pickThis was definitely my favorite book I've read so far this month, and one of my favorites for the year. Even though Hattie is only 28, she's been widowed for 2 years and is struggling to run the Vermont inn that was her husband's dream, all while taking care of their young daughter. Meanwhile, 3 women (Erica, Claudia, and Anna) have been friends since college and always get together for a week every year. Now that they are all at or close to 40 ⬇
This is a lil update post!!
@MaleficentBookDragon - I received my #JolabokaflodSwap package from @plemmdog safely!! Thank you!!
@bookish_wookish - I received my #LittleChristmasSwap package but it came directly from Amazon and despite someone on here saying to me, “I'm your match and it's coming from Amazon“ I've spaced and can't remember who that is 😂 But it's here safely!!
@julieclair I'm your #LCS match and your book still isn't here!! ⬇
Cannot BELIEVE I am working on a reading journal for ***2025*** That's not a real date!!!! @PuddleJumper is responsible for most of my challenges this year, although @lauredhel is also doing some work 😂 This year: #ISpyBingo #100YearsofBooks (and finishing @Librarybelle 's #192025 ), #Pantone2025 #Roll100 #GottaCatchEmAll and #BookChain
Not pictured - #ReadtheUSA #WickedWords @AsYouWish #FourFoursin25 @lauredhel #FictionalTraveler @julieclair ⬇
I've been using a random number generator to decide which of my holiday books I'll read next, and weirdly ended up reading Wrapped up FOR Christmas and Wrapped Up IN Christmas back to back 😂
Soft pick for this one; it's just a little too cutesy for me. Bodie was seriously injured on his last tour of duty and almost died. While recovering, he received a handmade quilt from the Quilts of Valor program, and that along with the letter that came ⬇
so-soWhen I'm reading nonstop holiday fluff in December, I really lower my standards when it comes to plot points like instalove, but this one was a stretch even for my relaxed attitude. Angie is coming off of a really bad relationship and even says things like, “I've never been single more than a month and should probably take some time to find out who I am as a person“ and then immediately falls in love with a random dude and after knowing each ⬇
pickMy cover isn't super exciting, so I give you Kitty as compensation 😂
I remember enjoying this book as a teen but wasn't sure how it would hold up as an adult - but I found it completely engaging. Christy is just a likable character, so it makes the whole story work. She's genuine in her efforts to understand the world around, and I related so much to her desire to make her childhood faith something tangible and real. This is definitely a ⬇
Yay!!! @MaleficentBookDragon thank you SO MUCH for this fabulous #StuffedStockingSwap box!!! I love everything and am so impressed by how you made the tiny stocking and the scarf yourself!! (Love the colors btw!!) Thank you for your thoughtful gifts. Merry Christmas!!!
Thank you for hosting this swap @Avanders !!
*Not all candy is pictured because I may or may not have housed two mini Reese trees immediately 😂
Okay, first big stress-event has been hurdled - the realtor came and looked at our house and told us she thinks it will sell for more than we thought WHEW. We have lived here ten years and COMPLETELY remodeled this place and tbh it's a weird little house but we love it and having someone come and tell us how much it was worth kind of felt like we were taking a final test 😂 Next step is waiting to hear from the bank!! Lots of feelings right now. ⬇
This background is an accurate portrayal of my windows right now 😂 We've having the Ohio December special of cold rain all week, and I have a lot of stress going on!! To inspire me to read a little more, I thought I'd host a little bonus readathon this week, so feel free to join me in the #MidweekMuddle Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday this week!!
I'm tagging the #HolidayBookDragons but anyone is welcome to participate whether you're playing ⬇
pickThis is a fun little Poirot short (the actual book includes several other short stories, but they aren't particularly Christmasy, so I only read the title story this time around). Poirot reluctantly heads off to a country estate for an “old-fashioned Christmas“ - and a bit of undercover sleuthing. Poirot is very Poiroty in this one, and I quite enjoyed rereading it.
#WinterGames #HolidayBookDragons @LiseWorks
pickDefinitely the best Nancy Drew we've had in a minute. This one had more of the regular level of ridiculousness 😂 Favorite parts included the police acting very clever because they determined that two masked men who attempted to break into the house at the same time were working together; the girls acting like sitting behind empty picture frames was a brilliant hiding spot; literally everyone not only knowing how to sail but being really great ⬇
Hey friends!! So I've been looking at my life and my upcoming schedule, and I am going to pause #RandomClassics definitely for January, and maybe longer, kind of depending. We're thinking about moving (!!!!!) plus we are going out of town in January, so there is a lot going on 😂 I still have a huge list of classics I would like to read, and I have really enjoyed reading these with you all, but for now I need to skip a month!! I'll let everyone ⬇
pickOkay, I know it's not the right kind of sword, but it's the best I could come up with 😂 Well this book was quite the rollercoaster ride. On the whole, I enjoyed it, but don't think I would reread it. However, I can see myself reading something else by Dumas. Pevear's translation was super readable. The ending did feel a little abrupt, though. I'm not sure I would want to be friends with these guys in real life (especially considering how they ⬇
pickA soft pick for these two loosely-connected stories that take place on Nantucket a year apart. These were super Hallmarky and perfectly pleasant. I enjoyed the first more than the second, because the mom in the second story drove me kind of crazy. But the greatest tragedy is that I was 160 pages in and all of the sudden the book skipped to page 216!! Right at the big finale of chaos (you know, where the kid ran away with the puppy and supper is ⬇
@Scochrane26 - I'm your #JolabokaflodSwap match this year!!! I mailed your package earlier this week, but in typical Sarah-Style did not actually notate on the envelope anywhere that it was a Litsy package or who it was from 😂 So be on the lookout for a blue padded envelope from Ohio - that's your Swap gift!!! Merry Christmas!!
@MaleficentBookDragon thanks so much for hosting - I love this simple swap!!
pickThis is the (loose) sequel to I'll Be Married for Christmas, which I enjoyed so much I immediately ordered this one 😂 This is another marriage of convenience romance (MY JAM) and is somehow even cuter than the first book, maybe because it has the only missing ingredient from book one (i.e. CATS!!)? Super cute, likable characters, (mostly) believable situation, and adults who communicate!! 🎉 I'll definitely be checking out more of Cain's books.
so-soThree shorts in this one. They were all okay, but more about the characters shagging than anything Christmasy. Sometimes I enjoy Shalvis, but it feels like whenever she has shorter stories, she focuses on spice over story, which just isn't my personal preference lol
But lots of prompts checked off, and another book off my shelf!!
#WinterGames #HolidayBookDragons @LiseWorks
Reminder!! Each #BookSpin or #DoubleSpin book you have completed (or DNFd and removed from your TBR) this year counts as an entry for the 2024 Giveaway!! Sadly, the giveaway will NOT be a trip to a lovely beach like this one, but five lucky winners WILL receive ONE book from either their Litsy TBR or a list of five books they can provide to me!!
To be considered for the giveaway you MUST fill out the Google Form linked below!! Because I LOVE ⬇
#GuesstheBook24
(this one is also my current read and it's SO cute!)
We all know I have a reading challenge problem 😂 Here's the StoryGraph link to the 2025 #BooKChain prompts if anyone is interested. I have a random paragraph of people in my Tagging Document that says BookChain, so I don't know when I put you all on the list, but I'm tagging you anyway 😆
https://app.thestorygraph.com/reading_challenges/596e8385-7086-478f-9f02-0378f52...
so-soFour novellas in one by four different authors.
Making Spirits Bright - 1*, absolutely dreadful. Besides the story making 0% sense, the entire plot of a rich woman just deciding she wishes she had a kid or two and immediately just running out to try and rush through an adoption felt honestly icky, like kids were a commodity that she could just go out and buy on a whim like a puppy. It was weird. But maybe I'm sensitive to it because my youngest ⬇
#BookSpin #DoubleSpin #BookSpinBingo will be BACK for 2025!!! Believe it or not, this will be our FIFTH YEAR spinning together!! I spontaneously created this challenge on January 1, 2020 - the reason I draw the numbers on the 2nd of the month is literally because it was too late to draw them on the 1st when I first came up with this 😂 Since then we've added #DoubleSpin and #BookSpinBingo to keep things lively.
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pickThis is what I'm looking for in holiday romance!! Cheesy, predictable, but still loads of fun with likable characters and storylines that actually make sense!! 😂 I'm a HUGE sucker for marriage of convenience stories, and this one played out pretty well. Super cute, and I'm planning to read the next book this week!!
#WinterGames #HolidayBookDragons @LiseWorks
@BookmarkTavern - I'm your match for the #StuffedStockingSwap !!! I finally got your package in the mail yesterday and USPS says it should be there Friday!! I hope you love it!! 😁
@Avanders thanks so much for hosting this fun swap every year!!!
panIf I had to choose one word for how I felt while reading this series of books, I think it would be “baffled.“ These characters constantly made decisions that made no sense. The narrative frequently made no sense. The motivations made pretty much no sense. A few samples: two grown adults have a “cheesecake fight“ in the kitchen ruining the desert and dinner party they're attending (after the FMC starts EATING IT WITH HER BARE HANDS?!); two people ⬇
For those of you who like planning ahead - the 2025 #ISpyBingo challenge is now available on Storygraph!!!
https://app.thestorygraph.com/reading_challenges/85a6eb78-a914-4e84-a200-9073f75...
I am going to TRY to be better about posting each month's board a week or two before the month starts, and tagging those who wish to be tagged 😂 If you want to be on that tag list, let me know!!
The Storygraph link has the “rules“ to this challenge ⬇
pickMy first book completed for #WinterGames isn't remotely Christmasy, but it was the book I was halfway through reading when December 1 arrived 😂 I've been working my way through the Kate Daniels series all year and I LOVE IT. I wasn't sure at first because they're a little more violent than my personal tastes, but I've gotten better at skipping what I need to skip haha the characters, the world-building, all the secondary characters, everything ⬇
pickI really enjoyed November's Trixie mystery. I know I've said it before, but I love how Trixie isn't perfect. In this story, she's biased against Dan from the start just because of how he looks/what he wears, and that comes back to bite her. Were some things in this book a little too tidy/easy? Absolutely, but that's okay because it's fiction 😂
Did you all get to this one? Any thoughts?
One other thing, I wondered how crazy the mountain lion ⬇
Hey @bookandbedandtea I mailed this book to you last week but never posted because I'm bad about that 😂 @Jerdencon The Nature of Disappearing arrived safe and sound as well!! @robinb just keeping you in the loop haha
Thoughts on another round after this one?
Our final #BookSpinBingo of the year!? What is happening!??! Thank you all SO much for joining me for this challenge this year. I really love hosting this and seeing everyone's lists and reviews and struggles 😂 I'm looking forward to 2025, but for now, I hope you all have a fabulous December, a cozy holiday season, and plenty of time to clear this month's board!!
(Standard monthly text below ⬇ ⬇)
Good morning, everyone! The moment you have all been waiting for!! Our official #BookSpin number is ELEVEN! Our official #DoubleSpin number is EIGHT!! I have thoroughly enjoyed looking at everyone‘s lists & am really looking forward to seeing your reviews!!
My next post will be the #BookSpinBingo card. I am NOT tagging anyone on that post!! If you want to bingo, please just check my profile for the card. This saves me having to double tag ⬇
Soooooo other than The Hundred and One Dalmatians, my #WinterGames TBR is made up entirely of books I already own but haven't read - 40 of them!!! Some are Kindle, some are anthologies with a collection of stories by various authors. I've picked up most of these secondhand or on BookOutlet at a discount, but it's time to actually read them!! On my spreadsheet, I have some of these marked off for #CasttheDie and #BookSpinBingo as well.
So I've fallen a bit off the bandwagon with the #ISpyBingo challenge this year, but here is December's board - anyone is welcome to participate!!
I have refreshed this challenge for 2025 and will be posting 12 new boards!! I seem to have lost the tag list for this challenge, if I ever had one (lol) so please let me know if you'd like to be tagged with the 2025 boards coming as soon as I finish getting this challenge loaded onto Storygraph. ⬇
(thru ch27) We'll be wrapping up Christy in December. I am really enjoying this one. I appreciate that the whole moonshining thing isn't as clear-cut as it appeared at first - Dr. MacNeil's points about the lack of income and unfairness of some of the laws suddenly turns what initially seemed to be a very good/bad/obvious situation into something more nuanced and involved. I'm also enjoying Christy's enthusiasm and desire to know more/do better. ⬇
(thru ch 55) We're closing in on the home stretch for this chunkster!! We're taking a little break for Thanksgiving, then hitting the last ten chapters. Although I'm quite curious as to whether or not Milady is going to break poor Felton!!
Overall, I'm enjoying this one, but not seeing it as a book I'll pick up again. It has its moments, but sometimes the guys are just too much lol Any thoughts from you all? I know some of you have already ⬇
Absolutely unbelievable but true: December is only a week away!!! This means that if you would like to #BookSpin for the FINAL TIME OF 2024 (!!!!!!) it's time to start thinking about your lists!!
In December I will be posting a 2025 sign-up post and also reminders on how to submit your entries for the 2024 giveaway (feel free to check out my master post on this challenge thearomaofbooks.wordpress.com/bookspin-bookspinbingo-litsy-challenge ⬇
![[tagged book]](https://image.librarything.com/pics/litsy_webpics/icon_taggedBook@3x.png){kind=icon}
#WinterCosy #GottaCatchEmAllWinterEdition - Gift @PuddleJumper
#ReadorDonate - Keeping!! @julieclair
#MidweekMuddle (I'm behind on reviewing as usual lol)
#Adventathon @BookmarkTavern 1d