Welcome to the “I have no idea what I’m doing this week” edition of the Sunday Post. I’m sure about tomorrow, because I’ve already finished the book. And I’m sure about Wednesday and Thursday, because I promised that those would be the days. Tuesday and Friday, especially Friday, aren’t nearly so certain. The political mess in the US has me so upset and angry that I’ve been retreating into fanfiction just to get some guaranteed catharsis – because I need to read something where the good guys do win – and Facebook sure isn’t helping at the moment. I’ve also decided to turn off the radio in the car and just listen to audiobooks – because there’s only so much a person can take.

If you have any recommendations for great books that are guaranteed to instantly take me far, far away from this mess (I know it’s only temporary but a bit of distance sometimes is needed), please let me know in the comments to this post. THANKS!

Current Giveaways:

$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the October Of Books Giveaway Hop
$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Howl-O-Ween Giveaway Hop
$25 Amazon Gift Card from Sophie Barnes

Winner Announcements:

The winner of the $10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the September Of Books Giveaway Hop is Audrey S.
The winner of Season of Wonder by RaeAnne Thayne is Bn100
The winner of A Tall, Dark Cowboy Christmas by Maisey Yates is Linda R.

Blog Recap:

October of Books Giveaway Hop
Howl-O-Ween Giveaway Hop
B- Review: The Silver Shoes by Jill G. Hall
A Review: The Love that Saved Him by Sophie Barnes + Giveaway
A/A Joint Review with Galen: Exit Strategy by Martha Wells
Stacking the Shelves (308)

Coming This Week:

Dead Man Walking by Simon R. Green (review)
Robots vs. Fairies edited by Dominik Parisien and Navah Wolfe (review)
Desert Hunter by Anna Hackett + Pets in Space 3 Spotlight + Giveaway (blog tour review)
The Arrows of the Heart by Jeffe Kennedy (blog tour review)
Mycroft and Sherlock by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Anna Whitehouse (review)

I thought that this coming week was Banned Books Week. Saying “I thought” means that I was mistaken, and consequently threw this past week’s schedule in a blender to get a post that at least tangentially touched on books, libraries, banned books or all of the above, and ended up with the marvelous The Library Book by Susan Orlean just a bit early.

This coming week is an easy week for me and hopefully a fun week for you all, as I have not one but two blog hops started this week. Tomorrow is also the first day of October (time for the October of Books Giveaway Hop), which means its not too early for Halloween decorations (or Halloween blog hops!).

It is, as always, a good thing that I have plenty of good books to read, because the current political situation makes me want to hide away in a good book for a couple of years – at least. Not that I wouldn’t emerge to vote – because that is absolutely needed. All of us need to get out and vote. As the current Mayor of Atlanta, Keisha Lance Bottoms, put it (I’m not in Atlanta and couldn’t vote for her), she only won by 823 votes in a city with a population of 480,000 people – admittedly not all of whom are eligible to vote. But still, if it only took 800 more committed voters to change an election, just think what all of us who are incensed by recent events can accomplish!

Current Giveaways:

$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the September Of Books Giveaway Hop (ends TONIGHT!)
Season of Wonder by RaeAnne Thayne
A Tall Dark Cowboy Christmas by Maisey Yates

Winner Announcements:

The winner of The Impossible Girl by Lydia Kang is Nicole

Blog Recap:

B Review: Season of Wonder by RaeAnne Thayne + Giveaway
B+ Review: The Hollow of Fear by Sherry Thomas
A Review: The Secrets We Carried by Mary McNear
B+ Review: A Tall Dark Cowboy Christmas by Maisey Yates + Giveaway
A Review: The Library Book by Susan Orlean
Stacking the Shelves (307)

Coming This Week:

October Of Books Giveaway Hop
Howl-O-Ween Giveaway Hop
The Silver Shoes by Jill G. Hall (blog tour review)
The Love that Saved Him by Sophie Barnes (blog tour review)
Gunpowder Moon by David Pedreira (review)

Looking at this week’s schedule I feel like I should give myself a 10 yard penalty for rushing the season. I have two Xmas books this week’s schedule! The Fall equinox just happened 2 days ago! It’s barely Fall! Even the stores are still focused on Halloween! Why are we talking about Xmas (and SNOW!) already? Does this feel as wrong to you as it does to me?

And that’s not taking into account that I live in Atlanta and it’s been in the 90s this past week. This coming week is supposed to be cooler, with highs merely in the 80s. It’s much too warm to be thinking about the holidays.

One of the things about focusing on books, especially new and forthcoming books, is that it often feels like I’m living in the near future instead of the present. It’s weird. But mostly in a good way. But speaking of the future, I’m working on the Black Friday Book Bonanza Giveaway Hop right now – and that’s scheduled for, you guessed it! the day after Thanksgiving!

Current Giveaways:

$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the September of Books Giveaway Hop
The Impossible Girl by Lydia Kang

Winner Announcements:

The winner of the $10 Amazon Gift Card in the Oh! the Places You’ll Go Giveaway Hop is Chrisy B.

Blog Recap:

B+ Review: The Impossible Girl by Lydia Kang + Giveaway
A+ Review: The Grey Bastards by Jonathan French
A- Review: Legion: The Many Lives of Stephen Leeds by Brandon Sanderson
B Review: A Forgotten Place by Charles Todd
A- Review: Rebel Hard by Nalini Singh
Stacking the Shelves (306)

Coming This Week:

Season of Wonder by RaeAnne Thayne (blog tour review)
The Hollow of Fear by Sherry Thomas (review)
The Secrets We Carried by Mary McNear (blog tour review)
A Tall Dark Cowboy Christmas by Maisey Yates (blog tour review)
Gunpowder Moon by David Pedreira (review)

It is DragonCon weekend here in Atlanta, and we are not there. We loved the few times we went, but DragonCon has more than 70,000 attendees, and that’s just too many people for me. The 5,000 people at Worldcon always feels like a much more manageable size – we get to see more people, attend more panels and just do more stuff. Your mileage, of course, may vary.

We will probably spend at least part of today at the Decatur Book Festival, which is always fun and interesting and slightly less packed to the rafters. Virtual rafters in this case as most of the DBF is outdoors.

And there are always books to read and kitties to pet and naps to be had for everyone on this last long weekend of Summer.

Current Giveaways:

$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the September Of Books Giveaway Hop
$25 Amazon Gift Card from Shannon Stacey and Under Control

Winner Announcements:

The winner of the A+ Giveaway Hop is Brittany
The winner of the Lazy Days of Summer Giveaway Hop is Gaby

Blog Recap:

B+ Review: Good Time Cowboy by Maisey Yates
B Review: The Mystery of Three Quarters by Sophie Hannah
Spotlight + Excerpt: The Wedding from Hell Part 3 by J.R. Ward
A-/B+ Review: What Makes This Book So Great / An Informal History of the Hugos by Jo Walton
B Review: Under Control by Shannon Stacey + Giveaway
September Of Books Giveaway Hop
Stacking the Shelves (303)

Coming Next Week:

Oh the Places You’ll Go Giveaway Hop
The Illegitimate Duke by Sophie Barnes (blog tour review)
Undetected by Anna Hackett (review)
Exile of the Seas by Jeffe Kennedy (blog tour review)

I already thought this week was weird, but I just got my first call for a “Best of 2018” list. Wow! This year feels like it’s just barely half over, and we’re already closing the books on it!

This has been a strange week in that we came home from Worldcon Monday night. After listening to one panel where I wanted to get every book they discussed, I started a list. It’s even longer than yesterday’s Stacking the Shelves post, and that was long enough. I didn’t pick up any print books, although I did buy ebooks and grab plenty of eARCs after panel discussions. I also got a bunch of cool t-shirts.

I keep saying that I don’t normally do Spotlights without reviews, but there’s one this past week and one this coming week as well. I signed  up for the Release Day Event for Maisey Yates’ Good Time Cowboy because I love her books, and I’m reviewing the book this week. I’ve also been part of the “teaser tour” for J.R. Ward’s Wedding from Hell prequels to her upcoming firefighter romance, Consumed. The first two prequels teased me enough that I’m definitely planning to read Consumed, so I decided to post this week’s excerpt from the upcoming book. And, I admit, I needed a day’s grace.

Current Giveaways:

$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Lazy Days of Summer Giveaway Hop
$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the A+ Giveaway Hop

Winner Announcements:

The winner of Tiffany Blues by M.J. Rose is Ellen

Blog Recap:

A- Guest Review: Sleeping with the Fishes by MaryJanice Davidson
Spotlight + Excerpt: Good Time Cowboy by Maisey Yates
B+ Guest Review: The Gender Game by Bella Forrest
A Review: The Phantom Tree by Nicola Cornick
B Review: Impostor’s Lure by Carla Neggers
A Review: City of Ink by Elsa Hart
Stacking the Shelves (302)

Coming Next Week:

Good Time Cowboy by Maisey Yates (blog tour review)
The Mystery of Three Quarters by Sophie Hannah (blog tour review)
The Wedding from Hell Part 3 by J.R. Ward (blog tour spotlight)
Fly Girls by Keith O’Brien (review)
Under Control by Shannon Stacey (blog tour review)

The dust is starting to settle at the new house. It’s going to settling for a while, but it is starting, at least. One of the better side effects of the move is that Freddie and Lucifer seem to be banding together more. They slink down the stairs together at night to explore the brave new world, as well as seek out fresh kibble. As soon as we get a new door installed on the back porch, they’ll be able to boldly go where no cat has gone before – at least as far as we know.

The built in shelves in my office now contain my ALA committee books and our fiction collection up to the beginning of the letter G. More shelves are upstairs, just waiting to be loaded with the rest of our library.

It’s definitely an adventure!

Current Giveaways:

Hardcover set of The Wildes of Ludlow Castle series by Eloisa James
(1) $50 Amazon Gift card and (5) $10 Amazon Gift Cards from Suzanne Johnson

Winner Announcements:

The winner of Shattered Silence by Marta Perry is Becky
The winner of the $10 Amazon Gift Card in the Scoop of Luck Giveaway Hop is Lisa

Blog Recap:

B+ Review: Born to Be Wilde by Eloisa James + Giveaway
A Review: Frenchman Street by Suzanne Johnson + Giveaway
B+ Review: The Art of Inheriting Secrets by Barbara O’Neal
B Review: Hard in Hightown by Varric Tethras with Mary Kirby
A Review: The Locksmith’s Daughter by Karen Brooks
Stacking the Shelves (299)

Coming Next Week:

Entropy by Jess Anastasi (blog tour review)
Wedding from Hell: The Reception by J.R. Ward (blog tour review)
Gift of Griffins by V.M. Escalada (review)
Southernmost by Silas House (review)
Meet Me at the Museum by Ann Youngson (review)

This week’s schedule seems a bit more aspirational than realistic, but I’m going with it anyway. Last week’s certainly turned out to be that way. I had surgery on Monday, and although the procedure was minor, it is throwing me for more of a loop than I expected. And the move is scheduled for a week from tomorrow, with the packers showing up a week from today. So that is also proceeding apace. So much stuff happening and so little time.

Freddie and Lucifer have no idea just how much their world is about to get thrown into a blender. I think they’re going to love the “kitty television” in the new house, but the process of getting there is not going to be something they will enjoy.

Current Giveaways:

$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the A Scoop of Luck Giveaway Hop

Winner Announcements:

The winner of Trial on Mount Koya by Susan Spann is Danielle
The winner of the $10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Seas the Day Giveaway Hop is Ann S.

Blog Recap:

A Scoop of Luck Giveaway Hop
C+ Review: Kill the Farm Boy by Kevin Hearne and Delilah S. Dawson
B+ Review: The Wedding from Hell: The Rehearsal Dinner by J.R. Ward + Excerpt
B Review: Lowcountry Bookshop by Susan M. Boyer
B Review: The Seas of Distant Stars by Francesca G. Varela
Stacking the Shelves (297)

Coming Next Week:

Murder at the Flamingo by Rachel McMillan (blog tour review)
Shattered Silence by Marta Perry (blog tour review)
The Day of the Dead by Nicci French (blog tour review)
Clock Dance by Anne Tyler (review)
Hunting the Truth by Beate and Serge Klarsfeld (review)

We’re still basking in the glow of “it’s so good to be home” after spending last weekend at the ALA Annual Conference in New Orleans. I saw way, way, way too many bright, shiny new books at the conference, and yesterday’s Stacking the Shelves post is proof. When they’re all eARCs, the weight doesn’t register. But looking at the size of the list, it’s clear that I need a reading equivalent for the phrase “my eyes were bigger than my stomach”. “So many books, so little time” doesn’t convey quite enough.

There’s also a certain amount of gibbering going on around here. We’re closing on our first house this Friday. YAY! But that means we have to move again. BOO! But we’ll be able to get Freddie and Lucifer a sister. YAY! But we have to pack again. BOO! In between the YAYs and BOOs there’s a certain amount of OMG, OMG, OMG.

But I can always escape into a good book – at least until something drags me out again – like a cat demanding attention.

Current Giveaways:

$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Seas the Day Giveaway Hop
Taste of Seattle Gift Bag from Susan Mallery

Winner Announcements:

The winner of the $10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Splash into Summer Giveaway Hop is Ramona

Blog Recap:

Spotlight + Excerpt: When We found Home by Susan Mallery + Giveaway
B+ Review: The Secret of the Irish Castle by Santa Montefiore
B+ Review: Whiskey Sharp: Torn by Lauren Dane
A Review: The Lost Vintage by Ann Mah
A- Review: The Word is Murder by Anthony Horowitz
Stacking the Shelves (254)
Seas the Day Giveaway Hop

Coming Next Week:

Night Fall by Simon R. Green (review)
The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang (review)
Circe by Madeline Miller (review)
A Touch of Flame by Jo Goodman (review)

As you read this, I’ll be sweltering in hot, sticky New Orleans at the American Library Association Annual Conference. We went to Denver in February for the Midwinter Conference and now we’re in NOLA for the summer conference. If that sounds backwards to you, you are far, far, far from alone. But it’s always good to see my friends and colleagues, all 15,000 or 20,000 of them. However, there is no thrill of victory, there is only the agony of the feet.

But speaking of the thrill of victory, our offer was accepted on a house. YAY! We’ll be moving again. Admittedly that’s a bit of a BOO! but it will great to put down roots and finally have a place of our own. We’re thinking of getting Freddie and Lucifer a sister, especially since the new house has a giant catio big enough for the cats to share with the humans and enclosed and screened in so that the humans can share with the cats!

Current Giveaways:

$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Splash into Summer Giveaway Hop

Winner Announcements:

The winner of Echo Moon by Laura Spinella is Elizabeth
The winner of The Cottages on Silver Beach by RaeAnne Thayne is Linda

Blog Recap:

B Review: The Privilege of Peace by Tanya Huff
A Review: The Island of the Mad by Laurie R. King
A- Review: Boardwalk Summer by Meredith Jaeger
B+ Review: Wicked and the Wallflower by Sarah MacLean
B+ Review: Prisoner of the Crown by Jeffe Kennedy
Stacking the Shelves (293)

Coming Next Week:

When We Found Home by Susan Mallery (blog tour excerpt)
The Word is Murder by Anthony Horowitz (review)
Whiskey Sharp: Torn by Lauren Dane (blog tour review)
The Lost Vintage by Ann Mah (blog tour review)
Circe by Madeline Miller (review)

Looking for a house is hard work. Also hot and hungry work. I don’t know how real estate agents do it, especially in the summer in the South. Or, come to think of it, the winter in the north. We think we found a place. We’ll see.

Of course, then the real work begins!

Current Giveaways:

$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Splash into Summer Giveaway Hop
Echo Moon by Laura Spinella
The Cottages on Silver Beach by RaeAnne Thayne

Winner Announcements:

The winner of the $10 Amazon Gift Card in the Beach Reads Giveaway Hop is Patricia

Blog Recap:

B+ Review: Echo Moon by Laura Spinella + Giveaway
C+ Review: A Study in Treason by Leonard Goldberg
B+ Review: The Cottages on Silver Beach by RaeAnne Thayne + Giveaway
A-/B Review: Unidentified by Anna Hackett
Splash into Summer Giveaway Hop
Stacking the Shelves (292)

Coming Next Week:

The Privilege of Peace by Tanya Huff (review)
Island of the Mad by Laurie R. King (review)
Boardwalk Summer by Meredith Jaeger (blog tour review)
A Long Way from Home by Peter Carey (review)
Prisoner of the Crown by Jeffe Kennedy (review)