The Sunday Post #135


The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Caffeinated Book Reviewer.
It's a chance to share news - a post to recap the past week on your blog, 
showcase books and things we have received, and share news about what is
coming up on your blog in the week ahead. You can find the info here:


I hope everyone had a simply wonderful Christmas. And if you don't celebrate, hopefully you just had a great week. :) I had a great time at my mom's house on Christmas Eve. That's our real Christmas celebration where the whole family gets together. We snacked on appetizers and desserts, played the plastic wrap game for the second year (this YouTube video explains it if you've never heard of it), exchanged gifts, and generally had a good time together. 

Christmas Day is even more low-key. The Husband and I exchanged gifts in the morning, we hosted lunch at our house in the afternoon, and we were both so exhausted by evening that we went to bed at 7 PM. Ha!
My mom's tree, Mom and my sisters and me, bears made from my dad's flannel shirts, my favorite gift wrap of the night, Fiona the deer

I had the rest of the week off from work and it was simply fabulous to not be on a schedule. The extra time was just... everything. I had time to relax, time to read, time for blog posts (and blog visiting), time to make nice home-cooked dinners. I could get used to that, but tomorrow is a return to the real world. 

How did you spend the holiday? Did you stay at home? Travel to be with family? Take a trip somewhere fabulous? I hope you had a safe and happy time no matter what you did. And now it's time to ring in another year. My hope is that 2019 is kinder and gentler, because 2018 was my toughest year ever. Here's hoping for a great new year for us all. ♥


Wednesday, December 26
Top 10 of 2018: New-to-Me Authors

Thursday, December 27


WHAT I READ IN THE LAST WEEK:

I really loved Taryn and Shaw, both separately and together, but I'm still working out how I feel about that ending. Overall a really good read, though.

WHAT I'M CURRENTLY READING: 

This isn't something I would typically be drawn to but my mom read it and loaned it to me so I decided to give it a go. I'm about 80 pages in and enjoying it well enough so far.

WHAT I'M CURRENTLY LISTENING TO:

Still listening to Fuel the Fire. I'm at about the 75% mark and loving every minute of it. Connor and Rose are both such complex characters and I love the insights this book gives into them individually and as a couple. They face some staggering challenges in this one and my heart always swells at the lengths they are willing to go to protect their family and friends. 


PHYSICAL BOOKS
    
Santa was kind enough to leave a copy of Verity under my tree and I am crazy excited to dive into it.
    





How was your week? Any new books? Any news to share? 
I'd love to hear about it!

32 comments

  1. Looks like you had a nice, cozy Christmas. Love the pictures! I am curious if you are talking about The One You Fight For was never going to have a neat ending like the others. I knew it would be messier and I thought it was realistic.

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    1. It was a cozy Christmas. :) Yeah, TOYFF was definitely going to be trickier just considering who they both were. It was bound to by messy both for them initially and then for others to understand/accept. But I'm more referring to Taryn's news when she went and found Shaw at the end. I mean, I know it happens, and it some ways it made sense for Loren to go that route considering Shaw's experience was the previous gf, but I'm not always a fan of that being used. (How's that for vague? LOL)

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  2. Looks like you had a wonderful Christmas! Love the pics. Oh Verity!!! I need to read that - seems to be that everyone loves it. Enjoy! Have a great week and Happy New Year!

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  3. Time off is so important!! I need to make more time to relax for myself in 2019. Happy belated holidays! <3

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    1. You and me both, Erica! I didn't do well with that in 2018 so I'm really striving to do better in the coming year. Hopefully we both will. :)

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  4. I'm glad to hear you had such a nice Christmas and that you got so much time off to just relax and reset. I've enjoyed my time off as well and really don't want to go back to work next week, lol. I hope that you have a Happy New Year and that 2019 is a good one for you.

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    1. Back to the regular schedule... oh, that's going to be hard. :) Hopefully the first week back will go easy on both of us.

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  5. Well Tanya I fell asleep at 11:30 PM on Christmas Eve! So don't feel bad for going to bed at 7 PM the day after ;-)

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  6. Our Christmas was busy but very nice. We talk about my sister without crying and that was a nice thing, just remembering her in a good way. We also had lots of food and wine and I had a really good day. We are low key this New Year as my youngest brother went to AZ for the week and we will just be here for New Year and that is fine with us. We don't like to travel during this time as people do get drunk and we don't want to be on the roads. Have a great New Year!

    Mary

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    1. That's great that you're able to talk freely about your sister and just remember her. We're getting there with my father. One sister is still not handling it well, so I tend to not mention him much around her. We stay at home on NYE, too. I'd much rather be cozy at home that out with all the crazy people! :)

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  7. Sounds like a wonderful Christmas! And isn't time off just the best?? It's nice to be able to decompress a bit and actually enjoy the holidays. Hope you have an awesome New Years as well!

    Love that Totally Random! Works for me haha

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    1. I need to try and take the week of Christmas off every year. It sure made for a more relaxing holiday. :) Happy New Year to you, Greg!

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  8. Cute photos! I'm glad you had such a nice Xmas and some time off to relax :-) Happy New Year!

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  9. Your Christmas sounds so nice and those bears are adorable! I can't wait to read Taryn and Shaw's story, super curious about the ending now.

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    1. The bears are such great keepsakes. :) Can't wait to see what you'll make of Taryn and Shaw's story!

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  10. I'm glad you had a nice holiday week!! Those bears are too cute - what a great idea. I had a nice Christmas, and my friend's wedding was on Friday and that was a lot of fun too. I saw Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse on Christmas Day and really loved it.

    -Lauren
    www.shootingstarsmag.net

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    1. Thanks Lauren. :) I saw you pics from the wedding (on IG I think?) and you looked so lovely!

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  11. Hurray for a low-key Christmas! We did the same thing! Please tell your mom her tree is beautiful. I hope you enjoy your new read! That's one I haven't heard of so I'll have to look it up.

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    1. Thanks Tracy! I will tell her tonight. She'll be so pleased. :)

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  12. I've started reading the Roni Loren, but I'm not very far in. I'm not liking Taryn's mother so much, and now I'm a little worried about the ending.

    Sorry to hear 2018 was kind of rough for you! Glad to hear you had a nice low key Christmas. Being off work and away from the chaos of work is just lovely!

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    1. Oh gosh, not to worry. There's absolutely nothing wrong with the ending. I was fine with it, I think it was just a personal preference kind of thing. Yeah, to be honest, I never did really warm to Taryn's mother/parents. Losing a child is obviously horrific but it had been 14 years and she really did need professional help. And the pressure both parents put on Taryn was so unfair. I can't wait to see your thoughts on this one!

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  13. Okay, good to know! I'll be picking it back up soon.

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  14. I'm glad you had a wonderful Christmas! Fingers crossed that 2019 is exactly what you want it to be. :)

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  15. That sounds like a wonderful Christmas! We also did the low-key thing and didn't go anywhere and just cooked a few things. We are just jumping into the fray again today. Happy New Year! Anne - Books of My Heart

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    1. Thanks Anne! I’m all about keeping it as stress-free and low-key as possible. The holidays are so much more enjoyable that way. Happy new year to you!

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  16. Glad to hear you had a great time during the Holidays! I'll have to check out the plastic wrap game! I'm always looking for fun things to do at our family parties!

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    1. That plastic wrap game is such a hit. When we were all together at Thanksgiving everyone was like, "You're doing that plastic wrap thing at Christmas, RIGHT?!" LOL

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