Sunday, February 21, 2021

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! Yesterday, I made my weekly trip out of the house, and it was not fun. We had a bit of weather during the week. It snowed, then it sleeted, then it snow again. When I went to clear off my car, there was a layer of snow, covering a layer of ice, covering another layer of snow. I love that my car is a bit higher off the ground, but it's so hard to clear the snow, because I am short. That was my struggle. 

I alternate my outings between the market and Target. This week I went to the market, and they had an aluminum-free deodorant AND it had a paper packaging. I am eager to try it out. I will let you all know how my experiment with this goes. 


As always, not much going on. Monday off was great though. It coincided with the Animal Crossing Festivale. It was so much fun! This was probably one of my favorite events. So, that was the highlight of this week. Above are some of Kiersten's pictures. There was a LOT of dancing and celebrating, as you can see. 







Let's Discuss!
  • Amber talks about celebrating Black History Month
  • Kristen tells us how to listen to ebooks with TTS
  • Laura wonders what makes a good love interest


On the Blog:
  • Monday: #AmReading YA - Prepped, Happy Girl Lucky
  • Tuesday: TTT - Fat Tuesday!
  • Wednesday: CWW - Between the Bliss and Me, The Romantic Pact
  • Thursday: Blog Tour - Amelia Unabridged by Ashley Schumacher
  • Friday: Discussion - Required Reading 


STACKING THE SHELVES

Some of you may have saw me lamenting about receiving eleven rejections at once on EW. I get rejected plenty, but never in such a high volume in one go. They were all different publishers too, so no one was feeling me that day. I was feeling a bit bad about that, and then I got approved for 10 Truths and a Dare! I honestly thought I was hallucinating when I saw the email, because this is a highly anticipate book for me AND the publisher is Disney-Hyperion, who ALWAYS rejects me. Maybe they accidentally approved me, but I DON'T CARE. This is a fantastic thing. Nice way to end the week.

Free
Edelweiss/NetGalley
What I Read Last Week

Another solid week. I can't complain. I did another re-listen and got to a backlist book via audio. So, I feel very accomplished. 

Books
Audiobooks

What I Am Currently Reading

Gray Hair Dan't Care is pretty fun. I was excited to read about a heroine about my age, who gets a second chance at love with her college crush. Her crush was prone to being a jerk at times, but I think he's coming around. 

As I write this, I have only read a bit of Hand's book, but I am such a fan and can't wait to see where it all goes. 


What I Plan to Read

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

42 comments:

  1. "When I went to clear off my car, there was a layer of snow, covering a layer of ice, covering another layer of snow. I love that my car is a bit higher off the ground, but it's so hard to clear the snow, because I am short."
    Ugh. I've never ever cared about being short in terms of physical appearance, but the older you get, the harder it is to stretch and do stuff above your height level LOL.

    "I honestly thought I was hallucinating when I saw the email, because this is a highly anticipate book for me AND the publisher is Disney-Hyperion, who ALWAYS rejects me. Maybe they accidentally approved me, but I DON'T CARE."
    Yay! EW is funny that way...in my experience, the publishers there reject you more often than on NG, but now and then they approve you for books you'd think you'll never get! I think it's because of the "plea box" where you can state why you're requesting a certain book...I mean, I don't know if you use it, but I find it to be a great asset. When I'm a huge fan of an author/series and I'm vocal about it, I get surprising results (like the 2 books that came from Penguin imprints).

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    1. The whole car is tough to clear. My short arms make the roof and even the windshield hard to clear. When I use the tools with longer handles, I cannot get the leverage I need. I just do my best.

      I have stopped writing anything but the minimum in the "plea box". I don't think they read it. I find my rejection rate is about the same on both platforms (about 20%), but I am started to get more rejections from publishers I used to have luck with. Oh well, out with the old, in with the new.

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  2. Sorry about all the ARC rejections, but at least you got one you wanted! I hope you have a great week.

    Aj @ Read All The Things!

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    1. I do get regularly rejected, just not that much at once.

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  3. Grey Hair Don't Care sounds fun. I can’t quite make my mind up about mine. At the moment the grey is just an inch wide strip all around my hairline and it looks odd given I have very dark brown hair, I think it needs to be a bit more evenly distributed til I stop dyeing it.

    Wishing you a great reading week

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    1. It is. We don't see enough "mature" heroines in romance. So, sort of refreshing. I have dark hair. I have no idea how people would grow it out. My dad's was more blond, so it grew out gracefully, but I could not imagine the mess I would have. Maybe dye the whole head grey?

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  4. Omg, that clip of the dog and cat! That's so cute! I had to show my mom and she laughed too. We were surprise the cat stayed in his little sleigh. Lol. Yeah the snow was icky this week. I used my snow shield doo-hicky for the first time! I laid it out on my windshield to keep the snow off and it actually worked really well. Now my dilemma is that I want to get a new car soon and I wonder if it will fit or not. Most likely not. But oh well!

    Nice new reads too! Those are all new to me ones but I hope you enjoy them all!


    Here's my StS

    Have a GREAT day!

    Old Follower :)

    ReplyDelete
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    1. That cat was a very patient and trusting passenger. Because I don't really have to drive anywhere, I don't bother with covering my car, but I hate clearing it. My mom uses one of those cover things. Oooh, a new car. Let the fun begin!

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  5. I have zero clue about snows but it I've been seeing terrible things about it recently (at least this past week). I hope the weather's getting better for you there.
    I think I recently saw Swing and a Mishap on goodreads and saw that it's part of a series.

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    1. Texas got hammered with a historic storm, and they had energy problems because the windmills froze. It was terrible. My heart went out to them. Swing and a Mishap is part of a companion series, so you don't have to read them all. I haven't read the first book, but I enjoyed this and hope to read book one at some point.

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  6. Ugh, the weather this week! We got less snow than anticipated, so that was nice, but I also didn't clean my car off for a couple days and it was all ice by the time I got to it!

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    1. It wasn't too bad. It is winter and we live in the northeast - nothing unusual here. I just wish I had someone to clear my car for me. LOL

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  7. Ick on the weather. Sounds miserable - and tricky to navigate. Make It Sweet is on my TBR. It's been so long since I read anything by Callihan. I really enjoyed the audio of I Wish You All the Best. Ben's story really hurt my heart.

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    1. Not unusual weather for us in the winter. I can't complain, since I didn't have to do the whole bus/train thing in it. I just watched it happen from my window. I enjoyed the Callihan book. The heroes story was higher stakes than the heroine's, which is why I was more invested in his decisions, but it was a good mix of fun, sexy, drama, and food.

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  8. i do not miss the whole snow and ice thing. looks like some great books and i want to thank you for the sweet animal smiles
    sherry @ fundinmental

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    1. Hey, it could be worse. I could have to travel in this mess. I am counting my blessings.

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  9. We had that horrid snow and ice mix around here at the end of last week too. It was no fun at all. Yay for an unexpected approval from Disney. Looking forward to your review of the new Cynthia Hand. I got rejected for that one (boo), but definitely want to read it once it's out in the world. OMG, the dog pulling the cat in the snow. I'm dying, LMAO!

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    1. Hand's book was good. Not what I expected, since people were referencing Forever when talking about it. The sex part really wasn't the main focus. It was more about what her family was going through and their dynamic. It's hard to explain, but I was throughly entertained.

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  10. I got a taste of that snowy winter weather here in south Texas this week. We had about 6 inches of snow and freezing temps for the entire week. I wouldn't mind the cold, but we also ended up losing power and water for several days. Work shut down because of the storms, but worrying about no power and freezing pipes definitely isn't my preferred way to spend a week off!

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    1. I was thinking about you, but I thought you went from TX to CA. I must have had it backwards. My heart goes out to you all. I remember being without power for 8 or so days because of Sandy, and it's much colder by you than it was when it happened to us.

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  11. I've never had any luck with natural deodorants although I desperately want to use them. They all work temporarily and then it's like my body rejects them. It's crazy! Hurray for Animal Crossing! I keep forgetting it exists until I visit your blog lol! I hope you enjoy all your upcoming reads!

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    1. I have seen - you need to get used to natural deodorant or you need to try a few. This one wasn't too expensive, so I thought I would give it a go. You missed a fun even on ACNH. It was great!

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  12. I sometimes have a hard time cleaning off our SUV. I am glad that you got an approval that you were hoping for after the mass rejection event earlier in the week. I hope you enjoy all of your books and have a great week!

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    1. A Disney approval is like 10 of any other pub, because IT NEVER HAPPENS FOR ME. I hope they don't relize their mistake. LOL

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  13. Glad you got a Disney approval to help take away the sting of all those rejections. That was quite an unpleasant sweep!

    Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction

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    1. A total shock. I guess there is something to being persistent.

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  14. Snow and ice do not sound like fun. I'm not sure how I'd handle it since I've never had to in Southern California! Glad you're not having to commute in that stuff right now, Sam!

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    1. I think I would be more frustrated with the weather if I wasn't working from home. It's snowing right now, again. Not too much expected though.

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  15. Oh wow rough weather there too huh? We've had snow and got stuck leaving the driveway a few times- I'm ready for winter to take a hike! I hope things are better over your way...

    You always have a fun slate of books!

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    1. The last few storms were nothing compared to the nor'easter. Just a few inches. I like that my car is a big higher, because I have pretty good clearance when there is snow, though, I don't tend to drive in it.

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  16. I have The Wedding Game and I need to read it! I am saving it for some reason, but I need to not do that since I love Meghan Quinn so much. I'm glad you got to read it this week.

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    1. It was really fun. The game show parts were some of my favorites, but the time hero and heroine spent alone was great too.

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  17. We had a blizzard/ice storm last weekend and this weekend was rain so it's all just a muddy mess at this point. I'm just counting the days for spring now lol

    Karen @ For What It's Worth

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    1. It's winter. I can't be mad about weather. It could be worse. We had snow this morning and now it's raining, but I heard it's going up to 50!!! this week.

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  18. I’m short too, I can feel smug in the morning as the car is garaged over night but if I’m at work I’m not smug as it’s out in the open and it wouldn’t be the first time I’ve had to do a bit of digging!

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    1. The few times we had a garage, we always used it for storage. It's a dream to have one of those where I park my car.

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  19. Yay for getting approved for a book you really wanted, especially after being denied for much! I'm really happy you enjoyed The Wedding Game. As you know, that's on my wish list.

    -Lauren
    www.shootingstarsmag.net

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    1. When I saw the Quinn book for early $1.99 purchase, I jumped on it. Quinn always makes me laugh.

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  20. This snow has been absolute hell! I'm sorry but I laughed when you described trying to clean the snow off. :) My husband is six foot four so that's his job, haha.

    Thank you for sharing my blog post love, <3

    I'm intrigued by the Dating Game!

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    1. My daughter was saying, that every time she wanted to do her laundry, it would start snowing. We really haven't had that much snow, or that often, I guess. Wow! Matt is tall. Curious to see how tall Aria gets. I loved your post!

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  21. I totally get the struggle as my car is also higher off the ground and I am short!!!

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    1. The never ending struggle of being a short person in a tall person's world.

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