A busy week and again I am amazed how fast Sunday comes around.  The mailbox was a manageable level this week and I controlled myself and purchased no books.  I have one waiting for me at the Library that I am going to try to remember to do on Monday.

Here is my mailbox and thank you to Kristi at Story Siren for hosting this meme!

Zoe Fishman’s Balancing Acts, a charming and poignant story of four former college friends helping each other balance their dreams through the power of yoga and friendship, is a must for fans of The Friday Night Knitting Club, The Reading Group, The Jane Austen Book Club, and Girls in Trucks.

I love books on friendship and this one looks fantastic!  When I seen this at TLC Book Tours I had to sign up!

I love a good YA read and a book on Anastasia sounds wonderful!  When the publicist guaranteed I would love it from page one and said I would possibly need a kleenex or two along the way – well…. I had to know more!

In 1851, a lawyer named Elias P. Drake purchased a plot of land near Xenia, Ohio with the intent to establish a summer vacation resort where the country’s elite could relax and enjoy the mineral springs in the area. At the time, it was believed that natural water could cure illnesses and bring about good health.  What made this resort unusual, however, was that it became a popular vacation destination for southern slaveholders and their enslaved mistresses.  Ultimately, these flagrantly open relationships offended the northern abolitionists who also frequented the resort.  After four years, the resort closed.

This part of the story has been confirmed by historians.  I took this forgotten historical note and sketched in a fictional account of what it would have been like to be an enslaved woman traveling to this free state each summer.  Why wouldn’t the women try to escape? What kinds of emotional attachments did they have with these men?  Initially, I believed that it was entirely possible that they actually loved the men.  Ultimately, I discovered that it was much more complicated than that.

Situated in the free state of Ohio, Tawawa House offers respite from the summer heat. A beautiful, inviting house surrounded by a dozen private cottages, the resort is favored by wealthy Southern white men who vacation there, accompanied by their enslaved mistresses.

Regular visitors Lizzie, Reenie, and Sweet have forged an enduring friendship. They look forward to their annual reunion and the opportunity it affords them to talk over the changes in their lives and their respective plantations. The subject of freedom is never spoken aloud until the red-maned, spirited Mawu arrives and voices her determination to escape. To run is to leave behind the friends and families trapped at home. For some, it also means tearing the strong emotional and psychological ties that bind them to their masters.

When a fire on the resort sets off a string of tragedies, Lizzie, Reenie, and Sweet soon learn tragic lessons,that triumph and dehumanization are inseparable and that love exists even in the cruelest circumstances as they bear witness to the end of an era.

I seen this book being reviewed on other blogs and thought it looked wonderful.  When it was offered my way I couldn’t say yes fast enough!

Come find me two years ago…. Six words that propelled ice hockey playing tomboy, Arizona, into an alternate dimension. In one moment, she went from being a varsity hockey player in New Jersey to a glamorous cheerleader in California. She found herself with a new dad. She found herself in a new life. One that she had apparently lived in always. Everyone knew her as Arizona Darley, but she wasn’t. She was Arizona Stevens. She knew she had to find her way back to her real life. Then she met Kellan….

Ok come on…. doesn’t that sound good?  The author contacted me on this one and I am excited to jump into this adventure.

Tiziana Manoretti is an only child in her late twenties blessed with loving parents, a promising career, and a best friend who fiercely protects her. When her mother falls seriously ill and the relationship between her parents becomes suddenly strained, a carefully hidden family secret is revealed and Tiziana’s seemingly idealistic world is turned upside down.

This is a tour set for late April – another one the author contacted me about and it just sounds good you know?

Blast off was a win (woo hoo) from Luxury reading.    This just looks like an exciting read and I am always game for learning new techniques and skills.  I look forward to investigating this one further soon!

And that’s my mailbox for this past week.  I would love to know what was in yours!