Sunday Post – Life is a Garden

Posted on by BonnieReadsAndWrites

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted at the @ 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 the rules here.

MY WEEK

It was a busy work week, but I’ve started reading several books for the August edition of Historical Novels Review, the magazine of the Historical Novel Society.

I also have been repotting my tomato seedlings. I started them in little pods under a grow light and I’m putting them in larger peat cups before they go into the ground at the end of May. The next step is to start placing them outside in partial shade so they can get used to being outside full time. My husband has the garden all tilled up and ready to go. I love the gardening cycle. Spring is for planting, Summer is for tending, Fall is for harvesting and canning, and in Winter we enjoy the fruits of our labor. I know it’s not as cut and dried as that, but it is a consistency that can be relied on. I have actually missed my tomato garden, so it will be nice to see it again! I’m also planting peppers and onions. I will be canning salsa from ingredients I grew myself.

LAST WEEK ON THE BLOG

Monday I reviewed A Brilliant Night of Stars and Ice, a retelling of the sinking of the Titanic from the point of view of the Captain of the Carpathia, who led a rescue of many survivors.

On Monday I also reviewed The Salt Fields by Stacy D. Flood. This is a powerful book about a man who boards a train so he can leave the South behind. It is so well written that I had to include two quotes from the book itself in order to do it justice.

On Tuesday I reviewed the audiobook of The Wedding Season by Katy Birchall. This is a tale about a jilted bride that is both sad and laugh-out-loud funny. I have previously reviewed The Secret Bridesmaid by Birchall, and I love her writing style.

I also attempted Top Ten Tuesday and even though I got the directions wrong, I still enjoyed it.

Work and reading kept me busy until Saturday, and then I posted a review of The Coronation by Justin Newland for Self-Published Saturday.

NEXT WEEK ON THE BLOG

Today, besides the Sunday Post, I will be reviewing Freedom or Death, Book 4 of Adria Carmichael’s Juche Series, a coming-of-age dystopian saga set in a North Korean concentration camp.

Monday I will be reviewing The Adoption by Jenna Kernan as part of a blog tour for Bookouture. I had posted last week I would be reviewing it on Friday, but I had the date wrong. So look for it on Monday.

On Wednesday, I will review The Commandant’s Daughter, by Catherine Hokin. This is book one of the Hanni Winter series. I reviewed this book for the May edition of Historical Novels Review.

On Thursday, I will be posting a review of The Girl from Lamaha Steet, which is author Sharon Maas’s memoir about her childhood in Guyana and time spent in an English boarding school.

For Self-Published Saturday, I’ll be reviewing A Class Coveted by Susie Murphy.

THIS WEEK’S READING

I’m finishing up The Girl from Lamaha Street and starting A Class Coveted, mentioned above.

I will also be reading The Pilot’s Girl by Catherine Hokin, which is the sequel to The Commandant’s Daughter mentioned above. I will be reviewing The Pilot’s Girl for the August edition of Historical Novels Review.

Published by BonnieReadsAndWrites

I love to read and write book reviews in my free time. I review advance review copies of books on Netgalley for various publishers. I am also a reviewer for Historical Novels Review Magazine, the magazine of the Historical Novel Society. I review books from publishers of all size, large to small. I have a special place in my heart for indie authors. I will sometimes post a little writing that I might dabble in occasionally. I also am lucky enough to live in the Smoky Mountains, so I'll be sharing photos of the beauty around me from time to time.

43 thoughts on “Sunday Post – Life is a Garden”

  5. Life is a Garden!! I enjoy each season of my garden, and try to provide some interest year-round. You had a great week in books! Enjoy the week ahead.

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  6. I’ve always loved gardening but it’s very different here than in Iowa and Minnesota where I lived for most of my life before the last 7 years. Really we get 3 seasons here in North Carolina. I planted my tomatoes and basil yesterday. But the cool crops were planted in March and we are already eating lettuce and chard. The snow peas will be ready shortly. The chard was actually planted last spring and lasted through the winter and we are eating it again now. The herbs like rosemary and sage live year round to as well as chives and mint. I couldn’t kill chives and mint even in Minnesota winters! But I’m sad it’s too hot for rhubarb here. And the soil is heavy clay so I had to make a raised bed and put in good soil.

    Anne – Books of My Heart

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    1. I hope to get to the point where I’m planting cool crops in an early garden but it hasn’t happened yet. Where in North Carolina are you? I’m in Tennessee so we always mix top soil into the soil before we plant.

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  8. Your upcoming books look good, I especially like the look of the first two. And I’d love to have tomatoes from the garden, I need to get back to cleaning up our garden area.

    Have a nice week!

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  13. I would love to have a garden, but we only have a balcony here and due to the wind not much can grow there. So it’s fun to read about your gardening. I like how you’re planning to make salsa form your own grown ingredients, that sounds fun! I hope you’ll have a great week 🙂

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  14. I used to grow tomato plants when I was little. We don’t really have the time or the space for it in our tiny garden, however we should really try to sort that out as I’m sure my toddler would love it!

    Hope you have had a good weekend!

    Emily @ Budget Tales Book Blog

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  15. The Commandant’s Daughter looks very interesting. I think I’d really like that book. I love home-grown tomatoes. They’re so much more flavorful and juicy than store-bought ones. I hope you have a good yield. Thanks for stopping by my blog.

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    1. The Commandant’s Daughter is great–very intriguing, and unique that the author has turned this into a mystery series. The second book, The Pilot’s Girl, is very, very good so far as well.

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  17. Enjoy your garden, it sounds amazing. I had a garden for a few years but gave it up. We have a short growing season here in the mountains too.

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  18. You’ve got a busy week of book reviews lined up. I’m pushing it when I get three books reviewed in the same week, which is where I am this week.

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    1. I actually reviewed one of the books back in March but was not allowed to post it online until May. And I read another of the books about a month ago but it’s not published until the end of this month.

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        1. The books I read for Historical Novels Review have to be turned in two months ahead of publication date and then I have to wait two months until the magazine is published before I can post it online. It works out well for me because then I have several reviews ready to go. I still have about five more to post from the May issue.

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  19. Good luck with your garden. It’s sounds lovely. I’m definitely not very good in gardening. Someday I hope to be able to spend more time with it so I can grow my own vegetables and herbs.
    Have a great week and happy reading.

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  20. I used to have a huge garden, but now that I live alone, I no longer plant one. I have read both of the Catherine Hokin books and enjoyed them both, I hope you do as well.

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