Welcome to Mailbox Monday, created by Marcia of To Be Continued, a place where readers share the books that came in their mailbox during the last week.
After several years of being on tour with different blogs as the monthly host, the Mailbox Monday Blog is now the permanent home for the meme.
Amazingly, despite the chilly temperatures last week, my geraniums are blooming as if it were the middle of summer. And a few new books showed up . . .
Print Books
The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto by Mitch Albom from Harper.
This is the epic story of Frankie Presto—the greatest guitar player who ever lived—and the six lives he changed with his six magical blue strings.
The Evolution of Everything: How New Ideas Emerge by Matt Ridley from Harper.
The New York Times bestselling author of The Rational Optimist and Genome returns with a fascinating, brilliant argument for evolution that definitively dispels a dangerous, widespread myth: that we can command and control our world.
Crow Made a Friend by Margaret Peot from TLC Tours.
Try, try again is the lesson Crow teaches beginning readers in this vibrant early reader about a lonely crow who works hard to make a friend.
How was your week?
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Almost wordless: My garden is still blooming. The Sky Blue Asters, a native Illinois prairie plant, burst into bloom last week. Meanwhile, everything else is pretty much dying off.
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More Wordless Wednesday. © 2015 Under My Apple Tree. All rights reserved.
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Welcome to Mailbox Monday, created by Marcia of To Be Continued, a place where readers share the books that came in their mailbox during the last week.
After several years of being on tour with different blogs as the monthly host, the Mailbox Monday Blog is now the permanent home for the meme.
Not much reading, writing, or listening last week. September is almost over and I’m wondering where the month went.
New Arrivals
The Last Summer at Chelsea Beach by Pam Jenoff and a totebag, a win from TLC Tours.
Young Adelia Monteforte flees fascist Italy for America, where she is whisked away to the shore by her well-meaning aunt and uncle. Here, she meets and falls for Charlie Connally, the eldest of the four Irish-Catholic boys next door. But all hopes for a future together are soon throttled by the war and a tragedy that hits much closer to home.
The Traitor by Sydney Horler from Poisoned Pen Press.
This new edition of The Traitor gives contemporary readers a long overdue chance to rediscover an early thriller that is plotted with dash and verve – a novel that helps to explain the author’s phenomenal popularity in his own time.
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Feature and Giveaway
Little Woman in Blue by Jeannine Atkins
Little Woman in Blue is a fictionalized account of a real-life rivalry between two sisters who crave wealth, fame, and travel at a time when women are expected to be content with a humble home life.
Based on May Alcott’s letters and diaries, as well as memoirs written by her neighbors, Little Woman in Blue puts May at the center of the story she might have told about sisterhood and rivalry in an extraordinary family.
Enter on or before October 3rd. US addresses only.
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A Rapid Review
Publisher: Random House | August 2015
Format: Audio Download | 11½ hours | Rating: 4 stars
Audio Listening Level: Easy – Intermediate
From the beloved New York Times bestselling author of The Language of Flowers comes her much-anticipated new novel about young love, hard choices, and hope against all odds.
Letty Espinosa never thought she would be a pregnant teenager. That only happened to other girls. But when it happened to her, she was unprepared to cope with it, relying instead on her mother for help and never even telling her boyfriend the truth. Years later, when Letty’s parents move back to Mexico, she needs to grow up quickly and become a responsible mother to her children who are now fifteen and six years old.
The author presented many of today’s social issues – pregnant teens, single motherhood, bullying, illegal immigration, undocumented children, and even climate change (via son Alex’s science project) – and wrapped them into an interesting, but not very believable, story. I thoroughly enjoyed the beautiful, descriptive writing, but not the characters themselves. A son like Alex is almost too good to be true for an irresponsible, neglectful mother like Letty. And the young daughter, Luna, was over-the-top annoying.
What I did find enjoyable was the symbolism of birds and feathers woven throughout the story, and Alex’s fascination with his grandfather’s collection of feathers reaching back 30 years.
Audio production
I read this in audio and print. The narration was beautifully performed by Emma Bering and Robbie Daymond. With pleasant voices and smooth pacing, they moved the story along and kept me interested. This would be a good choice for those who are new to audio or usually choose print – the production is nicely done and the story is easy to follow. [Audio Sample on SoundCloud.]
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Source: Review copy provided by the publisher.
© 2015 Under My Apple Tree. All rights reserved.
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Little Woman in Blue is a fictionalized account of a real-life rivalry between two sisters who crave wealth, fame, and travel at a time when women are expected to be content with a humble home life.
About the Book
Little Woman in Blue
by Jeannine Atkins
Publisher: She Writes Press
Publication Date: September 2015
Format: Paperback | 280 pages
May Alcott spends her days sewing blue shirts for Union soldiers, but she dreams of painting a masterpiece—which many say is impossible for a woman—and of finding love, too. When she reads her sister’s wildly popular novel, Little Women, she is stung by Louisa’s portrayal of her as “Amy,” the youngest of four sisters who trades her desire to succeed as an artist for the joys of hearth and home. Determined to prove her talent, May makes plans to move far from Massachusetts and make a life for herself with room for both watercolors and a wedding dress. Can she succeed? And if she does, what price will she have to pay?
Based on May Alcott’s letters and diaries, as well as memoirs written by her neighbors, Little Woman in Blue puts May at the center of the story she might have told about sisterhood and rivalry in an extraordinary family.
About the Author
Jeannine Atkins is the acclaimed author of twelve books for young readers featuring women in history, including Borrowed Names: Poems about Laura Ingalls Wilder, Madam C. J. Walker, Marie Curie and their Daughters. She is an adjunct professor at Simmons College and the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. .
More Information
Twitter | Website | Blog | Goodreads
Giveaway Information
Courtesy of the publicist, I have one copy of Little Woman in Blue to give away to a reader with a US mailing address. To enter, fill out the form below on or before midnight, Saturday, October 3rd. The winner will be chosen in a random drawing and notified by email.
[Giveaway has ended]
Winner: Susan V. @ Dab of Darkness
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© 2015 Under My Apple Tree. All rights reserved.
Source: Giveaway provided by Caitlin Hamilton Marketing.
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Almost wordless: The four baby squirrels in this nest have begun poking their heads out and climbing up one branch. Mom squirrel won’t let them go down to the ground yet. Unlike birds, squirrels will still breed late into summer. [Photo taken with my phone]
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More Wordless Wednesday. © 2015 Under My Apple Tree. All rights reserved.
Advertisements appearing on this site are placed by WordPress and are not endorsed or approved by me.
Welcome to Mailbox Monday, created by Marcia of To Be Continued, a place where readers share the books that came in their mailbox during the last week.
After several years of being on tour with different blogs as the monthly host, the Mailbox Monday Blog is now the permanent home for the meme.
New books last week . . .
Print Books
Jackaby by William Ritter from Algonquin.
Newly arrived in New Fiddleham, New England, 1892, and in need of a job, Abigail Rook meets R. F. Jackaby, an investigator of the unexplained with a keen eye for the extraordinary–including the ability to see supernatural beings.
Beastly Bones by William Ritter from Algonquin.
In 1892, New Fiddleham, New England, things are never quite what they seem, especially when Abigail Rook and her eccentric employer R. F. Jackaby are called upon to investigate the supernatural.
The Shift: One Nurse, Twelve Hours, Four Patients’ Lives by Theresa Brown from Algonquin.
In a book as eye-opening as it is riveting, practicing nurse and New York Times columnist Theresa Brown invites us to experience not just a day in the life of a nurse but all the life that happens in just one day on a hospital’s cancer ward.
The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins from Crown.
Neil Gaiman meets Joe Hill in this astonishingly original, terrifying, and darkly funny contemporary fantasy.
How was your week?
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© 2015 Under My Apple Tree. All rights reserved.
Advertisements appearing on this site are placed by WordPress and are not endorsed or approved by me.
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