This was more of a family drama than a mystery and it definitely wasn‘t a thriller. I was curious enough about what happened to the father but a lot of this wasn‘t compelling. I did not understand the motivations of the father character and his primary relationship, which took away some of my enjoyment. I did care enough to finish though! This didn‘t fit well with my other December reads but I had to take it when my library hold came in!

For the last few years I‘ve made it a tradition to listen to this two books. I really love Hugh Grant‘s narration on A Christmas Carol, and The Best Christmas Pageant Ever is a childhood favorite. Written in the 1970s, some of the humor and characterizations are pretty dated but the story is still sweet. I‘d like to see the new movie version to see how it translates.

I listened to this series as part of my holiday reading this year. It was a cute series! You have to accept there is a family of Christmas tree farm owners with holiday themed names, but that goes with the territory. I liked Nick and Noel the best of the three. I listened to it second bc I didn‘t realize at first that this was a series.

Today was my last day of work for the year! Now I can stay up late and read. Starting this one now.

I‘ve read holiday books of all kinds this month and this is my favorite so far. I loved the way part of it is written in journal form! It was creepy but there was also a lot of (not necessarily happy) holiday elements in the story. Really enjoyed it. I finished it up on my lunch break. Thanks to @OriginalCyn620 for the recommendation.

I enjoyed this book even though almost all of the characters annoyed me at certain points! The two main characters decide to fake date & deal with family issues & work problems. There‘s one plot thread that wasn‘t resolved at the end but maybe it was in a future book. The cover is pretty but the book is set an hour away from where I live; as you can see from our forecast— it doesn‘t really snow here at Christmas! This was my #DoubleSpin

My #JolabokaflodSwap package just arrived. I‘m working from home today so I was able to bring it right in! #JS2024

Mixing this one in with my holiday reading. It‘s cute so far.

This was creepy in parts! Definitely a change of pace from the light seasonal books I‘ve been reading lately. I actually hadn‘t read this author before and I want to read more of her work now. This one reminded me a bit of The Return of Ellie Black.

My snowman supervised the wrapping of my #Jokabokaflodswap24 gifts! They were shipped out today via UPS so they should arrive to @Readergrrl one day next week. I did not get a picture of the box. #JS2024

This has been a very busy week at work so I‘ve only now been able to really look at the #AuldLangSpine list provided by @Jerdencon and I can‘t wait to start planning for January. We‘re a good match bc I also had The Women and almost put Reykjavik on my list! I also love the Val McDermid book. I especially see a lot of potential with the historical fiction picks on this list. I‘m going to see what my library can provide! Happy reading to us both.

This is a cute holiday novella so far! It involves a book editor, a cozy mystery book, and Hanukkah.

At first this felt literally all over the place since the two MCs weren‘t in the same location and then the plot took them around the world. But once I settled in I liked the story and will definitely read more of the series. Amy and Steve are interesting characters so it will be fun to see what happens next. Nicola Walker‘s narration was great as always. She really adds to the story for me.

First holiday read of the season! Someone posted this in one of my FB book groups and I honestly got it for the beautiful cover. It was a great story — it‘s a romance but there are also elements about class, wealth, and a time of transition in the Victorian period. I really enjoyed the main character and how the holiday celebrations were done.

My #BookSpin and #DoubleSpin for December fit with my seasonal reading mood. I‘m really excited about the tagged book — I loved The Blonde Identity by this author.

Now that Thanksgiving is over, I‘m ready for holiday reading! I welcomed the holiday season today with my first Christmas book of the year, hot chocolate in a seasonal cup, my decorations (only a little tree so my cats can‘t destroy it) and carols on in the background. I really love Leslie Odom Jr.‘s holiday albums.

November was a great reading month! I focused on #NonfictionNovember reading but had to throw in some fiction too. I finished 16 books (one not on the card) and got two bingos. I finished my #BookSpin and #DoubleSpin too. My favorite nonfiction were the memoirs by Lisa Marie Presley and Bethany Joy Lenz, and my favorite fiction was Margo‘s Got Money Troubles.

Nonfiction November was good for me — a lot of rich and famous along with some regular people from history and present day. I like nonfiction all year but I make it a special focus in November.

#NonfictionNovember

Getting my December #BookSpinBingo list ready now so it doesn‘t slip my mind during the Thanksgiving holiday. I picked holiday themes and easy reads for the most part. This is more Christmas focused than my list usually is, so we‘ll see how it goes! Thanks to @OriginalCyn620 for recommending some Christmas books for my list!

Man this book was heart breaking. For someone who was born with so much, Lisa Marie Presley had a sad and often lonesome life. This book gives some glimpses into her life, with insights from her daughter Riley who finished the book after Lisa Marie died. The audiobook was great, with clips from Lisa Marie herself. I do wonder if she‘d lived, if she‘d have wanted to finish this book at all, since she seemed to value her privacy so much.

Head over to @monalyisha ‘s page and get the details on this fun best books match up. I have done it every year and it‘s helped guarantee that I start my year with some great books! #auldlangspines

Unintended pregnancy, Only Fans, professional wrestling — based on the description I would‘ve expected to hate this, but I really enjoyed it. Something about Margo is so likable — you just root for her to succeed. The book also covers some serious topics that I‘ll keep thinking about. The shift from first person to third person is kind of weird at first but I had listened to the author on a podcast and her reasons helped it make more sense.

I don‘t know why I waited so long to read this. I loved it! She‘s so honest about herself and the lessons she‘s learned through a life that has been more challenging than it may have looked from the outside. Listening to the audiobook is the way to read this one.

Philippa Gregory is known for historical fiction about royalty but this is nonfiction about the normal women who are often left out of the history books. It was VERY detailed and it was interesting to see all the challenges women have faced over time. Ideally, i think this one should be read in short installments. I‘ll probably come back to again in the future to absorb a bit more detail.

This was my #DoubleSpin for November.

I kept seeing rave reviews for this so I dropped what I was planning to listen to and picked up the audiobook. It was such an engaging story, which may be a weird to say about a cult story. I feel so bad that she was taken advantage of in this way! So I was really rooting for her to find her way out. I am not really familiar with her acting but based on her audiobook performance she must be great. I finished this in just a couple of days.

Reading this right after the election was an interesting experience. The stories in this book were heartbreaking and the author took an empathetic approach to them. She helps her readers understand how people came to believe in these conspiracy theories and how much damage this did to their families. There isn‘t as much resolution of some of the stories but unfortunately that‘s probably the case in real life. This was my #BookSpin for November

I had hesitated to read this for years, but finally read it bc I was in the mood for misery. Because of that, I think my expectation for how sad this book would be was maybe mistaken. It‘s a hard story and sad things happen, but not as much as I thought. The worst parts were how mean people were to the main character. It was a good look at a point of history I didn‘t know much about. I did cry a little at the end.

The Women is the only book I‘ve read by Kristin Hannah bc I know the reputation of her books for being sad. But I‘m in the mood to read about other people being miserable so I‘m finally giving this one a go.

It works out well that my picks for this month‘s #BookSpin are nonfiction. I have the audiobook of Normal Women, and it‘s about 18 hours long so that is going to take a chunk of the month to finish.

Here‘s my #BookSpinBingo card for October! I read 16 books (including one that didn‘t fit the card). I got one bingo but was close on a few other rows. Guide Me Home was my favorite fiction and The Third Gilmore Girl was my favorite nonfiction.

This was a very satisfying conclusion to the Highway 59 trilogy about Texas Ranger Darren Mathews. There‘s a mystery in the story but that‘s only part of the narrative. A lot of it is about Mathews, his family history, and his current relationships. I especially enjoyed how this explored his difficult relationship with his mother. I‘ve heard this may become a TV show and I really hope it does.

These are what I read and enjoyed for election season. Justice Brown Jackson was honest about the challenges she faced in her path to the Supreme Court, including how tough it was to balance a career with parenting. Something Lost … is an essay collection filled with HRC‘s political and personal experiences since 2016. And Thanks, Obama was a fun reread of one of my favorite Obama staffer memoirs. I put my early vote sticker on my Kindle cover!

Here‘s what I‘m thinking for November #BookSpinBingo — I included a lot of nonfiction options for Nonfiction November along with some novels and mysteries for variety. I know we say this every time but I can‘t believe it‘s time for another new month already!

In Kelly Bishop‘s memoir, she shares how she went from her childhood in ballet to Broadway and iconic roles in A Chorus Line, Gilmore Girls and Dirty Dancing. This book isn‘t really gossipy at all — the biggest controversy might be her take on which boyfriend was right for Rory! — but I enjoyed it. I especially liked how she shared her relationships with her second husband and with her Gilmore TV family. I was excited to see her on her book tour.

The tagged book was featured in a book talk held tonight at the college where I work. I always volunteer to usher at these so I can go for free! I‘m not a big One Tree Hill fan but her life — in a cult — sounds so interesting. I look forward to reading her book.

I finally found time to read this one! I can‘t believe the author of cute and fun Tokyo Ever After wrote this! It‘s pretty dark subject matter. I enjoyed the twists it took and the way it handled two main narrators. I wish there had been a little more at the end but overall it was a page turner.

This is an out-of-season read but I had to take it when the library hold came in! I love the Olympics so this story set at a fictional Summer Games was really fun. I especially liked Olivia and her strong career focus. The athletes featured had a lot more free time than I imagine they really do, but I let that go because it was fun.

Short stories are not my thing, but the Ruth Galloway mysteries are my favorite so I had to give this a try. Unsurprisingly my favorites are the stories about Ruth, especially the one that is set after the last book in the series. Some of these are novellas that are set earlier in the series but they were still fun to hear. I also liked the Max Mephisto and Harbinder Kaur stories. Some of the stand-alones ended kind of abruptly though.

I really enjoyed this! I thought it was going to be straight forward for some reason but it was a little twisty! The premise is really clever and a little scary. Felix, the MC, is such a well-drawn character. I don‘t think I‘ve read this author before and after this I‘d definitely read more of her work.

This was my #BookSpinBingo #DoubleSpin for October.

This was ok, but more of a cozy mystery than I was expecting. I wanted it to be more spooky! Another review called it Scooby-Doo plus Hallmark and I think that‘s a good description. The narrator of the audiobook did not help. Very monotone.

This was my #BookSpin for October.

My #BookSpin picks for this month. I‘m listening to A Death in Door County and reading a paperback of Exit. I have some vacation time to take this month so I hope to read a lot!

My #BookSpin list for October. I don‘t really read much horror so I went mostly with mysteries for spooky season.

Here‘s my #BookSpinBingo card for September. I didn‘t get as much read as August, but it wasn‘t a bad month. I finished 9 books, including my BookSpin, and got one bingo. I really enjoyed The Sicilian Inheritance and Rogues.

Just finished my #BookSpin for September. I have read a lot of books set in reality shows lately and find them fun. This one was good and I enjoyed the game, which was a take off on Survivor. I enjoyed this but the main character (and the alliance names) felt a little silly sometimes. I wanted just a little more of the game aftermath.

I read the first book in this series years ago and finally came back to it. This is a spy novel/historical mystery. I like Maggie Hope as a main character and it was fun to read a mystery set in places I‘ve been. I‘m going to try to read more of this series— sooner this time!

Really enjoyed hearing Kelly Bishop talk about her new memoir The Third Gilmore Girl tonight. My picture isn‘t great but the conversation was!

This was a really good read. Dual timelines sometimes annoy me but this one was paced well and the little cliffhangers kept me turning pages. I think this would be a good book club pick with a lot of discussions about women‘s lives at different points in time. The end got a little crazy but it was satisfying.

PRK is probably my favorite long form journalist. (Empire of Pain gets a lot of attention but Say Nothing is my #1 pick.) This is a collection of his work for the New Yorker. Like any collection, some appeal more than others. The best for me were his profiles of Anthony Bourdain, Mark Burnett, and the defense attorney for several notorious death penalty cases. I listened to the audiobook, which is narrated by the author.

I really enjoy this cozy mystery series and I‘m already looking forward to the next one. Lana is a great main character. Along with the mystery I always enjoy how she navigates her relationships with her family and customers.

I will read everything Elly Griffiths writes, so I was excited to pick up this one, which is part of the Harbinder Kaur series but really more about three characters from that series‘s first book. I liked revisiting those characters and the mystery was an interesting one. I also liked the writing retreat and book club being part of the story. It felt a little long but I still enjoyed it.