Mailbox Monday - December 27th

Mailbox Monday's December host is:  Lady Q @ Let Them Read Books.

 

Mailbox Monday is an opportunity to share the books that arrive by mail at your house during the previous week. Here is what I received:

 

 

•  The Wishing Trees; John Shors (sent by author) - Almost a year after the death of his wife, Kate, former high-tech executive Ian finds a letter that will change his life. It contains Kate's final wish-a plea for him to take their ten-year-old daughter, Mattie, on a trip across Asia, through the countries they had planned to visit to celebrate their fifteenth anniversary.
  
  Eager to honor the woman they loved, Ian and Mattie embark on an epic journey that retraces the early days of Ian's relationship with Kate. Along the way, Ian and Mattie leave paper "wishes" in ancient trees as symbols of their connection to Kate and their dreams for the future. Through incredible landscapes and inspiring people, Ian and Mattie are greeted with miracles large and small. And as they celebrate what Kate meant to them, they begin to find their way back to each other, discovering that healing is possible and love endures-lessons that Kate hoped to show them all along... 
• A Lonely Death; Charles Todd (Shelf Awareness-William Morrow) -
  A breathtaking blend of psychological complexity, haunting atmosphere, compelling twists, and impressive detail, the novels in the Ian Rutledge mystery series have garnered their author widespread acclaim and numerous honors and awards. At the heart of the series is the compelling Scotland Yard detective inspector Ian Rutledge, a veteran of the Great War who understands all too well the darkness that lies within men's souls.
   Now three men have been murdered in a Sussex village, and Scotland Yard has been called in. It's a baffling case. The victims are soldiers who survived the horrors of World War I only to meet a ghastly end in the quiet English countryside two years later. Each had been garroted, with small ID discs left in their mouths.
  But even Scotland Yard's presence doesn't deter this vicious and clever killer. Shortly after Inspector Ian Rutledge arrives, a fourth soldier is found dead. With few clues to go on and the pressure building, Rutledge must gamble everything—his job, his reputation, and even his life—to find answers.
• The Lost Flamingoes of Bombay; Siddhath Dhanvant Shanghvi (purchase) - In this intense exploration of modern Bombay, photographer Karan Seth gets an assignment to capture the essence of the city, beginning with finding the reclusive pianist, Samar Arora, who opted out of a promising career at 25 after three years of stunning successes . Along the way Karan, new to the city, rockets into the nebulous world of privilege, power, and money as he forms an unlikely friendship with Samar, connects with Bollywood stunner Zaira, and has a torrid affair with married artist Rhea Dalal. When a tragedy rips the friends apart, they each must re-examine their values and desires in the harsh light of political realities with the potential to destroy them all. Shanghvi's second novel (after The Last Song of Dusk) successfully exposes the complex, emerging world of new India, flush with wealth and mesmerized by celebrity. Despite prose that tips toward overwritten, the well-developed characters and a plot that evokes Bollywood cinema itself make for an affecting tale. Shanghvi finds the beauty and the ugliness in the megacity, and readers will be turning pages until the end. 

Hope you received some great books as well.