My Monday Musings…life and reading update

If you’ve been following my posts (or lack thereof) for the past few weeks, you know that I have tendinitis in my hand and the pain had gone all the way up my arm to my neck. It’s been going on for over a month so I had to really take this seriously and rest my arm for an extended period of time.

This past week I went for a massage and she got the spot in my neck that was so tight and hoo-boy did it hurt. I didn’t know if I was going to punch her and start bawling BUT it finally released all that tightness so my hand and arm stretches finally started to make a difference.

I also took a break from my phone and computer – allowing myself only an hour or so per day and only in small increments. I’m going to give it another week so I don’t backslide but will hopefully return to blogging and commenting next week.

In the meantime I realized that my Macmillan winter ARC box had a few January releases that I have to get to. For some reason I didn’t think there were any until February/March. Bad blogger.

The Electric War is about the Edison, Tesla, and Westinghouse’s race to light the world, All is Fair is a Swoon Reads book (always adorable) YA historical with spies and international intrigue, and The Wild Lands is thriller that sounds a bit dystopian. There’s a natural disaster (fire) that destroys all the wild lands in Alaska and several teens have to survive the harsh conditions together.

(And I LOVE my new mug - "Due to unfortunate circumstances I'M AWAKE"




READ

I finally read things!


The Memory or You by Jamie Beck was a KU read with free audible so I listened to it on audio. – This was a second chance romance when both LI move back home to their small town after a lot of hard knocks.
Ryan is a separated, single dad going through a tough divorce, while Steffie is starting a new remodeling business and a new life back home after a brutal attack.
This wasn’t bad – both Steffie and Ryan are good people but OMG Ryan can hold a grudge and Steffie (& all of her friends) spend most of the book telling other people how to fix their lives while they do the complete opposite. Not bad but kind of frustrating and there's a lot of  time spent on setup for the future couples.




Love `a la Mode by Stephanie Kate Strohm was a delightful little story about food, cooking, travel, friends with a pinch of romance. If you are a fan of any of the Food Network competition shows, food documentaries or celebrity chefs this is the book for you. If you aren’t – some of the references might go over your head. I would love for there to be companion novels for some of the other
cooking school students.





REVIEW READING



Noble Hops by Layla Reyne – the 3rd book in the romantic suspense Trouble Brewing trilogy

Not Dead Yet by Jenn Burke – book #1 in a new PNR, mystery series

Both come out in February

WON



I never win anything but I won Death Prefers Blondes by Caleb Roehrig over on Goodreads. now let’s see if the publisher ever sends it lol

READING CHALLENGE

2019 Reading Challenge

Karen has read 2 books toward her goal of 50 books.

hide

2 of 50 (4%)

view books

I always set my goal lower and then adjust it as I go. I usually end up reading about 150-ish books each year. Rough start so far but some months are better than others.

I've also been watching some Netflix and if my hand continues to improve, I hope to be able to post about that soon Since I have 0 books read to review lol

And, same as last week, I'm trying to keep up with my blog visits but be patient with me for a little longer.

So what are you all up to? Reading or watching anything good?