Sunday, April 14, 2019

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

I just couldn't wait for this week to end. I have been sleeping even more poorly than usual. Instead of being able to sleep until 3 am, I have been up by 2 am each night. Friday couldn't come fast enough, because I am feeling tired.

As I mentioned, we saw Benny and Joon the Musical last Sunday. It did NOT feature 500 miles (all songs were original), but they did include the infamous bread dance. I thought they did a great job translating the film to the stage, and I even got emotional a few times. Well done!

Looking forward to the short week. It's been a while since I had a day off, but I am like to horde my days early in the year. This upcoming week is all about the little things. Since Monday is tax day, they are catering breakfast at work from Panera. They do it up quite nice too. There will be breakfast sandwiches, soufflé's, parfaits, pastries, bagels, etc -- we eat all day! We also get to wear jeans for the next two weeks, which is one of my favorite things, because I hate pants...and ironing.

I watch very little television, but these announcements may have me seeking more screen time.


I don't know. There's just something about a hedgehog living in his little hedgehog house that makes me smile.

Let's Discuss!
  • Lashaan talks about the types of comments people leave on book reviews
  • Sophia discusses the importance of having a mobile friendly and responsive blog
  • Malka reflects on anticipation
On the Blog:
  • Monday: Nutshells - The Princess and the Fangirl, You'd Be Mine, When Summer Ends
  • Tuesday: TTT - Life in a Small Town
  • Wednesday: #AmReading - Serious Moonlight, How Not to Ask a Boy to Prom
  • Thursday: Isn't It Romantic - The Takeover Effect, The Girl He Used to Know
  • Friday: Discussion - Sneak Peeks 
STACKING THE SHELVES

I actually won TWO giveaways this week. One was form the fabulous Nicole and Shannon for the Discussion Challenge, and the other was a Goodreads giveaway, but of course, it's for a book I got a galley of last week. I usually try to remember to withdraw entries, but I have not been on a giveaway binge in a while. I still won. I also bought a book from my wishlist, because it was $0.99 and it sounds cute. I have been struggling with clicking that "download" button on Edelweiss, and I gave in, three times this week. Waxman has been good for me in the past, and AJ had really good things to say about After Zero. The other book, Just Lucky, simply sounds like the type of emotional ride I enjoy.

Won
Bought/Free
Edelweiss/NetGalley



What I Read Last Week

I would have like to have read more this week, but I am struggle due to lack of sleep. However, I had a 5-star read this week. I don't care what people are saying, Somewhere Only We Know made me happy. It was fun and sweet and I got to tour Hong Kong. I enjoyed it so much!

Books
Audiobooks


What I Am Currently Reading

I am continuing to enjoy all the Penny Reid audiobooks on Hoopla. She just makes me laugh, and I love each and every Winston brother. This one is interesting in that the heroine suffers from OCD, but more like that OCD featured in Every Last Word. I like that we get to go to her heroine's therapy sessions, and I love that the hero is taking his time to understand her OCD.

I am just starting The Girls of Firefly Cabin, but I love camp books and female friendships, so I think this will be a good one for me.

What I Plan to Read

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

48 comments:

  1. I love it when a play or musical makes me feel something. To me that's a sign of a well done production. :) And sorry to her about the sleeping woes. I used to have no trouble sleeping but lately I wake up a lot more too- it seems like sleeping a full eight hours is rare for me now.

    I've never read or seen Veronica Mars but I'm interested in taking the plunge. It may be time for me to re- up with Hulu. :)

    I love the sound of the OCD rep, I feel like I want to read more books like that since it's so widespread. Or that people are just talking about it more...

    Have a great week!

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    1. I have always been jealous of people, who can sleep at the drop of a hat. I was treated for insomnia for over 20 years, so it's not new, but it had been better since I quit teaching. I was getting a solid 5 - 6 hours a night. I will survive. YOU HAVE TO TRY VMARS!! That series is so good. I really liked the two books too. They are set after the movie, which is after the series ended, in case you need to know about order. I think Tamara Ireland Stone's book was the first I read that showed a different side of OCD, and I didn't realize the compulsions could be that devastating. TV and movies definitely water down that disorder.

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  2. Sorry to hear you've not been sleeping, I hate that because your days just become infinitely longer when you're tired. And I only just saw the Veroncia Mars teaser and I am there for it but it better get aired here in the UK because I cannot afford to keep buying shows to keep caught up on all the TV I want to watch. I read The Austen Playbook this week too, I really enjoyed it. Lucy Parker never disappoints, though.

    Have a good week.

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    1. Lucy Parker really doesn't disappoint, and I am excited to read Sabrina's book. Always up for a good hate-to-love book. Fingers crossed you get VMars in your neck of the woods. I don't get why we still have these regional barriers, when streaming and the internet made the world so much smaller.

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  3. Boo to sleep issues. I'm not that bad bit am isn up and down with my sleep and it's so hard. How it gets better. Yay for a tax day breakfast! Looks like a lot of great books you got and read. Have a great week!!

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    1. Tax day breakfast is a nice treat and may make my Monday less Monday-is

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  4. Sorry to hear about the sleeping issues. I know I struggle with falling asleep myself. I have to take one of those sleeping pills just to try help myself. Otherwise I'd be up way too late when I have to wake up way too early. I am SUPER excited about Veronica Mars coming back! I was ecstatic as I watched the promo clip. Luckily my sister and her hubby have Hulu and will let me borrow their login info so I can watch it when it comes on in July! I'll have to binge watch the show prior to that though so I can be all caught up!

    Nice new reads! Lots of new to me ones here. I hope you enjoy them all!

    Here's my STS

    Have a GREAT day!

    Old Follower :)

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    1. I think my daughter has Hulu. She is a typical millennial and has many, many subscriptions to streaming services.

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  5. You got After Zero! I hope you like it. I hate pants too, so jeans and breakfast sounds lovely. Have a great week!

    Aj @ Read All The Things!

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    1. I think I hate all dress clothes in general. My daughter wore sweats her entire undergrad career, and was appalled, when she found out she would have to wear business attire to class in grad school. Her love of dress clothing blossomed and now she loves it. I have never grown to love dress clothes. I think After Zero will be a hit. It looks wonderful.

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  6. My new job lets me wear jeans and I love that! I hope you get some rest and can sort out those sleep issues:)

    My Sunday Post

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    1. My dream job is either working from home with little human interaction or a shorter commute and jeans every day. That's awesome you get to wear jeans all the time. I am jealous, and I hope the new job is going well.

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  7. Bit of a bummer 500 Miles wasn't in the musical, but I'm glad it was still a great show regardless.

    I hope your sleep issues sort themselves out soon. That's never any fun to have to deal with.

    Looks like you've got some great reads coming up. I just finished Love from A to Z yesterday and thought it was excellent.

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    1. I shuffled my books to get a ringer or two on there, and I am confident that Ali will deliver again. Glad you liked it.

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  8. Jeans and Panera breakfast all day sounds heavenly--I love their baked goods! Now I'm hungry for bagels and scones. I hope you get better sleep this week!

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    1. You cannot understand how much Panera they order. We all bring Tupperware, because there are massive amounts of leftovers every time.

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  9. Congrats on two giveaway wins! That's awesome! That Panera breakfast sounds amazing, and I love wearing jeans to work - we get to wear them every Friday!

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    1. Jeans are the best. I just want to have one wardrobe, and I like the versatility of jeans. And, you don't have iron jeans. We also get to wear them every Friday, but it's a call center. There are NO clients on site. Why do I have to wear dress clothes?

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  10. I am laughing that you don’t read enough. My reading has dropped so much but honestly, I’m okay with it and I’m enjoying reading more.
    Hope you have a great week!

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    1. There are just so many books I want to read, and I kept nodding off on the train this week. It was horrible.

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  11. Sorry to hear you're not sleeping well, Sam! I hope that will change, and that the short week will help as well :)
    You got some very good looking new books :) Enjoy reading them!
    Have a wonderful week ahead and happy reading.

    Lexxie @ (un)Conventional Bookworms

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    1. I am pretty excited about this bunch of book. I went for a lot of warmhearted feels this week.

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  12. I'm impressed that Benny and Joon the musical worked, the movie was so quirky and sweet. That's sad that 500 Miles didn't make an appearance though.

    I'm happy that you had a 5-star read this week!!

    (Amber Elise @ Du Livre)

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    1. The play kept that quirkiness, and I really appreciated a lot of the design choices too. Yeah. I didn't used to say things like that, but after watching a bunch of shows with my BFA in theatre design daughter, she has me looking at things a little differently. They did play 500 Miles while we were waiting for the show to start, though.

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  13. Waking up at 2am and not being to go back to sleep sounds horrible! Hope you find some rest, Sam!

    I'm soooo excited about Veronica Mars!! Yay for Beard Science! I want to listen to more of the series. Off to the library to see if they carry them in audio form. Not sure what Hoopla is, I'll try and figure it out. :)

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    1. I never slept a lot, so sleeping less is not a good thing. The Winston Brother books are hilarious. They are really long though, like 12 hours, but I listen to them at work. It's a great way to pass the day. Hoopla is an online lending service, which is transaction based. So, you never have to wait for the ebook or audiobook to check it out. I get access via my library to it.

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  14. I can wear jeans to work on the regular... Only when I have customer or external meetings do I need to bother with formal business wear. :)

    Enjoy your tax day breakfast! Hopefully the sleep woes will pass quickly.

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    1. You are lucky. I wish my company would adopt that for the call centers. We have no onsite clients. The banking centers and branch offices are a whole different ball game. They like to use jeans as a way to get people to donate to charity. They will let you wear jeans for a month if you make a $25 donation to their choice of charity. So, I don't think the dress up thing is that important to them.

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  15. I'm sorry you've been sleeping so poorly. I hope you can get some good rest. Can't wait for Veronica Mars. I just love everything about the series. Congrats on winning two giveaways.

    Wishes of a happy week! ;)
    Tânia @MyLovelySecret

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    1. I thought they did a great job continuing the story with the film and the two books Rob Thomas put out. I am so ready for more VMars.

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  16. One day you'll have to spill your secret in regard to being able to read so many books AND to blog 5 or 6 times a week despite your work/commute schedule. Seriously girl, you're a superhero. If I were to wake up at 2 or 3 a.m. (or, well, even 6 or 7...) five days in a row EVERY week, I would be long deceased by now 😵 😂. I need A LOT of sleep to function, especially in the morning. Also, once you go home, you have to tend to the house and stuff, I suppose. At least you don't hate your job anymore, but still. Superhero!

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    1. It's called an empty nest and no money to go out and do anything. HA! I don't sleep much either. I like mornings. I can be pretty useless after 2pm, which worked out fine when I was teaching, but I sort of need to stay on my toes a few hours longer at work now.

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  17. I am super pumped about Veronica Mars returning! I didn't watch the show until years later, but still enjoyed it. Some of your new books are new to me, so I've already added them to Goodreads. Thanks! I cannot remember the last time I used an iron, haha. Stay at home mom, whoo! When I was teaching, I preferred dressed to avoid ironing, haha.

    I have a few of those Beard books by Penny Reid, but haven't tried them. I might give the audio a shot! :)

    Lindsi @ Do You Dog-ear? 💬

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    1. I will say, without having to iron pants, my ironing took under 10 mins vs the 30-40 it usually takes. The Beard books are fun. Classic Reid. The whole Winston family is super quirky, and I love them.

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    1. I am interested in seeing where they go with it.

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  19. ooh, how was The Austen Playbook??

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    1. I enjoyed it so much. Parker's books are always good for me. My review will be up on Thursday.

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  20. Sorry last week was rough. I hope you get a lot better sleep this week. I hate when that happens. Ooh Panera at work sounds lovely. How fun! Congrats on the two giveaway wins too!!

    -Lauren
    www.shootingstarsmag.net

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    1. Free is sort of always the best. Maybe it will make up for the massive storm outside right now and the tornado watch.

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  21. I'm having a few issues with lack of sleep as well but I've had bouts of insomnia all my life so I'm sort of used to it. I hate the way it leaves me feeling the whole of the next day. Ugh. I hope things get better sleep wise for you.

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    1. I was treated for insomnia for over 20 years, but it got better after I stopped teaching. Oh, well, I just have to keep to myself, so my cranky doesn't show.

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  22. Poor you with the sleep issues! I hope things get back to normal soon. I mean, getting up at 3 AM sucks but it’s better than 2 AM! The musical sounds fun. I wouldn’t have missed the song since I was never a big fan of it to start with. My husband sometimes does the silly bread dance (but with French fries) when we’re out. :) Hope you’re enjoying all the yummy foods today! Methinks the hedgehog need a bigger crib. LOL Congrats on the book wins! That’s always fun.

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    1. A French fry dance, how fun! An extra hour of sleep is an extra hour of sleep. I would never say no to that. I have to figure out how to share this amazing hedgehog video the kid sent me. I laughed and smile so much. She totally knows the way to my heart.

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  23. I hope during the weekend you were able to catch up on all of your sleep and that sleeping goes better in the coming week. And yay for being able to go to the show and enjoying it so much ^.^

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    1. I never do make up sleep. I just try to stick to my sleep schedule and get back on track.

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  24. Its great that you won tho. I try to withdraw if I get the book too but sometimes forget then I just give my copy away. I hope you get some sleep. I went to my Aunt's in VA and omg every hour I was awake it was a nightmare. What can you do. Enjoy the weekend.

    Mary

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    1. It will be totally ok if the book never comes, because I have a copy already, but maybe I will use the print ARC for a giveaway.

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