Sundays with Sam is a combination of Sunday Post hosted by Caffeinated Book Reviewer and Stacking the Shelves hosted by Tynga's Reviews.
My Week in Review
Another week in the books, and I don't really have much to say about it. I was happy that my father's covid test came back negative. He was exposed to a few people at a board meeting. The good news was, that everyone wore their masks and were far apart. The township came in and did away with all common areas. They boarded up the areas in each building and removed the outdoor areas too. It is what it is.
I am training on yet another new function at work. I will do whatever as long as I can stay home. Though, this is still with the group I am currently assisting, and I am hoping they keep me in mind should a position open up at one point, since it's a team I am interested in.
I had Tuesday off, and when I was doing my shopping, I saw pumpkin spice mochi ice cream. It's amazing! You know I will buy anything pumpkin this time of year, but this is a sweet treat I adore.
Also, anyone know why Goodreads is breaking up with Twitter? I like that it auto-tweets my stuff. Going to miss it in the new year.
Friday 9th October, 2020 pic.twitter.com/JQsTeqqbay
— Hedgehog of the Day (@daily__hedgehog) October 9, 2020
This is not a cute animal thing, but dad wins a prize for this very 2020 costume.
I made a killer Zoom Meeting costume for my daughter. #Halloween2020 pic.twitter.com/bdKbgGZcA5
— Greg Dietzenbach (@GregDietzenbach) October 21, 2020
Let's Discuss!
- The Orangutan Librarian wonders if book Twitter reflects the community at large
- Margaret wants to understand the concept of overhyped books
- Katie talks about when to stop reading a book
On the Blog:
- Monday: Nutshell Reviews - The Truth Project, Finding Balance
- Tuesday: TTT - Recommended for You
- Wednesday: CWW - The Lost Manuscript, Ex-Mas
- Thursday: Isn't It Romantic? - Love Your Life, The Boy Toy
- Friday: Discussion - ARC Attitude
STACKING THE SHELVES
This is a group of some highly anticipated releases for me. I had previously been rejected on NG for Love & Olives and was therefore overjoyed to get a widget from the publicist. You all know how much I love this series, and this time we got to Greece! I recently featured The Meet-Cute Project on CWW, and Clayborn is always a treat.
Publicist
- Love & Olives by Jenna Evans Welch
- Love at First by Kate Clayborn
- The Meet-Cute Project by Rhiannon Richardson
What I Read Last Week
This was a bonanza week! I rarely go 5-stars with contemporary romances, but Meader's latest was such a winning combination of great characters and touching story. I devoured it. I never knew I could love an Backman's books so much, but I do. He really does an incredible job capturing the humanity of his characters. It's hard to describe, but they are all so wonderfully and beautifully drawn. Good Dumpling is a fantastic story highlighting metal illness, and it's messy and heartbreaking, but there a lot of love and hope in there too.
Books
- Super Fake Love Song by David Yoon - ★★★★
- Man Down by Kate Meader - ★★★★★
- The Surprising Power of a Good Dumpling by Wai Chim - ★★★★★
- Bunheads by Sophie Flack - ★★★★
- Ex-Mas by Kate Brian - ★★★★
- Beartown by Fredrik Backman ★★★★★
- Dirty Secret by Mira Lyn Kelly - ★★★★
- Dirty Hookup by Mira Lyn Kelly - ★★★★
What I Am Currently Reading
Both my current books are fantastic!
I love being back in Beartown and seeing the "after". The last book was the demise, but I feel like this is the rebuilding of the community.
Holly Bourne is an author I have heard so many good things about, and I have been wanting to read one of her books for some time. I am loving every second of this book. The observations on romantic movies are such a bonus too. 
I have only 6 ARCs left for 2020, so I am indulging in my hockey romances this week. They are my go-to pick-me-ups, and Bennett and Bowen are some of my favorite romance authors too.
- It Only Happens in the Movies by Holly Bourne
- Us Against You by Fredrik Backman (audiobook)
What I Plan to Read
- Love & Olives by Jenna Evans Welch
- The Flip Side by James Bailey
- Dax by Sawyer Bennett
- Sure Shot by Sarina Bowen
How was your week?
Let us know in the comments!
Let us know in the comments!
Glad your dad is okay! And that is the best costume idea ever!!!!!
ReplyDeleteThe use of the iPad as one of the screens was genius
DeleteI'm happy to hear your dad remained unscathed. Things are going from bad to worse here as well, and there are new restrictions in place for restaurants and bars, while cinemas, pools and the likes are closed again.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with your new function! I do hope all the new things you've been learning this year will pay off.
We have never abandoned the restrictions. This virus is its own beast. The good thing is though we have more infections, the hospitalization and death rates aren't like they were at the beginning of the pandemic, and we know a bit more about treating those infection than we did back then. Just have to be careful, be responsible, and hope for the best.
DeleteGlad his test came back negative. That's a relief! I did just hear about Twitter and Goodreads and was wondering what was up with that. Weird. I too liked having my reviews and whatnot posted to twitter since I'm kind of infrequent on there. Lol. I liked having that content just thrown out there after I posted or "did" something. Lol.
ReplyDeleteNice new reads! Those are new to me ones of course. I hope you enjoy them all!
Here's my StS
Have a GREAT day!
Old Follower :)
Now I will have to work harder to share my reading progress and what not. --sigh-- Just curious as to why
DeleteI’m glad your dad’s test came back negative. I’m also obsessed with all the pumpkin stuff! I’ve been eating a lot of pumpkin caramel and pumpkin chocolate chip cookies.
ReplyDeleteAj @ Read All The Things!
I think the best thing I have had is the pumpkin spice mochi and pumpkin ravoli
DeleteI'm glad your dad tested negative! That must've been such a relief.
ReplyDeleteI hope you enjoy your books and pumpkin mochi ice cream!
I had no idea that GR was no longer going to be synced up to twitter! That sucks. :(
If you logon to GR, you will see a message telling you about it. I just know why
DeleteYay for your dad and good that work is going well with training ops. I'm not a pumpkin lover, but I'm glad you found a new treat to love. Nice deal to score a publicist widget so you get to read a fav after all.
ReplyDeleteHave a great week!
I have always been a fan of the mochi ice cream, but super excited about the pumpkin flavor.
DeleteThat Mr. Pokee gram is adorable!
ReplyDeleteThe dumplings book is on my wishlist
Wishing you a great reading week
Dumpling was wonderful! I was very excited to get an ARC, because all the international bloggers have been raving about it for some time. I hope you get to it.
DeleteLearning new stuff at work can be a really good thing - makes you more of an asset!
ReplyDeleteI was comfortable doing what I was doing, but I guess I should be flattered that from the five of us, they chose me to move on to a new area of their business.
DeleteI am so relieved that your father tests came back negative! And I hope you'll find a position in your current team Sam! Now about Goodreads and Twitter.. no idea but I am never on Twitter.
ReplyDeleteHe didn't have any symptoms, but I mean, of the men he was exposed to died from covid a week after the meeting. Scary.
DeleteI'm so glad to hear that your dad is doing okay! I completely agree with you. I'll do whatever I need to continue working from home. In my current role, it looks like I'll be staying home through march. A whole year!
ReplyDeleteRight? I love being home. I was shocked to hear that some people was asking to come back. Maybe they don't have 4 hour commutes.
DeleteI'm so glad your dad is okay! And hopefully a new position in the department you're interested in will open up at work. That's great you're still working from home though!
ReplyDelete-Lauren
www.shootingstarsmag.net
I'm not holding my breath, but I am happy to be utilized.
DeleteAwesome that your dad is okay. Working from home is good at this point.
ReplyDeleteI would love to work from home forever, but I am expecting that I will have to resume my own job at some point.
DeleteHmm I thought I commented on your post- sorry if a duplicate shows up! anyway I'm glad your father's test came back negative- thank goodness for that! And Love and Olives is on my list too. :)
ReplyDeleteBe well!
No. You are not imagining things, Greg. I have been having issues with comments slipping into the old system (I have no idea why), and gave up and deleted Disqus. I just finished Love & Olives. It was lovely. Different from the other two books, but good.
DeleteI'm really glad to hear your Dad's test came back negative. That has to be such a relief. And I hear you on being able to work from home. We just had a meeting with our CEO on Friday and I was sure he was going to make us come back into the office, but nope, sounds like we're out through the spring at least. I've been wondering about the twitter/Goodreads things too. Seems so odd since that cross post option is so popular.
ReplyDeleteWow! Home until the spring. I have no idea when we will go back, but it probably won't be this year. My thing is that they have not been doing anything to make the office safer. This has been going on for 7 months, they really should have been thinking about that. I'm just saying.
DeleteThat's good to know about your dad!! Hope all goes well with work.
ReplyDeleteI've only read one book by Holly Bourne although I've always been intrigued by her books because of all those adorable titles. Also looking forward to when you review Love & Olives! I listened to the audiobooks of the first 2 books and loved both especially the 2nd one! :)
This is my first Holly Bourne book. Not sure if any of her other books received US release, but I am glad to have finally read one. It was excellent. First of all, the page count on GR for Love & Olives is a lie -- it's 512 pages. It was different from the other two books, probably because the situation was a bit weightier. There was this moment, where the story took off for me though, and I enjoyed it.
DeleteGlad to hear your dad is okay. You just never know how things will turn out. I wondered the same thing about Twitter and Goodreads. Yeah, I'll miss them auto posting my updates. It's so nice to get the widget after being rejected! Hope you love the book. I'm definitely getting the Meader book. I love that series, too, as you know. :)
ReplyDeleteI am really enjoying Meader's Rebel's spinoff, and I love that the Chase sisters are still part of the story too.
DeleteThat kitty and that hedgehog are the cutest!
ReplyDeleteCheck out my TTT
So cute, right? I love Mr. Pokee
Delete