Good morning! Today’s post will link up to The Sunday Salon, The Sunday Post and Stacking the Shelves, for weekly updates.
**Mailbox Monday is hosted at the home site: Mailbox Monday.
And let’s join Kathryn, our leader in It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?, at Book Date.
This morning I woke up early to have breakfast with my granddaughter Fiona. We had been missing our bonding time lately due to work, etc. So off we went to Mimi’s for food and beverage, which included a lovely mimosa. I thought afterwards about how the morning nicely topped off a good week. While I only read and reviewed two books, I am 2/3 of the way through my third one and will probably finish it before the night is over. (In fact, I did finish it! See the review below). Eight blog posts seemed to fly out of my laptop. So I’m feeling quite upbeat about my week and my books.
I also took a Lyft to my old nail salon and enjoyed a mani…
To finalize the good things in the week, I binge-watched Season I of Virgin River on Netflix. Loved it! I realized as I was watching that I have Book Two of the series, Shelter Mountain, so I need to read it soon.
Meanwhile, let’s grab some coffee or tea and check out the details of the week.
LAST WEEK ON THE BLOGS:
Tuesday Excerpts: “The Playground”
Tuesday Potpourri: Book Buying and Book Reading…
Coffee Chat: Settling Into the New Year…
Bookish Friday: “The Vanishing”
Friday Potpourri: Wrapping Up a Special Week…
Review: Normal People, by Sally RooneyReview: The Playground, by Jane ShemiltReview: Such a Perfect Wife, by Kate White
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INCOMING BOOKS:
Two books arrived in my mailbox, I downloaded two books, and received one Prime freebie:
The Daughter, by Jane Shemilt
What Falls Away, A Memoir, by Mia Farrow (Purchased to replace my previously owned book, lost in the move).
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Downloads:
The Country Guesthouse, by Robyn Carr
The Vanishing (Fogg Lake #1), by Jayne Ann Krentz
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Amazon Prime Freebie:
Last Day, by Luanne Rice
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CURRENTLY READING:
I’m reading from America’s Reluctant Prince: The Life of John F. Kennedy, Jr., by Steven M. Gillon
Regretting You, by Colleen Hoover
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That was my week. What did yours look like? On Thursday night, I had soup and a margarita at an old favorite hang-out: California Pizza Kitchen.
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That soup looks delicious! Sounds like you had a busy week. I still haven’t started to watch Virgin River, but I will. It looks good. I picked up the Luanne Rice book from Amazon Prime too.
Hope you have a great week!
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Thanks, Yvonne, and yes, it was a great week. I loved Virgin River…hope you do, too.
Enjoy your week.
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Glad it was a good week! I saw the Krentz book in a library newsletter and the whole psychic thing caught my eye, I think I’m going to try it.
Ooh the food pics are back. 🙂 Mmm soup. And Cali Pizza Kitchen. Wish we had one haha
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Thanks, Greg, I did love getting my hands on the Krentz book…it sounds like it has some interesting layers and twists.
And oh, yes, love CPK and being able to go there again. Enjoy your week.
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Breakfast with your granddaughter sounds nice, Laurel-Rain. I am glad you got to spend time with her. It sounds like you had a great week of reading! And your nails look lovely. I can’t remember the last time I got a mani. I hope you enjoy all your new books and your current reads! Have a great week!
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Thanks, Wendy, I had really missed my time with Fiona; her work hours were crazy, but it was great to relax and spend time with her.
I enjoy keeping up the nails…now that I’m all retired, etc. LOL.
I have been loving my books so far this year. Enjoy yours.
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Virgin River is on my watchlist but for now I am busy with Once Upon a Time. The breakfast with the granddaughter sounds so lovely.
Have a great reading week!
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Thanks, Andreea, I haven’t seen Once Upon a Time. Sounds good.
Loved my reading week, and my little pampering moments. Enjoy your week!
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I have family visiting us and they have taken over the TV. So I am so missing out on the interesting shows on Netflix. Sigh, can’t wait to waste my time over it.
The soup looks so yummy! Have a good week ahead!
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Thanks, Gayathri, visitors can mess with our TV watching, unless we get them hooked on our stuff.
Enjoy your week, and the soup was delicious.
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So happy to hear you loved the Virgin River TV series. I am enjoying it, I need to get back to it and finish it up, so pleased they are doing a season 2.
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Thanks, Kathryn, and I am assuming there will be a Season II! How could there not be? LOL.
Watching it reminded me that I need to read more of the books in the series, like the second one that I already have.
Enjoy your week.
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I’m glad you were able to have breakfast with your granddaughter Laurel. And that mimosa sounds pretty good too!
Have a great week and happy reading!
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Thanks, Maureen, it was a lovely break from my week, which was pretty good already. Thanks for visiting.
Enjoy your week.
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I’m glad you had a good week and had a lovely breakfast catch up with your granddaughter! Life can get so super crazy sometimes so I’m glad you both carved out that time. 🙂
Regretting You is one I’ve been considering reading even though Colleen Hoover books scare me a bit as they always seem to put readers through an emotional mangle. (So I typically avoid them despite wanting to read them.)
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Thanks, Nicci, and I haven’t read a Hoover book in a while, but I’m looking forward to it, as her last couple of books have been really good.
Enjoy your week.
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Your week looked great – in books and your excursions. I picked a historical fiction from prime first reads and then was looking at the page yesterday and saw at the top that I could pick two this month. Did you notice that? So I picked a thriller (can’t remember the name but I’ll include it in next weeks book arrivals). Have another great week!
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Thanks, Mary, and I didn’t notice about the two picks for the Prime freebies! I’ll have to check, too.
I hope you have a great week!
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Mimosas and a manicure! Sounds like a great week – I recently purchased Regretting You and excited to get into it. I hope you have a great week ahead 🙂
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Thanks, Danica, I felt truly pampered after the lovely mani, mimosas, etc. Time with my granddaughter was the best.
Enjoy your week.
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Sounds like a nice week! Starting off the year with some self care!
Happy reading!
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Thanks, Stacy Renee, I am loving the relaxation!
Enjoy your week.
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What a lovely week! I wish I could fit in time for a manicure- I really need one. I see the books you reviewed were all very good. I’ve seen great reviews on the Colleen Hoover book also. Have a wonderful week and enjoy your reads!
Anne – Books of My Heart Here is my Sunday Post
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Thanks, Anne, I am grateful to have more time to read and relax these days. Wishing you a week of good books and some relaxation, too.
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So cheering to know you had a wonderful week Laurel!
Wishing you a great reading week.
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Thanks, Shelleyrae, I thoroughly enjoyed it!
Have a wonderful week of books and family.
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Three books and eight (!) blog posts is a fabulous week in my eyes.
And I know you are enjoying your time with your granddaughter. What a great way to start a day.
I love it when my mailbox is full, and it sounds like you’ve enjoyed such a state this week.
Have a wonderful week!
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Thanks, Deb, after all the months of appointments leading up to my surgery, I am grateful for the relaxation and the time with my granddaughter that I now have.
Enjoy your reading and planning your Paris trip!
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Bonding time with a granddaughter is always a wonderful way to spend time! And that soup looks FABULOUS – so creamy and enticing! What is it? I hope you have another great week, Laurel – as this one looks to have been lovely:).
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Thanks, Sarah, it was a great week. The soup is baked potato soup and so delicious!
I always love a mix of family and alone time (for reading and binge watching).
Enjoy your week.
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Baked potato soup! Yummm… it sounds even better. Here’s to another wonderful meal, Laurel – I hope you, too, have a great week.
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What a wonderful week! Love that it included a little bit of everything – time with family, good food, personal pampering (I desperately need a mani this week!), and of course books and blogging. I’ll be interested in your thoughts on America’s Reluctant Prince… can’t resist a book about the Kennedys. Hope the week ahead is another good one!
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Thanks, JoAnn, enjoy some pampering and relaxation! Good books are always needed in our weeks.
I can’t resist books about the Kennedys, either, so I’m loving how this one gives us a closer look at John and how his early life traumas affected him going forward.
Enjoy your week.
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John Jr. — what a tragic awful ending. I wonder what he would be doing today if he were still alive. I think it would be something different than the magazine George he was doing at the time, but I’m not sure what. Looks like you’ve been having great reading weeks, enjoy!
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Thanks, Susan, I always want to cry when I think of him and his lovely wife, not to mention her sister…dying like that. As I’m reading this book, I’m thinking about his choices and how he took risks. The author of the book has done some research that suggests that people who go through the childhood trauma he experienced may take extreme risks.
Enjoy your week!
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That’s so great that you have bonding time with yoru grand daughter Laurel! My daughter loves spending time with my mom too!
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Thanks, Sophie, I loved spending time with my grandmother, too. That relationship can be so special.
Enjoy your week!
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I’ve never heard of Virgin River-it sounds fantastic though. I’ve been responding to people’s post later and later on Sundays. I’ve got an improv class at 12, and usually a follow up theater review to write from a show the night before.
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Thanks, Trin, you have had a busy weekend!
I loved the Virgin River series, Season I…and I enjoy the first book read in the series.
Enjoy your week!
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Are you sure you accomplished ALL that on just a week LOL?? You were ery busy but, it sounds like a lovely week!
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Thanks, Diane, I’m pretty sure I won’t be able to replicate this week again, but I plan to try. Mostly things came together serendipitously, though.
Enjoy your week.
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It was a soup weekend with our ice/snow storm this weekend. Loved Virgin River, I binged watched too. Glad it is returning. Looking forward to The Vanishing. Have a great week.
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Thanks, Nise, I can’t wait for another season of Virgin River, but it will probably take a year. The downside of binge-watching.
Enjoy your books and your week.
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I wish I could get my posts to fly out of my lap top, I am still struggling to find that balance. Maybe this week. Hey we made it through the first full week of January. It’s all good. Glad you had a wonderful breakfast catch up with your granddaughter!
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Thanks, Heidi, for a long while, I hardly did any blogging, with my surgery, etc., so I seem to be making up for it.
Enjoy your week and your books! I loved my catch-up time with my granddaughter.
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Wow, 8 blog posts? I’m impressed if I can get two done in a week. I’m a very slow blogger. I hope you have a great week!
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Thanks, AJ, I do enjoy writing the blog posts… and visiting others, too.
Enjoy your week and your books.
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Looks like you had a nice week. My weekly update
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Thanks, Sarah, I felt blissful with my reading and activities this week. Enjoy your upcoming week.
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Awww, I haven’t been to a California Pizza Kitchen in ages, they don’t have them where I live! 😦
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Thanks, Jane, I’ve heard from several bloggers that CPK is not in their areas, either. So sad!
Enjoy your week.
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Looks like you have had a good productive week. I love the covers on Robyn Carr’s books. They are always so inviting.
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Thanks, Veronica, I love the covers, too. Enjoy your week!
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Sounds like a good week for blogging and reading – way to go! And that soup is totally making me hungry. Now that break is over and I’m back to work, I don’t have nearly the snacking time I was getting used to! LOL
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Thanks, Becki, I am glad to be in my retirement phase, which allows for more fun in each day.
Enjoy your week.
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Aw, breakfast and mimosas sounds lovely.
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Thanks, Jen, I completely agree! I will probably wait a while for the next breakfast and mimosa treat.
Enjoy your week.
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I love that you get to see Fiona so much and you take the time to pamper yourself! I listened to America’s Reluctant Prince and it made me realize how difficult it would be to grow up in the spotlight like that. I want to read a Robyn Carr book – so many people I know love her work. I hope you have another great week!
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Thanks, Kathy, reading about how John’s early traumas affected his life going forward was a poignant reminder of how much tragedy followed him in his life, even to that very sad ending with the plane crash.
Enjoy your week…and I hope you do read a Robyn Carr book soon.
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Looks like you had a great week and some fun outings! Your nails look so pretty! And I love soup.
I had a hard time with the new Robyn Carr! I think I just wasn’t in the right mood for that kind of book. I am going to try again later. I have that Luanne Rice on my list to read too. 🙂
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Thanks, Erin, I haven’t started the new Robyn Carr book…I do tend to wait to get into books until I’m in the mood.
Like right now, reading Regretting You…the book didn’t grab me immediately, but then the pace stepped up and something totally unexpected kept me going.
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I’m so glad you had such a lovely week! Enjoy your new books!
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Thanks, Jana, I hope you enjoy your week.
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I’ve been looking for a new show to watch while exercising and had my eye on Virgin River. Knowing that you loved it, I may just give it a try!
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Thanks, Melinda, I hope you enjoy it.
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Looks like delicious soup.Happy reading
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Thanks, Serena, it was.
Have a great week.
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That does sound like a good week. I read The Vanishing recently too. Come see my week here. Happy reading!
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Thanks, Kathy, I can’t wait to read The Vanishing.
Enjoy your week.
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I binge-watched Virgin River too and now eagerly await Season 2. I want to read Regretting You by Colleen Hoover. Enjoy your reading week!
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Thanks, Laura, I really enjoyed it! Now I also want to read more of the books in the series.
I’m loving Regretting You.
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The LuAnn Rice book looks good…I chose that too.
ENJOY your week….you always seem to have a full and lovely week.
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Thanks, Elizabeth, I am glad to be reading and blogging more, and also going on outings.
Enjoy your week.
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Glad you had another good week and a nice visit with your granddaughter.
The Virgin River series sounds like a good one.
Enjoy your week and Happy Reading!
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Thanks, Martha, I loved my week! Hope this week is half as great.
Enjoy your reading and your week.
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I have so many shows to catch up on right now but I do want to watch Virgin River! And oh my gosh, your soup looks so good! Have a great week. 🙂
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Thanks, dreamingofhygge, I loved Virgin River, and I’m excited about a new season of Grace and Frankie coming soon.
Enjoy! The soup was delicious!
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So glad you got a chance to catch up with Fiona. Great books. I would love to read Farrow’s memoir. Hope you have a great week.
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Thanks, Cheryl, my time with Fiona is always wonderful.
I read Farrow’s memoir years ago, but the copy I owned didn’t make it over here. So I bought a new copy, since I want to read it again.
Enjoy your week.
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