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 and to all the mom's out there - HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY! Going to be another low-key day for me. I will go out and get food for my parents. I got my mom mobility aids for her car. When she wants something, she buys it for herself, so I have to be more creative. She said they have been helpful.
I am hoping to share a meal with my daughter next week, but now I am not sure if I will even get to Chicago. I got a text from United earlier this past week to try and book a ticket from another airport, but the problem is two-fold. United has no tickets available and all the prices are jacked up since it's close to my trip date. I tried looking at Philly and BWI which would both be a hike to travel to, but I am not willing to pay upwards of $700 to go to Chicago. My ticket cost $300, so that's a lot higher, and I would have to pay for transportation to and from those airports.
And also, there is a NJ Transit strike looming to start the day before I leave. So, I can't even count on taking the train to the airport. I feel like I am not meant to see my daughter dance this year. Aside from the construction, there are also a shortage of air traffic controllers at Newark. Many took a mental health leave after the outage, and now I saw in that there was another outage. Going to roll the dice and hope for the best. I sure hope things get better before my trip in September. I always fly out of Newark because it's 15 minutes away. The other airports would take me longer plus it would be costly. Over $100 to get to JFK unless I did NJT to the subway which would be a nightmare. I think the easiest would be Amtrak to BWI since I can get the train right at my station.
Needless to say, it was a frustrating week.
On the Blog
Let's Discuss
- Em explains her star system
- Jen shares books that are like The Great Gatsby
- The Orangutan Librarian explains why we should read Holocaust books
Stacking the Shelves
I got a lot of good invites this week. I am having a hard time resisting downloading, but I am pretty much booked up through October.
Purchases/Free
- Rookie Mistake by Maren Moore
Invites
- My Favorite Holidate by Lauren Blakely
- How to Break My Heart by Kat. T. Masen
- A Spell for Midwinter's Heart by Morgan Lockhart
- A Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandanna
Read Last Week
This week was a decent reading week. All the books I read were solid, but I think I had higher expectations for a few of them. If I had to pick my top read, I would say All's Fair in Love and Pickleball stood a bit apart from the rest. This was probably close to get 4.5 stars. Spencer always injects a lot of humor and wit into her stories, and the characters were great, too. It was fun and heartwarming with a save the club plot that I can always get behind.
Find all my reviews on Goodreads
Books
- Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout - ★★★★
- The Griffin Sister's Greatest Hits by Jennifer Weiner - ★★★★
- The Perfect Rom-Com by Melissa Ferguson - ★★★★
- All's Fair in Love and Pickleball by Kate Spencer - ★★★★
- Plus One by Brighton Walsh - ★★★★
Audiobooks
- Acts of Violet by Margarita Montimore - ★★★ 1/2
Currently Reading
Wild and Wrangled is a little bittersweet for me since it is the last book in the series, but I am looking forward to this last trip to the ranch. The Higgins book is one of her older books, and as always, there is a heroine who I cannot help but feel for. I don't know how I would react to my sister dating and cohabitating with the man who broke off the engagement so close to the wedding, but I am rooting for her and the neighbor to make a love connection.
- Wild and Wrangled by Lyla Sage
- Too Good To Be True by Kristan Higgins
To Be Read
- Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry
- More Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa
- Never Been Shipped by Alicia Thompson
- The Poppy Fields by Nikki Erlich
Let us know in the comments!
I am so sorry you probably won't be able to see your daughter dance this year sam! My daughter is meant to come back next Sunday and I hope she won't have any problem!
ReplyDeleteYour daughter is flying out of California. Not sure if they are experiencing the same kind of issues with flights.
DeleteHappy Mother's Day, Sam! I hope you had a lovely lowkey day. I'm sorry to hear that it has been a frustrating week for you though. I hate when travel plans get disrupted but I hope things work out in your favour! I'm a little jealous of that invite to read Mandanna's new book but I'm excited to see that you got an invite because that means it's really releasing this year 🤭 I hope this week ahead will be much better for you!
ReplyDeleteI am crossing my fingers and really regretting that I planned a short trip. I used to travel the Wednesday before to attend the Sunday show, but my daughter was busy, I felt like I was in the way. This may be a lesson-learned moment for me. Yes! It was such a long delay for Mandanna's book, but at least we get to return to that world.
DeleteUgh that sounds like a terrible way to spend a week-dealing with travel. What a mess! I hope something works out!
ReplyDeleteI am holding on to hope that my flight will be one of the lucky ones that gets out next week.
DeleteHappy Mother's Day! Scheduling that trip sounds like a nightmare. I hope you end up being able to go without having to splurge.
ReplyDeleteThank you! I am not buying a new ticket. I am hoping for the best on Saturday.
DeleteHappy Mother's Day! Ugh, travel problems are the worst. I hope everything ends up working out!
ReplyDeleteHope you had a lovely Mother's Day. I am going to try and be unlike myself and be optimistic about Saturday.
DeleteFlying can be such a pain at times. They love to jack the prices up when they know people are going to be flying.
ReplyDeleteWhy isn't it like clothes and cars? Where when the end of the season is coming, they get cheaper, right? As the departure date approaches, the tickets on planes get more expensive. They should be happy to fill the flight, not charge more.
DeleteI hope you're able to find a trip that works for you to get to your daughter.
ReplyDeleteI booked a wedding gig this past weekend, specifically because it was in the same city where my parents live. I was able to work on Saturday and then spend the day with my family yesterday. It's been a while since I actually spent Mother's Day with my mom, so it was a nice treat.
I am keeping my flight. It would cost too much to go to another airport and change airlines. That's nice that you were able to get a family visit squeezed in on a work trip.
DeleteOh I'm so sorry you won't get to see your daughter dance this year. Flights can be a pain. I am leaving Monday to go to my daughter's, but am going for a much longer trip (11 days) so am driving. I know it is a long drive, about 18 to 20 hours, but I don't mind driving and I like having my car while they are at work. Glad you had a good reading week and hope this week has been a good one for you.
ReplyDeleteNot down and out yet. I will be leaving in a few hours for the airport. Fingers crossed my flight takes off. The trains are on strike, so I cannot take them to/from the airport, but I am hoping for the best today. My daughter lives in Chicago. Parking is a beast where she lives because it's close to Wrigley Field. I grew up in Brooklyn taking mass transit, so I don't mind doing it there. I had her load my CTA card - $20 for 7 days of unlimited rides. Good deal.
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