Tell Me Something Tuesday

Tell Me Something Tuesday is a weekly discussion post where bloggers discuss a wide range of topics from books and blogging to life in general.

Join in by answering this weeks question in the comments or on your own blog.

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Howdy strangers! I’ve been MIA for a few weeks but life is going swimmingly. I’ve been reading (a little bit anyway), gardening, playing with the pups, celebrating my birthday, watching lots of tv, painting rocks and generally enjoying the beautiful spring weather. I also got my COVID shot. My 2nd one is actually today.

I hope to get to writing a post about all of this soon but we’ll see. The laziness is strong with this one lol

I thought I would catch up on a few past TMST topics that I had really wanted to participate in. So here we go…

March 16

Q: Does blogging cut into your other chores?

A: It used to but not anymore. I pretty much abandoned every other hobby once blogging really took off. It was an all day affair – 7 days a week. I posted 7 days for years – 3-4 reviews a week, plus giveaways and hosting challenges.

It was fun for awhile but then it became an all consuming chore and now the opposite is happening. My other hobbies are pushing out blogging. What goes around, comes around I guess lol

March 23

Q: How do your organize your bookshelves (real and virtual)?

A: I don’t really. I have a very loose system for my physical books. When I had arc’s – I organized by release date – everything else (& currently) I just organize by what catches my eye and I think I’ll be interested in soon. I only have about 50 physical books left to read so I try to keep them in front of my face so that I might read them in my lifetime. It is not working.

I don’t keep track of virtual books like on Goodreads. I don’t mark books I want to read other than a short list on my Libby app to remind me of books I might want to request from the library when I have time. My kindle has a few folders like romance/YA etc. but I don’t really use them. I don’t have many books left on there either so I tend to read what I download right away.

March 30

Q: Have you ever thought of quitting blogging? What made you reconsider?

A. All the time! And I came very close a few times. Mostly from burnout or the drama of it. I’m actually in a very good place about it all now.

Blogging has returned to being a hobby without obligation for me again so I feel 0 pressure and love the engagement with (my admittedly small) group of friends now. I would miss everyone too much to leave. I just seemed to have found the balance that works for me even if it means I don’t do it as much.

 April 6

Q: If you could live anywhere in the real world, where would you move?

A: This is tough for me. I’ve lived on both coasts and love/hate things about both. There is no real place I would go but I’d love to be rich enough to move every 6 months and live everywhere at least for a small amount of time. Or combine things to make my own utopia – but the question was in the real world lol

April 13

Q: When is a book too long?

A: Whenever I’m bored it’s too long lol I’m not really a fan of long books though. It has to be AMAZING to keep my interest past 300-400 pages.

April 20

Q: Have you ever dreamed of becoming an author?

A: Nope.

Welp, I think I’m all caught up! Jump in with your answers or let me know what you’re reading/watching? 

Apologies for being a crappy blog visitor and commenter lately. I try to squeeze in a few visits but I need to do some catching up!

Review: Float Plan by Trish Doller

  

Critically acclaimed author Trish Doller's unforgettable and romantic adult debut about setting sail, starting over, and finding yourself...

Since the loss of her fiancé, Anna has been shipwrecked by grief—until a reminder goes off about a trip they were supposed to take together. Impulsively, Anna goes to sea in their sailboat, intending to complete the voyage alone.

But after a treacherous night’s sail, she realizes she can’t do it by herself and hires Keane, a professional sailor, to help. Much like Anna, Keane is struggling with a very different future than the one he had planned. As romance rises with the tide, they discover that it’s never too late to chart a new course.

In Trish Doller’s unforgettable Float Plan, starting over doesn't mean letting go of your past, it means making room for your future. ~ Goodreads

Source: Library – Audiobook narrated by Sarah Naughton

 

I haven’t been this completely absorbed in a romance (or book for that matter) in a very long time. I immedietly connected to Anna and her grief over losing her fiance, Ben, to suicide and struggle to find a new future that doesn’t include him.

After a year of coasting through life, Anna decides to take their sailboat out intending to take the trip to the Caribbean that Ben had planned. But Anna didn’t absorb as much knowledge about sailing as she thought she did and the trip becomes dangerous and she hires Keane, a professional sailor, to help get her there.

 

💔        Heartbreak. From the very first page I felt like I knew Ben, understood what he meant to Anna, and was swept up with both their memories and the loss. Ben’s no longer alive but is ever present throughout the story and it was done in a really beautiful and respectful way, even as Anna moves on.

Adventure! Just as I was caught up in Anna’s changing emotions, I was just as excited and nervous about her trip – despite knowing nothing (or caring to) about sailing. The writing was so immersive, I felt like I was traveling right along with Anna and loved meeting the locals and learning about each new place she visited.

😍      Romance! Keane is such a stand up guy. Always giving Anna space when needed but support as well. He has his own struggles. He lost a leg in a sailing accident and although he still gets jobs in the field, he’s looked over for competitive sailing events – something he used to love. Their relationship evolves slowly but it was just as lovely to see them as friends and partners – exploring, sharing and having fun – as it was seeing them become more.

💀     Caution: As the one left behind – Anna experiences both anger and guilt about Ben’s suicide. So just a heads up if the topic might be upsetting for you.

🙌     Overall – Yes, there is a romance but Float Plan was about so much more and Doller allowed Anna the space to grieve and grow without pushing a romance narrative. Instead letting things flow naturally for a truly captivating story. My favorite book of 2021 so far - not that I've read much but I really loved this one!

Reading Update

I’ve had another successful reading week! Again – not so much with the quanity but with quality.

Finished:

Float Plan by Trish Doller. LOVED this one and have a review ready to post on Thursday

Reading:

I’m still reading Saints and Misfits by S.K. Ali but I’m almost done. It’s about Janna, an Arab Indian American Muslim teen navigating high school, divorced parents, a new interest in boys (one in particular – who is not Muslim) and the very serious topic of sexual assault by someone highly respected in the Muslim community and within Janna's friend group. I’m enjoying it but probably won’t write a full review but I will say that it’s a wonderful coming of age story that juggles both lighthearted and tough topics with humor, care and love.

Get a Life, Eve Brown by Talia Hibbert – I’m listening to this on audio and LOVING it!!! I’m super picky about romance on audio but the narrator, Ione Butler, is brilliant at capturing both Eve’s quirky yet vulnerable and Jacob’s stick-up-his-assedness lol and awkwardness. I just adore them and their mostly hate with fluttery feelings blossoming budding romance so far.

And a dud:

Playing the Palace by Paul Rudnick – I really, really disliked this one. Having said that – it could be an it’s just me kind of thing. It’s funny and quirky but it seems to move at a breakneck speed with the men meeting, dating, falling in love, breaking up, the ending just hurtling. Also, EVERY. SINGLE, THING is over the top and exaggerated. This is where I say it might be me – if that’s what you enjoy as a reader then go forth and read! It has a large cast of enjoyable characters and the guys are sweet. Just not my thing.  (also – this is not Red White and Royal Blue – nor was I expecting it to be but I guess a lot of readers thought it would be similar but nope. Much lighter and rom-com-ish)

HAPPY SPRING!!!

I'm ridiculously happy that spring has sprung and there are more sunny days. We spent the weekend exploring the Portland area. We ate at Sugarpine Drive-in, a place I've been wanting to try. It was rainy & kind of cold but still nice enough to eat at the outdoor picnic tables and have a waffled grilled cheese and tomato soup with a sundae for dessert. Then we discovered several plant nurseries in the area and planted all our new trees and flowers while we're still getting some rain to get them established before the dry season. 

We moved to a new house last year and it is basically a clean slate with no plants and just a lawn. I can't wait to lure the butterflies and birds to the yard. That's the one thing I miss the most from FL - I had a HUGE butterfly garden and all kinds of nature.

After spending almost a decade trying to fix our sandy FL soil - I now have to fix our muddy clay soil and I would take sandy over clay any day. Trying to dig in clay/mud is hard work and I end up covered in it no matter how careful I am. We've also needed to buy several different tools just to break through the damn ground. lol

Once it's done though it will be so much fun to sit and relax in the yard on those cool breezy evenings.

How is everyone doing? What are you reading/watching? (I've been watching tv a lot! so I think I'll have to do a post about that soon)