News Flash: McDreamy Mail Carrier Seduced by Chocolate Jaguar

Okay, I didn't seduced anybody but I am feisty, chocolate and when I learned what Jaguar meant on an episode of "Bones" earlier this week, the term remained firmly planted in the brain and amused me all week. Sometimes you should give into your craziness. lol Anyhoo, I had a very good week. Contest prizes and lots of goodies from Paperback Swap. In My Maibox is hosted weekly by Kristi at The Story Siren and Marcia hosts Monday Mailbox. On to the kitty:

First, thanks to Don Tate, illustrator and team member at The Brown Bookshelf. I won a book illustrated Don's, Ron's Big Mission by Corinne Nadine. Do read the review at Muddy Puddle Musings. Don was gracious enough to also send The Legend of the Valentine by Katherine Grace Bond which he illustrated. The former is an early look at the life of Ron McNair. If you're not familiar with BBS, I strongly encouraged you to check those folks out. They do a fantastic job connecting all readers with books by African Americans.

Last week during LLM, author Beth Fehlbaum came by. We clicked and she sent me her book, Courage In Patience. From the text:
Sometimes I think I miss living in a place where there are things to do on Friday nights besides cruise the aisles of the Wal-Mart in Six Shooter City (yes, that's the name of a real place), or see one of the two movies showing in Cedar Points. There’s even less to do in Patience, although pasture parties, where a bunch of underage, redneck, high-school kids bring illegally obtained beer to somebody’s pasture and see how shit-faced and stupid they can get before they run out of beer, are a common occurrence.

Others may feel differently but I feel humbled when an author trusts me to review her book. I'm pushing this up my tbr. Stay tuned.

If you haven't visited Doret at the HappyNappy Bookseller, you are denying yourself a great resource for children and YA reviews. I picked up two of Doret's previously reviewed titles: The Making of Dr. Truelove by Derrick Barnes, a 2006 ALA quick pick for reluctant readers which describes the majority of community of readers, and Rattlebone by Maxine Claire. Doret writes, Rattlebone is 1950’s Kansas City. It’s 11 interrelated short stories about the Wilson family and their neighbors.

From Paperback Swap, I got A Tree Grows In Brooklyn by Betty Smith, The Other Side, a collection of poems by Angela Johnson and iCarly:I Wanna Stay! a huge request title for our library. I got a brand new, hardcover edition of The Prisoner's Wife by Asha Bandele. This book has been on my wish list and tbr forever. This memoir according to one reviewer, is [a] new, fresh perspective has been presented by Asha Bandele. It is the poetic voice of a spouse, a companion of the prison sentence and of the offender.