By Tessa Pulyer Posted on

Sunday Post 64 | A Few Days of Spring Weather

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted here @ Caffeinated Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things we have received. Share news about what is coming up on our blog for the week ahead. See rules here: Sunday Post Meme

The weather gave us a touch of spring this week, when the the last half of the week brought temps in the mid-60’s and rain, rain and more rain. The warmer temps were nice but this weekend we are sunny and in the 40’s 🥶 The warm weather ended with this beautiful sunset on Friday (below). The colors were just amazingly vibrant.

In August, I posted this picture of my little lemon from my Mother’s Day lemon tree:

I have since learned that lemons mature very slowly. The lemon above has just begun to reach maturity, and I have a new baby lemon starting it’s journey.

This week I have been working on or at least thinking about this year’s trips, such as going up to Chapel Hill for my baby girl’s last dance performance with her college dance team, her graduation in May, and maybe a birthday trip in March. I’ve also started looking at beach rentals for this summer. Yay! I don’t know why we never rent the same place twice, but we don’t often do that. So I every February, I get to explore my choices fresh.

That’s been my week, how has yours been?

from NetGalley

YA Fantasy
Cristin Terrill’s YA novel The Stars Between Us is set in a glittering new world, about a girl who discovers that behind the glamor and romance, the world is teeming with conspiracies, secrets, and murder… There’s always been a mystery to Vika Hale’s life. Ever since she was a child, she’s had an unknown benefactor providing for her and her family, making sure that Vika and her sister received the best education they could. Now, Vika longs for a bigger life than one as a poor barmaid on a struggling planet, but those dreams feel out of reach. Until one day Vika learns that her benefactor was a billionaire magnate who recently died under suspicious circumstances, and Vika has shockingly been included in his will. Invited to live on a glittering neighboring planet, Vika steps into a world she can hardly believe is real. The only blight on Vika’s lavish new life is the constant presence of Sky Foster, a mysterious young man from Vika’s past who works for her benefactors. She doesn’t like or trust Sky, but when she narrowly escapes an explosion and realizes someone is targeting the will’s heirs, Vika knows Sky is the only one who can help her discover the identity of the bomber before she becomes their next victim. As Vika and Sky delve into the truth of the attacks, they uncover a web of secrets, murder, and an underground rebellion who may hold the answers they’ve been looking for. But Sky isn’t who he seems to be, and Vika may not escape this new life unscathed. In The Stars Between Us, Cristin Terrill sweeps readers away to a Dickensian-inspired world where secrets are currency and love is the most dangerous risk of all.
Mystery/Thriller
Both suspenseful and deeply moving, Carolina Moonset is an engrossing novel about family, memories both golden and terrible, and secrets too dangerous to stay hidden forever, from New York Times bestselling and Emmy Award-winning author, Matt Goldman. Joey Green has returned to Beaufort, South Carolina, with its palmettos and shrimp boats, to look after his ailing father, who is succumbing to dementia, while his overstressed mother takes a break. Marshall Green’s short-term memory has all but evaporated, but, as if in compensation, his oldest memories are more vivid than ever. His mind keeps slipping backwards in time, retreating into long-ago yesterdays of growing up in Beaufort as a boy. At first this seems like a blessing of sorts, with the past providing a refuge from a shrinking future, but Joey grows increasingly anxious as his father’s hallucinatory arguments with figures from his youth begin to hint at deadly secrets, scandals, and suspicions long buried and forgotten. Resurfacing from decades past are mysteries that still have the power to shatter lives—and change everything Joey thought he knew. Especially when a new murder brings the police to his door…
Fantasy
In the first book of a visionary African- and Arabian-inspired fantasy trilogy, three women band together against a cruel empire that divides people by blood. ONE OF THE MOST ANTICIPATED BOOKS OF 2022—Book Riot Red is the blood of the elite, of magic, of control. Blue is the blood of the poor, of workers, of the resistance. Clear is the blood of the slaves, of the crushed, of the invisible. Sylah dreams of days growing up in the resistance, being told she would spark a revolution that would free the empire from the red-blooded ruling classes’ tyranny. That spark was extinguished the day she watched her family murdered before her eyes. Anoor has been told she’s nothing, no one, a disappointment, by the only person who matters: her mother, the most powerful ruler in the empire. But dust always rises in a storm. Hassa moves through the world unseen by upper classes, so she knows what it means to be invisible. But invisibility has its uses: It can hide the most dangerous of secrets, secrets that can reignite a revolution. As the empire begins a set of trials of combat and skill designed to find its new leaders, the stage is set for blood to flow, power to shift, and cities to burn.
Thriller
An ordinary man undergoes a startling transformation—and fears that all of humanity may be next—in the mindblowing new thriller from the New York Times bestselling author of Dark Matter and Recursion. “You are the next step in human evolution.” At first, Logan Ramsay isn’t sure if anything’s different. He just feels a little . . . sharper. Better able to concentrate. Better at multitasking. Reading a bit faster, memorizing better, needing less sleep. But before long, he can’t deny it: Something’s happening to his brain. To his body. He’s starting to see the world, and those around him—even those he loves most—in whole new ways. The truth is, Logan’s genome has been hacked. And there’s a reason he’s been targeted for this upgrade. A reason that goes back decades to the darkest part of his past, and a horrific family legacy. Worse still, what’s happening to him is just the first step in a much larger plan, one that will inflict the same changes on humanity at large—at a terrifying cost. Because of his new abilities, Logan’s the one person in the world capable of stopping what’s been set in motion. But to have a chance at winning this war, he’ll have to become something other than himself. Maybe even something other than human. And even as he’s fighting, he can’t help wondering: what if humanity’s only hope for a future really does lie in engineering our own evolution? Intimate in scale yet epic in scope, Upgrade is an intricately plotted, lightning-fast tale that charts one man’s thrilling transformation, even as it asks us to ponder the limits of our humanity—and our boundless potential.
RomCom
“I loved this delightful romance about makeovers of old homes, old personas, and relationships that never had a chance to launch. A sweet, charming reminder of what you can build with a strong foundation.” – Jodi Picoult, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Two Ways. Shelby Springfield has spent the last ten years trying to overcome her past, sanding it away like she does the rough spots on the vintage furniture finds she makes over. But as a former child star, it’s hard to forget a mediocre pop career, a meltdown widely documented by the paparazzi, and a huge public break with her former co-star Lyle Jessup. It’s also hard to forget her other co-star and childhood sweetheart, Cameron Riggs — the one who got away. Anytime Shelby has called, Cameron has come running… And then he runs right off again to chase stories around the world by making documentaries, too scared to admit what he really wants. But when Lyle stirs the pot, getting the two back in the spotlight with a home renovation show, Cameron can’t help but come on board. There’s something in it for everyone — almost. Cameron wants to come home and set down some roots. Shelby wants to prove to the world she’s not the messy party girl anymore. And Lyle wants to twist the screws on his two childhood friends who had more chemistry than he could dream of with anyone. Sparks and sawdust fly as Shelby and Cameron film the pilot for “Homemade” and battle Lyle’s shenanigans at every turn. Erin Hahn’s Built to Last is a sparkling second chance romance about owning what you’re worth and fighting for the one who got away.
Women’s Fiction
Hattie Kavanaugh went to work restoring homes for Kavanaugh & Son Restorations at eighteen, married the boss’s son at twenty, and became a widow at twenty-five. Now she’s passionate about her work, but that’s the only passion in her life. “Never love something that can’t love you back” is the advice her father-in-law gives her, but Hattie doesn’t follow it and falls head over heels for a money pit of a house. She’s determined to make it work, but disaster after disaster occurs, and Hattie’s dream might cost Kavanaugh & Son their livelihood. Hattie needs money, and fast. When a smooth Hollywood producer shows up in her hometown of Savannah, Georgia, she gets a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity: to star in a beach house renovation reality show called The Homewreckers, cast against a male lead who may be a love interest, or may be the ultimate antagonist. Soon there’s more at stake than bad pipes and dry rot: During the demolition, evidence comes to light that points to the mysterious disappearance of a young wife and mother years before. With a world-weary detective investigating the case, an arsonist on the loose, two men playing with her emotions, and layer upon layer of vintage wallpaper causing havoc, it’s a question of who will flip, who will flop, and if Hattie will ever get her happily-ever-after.

I watched a little of the Olympics this week. I enjoy figure skating in particular and caught some of the men’s performances.

  • Tuesday, February 1: Blog Tour Book Review of The Iron Sword by Julie Kagawa (YA Fantasy – 4.5⭐️’s)
  • Wednesday, February 2: BlogTour Book Review of The Beast and The Bethany: Revenge of the Beast by Jack Meggitt-Phillips (MG Fantasy)
  • Wednesday, February 2: WWW Wednesday
  • Thursday, February 3: Mini Book Reviews of The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb (Mystery – 4.5 ⭐️’s) and The Violence by Delilah S. Dawson (Thriller – 4 ⭐️’s)
  • Friday, February 4: Book Blogger Hop
  • Monday, February 7: Book Review of Dark Horse by Gregg Hurwitz (Thriller series – 5⭐️’s)
  • Tuesday, February 8: BlogTour Book Review of The Night She Went Missing by Kristen Bird (Psychological Thriller 4.5⭐️’s )
  • Wednesday, February 9: WWW Wednesday
  • Thursday, February 10: Mini Book Reviews of Ramses the Damned: Reign of Osiris by Anne and Christopher Rice (Fantasy – 5-stars ) and The Christie Affair by Nina de Gramont (Historical Fiction – 4-stars)
  • Friday, February 11: Book Blogger Hop

How was your week – bookish or otherwise?

36 Replies to “Sunday Post 64 | A Few Days of Spring Weather”

    1. Lady Tessa says:

      This is my first one. There are so many things I never knew about them – like they have thorns and the amount of time lemons need to mature.

      Liked by 1 person

  3. Zainab says:

    Omg it’s so cool you’re growing lemons! It’s nice you’re getting a little bit of spring weather – it’s still freezing for me 😂

    Liked by 1 person

  4. Zainab says:

    Love the lemon tree – and it’s nice you’re getting some spring weather. It’s so cold for me! 😆😂

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Lady Tessa says:

      It was magical. I put the photo in a filter app and all that I tried actually took away from the vibrancy so I left it unfiltered.

      Like

  6. Louise H says:

    How exciting that the lemon is nearly ripe! I had similarly spectacular sunsets (and sunrises) last week and shared one of mine today. I love the sound of The Stars Between Us, it’s not on the UK version of Netgalley so I will have to wait for it to be released. Have a good week.

    Liked by 1 person

  8. writerravenclaw says:

    I think the lemons look amazing, the video wouldn’t show, but I do love ice-skating. There is a show in the UK called Dancing on Ice, where celebrities learn how to ice-skate. The good, the bad, and the ugly skating and I love watching it.

    Liked by 1 person

  10. dinipandareads says:

    That sunset picture is beautiful (those colours are stunning 😍)! Also, I’m envious of all the great new books you’ve hauled! I can’t wait to read Erin Hahn’s newest book and I had no idea Blake Crouch had a new book coming out. I hope you enjoy all of these reads and have a great week ahead, Tessa!

    Liked by 1 person

  11. Mae Clair says:

    That lemon tree is beautiful. I love it!!

    We will finally get some of your 40 degree weather this coming week. Temperatures have been in the low teens as our highs. I am SO OVER winter! I’ve started looking for a vacation rental too. At least that is a sign of coming warmer weather, LOL.

    I love the book cover for Carolina Moonset. It sounds really good, too. I may have to hop over to NetGalley and see if I can score a copy. I am so far behind on the books already on my Kindle, but that one sounds really tempting!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Lady Tessa says:

      Carolina Moonset looked so interesting when I saw it on NetGalley. It took them a while to approve it but I’m looking forward to it. Love the location it is set in ☺️

      Liked by 1 person

  13. WendyW says:

    What a great book haul! I hope we both enjoy Built to Last. I also want to read The Homewreckers, and I’m looking forward to seeing what you think of it.
    I love to plan trips and don’t like to go to the same place twice!

    Liked by 1 person

  14. jessicabookworm says:

    Aw I super impressed with your lemon tree! 🍋 Other than the weather, it sounds like you have had a fun, productive week lookign forward and planning trips. I also booked a weekend away for myself in May. 🙂 Otherwise I have been in bed poorly with my second bout of Covid. Here’s to a good upcoming week!

    Liked by 1 person

  15. D. Wallace Peach says:

    We’re getting some sunshine too, Tessa. It’s nice for a change. Planning trips has been tricky these past few years, but I think it’s time. I hope you add some great adventures to your calendar. We’re off to the Grand Canyon, finally. And an intriguing book haul! Enjoy the Olympics and Happy Reading.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Lady Tessa says:

      I almost got to go to the Grand Canyon when I was pregnant with my youngest and then I went into pre-term labor, so that got cancelled quick. I hope you enjoy it and look forward to the beautiful pictures I know you will post ❤️

      Liked by 1 person

      1. D. Wallace Peach says:

        Probably more vacation haiku. Lol. I’m sorry you didn’t get there. Now that the pandemic is calming down (knock on wood), I hope you get to make those plans and travel again. 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

  17. Teri Polen says:

    What a beautiful sunset – the colors are stunning! I also got the widget for Blake Crouch’s book and couldn’t download it fast enough. He’s become an auto-buy/read author for me. We’ve also been kicking around ideas for vacation this summer but haven’t decided on anything yet. I’m always up for the beach, but we may try something different this year.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Lady Tessa says:

      We tried something different a couple of years in a row not long ago, and I was so happy to get back to the beach last year. Those few years felt like forever. And I hope we both enjoy Upgrade. It looks very good ❤️

      Liked by 1 person

Comments are closed.