Mailbox Monday

Mailbox Monday is a weekly travelling meme is being hosted for the month of October over at Savvy Verse & Wit.

My busy schedule has kept me from posting to Mailbox Monday for the past few weeks, but I did receive several books over that period so this week's edition is a selection of books I've received since my last Mailbox Monday post.

Unless otherwise stated, all synopses are courtesy of Chapters.indigo.ca

I received one book for review:

The Hypnotist by M.J. Rose

Haunted by his inability to stop the murder of a beautiful young painter twenty years ago, Lucian Glass keeps his demons at bay through his fascinating work with the FBI's Art Crime Team. Investigating a crazed collector who's begun destroying prized masterworks, Glass is thrust into a bizarre hostage negotiation that takes him undercover at the Phoenix Foundation dedicated to the science of past-life study. There, to maintain his cover, he submits to the treatment of a hypnotist. 


Under hypnosis, Glass travels from ancient Greece to nineteenth-century Persia, while the case takes him from New York to Paris and the movie while the case takes him from New York to Paris and the movie capital of the world. These journeys will change his very understanding of reality, lead him to question his own sanity and land him at the center of perhaps the most audacious art heist in history: a fifteen-hundred-year-old sculpture the nation of Iran will do anything to recover.


The rest of the books I received are my own purchases:

Lionheart by Sharon Kay Penman


From the 'New York Times'-bestselling novelist, a stunning story of a great medieval warrior-king, the accomplished and controversial son of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine: Richard, Coeur de Lion.

They were called 'The Devil's Brood,' though never to their faces. They were the four surviving sons of Henry Plantagenet and Eleanor of Aquitaine. With two such extraordinary parents, much was expected of them.

But the eldest-charming yet mercurial-would turn on his father and, like his brother Geoffrey, meet an early death. When Henry died, Richard would take the throne and, almost immediately, set off for the Holy Land. This was the Third Crusade, and it would be characterized by internecine warfare among the Christians and extraordinary campaigns against the Saracens. And, back in England, by the conniving of Richard's youngest brother, John, to steal his crown.

In 'Lionheart,' Sharon Kay Penman displays her remarkable mastery of historical detail and her acute understanding of human foibles. The result is a powerful story of intrigue, war, and- surprisingly-effective diplomacy, played out against the roiling conflicts of love and loyalty, passion and treachery, all set against the rich textures of the Holy Land.

The Lady and the Poet by Maeve Haran

Set against the sumptuousness and intrigues of Queen Elizabeth I's court, this powerful novel reveals the untold love affair between the famous poet John Donne and Ann More, the passionate woman who, against all odds, became his wife.

Ann More, fiery and spirited daughter of the Mores of Loseley House in Surrey, came to London destined for a life at the court of Queen Elizabeth and an advantageous marriage. There she encountered John Donne, the darkly attractive young poet who was secretary to her uncle, the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal. He was unlike any man she had ever met-angry, clever, witty, and in her eyes, insufferably arrogant and careless of women. Yet as they were thrown together, Donne opened Ann's eyes to a new world of passion and sensuality.

But John Donne-Catholic by background in an age when it was deadly dangerous, tainted by an alluring hint of scandal-was the kind of man her status-conscious father distrusted and despised.
The Lady and the Poet tells the story of the forbidden love between one of our most admired poets and a girl who dared to rebel against her family and the conventions of her time. They gave up everything to be together and their love knew no bounds.

Season of Storms by Susanna Kearsley

In the 1920s, in a beautiful Italian villa called Il Piacere, the playwright Galeazzo D'Ascanio lived for Celia Sands. She was his muse and his mistress, his most enduring obsession and the inspiration for his most original play. But the night before she was to perform the leading role, she disappeared.

Some sixty years later, a theatre in the grounds of Il Piacere, Alessandro D'Ascanio is preparing to stage the first performance of his grandfather's masterpiece. A promising young actress - who shares Celia''s name, but not her blood - has agreed to star. She is instantly drawn to the mysteries surrounding the play, and to her compelling employer. And even though she knows she should let the past go, in the dark - in her dreams - it comes back

From Notting Hill With Love...Actually by Ali McNamara (synopsis from Amazon.co.uk)

She was just a girl, standing in front of a boy ...wishing he looked more like Hugh Grant.  Scarlett loves the movies.  But does she love sensible fiance David just as much? With a big white wedding on the horizon, Scarlett really should have decided by now ...When she has the chance to house-sit in Notting Hill - the setting of one of her favourite movies - Scarlett jumps at the chance.  But living life like a movie is trickier than it seems, especially when her new neighbour Sean is so irritating. And so irritatingly handsome, too. Scarlett soon finds herself starring in a romantic comedy of her very own: but who will end up as the leading man?  



That is what was in my mailbox.  What came to yours?