We Live and Breathe Books: Sundays with Sam

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! If you you were on the east coast this weekend, I hope you are doing ok. We had a nor'easter come through which brought high winds, flooding, and rain. The sky Friday night was wild. I saw images all over Instagram, and I must admit, I went outside to watch for a while. It was captivating. Then the rain and the wind started. At one point, the lights started blinking, but luckily, our power did not go out.

I went for a haircut on Wednesday, and my stylist informed me that my haircut will be going from $50 to $80. That's like a 60% hike. I get my haircut once a month, and that price increase would be $360 a year for me. Obviously, I have to find a new stylist. I get that he has to make a living, but I am not in the $80 haircut tax bracket, and it's a big raise all at once too. I am little frustrated, but there are plenty of salons in my area where I can get a cut for $50-$60. Gotta work that out.

Other than that, fall has arrived, and it has been lovely here. I did nothing this week but read and go to work, but it's the one week countdown to my vacation. I am so excited to be off for a week.

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On the Blog

Monday: Reviews - Thank You for Remembering, A Study in Sparkling
Tuesday: TTT - My Fall TBR
Wednesday: Five on My TBR - Animals on the Cover
Thursday: Reviews - In Stormy Weather, One For the Road
Friday: Six Degrees of Separation - Thank You for Remembering

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Stacking the Shelves

I have no business getting new books, but I did buy two, download one ARC, and get some freebies. I had several invites which were not books in genres I read, but one appealed to me - When the Stars Answer. I will most likely download that one.

Netgalley/Edelweiss

Trust Issues by Kasie West

Purchased/Free

Down and Dirty by Kendall Ryan
Offside and Off-Limits by Kate O'Keefe
Fake-Off with Fate by Whitney Dineen
Christmas at the Lakeside Resort by Susan Schild

Invites

Fairly Bad Ways to Die by Brian McAuley
Recruitment by K.A. Riley
The Last Match by Jessa Maxwell
When the Stars Answer by Harper Ross

Read Last Week

I really bit off more than I could chew with September and October releases. There is 0% chance of me being on time with my October ARCs since five are publishing the same day. I don't know how I let this happen, but I swear, I will read them all.

This was a good week. My highest rated book was one selected for a reading challenge. I will admit that I am not one to reach for Holocaust books. They are important but so sad. Night is widely read by high school students with the author sharing his experience when he was forced into a concentration camp at 13 years old. We know the story but hearing someone's personal account just hits even harder.

The Good Parts was another sad book which I enjoyed. It's about a woman who takes a forgetting-pill and how her husband tried to make her remember. You get their whole love story and find out what happened. It's heartbreaking and thought provoking. I did struggle with the character electing to forget her life given a big part of her backstory, but I still really liked the book.

As always, Lynn Painter came through with Trust Fall. Her young adult books are always great. This was an interesting set up with a family from Nebraska inheriting a home in New York City. The decedents family was none too pleased, and their son becomes part of the daughter's life to find out how they tricked his uncle into leaving them his home. Both main characters experienced a lot of growth, and I appreciated their personal journey. The story had all Painter's signature charm, wit, and warmth as well.

Find all my reviews on Goodreads