Sunday Post #132

Posted June 28, 2015 by Lola in Sunday Post / 38 Comments

sunday post

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer.
It’s a chance to share News. A post to recap the past week, showcase books and things we have received and share news about what is coming up for the week on our blog.

What happened this week?

This was a bit weird week, it started bad, then got better. Monday was a weird day I was feeling annoyed and restless, I couldn’t focus and I kept worrying about things. I was grumpy and didn’t want to cook and we ended up going to the supermarket and buying salads for dinner instead, which was pretty awesome actually. After that I felt a lot better. The rest of the week was better, busy, but in a good way. Although I still couldn’t fully shake that worrysome feeling.

I managed to get a few blog posts written and scheduled, I wrote 3 Lola’s Ramblings posts and a Lola’s Kitchen post. So that’s a good thing, it felt nice being productive and writing some blog posts. On Lola’s Blog Tours there is a new review opportunity, two new cover reveals and two new book blitzes open for sign-up. So it was a great week for business as well :).

Oh and something excited happened this week. I got a review request. A review request for a Kelley Armstrong book! I always consider myself a small blogger and never approach authors myself to ask for review copies or ARC’s. And now I got contacted by a publisher who knew I had reviewed some of Kelley Armstrong her books on my blog and asked if I wanted to review Led Astray. Ofcourse I said yes, they even offered a physical copy, but I also mentioned I lived in the Netherlands so I was okay with an e-copy as well, they send me a mobi copy for review. So I’ll be reading it soon on my ipad. I really want to make sure I read it in time for the deadline.

Friday we went with Snickers to the vet. I was really worried as the tumor seemed pretty big and she kept scratching behind her ear and has a bald spot there. The vet took a look and said it was a tumor indeed and he felt confident Snickers would handle another surgery. So she will go to the vet for surgery monday. The ear scratching is probably due to the stress, she probably knows there is something. He weighted her and she’s only a few grams lighter than last time, so that’s good she hasn’t lost too much weight. We did buy a few extra yummies for her as I know from last time she doesn’t want to eat much normal rat food after surgery. We know have four small pots of baby food (in the flavours carrot, banana, pear and mixed fruits) and frozen Advocado, strawberries and raspberries stocked up. I also bought a new bag of banana chips for them, which they both love and a bag of beet candies. So at least there will be something she can eat, last time we tried a pot baby food towards the end of her recovery and she loved it, so I hope she likes these flavours as well. The frozen advocado I bought a few weeks ago already and they like those, it’s handy it’s frozen so we can give them a piece now and then and the rest doens’t get bad. I gave them both half a strawberry on friday and they seemed to like those too. So that’s good they like their new yummies. We’ve been giving them a lot of yummies this weekend to prepare for Snickers her surgey on monday.

Saturday my mom and her husband visited. They made a few shelves in my sister her old room, which is now called the ‘carrot room’ because of the green carpet and orange walls. Now we have three big shelves there to stack some of our stuff, which is really handy as we’re a bit short on shelf space in our house. After they made the shelves my mom asked if I wanted to go with them to the garden center (not sure if that’s the right translation, they sell plants and things for the garden and such) close by as she had to buy two plants for two colleagues. I ended up getting two new plants for our balcony and a lemon plant for inside (it smells like lemon and keeps the mosquito’s away). I am really happy with them, because even though I love plants, our balcony plants never seem to last long, my mom said these plants are very sturdy and shoukld survive the frequent wind on our balcony. When we got home she helped me pot them, we drank another cup of tea and after that they left.

COYER-ScavHuntLogo
I am off to good start with this challenge. I finished my first book Palace Secrets and then read The Hardest Fight on my ipad as well. I also finished my evening book The Stars Never Rise and after that started Visions by Kelley Armstrong. I am now readign Love Games by Eden Scott on my ipad.
I also commented on a few reviews of other participants, was active in the facebook group and a bti on twitter as well. And I participated in the first twitter chat, which was a lot of fun.

Random Picture(s) of the Week

Snickers
Snickers

Smarties
Smarties sleeping in the empty wet cat food box

Snickers and Smarties
Smarties and Snickers on the plateau with their food and water

White plant on balcony
The new white plant on the balcony

Pink plant on balcony
The new pink plant on the balcony

Lemon plant in house
And the lemony plant inside our house and how fun is that Mosquito Fighter picture on the card?

What did I cook for dinner this week?

  • Sunday: Sajoer Beans
  • Monday: Storebought salads
  • Tuesday: Cabbage with carrots, red bell pepper and spices and rice as side dish
  • Wednesday: Risotto with red bell pepper, corn and dés (vegetarian substitution for meat)
  • Thursday: Risotto with red bell pepper, corn and dés (vegetarian substitution for meat)
  • Friday: Risotto with red bell pepper, corn and dés (vegetarian substitution for meat)
  • Saturday: Korma
  • Extra: Brownies

This week I blogged about:

Cover Reveal: The Duality Bridge by Susan Kaye Quinn
Review: Presidential Pursuit (Love and Scandal #0.5) by Rachel Kall
Review: Lies We Live (The Truth series #1) by Brenda St. John Brown
Lola’s Ramblings: Why I like and dislike Netgalley
Lola’s Kitchen: Brownies Recipe
My To-be Read List #10 Review: True Colors by Melissa Pearl

What to expect next week on the blog:

– Review: What Happens in London (What Happens #1) by Jen McConnel
– 2015 New Release second quarterly recap post
– Book Resolutions Challenge: June recap
– Blog Tour: When Faults Collide by Claire Granger
– Lola’s Ramblings: What do you think of Series?
– Lola’s Kitchen: Red Curry with Pineapple Recipe
– My To-Be Read List #11: poll

Tours open for sign-up on Lola’s Blog Tours:

Check the full list of open review opportunities here.
Review Opportunity: The Other Side of Summer by Elyse Douglas – sign-ups open till further notice
Review Opportunity: The Case and Hard Case by Marc Hirsch – sign-ups open till further notice
Review Opportunity: Love Spell by Mia Kerick – sign-ups open till further notice
Son of Set (Descendants of Isis #2) by Kelsey Ketch – sign-ups open till further notice – New!

Cover Reveal: Love, Defined by Leila Tualla – 29 June
Cover Reveal: To Be Honest by TC Booth – 7 July – New!
Cover Reveal: Destiny Rising by Siobhan Davis – 8 July
Cover Reveal: Kenna’s Reverie by Claire Granger – 13 July
Cover Reveal: Hard case by Marc Hirsch – 15 July
Cover Reveal: Summer Haikus by SJ Pajonas – 17 July
Cover Reveal:Destiny of the Queen by Jacqueline Patricks – 30 August – New!

Blog Tour: The Cursed Ground by A. Roy King – runs from 1-14 July
Blog Tour: When Faults Collide by Claire Granger – runs from 1-14 July
Book Blitz: 3volve by Josefina Gutierrez– runs from 6-12 July
Book Blitz: Heir of the Blood King by W.O. Cassity – runs from 20-24 July
Book Blitz: To Be Honest by TC Booth – runs from 21-27 July – New!
Blog Tour: Kenna’s Reverie by Claire Granger – runs from 1-14 August
Blog Tour: The Dating Intervention by Hilary Dartt – runs from 1-14 August
Blog Tour: Miles Apart by Rhona L. James – runs from 1-21 August
Blog Tour: Guardian by Katy Newton Naas – runs from 3-16 August
Book Blitz: Love, Defined by Leila Tualla – runs from 4-10 August
Book Blitz: Love Easy and Love Hard by Roe Valentine – run from 17-23 August – New!

Book Haul:

Led AstrayLed Astray: The Best of Kelley Armstrong
by Kelley Armstrong

Format: e-copy
Source: for review
You can find Led Astray on Goodreads

Blurb:
Two brand new tales anchor this wide-ranging collection from one of urban fantasy’s most successful authors. Here is the first time that best-selling fantasy, YA, and crime author Kelley Armstrong has had her stories collected from Otherworld and beyond. With her signature twists and turns, Armstrong gives a fresh spin on city-dwelling vampires, werewolves, and zombies, while also traveling further afield, to a post-apocalyptic fortress, a superstitious village, a supernatural brothel, and even to feudal Japan.

With tales that range from humorous to heart-stopping, these are the stories that showcase Kelley Armstrong at her versatile best.

– Rakshashi (standalone)
– Kat (Darkest Powers universe, non-series narrator)
– A Haunted House of Her Own (standalone)
– Learning Curve (Otherworld universe, Zoe)
– The Screams of Dragons (Cainsville universe, non-series narrator)
– The Kitsune’s Nine Tales (Age of Legends universe, non-series narrator)
– Last Stand (standalone)
– Bamboozled (Otherworld universe, non-series narrator)
– Branded (Otherworld universe, non-series narrator)
– The List (Otherworld universe, Zoe)
– Young Bloods (Otherworld universe, non-series narrator)
– The Door (standalone, original to this collection)
– Dead Flowers by a Roadside (standalone)
– Suffer the Children (standalone)
– The Collector (standalone)
– Gabriel’s Gargoyles (Cainsville universe, Gabriel)
– Harbinger (standalone)
– V Plates (Otherworld universe, Nick)
– Life Sentence (Otherworld universe, non-series narrator)
– Plan B (standalone)
– The Hunt (Cainsville universe, non-series narrator)
– Dead to Me (standalone)
– Devil May Care (Cainsville universe, Patrick, original to this collection)

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38 responses to “Sunday Post #132

    • Thanks, I really hope the surgery goes well. It really shocked me to get a review request for a big author, that never happened before and I was so surprised and happy.

  1. That’s great that you were contacted by the publisher for an author that you already love. You must have been so excited!

    And I love salads for dinner in the summer. I just find I don’t want to spend much time cooking and I’d rather throw a few different things together and just head out for a little fresh air in the garden after been cooped up in an office all day. Love your new plants and yes garden centre is the right word (or it’s called nursery either but either word is fine).

    Hope Snickers will be ok after the surgery, it’s good that Vet seemed to think that he’ll be fine.
    Trish @ Between My Lines recently posted…The Sunday Post : Get your Bookish News #71My Profile

    • Yeah I was really excited, especially as it was a book I hand’t pre-ordered yet. I normally pre-order all her books, but I didn’t realize this one would be released so soon.

      I don’t have much experience with making salads myself and my boyfriend and I have pretty different tastes for salads, but I might have to give it a try sometimes. It’s nice too make something simple for dinner now and then :).

      Surgeries always make me worry, but I hope everything will be okay. We have lots of yummies for her to eat when she recover, so I hope that helps as wel.
      Lola recently posted…Sunday Post #132My Profile

    • Thanks! Sometimes there are words I never heard in english before like garden center and it’s the direct translation of the dutch word and while I know sometimes that is correct, I am always suspicious google translate messes it up as not all their translations are correct.

      I actually didn’t realize you could buy frozen advocado either, I hate advocado, but sometimes bought it for our rats. Then one day I was packing my groceries in the supermarket to take home and this women was telling another women how she bought frozen advocado and I just knew I had to buy that for our rats instead. Advocado’s go bad so fast and they only eat tiny pieces as they are tiny animals and it’s a shame to throw so much away when it goes bad especially as we don’t eat it, so buying it frozen is perfect.
      Lola recently posted…Sunday Post #132My Profile

    • I follow all her series so far, so I am happy I got it for review. But indeed if you only follow the Otherworld series you can better just buy the otherworld short stories collections. There is a new one being released of those as well this year if I am correct.

  2. Ah, that’s great that you were able to get past the yucky mood and glad the surgery is all set.

    You did get a great start on the e-reader challenge. That is so neat that you were asked to review a book by a favorite author.

    That’s neat that your folks helped you put up some storage shelves. I love going to the garden center. I haven’t bought plants in recent years, but its fun to look. The flowers and your lemon plant sound like a good choice.
    Sophia Rose recently posted…#Interview with KaraLynne MackroryMy Profile

    • It was a weird start of the week, so I am happy it turned beter. I am a bit worried about the surgery, but I hope everything will go alright.

      I was so surprised to get a review request for one of Kelley Armstrong her books. It’s always awesome to get a book for review by one of your favourite authors.

      I am happy they visited and helped put up the shelves. Clemens, my mom’s husband, is really handy with things like that and I was surprised how quick he got those shelves done. I always like going to the garden center, it’s fun to see all the different plants and flower they have and I am happy we got some new plants for our house :). I love plants.

    • I wish I had the courage to contact soem publishers, but for now I am happy with the authors I already work with and netgalley. It was a nice surprise to have a publisher contact me and I was so excited and surprised.

      Thanks for the good luck wishes! I am a bit worried about the surgery and will be happy once I get the phone call that everything is okay and I can come and get her from the vet.

  3. Awe Snickers isn’t feeling well again ? I pray everything goes successful this time ad much as it did last time. (Also, I love the idea of a carrot room and desperately was trying to imagine it in my head) hehe Also, Yayyyy that you got contacted by the publisher of the author. I’m still a baby blogger so that’s on my blogger bucket list! I loved hearing about how your week was and hope this week is even better for you. 🙂
    Keionda@Keionda Hearts Books recently posted…Top 5 Reasons I LOVED This Book! Review: Art & Soul by Brittainy C. CherryMy Profile

    • Snickers has another tumor :(. Unfortunately female rats get a lot of those, but it’s hard when they get them so soon after each other.
      My sister choose the colours for the room and I don’t mind, so we haven’t changed it. It’s guite fun to have a room in those colours. We kept calling it “my sister old room” and thend ecided it needed a new name, so now it’s the carrot room.
      I still consider myself a young blogger as well, even though I have been blogging for two years now. This is the first time a publisher contacted me and it was an amazing feeling. I couldn’t stop smiling :). I hope you reach that milestone eventually as well!

  4. I hope the surgery goes quickly for Snickers and she heals up fast!
    I hate when I am cranky and can’t shack a feeling, sometimes a few minutes alone or a nice walk clears my head.

    You really should make your sisters old room into a library 🙂 Put some nice comfy chairs and computer desk for gaming. I quiet little getaway to relax…now I want one of those!

    The lemony plant might be something I will mention to my parents it might be nice to have a bunch of those around the outside to keep those bugs away. I hate mosquiotes (I don’t know how to spell that) lol

    Have a great week Lola! Happy Reading! oxox
    Michelle@Because Reading recently posted…Crazy week? I just don’t know why… ~ WIR & TSPMy Profile

    • This time going to the supermarket to buy salads for dinner worked quite well. It was just so annoying to be in a funk the whole day and unable to shake it.

      We already have a library room ;). Which we call the book room, there are 3 large bookshelves and it also houses the rat stuff like food and bedding. I have a post about my bookshelves scheduled for august, so you can see it then. We’re lucky to have gotten a house with quite some room as first it was my sister and us living here. And the four room house had a bigger discount than the three room house, so we got this. In retrospect not the best decision as now it is more expensive without the discount (which was only for two years), but it’s nice to have the extra space. And now that we live here I don’t want to move again, so I just have to work harder to make up for it.
      So we have a bedroom, a library/ rat room and now the carrot room where we have an extra couch that can be turned into a bed that my sister didn’t want anymore. We have some tools stored there and other stuff. And now finally soem shelves to store things.

      I also hate mosquito’s they seem to like my blood and I am allergic to them. I love animals, but mosquitos are one of the few I will kill without any remorse. We have netting in front of all our windows, but sometimes they still come in, so it’s nice to have the plant then and it smells nice. I am not sure what the official name is for it, but it has very specific looking leaves and smell lemony.

      I hope you have a great week as well 🙂

    • I am looking forward to read Led Astray, Kelley Armstrong is one of my favourtie authors and I am happy to have gotten a copy for review of this one. I am happy with the new plants, it’s nice to have something new and green around the house.
      I hope the surgery goes well, even though they ahve been for surgery a few times now I still worry a bit every time.

    • I get review requests every week a few, but this is the first time a publisher contacted me. I was really surprised and excited.
      I hope Snickers her surgey goes well. I can’t wait till tomorrow afternoon when I have her back from the vet again.

  5. I love how you talk about your rats and take such good care of them – oh, the plants on your balcony are hydrangeas, they’re beautiful ! And yay for the Kelley Armstrong ! The vet seems quite confident about Snicker’s surgery, I’m sure she will be fine and enjoy all the goodies you have in store for her. Have a great week 🙂
    Red Iza recently posted…The sunday post #52 : see you soon 🙂My Profile

    • My mom named the plants, but I had already forgotten it by the time I wrote this post. My mom pointed out some of our neighbours had them as well and they turn into big beuaitfull plants indeed. We bought them small so we can see them grow.

      I love our rats and am always so worried when something goes wrong or they get sick. Snickers had a hard time with her recovery last time and if I can make it easier to make sure she has lots of yummies to eat I want to do that. I hope she likes all the goodies we bought for her. My mom thinks it’s weird sometimes how much we care about them (she is not really an animal person), but we love them and care about them a lot. We have a great vet and while I am confident in his skills, I still worry every time they have to go for surgery. It’s hard to leave them there and then waiting to hear back is so stressfull.

      I am happy with the Kelley Armstrong boook, it was certainly one of the brighter moments of this week :).

  6. Sometimes it’s nice just to go out, or get salads or something light for dinner. Especially when it’s hot. Sorry to hear about Snickers- hope the surgery goes well. And congrats on the request.

    I actually didn’t know lemon repelled mosquitos, that’s good to know since I hate those things. LOL. Have a great week!
    Greg recently posted…Sunday Post #97My Profile

    • Usually I don’t mind cooking, but that day I just didn’t want to and it was nice to just go out and buy something for a change. And indeed salads are great when it’s hot. I might have to try making some from scratch next week.
      I was really excited to get the review request for the Kelley Armstrong book, the first time I got a review request for a big author!

      I also hate mosquito’s, the always bite me and I am allergic to their bites, ugh. I am not sure if all lemon reppels them, but this plant does. I am not sure what the official name is, we always call it the lemon plant.
      Lola recently posted…Sunday Post #132My Profile

  7. Poor little Snickers. I have my fingers crossed that surgery goes well. Yes, we call them “garden centers” here in the US so I think that translation is right. I have a black thumb. 🙁 But my husband has a green thumb and all the plants do well under his care. I wish I knew how to keep plants alive! The lemon-scented one sounds really nice. I love all things citrus, so that would be my favorite 🙂
    S. J. Pajonas recently posted…Sunday Update – June 28, 2015My Profile

    • Snickers her surgey went well luckily, but it was a bigger tumor, so her wound is a bit larger as well. Let’s hope it doesn’t come back. The vet wasn’t sure whether it was malicious or not :(.
      I am glad google translate got that one right! I used to be really bad with plants, eiehter giving them too little or too much water, but I think I am getting the hang of it now. Although none of our balcony plants have survived so far as we have pretty strong winds on our balcony and most plants don’t like this, so I am hoping these can handle the wind. I love the lemon scented plant, it’s a nice smell.

    • I was pretty worried about Snicker her tumor, so that was part of it probably. Now her surgery is done I feel a lot better, she still has her recovery ahead, but I always feel better ocne the surgery is done.

    • Snickers is back from her surgery already, it went well, se’s just a bit sleepy still.

      I am glad to hear that, she’s a lovely author and I love her books and when she was looking for kid’s book reviewers I immediately thought of you as I remember seeing some kid book reviews on your blog and in your hauls. I hope your grandbaby enjoys them 🙂
      Lola recently posted…Review: What Happens in London by Jen McConnelMy Profile

  8. Aw, yay! Snickers! Smarties! What incredibly awesome-looking rats. I’m glad that your week started becoming better eventually. I totally get how there are days everything just doesn’t feel right! *GIVES YOU A HUG*

    Faye at The Social Potato

    • Yeah unfortunately tumors are very common with rats, it’s hard having to go through it all again, both for her and for us. Snickers went through the surgery okay, she’s home again, but with a big wound and stitches. Now she has to recover from the surgery.

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