In My Mailbox (7)

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme brought to you by The Story Siren.  It is a fun little way to share what books you've received over the last week, whether you bought them, borrowed them or were sent them!

This week I'm getting back into the swing of things, and had some fun on Amazon.  I've still got some credit on there so I figured I would get myself a few books!  Here's what I got!

After several decades of looking for true love and never finding it, aging model and lingerie designer, Alexa Ranger, had finally given up the search.  A couple of years ago, she got tired of the game and just stopped dating.  Friends and family keep her mostly content, so it's shocking at 50 years old to find herself suddenly wanting a sex life again.  It's even more shocking to be attracted to a much younger man this time.  She definitely thinks Casey Carter is incredibly sexy, but not handling her own age well, Alexa just can't get passed their twelve year age difference to even consider a fling.  Though she figures it doesn't matter anyway.  Anything resembling a normal dating relationship is totally out of the question because Casey is related to and living with her daughter's boyfriend.  The last thing Alexa needs is another talk-show worthy drama in her already complicated life, no matter how amazing Casey's kisses make her feel. 

It was true 38 year old retired Marine, Casey Carter, believed for a couple of years that his military injury had made him impotent.  Having lost his wife to cancer, he hadn't exactly been worried about the problem.  Most days walking with a cane was enough of a challenge for him.  But now that he was ready to move on with his life, he had become slightly more worried when none of the females his cousin brought around held any interest for him.  The last woman in the world he expected to start his engine revving again was the mother of his cousin's girlfriend.  Even at fifty, Alexa is drop-dead gorgeous, and his libido keeps reminding him she is the first woman he has wanted in a long, long time.  Ironically, the more Casey gets to know and like Alexa, he finds out desiring the older woman is the easiest part.  Jaded and cynical about love, Alexa is a difficult woman to convince of anything, but her kisses are enough for him.  The former Marine decides his next mission is figuring out how to fit himself into her life.

A non-erotic tale of how a single moment in time can change a life forever; that the joy of love is worth the sorrow of losing it one day; and that allowing yourself to love again is what makes life worth living.

"Tina Fey's new book Bossypants is short, messy, and impossibly funny (an apt description of the comedian herself).  From her humble roots growing up in Pennsylvania to her days doing amateur improv in Chicago to her early sketches on Saturday Night Live, Fey gives us a fascinating glimpse behind the curtain of modern comedy with equal doses of wit, candor, and self-deprecation.  Some of the funnies chapters feature the differences between male and female comedy writers ("men urinate in cups"), her cruise ship honeymoon ("it's very Poseidon Adventure") and advice about breast feeding ("I had an obligation to my child to pretend to try").  But the chaos of Fey's life is best detailed when she's dividing her efforts equally between rehearsing her Sarah Palin impression, trying to get Oprah to appear on 30 Rock, and planning her daughter's Peter Pan-themed birthday party.  Bossypants gets to the heart of why Tina Fey remains universally adored: she embodies the hectic, too-many-things-to-juggle lifestyle we all have, but instead of complaining about it, she can just laugh it off." - Kevin Nguyen

"My tendency to make up stories and lie compulsively for the sake of my own amusement takes up a good portion of my day and provides me with a peace of mind not easily attainable in this economic climate." - Chelsea Handler, from Chapter 10 of Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang.  It's no lie: Chelsea Handler loves to smoke out "dubmassness," the condition people suffer from that allows them to fall prey to her brand of complete and utter nonsense.  Friends, family, co-workers - they've all been tricked by Chelsea into believing stories of total foolishness and into behaving like total fools.  Luckily, they've lived to tell the tales, and for the very first time, write about them.

Twenty-nine year-old Lola Watson has two best friends, a dream job editing a parenting magazine, and a charming old house inherited from a great-aunt she barely knew.  Life would be perfect if only she could avoid her intrusive neighbors.  And for that matter, she also wouldn't mind being happily married like her friend Piper, or even engaged like her younger sister Mindy. 

Lola's peaceful existence is shattered when high school buddy Hubert moves in with her after a break-up, her sister changes her wedding date to Lola's 30th birthday, and the nosy neighbors take Hubert under their wing.  Life gets more complicated when Piper sets Lola up with a good-looking stranger who turns out to be the talk of her neighborhood - the mystery man from across the street.

Ovulation detectors.  Hormone surges.  Anxiety-ridden dreams. This is the world in which Annie Jacobs is thrust when she and her husband John receive a diagnosis of unexplained infertility.  A 37-year old PR executive, Annie has wanted to be a mother since she first cuddled her Baby Tenderlove at age five.  She is dreading another Christmas of relatives asking when they will be hearing the pitter patter of little feet, and Uncle Joe slapping John on the back, telling him to relax and take a cruise.  Lots of people get pregnant on vacation, you know.

Across town, stay-at-home mom of two, Sarah Anderson, attempts grocery shopping with a toddler intent on hurling items from the cart at passersby.  She notices a box of rice heading straight for a gray-haired head.  Leaping across the aisle, Sarah grabs it, saving the woman from certain doom, or at least a minor head injury. Little Alex screams at being thwarted.  The unknowing octogenarian shakes her head and admonishes Sarah for not knowing how to keep her child quiet in public.

A Whisper to a Scream is the story of two women on opposite ends of the child-bearing spectrum who come to realize the grass is not necessarily greener on the other side of the fence.  A vivid portrayal of contemporary marriage and it's problems, the novel speaks to a longing in all of us, a yearning that might start as a vague notion, but eventually grows into an unbearable, vociferous cry. 

When free-spirited Skyla marries proper and predictable Thomas Plinka, she finally finds the love and stability she's craved since childhood.  She also acquires a new family: mother in law Audrey, disapproving and suspicious of Skyla's nomadic past; father in law Walt, gruff but kind; and Thomas' brothers, sofa-bound Jeffrey, and Dennis who moved across the country seemingly to avoid the family.
Skyla settles into marriage and motherhood, but quiet life in small-town Wisconsin can't quell feelings of restlessness.  Then into her life comes Madame Picard, and new neighbor, Roxanne, whose goal in life is to have twelve kids even though she can't manage the five she has. Despite her family's objections, Skyla befriends Roxanne and gets a job at the bookstore, and life gets fuller and more complicated than she ever imagined.
Exceptionally heartwarming and inevitably bittersweet, A Scattered Life is a story that will stay with the reader long after the last page is read.

When L.A. entertainment lawyer Julie Burns becomes convinced that finding The One is "just a numbers game," she sets out on a dating frenzy.  From chance meetings and blind dates to dating services and the wonderful world of the internet, Julie will try anything to meet her man.  And in the process, she discovers a secret or two about the single life: Sometimes love sneaks up on you when you least expect it - and even the worst first impressions can have surprising results. 

Fifteen-year-old Rae Maddox just wants to stay in one place like everyone else, but there's no chance of that happening - not with a free-spirited mother who thrives on cross-country moves.  When the two of them land in Wisconsin sophomore year, things are off to a great start: her mom promises they'll stay until graduation, Rae makes two good friends and finally gets a chance at love.  Her newfound happiness is jeopardized when the vice-principal at the high school pairs her with Allison Daly, a new girl with a bad attitude.  As Allison's secrets unravel, and Rae's mother gets involved, Rae is forced to take charge of her own life, or risk losing everything important to her.

Happy Reading!