Sunday Post #200

Posted October 16, 2016 by Lola in Sunday Post / 54 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 is my 200th Sunday post! Somehow that seemed worth mentioning it and it was fun to type those numbers. As I never missed a week that means I’ve been blogging for 200 weeks now. In December is my fourth blogoversary.

This was a bit of a meh week, but with some fun things happening as well. It seems I caught a cold, as since last sunday I’ve been feeling pretty bad. It lasted almost the whole week with ups and down. I am feeling a bit better now, so I hope it will be fully gone soon. I did do a lot of work as usual, but also took more frequent breaks.

My sister stopped by for a visit this week and it was fun to catch up with her. She just finished reading the Nogiku series by SJ Pajonas and it was great to talk about the books with her, we thought the same about a lot of things.

I did a guest post over on Because Reading is Better than Real Life! A big thanks to Michelle for having me over on her blog! I talk about why I love reading about werewolves/ shifters and talk about the Otherworld series by Kelley Armstrong.

And one more good thing that happened this week. I managed to get caught up with comments last Sunday and I think I’ve been doing reasonably well with keeping up with them this week. So that makes me happy. I haven’t done a lot of blogging this week with me being sick and having work to do, but I did write one post and did do some commenting.

Blog Ahead
Yay it’s time for blog ahead again! I always love this challenge. I started Blog Ahead with 23 posts scheduled. I am hoping to end with that many at least and hopefully add a few more. We’ll see.

Posts I’ve written this week that count for Blog Ahead: 1
– Lola’s Kitchen: Banana Bread Recipe – 18 November

Picture of the Week

Speculaas-Staaf
This is something I bought this week, it’s called a “speculaas staaf”. It’s going to be a bit difficult to explain this one and what it is. Here in the Netherlands we have another holiday before Christmas, it’s classed Sinterklaas. There is a lot of candy and food that only is sold around Sinterklaas and while in the US you might find Christmas goodies in stores now already, for us that is Sinterklaas goodies, the christmas goodies only come later.
This is one of those products you usually only find around sinterklaas. It’s a speculaas flavored dough with almond paste inside. Speculaas is a mix of spices, with mainly cinnamon and some other spices. And around Sinterklaas you see a lot of Speculaas flavored things, like kruidnootjes, muffins, big flat cookie like squares that taste of speculaas and even speculaas spiced dough with almond paste. What I bought this time was the bar/ rod version of speculaas spiced dough with almond paste inside. I really like it! I walked into this grocery store and the whole store smelled like Speculaas from the bakery department, it smelled delicious, so I just had to buy something speculaas flavored.

What did I read this week?

The Orange Cat and Other Cainsville Tales

The Orange Cat and Other Cainsville Tales was an e-book you could get when you pre-ordered Betrayals, books 4 in the Cainsville series. I love this series and had book 4 pre-ordered so I didn’t hesitate to claim my copy. It was a fun book with 3 short stories/ novella’s set in the Cainsville world. Perfect for fans of the series. I won’t be posting my review on the blog, but I did write a short review on goodreads. I am still reading Pets in Space, which is a pretty long box set, so that’s why I haven’t finished as many books as normal, but I am almost finished with this one :). And I am doing a beta read as well now, so no cover or link to goodreads yet.

What did I cook for dinner this week?

This week I blogged about:

Review: Ratatouille
Review: Jared by Alisa Woods
Lola’s Ramblings: My favorite 5 game genres
Lola’s Kitchen: Cake with Cinnamon swirls Recipe

What to expect next week on the blog:

– Review: Muffins and Mourning Tea by HY Hanna
– Review: Damned if I don’t by Erin Hayes
– Lola’s Ramblings: Foreign Language in Books
– Lola’s Kitchen: 5 Recipes to make this Fall

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

Review Opportunities:
Across Borders by Lee Ducote
Don’t Call Me Kit Kat by K.J. Farnham
Name of Ra by Kelsey Ketch
Single Chicas by Sandra C Lopez
Here Comes the Witch by Ani Gonzalez
Newborn by Edward Hoorneart
Check the full list of open review opportunities here.

Cover Reveals:
Amanda Lester and the Red Spider Rumpus by Paula Berinstein – 18 October
Playboy Assistant by Roe Valentine – 19 October

Tours:
Blog Tour: The Best Part of Me by Jamie Hollins – 10 till 23 October
Book Blitz: Saven Box Set by Siobhan Davis – 11 till 18 October
Book Blitz: Audiobook Amanda Lester and the Pink Sugar Conspiracy by Paula Berinstein – 24 till 30 October
Book Blitz: Playboy Assistant by Roe Valentine – 1 till 7 November

Book Haul:

Secret Keeping SakuraPressed the DeathAccidentally on PurposeSherlock Academy

I already got Secret Keeping Sakura last week, but forgot to list it in my Sunday post. So I decided to list I this week. I love this series of short stories about kami and Pajonas is one of my favorite authors, so I am looking forward to read this one. I got a copy from the author. If you’re interested in reading this series, you can get the whole series for free when you sign-up for the author her newsletter!
Pressed to Death I got through netgalley, I enjoyed the first book in this series and am looking forward to this one! I got Accidentally on Purpose from Edelweiss! I was surprised they accepted my request as I didn’t got book 2 and the novella, but I am glad I got this one. Sherlock Academy sounded interesting, so I bought it. I like MG mysteries and this one sounded like a fun one.

Freebies I grabbed:

I got the following freebies this week (they were free when I got them): Gertie’s Paranormal Plantation (Paranormal), Beyond the Veil (Urban Fantasy), The Sixth Domicile (dystopia), Murder at Cookie Lane (Cozy Mystery), Relentless (Paranormal/ Vampires), Cypher (Science Fiction) and The Asgardians (Mythology/ Fantasy).
Do you like how I link these books to goodreads or would you rather I link to amazon instead? Just curious!

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54 responses to “Sunday Post #200

  1. Yuck, a cold! I had a sinus infection so we snuffled together this week. πŸ™‚

    Yay, Sinterklaas celebrating is back. I loved your descriptions of the baked goods and candy for the holidays. I’ll bet the cinnamon and spices from your loaf smell great.

    Ha! Yes, Pets In Space is a long one. Look forward to your thoughts on the last half of it. Neat that you got the bonus book from the pre-order and it was a fun read.

    Nice haul. Isn’t it curious sometimes what they approve for at Net Galley and Edelweiss? I’ve been approved for a second book in a series when they denied me the first one or I get approved for a first one long after I got and read the second one. πŸ˜‰ Fun times!

    I don’t mind the links to GoodReads. I like to read their blurbs and explore the reviews before heading over to Amazon for a purchase anyway.

    Have a good week, Lola, and hope you’re feeling better.
    Sophia Rose recently posted…Make Me Sin by J.T. Geissinger #ReviewMy Profile

      • Yes it was so awesome to type that 200 and realize I’ve been doing this feature for 200 weeks now. I checked Kimba her number for the sunday post and saw that it was #235, so it seems like I joined this meme quite early.
        Lola recently posted…Sunday Post #200My Profile

    • Sorry to hear you also were sick this week :(.

      I love the smell of speculaas, it’s a really nice smell. I like all the yummy candy available during this time :). I might have to make some speculaas bakings soon as well.

      I didn’t realize Pets in Space was this long, but on the other hand I also like that as it means there’s enough length for each story. I only have two stories left to read!

      Sometimes I really wonder how the publishers are thinking about who they approve on netgalley and edelweiss. Of this Jill Shalvis series I got the first book, then I requested the other books as well thinking I would have a chance to get those too and I didn’t get book 2 and the novella, but did get book 3. It really puzzles me sometimes.

      It always felt natural to link to goodreads, but as most people buy on amazon anyway I was suddenly wondering if that would be handier.

  2. Aww, sorry about the cold :-/ Feel better!

    Congrats on 200 Sunday Posts! That’s awesome πŸ™‚ And the speculaas staaf sounds really good! I want to try it now.

    It’s really confusing sometimes why some people get approved for a book but others don’t or why we get some books and not others. Speaking of review copies though, I still haven’t heard back about the Erin Hayes books :-/ I’m getting impatient.

    I’d like it if you linked to Amazon for the freebies since that’s where I go as soon I get to the GR page anyway since I’m not worried about seeing reviews for a free book, but other people might prefer GR still. I just link to Amazon most of the time on my blog because I have a plugin that gets the image and inserts the link for me, which means it’s less work for me that way.

    I don’t know if I have the energy right now, but I’ll definitely go check out your guest post soon πŸ™‚ Have a great week!
    Kristen @ Metaphors and Moonlight recently posted…The Weekly Update: 10/16/16My Profile

    • I am still a bit sick, but I feel like I am getting better, so that’s good.

      The Speculaas Staaf is really good! It’s a shame they don’t have speculaas much outside of the Netherlands, although you can make the spices mixture yourself.

      It sure is confusing sometimes what they approve and what not or how long you have to wait. That’s weird you still haven’t heard back of the Erin Hayes books, on which site did you request them? Maybe you can contact them or do they give an indication when you will hear back?

      I’ll think about it whether I want to link to amazon instead, I think most people get their books there anyway, so it might be helpful to link there instead of goodreads. Not sure yet as I am so used to linking to goodreads.

        • Within two weeks is pretty long, or maybe that’s just because I am would be impatient to know if I get the book(s) or not. Let’s hope you hear something next week. I think it’s unlikely you will hate them, but guess we’ll see what you think of them when you finally get them :).

  3. 200 weeks of blogging without missing anything? You’re a superwoman Lola! Thanks for sharing Netherlands’ culture, I’ve never heard of Sinterklaas but it sounds like so much fun! Although I’m not a huge fan of almond paste, I certainly would love to explore the candies sold during that time. Glad that you could catch up with your sister and I wish my brother reads as much as I do too – but he’s more into fitness and I am only now starting to follow in his footsteps πŸ˜› Hope you get well soon, happy Sunday! πŸ™‚
    Natasha Anne recently posted…Review + Giveaway – The Best Part of Me (McKenna #1) by Jamie HollinsMy Profile

    • I never missed a Sunday post in all those weeks, although I think I once gave a Sunday post two numbers when I missed a week.

      Sinterklaas is quite fun, it’s mostly aimed at kids. But I still love Sinterklaas time and all the yummy candy they have during this time.

      My sister reads mostly high fantasy, but there is some overlap in our reading tastes as well, so sometimes I recommend her books I think she will enjoy. It’s fun to talk about books together.
      Lola recently posted…Sunday Post #200My Profile

  4. My sinuses have been beating me up this last week but its normal for me this time of year. I have been taking some stuff to make sure it doesn’t get bad, need to take the Air Conditioners out of the windows to get fresh air in the house, that always helps.

    Awesome job being able to blog while not feeling well that is a challenge.

    Speculaas Staaf (i copied that from above because I didn’t think I could spell it myself, lol) looks really good. I wish the US would slow down on the holidays but it’s all about the money, where as I enjoy it for all the fun and magic. Wish they sold different stuff like that in stores but most of the time, you can get all kind of different goodies from Epcot in Disney. I always like going to find all the yummy treats from different worlds.

    Congrats on 200 weeks!

    Have a great week, Lola! Happy Reading! ox
    Michelle @Because Reading recently posted…Another Interesting Week ~ WIR & TSPMy Profile

    • I don’t get as sick often, but this time it hit me quite hard and I still don’t feel fully back to normal again. It was only one kitchen post I got written, but I am still glad I got at least one done.

      I figured Speculaas Staaf would sound a bit weird to US people and it took quite some time to properly explain what it was and why we have it, but it was fun to talk about Sinterklaas. Here they start with Sinterklaas candies in september nowadays, it’s pretty commercial too, but I still like how they kept a bit of the fun and magic feel. And besides those few months, you can’t really find much of the candies, so that does make it special. And I personally love all the speculaas goodies, so I don’t mind as much they start early with it ;).

  5. I hope your feeling better, colds are yucky. Your Sinterklaas reminds me of something we have around here, it’s a local thing not holiday related, but we have a Historic Cider Mill which makes apple cider and these amazing apple cider doughnuts and you can only get them from the beginning of Sept to the beginning of Nov. People come from all over to get these treats. It’s probably not exactly the same but that’s what your description reminded me of. Hope you have a great week!

    • That sounds like a fun local tradition and if you’re only to get those products for a limited time it makes it feel even more special!
      Sinterklaas is mainly a holiday for kids were they get presents, a bit like Christmas, but with a different feel. I always like the candy they only sell during this time.

  6. I hope you feel 100% soon. Since they are cutting down the crops here, my allergies are driving me crazy. Pressed to Death looks really good.

    Since my comments have been fixed, I really need to catch up on them.

  7. Congrats on your 200th Sunday post. This will be my first Sunday post, and it seems like a fun place to share from what I have read so far. I am also trying the BlogAhead challenge for the first time, my end goal is 34 posts. Love your dinner schedule from last week, looks like great eats. Nice post, thanks for sharing.

    • Congrats on your first Sunday Post! It’s such a fun meme and I like the chance to recap my week and share some pictures and news each week.

      Good luck with the Blog Ahead challenge and I hope you’re doing better than me so far ;).

  8. Wow, 200 Sunday posts! I have no idea how many I’ve done. I’m going to have to check. At one point I was numbering them, but then I missed a few weeks here and there and my numbering got off, so I started making the title descriptive instead of numbered.

    I’m so interested in your holiday. You’ll have to do a post about it, I know I find learning about other cultures so interesting! It sounds kinda like Santa clause when I read it phonetically, with an I instead of an a, is that how it’s pronounced? And is it relates to Christmas at all? See, so curious!

    Oh and I like the goodreads links. I can go straight to Amazon for there, but it lets me see the book and also easily add it to my shelves if I decide to grab it.

    Have a great week – hope you’re feeling better!!
    Berls recently posted…Sunday Post | 3 day weekend… Sort of My Profile

    • I kept numbering as I wasn’t sure how to name them else and numbering seemed like an easy way to give them all a different title. And as added benefit it’s fun to see how many of these I’ve done so far.

      Yes it does sound a bit like Santa Clause when you pronounce it. I do think Santa Clause is loosely based on Sinterklaas and Sinterklaas is loosely based on someone historical/ religious. Not completely sure. Sinterklaas and Santa Claus (we call him the Christmas man) both look similar, although there are some subtle differences in their clothing and hair.
      Here is wikipedia page about Sinterklaas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinterklaas where you can read more. Most of what I know actually comes from there as here it’s just a holiday we celebrate with lots of candies and presents and we don’t talk as often about the origins. Oh and I did an interview about Sinterklaas once. Here’s the link: https://readmeaway.com/talk-51-sinterklaas/

      Glad to hear you like the goodreads links!

    • I think the cinnamon makes up half or 2/3 of the speculaas spices mix. I am pretty sure I posted the recipe for it once on my blog, but here you can simply buy speculaas spices which is even handier.

    • Speculaas spices itself aren’t sweet, it’s a spice mixture of cinnamon with some other spices. But most speculaas flavored things are sweet, but that’s because of the sugar they add, not the speculaas itself. The Speculaas staaf is sweet, but not too much. It’s very flavorful as well.
      Lola recently posted…Sunday Post #200My Profile

  9. Happy 200th Sunday Post!! Woo hoo. And not missing a week- that’s pretty special too. I try to do it every week but I’m not sure I’ve never missed… I’m sure I have. I hope you feel better- I was sick a few weks ago and it was no fun. Lasted about a week too…

    Nice guest post over at Michelle’s. The Orange Cat looks good, and I enjoyed the Kelley Armstrong book I read. I’m looking forward to more of her stuff.

    Love the sound of that speculaas staaf. Sounds yummy!
    Greg recently posted…Sunday Post #164My Profile

    • I think I missed one week when I went on a vacation and then numbered the next post with two numbers, but I think that’s the only one I ever missed.
      I am feeling pretty okay today, so it lasted about a whole week the being sick. No fun.

      Glad you enjoyed my guest post on Michelle her blog! I really enjoy Armstrong her books and the short story collection was a nice little extra for fans.

    • Yes that’s good comparison! They make everything here with speculaas, but I love the taste, so that’s good ;). Pumpkin is getting more popular over here slowly, at least we can buy pumpkins int he grocery stores now, which is neat as a few years ago you only could find them during October if you were lucky.

      I remember that once I started my blog the Sunday Post was the first meme I joined, I had seen it around the blogosphere and knew that I wanted to join as soon as I had my own blog. So I did and then loved it so much I kept participating every week πŸ™‚

  10. Hope you are feeling better. No one likes to be sick. I got sick at the begging of the week a nice stomach bug that I caught from my son who was sick the two days before. I did everything I could to try and not to get sick, but no luck.

    We had family last weekend visiting too. They have only been out to see us once since we moved out to CA almost 3 years ago. And of course I got to talk books with my aunt in law, Ya! It was so fun to share with her new books I felt she need to read and she did the same, plus I showed her my blog and how to request books from me with the borrow from my library. It was great.

    Have a great week and enjoy your book haul!!
    Angela @ Angel’s Guilty Pleasures recently posted…Review: Under Her Skin (Shifter Shield #1) by Margo Bond CollinsMy Profile

    • I am feeling better, just a bit snotty still. Stomach bugs are really nasty!

      It’s nice to visit with family and even better if you can talk books as well.

  11. So sorry to hear that you’ve been sick. I hope that you are feeling all better now. I personally prefer when links for freebies go directly to the site where they are available. Also I have a Right-click to search Goodreads if I want to.

    Sunday Summary #24

    • I mostly am feeling better now.

      I usually go with goodreads as there you can add it to your to-read list and everyone can pick to which site they want to go. Although I am sure most use amazon. But I might change the links to amazon, not sure yet, it seems some prefer goodreads and others amazon.

    • Glad to hear you enjoy hearing about my life in the Netherlands. For me it’s normal, but it’s interesting talked to people who don’t live her about typically dutch things and hearing everyone’s reactions :).

  12. I’ve managed to avoid getting a cold for the last two years so I hope that continues this year! I used to get four or five sinus infections in a row during the winter. It was awful and I always needed antibiotics. But two years ago, I decided to not go off anti-histamines in the winter, which is what I usually did. I would take Claritin until the first hard frost and then stop. Not anymore. I take it all year round, and since then, I’ve stopped getting colds. So now I know that my colds are triggered by allergies!

    I love speculaas! We get some of the speculaas spreads here in the supermarket and I love the cookies too. Do you have to bake the stuff you bought? And it’s cool that you and your sister got to discuss the Nogiku series. <3 That makes me super happy to hear! Thanks for mentioning Secret Keeping Sakura and the newsletter as well! πŸ™‚
    S. J. Pajonas recently posted…Sunday Update – October 16, 2016My Profile

    • I haven’t gotten a cold for a long time, so I was surprised I got one this year. Maybe I pushed myself a bit too hard in the last few weeks.

      Speculaas is so good! No, this one I bought didn’t need to be baked, but they do have a few you can warm up or have to finish baking. This one was freshly baked in the store, the whole store smelled like speculaas!

      It was so much fun to discuss the Nogiku series with my sister, we both agreed it was sad a certain character died in the last book ;). She really enjoyed the books and your writing style, so I am encouraging her to give some of your other books a try too.
      Lola recently posted…Review: Muffins and Mourning Tea by H.Y. HannaMy Profile

  13. Congrats on 200 Sunday Posts! That’s fantastic, Lola! I’m happy your week went fairly well despite your cold and I hope you’re feeling much better today. Colds are the worst, I think. But you still got a lot done. Kudos! It’s wonderful that your sister visited and you were able to talk about books! That’s a favorite topic for me – especially when someone has read a book I also enjoyed.
    *Cheers* for Blog Ahead – keep working at it!
    Nice haul of books this week as well. It looks like you’ll have some good reading. And I do like that you link your freebies to Goodreads…it allows me to look at the cover and read the blurb before I make the decision to one-click. πŸ˜‰
    Have a great week, Lola!!
    Bookworm Brandee recently posted…Blogger Chick Chat ~ The Pact ~ Karina HalleMy Profile

    • It was fun to type number 200 for the post :). Colds sure are nasty, I am glad I am finally feeling better again. It was so fun to be able to talk with my sister about books and it’s one of my favorite series and almost no one has read it, so that’s even better.

      I keep slowly working on the posts for Blog Ahead, got another post done today. Not doing as well as I had hoped, but every posts counts.

      Glad to hear you like the freebies linking to goodreads. So far I’ve heard people who prefer goodreads and those who prefer amazon. maybe I have to see if I can do both, lol.

  14. Sorry you’ve been battling with a cold and I hope you soon feel your old self:). Speculaas sounds completely yummy – I’m very fond of both flavours and I can imagine they match each other perfectly… Many, many congratulations on your 200th Sunday Post! Have a great week, Lola.
    sjhigbee recently posted…While the Morning Stars SingMy Profile

    • I am feeling better, but still a few after effects from the cold like coughing. Speculaas is really good! I bought speculaas muffins this week, might have to take a picture of those so I can share them in this week’s Sunday post.

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