Recurring Series

What I’m Reading (11.24.24)

Pretty Face by Lucy Parker (★★★★★)

E-Book • Owned (Amazon) • Contemporary Romance • 2017

Short synopsis: Lily Lamprey is determined to prove herself in her first role as a stage actress. Sparks fly when she catches the eye of the director, Luc Savage. As their romance deepens, both their careers are put at risk, testing their love and ambitions.

This romance was a reread for me, and oh, I loved it just as much as I did the first time around! I think this book is when I really noticed Lucy Parker’s talent as a novelist and she became an auto-buy author for me. There was so much I loved about this novel, between the sweet romance, the complicated family dynamics, and getting a glimpse into what it takes to put on a stage production these days. I loved the rapport between Lily and Luc—they had sizzling chemistry but also a very sweet way of caring for one another. Please do yourself a favor and pick up a Lucy Parker romance if you haven’t yet!

The Very Nice Box by Laura Blackett and Eve Gleichman (★★☆☆☆)

Audiobook • Spotify • Fiction • 2021

Short synopsis: Ava Simon, a designer at a Brooklyn furniture company (basically an IKEA knockoff), is startled by her reaction to her new boss, Mat Putnam. As an unexpected relationship between them blossoms, things begin to unravel for Mat and Ava realizes everything is not as it seems.

I had a very strange reading experience with this book. The book is marketed as “suspenseful” and I was expecting something a bit more dark and twisted than what I got. Instead, about 70% of the book was a bland romance between a woman who had a hard time opening up to others and a boring white man who expected the world to fall at his feet. Snooze. Finally, just about a few chapters to the end, things picked up and the suspensefulness I had been promised was delivered. By that point, though, I was tired of the book and didn’t feel like the payoff was worth it. I needed more of a build-up to the big reveal rather than it all happening at one time. It was also just hard to feel invested in the story between Ava and Mat when I knew something crazy was about to be revealed, so why are we spending pages and pages and pages with them and their budding romance? Meh.

Our Woman in Moscow by Beatriz Williams (★★★★☆)

Print • Library • Historical Fiction • 2021

Short synopsis: In 1948, Iris Digby and her family mysteriously vanished from London, sparking rumors of either a Soviet kidnapping or defection. Four years later, Ruth Macallister receives a postcard from her estranged twin sister, prompting her to journey to Moscow under false pretenses to rescue Iris and her family.

This was a great historical fiction novel! The Cold War era fascinates me so much, but I find that there is little I know about it. This novel took me on a journey of a small part of the Cold War involving a woman whose husband is a Soviet spy and her sister who knows very little about her life. I’ve read many novels by Beatriz Williams and this one felt a lot darker and heavier than her other ones, while still having her signature lightness with some romance thrown in to keep things from feeling too dark. I wanted a little more from the ending—it felt very rushed and I would have liked another chapter or two to explain everything—but other than that, it was an excellent novel that had me on the edge of my seat at the end!

What are you reading?

Categories: Recurring Series

Snapshot of My Day: Wednesday, November 20

Time I woke up: 7:30 a.m.

First thing I did upon waking: After feeding the girls and getting dressed, I went downstairs to my car. You see, last night, I discovered my wallet was missing. It has my driver’s license, debit card, credit card, Target Circle card, insurance cards, and FSA card. (No cash, thankfully!) I did one last sweep of my car to make sure it wasn’t stuck in a random spot, but no dice.

Today’s weather: Warm but less humid than usual, which is a nice reprieve. The high was 79 and it was very gloomy due to the hurricane that THANKFULLY passed way, way west of us.

Something I spent money on today: $54 to replace and renew my driver’s license.

An out-of-the-ordinary thing that happened today: Mostly, dealing with the craziness of losing my wallet! I guess 2024 is the year of losing things (first my keys and now my wallet). I have no idea where it went—thankfully, my debit/credit card was never used (which makes me wonder if I’ll just find the wallet in a random spot in a few days). But I wasn’t going to wait around to maybe find the wallet. I went ahead and canceled my cards and went to the bank to get new debit/credit cards. I was also able to snag an afternoon appointment at the DMV to get a new driver’s license. I’m leaving on a cruise in less than two weeks and there’s a holiday in the middle of all of that, so I didn’t want to wait around for things to be mailed to me. Next up: replacing my insurance cards, FSA card, and Target Circle card.

Last thing I read (not on the Internet): Our Woman in Moscow by Beatriz Williams.

Last thing I read (on the Internet): The Reddit thread about the show I’m currently watching (The Summit) to make sure everyone else was as frustrated by the people on the show as I am.

Last text I sent: “I hope they fall off the mountain.” I sent this to my mom about The Summit.

Last text I received: “For reals.” My mom’s reply, lol.

Last website I visited: My blog to grab the prompts for this post.

Last show I watched: The Summit, ugh.

Last podcast I listened to: Beach Too Sandy, Water Too Wet, one of my fave podcasts!

Last thing I said: “Lila, I need you to stop walking all over my laptop.” She’s cute, but she can be a menace.

Last thing I ate: Ice cream!

What I was doing an hour ago: I was watching Survivor and coloring.

What I will be doing an hour from now: Probably tidying up my apartment. It’s a bit of the mess from the wallet search + procuring the appropriate documents to get my driver’s license renewed.

Current whereabouts of other members of my household: Lila is snoozing on the table next to me and Eloise is snoozing on the ottoman under my desk.

One thing I crossed off my to-do list today: Did I get anything done today? Not anything work-related but I did make it to my Wednesday evening HIIT class! I felt like I struggled so much during this workout but I got it done.

Categories: Recurring Series

Currently in November

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Loving… NaBloPoMo. I was on the fence about tackling this challenge again, but it’s been so fun and I’ve met new bloggers! I’m enjoying myself.

Loathing… Abby. That’s the name I gave to the abscess on my underarm. I’ve had a cyst in this area of my underarm for years, and every now and then, it gets a little swollen. This time, though, it turned into a huge abscess (it was 4 centimeters when my dermatologist measured it) that needed to be drained. I was lucky enough to see my dermatologist the day I called for an appointment (she’s usually booked out for months). The abscess was very painful and irritated, and draining it helped a lot. But it’s still not back to normal. The area is pretty red and I’m still doing warm compresses to drain it. Ugh.

Reading… Our Woman in Moscow by Beatriz Williams, which has been a fantastic historical fiction book about Soviet spies. (Feels a little prescient to read it right after the election, too.) And I have about an hour left in my audiobook, The Very Nice Box by Laura Blackett.

Watching… not much these days. I’m trying to keep up with my weekly episodes of Survivor, The Summit, and The Floor. But otherwise, my time is taken up with writing and reading blog posts!

Listening to… Christmas music! Is it too early for Christmas music? Maybe, but I don’t care. I am ready for the holiday season!

Anticipating… birthsgiving! It’s fun when my birthday falls on Thanksgiving like it does this year. For my birthday, I have requested a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. Too much?

Thinking about… how I want to approach goal-setting in 2025. I may even give up annual goals in favor of quarterly goals, which would be a wild thing for me to do. I love my annual goals! But a year is a long time and I always start feeling meh about halfway through the year about the goals I set. It’s just something I’m pondering, though.

Buying… Christmas presents! With a large order placed at Amazon, I will be nearly finished with holiday shopping. I just need to think about what to buy for my book club gift exchange and some other family members.

Grateful… for a new therapist. I feel so lucky to have found someone I click with immediately and don’t need to go therapist hunting. I have my second appointment with her tomorrow and I am looking forward to it!

What are you currently reading and watching?

Categories: Recurring Series

Three Things Thursday (Bookish Edition)

Typically, Three Things Thursday is a blog series I do where I choose 10 random categories and write 3 things about each. For today’s post, I only chose 5 categories and they’re all bookish! Let’s dive in, shall we?

Three bookish memories from childhood

1) My weekly library trips with my mom. We would go every Saturday morning, and I would check out 10 books, as that was the maximum number of children’s books I was allowed to check out. I would read them all and be ready for my next 10 books the following Saturday.

2) Receiving a copy of The Complete Guide to the Baby-Sitters Club, which I read so many times that the cover fell off and my parents bought me a new one. THE BEST.

3) Getting in trouble for walking and reading during my walk home from school one day. Apparently, it’s “unsafe” to be lost in a book when there are cars around?! Hrmph!

Three books coming up on my TBR list

1) The Last One at the Wedding by Jason Rekulak—I hated this author’s previous book, but I heard really good things about this one, so I’m going to give him another try. Don’t let me down, Jason!

2) Worst Case Scenario by TJ Newman – I loved Newman’s previous two books and I’m excited to dive into her latest release as soon as my hold is in.

3) The Night Swim by Megan Goldin – I bought this book from Book of the Month years ago and I’m finally going to pluck it off my shelf soon.

Three of the lowest-rated books on my Goodreads Want-to-Read list

1) Pete and Alice in Maine by Caitlin Shetterly (3.38 stars) – Lisa gave this novel 4 stars but it has a very low rating on Goodreads. A lot of people said this book is boring and apparently the dialect the author uses is slightly problematic? IDK. I may try this on audio since more character-driven stories work better for me in that format.

2) All This & More by Peng Shepherd (3.4 stars) – This “choose your own adventure” story piqued my interest when it was talked about on Sarah’s Book Shelves Live. Most reviewers say the book just goes on forever, so I’m not sure if I’ll give it a try or not.

3) Piglet by Lottie Hazell (3.45 stars) – Another SBSL rec! I may remove this one from my shelf, though, because a lot of the negative reviews talk about the disordered eating that’s rampant through the book and that’s just not something I need in my life.

Three book goals I’m pondering for 2025

1) Read one 500+ page book every quarter – I tend to shy away from big chonkers, which is why I’m pondering this goal. Right now, the books I have my eye on are The Shell Seekers by Rosamunde Pilcher (544 pages) and 11/22/63 by Stephen King (849 pages). If you have ideas for other 500+ page books, I’m all ears!

2) Read more Agatha Christie mysteries – This year, I set a goal to read 6 mysteries by Agatha Christie, which has been such an enjoyable goal! And it would be fun to become an AC completist and read more of her books in 2025.

3) Choose six books I previously abandoned and give them another shot – I’m curious about all the books sitting on my “abandoned” list on Goodreads. It’s possible that I just wasn’t in the right headspace for some of them. Then again, there are so many books to read so why rehash the past?

Three 2024 releases I loved this year

1) The Women by Kristin Hannah – I devoured this book, even though it was long and sad and heavy. Learning more about the Vietnam War and PTSD among those who served was fascinating.

2) Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera – Listening to this book was, hands down, my most favorite audiobook experience ever. It was so good!

3) Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez – I loved this contemporary romance that had a lot of difficult themes at the core of the novel. The ending was pure perfection.

What’s a bookish memory from your childhood?

Categories: Recurring Series

Week in the Life: Sunday, November 9

I don’t wake up to an alarm on Sunday, which is very nice! I wake up around 9:45 and I’m happy that I’m feeling good—no side effects from the shots. My arm isn’t even sore! That’s a win. I snuggle with the girls for a bit and then get up, feed them, and sit down at my laptop to finish up yesterday’s post. It takes me longer than I expected (because I hadn’t written most of it, oops) and I finally finish things up around 10:45. Then, I gather all of my CPAP equipment so I can do my weekly washing (humidifier, mask, gear strip, and hose). I have a big tub that I fill up with warm water and unscented dish soap and let the humidifier, hose, and gear strip soak for 30 minutes. I also have a smaller bowl for my mask, as I soak it in a solution specific to CPAP masks. Once that’s done, I start getting ready for the day (no skincare routine this morning, there’s no time!). Before I leave, I take out all of my CPAP equipment from their little baths and let them air dry (I put my hose over my shower rod so it can drain), insert images into my post and publish it, and then gather up all of my things. I’m out the door by 11:45.

I pick up my mom at her house and we stop at PetSmart to pick up a few things for Cici, my brother’s new dog! We buy some treats and teething toys. I also peek in on the cats available for adoption and my mom tells me to “walk away,” haha. There won’t be a third cat for me, as much as I’d love one! But I think two is a good number for one person.

After PetSmart, we stop by the store to pick up a few items for football, like subs and chips. Then, it’s back home for a day filled with dogs, football, and food!

Honestly, not much happens during the day! These are my days to mostly be a lump on the couch, watching football and being around my favorite people. My older nephew came over this time, which was a nice change! Lately, my brother has been coming alone so we had a full house this afternoon.

I spend the day watching football (the Dolphins play tonight so at least I could watch the games without nerves!), reading my book, playing games on my phone, and chit-chatting with the family. I also add a few items to the Christmas list I have set up for Eloise and Lila. Oh, and of course, I snuggle with the dogs!

My nephew leaves around 6:30 (his mom picks him up) and when she arrives, he asks if we want to come out and see the puppy! OF COURSE WE DO. Cici is so sweet and cuddly – she lets both my mom and me cuddle her and doesn’t make a single sound. I’m completely in love with her.

I leave my mom’s before the 4:00 game ends (since it’s a complete blowout) and arrive home around 7:30. I give the girls some treats, feed them dinner, and then hop into a bubble bath for myself. I read on my Kindle and then continue reading on the couch while I wait for the Sunday Night Football game to start. I finally got some good reading done today, something I haven’t had much time for this past week. Once the game comes on, I eat dinner (the second half of my sub; I ate the first half while I was at my mom’s) and then it’s time to get some stuff done around my apartment.

First, I make my snack packs for the week and separate all of my pills into my day-of-the-week container. I take out the trash, unload the dishwasher, and scoop the litter boxes. I do my skincare routine, brush my teeth, and tidy up the apartment. Finally, I set my schedule and to-dos for the week, catch up on my One-Line-a-Day journal, and make my schedule for Monday. I also work on this post!

I watch the SNF game until the end and then go to bed around midnight.

sunday in the life: 2023, 2022, 2020, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014