Oh My Books!

  I'm pleased that I completed my 2024 reading challenge. It helped that I wasn't working, so I had more time to read and started blogging again. Let's hope I can keep this rhythm for 2025, it makes me happy. There have been years I barely read so I'm very proud of myself. How did you do on your reading goals? Do you challenge yourself or prefer to not keep track?

Candy for Christmas by Joanne Fluke #1.5 Hannah Swensen Mysteries series In the Novella, Hannah Swenson, owner of The Cookie Jar, discovers that someone has broken into her store. Perhaps this individual is simply sleeping there to stay warm. Whoever this individual is, they clean up before they leave. So Hannah plans, with Norman's help, to catch the intruder in the act (and they do). What unwinds is a tale of innocence and a dysfunctional family who is reunited due to Hannah's understanding and sense of fairness. My review: During this time of year, I’m always on the lookout for books that bring out the Christmas spirit, so I decided to give Candy for Christmas by Joanne Fluke a try. This book, a novella that is part 1.5 of the Hannah Swensen Mysteries series, combines mystery, baking, and a touch of wintery charm. The story follows Hannah, the protagonist of the series, as she solves a light and straightforward case. Since the book is very short, there isn’t much time to dev...

Midnight at the Christmas Bookshop by Jenny Colgan The Christmas Bookshop #2 Goodreads |  Amazon Your most delightful holiday read: the sequel to the instant New York Times bestseller The Christmas Bookshop, from beloved Scottish author Jenny Colgan. Christmas comes early—far too early—to McCredie’s little Old Town bookshop in Edinburgh. It’s summer, but an American production company has decided that McCredie’s is the perfect location to film a very cheesy Christmas movie. After all, who can resist the charmingly narrow historic street with its Victorian grey stone buildings and warmly lit shop windows? Carmen Hogan, the bookshop’s manager, is amused and a bit horrified by the goings-on, but the money the studio is paying is too good to pass up. She uses the little windfall from filming to create new displays and fend off a buyout offer from an obnoxious millionaire who wants to turn McCredie’s into a souvenir shop selling kilts made in China and plastic Nessies. Still reeling sl...

Slaying for Sloan Wrecked series #3  by Melissa McSherry and Dana LeeAnn Goodreads |  Amazon The third installment in the Wrecked series, featuring Sloan. This novella can be read as a standalone. He is my hunter in this twisted game. I am his prize, and he’s hungry to claim me. This Christmas was supposed to be special, but without my best friend by my side, it feels like a cruel joke. I thought spending the holidays with my boyfriend’s family would fill the void, but after a fight that escalated too far, I was ready to pack my shit and leave. Until I woke up on Christmas Eve morning to a surprise─a pretty black box holding the key to his family's church, complete with instructions for a game he’s set up for us to play. The rules are simple: 1: If he catches me once, he gets to eat me. 2: If he catches me twice, I have to suck him. 3: If he catches me a third time, he gets to fuck me. 4: If he catches me all three times AND beats me to the church, nothing is off limits. Prim...

Take Me Home for Christmas Tracy Solheim (Chances Inlet Contemporary Romance, #5) Publication date: December 12th 2024 Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Holiday, Romance In the quaint coastal town of Chances Inlet, Christmas is a time for rekindling lost connections . . . Elinor “Elle” McAlister is on the brink of a big-time promotion that will finally put her on equal footing with her overachieving siblings. The catch? She has to babysit a notoriously prickly war reporter who’s late delivering his memoir. As if that weren’t enough, her editor banishes them both to Elle’s hometown on the Carolina coast to get the job done. Spending the holidays in Chances Inlet might have been fine—if only she hadn’t wrecked the most important relationship in her life during her visit last Christmas. Deputy Sheriff Hayden Lovell has known Elle was his person ever since she swiped his purple crayon back in kindergarten. Through every twist and setback, her steady friendship has been his anchor, esp...

The Tea Dragon Society Series by Katie O'Neill Goodreads| Amazon The Tea Dragon Society After discovering a lost tea dragon in the marketplace, Greta learns about the dying art form of tea dragon caretaking from the kind tea shop owners, Hesekiel and Erik. As she befriends them and their shy ward, Minette, Greta sees how the craft enriches their lives—and eventually her own. The Tea Dragon Festival Rinn has grown up with the Tea Dragons that inhabit their village, but stumbling across a real dragon turns out to be a different matter entirely! Aedhan is a young dragon who was appointed to protect the village, but fell asleep in the forest eighty years ago. With the aid of Rinn’s adventuring uncle Erik and his partner Hesekiel, they investigate the mystery of his enchanted sleep. . . . But Rinn’s real challenge is to help Aedhan come to terms with feeling that he cannot get back the time he has lost. The Tea Dragon Tapestry Join Greta and Minette once more for the heartwarming conclu...

Elf Against the Wall Alina Jacobs (The Wynter Brothers, #2) Publication date: November 12th 2024 Genres: Adult, Comedy, Contemporary, Holiday, Romance When you kiss your perfect boyfriend under the mistletoe…only for your cousin to scream to the family that you stole her man, Christmas is OVER. In my defense, I didn’t know my boss—yup, boss. Buckle up because this is messy—was my cousin’s newly minted and totally lying fiancé. I thought he was the Nutcracker Prince come to finally show my family that I, too, was worthy of putting the star atop the Christmas tree. I was so wrong . Now my entire family thinks I’m a ho ho ho. I’m at the top of the naughty list, not in a fun Elf on the Shelf way, but rather in a snide-comments-at-brunch and sitting-at-the-kids’-table kinda way. I have to clear my name, or Christmas is ruined. Again. What better way than to blackmail my family’s number one sworn enemy? Anderson Wynter is this desperate elf’s last hope. Six-foot-five, ethicall...

The Christmas Book Hunt By Jenny Colgan Publication date: December 1, 2024 Goodreads | Amazon A heartwarming meet-cute short story from the Sunday Times bestselling author of The Christmas Bookshop. A Christmas mission… Mirren’s beloved great-aunt Violet is seriously ill. Her one Christmas wish is to be reunited with a long-lost hand-illustrated book from her childhood, a challenge Mirren gladly accepts to give Violet some much-needed festive cheer. An enchanting journey… With no sign of the cherished volume online, Mirren falls into the fascinating world of rare books. From London to snowy Hay-on-Wye and Edinburgh’s cobbled streets, she chases leads from bookshop to bookshop—and bumps into mysterious, charming Theo, who, unbeknownst to her, is searching for the same book for reasons of his own… The start of a new chapter? As the two join forces to track the book down before time runs out for Violet, will Mirren find her Christmas miracle—and maybe even a kiss under the mistletoe… ? Fo...

Wedding Bells in Silverwood Dorothy Dreyer (Silverwood Series) Publication date: November 26th 2024 Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Holiday, Romance Silverwood’s most anticipated event of the year is upon us—Holly St. Ives and Nick Mason’s New Year’s Eve wedding. But as one disaster after another strikes in the weeks leading up to their big day, Holly begins to suspect that something is amiss. Enter Viola Carver, a former culinary prodigy who put her career on hold to care for her disabled mother. Given a last-minute opportunity to cater the event of the season, Viola is determined to prove herself. But she fears she may blow her big chance after several rocky encounters with the dashing venue owner. With a saboteur on the loose who’s intent on ruining Nick and Holly’s wedding, it might take Nick’s team of Alaskan Malamutes and a New Year’s miracle to save the day. Goodreads / Purchase — EXCERPT: Did I really agree to this? Holly St. Ives shielded her eyes from the Augus...

A Cat Café Christmas by Codi Gary Meow and Furever Cat Café #1 375 pages, Paperback First published October 4, 2022 Goodreads | Amazon A laugh-out-loud, opposites attract romance about three of the world’s most beloved C’s: Christmas, Coffee, and Cats. Veterinarian and animal lover Kara Ingalls needs a Christmas miracle. Opening the Meow and Furrever Cat Café to find loving homes for adorable, adoptable cats was a dream come true—but with more cats than customers, it’s quickly turning into a nightmare. If Kara can’t figure out some way to get the café out of the red, it won’t last past the holidays. Marketing guru Ben Reese may be annoyingly smart and frustratingly bossy, but when he hatches a plan to put the café in the “green” by Christmas, Kara realizes that she’d be a fool to turn down his help. And so what if he turns out to be an excellent problem solver and nerdy-hot—he can’t even handle fostering one little kitten. She needs to keep their relationship professional and focus on...

Dragon Prince Royal Quest #1 by Kelly N. Jane, Ashley McLeo Goodreads |  Amazon Action-packed, thrilling adventures await when authors Kelly N. Jane and Ashley McLeo take you into a supernatural world that exists right under your nose. Coffee house waitress wasn’t on my list of life-long goals, but it paid the bills. The only thing that really mattered was keeping a low profile. Dead-end jobs where no one paid attention made it easier to avoid awkward questions like, “what do you mean you hear voices inside your head?” No, I didn’t need to end up like Mom. I’d pay our bills no matter what to keep from living on the streets. Everything was going as well as it could, until a hulking man carrying a giant red murse showed up at work. Strange, but hot as hell, he was far too intense for my liking. But just my luck, his was the next weirdo voice that invaded my mind. I tried to ignore him, but when a different creepy guy mentally issued threats against the muscled man, I had to warn him...