Sunday, April 16, 2023

Sundays with Sam - The Sunday Post



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

Happy Sunday! This week, I spent a bit of time trying to get my blog in order. I minimally wanted reviews from this year back on the old blog. I was able to cut and paste most of it, but I have to update all the images as they resided on the old server. I did publish some of them, and thanks to all who commented. They were old reviews, but it was nice to see comments that weren't talking about how hard it was to comment. A step in the right direction. I will slowly be cleaning up those old posts as I try to get back to my regular blogging schedule. 

If you found me today - that's awesome! Maybe you follow me on Bloglovin or via RSS feed. Sorry to all the Wordpress people, but the self-hosting was a failed experiment for me. I really should have thought about what would happen if I decided to move or whatnot. I didn't want to spend all the time and effort to reformat two years of posts, so they are lost forever. It's all good though because I want to be free of the issues I have been plagued by for the past two years. I don't want to be responsible for a billion plugins to get my site to work, nor am I looking for world domination. I just want to easily share some bookish thoughts. I hope the people who have always interacted with me will continue to follow my blog here. 

This week was HOT. It was like 90°F yesterday. I am not ready for summer weather in April. It's cooling down today, but the past three days were way too hot for this time of year. There was a bit of a silver lining that it was not humid. I guess it could have been worse. 



Let's Discuss!
  • Amanda Kay shares some bookish news
  • Anne wants to know how you select the books you read


STACKING THE SHELVES

I felt so special this week. I got a LOT of invites, and I was especially impressed to get several from a pub who has never extended invites to me in the past. I would say the bulk of the widgets I was sent are books that align with my reading. I am not sure how many I can fit in, but it's always nice to be asked. I found a few that weren't on my radar too and added them to my TBR. 


Invites

Edelweiss/NetGalley

What I Read Last Week


I was so happy that two of my anticipated reads lived up to the hype in my head. The Second Ending was wonderful! I loved EVERYTHING about it. I am not sure if the smile ever left my face as I read this book, and the author wrote such a lovely conclusion for these characters as well. 

My library loan for Abby Jimenez's new book came through on Thursday. It was good timing because I was DNFing another book. It was so wonderful being back in one of her worlds. I am a big fan, and I cried so much. This time, the tears were almost exclusively because I was happy. Yours Truly had the most lovely unicorn hero, and I felt like the focus was on the work that goes into making relationships work. The hero has social anxiety, and it was just beautiful the way the heroine knew the type of support he needed without him ever asking. It was automatic, and it was something he didn't get from his previous partner. The heroine also had a wounded heart, and this hero also worked hard to give her the love she needed. It was so sweet and made me feel a lot. 

* You can find all my reviews on Goodreads

Books



Audiobooks



What I Am Currently Reading



What I Plan to Read

How was your week?
Let us know in the comments!

38 comments:

  1. I found you because I saved your url Sam and maybe it's redirecting to your new site OR and that's a big possibility, I had saved your old and your new site to my favorites and clicked on the first one LOL. As you were not on wordpress before but I wanted to follow you, I had added you to my favorites. same for Tanya's blog. I am sorry self hosting was a failed experiment but glad that now you'll blog with a lighter heart.

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    1. I kept my domain, so if you use the URL, you are good to go. If you follow via WP, I am gone. Growing pains.

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  2. I'm sorry that the self-hosting didn't work out for you. No matter what, always looking forward to reading all of your reviews and getting way too many recommendations from you! :)
    Sending you love and hoping you'll have a wonderful week! xx

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    1. Sometimes you try and fail. It's all good. I am over my meltdown about it. You have a great week too, Marie!

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  3. This weather was too much! The baby was not a fan of the air conditioner, so we'll have to get used to that. I hope this is not a preview of what the summer will be like!

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    1. Henry doesn't like the a/c? The noise? At least this week will be better. I feel like our summers are always miserable and am grateful for central air

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    2. Yeah, I think it was the noise of the window unit! I wish we had central air, but unfortunately we don't.

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  4. When I didn't get any WP notifications of your usual Sunday post, I went and looked at your old Blogger site, saw that you were posting again, and re-added that URL to my Blogger reading list. It's sad that you've lost all those posts in the process...I would go mad. But at least the evil nonce is gone! 😂 (though I have to say I haven't had any issue with commenting lately). Yay Blogger! LOL.

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    1. It's the same URL. I repointed my domain back to here. It immediately showed up on my Feedly feed last week. It's all worth it to never hear the word "nonce" again.

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  5. I clicked on the link on my sidebar link of blogs that I follow on the blog and it worked! Yay! So happy you've switched back over, and I think you blog looks good!

    You have 90 degree weather right now?! Wow! We nice that it wasn't humid. We've been having some good days with the highs feeling like upper 70s and sunshine.

    I knew last night I worded my thoughts on the Painter book wrong, but my adled brain last night couldn't figure out a way to say it. It wasn't the lack of a plot it was the conflict. Why they couldn't be together was weak and didn't make sense IMO. I'll have to try something else by her. I'm reading Jane & Edward right now too and I'm loving it! I'll catch up on your previous posts this afternoon. I've been a little behind blog hopping this last week. :)

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    1. We are down to the 70s today, but we have three very hot days (for April in the NE). I really didn't do anything. This is how I left my blogger blog. I agree that the "conflict" was weak. I sort of understand what Painter was trying to do, but not sure if was accomplished in a way that had the impact she was hoping for. I still loved it. I am getting all smiley just thinking about that trip to Colorado

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  6. You should be able to upload you old post into a file and transfer it to your new blog. .I cut and paste all my post into word documents and copy all of them on to some hard drives for extra backup. Cause you never know. lol.
    Have a great week.

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    1. I copies and pasted my reviews from this year, but I really don't have the ambition to transfer two years of 6 - 7 posts a week. I am at peace with it all. You have a great week too

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  7. I didn't realize you were moving so I'm glad to find your new site here through the link up. :) lol about nonce. I saw that afew time and felt bad I didn't want you to think I wasn't commenting ha.

    I really liked Kara Thomas' The Cheerleaders so I'm interested in her newest one.

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    1. I decided to end the pain and just come back to my old blog. It's been here for almost 10 years, and I never had problems until I went to self hosted. I have read several YA books by Thomas. I am curious to see what she does in the adult realm

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    2. I'm not tech savvy enough to self host so I can totally relate. And yes same about Thomas- didn't realize she was transitioning to adult so now I'm more curious.

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  8. I am so sorry that your shift to Wordpress didn't turn out to be a good one for you. Blogging should be fun so I am glad that you did what is going to be best for you moving forward. Now that I think about it, I got a lot of invites this week too. I hope that you have a wonderful week!

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    1. I guess the universe didn't want me to have comments or new posts. I tried. So many invites and they were actually good fits for me which isn't something I can always say

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  9. Going self hosted is NOT for everyone! Its a LOT of work. The advantage to it is controlling everything your site does, but you also have to worry about security and bugs with plugins. I keep mine pretty simple though or as simple as I possible can. I am so happy you found a way to transition though smoothly. I hope enjoy that Susan Wiggs, I have some of her stuff and its pretty good! Happy week darling!

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    1. I really am not that much about controlling stuff. This is not a job or a money maker for me. I just want a little piece of the internet where I can talk about books. I loved my first experience with Wiggs, and so far, this one is great too

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  10. I know what you mean about the image thing. I just recently went through all of mine and it took me a few weeks to get everything up to date. I'm glad you enjoyed the new Jimenez. I want to read that one. I also was happy to see you liked Hunter's. That book was so fun.

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    1. This Jimenez book was one that I feel evoked emotion without going for the jugular. You had infertility, death of a spouse, ALS, domestic/mental abuse. This was mild next to those, but I felt so much still.

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  11. Jane & Edward! I'm so looking forward to picking that one up. Jane Eyre is probably my favorite classic, and I love reading retellings. Hope you're enjoying it. I really need to get caught up on all of Jimenez's books. Glad Yours Truly was a winner. The Second Ending sounds amazing, too!!

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    1. I have never read Jane Eyre, but from what I have gotten from online summaries, I think the author did a great job creating a character who had been dealt so many blows, but kept picking herself back up. I was cheering Jane on, for sure. I am trash for Jimenez's books. She just writes the kinds stories I love. I hope The Second Ending gets some buzz. It was great!

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  12. I got concerned/curious when I never got an email notification for your Saturday or Sunday posts and there was nothing on my Feedly feed, either. I pulled up your blog, copied the (new?) url and plugged that into Feedly and now I'm good to go again. Can't miss my Sam fix! :) I laughed at the world domination comment. Hooray for all the invites! I hope it cools off this week for you. It's too early for 90's!

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    1. I have been licking my wounds, but also reviving my blogger site. This is the same URL. I own this domain. I just had to redirect it. It is cooler today, and supposed to be a high of 57 tomorrow. Thank goodness!

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  13. I'm so glad that things are working better for you and everyone. Getting a lot of books is great. That's always nice.

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    1. I don't know if I will download all the books, but I am flattered to be asked.

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  14. It took me a few days to find you just because work was chaotic and I didn't blog hop much. I finally went looking on the wpreader and saw no posts there from yousince 4/9 so I went on the hunt for your url. I hope it's not too much of a pain to get everything you want to keep back on this blog.

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    1. The URL should be the same because I am still using my domain, just not WP. It wouldn't show up in WP reader. I won't get most of my posts. I am only moving my reviews from this year. Not a huge deal.

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  15. Hey, I can comment now! Nice! I've been reading your stuff, but the comments rarely worked for me. I hope you're having a good week.

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    1. The commenting issues have been the bane of my existence for quite a while. I just gave up and came back to my old site.

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  16. Sorry the self-hosting didn't work out for you, but yay for no more headaches! I started blogging by self-hosting purely by accident. I'd bought my domain years before. But I often wish I wouldn't have. 😂 I spend a lot of time in the Wordpress support forums. Someday, I may have to switch, too.

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    1. I have had this domain for many years, but I had only gone to self hosting two years ago. Sometimes things just aren't worth the aggravation. I am not remembering how much I hated the commenting system in blogger though. There aren't problems, but you don't get the nice notifications like you do with WP. Always been my pet peeve.

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  17. I've been out of the loop for a few weeks (company and health stuff) but I'm glad to see you found a way to blog with minimal stress! It seems like they take joy in making this so dang hard to do!

    We've been below normal and rainy in the PNW. Next week is supposed to hit 70 and I'm soooo looking forward to it. But it better not be 90 lol

    Karen @For What It's Worth

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    1. It's called go back to my old blog. LOL! 70 is my sweet spot (Love 60 - 75). I am not a fan of too hot or too cold.

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  18. Very curious to hear what you think about Out of the Ashes! That is one I am quite excited for. Also the weather has been bizarre, right? I know you wrote this like 5 days ago, but it was weird all week- 90, then 40, then 90. I have no idea. Apocalypse, maybe.

    I am so glad I checked your site's url, because I thought it was so weird that I hadn't gotten any emails! I don't blame you for switching back, tbh. I know you were having such a hard time with comments, so selfishly I am thrilled that I will be able to comment regularly again! (Toward the end, it wasn't even working in WP Reader for me!) I feel awful that you lost your stuff though, that is brutal. And kind of my biggest fear heh. But at least you still have most of it! And I really really hope this ends up being a time saver for you in the long ruN!

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    1. The thing with self hosting is you need to stay self hosted forever or you will lost your posts. I think it was Emerald City who was trying to figure out how to move her posts to a free site because she was no longer blogging. WP free is small. Even the paid were too small for me to migrate. If you use plugins, it's another layer of complications. I had actually set the Thomas book aside. It's pretty dark, and I needed to be cheered up. I will probably try again another time.

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