We Live and Breathe Books: Sundays with Sam

Sundays with Sam is a combination of Sunday Post hosted by Caffeinated Book Reviewer and Stacking the Shelves hosted by Tynga's Reviews.

My Week in Review

Happy Sunday! We had our first snow of the season Friday into Saturday. It's wasn't too bad, very light snow probably because it's been really cold. My daughter flew in on Friday. First she was delayed because of snow somewhere in the path, and then they kept them on the plan for a very long time after they landed. It was my parents' 55th wedding anniversary, so we went out and had her Uber home.

Saturday, the kid and dad started our holiday meal preparations. Dad did the red and white cabbage while my daughter worked on the dough for the dumplings. She shaped and boiled them and will fry them up the day of the meal. It smelled really great, and I love getting to enjoy my Grandma's classics.

Tomorrow is my last day of work for the year. I don't have a lot of stuff planned for my time off, but my daughter will be here for most of it, so that will be nice. I have a few appointments, but mostly, I have to get my 2025 reading challenges nailed down. Is anyone out there doing any challenges?

On the Blog

Monday: Reviews - The Temple of Swoon, The Lodge
Tuesday: TTT - My Winter TBR
Wednesday: CWW - Tatufo, The Door-to-Door Bookstore
Thursday: Reviews - To All the Dogs I've Loved Before, Betrothal or Breakaway
Friday: Discussion - The Goodreads Choice Awards
Saturday: Six Degrees of Separation - How to Save a Life

Let's Discuss

The Orangutan Librarian give us more bad writing advice
Tanya did a huge round up of 2025 reading challenges
Krysta wonders if you are an author completionist

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Stacking the Shelves

The end of the year is always slow with approvals, but I did get one invite. I actually had this one on my TBR, so I was happy to get the email.

Invites

The Odds of Getting Even by Amanda Sellet

Read Last Week

I wasn't blown away by my reads this week, other than the Higgins book, but everything was good. Higgins stood out with her story about sisters faced with personal challenges. I am a big fan of the combination of humor, drama, and romance she puts into her stories. I did think Hunter did something interesting with the amnesia trope in Before We Were Us, and it had a standout ending that brought me to tears.

So, I did a thing last week. I was reading and enjoying PS I Hate You when I found out it takes the characters to eight different states. It was the dying wish of this man for his best friend and sister to spread his ashes in the states he never got to visit. Well, when I found out what states they were, I knew I needed to save this book for 2025 because they were some of the hardest states to find books for my reading challenge. I mean, North and South Dakota! Alabama, Delaware -- These are tough states. I had to do it.

Find all my reviews on Goodreads

Books

Into the Woods by Jenny Holiday - ★★★★
Before We Were Us by Denise Hunter - ★★★★
For One Night Only by Jessica James - ★★★★
The Door-to-Door Bookstore by Carsten Henn - ★★★★
The Strange Library by Haruiki Murakami - ★★★

Audiobooks

If You Only Knew by Kristan Higgins - ★★★★ 1/2

Currently Reading

I am almost done with Before the Coffee Gets Cold. It's about a magical coffee shop where people can go back in time, but they must finish their coffee before it goes cold. The first story didn't prepare me for the more emotional stories that would follow. I am hoping this last tale does not end the way I think it will.

Higgins' book is a delight as always. I enjoy how she brings us back to worlds of her other books, and I recognize characters who get mentioned. This book is also about sisters, step-sisters this time. Both are dealing with losses - the death of a spouse, a broken engagement. I am only at 22%, but I am eager to see these two women heal and wonder what the future holds for them.