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.

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My Week in Review

Happy Sunday! I hope all is well wherever you are. I actually did something last week which is exciting. This time home helping my parents has felt sort of like the lockdown of 2020. I went to see The Little Mermaid last Sunday with my sister. It was the final show of the season. I saw the play when it first was on Broadway, many moons ago. They changed the staging a bit, but I enjoyed it. 

This was a short week due to the holiday on Friday. The universe must have thought I was enjoying Thursday evening too much because this quick storm moved in which knocked out our power for about 6 hours. At least a cold front came in with the rain and wind, so it wasn't too hot. Of course, I had just gone shopping and had a full fridge of food. I was worried I would lose it all but it worked out. 

Remember how I was whining about my UK visa? Well, I downloaded the app again. Not sure if that helped since the button to take the picture was more or less over the button to minimize the app, but I was able to get the photo. Still not sure why that additional picture is needed. I uploaded my passport, scanned the chip, did a facial scan, and still needed another picture. I don't know. It's done. In fact, I got the confirmation email of the application and one minute later was approved. 

On the Blog

• Monday: Reviews - How Freaking Romantic, The Spirit of Love
• Tuesday: TTT - Love and Marriage
• Wednesday: CWW - The Blonde Who Came in From the Cold, Rookie Mistake
• Thursday: Reviews - The Maid's Secret, Home of the American Circus
• Friday: Five Star Friday - June 2025
• Saturday: Five on My TBR - One Word Titles

Let's Discuss

• Carol gives us some tips to read more.
• The Nerd Daily talks romance books. 
• Jen shares books that are like The Summer I Turned Pretty. 

My life is pretty dull, so seeing a blurb from me in this ARC was a thrill. It's nice to know that at least one person read my review. LOL! Ironically, I almost thought I was not going to get approved for this ARC where this appeared. They waited pretty long to say yes. I did love it though. 

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A post shared by Sam Kozbial (@kozbisa)

Stacking the Shelves

It's always slow around the holidays, but I did download a freebie. Looks cute. I got two invites as well. Magic is calling to me. It's a 2026 book, so chances are strong I will download. 

Purchased/Free

• A Sugarloaf Valentine by Rosemary Whittaker

Invites

• The Unwritten Rules of Magic by Harper Ross
• An Introvert's Guide to Life and Love by Lauren Appelbaum

Read Last Week

My week was excellent. I read mostly authors I have read before, and I was not disappointed by their new releases. Three of my highest rated books were second chance romances - one of my favorite tropes. DeWitt's Left of Forever was a beautiful tale of a divorced couple finding their way back to each other. It reminded me a bit of Out of the Woods in that this was a couple who married young and had a lot of history. The couple in Friends to Lovers also had a lot of history having been besties since they were three. They grew up together and things went heinously wrong when they embarked on a romantic relationship. In the story, they are reunited after several years apart, and I loved watching them mend that broken bridge. Heart Marks the Spot was told in two parts. In part one, I see them meet and fall hard, but then the hero just abandons the heroine. A year later, they are back together for a treasure hunt. I was a bit miffed as to why he did what he did, but I loved the book. And Poston's adult books have only been hits for me. I enjoyed the story but REALLY loved when I learned more about this song the hero and heroine kept hearing in their heads. It was touching. There were tears. 

Find all my reviews on Goodreads

Books

• Left of Forever by Tarah DeWitt - ★★★★★
• Sounds Like Love by Ashley Poston - ★★★★★
• Rookie Mistake by Maren Moore - ★★★
• Friends to Lovers by Sally Blakely - ★★★★ 1/2
• Heart Marks the Spot by Libby Hubscher - ★★★★★

Audiobooks

• Winter in Paradise by Elin Hiderbrand - ★★★★

Currently Reading

• The Seven O'Clock Club by Amelia Ireland
• One Night Two Souls Went Walking by Ellen Cooney (audiobook)

To Be Read

• The Story of Arthur Truluv by Elizabeth Berg
• Kiss Me That Way by Laura Trentham
• He Falls First by Jill Shalvis
• For the Record by Emma Lord

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