Saturday, December 3, 2016

#StackingtheShelves #60 plus blog updates and week's end for 12-3-16 Come see the #NEW #books!

Thanks to our Sponsor, Tynga's Reviews!

How Stacking the Shelves works! 

Hello everyone! It's that time of week again, that time to do an awesome "SHOW AND TELL" of the books I have been given, from authors, from publishers, I bought, borrowed, or received somehow, the library, a yard sale, or some way this past week! I LOVE showing books off like this! This is one of MY favorite posts to write!!
I also use THIS POST EACH WEEK to do somewhat of a wrap-up AND to post my NEW REVIEWS, NEW GIVEAWAYS, and whatever else I should bring to your attention!
After you are done reading HERE, click on the Sponsor's name up above and see THEIR post for Stacking the Shelves, too! They have a link-up with OVER 100-200 other blogs that also participate!
I'm also finding OTHER PLACES TO LINK UP TO AS WELL! I'm finding these places from other blogs, and they are GREAT ideas! The following NEW one is Talk of the Town where we can add ALL THINGS BOOKISH! Check it out! 

I will also be linking this post AND my reviews to Saturday Situation (WHICH IS NOW HELD AT "PURE IMAGINATION" JUST CLICK ON THE NAME AND IT WILL TAKE YOU THERE) as well from now on, too! That is a place to link ALL THINGS BOOKISH! I'm anxious to start posting there!! Check it out, too!

***TWO GIVEAWAYS!!!

"$300 #HOLIDAY #CASH #GIVEAWAY ! NOW TO 12-21!"
Enter for your chance to #win HERE!


"THANKFUL FOR #CASH $250 #CASH #GIVEAWAY ! NOW TO 12-15!"

Enter for your chance to #win HERE!

Yes, you are right! Last week there was NO POST! For the first time EVER I was unable to write my post! I started to get nauseous Thanksgiving evening. I would NOT allow myself to throw up. How I wish I did! I felt fine the next morning so I went to the gym like usual and did my swim class and swam my laps. THAT DID IT! I was DEAD! I got home and about died! I was in bed until the next Tuesday afternoon when I started to come around again! Finally! A total of four days IN BED! It was awful! On the other hand, it did help SPEED my weight loss journey! LOL! I have now lost a total of 30lbs! HOORAY!!!! I am SO happy! We have swimming at the Y to thank for that, as well as my choice of salads ONLY for dinner, corn flakes for breakfast, and a Fiber One bar in the middle of the day after swimming to get me home when as soon as I step in that door I am RAVENOUS! I dive bomb for that salad! I eat a HUGE salad with a little antibiotic free, free range chicken! Just a little bit for some protein. Swimming takes a LOT out of you! However, I can do in the pool what I can't do on land! I've always LOVED swimming, and this is just WONDERFUL for me! I LOVE it, too!!! This has been the BEST thing that has happened to me since I've gotten this neurological muscle disease, Stiff Person Syndrome!!! I can't say that it is helping with the muscle spasms because NOTHING helps with those, but the weight loss alone has helped me feel so MUCH BETTER! I feel lighter, my clothes are falling off of me, and I have a greater outlook on life! I just feel so much better about myself!!
Yes, my reading HAS SUFFERED! I apologize for that, but I'm trying the BEST I can! My GREATEST CHALLENGE has been finding the time to read because I am SO exhausted! My second challenge has been writing the reviews about the books I have read! I do apologize, I am trying HARD!!! I CAN tell you one thing for SURE!!! I will NEVER gain weight again! It's so HARD to take it off! But oh sooooo easy to put it on!! It sneaks on!!! Nasty HUGE thing!!! NEVER again! It's staying off forever!! I AM SOOOOO HAPPY, though! I will take 30lbs!!! That IS something to celebrate! I would like to take ANOTHER 30lbs off! Yes! In addition to what I have taken off, I could stand to lost another 30. It took me 3 months to lose 30, so that is 10lbs per month, or 2.5lbs per week. If I keep up my pace with the swimming, I should be able to do this!! By the end of February, beginning of March comes around, I should have that additional 30lbs off! Then that will make a total of 60lbs LOST! Wooooo-hooooo!!!! THAT will be time for a HUGE celebration!!! As it is now, I am having great difficulty with keeping my pants UP! LOL! I can't WAIT for another three months to pass by! I will be a happy camper!! Although, I have heard your last leg of your weight loss journey can be the hardest, but I am READY for it! I will swim my butt off it I have to! If I have to extend my time swimming, I WILL! (Honestly, I don't know HOW I could! I am SO exhausted by the time I get home! Some nights I can't even make sense! Ask my family and friends! LOL! Yes! I AM laughing as I write this! I've tried IM'ing people and I get questions like, "What?" LOL! Sorry friends and family! I'm laughing SO hard!) One night my husband asked me how to use the washing machine. I continued on with explaining to him how to use Instant Messaging on kik! LOL! He said, "What?" LOL! I had fallen asleep talking to him! When I am sleeping, I will say ANYTHING! It is SO funny! That is what happened! Anyway, it's working and I'm VERY happy! Let's move on!

NEW REVIEW 
When All the Girls Have Gone by Jayne Ann Krentz HERE!
NEW RELEASE THIS LAST WEEK - 11-29-16



The following are reviews I am writing and WILL be posted this week:

Chasing Shadows (South Shore #1) by Karen Harper
NEW RELEASE this last week on Tuesday, 11-29-16



The Story People by Heather M Kaufman



At the Water's Edge by Sara Gruen (Author of Water for Elephants)



BOOKS I RECEIVED FOR REVIEW THIS WEEK:

Gone Without a Trace by Mary Torjussen - Release Date: 4-11-17




The Girl Who Knew Too Much by Amanda Quick - Release Date: 5-9-17




All the Best People by Sonja Yoerg - Release Date:  5-2-17
Sonja is a DEAR friend of mine who I have known since before she was published! She wrote to me this week asking if I would review this, her NEW novel, Women's Fiction! I was ecstatic!!! Sonja, thank you!!!! I LOVE ya! LOVE your writing, and am flattered you asked me to review this for you! You NEW baby! CONGRATULATIONS!!! 
Everyone, I am not just saying this, but grab Sonja's other books. You will NOT be sorry! She has also written the following:
Housebroken
The Middle of Somewhere
Clever As A Fox, Animal Intelligence and What It Can Teach Us About Ourselves
(Yes, Sonja has a Ph.D! Learn MORE about this author HERE! at Goodreads!)



That is all for this week!
Thanks for stopping by!
Have a GREAT week and a SAFE week as you are celebrating the holidays!! See you back here again next week!
Laurie

12 comments:

  1. You got a lot of interesting books this week. I hope you love all of your new books.

    Grace @ Books of Love

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    1. Hi Grace! Thanks for stopping by as always! I "LOVE" the books I got this week!!! I am SOOOOO geeked!! Yes, I'm DYING to start reading them! I'm headed over to visit you, too! See you shortly!!!

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  2. So good swimming continues to work for you Laurie.

    I'm fickle - I love a book cover - and All The Best People does it for me :)

    Have a great week.
    #TalkoftheTown

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    1. Hi Shaz! Thanks for stopping by again!! Oh! You are in for a REAL TREAT reading Sonja Yoerg!! You are going to LOVE her writing!! Get ready to sit back and just enjoy her words! Let them sing to you! Also check out Housebroken by her, too! You'll LOVE it!
      Thanks again for ALL you do, Shaz!!
      All the best! Enjoy these holidays!!
      Laurie

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    2. PS. Shaz, I MUST FORCE MYSELF OUT OF THE POOL! I LOVE the water!! I can't explain HOW MUCH I just love it! It's the BEST exercise, and when you can completely forget EVERYTHING and just 'be', it's AWESOME! I wouldn't do anything different! The pool is like my god! LOL! Thanks!!
      Laurie

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  3. 4 days in bed sounds horrendous but I am in awe of your weight loss. I really must try harder ... make that just try lol.
    Anyway, back to books. You have some interesting reads lined up for when you can force yourself out of the swimming pool :-) I love the cover on All the Best People, gorgeous main colour and those little touches of leaves. Hope you enjoy it.
    #TalkoftheTown

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    1. Hi Suzanne!
      Thank you SO MUCH for mentioning my weight loss! I am in LOVE with it! LOL! It is a LOT of laps of swimming! A LOT of nights laying here DEAD on my bed, too! LOL! It has WORKED, though! Thank Gosh!!!
      Yes, I was telling Shaz that you are in for a ROYAL treat by reading Sonja Yoerg's books! You are going to LOVE her writing!! I've been with her since she bagan, and would NOT have it ANY other way!!! I HIGHLY suggest trying her out if you get a chance!! Yes, the cover on this book IS outstanding!!
      ALL the BEST to you!!
      Thanks for coming by, too!
      Laurie

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  4. Laurie, First of all, I'm so impressed by your exercise regime and your commitment to your health (the part of it you can control, poor dear). Good for you! I'm an avid runner and hiker and all sorts of other things; it keeps me sane. Well, mostly.
    Thanks so much for posting my cover and for your kind words. You are such a lovely person and I'm delighted to know you.
    Happy reading!

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    1. Hi Sonja!!!
      WOW!!! Hello!!!
      Believe me, the pleasure is ALL MINE and my Readers that you are visiting! Thank you!! We ALL LOVE it when you stop by!! Yes! I AM SO excited you came to visit because YOU are an INSPIRATION!!
      The last book you wrote, "The Middle of Somewhere", your characters were hiking Yosemite Valley into what I believe turned into the John Muir Trail as well, which I have since learned they are a part of the Pacific Crest Trails! I KNOW "you" HAD to have hiked those trails YOURSELF in order to be able to write what you did! YOU are an AMAZING INSPIRATION!!! You remembered details such as what tress were growing, what sounds the different leaves made under your feet as the leaves or branches cracked, KNEW when people were walking by from hearing their feet walking and so MUCH MORE! You are so tuned into hiking you knew what every little sound was! THAT BOOK was an inspiration knowing YOU DID HIKE THAT TRAIL!! Your research was hiking those trails but it was more than that, it's something you love just as much as I love swimming! I know exactly what you mean when you say being physical keeps you sane! I CAN attest to that fact with my swimming! I can forget EVERYTHING, and just BE! I can enjoy my swimming with nothing in my head!! When I get into that pool, my entire frame of mind changes!! Everything heavy leaves it! ANY worry, concern, stress, stressful trigger even! I just "am", and there is nothing else that compares to that feeling! It's addicting, really, and it IS what keeps me going back! I will be announcing in today's post, 12-11, that I will be swimming the 50 Miles Swim!! That is where you swim, as slow as a snail (which sometimes I am!) or as fast as an Olympic swimmer (I can only wish!! LOL!!) You have one year to swim 50 miles in laps back and forth in that pool! I go Tues thru Fri and I figured, as well as the lifeguard figured, (Yes! Jeff, the Lifeguard, is the one who suggested I do this!! He said since I am there almost every day I should go for it, even if there are the days when I am slow!) He told me he did it because he needed a t-shirt! LOL! No, he's up there watching us all so we don't drown, and I guess he's been counting somewhat or else he would never suggest this to!! So, each swim one way counts as one lap. It takes 74 of those laps to count as one mile. I swim from 12:00 to 1:30 four days a week, I've GOT IT EASILY!! I mathematically figured it out, and ONLY doing the 74 laps WILL give me the mile! I cannot pass this up! I started counting on the day Jeff/the Lifeguard started talking to me about this, and in a half hour with distractions (we did the Mannequin Challenge!!!LOVED that! It WILL be on their Facebook Page at the top!! Check this Mannequin Challenge out on youtube!! It's WAYYYYY cool!) the Y wants to get one million hits on it!! I ended up swimming 23 laps just while waiting, and with NO PROBLEM!! That was while practicing my pose for it the Mannequin Challenge, too! ALL of us who were in the pool did it! It was GREAT!!! I WILL let you know when it hits Facebook!
      I think ALL of us truly have one type of exercise or something we ALL love doing, the one that thing that FREES us of everything that otherwise holds us back from being able to completely let loose! For some the hard part is finding it, but once you do, WATCH OUT WORLD!!!
      It is my pleasure to post the cover of your NEW booK, "All the Best People, a novel" due to release on May 2nd, 2017! Congratulations, too!!! EVERYONE is just RAVING about the cover! The cover alone is going to entice people to read this book! Read the comments here about the cover! It truly IS beautiful!!
      ANYONE 'new' to your writing is in for a TRUE TREAT! Your writing is truly AMAZING, Sonja! Thank you for another book! I can't WAIT to dive into it!
      Thank you, again, for coming by the blog! It's such a treat to have you here!!
      I wish you the BEST with your writing the NEXT best seller!
      Thanks!!
      Laurie

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  5. Sorry you were so sick! That sounds miserable. Congrats on your weight loss. You are amazing!
    It looks like you read and reviewed a lot of amazing books lately! Thanks for sharing on Saturday Situation. :)

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    1. Hi Lori!!!
      Thanks so much for stopping by!! Yes, I have been SOOOOO LUCKY to get such AMAZING books to read and review!! They are mostly ALL Penguin/Berkley books!! I LOVE them!!! Also, Penguins are my FAVORITE thing to collect around Christmas time, too, so it's a PERFECT FIT! I DO "thank" Penguin/Berkley for the most AMAZING books, EVER that they publish!! I am SOOOOO grateful to them for keeping me SO busy with their books! I am in heaven!!! I am also going to start something NEW! I am going to list a spot for the most recent book reviews! That will give me a nice place to put them!
      Again, thanks for stopping by!!!
      I'll see you later today after I write my next post!!
      Laurie

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