In My Mailbox: Week of December 29

Title: The Art of Letting Go
Author: Anna Bloom
Received: Anna Bloom
Synopsis: One year. One woman. One Diary. One question: Can you ever stop history from repeating itself, and if you could, what would you do to stop it?

When Lilah McCannon realises at the age of twenty-five that history is going to repeat itself and she is going to become her mother—bored, drunk and wearing a twinset—there is only one thing to do: take drastic action.

Turning her back on her old life, Lilah’s plan is to enrol at university, get a degree, and prove she is a grown-up.

As plans go, it is a good one. There are rules to follow: no alcohol, no cigarettes, no boys, and no going home. But when Lilah meets the lead singer of a local band and finds herself unexpectedly falling in love, she realises her rules are not going to be the only things hard to keep.

With the academic year slipping by too quickly, Lilah faces a barrage of new challenges: Will she ever make it up the Library stairs without having a heart attack? Can she handle a day on campus without drinking vodka?
Will she ever manage to read a history book without falling asleep? And, most importantly, can she become the grown-up that she desperately wants to be?

With her head and her heart pulling her in different directions, can Lilah learn the hardest lesson that her first year of university has to teach her: The Art of Letting Go?

Title: The Vanishing
Author: Wendy Webb
Received: Hyperion
Synopsis: When Julia Bishop is left widowed, friendless, and penniless by the suicide of her Ponzi-scheming husband, a.k.a. “the Midwestern Bernie Madoff,” she has no one to turn to. So when the mysterious Adrian Sinclair appears at her door, she takes him up on his crazy offer to employ her as a caretaker to his mother, the famous gothic author Amaris Sinclair, who the world believes to be dead. Like Amaris before her, Julia “vanishes” from her old life to Havenwood, the beautiful Scottish castle on Lake Superior that the Sinclairs call home. Her new position seems too good to be true… and Julia starts to wonder if maybe it is. Why are the doors to the library always closed? Why does Havenwood feel so familiar? And if no children live there, why does Julia keep hearing a small voice sing, “Jack and Jill went up the hill / To fetch a pail of water…”

Title: Hard Hats and Doormats
Author: Laura Chapman
Received: CLP Blog Tours
Synopsis: Lexi Burke has always been a stickler for following rules and procedures. As a human resources manager for a leading Gulf Coast chemical company, it’s her job to make sure everyone else falls in line, too.

But after losing out on a big promotion–-because her boss sees her as too much of a yes-woman––Lexi adopts a new policy of following her heart instead of the fine print. And her heart knows what it wants: Jason Beaumont, a workplace crush who is off limits based on her previous protocol.

While navigating a new romance and interoffice politics, Lexi must find the confidence to stand on her own or face a lifetime of following someone else’s orders.

Who says nice girls have to finish last?

Title: The Art of Falling
Author: Kathryn Craft
Received: BookSparks PR
Synopsis: Now that her dreams are in tatters, Penny must find a way to rebuild what is broken
All Penny has ever wanted to do is dance–and when that chance is taken from her, it pushes her to the brink of despair, from which she might never return. When she wakes up after a traumatic fall, bruised and battered but miraculously alive, Penny must confront the memories that have haunted her for years, using her love of movement to pick up the pieces of her shattered life.

Kathryn Craft’s lyrical debut novel is a masterful portrayal of a young woman trying to come to terms with her body and the artistic world that has repeatedly rejected her. The Art of Falling expresses the beauty of movement, the stasis of despair, and the unlimited possibilities that come with a new beginning.