Welcome to this week’s Sunday Post. This feature is brought to you by The Caffeinated Book Reviewer, so swing by after you are done here and get the full list of participants!
What I Reviewed:
- [1 Jun] Hard Stick by L.P. Dover ★★★
- [1 Jun] Fighting With Honor by K.C. Lynn ★★★★
- [2 Jun] Silver Silence by Nalini Singh ★★★★½
- [4 Jun] Sworn to Protect by Diana Gardin ★★★½
- [5 Jun] Cougar Bait by Evangeline Anderson ★★★★
- [6 Jun] Abandoned by Rhonda Pollero ★★★★
- [7 Jun] Revenge by Lexi Blake ★★★★
- [8 Jun] Hearts on Air by L.H. Cosway ★★★
- [8 Jun] Protecting Kiera by Susan Stoker ★★★★½
- [9 Jun] Enforcer by Katana Collins ★★★★
- [11 Jun] The Story of Us by Tara Sivec ★★★★
- [12 Jun] The Mistaken Billionaire by Lexxie Couper ★★★★
- [13 Jun] Salvaged by Jay Crownover ★★★★★
- [14 Jun] Falling Hard by Pamela Clare ★★
- [15 Jun] Fast Kill by Kaylea Cross ★★★★
- [20 Jun] Gone to Dust by Liliana Hart ★★★★
- [21 Jun] Protected by Love by Jennifer Ryan ★★★★
- [22 Jun] Infiltration by Janie Crouch ★★★★
- [23 Jun] Lord of Shadows by Cassandra Clare ★★★★★
- [27 Jun] Lord of Lies by Amy Sandas ★★★★
- [27 Jun] The Highland Commander by Amy Jarecki ★★★
- [28 Jun] Until It Fades by K.A. Tucker ★★★★
- [29 Jun] The Catch by K. Bromberg ★★★★★
- [30 Jun] Call to Engage by Tawny Weber ★★★½
Favorite reads of June: Lord of Shadows by Cassandra Clare and The Catch by K. Bromberg!
What’s Coming Up:
- Day of the Duchess by Sarah Maclean
- Wired by Julie Garwood
- Drakon’s Plunder by NJ Walters
This Week’s New Releases:
What I Found Online:
- So, I haven’t had much time to check out the web, but if you want to see some of my pictures from Europe, check HERE
This Week’s Book Haul:
Purchased (so many Entangled books on sale for 99 cents!):
ARCs thanks to the publishers and authors (this is from the past 2 weeks):
Audio ARCs thanks to Tantor!
Non-Bookish News:
My Europe trip was awesome! We had 2 days in London, but one of them was marred by Jet Lag. Seriously, like I could sleep on the plane on the way to London! So, we landed, and started with the touring right away. By 8 pm I was miserable from being so sleep deprived and needing a shower. Of course we go to Europe during their worst heat wave. But, we saw lots of awesome things and had a great time! Then we were off to Caen and the beaches of Normandy. It was awe inspiring! Then we went to St. Malo. Seriously, go there!!! Its gorgeous and wonderful. We stayed there for 2 days. Then off to Paris, which was my least favorite. It was loud, dirty, and crowded. The Louvre was cool though. I wish we had more time at the museum, but again, like Paris itself, loud and crowded. After 3 days in Paris we were off to Brugge and Brussels! 2 words: Belgian Chocolate! It was amazing. Belgium is so quirky I loved it! I am happy to be home though. Travel is exhausting and expensive! (below are just a few of my pictures!)
Just before we left we spent 9k on a new AC and furnace. Friday we discovered that sewage was backing up into our basement. I so do not have the money for this. Our credit is maxed from the AC purchase and we JUST got back from vacation so our savings is nonexistent. Home ownership is KILLING ME! How do you all handle these unexpected expenses? Not being able to use water since Thursday was not cool. I have 2 weeks worth of laundry to do from our trip. So, I am currently in a hotel that our insurance is covering since, you know, toilets are a necessity and right now, we can’t use ours. (Like I haven’t had enough hotels lately! At least they found one that allows dogs since we couldn’t leave them at home). Buy a house, they said, it will be great, they said. When does it get great?
So, yeah, the good was the trip, the bad is my bank account, and the UGLY is the poo water in my basement. Thats my life right now. At least I am off work until August!
So, whats new with you this week? Did you read any of the same books I did? Did you find any great book deals I need to grab ASAP? Let me know in the comments!
Hey, you’re back! How did you handle being away from your dogs? Glad your vacation was nice, it sounds like you did everything back to back, I can’t handle rushing from one place to the next one, definitely not for me even though I want to see all these places! Probably will do them one at a time at some point!
Secondborn does look good. I came close to choosing that one, but went with the historical fiction novel instead. I’ve actually skipped the last two months because nothing appealed to me–and this time there were three I was torn between.
Your trip to Europe sounds amazing. I am glad you had such a great time! How awful to come home though to backed up sewage in your basement. 🙁 At times like that, I wonder why we do buy our own homes . . . If it’s not one thing, it’s another. I feel for you, Samantha!
How did the dogs fare while you were gone? I bet that was at least a happy reunion. I am so glad you were able to find a hotel that would let them stay with you while the repairs are done. That must have, at least, been a relief.
I hope you have a good week and that you are able to go home again soon!
Yay! Glad you had a wonderful time at Europe! I would love to go to Europe someday!
Your trip sounds amazing, even if coming home to unexpected poo in the basement is anything but! Unexpected expenses always suck! We were so good with saving in the beginning, but now, we need a new furnace, too, and we’ll have to wait at least until the end of the summer to be able to afford it 🙁
I’m off to check out your Europe pictures! Have a fantastic summer xoxo
I am so sorry to hear about your basement. It’s stories like this that make me happy I no longer own a house. I am glad your trip was awesome though. I had the pleasure of visiting London and Paris for my daughter’s 16th birthday (talked her out of a big party with the promise of Paris — win!) I need to catch up on The Ghost Bird books. I am super far behind.
It sounds like your trip was fun. I love all the pictures. Thank you for sharing. We went to France last year. We went to Marseille, France to take in a finally football (soccer) game. We got tickets to Germany vs. France. It was awesome to see the game. We did some touring around the city and took a day trip hopping on a train to visit Monte Carlo. I will say it’s HOT in France. I wish I had brought some skirts with me. I didn’t know how uncomfortable it would be without them. It was still a fun adventure.
So sorry to hear about the sewage back up. That is not fun. As for owning a home, nah it doesn’t get better. We heard all the same things you did, but I can tell you it’s so much better to rent a home and if something goes wrong the homeowners have to fix it asap and you are not out of any savings. We bought out first and only home back in 2008, we still have it, but now we rent it out since we couldn’t sell it at the time we had to move, so we do well with it being a rental property and we have a good rental management company, so far so good, but as far as being a home owner. I won’t buy again. I’ll inherit that’s it.
Love all your new books. What a great haul. I know their have been several $.99c deals lately on some really good books. I’ve been good and only picked up the freebies ^_^. I did request some NetGalley books to review. So July will be the ARC month and try to finish my two backlist ARC’s I’ve got.
Have a great week, Happy 4th, and Happy Reading!
Ooh great pics! I would think Paris would be a highlight but I can see where it’s be overcrowded- probably everyone goes there lol. Glad it was an awesome trip. Love the UK pics in particular! Sorry you had to come home to a mess though-yikes! Hope it all goes well. and yeah home ownership I think is EXPENSIVE more than anything else!
Your trip sounds great! I haven’t been in Brugge for so long.
Home ownership is so much work and money grabbing. We haven’t had any big expenses yet but we are still working on the house. When will it ever be done? Once you get everything done you have to redo the first thing you started with…
Love the pics you shared! I’d love to visit Belgium – so beautiful. And I love how you described it as “quirky.” That makes me want to see it even more. Not much of a welcome home with the sewage issues. Ugh. Sure hope that gets taken care of quickly so you can get back home and get settled! Sometimes home ownership just plain sucks. 🙁
I picked up a few books from the Entangled sale too! I got the JLA Gamble Brothers Trilogy, here’s hoping they’re just as much fun as her other books. 🙂
Oh wow, Belgian Chocolate sounds AMAZING! I’m SO jealous! And your pictures are absolutely beautiful! I’m so glad you had such a wonderful trip and got to see so much! So many of the things you did are on my to-do list, hopefully some day.
Ugh, I’m sorry you came home to such a disaster. I hope they get the problems fixed asap and you can go back to being in your home instead of being in hotel rooms, again. Sending lots of hugs your way!
Wow, your trip to Europe sounds amazing! Sorry that you came home to such a mess though. That really sucks ::(
That’s too bad you were in Europe during the heat wave, but it does sound like you had a great time as well. Jet lag sounds nasty! You summed up my opinion of Paris perfectly, I know everyone seems to like the city, but I don’t really care for it. I think I’ve been to both Brugge ad Brussels once. Belgium is always fun to visit.
That sounds sucky to come home to such a mess and have to stay in another hotel. I hope things get fixed soon! Have a great week!
Great photos! Looks like you had a great time.
Sorry about your plumbing problems. Well, at least you’re there to take care of it. Hope it resolves soon. 🙂
yay glad to hear you had a great time in Europe! too bad about Paris! I often romanticize about Paris! 🙂