Mailbox Monday 05.02.11

Hosted this month by MariReads.

Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week (checked out library books don’t count, eBooks & audio books do). Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists.

Vivienne de la Mare lives at Le Colombier, an old farmhouse in a secluded valley on Guernsey in the Channel Islands, with her two daughters and her acerbic mother-in-law who suffers from dementia. Vivienne's husband is away in the army, and the marriage is an unhappy one, regardless. And then the Germans arrive. Vivienne does what she can to “keep up the side.” She rations, grows vegetables, and looks out for her children and neighbors. But she did not expect to fall in love with Gunther, the handsome, brooding German officer who has moved in next door. Though she knows the perils of their love, she believes that she can keep their relationship—and her family—safe. But when she becomes aware of the full brutality of the Occupation, Vivienne must decide if she is willing to risk her personal happiness for the life of a stranger. A novel of grand passion and dark secrets, The Soldier's Wife hauntingly asks, What would you do for your family? What should you do for a stranger?

From publisher. Release date: June 28th.

The sultry allure of New Orleans comes to dazzling life in this enthralling tale of passion and mystery that sweeps from the modern heart of the Big Easy back to the shimmering city of a century past. Reporter Corlis McCullough's passion for the truth has cost her more jobs than she cares to remember. She would like to keep this one . . . even if it means chasing a story involving historical preservationist King Duvallon, an adversary from her college years. After a decade, he still manages to incite her fury--and worse: a growing attraction as strong and unstoppable as the tides along the Delta. But as Corlis is swept one hundred fifty years into the past, she witnesses the yearning desires and daring passions of a drama that will be replayed nearly two centuries later. . . .

From publisher. Release date: August 1st.