HAPPY MONDAY!! It’s a short list today, but I’ll keep checking for more and add them in as the day continues. 😉
THREE THINGS:
1.) I added more white decorations to my Christmas tree (a bunch more poinsettias) and cute ornaments like a fluffy owl, and a skiing squirrel and also some curly squiggles and it’s so fluffy now. I LOVE IT!!! So much better. 😀 And now it’s officially finished. Here’s a side by side of the tree last week to this week.
2.) I watched The Secret: Dare to Dream this weekend and it was pretty great. Kind of has that Hallmark feel to it, and a great message too!
3.) I also watched The King of Staten Island, and while at first I cringed at how obnoxious he was (uncaring and moody and purposely unhelpful; in any way and I thought maybe that dark mood would be through the whole movie) it truly ended up heartwarming and amazing. A TON of amazing growth in this movie, and so much heart!!!
LOOK WHAT JUST WENT LIVE !!!
- EXTENDED THROUGH DECEMBER!! ➔➔➔ TWO MONTHS FREE KINDLE UNLIMITED DEAL!!! <— If you haven’t tried it yet, now’s your chance. 😲❤️ WE ARE LOVING IT!
and…
- It’s Definitely Not You: An Enemies-to-Lovers Romantic Comedy by Abby Brooks <— SHE THINKS HE’S A SERIAL KILLER “...The second time I see him, he’s trying to kill my grandmother. At least it looks that way. At first. Maybe I misjudged the situation, but that doesn’t mean I misjudged him. Joe and I? We’re oil and water. Gasoline and a flame. Great hair and a windy day. I’m a doctor. I help sick kids. As for him? I suspect serial killer with his sights set on my grandma…”
- The Taming of a Wicked Rogue (The Lords of Scandal Row Book 1) by Samantha Holt
- A Duke’s Wild Kiss (Kiss the Wallflower Book 5) by Tamara Gill
- Race To A Christmas Reunion by Brenda Jackson
- Banshee Cry: A Steamy Paranormal Romance (Blood Fae Chronicles Book 1) by Jen Katemi
- Snowed In by Jessica Calla <— THE RETIRED SUPERMODEL & THE VET “…Getting to know widower Andrew, his grumpy vet father, and Andrew’s adorable six-year-old twin girls opens Emma’s heart to the possibility of having love and family in her life. His opinion of Emma, the “beautiful, viper CEO” gossiped about at the water cooler, quickly changes as he discovers Emma’s wit, intelligence, and giving heart. Although neither Emma nor Andrew are quite ready for a relationship, and canoodling is against company policy, the holiday spirit of Manhattan is magical and contagious...”
- Blush: A Strangers-to-Lovers Romance by Rachel De Lune
- Mister Stand-In: A Hero Club Novel by C.M. Albert
- Blood & Bones: Deacon (Blood Fury MC Book 4) by Jeanne St. James
- Cocky Kilt: A Hero Club Novel by Jolie Vines and Hero Club <—HIGHLANDER WALKS INTO A BAR… “…I thought the scenery would be the highlight of my working trip to Scotland, then a dark-haired, kilted Highlander walks into the bar. That swoony Scottish accent. Dark eyes and a sexy smirk. Would anyone blame me for a quick holiday romance? Except if I want to keep my job, Ewan is off limits. I need to lock down my lust. For a former poor kid who’s used to deprivation, this should be easier. But my cocky Scot doesn’t agree, and he’s hell bent on changing my mind….”
PREORDERS (going live soon!!! 😀 )
- A Treacherous Trade (The Business of Blood Book 2) by Kerrigan Byrne – November 10th 2020
- Nobody Knows (SWAT Generation 2.0 Book 11) by Lani Lynn Vale – November 10th 2020
- Shine With Me: A With Me In Seattle Novella by Kristen Proby – November 10th 2020
- The Arrest: A Novel by Jonathan Lethem – November 10th 2020
- Dog Tags: A romance anthology featuring military and canine heroes – November 10th 2020
- Noble Prince (Tin Gypsy Book 4) by Devney Perry – November 10th 2020
- The Kingdom: A novel by Jo Nesbo – November 10th 2020
- Decompose: A Psychological Thriller by Layne Deemer – November 10th 2020
- Shades of Darkness (Guardians of Eternity Book 16) by Alexandra Ivy – November 10th 2020
- A Problematic Christmas Love (Love On The Pacific Shores Book 8) by Rebecca Rohman – November 10th 2020
- Reclaim: A Standalone Friends-to-Lovers Romance by Aly Martinez – November 12th 2020
- The Lighthouse Inn: Shattered Cove Series Book 4 by A.M. Kusi – November 12th 2020
- Wicked Truths (The Hunt Legacy Duology Book 2) by Jodi Ellen Malpas – November 12th 2020
- See Me After Class by Meghan Quinn – November 12th 2020
- The Rancher and The Heiress by Anna DeForest – November 13th 2020
- Lavender’s Book by H. Hunting – November 16th 2020
- Little Lies by H Hunting – November 16th 2020
- Dark Alpha’s Caress: A Reaper Novel by Donna Grant – November 16th 2020
➔➔➔ Looking for more book releases? Check out the upcoming new releases here or check out the latest new releases here.
➔➔➔ Get Maryse’s Book Blog updates delivered by email (you’ll get one daily email that will have each post from that day consolidated on it). AND/OR you can also subscribe to my newsletter. 😀 It goes out once or twice a week and features my “Best Of…”
1. Making roast chicken with onions, garlic, carrots & potatoes in big casserole dish tonight…that must be one of the easiest meal ever.
2. Clear skies & warm temperatures 70-75 F.☀️ We’re on day six with more great days expected. Lots of outdoor time with our “unbubbled” kids.
3. There’s lightness in the air and it’s not from the weather. 🥰 🙌 😉
Dull grey skies with a temperature of 12degs. There is indeed a ‘lightness in the air’ 😉
It’s so hot here! I don’t like it. I was wearing my winter coat a week or so ago. The last few days, it’s been near 80. I have the windows open. Kids wore shorts today. I refuse to wear summer clothes so I’m sweating it out in Capri leggings and a lightweight hoodie.
I would really like some of that roast chicken!!
LOL. Soup tomorrow!
Same!!! I’ll happily take some leftovers…:-)
Back off Michele! I was here first!
I LOVE roast chicken too. I bought 2 rotisseries chickens (already cooked) yesterday, so I could make easy “mashed cauliflower chicken bowls” or chicken Cesar salads, or chicken salad altogether.
How do you do the mashed cauli chicken bowls?
I take the mashed cauliflower, and dump a big blob of it in my bowl (I just buy the frozen kind – but cook it first 😂), and then I take my fried veggies – in this case, it was my favorite pan fried bell peppers, mushrooms and onions, throw some of that in there. Then I take some chicken off of my rotisserie (I used most of a chicken breast) and you can shred it or cut it into chunks – however you prefer your chicken and throw that in there, and then, I top it off with shredded cheese.
SOOOOO YUMMY! You can even pour on a touch of gravy or even a bit of creamy salad dressing (my favorite is Cesar or ranch) just to give it that kick.
I got the idea from KFC. LOL!!!!
It’s been so rainy here today which I normally love, but I think we’ve got a tropical storm to look forward to. Eeeeeep!
1. I’m watching The Queen’s Gambit today on Netflix. Different from what I normally watch, but I’m liking it.
2. Put up outdoor Christmas lights yesterday, bc the weather was nice. We don’t usually put a ton of effort into the outside, but we did a little extra this year and now I wanna make a Santa scarecrow https://pin.it/1JQtNis to sit on my swing. Trying to figure out how I’ll make the face. And got 1 tree up. Unfluffed and not decorated, but a start. Had to move furniture this year and I’m doing a clean house on toys. Feels long overdue.
3. Making a pasta casserole dish tonight that’s supposed to basically dump ingredients and bake. So excited to not have too many dishes and not hang over the stove for long.
Loved The Queen’s Gambit!! Very different from what I watch too and I really enjoyed that.
My Mom actually binged it (she never watches tv a lot and def. doesn’t binge watch is a day or 2. Figured it must be something special!
Yep!! We finished it in two days!
I just started the QUeen’s Gambit tonight while working on the Tuesday New Release list. I’m liking it! What a child prodigy!!!!
🙌 I’m gonna start back up now!
So, pasta bake if anyone was curious turned out really good! I dumped a whole box of mini penne pasta into a sprayed baking dish- a big one, like the 13×9 or something, and I had an open jar of spaghetti sauce, 2c. worth and added a can of diced tomatoes bc I was out of tomato sauce. So, a little over 3 cups of red sauce all together. 2-3 cups of water and a splash of half and half. A little salt and Italian seasoning, stir all that together in the pan and cover w/foil and bake at 400 for 30min. *I suggest stirring once, bc maybe the pasta will be more uniform?
But I didn’t, and it still turned out good cuz this is easy. So, I stirred real good after the 30min and it was looking pretty good, but there were some crunchy pieces. I poured some more half and half in there and popped it back in, covered, for 8min. Stirred real good, put a little more half and half in 😂 and some water cuz the pasta was soaking up a lot of liquid, but I wanted it just a bit more done, so another 5 min or so covered and then it was perfection! Not too mushy, no crunchy bits, sauce consistency was 👌 Then, added a pound of cooked ground sausage, and I was pretty well out of shredded cheese, but had enough mozzarella to sprinkle on the top. Popped back in for 10min uncovered and voila!
**I got this recipe from The Lazy Genius and she said it’s practically fool proof. I stumbled across her recently and just realized she wrote a book! The blurb sounds like it was written for me. It’s called The Lazy Genius Way and I’m getting it for myself for Xmas! Lol
OMG that sounds incredible!!! I love casseroles and “one dish bakes” and I miss pasta.
I think I’ll dream about this tonight.
That sounds so good but I’m off pasta for a month. 😕
1. There was some amazing food that came out of our kitchen this weekend. Breakfasts of biscuits and homemade sausage gravy on Saturday and bacon pancakes on Sunday. Then we had our pre-Thanksgiving roast turkey, stuffing, and crescent rolls because every year we just can’t wait all the way until Thanksgiving. The hubby also grilled BBQ pork steaks.
2. The weather is so weird. We had snow two weeks ago, then this last week it was in the 70’s and 80’s. Today it’s gloomy and we can tell it’s heading into cold weather again for a while.
3. It feels so good to have my reading mojo back, at least somewhat. I’m not struggling to get through a book and I’m making the choice to pick up and read rather than surf the tv channels or the interwebs/Facebook. I just finished Eleanor & Park (loved it) and am currently reading Regretting You, which I’m also very much enjoying.
3.1. I think I’ve finally decided to pull the plug on Facebook altogether. I’m so very disappointed in humanity as a whole and the bullying, intolerance and just plain meanness of people I once respected – and that’s disheartening and not what I want to surround myself with.
I love Eleanor & Park!
Loved Eleanor & Park…and Regretting You…enjoy!
Sending you hugs…I know a lot of folks have been struggling with various forms of social media….it’s gotten a little ugly all the way around. Hang in there.
Agreed. I unfollowed A LOT of people over the summer so my FB feed is now a blissful place. Twitter…not so much and I admit to contributing to that because it’s my snark outlet. But I’m *trying* to be better!
Homemade sausage biscuits and gravy is my FAVORITE breakfast (well, back when I could eat biscuits and gravy. Now all I can eat is the sausage. LOL!!!
1. You guys are making me hungry!!
2. I’ve never been happier to see Monday. I was ready for last week to be over. I’m excited to get back to a normal sleep schedule and nightly reading!
3. Layne Deemer’s Decompose releases tomorrow and I can’t wait to read it! I loved Frayed and this one is a thriller too. And the blurb: “Jeanette Singleton is a wife, mother, avid gardener, and also a bit of a serial killer.” 😆
omg
Yay!! I’ve read both of Layne’s earlier books and she’s such a talented and versatile author!! I’m looking forward to diving into Decompose…the premise has me quite intrigued!!
We need to BR!!
ON IT!!!!
Yes!! BR!
I can’t wait to read Layne’s book!!!!
Decompose is so good! Layne is incredibly talented!
1. I have NO idea what I’m making for dinner…I think my hubs might just be picking up Chinese. So much for my healthy day of eating.
2. As enjoyable as these temperatures are, I’m ready for it to be just a smidgen cooler. I need for it to feel somewhat like November.
3. I got my mammogram today. Stay on top of your preventative health y’all! They’ve said Covid has led to a lot of conditions/diseases going undiagnosed. I confess I was later going this year than I normally do because I didn’t want any unnecessary exposure. And…that’s the end of my PSA today 🙂
My favorite Chinese food is now Egg Foo Young. OMG I have no clue how I never ate that before, but since it’s pretty much Keto approved, I can’t get enough of it. I especially like it with pork.
I don’t think I’ve ever even heard of that and it sounds like something I can have too! Have you ever made it yourself?
I haven’t made it myself, but essentially it’s sort of… an omelette but has that amazing asian flavor. And it is loaded in veggies and meat. And it comes with a gravy that is YUMMMY but I use it sparingly due to the flour or corn starch they thicken it with.
My Mom’s loves it! It is hard to find in some restaurants.
Oh I need to try that!
I’m in Ca and yes, I had to bust out the Ughs today. Today was the coldest it has been, 60. I know that I shouldn’t complain. I made a new recipe tonight, it was Shephard Pie Stew (super easy and it had gnocchi pasta in it. Sorry, not keto but you good skip the pasta. Good reviews from the family!
Sounds yummy!
I miss my mom’s Shepherd’s pie so much! A soup version might be fun!!
A little earlier this year I had a kindle unlimited anthology. The story I’m interested in was a runaway bride with her best friend in I think Yellowstone or another national park. The 2 of them lose track of the trail and almost go into a herd of buffalo. The runaway bride is famous and in disguise. There was supposed to be a follow up book to complete the story. I would like to get the follow up book. The storyline was very engaging.
Thanks for the possible help.
Hi Sue!
I just posted your reader question (and we’ve already got a guess!!) Check it out and let me know what you think:
https://www.maryse.net/reader-questions/reader-question-the-book-about-the-famous-runaway-bride-and-the-herd-of-buffalo.html
*safe hug*