In My Mailbox...

In My Mailbox... I've received some great books in my mailbox! And I decided I would join in on the fun sharing them with you and the other bloggers participating in Mailbox Monday!

Mailbox Monday is a weekly event for bloggers to share what books arrived in their mailboxes. Mailbox Monday was originally created by Marcia of To Be Continued and is now hosted by Vicki, Serena and Leslie at Mailbox Monday's own blog.

So, here are the books...


This Must Be The Place by Maggie O'Farrell... A smart, sophisticated, spellbinding summer read that captures the collapse--and reawakening--of an extraordinary marriage.

Daniel Sullivan, a young American professor reeling from a failed marriage and a brutal custody battle, is on holiday in Ireland when he falls in love with Claudette, a world-famous sexual icon and actress who fled fame for a reclusive life in a rural village. Together, they make an idyllic life in the country, raising two more children in blissful seclusion--until a secret from Daniel's past threatens to destroy their meticulously constructed and fiercely protected home. What follows is a journey through Daniel's many lives told in his voice and the voices of those who have made him the man he is: the American son and daughter he has not seen for many years; the family he has made with Claudette; and irrepressible, irreverent Claudette herself. Shot through with humor and wisdom, This Must Be the Place is a powerful rumination on the nature of identity, and the complexities of loyalty and devotion--a gripping story of an extraordinary family and an extraordinary love.

Arc courtesy of Alfred A. Knopf, with a publishing date of July 19, 2016!


The A to Z of You and Me by James Hannah... A striking literary debut of love and mortality, The A to Z of You and Me is is the story of a man who doesn’t have much time, his love for a girl who isn’t there, and the game he plays while waiting that illuminates the devastating and beautiful turns of life.

The A-Z game. For Ivo, it’s a way to pass the time, a way to avoid the pain, and a way to think about what really got him here. His hospice nurse suggested it – think of a body part for each letter, and think of memories connected to each one. And so begins the revealing of his misspent life: the terrible teenage choices, friendships made and cracked, love he’ll never get back. He remembers the girl who tried to help him, the friend who wouldn’t let her, and the sickness that chases him even now.

eGalley courtesy of Sourcebooks Landmark, with a publishing date of May 3, 2016!


There Will Be Stars by Billy Coffey... Only in death could Bobby Barnes begin to understand the true nature of love. No one in Mattingly ever believed Bobby Barnes would live to see old age. Drink would either rot Bobby from the inside out or dull his senses just enough to send his truck off the mountain on one of his nightly rides. Although Bobby believes such an end possible and even likely, it doesn't stop him from taking his twin sons Matthew and Mark into the mountains one Saturday night. A sharp curve, blinding headlights, metal on metal, his sons' screams. Bobby's final thought as he sinks into blackness is a curious one—There will be stars.

Yet it is not death that greets him beyond the veil. Instead, he returns to the day he has just lived and soon finds he is not alone in this strange new world. Six others are trapped there with him. Bobby soon discovers that rather than the place of peace he had been led to believe he was in, it's actually a place of secrets and hidden dangers. Along with three others, he seeks to escape even as the world around him begins to crumble. The escape will lead some to greater life, others to endless death . . . and Bobby Barnes to understand the deepest nature of love.

eGalley courtesy of Thomas Nelson, with a publishing date of May 3, 2016!

The Last One by Alexandra Oliva... A dazzling and unsettling novel of psychological suspense. In Alexandra Oliva's thrilling fiction debut, survival is the name of the game, as the line blurs between reality TV and reality itself—and one woman's mind and body are pushed to the limit.

She wanted an adventure. She never imagined it would go this far. It begins with a reality TV show. Twelve contestants are sent into the woods to face challenges that will test the limits of endurance. While they are out there, something terrible happens—but how widespread is the destruction, and has it occurred naturally or is it man-made? Cut off from society, the contestants know nothing of it. When one of them—a young woman the show's producers call Zoo—stumbles across the devastation, she can imagine only that it is part of the game. Alone and disoriented, Zoo is heavy with doubt regarding the life—and husband—she left behind, but she refuses to quit. Staggering countless miles across unfamiliar territory, Zoo must summon all of her survival skills—and learn new ones as she goes. But as her emotional and physical reserves dwindle, she grasps that the real world might have been altered in terrifying ways—and her ability to parse the charade will either be her triumph or her undoing.

eGalley courtesy of Random House Publishing Ballantine , with a publishing date of July 12, 2016!

All The President's Gardens by Marta McDowell... The fascinating story of America's first garden!

The eighteen acres that surround the White House have been an unwitting witness to history--a backdrop for soldiers, suffragettes, protestors, and activists. Kings and queens have dined there; bills and treaties have been signed; and presidents have landed and retreated. The front and back yard for the first family, it is by extension the nation's first garden. All the Presidents' Gardens tells the untold history of the White House Grounds. Starting with the seed-collecting, plant-obsessed George Washington and ending with Michelle Obama's focus on edibles, this rich and compelling narrative reveals how the story of the garden is also the story of America. Readers learn about Lincoln's goats, Ike's putting green, Jackie's iconic roses, Amy Carter's tree house, and much more. They also learn the plants whose favor has come and gone over the years and the gardeners who have been responsible for it all.

Fully illustrated with new and historical photographs and art, refreshingly nonpartisan, and releasing just in time for election year, this is a must-read for anyone interested in the red, white, and green!

I originally reviewed this as an eGalley, gave it 4 stars!, and made the comment that I thought it would be nicer to read as a physical book, so you could bookmark pages to refer back to, and that I wasn't sure the size I saw Amazon listed for the published book was large enough for a book with such a wealth of info. Well, the author, Marta McDowell emailed me and asked me if I'd like a copy of the finished product, and of course I said YES! And once I got the actual physical book in my hand, I was even more in love with the book! Yes, the actual size of the physical book is perfect and it is a beautiful book! And look, she even signed it! Thank you so much Marta! That's an author going out of her way!

All The Presidents' Garden by Marta McDowell is published by Timber Press, and is available right now from your local bookstore!

And that is what was happening in my mailbox! Hope you found these interesting! Check out these books and what the other book bloggers received in their mailboxes at Mailbox Monday!