from a string of “good Italian boys”—make that not-so-good aging Italian men—that her meddlesome Sicilian grandma has recruited as marriage candidates. As Mardi Gras approaches and the mystery of the murdered shop girl gets more complicated, Franki must decipher the odd ramblings of a Voodoo priestess to solve both the murder and the mystery of her own love life.

Title: Private Air
Author: Billie Bates
Received: CLP Blog Tours
Synopsis: When Sienna Harris joined the Australian Air Force as a flight attendant for the Prime Minister, she thought she’d hit the glam-job jackpot. But three years of weapons training, outback destinations, and a cheating fighter pilot fiancé, and she’s realized it’s not so fabulous after all. Time to embark on a new adventure, this time to the prestigious world of international VIP aviation.
Sienna and her best friend leave behind their small-town lives for a glitzy career flight attending on a Saudi prince’s private jet. Money, parties, designer clothes, and exotic locations fill the job description, while the sexy pilot, Ted, makes it hard for Sienna to obey the “no fraternizing” rule.
But even the most opulent of journeys can hit turbulence. Sienna’s boss, the appearance-obsessed chief stewardess, issues diuretics and Botox with the uniforms and catering orders, and the prince is a man who’s never told no. Underneath its lush appearance, could this desert oasis be more of a muddy puddle?
The Devil Wears Prada meets Pan Am in this fun frolic to the glamorous side of air travel, inspired by the author’s own experience as a VIP flight attendant in Saudi Arabia and Europe.

Title: The Wind Whisperer
Author: Krista Holle
Received: Krista Holle
Synopsis: At fifteen, Anaii is the most important member of her tribe—and the most mysterious. Ever since Anaii can remember, the spirits of the wind have whispered of fertile hunting grounds and imminent enemy attacks. But when her people are ambushed by a brother clan without any apparent cause, the spirits remain eerily silent.
As the village prepares to retaliate, Anaii is pressured by her best friend, Elan, to marry him. It’s an old plea—Elan has spent a lifetime loving her, but Anaii only sees a childhood playmate out of an imposing warrior. Stifled by Elan’s insistence, Anaii escapes into the forest where she meets Jayttin, the beautiful son of the enemy chief.
Enamored by Jayttin’s carefree spirit and hope for peace, she repeatedly sneaks away to be with him, but when her deception is discovered, Elan is devastated. Pledging his lifelong affection, Elan gives her a passionate kiss, and Anaii begins to see her friend in a new light.
While Anaii is tormented over which man she must choose, the wind whispers of a new threat that could destroy both tribes. Only a union will afford a chance at survival, but the reality of that union is based on one thing—which man Anaii chooses to die.
Title: Essence
Author: Mackenzie Lucas
Received: Mackenzie Lucas
Synopsis: All Haven Jameson ever wanted was to own a little piece of paradise. Now, she does, having established a successful luxury spa in St. Augustine, Florida. But when the property next door is sold to a mega developer and his pro-golf celebrity brother, who design trendy, bustling playgrounds for the rich and famous, she fears her dream could slip away. Confronted by her late husband’s infidelity, Haven learns everything she believed about her marriage was a lie; so she finally sets aside her grief and opens her heart to loving the widowed pro-golfer who is her biggest professional competition. In the end, Haven discovers that living a safe, loveless life is far worse than embracing passion and taking a chance on a man who’s vowed never to love again. And that, sometimes, the best paradise of all can be found inside our own hearts.

Blog Tour Sign Up: Envelope: Red by K. Baskett

K. Baskett will be on tour in March with her suspense novel Envelope: Red. I am looking for book bloggers to post reviews, guest posts, interviews, and…

Book Review: How To Survive Your Sisters by Ellie Campbell

Reviewer: Allie I was given a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.   The MacLeod sisters are four very different individuals who…

On Tour: Buried Leads by LynDee Walker

LynDee will be on tour January 6-13 with her novel Buried Leads When an Armani-clad corpse turns up in the woods, crime reporter Nichelle Clarke smells…

Novel Spotlight: Living Separate Lives by Paulette Harper

Living Separate Lives with Paulette Harper Genre: Christian Fiction, Novella ASIN: B00GLF5BW0 ISBN: 978-0989969109 Publisher: Thy Word Publishing (November 10, 2013) Four Friends, One Secret…

On Tour: The Holdout by Laurel Osterkamp

Laurel will be on tour January 6-24 with her novel The Holdout Robin wanted to win The Holdout, a cutthroat reality TV show, so she gave…

Book Giveaway: Sweet Expectations by Mary Ellen Taylor

Daisy McCrae knows that change can be sudden—and devastating. And while it doesn’t have to be a bad thing, change has the power to turn…

CLP Blog Tours Novel Spotlight: The Hunting by Kerry Peresta

Kerry Peresta is on tour now with CLP Blog Tours and The Hunting Isabelle Lewis, top advertising salesperson at the Chatbrook Springs Sentinel newspaper, has a…

Book Review: Then Came You by Jennifer Weiner

I received a copy of Then Came You by Jennifer Weiner in exchange for an honest review.
Summary:
An unexpected love story.

Jules Strauss is a Princeton senior with a full scholarship, acquaintances instead of friends, and a family she’s ashamed to invite to Parents’ Weekend. With the income she’ll receive from donating her “pedigree” eggs, she believes she can save her father from addiction.

Annie Barrow married her high school sweetheart and became the mother to two boys. After years of staying at home and struggling to support four people on her husband’s salary, she thinks she’s found a way to recover a sense of purpose and bring in some extra cash.

India Bishop, thirty-eight (really forty-three), has changed everything about herself: her name, her face, her past. In New York City, she falls for a wealthy older man, Marcus Croft, and decides a baby will ensure a happy ending. When her attempts at pregnancy fail, she turns to technology, and Annie and Jules, to help make her dreams come true.

But each of their plans is thrown into disarray when Marcus’ daughter Bettina, intent on protecting her father, becomes convinced that his new wife is not what she seems…

With startling tenderness and laugh-out-loud humor, Jennifer Weiner once again takes readers into the heart of women’s lives in an unforgettable, timely tale that interweaves themes of class and entitlement, surrogacy and donorship, the rights of a parent and the measure of motherhood.
Review:
Jennifer Weiner is a big favorite of mine (though that shouldn’t be a huge shock to anyone) and I always look forward to reading her books. I was especially interested in reading Then Came You, because I enjoy reading about books that deal with issues of surrogacy and parenting as of lately. This is a long book but touches on many different characters, each weaving a path that intersect with one another to create quite a compelling story. India’s character didn’t thrill me through most of the book, and I think Jules was my favorite, probably because she was the most relatable to me. This isn’t my favorite book by Weiner, but a good one that I would recommend.
4 stars