December Challenge Wrap Up Post

2018 Books I Already Own Challenge

December, a month that feels both endless and passes in a blink! Full of holidays and the anticipation that builds along with them.  I was terrified this month that I wasn't going to get a chance to read anything, but I actually got quite a bit of reading in along the way!

I was super happy that I managed to fit in the two Christmas themed books I'd planned, as I was really feeling in the spirit this year and I wanted the chance to embrace that in my reading. I also finished some great romances that I had flirted with reading in the past so it was a month filled with love and joy.

I hope it felt that way for you, too!

So here's what I read in December:

Audiobooks I Own
Boy Toy by Sarina Bowen and Tanya Eby
Sweet Tea and Sympathy by Molly Harper
Getting Schooled by Emma Chase

Audiobooks I Borrowed
All the King's Horses by Lauren Gallagher
Unbreak My Heart by Lauren Blakely
From Here to You by Jaime McGuire

Physical Books I Own 
Wanderlust by Lauren Blakely
The Real Deal by Lauren Blakely
Jane, Unlimited by Kristin Cashore
Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
Vox by Christina Dalcher
The Christmas Sisters by Sarah Morgan

eBook I Own
Butterface by Avery Flynn

Required Reading
(for review) Hating to Love You by Erin Rylie
(for work) The Santa Klaus Murder by Mavis Doriel Hay

Borrowed from the Library (to finish my A to Z Reading Challenge!)
Zita the Spacegirl by Ben Hatke

I've discovered in the last few months that I can actually do a LOT of audiobook listening at home. My husband leaves for work before I even get out of bed most days so while I'm working out, getting ready for work, and eating breakfast I can have an audiobook running.  It's making my "reading" go a lot faster at home. 

I read some really great books this month. I loved Six of Crows and finally understood all the hype it had gotten.  Wanderlust had me sighing out loud in the best way (and what great accents in the audiobook!). Vox was legitimately terrifying to contemplate and Jane, Unlimited felt like it expanded my brain as it unfolded.  I also loved The Christmas Sisters and found that to be the perfect holiday read this year.  I only hope my reading moving into 2019 continues to be this good!!

Happy New Year and Happy Reading all!

Happy Holidays!

Wishing you all a very merry holiday!!

Check back here the day after Christmas for my best of the year list and a giveaway!

The Mischief of the Mistletoe - Giveaway!

Happy Holidays Everyone!

The lovely people at Dutton have given me not only my own copy of The Mischief of the Mistletoe by Lauren Willig to review, but have also gifted me a lovely second copy, plus a beautiful, matching custom ornament, to giveaway to one of you!!



The Mischief of the Mistletoe: A Pink Carnation Christmas by Lauren Willig

'Tis the season to get Pink! Lauren Willig's beloved Pink Carnation series gets into the holiday spirit with this irresistible Regency Christmas caper.

Arabella Dempsey's dear friend Jane Austen warned her against teaching. But Miss Climpson's Select Seminary for Young Ladies seems the perfect place for Arabella to claim her independence while keeping an eye on her younger sisters nearby. Just before Christmas, she accepts a position at the quiet girls' school in Bath, expecting to face nothing more exciting than conducting the annual Christmas recital. She hardly imagines coming face to face with French aristocrats and international spies...

Reginald "Turnip"Fitzhugh-often mistaken for the elusive spy known as the Pink Carnation- has blundered into danger before. But when he blunders into Miss Arabella Dempsey, it never occurs to him that she might be trouble. When Turnip and Arabella stumble upon a beautifully wrapped Christmas pudding with a cryptic message written in French, "Meet me at Farley Castle," the unlikely vehicle for intrigue launches the pair on a Yuletide adventure that ranges from the Austens'modest drawing room to the awe-inspiring estate of the Dukes of Dovedale, where the Dowager Duchess is hosting the most anticipated event of the year: an elaborate twelve-day Christmas celebration. Will they find poinsettias or peril, dancing or danger? Is it possible that the fate of the British Empire rests in Arabella's and Turnip's hands, in the form of a festive Christmas pudding?
(description taken from Amazon.com)

I am currently reading my own copy and it is so good!! My review can be found here. I absolutely adore this series. If you are a historical fiction fan, if you love light romances, if you love spy stories, if you love funny, if you love...well, I could just go on forever. Basically, if you haven't yet read The Secret History of the Pink Carnation, I highly recommend you go out, get it, and READ it!

:)

This is an amazing series! Though you should start with the first book, you do not absolutely have to, and if for instance you wanted to try and start with this Christmas book... you could! Plus you'd have an adorable matching ornament to go on your tree this year!

If you would like to enter the giveaway (US only. Sorry!), please leave me a comment with your favorite type of holiday decoration and your email address. The giveaway will be open until Midnight on Monday, December 13th, and I will contact the winner on Tuesday, December 14th. Hopefully, I can then get your book and ornament out to you before Christmas!!

My Favorite Christmas Books

In the spirit of tomorrow's holiday, Christmas!!, I thought I would share my favorite Christmas books.



About three years ago, my mother gave me the book, Skipping Christmas by John Grisham. It is the book that inspired the movie, Christmas with the Kranks. What a wonderful story!! It's about a couple, the Kranks, that are fed up with the hoopla of the holidays and decide that because their grown daughter will not be coming home for Christmas, they will instead take a cruise over the holidays! Their decision to boycott offends everyone in their neighborhood and at work, and soon they are at odds with everyone they know, but they are standing firm in their decision...until Blair calls to say that she is coming home, after all! As they panic, their neighbors and friends pull together to help them make this holiday the best ever for their daughter. It's a touching story of people coming together at the holidays and recognizing that the holidays really are about friends and family instead of all the muss and fuss.



Then, of course, there a favorite of children and adults alike...The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg. A wonderful picture book, also recently turned into a movie, telling the story of a boy who is unsure whether or not he still believes in Santa Claus. On Christmas Eve, he is magically whisked to the North Pole on the Polar Express. The train takes them directly to Santa's magic workshop and all the children on the train are able to experience the wonder of the holiday. This boy is also chosen to receive the first gift of Christmas and chooses one of the sleigh's beautiful silver bells. He loses it on his way home and is momentarily devestated, but finds it wrapped from Santa under the tree on Christmas morning. The best part of the story, though, (the part that always, always, makes me cry) is that only those that believe in Santa can hear the bell jingle and slowly everyone but the boy loses the ability to hear it. He never stops believing!



So, in the spirit of these wonderful tales...
Merry Christmas to All!!!