An Awesome Gift

Today, after a long day of work, I came home to find a box outside the door. The lovely package was from a good friend of mine who now lives in Tennessee. A not so patient person, I found myself opening the box while using the bathroom, as is my first stop when I walk in the door. Inside I found three lovely books! I love getting books as gifts, and when I get them for no reason, other than the fact that someone loves me, it's the greatest thing ever. The best part, I've never heard of any of the three books that were in the box, but now can't wait to read them! Here's what I received today:


Mary Modern:

Lucy Morgan, a young genetic researcher, lives with her boyfriend, Gray, and an odd collection of tenants in her crumbling family mansion. Surrounded by four generations of clothes, photographs, furniture, and other remnants of past lives, Lucy and Gray's home life is strangely out of touch with the modern world--except for Lucy's high-tech lab in the basement.

Frustrated by her unsuccessful attempts to attain motherhood or tenure, Lucy takes drastic measures to achieve both. Using a bloodstained scrap of an apron found in the attic, Lucy successfully clones her grandmother Mary. But rather than conjuring a new baby, Lucy brings to life a 22 year old Mary, who is confused and disoriented when she finds herself trapped in the strangest sort of deja vu: alive in a home that is no longer her own, surrounded by reminders of a life she has already lived but doesn't remember.

A remarkable debut novel, Mary Modern turns an unflinching eye on the joyous, heartbreaking, and utterly unexpected consequences of human desire.
Bitter Sweets by Roopa Farooki

Ricky-Rashid Karim is in love. A hopeless romantic, he's easily tricked into marrying the precocious Henna Rub by her wheeler-dealer father. It's a seduction in every sense of the word. Ricky will learn the truth about his beautiful bride, but the way is already paved for a future of double lives and deception. years later, their daughter Shona, herself conceived on a lie and born into a liar's house, continues the legacy when she elopes with her secret love to live above a sweet-shop in South London. As time passes and her children are born, it is Shona who is forced to discover unspeakable truths about her loved ones, stripping her life of meaning and shaking the foundations of family to its very core. Can what has been superficial be replaced with honesty and strength? Can love be strong enough to right the wrongs of the past? Exotic and real, a tale of searing love, disappointment, and new hope, Roopa Farooki's powerful, emotional Indian saga will dazzle and captivate.




Come Spring by Tim LaHaye & Gregory S. Dinallo

Dylan Cooper has begun a new life in Boston, where the winters are as unforgiving as in the windswept Scottish Highlands he left behind. In that bustling city, Dylan hopes to achieve recognition for his photography, but convincing others that his images are works of art in their own right is proving impossible. Stark, simple, and filled with the wondrous beauty and spirituality of everyday life, Dylan's photographs are his calling and his only love--until he meets Grace MacVicar, a young Scottish woman working at a distinguished Boston gallery.

In Grace, Dylan discovers a soul mate and a champion, someone with unshakable faith in his talent and a sure, steady determination to help him succeed. Grace knows Dylan's photographs are truly extraordinary, and with her guidance, Dylan finds new inspiration and faith in his abilities. Their friendship deepens as winter wanes, blossoming into a love that neither expected to find in their new homeland. But Dylan's creative gift may be the very means to tear them apart...unless faith and hope can bring him back to the woman he swore he would love forever....