Sunday Post – 13 May 2018 @kimbacaffeinate @Tynga @readingreality

Posted May 13, 2018 by Anne - Books of My Heart in Sunday Post / 51 Comments

 

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly  @ Caffeinated Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things we have received.

So I’m trying something new.  While I’ve blogged for four years, this is my first year with my own blog.  I’ve been incredibly lucky.  I’ve had great mentors – Julie at Yummy Men & Kick Ass Chicks, and then Jennifer at The Book Nympho. I’ve also had amazing support from other bloggers and friends. I’m past most of the stage of trying to figure out how to do a regular post or feature. Now I’m working to learn new things. I should mention I’m graphics challenged, but this gave me a chance to practice.

Some of the things I have been trying to figure out include how to create Soundcloud clips, how to control the layout of a facebook post, what to use for linkup software, and how to generate more traffic and interaction on the blog. I’m slowly making progress.

Personally, my college age daughter has been having health issues since middle school. We have been working on improving her quality of life and on two issues she is doing much better. But having those problems more under control cleared the way to know she has pain, every day, in her back, muscles, joints, somewhere every day. The symptoms are suspiciously the list of those for gluten intolerance. We did gluten-free for a few weeks when she was about 11 but it didn’t seem to make a difference. But we both realize now, the pain then was sporadic, where now it is constant.  So after talking to her doctors, we have gone gluten-free.  We spent about 8 hours going to every store to see what foods were available. I’ve been busy trying new gluten-free recipes all week. Serendipitously, we got a bag in the mailbox about a food drive on Saturday, so some of the canned and boxed goods we won’t be eating went to the food drive.

I reorganized my yarn a couple weeks ago and it is great!  It was organized by fiber and washability.  Now it is also broken down even further by weight for seasons and also by if it is a small amount or enough for a sweater or larger project.  I’m currently making a second slouch hat requested by my daughter. I made one for myself which I wore briefly before she glommed onto it.

 

 

 

It turns out this week had the birthdays of three of us here at Books of My Heart.   Robin,  Melanie and me.    So Happy Birthday!   I am so grateful and happy to have you with me (and also KC).

 

 

Since I love books, I couldn’t help sharing the books I got this week. Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga’s Reviews and Reading Reality.   Here are the exciting ARCs I received so far this month.

                   

Stars UnCharted                           Witchmark                                 The Wild Dead  

 

                       

The Good Luck Sister                                                         Pretend You’re Safe

 

These are the ones I had to have. I often don’t buy things until I have tried them at the library. I try not to purchase too many since I am always reading new things and may not get back to them. But Ilona Andrews is an auto-buy. I also have somewhat of a Audible daily deal addiction, since sometimes I can’t get things at the library on audio.

            

Iron and Magic                          Silent Lies                                                             

 

       

  Ghosted                                                                     The Scorpio Races 

 

Now the really scary one. This is all the Kindle and Audible freebies I grabbed this month so far. You can see why I need to do Thrifty Thursday to be sure I read a few at least one each month.

          

          

          

          

          

         

Wow,  so I don’t know if I will manage to do this weekly, although the freebies list will get embarrassing if I don’t. I’m not including things like reviews posted or upcoming as they are always in the right sidebar. And, my challenge status is also there.

If you like this and want to see me do the Sunday post, as often as I can manage, leave me a comment and let me know. I work odd hours with no access to phone or Internet so sometimes I’m not around. I do work today.    Happy Mother’s Day!

Anne

 

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Posted May 13, 2018 by Anne - Books of My Heart in Sunday Post / 51 Comments


51 responses to “Sunday Post – 13 May 2018

    • Thanks. It’s a little busy maybe. I’m off to work. So I won’t be approving comments until around 7 tonight or responding to them.

  1. carolesrandomlife

    My husband and daughter both have Celiac disease so we eat exclusively gluten free at my house. Even the dogs eat gluten free because I learned early on that if any gluten got in my daughter’s system she would get terribly sick so I quit letting gluten in the house in any form. It took a while for her body to heal so don’t expect a quick change but I can tell you seven years down the road that she is so much heathier than she was before we made the switch. Great new books this week! Happy Birthday to you, Robin, and Melanie. Have a great week!

    • Thank you ! Thanks for stopping by. So far it is not really as hardship to eat gluten-free for me. A typical dinner I might have grilled salmon, green beans and maybe a rice dish. But my daughter is a big pasta eater. And bread more than me. But I made cookies and muffins for her with gluten free flour yesterday which turned out yummy. We made a chicken with root vegetables earlier in the week. We both tried rutabagas for the first time. They are good but hard as a rock, so cutting them into bite size pieces to bake was tough.

  2. I hope the gluten free change helps. I had a friend who had similar problems and though it took a bit, she sure felt so much better for it. I’m loving your books. Looks like we share a like for the same genres and some of the same authors. I should warn you, I usually browse for free books and share a bunch of them for everyone on my Sunday Posts. It was a rare week as I didn’t share any today. I’ll be back to sharing them nex week and may be contributing to your freebie pile. LOL
    Thanks for stopping by, welcome to The Sunday gang, and Happy Mother’s Day:)

    My Sunday Post

    • That’s one of my problems with reading other blogs reviews is then I want to read them. I want to read all the books. Thanks for the warning! I am waiting to retire so I can read, knit, sew, cook and ride my Harley all the time. lol

  3. Those freebies get me every time. I have so many on my Amazon account. Andrews is audio-buy for me too, anything and everything by them. My hubby suffers from back pain along with other issues too. It’s a constant issue to manage and all you can do is manage it, since it will never go away. It’s interesting when you have to try out new recipes and I hope the gluten-free helps. Nice job on your graphics. It is a learning process. I do LOVE Canva to design my graphics. It’s such an easy site to use and navigate. Have a wonderful week and happy reading!

    • Thanks Angela. I do love to cook and the recipes so far have turned out great – meaning we liked them. I’m working every other day this next 2 weeks but then it’s a week off and I hope to get ahead a bit. Maybe read some freebies and more library books! I’m reading an eARC (Kiss Quotient) but listening to a library book right now(The Secret Book and Scone Society) .

      • I think that’s the hardest thing with blogging is time management. Some people have all the time in the world to read and others have jobs, families, and more to do. I hope you are enjoying your reads. I’m hoping to get through a few of the books I bought for my kindle while I’m on vacation, but my main focus is the family during this time off. ^_^

        • Time management can be hard in all areas of life. It’s one of my best skills. I wouldn’t have survived this long without it. Since my focus is daily on family, my vacations tend to be Harley rides on my own or book things with friends. But I vacation with family also. Audiobooks have filled in those holes when I couldn’t read easily while commuting, doing chores, etc. It’s a fun puzzle for me to try to fit in multiple things at once. It’s like when a book counts for multiple challenges. Like a new release audiobook from the library, you know?

        • And have a great vacation. Different things work for different people. Sometimes one needs time off from reading and blogging. (I haven’t discovered this yet) I switch up my genres when I get in a funk or switch from reading to listening. Whatever works to keep you sane and happy.

  4. I should clarify this is just my book haul and doesn’t include what Melanie, Robin or KC have gotten! But we do post reviews daily during the week and even most Saturdays. Sunday was the only day we didn’t post and now I’ve done this Sunday post.

  5. Welcome to the Sunday Post! Nice to have you, and thanks for stopping by my blog! 🙂 Good luck to you and your daughter going gluten free- I hope it helps. Constant pain must be horrible.

    Stars Uncharted looks amazing! I love that cover…

    • Thank you for visiting. Constant pain gives her lots of anxiety she never used to have. Stars Uncharted is by an Australian pair of sisters who wrote the Linesman trilogy which I LOVED – 5 stars. It was one of the things which brought me back to space opera, along with Jack Campbell, and why did I ever stop reading it??

    • Hey if you have any interest in Ilona Andrews – join us for the Read-along. It’s an awesome series, my favorite, other than their other series. But we are only half-way through. We only read a book every 4 weeks. I think I read them all in about 2 weeks when I found them because once I was reading one I didn’t stop and if I had the next one I started reading it. (I was getting them at the library, in paperback!, and had to wait some) I won them all on Kindle now and pre-order even when I get the ARCs or eARCs.

  6. So sorry to hear about your daughter’s continued struggles with pain. Wishing her and the rest of your family the best of luck with your new diet 🙂 You’ve got a great stack of books, I hope you enjoy them!

    • Thanks. It is scary for her and early days. I’m pragmatic. If it needs to be done I do it. But I’m also not the one in pain constantly. I tended not to eat much gluten anyway. I mean yes, I eat cookie, cake, muffins etc but I can bake those and after testing a few recipes last week I know they will be just as good with gluten-free flour. I hope I get to some books too. I tend to read or listen a lot while waiting at medical appts or my daughter’s college classes or over lunch at work. The freebies continue to pile up but so far on my current rate of reading I only have 10 years worth of TBR and so that should work out when retire and can up my reading rate. LOL

  7. Happy Birthday! Hope it was wonderful. I also hope your daughter is able to find some relief. It must so frustrating and scary. I am listening to Lost and Found Sisters in preparation for reading The Good Luck Sister. I love Shalvis and am excited to start the new series, since I have heard good things. I really liked Ghosted. I adore second chance romances, and the little kid was cute.

    • Thank you! I LOVE Jill Shalvis. She was one of the first contemporary romance authors I liked when I started reading romance again. (After at least 10 years of mystery only) I like that her characters are more realistic, compassionate and have some humor. Also I’m glad to hear you liked Ghosted. I snapped it up a an Audible daily deal when I saw it wasn’t available at any of my libraries.

  8. Happy birthday(s)!! That’s quite the book stash you’ve got there, although totally understandable as it’s your birthday week 🙂

    • Hi! Thanks for stopping by. What makes you think it has anything to do with my birthday week?!?!!?

  9. Hi Anne, congrats on the new blog. I am sure you will do well. I will keep my fingers crossed that the new gluten free diet will help your daughter. Hang in there! Have a wonderful week.

    • Thanks Heidi! Every day is a good day, every week is too! After all, we have books and new recipes. At least I love to cook.

  10. I have been gluten free for 6 years and its been really helpful for me. It was a challenge at first, but now it is super simple! I hope it helps your daughter!

    • I think it would be easier for me since I eat more meat and vegetables and fruits. She eats less meat and a lot more pasta but she does like veggies and fruits. There are lots of options today both in regular stores like Walmart and specialty places like Whole Foods. I think it will really help her. Thanks for visiting.

    • I’ve already listened to Good Luck Sister and written the review! It was awesome. I only wish it was full length rather than novella but we got some of the story already in Lost and Found Sisters. I’m excited for Hugh’s story also. Thanks for stopping in.

    • Oh I forgot to say. I’m going to have Iron & Magic as the giveaway for the review of Magic Binds, since it comes out right before that.

    • thank you! I think we will get used to it pretty quickly. She tends to eat a few foods over and over and she is developing gluten-free versions of those. I baked both gluten-free muffins and cookies with my own recipes just using gluten-free flour and they taste great. It won’t be so different.

  11. I think your graphics look great and am so glad you visited Booker T’s Farm so I could discover your blog! Hope all your changes help your daughter. She sounds like one tough young woman! I love the look of that Ilona Andrews book and am going to have to check it out.

    • Thanks. I worry the graphics might be a little busy. But it’s my first try on the header thingees. My daughter is feeling better already because she has hope. I am aware it will not all be sunshine, there will be ups and downs so I am cautiously optimistic. Ilona Andrews is the very best. Thanks for stopping by!

  12. Welcome to the Sunday Post! I always enjoy them (at least when I have time to make the rounds.)

    Sorry about your daughter’s health. It can be so frustrating when there are challenges that don’t lend themselves to easy diagnosis or solutions. I hope the gluten-free trial makes a difference for her.

    • Part of the problem is that people are taught to respect doctors as the expert and just let them guide everything and accept whatever they say. I agree with respecting them but you know yourself best and need to ask questions. Give concise information. My love of science means I document, what happened, what I tried, what the results were. Everyone can be a bit different so you have to look at some of the details. Thanks for the welcome and stopping by!

  13. Awesome Post, and it can be an adjustment running everything yourself on your blog, but looks great to me! I’m jealous you got a copy of stars uncharted it sounds really good

    • Thank you and thanks for visiting. I am working on my graphics deficiencies. It might be a little busy? Anyway, I’m very excited about Stars Uncharted, too. The same author wrote the Linesman trilogy and it was amazing. Two sisters from Australia who write together. I was stalking Netgalley to get it.

  14. Wow, you’ve got so many freebies! I’m trying to keep myself from getting too many but that’s just because I’m a VERY slow reader and I know I couldn’t read all of them anyway in a short amount of time… I hope the gluten-free diet will ease your daughter’s pain. It must be awful for her experiencing pain constantly somewhere in her body 🙁

    • yeah the freebie situation is a bit embarrassing but I want a lot of different options in different genres for my moods. And I do read fast. This was more since it was two weeks. 🙂 lol Thank you for visiting.

  15. Sorry to hear about your daughter’s struggles. Wishing you success with the new diet, and also hoping that learning how to do all that gluten-free stuff doesn’t have too high of a learning curve. Happy reading!

    • So far, so good with the gluten – free. Many of the things are more expensive or harder to find or you have to make it yourself. But that’s ok. We did go out for a pizza today for a local place which makes them and she thought it was good. I think she was just worried she wouldn’t get to have most of her long-time favorite things. But she’s seeing the benefits. I was happy to hear her say she read it would take 2 weeks to 3 months to really have the complete effect, because I don’t want her to give up too soon. I mean it’s great for her to have hope but I don’t want her to lose it too quickly. Thank you!

  16. So sorry to hear of what your daughter is dealing with. 🙁 I hope the changes in diet will give her some relief. I just read, well listed to, my first Ilona Andrews book and… it was not a great success. It was the first in a series, Burn For Me, but unfortunately the narration pretty much ruined it for me. Womp womp. Maybe I’ll try something else by her at some point – I just won’t go the audio route since she seems to always use the same narrator. I have Ghosted from J.M. Darhower sitting on my shelf and I hope to get to it soon! I’ve heard good things.
    http://girlplusbooks.blogspot.com

    • I read them all and didn’t listen for the first time through. I did listen on the re-read of Burn For Me. I liked it then. I do own the audios for Hidden Legacy as well as the ebooks. But I don’t do the audio for the Kate Daniels series. I like some series on audio and some I don’t . Many people love audio for the Kate Daniels series though. Ghosted looked great and it wasn’t at any of my libraries on audio plus it was a daily deal so I got it. Thanks for stopping by.

  17. Ah! I’m so excited for Iron and Magic! I have a theory that Hugh is the mystery person that Kate has to “combine forces with the unlikeliest of allies” with. I’m totally twitchy over how things play out…. It’s definitely one of the best UF series around.

    • I’m excited too! I don’t like Hugh very much but all good heroes have to be compassionate and work with a team of unlikely allies. The fact the others want to work with the hero (Kate) shows how strong and good and trustworthy she is. Anyway, join us on the read-along, we’re only halfway through and we take 4 weeks to read a book. I’ll be doing a giveaway for Iron and Magic along the way also. Thanks for visiting.

  18. Oh no, I’m sorry to hear about your daughter, hopefully the gluten free diet will help and soon she’ll be pain free.

    Freebies are always good, I hope you enjoy them all and the other books you purchased. I think I may have a Ilona Andrews book on Kindle. I don’t want to start any new series until I finish a couple. I did hear her books are fabulous.

    Love the mc image, I also ride. I have a HD Low Rider, best decision ever! Happy Birthday and have a wonderful day.

    • Thank you! I have a HD Dyna Super Glide. Please do try Ilona Andrews, all their books are amazing.

  19. Happy Birthday! I really hope that gluten free diet works for your daughter. I’ve heard those diets take a bit of getting used to but can really help out a number of health issues if she can stick with it. Nice book haul too. Hope you enjoy all of your new reads 🙂

  20. That sounds great how you’re working on learning new things blog related. I am sorry to hear about your daughter’s health issues and I hope the gluten free diet will help her. Nice stack of new books you got this week, I hope they’re good ones. Have a great week!

    • Thanks I’m curious about so many things including new books. I appreciate your stopping to visit.