Sunday Post November 25, 2018/It's Monday! What are You Reading? Plus Mailbox Monday November 26, 2018

I am linking with Sunday Post at Caffeinated Book Reviewer.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading now at The Book Date (at Wordpress).

What Are You Reading, is where we gather to share what we have read this past week and what we plan to read this week. It is a great way to network with other bloggers, see some wonderful blogs, and put new titles on your reading list.

I didn't get my office pics up yet. We are hoping to get the building tarpped this week but we have had rain again so more wet inside.
I had been trying to locate the new egg stash for the chickens and found it inside a potted plant on our porch. They had another spot but some bubblewrap had been pushed in the way so they stopped using that one. I hope they will continue to use the ones I know as there are so many places for them to run off and hide the eggs!
We had a nice Thanksgiving lunch with daughter, son-in-law and the three local grandchildren. Hubby bought a meal kit that worked out great. The visit seemed to go so quickly and we never turned on the TV for parades or football!
Hubby is struggling with inactivity and lots of joint pain that is keeping him from sleeping soundly. :-(

Oh - I forgot to mention I have completed my Goodreads Challenge with a month to spare!

My listening and reading was good this week. I am still managing with short reading times on my old kindle. I finished three audio books and two ebooks. I posted three reviews on blog, and four at Goodreads. I am back to posting my usual memes.

I got to visit 23 blogs again last week.
Shout Out this week to Under the Boardwalk. Nise' reads lots of titles I like and I like her short review summaries.
Thank you to all the nice people who visit me.

These were last week's posts:

• Sunday Post November 18, 2018/It's Monday! What are You Reading? Plus Mailbox Monday November 19, 2018.

• NG2018- #NetGalley Book Review: Unwritten by Tara Gilboy; Children's Books, Fairy Tales, Folk Tales & Myths; My Rating: 4.25 of 5.0.

• NG2018- #NetGalley Book Review: For Us Humans by Steve Rzasa; Aliens, Christian, Futuristic, Sci Fi; My Rating: 4.5 of 5.0.

• Happy Thanksgiving 2018.

• NG2018- #NetGalley Book Review: Light’s Dawn: A Novella (Light in the Darkness) by Yvette Bostic; Alternate History, Fantasy; My Rating: 4.0 of 5.0.

• A2018- Goodreads Audible Book Review: An Uncommon Protector (Lone Star Hero, #2) by Shelley Shepard Gray, Nan Gurley (Narrator); Historical Romance, Sweet; My Rating: Overall 4.25; Story 4.25; Narration 4.25.

• eTBR- Goodreads Book Review: Haunted: Ten Tales of Ghosts
  by Rayne Hall, Sera Hayes, Jonathan Broughto, Grayson Bray Morris, Kiersten Hartrim, Carole Ann Moleti, Douglas Kolacki, William Meikle, Tracie McBride; Ghosts, Paranormal, Short Stories; My Rating: 4.0 of 5.0.

• Martha's Bookshelf***Friday Pick Giveaway November 23, 2018.

• ATBR- Goodreads Audible Book Review: The Year of the Hare: A Novel by Arto Paasilinna, Herbert Lomas (Translator), Simon Vance (Narrator); Comedy, Fiction; My Rating: Overall 4.0; Story 3.5; Narration 5.0.

• A2018- Goodreads Audible Book Review: The Ghost and the Graveyard (Knight Games, #1) by Genevieve Jack, Brittany Pressley (Narrator); Ghosts, Fantasy, Romance; My Rating: Overall: 4.0; Story 3.75; Narration 4.0.

• Sunday Words of Encouragement November 25, 2018.

Finished Reading:

1. Audible/Smartphone (ATBR)

29 Gifts
How a Month of Giving Can Change Your Life
By: Cami Walker
Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
Length: 6 hrs and 27 mins
This is very well done and inspiring. 
 Source: June 2017 Audible Daily Deal $1.95.
Click on book title for full description.

2. eBook/Kindle Fire (TBR)

Christmas at Draycott Abbey (Draycott Abbey Romance)
by Christina Skye
I enjoyed this suspenseful, ghost Christmas story.
Source: 2012 Free Kindle; "C" title.
Click on book title for full description.

3. Audible/Smartphone (ATBR)

Uncommon Protector
Living an Extraordinary Life One Day at a Time
By: Shelley Shepard Gray
Narrated by: Nan Gurley
Length: 8 hrs and 14 mins
This is charming!
Source: October 2018 Credit Purchase for a "U" title for 2018.
My review is linked above.

4. eBook/Kindle and Smartphone (NG2018)

Somewhere The Bells Ring (Somewhere in Time Book 3)
by Beth Trissel
This is another engaging Ghost Christmas story.
Source: NetGalley 2018.
Click on book title for full description.

5. Audible Smartphone (AB2018)

Zoe's Tale
Old Man's War, Book 4
By: John Scalzi
Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
Length: 10 hrs
I am enjoying continuing this series.
Source: 2018 October Credits; 2018 "Z" title.
Publisher's Summary
"How do you tell your part in the biggest tale in history?
"I ask because it's what I have to do. I'm Zoe Boutin Perry: A colonist stranded on a deadly pioneer world. Holy icon to a race of aliens. A player (and a pawn) in a interstellar chess match to save humanity, or to see it fall. Witness to history. Friend. Daughter. Human. Seventeen years old.
"Everyone on Earth knows the tale I am part of. But you don't know my tale: How I did what I did - how I did what I had to do - not just to stay alive but to keep you alive, too. All of you. I'm going to tell it to you now, the only way I know how: not straight but true, the whole thing, to try make you feel what I felt: the joy and terror and uncertainty, panic and wonder, despair and hope. Everything that happened, bringing us to Earth, and Earth out of its captivity. All through my eyes.
"It's a story you know. But you don't know it all."
©2008 John Scalzi (P)2008 Macmillan Audio

Currently Reading:
1. eBook/Kindle and Smartphone (NG2018)

Decluttering at the Speed of Life: Winning Your Never-Ending Battle with Stuff
by Dana K. White
This has been on my NetGalley shelf since spring. 
I hope to start implementing the suggestions before the end of year.
Source: NetGalley 2018.
You don't have to live overwhelmed by stuff--you can get rid of clutter for good!
While the world seems to be in love with the idea of tiny houses and minimalism, many of us simply can't purge it all and start from nothing. Yet a home with too much stuff is a home that is difficult to maintain, so where do we begin? Add in paralyzing emotional attachments and constant life challenges, and it can feel almost impossible to make real decluttering progress.
In Decluttering at the Speed of Life, decluttering expert and author Dana White identifies the mind-sets and emotional challenges that make it difficult to declutter. Then, in her signature humorous approach, she provides workable solutions to break through these struggles and get clutter out--for good!
But more than simply offering strategies, Dana dives deep into how to implement them, no matter the reader's clutter level or emotional resistance to decluttering. She helps identify procrasticlutter--the stuff that will get done eventually so it doesn't seem urgent--as well as how to make progress when there's no time to declutter.
Sections of the book include
Why You Need This Book (You Know Why)
Your Unique Home
Decluttering in the Midst of Real Life
Change Your Mind, Change Your Home
Breaking Through Your Decluttering Delusions
Working It Out Room by Room
Helping Others Declutter
Real Life Goes On (and On)
As long as we're living and breathing, new clutter will appear. The good news is that decluttering can get easier, become more natural, and require significantly fewer hours, less emotional bandwidth, and little to no sweat to keep going.

2. Audible/Smartphone (ATBR)

We'll Always Have Christmas
By: Jenny Hale
Narrated by: Helene Maksoud
Length: 10 hrs and 13 mins
I never got to this one last Christmas 
so I'll listen now.
Source: September 2017 Credit Purchase.
Publisher's Summary
An enchanting story about the magic of Christmas, the importance of family, and the joy of falling in love during the most romantic season of the year....
Christmas has always been a special time for Noelle Parker. Winter evenings spent with family and friends, drinking hot chocolate and eating cookies at her family's cozy bakery have shaped her love for all things festive. But this year everything is changing....
The beloved bakery is facing closure and Noelle needs a miracle to save Christmas.
Determined to raise funds for the family business, Noelle sets about revamping the bakery while juggling a surprise new job, caring for the elderly and cantankerous William Harrington in his luxurious, sprawling mansion.
As Noelle melts the frostiness of the house with cake baking, snowball fights and glittering decorations, she helps William to reconnect with a romance that has spanned decades and unexpectedly finds herself falling for his grandson - the gorgeous but mysterious Alexander Harrington...
In the countdown to Christmas, can Noelle save the bakery, reunite a family and create some magical memories of her own along the way?
Unwrap the feeling of Christmas in this beautiful novel celebrating friendship, family and love that lasts a lifetime. We'll Always Have Christmas is the perfect treat for fans of Karen Swan, Susan Mallery, and Sue Moorcroft.
©2017 Jenny Hale (P)2017 Bookouture

3. eBook/Kindle and Smartphone (NG2018)

A Chance at Christmas
by Beppie Harrison
This is a Christmas book I picked up.
Source: 2018 NetGalley.
Christmas is coming, and Catherine Woodsleigh and her crippled brother John have no hope of celebration until an invitation to spend Christmas with an old friend and her family arrives. But after the holiday, worse misfortune looms before them. Living on the diminishing number of coins drawn from a jar left by their dead father and mother, a dire future seems inevitable. Will this chance to share a wondrous sparkling Christmas not only provide a glorious holiday but a new turn in their futures and the astonishing possibility of romance?

November 25, 2018 - I am up to date and enjoying the One Year Bible plan reading through You Version App. Although I am on track on my smartphone I haven' t been steady for each morning and find myself finishing the reading at the end of the day instead of beginning. I need to get back to starting my day with scripture.
I am up to date on the additional reading plan started 11/12: Names of God, Thanksgiving and Christmas.
[You can check out audio of the One Year Bible Plan on the companion commentary online.]

I completed five books and posted seven reviews. I still have 12 reviews to post but the list is getting smaller slowly.
I am slowly adding these reviews to Goodreads, Amazon and Audible.  I still have older ones to catch up on too.
My NetGalley shelf is now at 7 as I am reading 2 while working to get these completed. I may be requesting a few more before the end of year. I still have one author title in queue - I think. Still many through InstaFreebie and many new author requests I haven't replied to.

Welcome to Mailbox Monday.

Mailbox Monday is a gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week and explore great book blogs. This Meme started with Marcia at A Girl and Her Books (fka The Printed Page) and after a tour of hosts has returned to its permanent home at Mailbox Monday. Thanks to the ladies sharing hosting duties: Leslie of Under My Apple Tree, Serena of Savvy Verse & Wit and (yours truly). Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists.
I didn't add any new review titles.
I resisted the week's Daily Deals but picked up four titles on sale for total $23.80.
I didn't pick up any Kindle paid titles.
I only picked up 27 free kindle titles. (Note these are in my Amazon library, NOT on my Kindle until I download and transfer them.)
Are your mailbox and TBR piles blooming?

Review Titles

NONE

Won

NONE

Purchased

11/25/18 Four Books on Sale
Radiance $4.95
Wraith Kings, Volume 1
By: Grace Draven
Narrated by: Gabrielle Baker
Length: 8 hrs and 53 mins
This was new to me but sounds like a fantasy romance I will like.

Grim $5.95
Tornians Book 1
By: M.K. Eidem
Narrated by: Commodore James, Laura Jennings
Length: 12 hrs and 54 mins
This is another fantasy romance that took my fancy.

The Fifth Season $6.95
The Broken Earth, Book 1
By: N. K. Jemisin
Narrated by: Robin Miles
Length: 15 hrs and 27 mins
This has been on my wish list for some time.

The Handmaid's Tale $5.95
By: Margaret Atwood
Narrated by: Claire Danes
Length: 11 hrs and 1 min
I have been meaning to get this one for a while too.

Free

I added 27 free titles to my Kindle library over the past week. Titles found linked through Bookbub, Bookfun, Ereader News Today, Free Par-tay, Ignite Your Book, Inspired Reads, Pixel of Ink or Kindle ebooks.