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:
- [12 Feb] Brooklynaire by Sarina Bowen ★★★★½
- [13 Feb] Shot on Gold by Jaci Burton ★★★★
- [14 Feb] I Like Big Dragons and I Cannot Lie by Lani Lynn Vale ★★★★½
- [16 Feb] Outlaw Ride by Sarah Hawthorne ★★★½
Plus my Discussion post/behind the blog post about how I became a reader: Before I was a blogger
What’s Coming Up:
- Driving Whiskey Wild by Melissa Foster
- Eulogy by Rachel Van Dyken
- Tangle of Need by Nalini Singh
- I’m Only Here for the Beard by Lani Lynn Vale
This Week’s New Releases:
What I Found Online:
This hilarious video from Cosmo magazine!
This Week’s Book Haul:
ARCs thanks to the amazing authors and publishers:
Non-Bookish News:
I have the plague! Ok, so its really just bronchitis and a nasty cold, but ITS THE PLAGUE! Tuesday I stayed home from work because of the coughing and we still didn’t have hot water. I couldn’t bear taking a cold shower after being up coughing all night. Thankfully, we at least got the hot water heater fixed Tuesday night. By Thursday night, I was feeling worse though. We had parent teacher conferences so I was at work for 14 hours. I barely made it through the night. Even now, I’m not feeling great. I’m congested, my ears are clogged, and if I try to take a deep breath, I have a coughing fit. Seriously, I’m so over it. I work in a germ factory so getting sick is pretty common but I have been so careful this year-lots of airborne, hand sanitizer, lysol. a
I didn’t get a whole lot done this week because of the plague. But, we do have hot water (Thank GOD!) so yay! The weather has been crazy here too. It was almost 70 on Thursday. Saturday we got snow.
As a teacher, the school shooting in Florida weighs on my mind. As I learned more about the shooter I realized this was a kid who fell through the cracks. All the students interviewed said they weren’t surprised at all that he did this. Someone had even previously reported him to the FBI. Yet this kid got NO HELP. He obviously needs mental health support. The systems in place in our country failed him. Gun control is only 1 piece of the puzzle. We have to address the fact that there are kids in the world today who have murderous tendencies and want to commit mass murder. Those feelings don’t go away without intervention and it needs to be available. I hate having to practice lock down drills with my students. I hate that in every classroom I go into, I look for where we would hide should something happen. I also hate that there are kids in crisis and every single warning goes unheeded. Parents are told they have to wait up to a year to get a kid into a psychiatrist. A year?!?! We don’t make cancer patients wait a year for chemo but we make a teenager wait a year to see a psychiatrist for his murderous rage. Its wrong. Until the US changes though, we will continue to practice hiding in rooms, buying devices that are suppose to stop a door from being forced open, and having to live tweet terror as it happens.
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!
Ugh sounds like a pretty rough week! Hope you feel better and get rid of the plague soon! I always wonder how teachers survive those long days during conferences, like they must be exhausted after talking to all those parents after working all day?? Anyway… hope this week you feel better!
Yeah I agree with you on the shooting thing. I mean the teenage years can be tough at the best of times, and if someone is disturbed or murderous they need help! Obviously. I agree changes are needed – big time.
Sorry you have the plague! I hope you feel better!
School does fail a lot of kids that need help. It also takes parents to push the schools to do something. We fought so hard to get my son the help he needed and we hit road block, after road block until I pretty much lost my sh*t one day. I was so scared he was going to kill someone and not on purpose. They finally put him someplace that helps but parents shouldn’t have to fight that hard. Even at the school he is in we have had to have him treated for threatening to kill himself. A lot of people don’t realize some states have programs that will come to you if kids are in crisis. New Jersey has a wonderful one. Sorry I am ranting. I also believe guns like that shouldn’t be given to kids at 19 or any age. Military grade weapons shouldn’t be available to anyone but the military. I understand a hand gun can do damage too but that is another law that can hold parents responsible if kids get them. You can’t drink until you are 21 but you can get a AK-57 at 19. It’s insane!
Sorry for all that ranting!!!
Have a great week, Samantha! Feel better and Happy Reading.
It’s extremely disturbing that this kid made his intentions known and he was still able to buy guns. It’s disturbing he didn’t get any help either!
I hope you feel better! Bronchitis is no fun and it lingers! Glad to hear you have your hot water back. At least you can take a nice long soak to feel better. 🙂
That video though. ? I love that the speed skater showed us his quads. Fabulous! I am so sorry you are unwell. I hope you are starting to feel better. This week reminded me of one of the reasons I left teaching. We had two real active shooter lockdowns, and sitting on that floor for over an hour wondering what was going on was just terrible. Keeping all you educators in my thoughts.
Aww being sick is the worst Samantha, especially when you’re feeling like crap for a few days too! But you have so many great books to look forward too, I hope you feel better and have a great week! 🙂
YA for HOT WATER. That’s great it’s fixed. Sorry to hear you are still sick. No fun at all. This week has been slow. Nothing exciting. My son had a four day weekend. For some reason they where off on Friday and of course Monday for President’s Day. Our weather was so nice last week with it being in the 70’s, but this week it’s been barely hitting 60’s and it’s been windy. Hope you feel better and enjoy those new books.
I’m so sorry you’re feeling so terribly, Samantha! I hope the long weekend will help. 🙂 I’m looking forward to reading your review of I’m Only Here for the Beard. And thanks for sharing that Cosmo video. It was hilarious! I appreciate you sharing your thoughts on the school shooting in Florida. Yes, there are many issues that need to be addressed with the systems we have in place. I don’t know the answers but I hope change can affected so that people get the help they need and our schools can be safer.
Have a great week!
Such a tragedy and preventable. That young man made his intentions known. Why was he not locked up and gotten help. It really hurts the soul.
Sorry you have the plague. Working those long hours didn’t help. You need some rest and I hope you got some.
Sorry you had a tough week. I hope this one is better.
Oh no, not the plague 😉 I hope you feel better soon. There has been a lot of yuckies going around. My daughter just had an sinus infection and upper respiratory infection and her coughing was terrible. It was a very tragic and heartbreaking week, I feel so sad for those parents that didn’t have a child come home. Something needs to be done to protect our children and teachers. You have some great books this week, I hope you enjoy them all.
I’m so sorry that you feel so sick. It’s definitely going around. I mentioned in another blog that it has somehow skipped my house, but now that I mention it, boom! Hope you feel better soon!
Oh no!! I saw the name title of your post and feared the worst. So sorry you aren’t feeling well – bronchitis is the worst and takes FOREVER to kick! Must have been even worse without the hot water.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on Florida. I used to travel down in that area all the time for work. I didn’t even realize until this week that schools are running active shooter drills (we don’t have kids). That wasn’t even a THING when I was growing up, even after Columbine. Enough is enough – time for all of us to stand up and do something.
OMG that Cosmo video is so hilarious. Some of the guys were obviously embarrassed/awkward but it was funny to see the few that got into it. Ha!
I feel you on the bronchitis. I have a looong history with that and it is so miserable. And it takes me forever to get over it. I have zero energy for so long. I have no idea how you worked 14 hours like that! I sure hope you start feeling better this week.
Bronchitis sucks! I hope you get better soon. This week has been slow for me as far as reading but I have some reviews to work on. Have a great week!
I do not live in the USA but I live currently in Dubai, in the middle east (that the world sorta considers dangerous.) The news about the school shooting shook me up and made me thank for the serious gun control laws that I have had in the coutnries that I have lived in. I have never seen a gun (touch wood) nor have my friends. I am sure not even my parents would have seen those murder weapons. Yet I perhaps live in one of the most safe places on Earth. All am tryinf to say is holding a gun is not safety, not needing one is. I don’t understand why and how kids (for that matter anyone) are even legally holding guns let alone carry them to school.
I can’t but laugh at the suggestions about physical training for the teachers. What is wrong with them? They are teachers, not soldiers. Sorry for the rant but I coudln’t hold it in,
ugh it sounds like a terrible week I hope this week was much better! especially because… hot water! I was appalled at the interview of the parents with whom the shooter went to live with! They knew he had a gun and that was going through difficult times! And they still allowed him to carry it!?? ARE YOU KIDDING ME???