Sunday Post 69

Happy Weekend, friends!

Through Monday, I am linking with the following: 

Reading Reality, who hosts Stacking the Shelves

Readerbuzz, who hosts Sunday Salon

Caffeinated Reviewer, who hosts Sunday Post

The Book Date, who hosts It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

On the above blogs you will be able to see links to the posts from others who are participating in these blog hops, and if you're a blogger, you can join too. 

So, I bought a new cell phone last weekend, which was basically like moving into a new house. It was a bit of a fiasco, but I won't go into details. It took three hours to transfer everything from the old phone to the new one. I had the old phone for about five years and it was starting to not keep it's charge for very long. Also, sometimes when it got down to around 30% it would just shutdown. My storage was 99% full (thank you 3000+ pictures of my two cats that I've only had for less than two years...). So I decided to upgrade. The new phone is very similar to the one I had, but it has a better camera and a twice the amount of storage. Still, I'm going to get better at deleting photos after I upload them to Shutterfly. I've been uploading them to Shutterfly all along, but I haven't been deleting them from my phone. I have most of the settings set to my preferences, though occasionally I discover one that needs tweaking. The worst thing that happened was I lost all of my Worldle stats. Not the worst thing in the world to happen, though. Lol. I didn't have a long winning streak anyway. My Kindle's name is Cocoa (it was Cocoa Bean, but I've just been calling it Cocoa) and my phone's name is Bean. So now I have Cocoa and Bean. Cocoa Bean.

IN THE BOOKS

Click on 2024 Bookish Challenges on the right sidebar to see how I'm doing with this year's goals.

RECENTLY FINISHED

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I finished reading Meows and Murder (Chatty Cat Mystery 2), by Elle Wren Burke. I really enjoyed it! If you like talking cats, I highly recommend it. To read some excerpts from this book, click here. To read my full review, click here. 

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The Cozy Mystery Book Club pick for this month is Death by Bubble Tea (LA Night Market Mystery 1), by Jennifer J. Chow, so that was what I listened to last week. This was a great book and the narration, done by Stephanie Sheh, was one of the best I've heard. If you're looking for a cozy audiobook to listen to, this is a really good one.

IN PROGRESS

I'm about halfway through Betrayal in the Bay (Claire O'Keefe Mystery 2), by Cindy Quayle. I read the first one in the series, Death on Cozumel Island, and really enjoyed it. This second installment is even better. I'm hoping to finish it in a few days, then post my review either this week or next week.

UP NEXT

Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries (Emily Wilde 1), by Heather Fawcett, became available for me to listen to on Libby, so that's my audiobook pick for this week. I think this one may take me longer to listen to than cozies do. I have to take my time with it and get used to a different genre, so I may be listening to it next week too. I've really been looking forward to this one.

I guess I'm in my "let's be different" era because I went to the library today and, for the first time ever, I borrowed some Manga books. I have never read Manga before and it's completely out of my comfort zone, but I thought it would be fun to give it a try. I went to the library and asked them for guidance. One person in particular was very helpful. I could tell he reads a lot of Manga. I borrowed several because I couldn't decide which one I wanted to read first. So I'll update you on this next week. Have you read Manga? If so, do you have any favorite Manga books?

Also, Monday is National Fairy Tale Day, so I thought it would be fun to check out some Cinderella adaptations and/or retellings. Cinderella is my favorite fairy tale and I love all the different versions there are of it. I used to teach second grade and we always did an entire unit on Cinderella. I checked out a few versions. I'm not sure which one I'll read first, so I'll update you on this next week as well.

ON TELEVISON

• A Taste of Love - This was a random movie Hallmark tossed our way on President's Day. I wish it premiered in the summer because that's the kind of vibe it had. Overall it was okay. Not great, but not the worst either. The scenery was really nice and so were all the shots of food.
• An American in Austen - This was part of Hallmark's Loveuary with Jane Austen. It wasn't perfect, but it is definitely my favorite of the year so far. It's a creative twist on Pride and Prejudice, similar to Lost in Austen, but I like Lost in Austen more.
• Anything for Love - This is an older Hallmark movie. It was okay.
• Leap Year - This is a 2010 movie that I borrowed from the library. It felt dated, but overall it was pretty good.  
• The Way Home - After a week off for the Super Bowl, the series came back strong with a good episode last Sunday. It felt more like the season 1 episodes. I hope it continues on this path, though based on the previews, I'm a little worried that it won't. 
• Friends - I started season 8 when Rachel is pregnant and she's deciding where to live. If I remember correctly, this is a turning point for a storyline I didn't really care for. Do you know what I'm talking about?

WEEKLY BLOG RECAP 

• Sunday Post 02/17 - Weekly Recap
• Book Review 02/20 - Meows and Murder (Chatty Cat Mystery 2), by Elle Wren Burke
• Five for Friday 02/23 - Bookshelves, Betrayal and Bell
• Puzzle - 02/24 - Puzzle Hearts

Have a great week!