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:
- [21 Aug] Monster in the Closet by Karen Rose ★★★★
- [23 Aug] On the Chase by Katie Ruggle ★★★★
- [24 Aug] Demolished by Cathryn Fox ★★★½
- [25 Aug] Pretend You're Safe by Alexandra Ivy ★★★★
- [25 Aug] Celebrating Love by Maryann Jordan ★★★★½
- [26 Aug] Eye Candy by Tijan, Bella Jewel ★★★★½
What’s Coming Up:
- Disorderly Conduct by Tessa Bailey
- The Playboy Bachelor by Rachel Van Dyken
- Rebel by Rebecca Yarros
- So I Married a Sorcerer by Kerrelyn Sparks
- Escape to You by Jennifer Ryan
This Week’s New Releases:
Open Giveaways:
- $25 amazon GC from Royally Mine anthology
- Search and Rescue series by Katie Ruggle Prize pack
- $25 amazon GC from Sarah Robinson!
What I Found Online:
- Find the love of your life in the bookstore from Goodreads blog!
- Best YA books of August from Goodreads blog!
This Week’s Book Haul:
I also got Drumline by Stacy Kestwick and Redemption Island by LB Dunbar!
Non-Bookish News:
So, Monday was the eclipse! We were in the 90% totality area which was cool. It was a beautiful, cloudless day Monday as well. We did have a teacher inservice that day, but since we are all teachers, we kept getting up to go outside and watch! The science department furnished the NASA approved glasses!
Wednesday was our first normal day of school with students and all. Let me tell you…I had a ROUGH 3 days. I am trying to adjust to my ‘new’ caseload additions (I kind of know the kids, but they were on my former coworker’s caseload that I took over when she left), trying to adjust to a new grade book system, trying to find manage all the things my former coworker just took care of without me having to ask, and to top it all off, not getting ANY sleep because I am so stressed. Seriously, these 3 days felt like 3 weeks. I keep telling myself it will get easier. (Please, dear God, let it get better!)
My reading took a nose dive this week too! I WAS ahead in my reviews…now? Yeah, I’m barely a day ahead. I have never in my blogging life told a publisher or PR company that I couldn’t have a review on time. Seriously, I am just a timely person I can’t fathom it. So, instead, I will run myself ragged getting it all done because, while my logical brain tells me to just tell people things will be late, my OCD brain is screaming NOOOOOOOOOOO terrible things will happen. Bottom line? I will end up getting no sleep at all in order to do all the things and read all the books. Healthy? No.
My husband went on a camping trip this weekend so I have been home alone since Friday. He gets home from work on a normal day around 7 or 8, and then I am asleep (usually!) by 9:30, so having him gone for the weekend doesn’t feel a whole lot different. However, I do find myself talking to my dogs a lot just to have some sort of interaction with a living thing! The dogs aren’t impressed with my chatter, but they do love getting Dave’s side of the bed to themselves.
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!
Hahah, that picture of everyone just sitting in the parking lot π you won’t see that every day.
Hope you you get into a more comfortable routine with your work soon! Starting up after a vacation is always hard, and especially with a new class.
Have a great reading week π
It sounds like you guys had a great inservice day! My work day was much more hectic that day, but it was still really great to stop and see the eclipse.
I haven’t read Karen Rose in a long while, and Monster in the Closet piques my curiosity…wanting to grab it!
Thanks for sharing, and enjoy your week. Here are MY WEEKLY UPDATES
I haven’t read any, no but looking at those covers, I’m here wondering how I missed a whole sub-genre of ripped, shirtless man covers (lol). Cool eclipse story. I’m in the Caribbean where we had a full solar eclipse in 1998 so I was kind of meh but my nephew was psyched (we didn’t have the glasses so I had to keep reminding him not to stare in to the sun) and then we didn’t have the day turn to night then turn back to day effect that I’d told him about from my ’98 experience so I think he was kind of let down. We had a lot of cloud cover so the effect wasn’t as dramatic. Cool thing still. Go easy on yourself with the reading schedule, reading’s supposed to be fun…of course I haven’t successfully finished a book in several weeks so take that for what it’s worth…but I do believe it shouldn’t feel like more pressure; life gives us enough of that. Hope things get better all around; it’s been a challenging set of weeks this end as well (likely the reason for the non-reading).
Looks like you are having a good week and enjoyed the Eclipse. I have gotten a bit behind on my reading so I need to do some catch up. I am really excited to read your review of So I Married A Sorcerer. Have a good week.
Ooh Monster in the Closet- I just love that cover!! Don’t even know why. Glad you got to see the eclipse- that would be fun to see it with other teachers. π And it sounds like a rough first three days! Hopefully this week everything will calm down. Happy reading!!
Take a break and relax. Don’t run yourself raged with school and the blog. I’m sure you will find the happy medium and things will level out. My son started Kindergarten this week. The had Thur & Fri then off for the weekend. So far it’s been all positive, no school issue, but he did pick up a bug at school. He started running a fever Friday afternoon and into Saturday. Oh the joys of germs and kids ^_^. I’m trying to adjust to having 5hours to myself. It’s so quite in the house now that schools in and my hubby goes off to work. Have a great week and Happy Reading!
I hope things settle down and sort themselves out at school so you’ll be less stressed. As for timely reviewing, as long as we read, we’ll all have that. LOL I talk to my dog all the time. I’m thinking I’m lukcy he doesn’t alk back from the looks he gives me:)
Sounds like you had a mixed bag last week. Hopefully, this first full week of school goes smoother and maybe you will find a little reading time!
A while back, I started to read How to Tame a Beast in Seven Days. It was really good, but I got sidetracked and didn’t finish. Until I do, I can’t read the next one that comes out this week. But I’m looking forward to it.
Sounds like you had a great week. I hope this week will be just as good or better.
I’m going to make sure to folllow your blog because I read a lot of the same kinds of books as you π
My Sunday Post
Oh sorry to hea you’ve had rough days, Sam. I hope everything gets better. Don’t blame yourself if you can’t do what you normally do especially with blogging. I know it’s hard given how consistent you’ve been with your blog schedule.
Things will get back to normal eventually, they always do. I’m feeling stressed out too so I get it.
Have a wonderful week.
Oh the eclipse! You’re so lucky :(. Have a wonderful week!
I remember seeing your post on IG for the eclipse! What fun!
I’m sorry you’ve been so stressed but I’m sure things will get so much easier.
And you should relax about the blogging a little without running yourself ragged! It is a hobby after all.
I hope you’re having a better week this week. I’m busy trying to catch up my side after a couple of weeks away! Yikes! I’ll get back on top of things soon I hope.
Looks like everyone enjoyed watching the eclipse. π My reading was that great this week. Running up and down the road all the time seems to cut into my reading time. lol… Great haul of book though. Enjoy thme. Thank you for stopping by my Sunday Post.
What a fun pic from the eclipse watching! And I guess watching with science teachers is a pretty educational experience. π
Sorry to hear the school year had such a rough start. Ugh. It sounds like your workload has increased dramatically. I sure hope you find a way to manage it all without being so constantly overwhelmed and stressed!
Cool photo, but wasn’t that pavement hot? LOL
I understand that you want to get things done, but you can get burned out too. Take care of yourself, I’m sure the publisher would not mind a late review.
Hope this week is better for you.
Hey you! Sounds like a busy week for you. I hope that your school stuff gets easier and that you’ll find a rhythm that will help you understand your new role better. You hide your stress really well because every week, you amaze me with how much work you do on your blog all by yourself. Your efforts are appreciated and I sincerely hope that you catch up easily and that things will slow down for you to catch your breath and figure things out.
That’s an awesome picture and looks a lot like what my office looked like in our own parking lot.
Bigs hugs from So Cal, Samantha!! Have a great week!
I am so jealous you got to see the eclipse. I used to teach astronomy, so I was excited, but sadly, it was over by the time I ran outside. NJ was only in the 70% ban, so I will just look forward to 2024. I remember the beginning of the school year being so tough. I taught HS, so the kids were still in summer mode, there was so much to set up and all the administrative stuff that comes with the beginning of the year is such a headache. Good luck with this upcoming year!
I work with a very passionate science department and they offer astronomy as an elective so they were super psyched! The beginning of the year is so much paperwork stuff its a bit overwhelming! Thanks for stopping by!