Mailbox Monday (06-15-09 edition)

Mailbox Monday is brought to us by The Printed Page. In my mailbox last week I got:

I received an autographed review copy of The 6th Seal from the author J.M. Emmanuel.

The 6th Seal by J. M. Emanuel is part manhunt, part biblical saga, part mystery, and part revelation of scripture’s hidden secrets. When Satan clones himself, laying the foundation for his rule on Earth, an old Priest, Father Gudino, and two of his followers must bring the secret identity of Satan’s spawn to light so that the truth of Christ’s ultimate return can be revealed. In the process, the decisive battle of good vs. evil plays out with humanity caught in the middle. It falls to Jason, Maggie, and Father Gudino to carry the banner for Christ’s second coming and uphold God’s message warning of the greatest deception to ever come upon the world. Told with foreboding and laced with the hope of faith, The 6th Seal dares to tell the often-misinterpreted story of the Apocalypse. Written with a Christian audience in mind, The 6th Seal is also a thriller that will please anyone who just loves a tale well told.

I also received an autographed copy of Fire at Midnight from author Lisa Marie Wilkinson. In the package, I also received four bookmarks, a keychain and a pen.

Rachael Penrose is confined to Bedlam insane asylum in London after discovering that her uncle Victor plans to kill her brother in order to inherit the family fortune. Victor, with a gang of criminals, uses French privateer Sebastien Falconer as the scapegoat for his crimes. When Victor spreads the lie that Rachael informed on Falconer’s smuggling activities, Falconer vows revenge on the girl. Gripping suspense and romance play out in front of numerous historical details, including a violent storm that devastated England in 1703 and swept the Eddystone Lighthouse into the sea.

I won Bound to Please by Lilli Feisty from the Readaholic.

Ruby Scott is a beautiful, quiet event planner who leads an oh-so-respectable life. Yet the things that go on in her secret fantasies are anything but. She has every intention of keeping her hidden desires under wraps-until she meets a gorgeous, hard-muscled man ten years her junior. Mark St. Crow is a gifted, up-and-coming musician who collects erotic art and loves to "play" women as much as his piano. After one night of uninhibited passion, Ruby realizes there's no turning back. But as she surrenders to her deepest needs and lets Mark control every forbidden thrill, her passion for him builds. Can the wild, intoxicating nights they share lead to a love that will last forever?

I received the Circle of Friends series by Jennifer O'Neill from Tree Swing Reading.

Real life, with its greatest hurts and grandest dreams, is the basis for Circle of Friends, Just off Main, a deeply engaging women's fiction series by actress Jennifer O'Neill.

Book one, A Fall Together, introduces the quintet of primary female characters. Varied in age, ethnicity, and economic status, they are united by their small town citizenship, their spiritual crossroads, and the determination to take on their personal issues with hope.

In this season of the faith journey, they laugh, cry, and pray together through a teenage pregnancy, breast cancer, a troubled exhusband, and other major matters of the heart.

Art of Compassion by Martin Smith, Michael W. Smith, Anna Smith, Darlene Zschech, and Chris Tomlin came to me by way of a contest on GAhome2mom.

There are two amazing forces that exist in the world: Compassion for those in need and Art that helps us see beyond ourselves. THE ART OF COMPASSION brilliantly brings the two together by gathering the top songwriters in Christian music to help raise money for relief and suffering around the planet.

Legendary Christian worship songwriters Steven Curtis Chapman, Michael W. Smith, Chris Tomlin, Darlene Zschech, Israel Houghton, Andy Park, Tim Hughes, and many others have each contributed a chapter reflecting on the poverty people suffer around the world, the art of compassion, and how we can make a difference. Darlene Zschech, best known for her song "Shout to the Lord" which is sung by 25 to 30 million churchgoers each week, gives an apologetic on her personal role and the greater church's role of social justice in her story, "Rise Up, Church!" In "A Visible Gospel" five-time Grammy Award-winning Steven Curtis Chapman humbly shares his family's call to adopt three children and their ongoing ministry to help fund other families' adoptions.

I won The Girl Who Stopped Swimming by Joshilyn Jackson from Bookin' with Bingo.

Laurel Gray Hawthorne needs to make things pretty. Coming from a family with a literal skeleton in their closet, she's developed this talent all her life, whether helping her willful mother to smooth over the reality of her family's ugly past, or elevating humble scraps of unwanted fabric into nationally acclaimed art quilts.

Her sister Thalia, an impoverished "Actress" with a capital A, is her opposite, and prides herself in exposing the lurid truth lurking behind life's everyday niceties. And while Laurel's life was neatly on track, a passionate marriage, a treasured daughter, and a lovely home in lovely suburban Victorianna, everything she holds dear is thrown into question the night she is visited by an apparition in her bedroom. The ghost appears to be her 14-year-old neighbor Molly Dufresne, and when Laurel follows this ghost , she finds the real Molly floating lifeless in her swimming pool. While the community writes the tragedy off as a suicide, Laurel can't. Reluctantly enlisting Thalia's aid, Laurel sets out on a life-altering investigation that triggers startling revelations about her own guarded past, the truth about her marriage, and the girl who stopped swimming.

Richer and more rewarding than any story from Joshilyn Jackson, THE GIRL WHO STOPPED SWIMMING is destined both to delight Jackson's loyal fans and capture a whole new audience.

Mother of Believers by Kamran Pasha was passed on to me for review by A Bookish Mom, after she found it a little much to stomach.

Deep in the heart of seventh-century Arabia, a new prophet named Muhammad has arisen. As his message of enlightenment sweeps through Arabia and unifies the warring tribes, his young wife Aisha recounts Muhammad's astonishing transformation from prophet to warrior to statesman. But just after the moment of her husband's greatest triumph -- the conquest of the holy city of Mecca -- Muhammad falls ill and dies in Aisha's arms. A young widow, Aisha finds herself at the center of the new Muslim empire and becomes by turns a teacher, political leader, and warrior.

Written in beautiful prose and meticulously researched, Mother of the Believer is the story of an extraordinary woman who was destined to help usher Islam into the world.

An audio book of BoneMan's Daughters by Ted Dekker was won from Cafe of Dreams.

Military intelligence officer Ryan Evans is married to his work; so much so that his wife and daughter have written him out of their lives. Sent to Fallujah and captured by insurgents, he is asked to kill children not unlike his own. The method: a meticulous, excruciating death by broken bones that his captor has forced him to learn.

Returning home after the ordeal, a new crisis awaits. A serial killer is on the loose, and his method of killing is the same. Ryan becomes a prime suspect, which isn't even the worst of his problems: Ryan's daughter is BoneMan's latest desire.

In a story that is devaststing in its skill and suspense, - Ted Dekker brings to bear his ability to terrify and compel in BONEMAN'S DAUGHTERS.

What a fabulous week! Thank you to all who have sent me books! I have lots of reading to do. Right now I am loving all three books that I have going!