Packing for Mars by Mary Roach

Title: Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void

Author: Mary Roach

Publisher: W.W. Norton 2010

Genre: Nonfiction - Science

Pages: 334

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Library

The best-selling author of Stiff and Bonk explores the irresistibly strange universe of space travel and life without gravity. From the Space Shuttle training toilet to a crash test of NASA’s new space capsule, Mary Roach takes us on the surreally entertaining trip into the science of life in space and space on Earth.

How have I never actually read this one? I love Mary Roach’s books and her wit. This is a great collection of topics relating to our desire to conquer space. I especially loved the chapters detailing the early attempts to get to the moon. Roach writes with such wit while conveying tons of factual content. I really enjoyed this book a lot. I don’t think it’s quite as good as Spook but it may be my second favorite of her books.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Billie Holiday by Carlos Sampayo and Jose Munoz

Title: Billie Holiday

Author: Carlos Sampayo and Jose Munoz

Publisher: NBM Publishing 2017

Genre: Graphic Novel

Pages: 80

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Library; Monthly Themes January

Born in Philadelphua in 1915, and dead too early in New York in 1959, Billie Holiday became a legendary jazz singer, even mythical. With her voice even now managing to touch so many people, we follow a reporter on the trail of the artist on behalf of a New York daily. Beyond the public scandals that marred the life of the star (alcohol, drugs, violence...), he seeks to restore the truth, revisiting the memory of Billie. Through this investigation, Muñoz and Sampayo trace, through the undertones of racism, and in the wake of the blues, the slow drift of a singer who expressed the deepest emotions in jazz. By internationally renowned Argentine artists, featuring Muñoz' strikingly raw heavy blacks, this is not just a biography but a spell-binding art book tribute.

This was a recommendation from the Omaha library for a biographical comic. Billie Holiday was a musical genius who led a very harsh life. I thoroughly enjoyed this comic interpretation of his life and work. This is certainly an adult comic with adult themes. I could only digest a few pages in one sitting. But it was oh so good. Put me in the mind to listen to some Billie Holiday and drink a cocktail.

Next up on the TBR pile:

The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell

Title: The Family Upstairs

Author: Lisa Jewell

Publisher: Atria Book s2019

Genre: Thriller

Pages: 352

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: UnRead Shelf

Be careful who you let in.

Soon after her twenty-fifth birthday, Libby Jones returns home from work to find the letter she’s been waiting for her entire life. She rips it open with one driving thought: I am finally going to know who I am.

She soon learns not only the identity of her birth parents, but also that she is the sole inheritor of their abandoned mansion on the banks of the Thames in London’s fashionable Chelsea neighborhood, worth millions. Everything in Libby’s life is about to change. But what she can’t possibly know is that others have been waiting for this day as well—and she is on a collision course to meet them.

Twenty-five years ago, police were called to 16 Cheyne Walk with reports of a baby crying. When they arrived, they found a healthy ten-month-old happily cooing in her crib in the bedroom. Downstairs in the kitchen lay three dead bodies, all dressed in black, next to a hastily scrawled note. And the four other children reported to live at Cheyne Walk were gone.

First read from my UnRead Shelf and I was a bit disappointed. The story moves along at a fast clip, but I wasn’t super invested in the characters and the ending left much to be desired. I was intrigued by the family mystery and the identity of the baby. wanted to know what happened in the house on Cheyne Walk. I kept reading because I really wanted to find out what happened. And yet, I found myself not really caring about the book after I finished it. Libby was a bit of a limp noodle throughout causing me to not quite care about her. As for the ending, I’m not a fan of the very sinister last chapter. I don’t need my books to always have a happy ending, but this ending was a little too dark. I won’t be keeping this book on my shelf.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Wither by Lauren DeStefano

Title: Wither (The Chemical Garden #1)

Author: Lauren DeStefano

Publisher: Simon & Schuster 2011

Genre: YA Science Fiction

Pages: 384

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Perpetual; Monthly Theme January

By age sixteen, Rhine Ellery has four years left to live. A botched effort to create a perfect race has left all males born with a lifespan of 25 years, and females a lifespan of 20 years—leaving the world in a state of panic. Geneticists seek a miracle antidote to restore the human race, desperate orphans crowd the population, crime and poverty have skyrocketed, and young girls are being kidnapped and sold as polygamous brides to bear more children.

When Rhine is sold as a bride, she vows to do all she can to escape. Yet her husband, Linden, is hopelessly in love with her, and Rhine can’t bring herself to hate him as much as she’d like to. He opens her to a magical world of wealth and illusion she never thought existed, and it almost makes it possible to ignore the clock ticking away her short life. But Rhine quickly learns that not everything in her new husband’s strange world is what it seems. Her father-in-law, an eccentric doctor bent on finding the antidote, is hoarding corpses in the basement; her fellow sister wives are to be trusted one day and feared the next; and Rhine has no way to communicate to her twin brother that she is safe and alive.

Together with one of Linden's servants, Gabriel, Rhine attempts to escape just before her seventeenth birthday. But in a world that continues to spiral into anarchy, is there any hope for freedom?

This one has been on my list for years at this point. I finally dove in and read this story in just a few days. I wouldn’t say that I absolutely loved this book, but it was a solid young adult science fiction book. Rhine is a decent heroine put in an impossible situation. Even though I like Rhine, I loved Jenna and Cecily. They are great side characters. Linden is a wet blanket, but I guess that’s his role in the story. I just wished that Gabriel was a more compelling character and love interest for Rhine. Maybe in book two? I think I’ll continue the series, but I’m not going to rush out right now.

The Chemical Garden

• #1 Wither

• #2 Fever

• #3 Sever

Next up on the TBR pile:

The Hunger by Alma Katsu

Title: The Hunger

Author: Alma Katsu

Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons 2018

Genre: Horror

Pages: 376

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Perpetual - NPR Horror

Evil is invisible, and it is everywhere.

That is the only way to explain the series of misfortunes that have plagued the wagon train known as the Donner Party. Depleted rations, bitter quarrels, and the mysterious death of a little boy have driven the isolated travelers to the brink of madness. Though they dream of what awaits them in the West, long-buried secrets begin to emerge, and dissent among them escalates to the point of murder and chaos. They cannot seem to escape tragedy...or the feelings that someone--or something--is stalking them. Whether it's a curse from the beautiful Tamsen Donner (who some think might be a witch), their ill-advised choice of route through uncharted terrain, or just plain bad luck, the ninety men, women, and children of the Donner Party are heading into one of one of the deadliest and most disastrous Western adventures in American history.

As members of the group begin to disappear, the survivors start to wonder if there really is something disturbing, and hungry, waiting for them in the mountains...and whether the evil that has unfolded around them may have in fact been growing within them all along.

Oooohhhh. This was absolute terrifying and I loved every single page of this one! I am fascinated by the real life story of the Donner Party (I even had to stop at one of the historical markers to take a picture). The Hunger is the perfect book to weave together the real facts and a more fantastical element. I spent so many pages of this one so so hungry. Katsu has mastered the art of suspense. I completely loved this book so much. I definitely already put Katsu’s next book on hold at the library.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Twice in a Blue Moon by Christina Lauren

Title: Twice in a Blue Moon

Author: Christina Lauren

Publisher: Gallery Books 2019

Genre: Romance

Pages: 366

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Library

Sam Brandis was Tate Jones’s first: Her first love. Her first everything. Including her first heartbreak.

During a whirlwind two-week vacation abroad, Sam and Tate fell for each other in only the way that first loves do: sharing all of their hopes, dreams, and deepest secrets along the way. Sam was the first, and only, person that Tate—the long-lost daughter of one of the world’s biggest film stars—ever revealed her identity to. So when it became clear her trust was misplaced, her world shattered for good.

Fourteen years later, Tate, now an up-and-coming actress, only thinks about her first love every once in a blue moon. When she steps onto the set of her first big break, he’s the last person she expects to see. Yet here Sam is, the same charming, confident man she knew, but even more alluring than she remembered. Forced to confront the man who betrayed her, Tate must ask herself if it’s possible to do the wrong thing for the right reason… and whether “once in a lifetime” can come around twice.

I was so incredibly excited for this book after reading and loving The Unhoneymooners last year. And this one just fell completely flat for me. I wasn’t a fan of the pacing of the novel. Splitting the book in half slowed the entire story. I wanted less of Tate and Sam in London and much much more of them as adults. Related to pacing, I was not a fan of the inclusion of parts of the screen play. It really dragged me down. Beyond the pacing, I wasn’t a fan of Tate as a character. She didn’t seem to flushed out enough to be a main character. I couldn’t get beyond it. Overall I just did not enjoy this book.

Next up on the TBR pile:

The Book of Life by Deborah Harkness

Title: The Book of Life (All Souls #3)

Author: Deborah Harkness

Publisher: Viking 2014

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 561

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Library

After traveling through time in Shadow of Night, the second book in Deborah Harkness’s enchanting series, historian and witch Diana Bishop and vampire scientist Matthew Clairmont return to the present to face new crises and old enemies. At Matthew’s ancestral home at Sept-Tours, they reunite with the cast of characters from A Discovery of Witches—with one significant exception. But the real threat to their future has yet to be revealed, and when it is, the search for Ashmole 782 and its missing pages takes on even more urgency. In the trilogy’s final volume, Harkness deepens her themes of power and passion, family and caring, past deeds and their present consequences. In ancestral homes and university laboratories, using ancient knowledge and modern science, from the hills of the Auvergne to the palaces of Venice and beyond, the couple at last learn what the witches discovered so many centuries ago.

Finally finished this wonderful book series. I was all in Diana and Matthew’s story through time. Thankfully this volume was set in the current er and revisited all our favorite characters. I wish we could have seen more from Gallowglass and Miriam, but at least we get more Marcus and Phoebe. I loved the conclusion of the series. Benjamin was a great villain. Plus we get see the downfall of Peter Knox and Gerbert (at least partly). Overall I loved this epic story. Now I need to find another great fantasy series to read.

All Souls Trilogy:

• #1 A Discovery of Witches

• #2 Shadow of Night

• #3 The Book of Life

Next up on the TBR pile:

Daybreak by Brian Ralph

Title: Daybreak

Author: Brian Ralph

Publisher: Drawn and Quarterly 2013

Genre: Comics

Pages: 160

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Library

You wake up in the rubble and see a ragged, desperate one-armed man greeting you. He takes you underground to a safe space, feeds you, offers you a place to sleep, and then announces that he'll take the first watch. It's not long before the peril of the jagged landscape has located you and your newfound protector and is scratching at the door.

What transpires is a moment-to-moment struggle for survival―The Road meets Dawn of the Dead. Daybreak is seen through the eyes of a silent observer as he follows his protector and runs from the shadows of the imminent zombie threat. Brian Ralph slowly builds the tension of the zombies on the periphery, letting the threat―rather than the actual carnage―be the driving force. The postapocalyptic backdrop features tangles of rocks, lumber, I-beams, and overturned cars that are characters in and of themselves.

We watched the television series last month and I had to pick up the original material. I sped through this slim graphic novel in record time. I was fascinated by the story and couldn’t wait to see what happened to our unseen narrator and the few we meet along the way. The last page was harrowing! I loved every single cell in this book. So good.

Next up on the TBR pile:

The Scholar by Dervla McTiernan

Title: The Scholar (Cormac Reilly #2)

Author: Dervla McTiernan

Publisher: Penguin Books 2019

Genre: Crime Thriller

Pages: 384

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Library

When Dr. Emma Sweeney stumbles across the victim of a hit-and-run outside Galway University early one morning, she calls her boyfriend, Detective Cormac Reilly, bringing him first to the scene of a murder that would otherwise never have been assigned to him. The dead girl is carrying an ID that will put this crime at the center of a scandal--her card identifies her as Carline Darcy, heir apparent to Darcy Therapeutics, Ireland's most successful pharmaceutical company. Darcy Therapeutics has a finger in every pie, from sponsoring university research facilities to funding political parties to philanthropy--it has even funded Emma's own ground-breaking research.

As the murder investigation twists in unexpected ways and Cormac's running of the case comes under scrutiny from the department and his colleagues, he is forced to question himself and the beliefs that he has long held as truths. Who really is Emma? And who is Carline Darcy?

The Girly Book Club selection for January. I had to read the first book in the series as I am a completionist, but it’s not necessary to understand this volume. I really liked this story of murder and corporate intrigue. I loved following the murder mystery and DS Reilly. This is not my usual type of book, but I did enjoy it. I wasn’t a huge fan of the background storyline of Emma and her involvement in the case. It seemed a bit much and I could have done without that storyline piece. I’m pretty sure that I’ll read the third book in the series when it releases.

Cormac Reilly

• #1 The Ruin

• #2 The Scholar

• #3 The Good Turn

Next up on the TBR pile:

Neanderthal Seeks Human by Penny Reid

Title: Neanderthal Seeks Human (Knitting in the City #1)

Author: Penny Reid

Publisher: Cipher-Naught 2013

Genre: Romance

Pages: 376

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Ebook

There are three things you need to know about Janie Morris: 1) She is incapable of engaging in a conversation without volunteering TMTI (Too Much Trivial Information), especially when she is unnerved, 2) No one unnerves her more than Quinn Sullivan, and 3) She doesn't know how to knit.

After losing her boyfriend, apartment, and job in the same day, Janie Morris can't help wondering what new torment fate has in store.

To her utter mortification, Quinn Sullivan—aka Sir McHotpants—witnesses it all then keeps turning up like a pair of shoes you lust after but can't afford. The last thing she expects is for Quinn to make her an offer she can't refuse.

A book club friend recommended this series and I’m so glad I picked it up! This is such a fun romp with fun characters and a great premise. I found myself laughing out loud at a few of the interactions between characters. Janie was annoying at times, but a decent lead character. Quinn was much more interesting. But I was very intrigued by the rest of the knitting group. I can’t wait to read their stories!

Knitting in the City

• #1 Neanderthal Seeks Human

• #1.5 Neanderthal Marries Human

• #2 Friends Without Benefits

• #3 Love Hacked

• #4 Beauty and the Mustache

• #.475 Ninja at First Sight

• #5 Happily Ever Ninja

• #6 Dating-ish

• #7 Marriage of Inconvenience

• #8 Neanderthal Seeks Extra Yarns

Next up on the TBR pile:

The One by John Marrs

Title: The One

Author: John Marrs

Publisher: Hanover Square 2018

Genre: Literary Fiction

Pages: 416

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges:

A simple DNA test is all it takes. Just a quick mouth swab and soon you’ll be matched with your perfect partner—the one you’re genetically made for.

That’s the promise made by Match Your DNA. A decade ago, the company announced that they had found the gene that pairs each of us with our soul mate. Since then, millions of people around the world have been matched. But the discovery has its downsides: test results have led to the breakup of countless relationships and upended the traditional ideas of dating, romance and love.

Now five very different people have received the notification that they’ve been “Matched.” They’re each about to meet their one true love. But “happily ever after” isn’t guaranteed for everyone. Because even soul mates have secrets. And some are more shocking than others…

I grabbed this one from the Prime Reading selections after hearing good reviews from various bloggers. Once I started reading, I just couldn’t stop. I read at a break-neck pace not wanting to wait to see what happens to each of the main characters. I hated that the storylines kept switching as I kept wanting to know exactly what happened next. It’s hard to really categorize this book, but I felt that this ended up being a thriller. Very entertaining. It definitely kept my attention. I loved Nick and Ellie’s stories the best, but each story was interesting in it’s own right.

Next up on the TBR pile:

The Old-Fashioned by Robert Simonson

Title: The Old-Fashioned: The Story of the World’s First Classic Cocktail

Author: Robert Simonson

Publisher: Ten Speed Press 2014

Genre: Nonfiction

Pages: 176

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges:

No single cocktail is as iconic, as beloved, or as discussed and fought-over as the Old-Fashioned. Its formula is simple: just whiskey, bitters, sugar, and ice. But how you combine those ingredients—in what proportion, using which brands, and with what kind of garnish—is the subject of much impassioned debate.

The Old-Fashioned is the spirited, delightfully unexpected story of this renowned and essential drink: its birth as the ur-cocktail in the nineteenth century, darker days in the throes of Prohibition, re-ascension in the 1950s and 1960s (as portrayed and re-popularized by Don Draper on Mad Men), and renaissance as the star of the contemporary craft cocktail movement.

Random pick from the library shelves last week. I love a good Old Fashioned and I love history, so this book was perfect for a lovely afternoon of reading. I really enjoyed learning the history of the drink. The variations throughout history were fascinating. Loved this slim volume.

Next up on the TBR pile:

A Match Made at Christmas by Patty Blount

Title: A Match Made at Christmas (Christmas in New York #4)

Author: Patty Blount

Publisher: Tule Publishing 2014

Genre: Holiday Romance

Pages: 150

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges:

Thirteen years ago, two teens met on the ramp to Ground Zero, on a cold and snowy day, strangers bonding in a moment of grief. The boy pressed a crystal snowflake ornament into the girl’s hand and disappeared into the crowd, unaware that his simple act of kindness saved her from the guilt that threatened to consume her.

Not the best at all. I didn’t really engage with the two main characters. And the storyline was very contrived. I just didn’t really like this one at all.

Christmas in New York

• #1 This Christmas

• #2 Christmas Light

• #3 All I Want for Christmas

• #4 A Match Made at Christmas

Next up on the TBR pile:

Bewitched and Betrothed by Juliet Blackwell

Title: Bewitched and Betrothed (Witchcraft Mystery #10)

Author: Juliet Blackwell

Publisher: Berkley 2019

Genre: Cozy Mystery

Pages: 332

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Cloak and Dagger

When Lily Ivory stumbles on the uniform of a former prisoner from Alcatraz and SFPD inspector Carlos Romero’s cousin is kidnapped, Lily suspects something dangerous has been unleashed on the ghost-ridden island of Alcatraz. She'll have to sleuth out the culprit—when she’s not busy entertaining her visiting relatives and resolving romantic conflicts as her wedding date approaches. Could recent omens be pointing to the magical threat in her adopted city? If so, she'll have to line up her allies to change the fate of the Bay Area. Because no matter what, Lily's determined to celebrate her marriage with her friends by her side—even if it means battling a demonic foe before she can make it to the altar.

We finally get another Witchcraft Mystery. I loved the big mystery/adversary in this one! The location of Alcatraz was great and way too fun as someone who lived in the San Francisco area. And we get so much more from Oscar this volume. I loved it! My biggest problem with this series and specific volume is too much Sailor and too little Aidan. Seriously we need more about the larger magical community and upcoming battle. I’ll probably have to wait at least another year for the next volume.

Witchcraft Mystery

• #1 Secondhand Spirits

• #2 A Cast Off Coven

• #3 Hexes and Hemlines

• #4 In a Witch's Wardrobe

• #5 Tarnished and Torn

• #6 A Vision in Velvet

• #6.5 A Haunting is Brewing

• #7 Spellcasting in Silk

• #8 A Toxic Trousseau

• #9 A Magical Match

• #10 Bewitched and Betrothed

Next up on the TBR pile:

The Ruin by Dervla McTiernan

Title: The Ruin (Cormac Reilly #1)

Author: Dervla McTiernan

Publisher: Penguin Books 2018

Genre: Crime Thriller

Pages: 380

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Cloak and Dagger

When Aisling Conroy's boyfriend Jack is found in the freezing black waters of the river Corrib, the police tell her it was suicide. A surgical resident, she throws herself into study and work, trying to forget--until Jack's sister Maude shows up. Maude suspects foul play, and she is determined to prove it.

Cormac Reilly is the detective assigned with the re-investigation of a seemingly accidental overdose twenty years ago--the overdose of Jack and Maude's drug and alcohol addled mother. Detective Reilly is under increasing pressure to charge Maude for murder when his colleague Danny uncovers a piece of evidence that will change everything...

This unsettling small-town noir draws us deep into the dark heart of Ireland, where corruption, desperation, and crime run rife. A gritty look at trust and betrayal where the written law isn't the only one, The Ruin asks who will protect you when the authorities can't--or won't.

Our Girly Book Club selection for January is the second in this series (The Scholar). I couldn’t possibly read the second without reading the first, so I grabbed this from the library last week. It took me a few days to get through this one, but I ended really enjoying this murder mystery. The conclusion shocked me a bit and there were definitely some horrific bits. Obviously the series will follow Cormac Reilly’s cases, and I’m interested to see what happens next.

Cormac Reilly

• #1 The Ruin

• #2 The Scholar

• #3 The Good Turn

Next up on the TBR pile:

Christmas Light by Jolyse Barnett

Title: Christmas Light (Christmas in New York #2)

Author: Jolyse Barnett

Publisher: Tule Publishing 2014

Genre: Holiday Romance

Pages: 157

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges:

Adirondack girl-in-transition Jade Engel comes home to recharge after ending a career she never truly wanted, but soon realizes she’s in danger of also being swept off her feet by the boy-next-door, her former best friend, Ben Stephens. If only he’d stop kissing her every time she falls into his arms.

Everything local celebrity Ben Stephens ever wanted is in Starling. Then Jade comes home after an eternity away and sends his simple world into a tailspin. He’s determined to pursue her—the one girl who got away. But when their friends-with-benefits arrangement blows up in their faces, will they have the courage to put their pasts to rest in order to forge a future together?

I liked this one much more than the first in the series. Jade and Ben are great characters. I loved their shared history. Starling is a great setting for a cute romance. I almost miss there was more to this story…

Christmas in New York

• #1 This Christmas

• #2 Christmas Light

• #3 All I Want for Christmas

• #4 A Match Made at Christmas

Next up on the TBR pile:

Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman

Title: Challenger Deep

Author: Neal Shusterman

Publisher: HarperTeen 2016

Genre: Young Adult Fiction

Pages: 320

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Perpetual - 365 Days of YA; Popsugar - “Pop, Sugar, Challenge”

Caden Bosch is on a ship that's headed for the deepest point on Earth: Challenger Deep, the southern part of the Marianas Trench.
Caden Bosch is a brilliant high school student whose friends are starting to notice his odd behavior.
Caden Bosch is designated the ship's artist in residence to document the journey with images.
Caden Bosch pretends to join the school track team but spends his days walking for miles, absorbed by the thoughts in his head.
Caden Bosch is split between his allegiance to the captain and the allure of mutiny.
Caden Bosch is torn.

This is a very rough, but compelling accurate portrayal of mental illness in a teen. I didn’t quite know what to expect when I picked this one up. I quickly dove into the abyss within Caden’s mind. As in many YA novels, the writing isn’t dense but it took me many days to finish this one as I had to take so many breaks. The subject is just so incredibly heavy. I couldn’t read more than 25 pages in one sitting. However, I found the characters so compelling. I had to keep at it to see where the story led. I’m glad I stuck with it until the end.

Next up on the TBR pile:

This Christmas by Jeannie Moon

Title: This Christmas (Christmas in New York #1)

Author: Jeannie Moon

Publisher: Tule Publishing 2014

Genre: Holiday Romance

Pages: 141

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Ebook

Single mother Sabrina Gervais has built a happy life with her daughter Charlotte in their eastern Long Island hometown of Holly Point. Having Charlie meant putting some of her own dreams on hold, but Sabrina is content to surround herself with family and friends, safe from the realities of the outside world. She had enough of that when the man she loved broke her heart.

Jake Killen’s career in professional hockey has brought him many rewards on and off the ice, but returning to New York brings back a flood of memories. When he sees Sabrina again, he discovers that he didn’t just run away from her ten years ago, but also from their unborn child.
Struggling with anger, guilt, and chemistry that’s off the chart, Sabrina and Jake wonder if they can find love again and, this Christmas, make all their wishes come true.

One of those free Kindle reads that I picked up at some point. I am always ready for a holiday romance this time of year. Unfortunately this one fell a bit flat for me. I really enjoyed Jake and Charlie. They were amazing characters! Sabrina was just way too immature and annoying. I couldn’t deal with her. Not great and definitely not for me.

Christmas in New York

• #1 This Christmas

• #2 Christmas Light

• #3 All I Want for Christmas

• #4 A Match Made at Christmas

Next up on the TBR pile:

25 Days 'Til Christmas by Poppy Alexander

Title: 25 Days ‘til Christmas

Author: Poppy Alexander

Publisher: William Morrow 2019

Genre: Holiday Fiction

Pages: 348

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Monthly Motif - December

Kate Potter used to love Christmas. A few years ago, she would have been wrapping her presents in September and baking mince pies on Halloween, counting down the days and hours to Christmas. But that was before Kate’s husband left for the army and never came home. Now she can hardly stand December at all.

Kate can’t deny she’s lonely, yet she doesn’t think she’s ready for romance. She knows that her son, Jack, needs a Christmas to remember—just like Kate needs a miracle to help her finally move forward with her life. So she’s decided if there isn’t a miracle on its way, she’ll just have to make her own.

As Kate’s advent countdown to the best Christmas ever begins, she soon realizes that even with the best laid plans, you can’t plan for the unexpected. For when the path of the loneliest woman in town crosses with that of the loneliest man, these two destined hearts might find a way to save the holiday for both of them.

I picked this one up as a fun holiday read, but it ended up being a lot more somber than I was expecting. Ultimately, I really enjoyed this story of two lost souls finding one another during the Christmas season. Kate annoyed me at times with her unwillingness to accept help and yet I found her very realistic. Daniel is a great character and I kind of wish we had spent a bit more time with him throughout the story. Be warned that there are some heavy themes in this story (death, suicide, poverty, sexual harassment) but they were all handled in a very realistic portrayal of life.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Finding Christmas by Karen Schaler

Title: Finding Christmas

Author: Karen Schaler

Publisher: William Morrow 2019

Genre: Holiday Romance

Pages: 384

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Monthly Keyword - Dec.; Literary Escapes - WA

With all the glittering decorations, twinkling lights, snow angels, gingerbread men and mistletoe, Christmas is Emmie’s first love.

This year, she can’t wait to share her favorite Christmas traditions with her boyfriend, Grant. She thinks he’s “the one.” So when Grant’s hectic work schedule has him more “Bah Humbug” than “Ho, Ho, Ho,” Emmie creates a holiday-themed scavenger hunt to help him find his Christmas spirit. At the end of the journey, Grant will arrive at the charming town of Christmas Point where she’s planned a romantic weekend filled with holiday activities.

But Emmie’s plan backfires when a mix-up has the wrong guy following her clues! Sam, a best-selling mystery writer, thinks Emmie’s clever Christmas riddles are from his agent, who is trying to help him get over his epic writer’s block.

Pretty cute holiday romance that often reads like a movie screenplay. Makes sense as the author writes screenplays also. I loved Emmie and Sam and the setting of Christmas Point. I was let excited about some of the extra long descriptions of settings or scenes. I really want to visit the town of Holiday cheer and experience all the fun activities Emmie planned. Cute little story. Definitely felt like I was watching one of those Hallmark movies.

Next up on the TBR pile: