Mailbox Monday

My mailbox runneth over this week:
Nibble & Kuhn
An unraveling law firm. An unwinnable court case. An unworkable love. Derek Dover has it all.

Derek’s up for partner at Nibble & Kuhn just as that most proper of Boston law firms comically tries to 'rebrand' itself for the Google era. Pompous and arbitrary, the ruling junta of partners saddles him with a high visibility lawsuit just weeks before trial. The diligent young attorney arranges things so that Maria Parma, a new associate in the firm for whom he’s fallen hard, also gets named to the case. Maria, in turn, can't keep her hands off Derek, but it's complicated because she's engaged to someone else.

As Derek prepares his case on behalf of seven young victims of an industrial polluter, his anxieties about his career and his torments over Maria's mixed messages only increase. Have his eccentric WASP superiors handed him a 'toxic' case to ruin his chances of becoming a partner? How can he get his opponents to settle – an outcome the presiding judge all but demands - unless his unorthodox 'expert witnesses' perform with enough gravitas to match that of the other side with its Harvard Medical School scientist? Will Nibble & Kuhn survive the partners’ spectacularly bad business judgment? Does it even matter to Derek, given that his looming fiasco of a trial and indiscretions with Maria seem set to sink any chance he may have had at partnership?

Ultimately, Derek sets in motion a line of inquiry that spins events entirely out of the control of the judge, the jury, and any and all attorneys. Here is my review.

Permission Slips: Every Woman's Guide to Giving Herself a Break Stay tuned for a giveaway of this one!

Covering topics such as "It's Jesus or Jail," "Marriage, the Hard Way," "Children: The Gift You Can't Give Back," and "All the Things I Don't Know...And All the Things I Definitely Do," stand-up comedienne, actress, and ABC's The View co-host Sherri Shepherd comically chronicles her struggles to keep up with the many roles-professional, wife, mother, daughter, and friend-that women must play in today's world. Sherri urges women to pursue their most important dreams and to never give up, but also let's readers know that it's okay to give themselves "permission slips" when things don't always work out the way they want them to.

Emmy's Equal (Texas Fortunes)Get ready for a suspenseful romantic adventure deep in the heart of Texas. Emmy Dane doesn’t want to give up her petticoats and frills for boots and spurs when her family decides to take up ranching in South Texas. Diego Marcelo’s mother tells him God will soon deliver him from his loneliness—but he assures her he has no need of deliverance . . .that is, until Emmy disrupts the entire way of life at the ranch. Can Diego put his jealousy aside before time runs out? And will Emmy admit she’s found her match in the stubborn foreman?

Love Is a Battlefield (A Walk in the Park)Take a walk in Shiloh National Military Park in this fun, fast-paced romance by Annalisa Daughety, a new voice in women’s contemporary fiction. Recent history has taught Kristy O’Neal not to believe in love or risk her heart. Ace Kennedy came to Shiloh to research his family history—but it’s Park Ranger Kristy he’s studying. Using his own ancestors as an example, can he prove that true love really does exist before Kristy walks away forever?
The Recipe Club: A Tale of Food and Friendship
Lilly and Val are lifelong friends, united as much by their differences as by their similarities. Lilly, dramatic and confident, lives in the shadow of her beautiful, wayward mother and craves the attention of her distant, disapproving father. Val, shy and idealistic—and surprisingly ambitious—struggles with her desire to break free from her demanding housebound mother and a father whose dreams never seem to come true.

In childhood, “LillyPad” and “Valpal” vow to form an exclusive two-person club. Throughout the decades they write intimate letters in which they share hopes, fears, deepest secrets—and recipes, from Lilly’s “Lovelorn Lasagna” to Valerie’s “Forgiveness Tapenade.” Readers can cook along as the girls travel through time, facing the challenges of independence; the joys and heartbreaks of first love; and the emotional complexities of family relationships, identity, mortality, and goals deferred.

But no matter what different paths they take or what misunderstandings threaten to break them apart, Lilly and Val always find their way back together through their Recipe Club . . . until the fateful day when an act of kindness becomes an unforgivable betrayal.

Now, decades later, while trying to recapture the trust they’ve lost, Lilly and Val reunite once more—only to uncover a shocking secret. Will it destroy their friendship, or bring them ever closer?

Leaving Carolina: A Novel (Southern Discomfort)Piper Wick left her hometown of Pickwick, North Carolina, twelve years ago, shook the dust off her feet, ditched her drawl and her family name, and made a new life for herself as a high-powered public relations consultant in LA. She’s even “engaged to be engaged” to the picture-perfect U.S. Congressman Grant Spangler.

Now all of Piper’s hard-won happiness is threatened by a reclusive uncle’s bout of conscience. In the wake of a health scare, Uncle Obadiah Pickwick has decided to change his will, leaving money to make amends for four generations’ worth of family misdeeds. But that will reveal all the Pickwicks’ secrets, including Piper’s.

Though Piper arrives in Pickwick primed for battle, she is unprepared for Uncle Obe’s rugged, blue-eyed gardener. So just who is Axel Smith? Why does he think making amends is more than just making restitution? And why, oh why, can’t she stay on task? With the Lord’s help, Piper is about to discover that although good PR might smooth things over, only the truth will set her free.

Children of Dust: A Memoir of PakistanChildren of Dust is an elegant memoir revealing Islamic fundamentalism and madrassa life in rural Pakistan, the culture shock of moving to the U.S., and a journey of reconciliation to the modern Middle East. Author Ali Eteraz is a compelling young male literary voice, and in telling his coming-of-age story he captures not merely pain, but also the love, laughter, and pathos of Muslim life.

Letters to RosyLetters To Rosy is a story told in epistolary style using the exchange of letters between two elderly lady friends to uncover a compelling story of romance, mystery, crime, and adventure that concludes with a surprise ending no reader would ever figure out in advance. It is a gripping novel of twists and turns, leaving the reader in suspense about the many events surrounding its characters: the disappearance of Sasha, the insanity of Marsha, Ken's destructive nature, and Mendy's abduction and rape while her husband, Trevor, is having an affair with a red-headed beauty.
Messy Tessy is my daughter's new favorite bedtime story. I've reviewed it here.


Thanks to Marcia at The Printed Page for hosting. Stop by and see what everyone got this week!